Of course we all know that no one aspires to make the minimum wage, but Republicans far and wide are going on television these days proclaiming just that, that having a minimum wage job means that you are lazy, and incapable of aspiring for something better. Some Republicans even had the nerve to say that minimum wage work is not real work.
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) said Tuesday that he’s “tired” of hearing discussion on the minimum wage and seemed to suggest that a higher minimum wage isn’t something to “aspire to.”
“I gotta tell you the truth, I’m tired of hearing about the minimum wage, I really am,” Christie said during an event at the Chamber of Commerce in Washington, according to a recording of his remarks by the liberal opposition research group American Bridge.
“I don’t think there’s a mother or father sitting around a kitchen table tonight in America who are saying, ‘You know honey, if my son or daughter could just make a higher minimum wage, my God, all our dreams would be realized,” he added. “Is that what parents aspire to for their children?”
The governor went on to say that parents aspire to an America where their children can make more money and achieve greater success, according to The Hill. He said those aspirations weren’t about a “higher minimum wage.”
Personally, I would never put Rush Limbaugh in the news business, but a new survey from Pew Research finds that Rush Limbaugh is America’s least-trusted news source. And who does America trust most?
Thirty-nine percent of respondents to the Pew poll say they don’t trust Limbaugh, a bombastic conservative radio voice. Fox News follows closely with 37 percent saying they don’t trust the network. Glenn Beck ranks third, with 24 percent of respondents saying they distrust Beck.
The Pew survey was conducted March 19-April 29.
The five major news networks top the trust spectrum, with 54 percent of respondents saying they trust CNN, 50 percent saying they trust ABC and NBC, 46 percent saying they trust CBS and 44 percent saying they trust Fox News.
Forty-four percent of respondents say they get their news from CNN.
Judge Thokozile Masipa also gave Pistorius a three-year suspended sentence for a firearms charge.
The parents of Reeva Steenkamp told the BBC they were happy with the sentence and relieved the case was over. The defence said it expected Pistorius to serve about 10 months in prison.
Pistorius was convicted of culpable homicide but cleared of murder.
Prosecutors had called for a minimum 10-year term, and the defence had argued for community service and house arrest.
Pistorius showed little reaction to the sentence other than to wipe his eyes before being led away to the cells downstairs.
He was then driven away from court in a police van to Pretoria’s Kgosi Mampuru prison.
The President went to Chicago and decided to do some early voting. For those who are still unaware, the midterm election is just a couple of weeks away on November 4th!
Apparently, a young couple decided to vote early too and found themselves voting right next to the president. As the president began the process of casting his ballots and minding his own business, the girl’s boyfriend walk past and advised the president not to try anything with his girlfriend.
“Don’t touch my girlfriend,” the guy said to the President. He was later identified as ‘Mike.’
“I really wasn’t planning on it,” Obama said, as he joked with the woman voting in the next booth. She was later identified as Aia Cooper, Mike’s girlfriend. “There’s an example of a brother just embarrassing you, just for no reason whatsoever.”
“And now you’ll be going back home and talking to you friends; what’s his name?” the president asked.
“Mike,” Cooper said.
“‘I can’t believe Mike. He’s such a fool,’” Obama said, impersonating the woman.
“He really is,” she agreed.
Obama continued: “‘I was just mortified. But, fortunately, the president was nice about it. So it’s all right.’”
“I am freaking out right now,” she said, laughing.
The president got the last laugh, though.
“Give me a kiss and give him something to talk about,” the president said, as he gave Cooper a hug and a peck on the cheek. “Now he’s really jealous.”
But Cooper downplayed the moment.
“He gave me a hug and a kiss on the cheek. Just the cheek,” she told ABC’s Chicago station WLS. “Please, Michelle, don’t come after me!”
Although there have been no new Ebola diagnosis in the United States in the past 5 days, Republicans have been on the rampage, ginning up fear and hysteria over the disease and claiming that Democrats are the ones causing the apparent “outbreak.”
It should be noted that so far, a grand total of two infections were contracted here in the United States. But that fact hasn’t stopped Republicans from calling for travel bands from South African countries and claiming that ebola victims are pouring through the southern borders and it is clearly Obama’s fault.
Then there was a total disbelief in how the CDC was handling the “outbreak” as Republicans, led by John McCain, suggested that the only way to stop the massive ebola infections would be for the president to immediately appoint an ‘Ebola Czar,’ and any failure to do so would lead to the ultimate destruction of these United States.
Yes, the fear machine was in full throttle.
But what about a Surgeon General? Wouldn’t such a person be the ideal to provide information and deal with Ebola? Where is the Surgeon General and why have we heard absolutely nothing from him?
Because Republicans have blocked his confirmation and they are blaming the president for that too.
