Progressives ousted from Democratic national committee

The DNC is meeting in Las Vegas this week for the first time since Tom Perez became chair. It should have been a moment for consolidation of the party’s left and centrist elements.



But instead progressives have been angered by Perez’s shake-up of party leaders, which has ousted several of those on the left.

James Zogby, who had served on the DNC’s executive committee since 2001, backed the progressive candidate Keith Ellison in the leadership election in February. Zogby has been booted off the committee, NBC News reported, as has the former DNC secretary Alice Germond – who also supported Ellison.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Tom Perez. Photograph: Erik S Lesser/EPA

At the same time, Perez plans to install a number of lobbyists and former Clinton allies as DNC “members-at-large”, according to Bloomberg. Members-at-large carry the superdelegate votes that were widely criticized by Bernie Sanders and his supporters during the 2016 presidential primary.

A spokesman for the DNC told NBC News that the new slate “doubles millennial and Native American at-large representation”.

Handler out

Chelsea Handler has quit her Netflix show to focus full-time on political activism, she said this week. The comedian said she planned to “devote as much time as I can to becoming a more knowledgeable and engaged citizen” in a bid to effect change at the “defining moment” of next year’s mid-term elections.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Chelsea Handler. Photograph: Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP

“I have joined forces with Emily’s List to elect more women to public office, register people to vote, and campaign for candidates who are fighting for women’s rights,” Handler said. In the process, Handler will be making a documentary raising the profile of people from different ethnic and political backgrounds.

‘Chefs for Equality’

A number of celebrity chefs have signed on to a campaign to protect same-sex marriage, in response to the case of a Colorado baker who refused to make a cake for a gay couple’s wedding.

The TV chefs Jose Andres, Elizabeth Falkner and Carla Hall are among those who have signed on to a legal briefing written by the Human Rights Campaign.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Same-sex marriage supporters celebrate outside the Supreme Court way back in June 2015 – when the court ruled same-sex couples had the right to marry in all 50 states. Photograph: Alex Wong/Getty Images

The effort comes as the supreme court prepares to hear the case of Jack Phillips, a Denver-based baker who refused to make a cake for a same-sex wedding based on his religious objections to gay marriage.

The Associated Press reported that Phillips had “lost at every step in the legal process before the supreme court agreed in June to hear his case”.

What we’re reading

The Republican budget is “one of the most destructive and unfair budget and tax proposals in the modern history of our country”, Bernie Sanders writes here at the Guardian. Sanders says the proposal “is the Robin Hood principle in reverse. It takes from those in need and gives to those who are already living in incredible opulence”.



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