Month: March 2014

Categories
Politics

Senator Bernie Sanders – “I am prepared to run for president of the United States”

Sen. Bernie Sanders, the populist independent from Vermont, told The Nation that he is “prepared to run” for the White House. That doesn’t mean the two-term senator is raising money, building a campaign organization or any of that kind of stuff, but he says he’s talking to people around the country and preparing to hit the road.

Here’s the key quote from Sanders’ interview, which posted online Thursday:

I am prepared to run for president of the United States. I don’t believe that I am the only person out there who can fight this fight, but I am certainly prepared to look seriously at that race.
Sanders is the only self-described Socialist in the Senate. As chairman of the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee, Sanders recently authored a bill aimed at expanding health care, education and other benefits that was defeated over concerns about costs.

In the interview, he assails the Democratic Party as being too dependent on “big-money interests.” (But Sanders, who caucuses with Democrats, also said Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has treated him with “enormous respect.” )

Categories
Celebrities child Entertainment michael jackson

Michael Jackson’s Alleged Son – POSITIVE DNA Match … Or So They Say MJ’S

There’s a 99.9% chance a 31-year-old man is Michael Jackson’s illegitimate son … at least that’s the claim after an alleged DNA test turned up a match.

According to the test results — obtained by Alki David and his company, FilmOn.com — Brandon Howard is almost certainly Michael’s son.  David told TMZ Live he got MJ’s dental impression from a Beverly Hills doctor that he got at an auction.  The impression is 30 years old but David says its filled with DNA.

Brandon — who now goes by B Howard and looks and acts very much like Michael — was not present for the unveiling, but David says he had Howard’s DNA and it matched up.

David would not say which lab performed the DNA test, but says it showed a clear match.

Brandon’s mom — Miki Howard — is a famous gospel singer who Michael knew.   She went by the name “Billy” back in 1982.  Interestingly … a year later Michael released “Billie Jean,” which included the lyrics, “Billie Jean’s not my lover” and “The kid is not my son.”

For B Howard’s part — he’s distancing himself from the whole spectacle, insisting he had nothing to do with it.

h/t TMZ

Categories
Featured Mitch McConnell

Policies Are Too Advanced For Republicans, So McConnell Brought a Gun to CPAC

Lol… This is too funny. Mitch McConnell just proved that the only way to reach a conservative is not through policies, apparently a policy discussion is too advance for this group. Walk on the CPAC stage with a rifle in your hand and that’s all you need.

Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., kicked off the Conservative Political Action Conference Thursday morning by walking on stage carrying a rifle.

McConnell waved it around and handed it over to Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla. This moment was the only time the audience cheered for McConnell during his five minutes on stage, according to the National Journal.

The gun was reportedly a parting gift from the GOP to Coburn, who will be leaving the Senate due to health issue at the end of his term.

“Liberals absolutely hate it when Tom Coburn steps onto the Senate floor. He’s one of the smartest, most principled, most decent men I’ve ever served with. He reminds all of us every day of why it is we decided to run for office in the first place,” McConnell told the crowd.

The Senate Minority Leader and five-term senator is facing a Tea Party challenger in his home state later this year.

“If I’m given an opportunity to lead the U.S. Senate next year, I will not let you down,” he said.

Categories
Politics Ronald Reagan

Behold! Vladimir Putin and Ronald Reagan Together in a 1988 Photo

I knew there was a reason Republicans love the Russian dictator president so much.

With Vladimir Putin back in the news so prominently, now may be a good time to look back at a photo that got some attention in 2009: a photo of Ronald Reagan in Russia, a photo taken by the man who currently fills the same official role for President Obama, and a photo that appears to feature Putin himself dressed up like a tourist.

Pete Souza is the White House photographer for President Obama, but he also worked in the same capacity under Reagan, and he snapped that photo in 1988 of Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev greeting tourists. And Souza claimed back in 2009 (and said this information was confirmed to him) that the man on the very left, the tourist-y looking fellow with the camera around his neck, is in fact Vladimir Putin, who was a KGB agent at the time and was undercover.
Moscow officials, however, very much doubt it’s actually Putin, though it does look quite like the Russian leader…

h/t Mediaite

Categories
Politics Tax

In a Perfect Republican World, You’ll Have No Free Speech – Your Mic Turned Off!

A United States Senator,  along with all the members of his party and the millions of Americans they represent, got his most basic freedom of speech taken away yesterday in a hearing of the House Oversight Committee ,  chaired by Republican Darrell Issa.