Over a year ago, the president tapped Dr. Vivek Murthy to be the new Surgeon General. His confirmation has been blocked by Republicans and to believe Ted Cruz on CNN, Murthy should not even be considered for the job because he’s not qualified. But of course that too is a lie.
This is how the conversation went down on CNN’s State of the Union with Candy Crowley;
CROWLEY: Do you think it would have helped … had there been a surgeon general in place to kind of calm what has become the fear of Ebola?
CRUZ: Look – look, of course we should have a surgeon general in place. And we don’t have one because President Obama, instead of nominating a health professional, he nominated someone who is an anti- gun activist.
To hear the Texas Republican tell it, Dr. Vivek Murthy isn’t even a “health professional,” which is the exact opposite of reality.
Outside of far-right politics, the facts are not in dispute.
Murthy is an attending physician at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston and an instructor at Harvard Medical School. He’s also the founder of TrialNetworks, an Internet portal for clinical-trial operations that counts Merck and Biogen Idec as customers. Earlier, he helped start a rural community health program in Sringeri, India, and an HIV/AIDS youth education program in India and the United States. He went to Harvard for his undergraduate degree and Yale for medical and business degrees.
None other than George W. Bush’s former Surgeon General described Murthy as “superbly” qualified for the post, pointing to his “impressive track record of accomplishments.” The executive director of the American Public Health Association argued that Murthy is “clearly qualified to succeed” in all of the major roles of the Surgeon General.
When Cruz suggests Obama failed to nominate “a health professional,” the senator has absolutely no idea what he’s talking about.
As for the Republican argument that Murthy is “an anti- gun activist,” again, reality proves otherwise. Murthy believes gun violence is a public-health issue – as do most medical professionals, including Ronald Reagan’s Surgeon General – but it’s never been the principal focus of his work in medicine.
The nation has been without a Surgeon General for over a year, and it seems increasingly obvious that the vacancy is having a detrimental effect. No fair-minded observer could possibly question Murthy’s background or qualifications – his confirmation hearings were a breeze – but literally every Republican in the Senate refuses to even consider the doctor because the NRA told them not to.
Republicans own this. Blaming the president for their ridiculous antics might make the right feel better, but it’s nevertheless absurd.
With the November elections just weeks away, I thought I’d let you know something about some of the candidates on the various ballots. An educated voter usually makes the right choice.
Let’s go to Wisconsin. The candidate we will be looking at today is Brad Schimel, the Republican candidate for Attorney General in Wisconsin. Raising the minimum wage is going to be a huge issue in the November elections, so let’s see where Schimel stands on raising the wage issue.
Speaking to a group of supporters at a Milwaukee County Republicans party gathering, Schimel said;
“I want every one of our neighbors to have a job again, a well-paid job, so we don’t have to argue about minimum wage for someone working at Burger King. Let’s get them a real job.”
In other words, minimum wage jobs like those in the food industry are not “real jobs.” So don’t expect Schimel to support raising the minimum wage for the millions of Americans trying to support their families on one of these fake jobs.
Mike Hubbard, speaker of the Alabama House of Representatives and a powerful leader in the state Republican Party, has been indicted by a grand jury and charged with 23 counts, including using his office for personal gain and soliciting things of value.
Hubbard, 52, who led a historic Republican takeover of the state Legislature during the 2010 election, was charged after an investigation in his home county that has lasted more than a year.
The charges against Hubbard include 23 class B felonies. Those charges include:
Four counts of using of his office as Chairman of the Alabama Republican Party for personal gain; One count of voting for legislation with a conflict of interest; Eleven counts of soliciting or receiving a thing of value from a lobbyist or principal; Two counts of using his office as a member of the Alabama House of Representatives for personal gain; Four Counts of lobbying an executive department or agency for a fee; One count of using state equipment, materials, etc. for private gain.
According to the indictment, Hubbard solicited favors from some of Alabama’s rich and powerful. They include former Alabama Governor Bob Riley, Business Council of Alabama CEO Billy Canary, Hoar Construction CEO Rob Burton, Great Southern Wood CEO Jimmy Rane, former Sterne Agee CEO James Holbrook, lobbyist Minda Riley Campbell, Harbert Management Corp. vice president Will Brooke and political operative Dax Swatek.
A Corpus Christi, Tex. man accidentally shot and killed his 16-year-old brother Sunday night, police told South Texas TV station Kiii News.
Investigators said that the 24-year-old man was removing his gun from its holster, and the gun accidentally discharged. The 16-year-old was shot in the chest.
Police said that the man kept his gun nearby while watching the TV show “The Walking Dead.”
