Monthly Archives: June 2016

Posted inElections

Hillary Clinton wins the District of Columbia’s Democratic primary in a landslide

by Andrew Villeneuve

The 2016 nom­i­nat­ing sea­son will end on a high note for pre­sump­tive Demo­c­ra­t­ic nom­i­nee Hillary Clin­ton with a land­slide vic­to­ry in the Dis­trict of Columbi­a’s Demo­c­ra­t­ic pres­i­den­tial pri­ma­ry, which was held today in our nation’s cap­i­tal. Of 85,949 total bal­lots cast, Hillary Clin­ton received 66,796 votes — a per­cent­age of 77.72%. Bernie Sanders received 17,550 votes, or 20.8%. “We just […]

Posted inCivil Liberties, Policy Topics, World Commmunity

America wakes up to a nightmare: Horrific attack on Orlando nightclub leaves fifty dead

by Andrew Villeneuve

This morn­ing, hun­dreds of mil­lions of Amer­i­cans woke up to the news that a man armed with an AR-15 assault rifle who had called 911 to announce that he was about to com­mit a heinous act in the name of the Islam­ic state group had bru­tal­ly slaugh­tered over fifty peo­ple at a gay night­club in […]

Posted inElections, Open Government, Policy Topics

Tim Eyman takes down illegal independent expenditure attacking Democratic legislators

by Andrew Villeneuve

Ini­tia­tive prof­i­teer Tim Eyman has pulled the plug on a web­site and series of accom­pa­ny­ing video ads post­ed to Vimeo that exco­ri­at­ed dozens of Demo­c­ra­t­ic Wash­ing­ton State law­mak­ers and urged view­ers to “Vote Them Out!” The ads, launched in mid-April, were financed by wealthy bene­fac­tors Clyde Hol­land and Ken­neth Fish­er, who each donat­ed $22,500 to one […]

Posted inElections

Barack Obama, Joe Biden, and Elizabeth Warren endorse Hillary Clinton for President

by Andrew Villeneuve

Pre­sump­tive Demo­c­ra­t­ic pres­i­den­tial nom­i­nee Hillary Clin­ton picked up a trio of impor­tant endorse­ments today, earn­ing the sup­port from Pres­i­dent Barack Oba­ma, Vice Pres­i­dent Joe Biden, and Sen­a­tor Eliz­a­beth War­ren. The Pres­i­dent went first, endors­ing Clin­ton in a video record­ed on Tues­day and released ear­li­er today by Clin­ton’s cam­paign. “Look, I know how hard this job […]

Posted inElections

The history that Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders have made deserves to be celebrated

by Andrew Villeneuve

Tonight, a long and gru­el­ing pres­i­den­tial nom­i­nat­ing sea­son drew to a close, with nom­i­nat­ing events in New Jer­sey, Cal­i­for­nia, New Mex­i­co, South Dako­ta, North Dako­ta, and Mon­tana. With the excep­tion of North Dako­ta and Mon­tana, ear­ly returns show Hillary Clin­ton pre­vail­ing, includ­ing in Cal­i­for­nia, which means she has the Demo­c­ra­t­ic Par­ty’s 2016 pres­i­den­tial nom­i­na­tion locked […]

Posted inAnnouncements, Elections

Ready for 2017 and beyond: NPI’s Permanent Defense to debut sleek new website Monday

by Andrew Villeneuve

This Mon­day, as a sign of our com­mit­ment to con­tin­ue oppos­ing Tim Eyman and the big mon­ey behind his ini­tia­tive fac­to­ry into 2017 and beyond, we will be debut­ing a sleek new web­site for Per­ma­nent Defense, NPI’s old­est project, which for four­teen years has pro­vid­ed a first line of defense against threats to the Constitution […]

Posted inOur Environment, Policy Topics, Public Planning

Oil train derails and catches fire near Mosier, Oregon, fulfilling fears of progressive activists

by Andrew Villeneuve

A great many peo­ple in the pro­gres­sive move­ment have been warn­ing that it would only be a mat­ter of time before an insuf­­fi­­cien­t­­ly-secured coal or oil train derailed here in the Pacif­ic North­west. And now, it’s hap­pened: A mul­ti-car oil train derail­ment Fri­day in the Colum­bia Riv­er Gorge near Mosier sent up a mas­sive plume […]

Posted inElections, Litigation

Supreme Court’s ruling against I‑1366 sets important precedent against hostage-taking

by Andrew Villeneuve

Last Thurs­day, when the Wash­ing­ton State Supreme Court issued its unan­i­mous ver­dict in Lee v. State, it did­n’t mere­ly bury Tim Eyman’s I‑1366 in Wash­ing­ton’s polit­i­cal grave­yard… it also set a wel­come and impor­tant prece­dent against the pol­i­tics of hostage-tak­ing. [Don’t know who Tim Eyman is? Read this. Don’t know what I‑1366 is? Go here.] This aspect of the rul­ing has yet […]