Issa, trying to give Fox News some material for their brainless base and an apparent effort to prop up his Mister Macho credentials, called the hearing to once again question an IRS official on the non-story, Republican manufactured scandal concerning the 501c4.

Although multiple hearings and millions of tax dollars have already been wasted on this non-story, Republicans need to keep this so-called tax scandal alive until the November elections, so the IRS official was called to do what she’s done in the past, invoke her Fifth Amendment rights under the Constitution.

Issa called the witness – Lois Lerner – and shot off ten questions at her already knowing what her answer would be. He then tried to end the proceedings without accepting questions or any input whatsoever from the other members of the committee. But Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-MD), would have none of it and insisted on taking part in the hearing. What nerve! Didn’t he know this hearing was just a charade for Fox News?

“Can I ask a question?” Mr Cummings is heard saying.

“This hearing is adjourned,” Issa shot back, and stood up to walk away.

Still insisting on doing his job and taking part in the hearing, Rep Cummings continued talking, but the Republican dictator Chairman would have non of it and proceeded to turn off Mr Cummings’ microphone.

Cummings exploded. “If you will sit down and allow me to ask a question,” Cummings insisted. “I am a member of a Congress of the United States of America!”

“I am tired of this,” Cummings continued. “You cannot just have a one-sided investigation. There is absolutely something wrong with that, and it is absolutely un-American.”

“We had a hearing. It was adjourned,” Issa said. “I gave you an opportunity to ask your questions. You had no questions.”

“I do have questions,” Cummings replied. “Chairman, what are you hiding?”

Watch the unbelievable events unfold below.

Categories
Politics unemployment rate

Unemployment Vote Could Happen Next Week

Majority Leader Harry Reid, Nevada Democrat, said Wednesday that he will need to “pull out all the stops” to get enough GOP support for a 6-month extension to unemployment benefits that could come up for a vote next week.

“I have to pull out all the stops to try to pick up another Republican vote, it’s not Democrats I have to worry about,” he said. “It’s getting the Republicans to allow these millions of people who are desperate long-term unemployed a shot in the arm.”

Mr. Reid said the weather, which cancelled two days of votes in the Senate this week, has made it difficult to fit everything on to the schedule, but that he plans to make a decision on when to bring up the unemployment insurance vote soon.

Categories
Politics veteran

Breaking News – Senate Republicans Blocked Veterans Health Care

Of course this is not Breaking News, we’ve seen stuff like this happening all the time with these Republicans! Republicans have gunned for our veterans and anyone who does not have a LLC following their name. This week however, they blocked a veterans health bill because they claimed the needed a way to pay for it.

This latest Republican action against the veterans got Jon Stewart steamed… and confused!

Stewart pointed out many of these senators didn’t have a problem voting for Iraq War authorizations that cost quite a bit of money, but what really set him off was senators trying to attach an Iran sanctions amendment to the bill, with one complaining it’s the only way to get what they want. Stewart mockingly said, “You’re right, you’re the victim here, you’ve been denied something you need by an impersonal bureaucracy.”

He concluded by saying that on the “shame-ometer,” “I think these senators may have just tweeted out a picture of their enormous balls. Now can we kick them out?!”

Video

Categories
Politics

According to Bryan Fischer, Pleading the Fifth Means Guilt

On his program,  the ultra conservative Bryan Fischer made the statement that pleading the Fifth is an admission of guilt.

Fischer was of course talking about Lois Lerner, the former IRS official who took part in the implementation of a strategy to determine legitimate 501c4 applicants. Republicans decided to embark on a witch hunt, blaming the IRS for what they called, “targeting Teaparty groups applying for the tax status.

According to Fischer;

“By citing the Fifth Amendment, she is admitting that she’s guilty … What is Lois Lerner admitting when she invokes the Fifth?

She is admitting that if she speaks the truth she will be a witness against herself, her testimony would be condemning, her testimony would be damning, her testimony would make her guilty under the law. So I believe Lois Lerner, when she invokes the Fifth in a situation like this, she’s admitting her guilt and the guilt of the IRS”:

I wonder what Fischer has to say about Bridge-Gate, and all the Fifths being cited there? If you think Fischer would say Christie or members of his administration are admitting guilt or a cover up, think again. It is now common knowledge that the rules that govern Democrats do not apply to Republicans. 