Ain’t nobody does scary like the Republicans. Even Democrats, who’ve been scaring the elderly for years saying that the GOP would cut their Medicare, can’t hold a candle to the right wing fright machine once it gets enough cheap American gasoline inside it. This week was a banner week for scary, and it’s going to grease the midterm slide so completely, that the Democrats won’t need Joe Biden around anyhow.
Never mind that Ebola is devastating West Africa and wreaking havoc on international travel and national psyches. It’s now a political issue and a subject for conspriacy theories. Some are comparing the government’s response to the outbreak to GW Bush’s response to Hurricane Katrina, though the scale is, at this point, much smaller. And of course the anti-government crowd is blaming the government, the CDC and local administrations for fumbling the response. There is an element of truth in this. Potential carriers should not have flown on commercial airlines, nor should hospitals be unprepared for possible outbreaks.
Now, here comes the fear. If it’s not Ebola, it’s ISIS and the scary possibility that our borders are so porous that diseases and Islamic terrorists are pouring into the American southwest. With the economy growing slowly and the stock market sagging, it’s more evidence to many that the Democrats do not deserve to keep their majority and since most of the Senate races are in red states, well, the writing’s on the wall. I have been saying that the Democrats will hold their majority in November, but that will now depend almost solely on turnout.
So make sure you get out and vote. And don’t be afraid.
The Republican Leader of the House of Representatives thought he was on safe ground when he decided to write a post on his verified Facebook page, claiming “House Republicans have protected 98% of Americans from permanent tax increases.”
For those of you following politics, you already know that the only “Americans” Republicans have fought to protect are the top 2% – the millionaires and billionaires among us. Republicans have, however, gone out of their way to make sure the middle class and poor suffer!
After posting his lie on Facebook, informed Americans began letting the Republican speaker know their feelings, some of them even calling him a “liar,” and seeing their response is a wonderful sight to behold.
Here are some of what these Americans had to say;
And there’s more! Page after page of informed Americans telling Boehner what they think of him and the Republicans in Congress!
In his weekly address, President Obama spoke about the Ebola situation overseas and the cases found here in The United States, and he talked about what America is doing to lead in the fight against this deadly disease.
First, what we’re seeing now is not an “outbreak” or an “epidemic” of Ebola in America. We’re a nation of more than 300 million people. To date, we’ve seen three cases of Ebola diagnosed here-the man who contracted the disease in Liberia, came here and sadly died; the two courageous nurses who were infected while they were treating him. Our thoughts and our prayers are with them, and we’re doing everything we can to give them the best care possible. Now, even one infection is too many. At the same time, we have to keep this in perspective. As our public health experts point out, every year thousands of Americans die from the flu.
Second, Ebola is actually a difficult disease to catch. It’s not transmitted through the air like the flu. You cannot get it from just riding on a plane or a bus. The only way that a person can contract the disease is by coming into direct contact with the bodily fluids of somebody who is already showing symptoms. I’ve met and hugged some of the doctors and nurses who’ve treated Ebola patients. I’ve met with an Ebola patient who recovered, right in the Oval Office. And I’m fine.
Third, we know how to fight this disease. We know the protocols. And we know that when they’re followed, they work. So far, five Americans who got infected with Ebola in West Africa have been brought back to the United States-and all five have been treated safely, without infecting healthcare workers.
Cliven Bundy, the Nevada rancher who was dismissed earlier this year as a racist for his remarks about black people, thrust himself back into the political discourse this week with an apparent endorsement of a candidate for Congress in Nevada. The Congressional candidate is a black man named Kamau Bakari.
The odd couple is seen in an ad complaining about black people and political correctness, with Bundy claiming that he has done the hard work, has put his time in and should be allowed to say whatever he wants in this country. After all, FREEDOM!
“I worked my whole life without mistreating anybody,” Bundy said in the ad, “a man ought to be able to express himself without being called names.”
Kamau Bakari agreed with Bundy, calling him “a brave white man” for making his racist statements. He said Bundy was exactly what America needs to “put an end to this political correctness stuff!” Kamau then said he “is ashamed” when black folks talk about white folks, saying, “white folks this and white folks that, always begging.” And to that statement, Bundy answered, “it’s almost like black folks think white folks owe then something.”
Sidenote: In case you forgot, Bundy was chastised for saying that black people are on government subsidies and “they abort their young children, they put their young men in jail, because they never learned how to pick cotton. And I’ve often wondered, are they better off as slaves, picking cotton and having a family life and doing things, or are they better off under government subsidy? They didn’t get no more freedom. They got less freedom.”
The two men then called out Eric Holder, labeling him a “race baiter.” They asked Holder to come to Nevada and talk with them, just like he did when he went to Ferguson. “Mr. Eric Holder, this is one white that’s not scared to talk about race,” Bundy says. “I dare you to come to Las Vegas and talk to us.”
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