Categories
Politics

Michele Bachmann – Jan Brewer Should Have Passed the Arizona Discrimination Bill

Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer received kudos from many of her fellow Republicans for vetoing a controversial bill that would have allowed businesses to refuse service to gays and lesbians based on religious beliefs.

But Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann is not one of those Republicans. The founder of the House Tea Party Caucus told ABC News-Yahoo News that she was “sorry” Brewer struck down Senate Bill 1062.

“I believe that tolerance is a two-way street, and we need to respect everyone’s rights, including the rights of people who have sincerely held religious beliefs,” Bachmann told ABC’s Jeff Zeleny in the interview.

Bachmann went on to say there is a “terrible intolerance afoot in the United States” that is directed at people who have strongly held religious beliefs.

Mitt Romney and John McCain, the GOP’s two most recent presidential nominees, Sen. Jeff Flake of Arizona, the state’s Chamber of Commerce and the host committee for the 2015 Super Bowl were among those urging Brewer to veto Senate Bill 1062. She did so on Feb. 26, saying the measure was broadly worded and could have “unintended and negative consequences.”

Categories
Featured New Jersey

New Jersey Daughter Sues Parents for Tuition and Financial Support

(CNN) – A high school senior’s lawsuit against her mother and father for financial support and college tuition hit a hurdle Tuesday when a New Jersey judge denied the teenager’s request for immediate financial assistance from the parents.

Rachel Canning, 18, alleges in her lawsuit that her parents forced her out of their Lincoln Park, New Jersey home, and that she is unable to support herself financially. The lawsuit asks that her parents pay the remaining tuition for her last semester at her private high school, pay her current living and transportation expenses, commit to paying her college tuition and pay her legal fees for the suit she filed against her parents.

Her parents say she left home because she didn’t want to obey their rules.

Judge Peter Bogaard denied the request for high school tuition and current living expenses at a hearing Tuesday in New Jersey State Superior Court. Another hearing will be held in April on other issues in the suit, including whether Canning left home of her own accord, the judge said.

Canning, an honor student and cheerleader at Morris Catholic High School in Denville, says in court documents she had to leave her parents’ home because of emotional and psychological mistreatment, alleging, among other things, that her mother called her “fat” and “porky” and that her father threatened to beat her.

“I have been subjected to severe verbal and physical abuse by my mother and father,” Canning wrote in a court certification. “I am not willingly and voluntarily leaving a reasonable situation at home to make my own decisions. I had to leave to end the abuse.”

Canning left her parents’ home at the end of last October. After spending two nights at her boyfriend’s home, she moved into the home of her friend in a nearby town, where she has been staying ever since, according to court documents.

Categories
Healthcare ObamaCare Politics

Report – Obamacare is Boosting Personal Income and The Economy

This law is helping Americans and the economy in more ways than one, so Republicans are determined, now more than ever, to repeal the darn thing before its positive effects are felt by all.

A new report by The Cimmerce Deoartment is sayint that The Affordable Care Act, President Barack Barack Obama’s signature health law, is already boosting household income and spending.

The Commerce Department reported Monday that consumer spending rose a better-than-expected 0.4% and personal incomes climbed 0.3% in January. The new health-care law accounted for a big chunk of the increase on both fronts.

On the incomes side, the law’s expanded coverage boosted Medicaid benefits by an estimated $19.2 billion, according to Commerce’s Bureau of Economic Analysis. The ACA also offered several refundable tax credits, including health insurance premium subsidies, which added up to $14.7 billion.

Taken together, the Obamacare provisions are responsible for about three-quarters of January’s overall rise in Americans’ incomes.

Categories
Politics Wendy Davis

Wendy Davis Becomes Second Female Gubernatorial Nominee in Texas

Democrat Wendy Davis has become the first female gubernatorial nominee in Texas since former Gov. Ann Richards.

The Fort Worth state senator formally clinched her party’s nomination Tuesday night. She headlines a Democratic ticket that in November will seek the party’s first statewide victory since 1994, which was also Richards’ last year in office.

Neither Davis nor her Republican opponent, Attorney General Greg Abbott, faced a competitive primary. Gov. Rick Perry is not seeking re-election after a record 14 years in office.

The 50-year-old Davis became a national Democratic star last summer with a nearly 13-hour filibuster over new abortion restrictions. Her fundraising outpaced Abbott in the last half of 2013 but she’s still considered a heavy underdog.

Political unknown Reynaldo Madrigal was the only other Democrat on the ballot.

Exit mobile version