Republicans are moving quickly. On Tuesday, they scare the American people into giving them control of Congress and now, two days later, the Republican led Supreme Court has announced that it will hear a case whose purpose is to gut Obamacare and destroy it from within.
ThinkProgress reports: In an unexpected step into a politically charged case, the Supreme Court announced on Friday that it would hear a lawsuit seeking to strip health care from millions of Americans.
The Affordable Care Act gives states a choice whether they will set up their own health exchange where consumers can buy health insurance or whether to allow the federal government to do so for them. This lawsuit alleges that subsidies helping individuals buy health insurance are only available in exchanges run by a state, not by the feds. If it succeeds, the likely result will be a “death spiral” where higher premiums cause healthy consumers to drop out of the insurance market, which will cause higher premiums, which will cause more consumers to drop their insurance. Eventually, many states’ individual insurance markets are likely to collapse if this lawsuit prevails.
Republicans used the so-called “Ebola Outbreak”to create all sorts of scare scenarios trying to convince the American people that we should be scared, we should be afraid because President Obama and the Democrats were asleep at the wheel. Ads popped up all over the country warning Americans that if we did not vote for Republicans, then Ebola or ISIS, or Ebola and ISIS were going to snatch us out of bed and infect, then behead us all.
And of course, in the “Home of the Brave,” scared Americans believed the tall tales of the Republican party and voted them into power.
Well, according to NBC News, the so-called “Ebola Outbreak” in Texas is over!
As of midnight Friday, it was 21 days since anyone got Ebola or was in contact with someone who got Ebola.
“God willing, we are going to be Ebola-free Friday midnight,” said Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins, the elected official who oversaw the county’s response to its three-person outbreak, before the deadline passed.
It started when Thomas Eric Duncan, a Liberian citizen planning to settle in the United States, became sick and was at first mistakenly sent home from Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital in Dallas. He returned two days later by ambulance and was diagnosed with Ebola.
Officials had to track as many as 50 people who may have been in contact with Duncan. But the real scare came when two nurses, Nina Pham and Amber Vinson, became infected while caring for him. Vinson had traveled to Ohio to make wedding plans and, even though she wasn’t diagnosed until she came back to Dallas, her travels set off waves of anxiety.
But don’t worry Americans, although reports say that ISIS is retreating, they’re still around… somewhere. So Be afraid! Be very afraid!
Another month, more Americans find work and the economy gets stronger. But Democrats stayed silent, refusing to talk about the improving economy and record jobs creation during the midterm campaign season, allowing Republicans to push their narrative that the “economy is falling apart.” And that narrative is what voters believed when they gave Republicans the Congress on Tuesday.
The U.S. created 214,000 jobs in October, nudging the unemployment rate down a notch to 5.8%, as many companies added workers to gear up for the holiday season. The economy has now added 200,000 workers or more for nine straight months, a feat last accomplished in 1994. Economists polled by MarketWatch had expected a seasonally adjusted gain of 243,000 nonfarm jobs. So far in 2014 the U.S. has gained an average of 229,000 jobs a month, the fastest pace since 1999…
The labor-force participation rate, meanwhile, edged up to 62.8% from 62.7% as more people looked for work. Employment gains for September and August were revised up by a combined 31,000. The government said the 256,000 new jobs were created in September, up from a preliminary 248,000. August’s gain was raised to 203,000 from 180,000.
The days after elections are so much fun. Sort of like the day after Thanksgiving when the turkey and fixin’s get a chance to mature and mellow and the remembrance of a holiday is still fresh in the memory.
Well, at least it’s like that for the Republicans. They get a chance to gloat and tell the country just how much they’re loved and how the voters want them to change the tenor and direction of the debate in Washington and how the war on women didn’t work and Hispanics are more interested in the economy than immigration and that the president is not relevant any more and other things that, take a breath please, just aren’t true.
Democrats did a terrific job with those rose-tinted political spectacles on their noses hoping that the poll numbers were under-counting the young and African-American and female voters who were poised to spring out of their homes and rescue the party one final time before Obama takes his techno-laden GOTV effort back to… well, wherever he’s going come January 20, 2017.
What this election will be remembered for is that the South went all Republican, completing a 150 year flip from solidly Democratic and segregationist to solidly Republican and conservative. We can talk all we want about how diverse the country is becoming; the South is having none of it, even in Georgia where the left left its heart in the not very capable hands of the descendants of Carters and Nunns. What, none of the Mondales or McGoverns wanted to run? And who’s up next? A Clinton? We might need to rethink this one.
This election will also be remembered for how ordinary it turned out to be. The unpopular president’s party took a beating in his sixth year. Yawn.
The Republicans had better candidates who mentioned rape not once and found that they could win more votes than the Democrats who ran Usain Bolt-like from Obama. Yawn, roll over.
The right finally learned how to use the new media and mobile landscape to close the techno gap that the Democrats owned for two election cycles. Bound to happen. Yawn, toll over, hit the snooze button.
We also got the day-after sermons from the pulpit about how Boehner, McConnell and Obama will now learn to work with one another for the good of the country and find common ground on the major issues that concern Americans in their daily lives. And they said all of these things with straight faces.
What will really happen is that the Republicans will take out their pent-up frustrations with Harry Reid with laser-like precision, using their slim majority to pass as many bills as they can using reconciliation, which only requires 51 votes, rather than submitting legislation that could be filibustered. There will be no climate change regulations or carbon taxes, but we will get the XL Pipeline. There will be no immigration bill with a path to at least being able to stay in the country, but we will get a bigger, thicker, more secure fence in Arizona and New Mexico, ensuring that fruit prices will skyrocket because it will be rotting on the vines and in the fields for lack of pickers. We might even get some modifications to the ACA, but just enough to mess the law up for those who need it most. And we won’t get any judicial nominees through the Senate. Period.
The country will muddle through for the next two years with the economy continuing its slow $8.25 per hour recovery, states will continue to lead on marriage equality and legalization of marijuana, lower gas prices will help squeezed households, and technology will wow us anew with its ability to make us more productive and efficient.
This is no joke. If you’re in a hurry, New York City is not the place to drive. Beginning tomorrow, November 7th, speed limit in the big apple will be just 25MPH. Speeds so slow, you’ll probably be better off walking!
Get familiar with these signs New York. They were unveiled today by the NYC Dept of Transportation.
Ah fellow Americans. You guys actually thought turning over control of the Congress the people who broke it in the first place, would make Congress work? How backwards is that?
Well guess who got fooled again!
Rush Limbaugh made his feelings known yesterday, telling Republicans in Congress that governing should not be part of their job! According to the Republican kingpin, Republicans got control of the Congress on Tuesday night because Americans want America to stop progressing. And it is the Republican’s job to make sure all progress stop!
Well, like predicted, Limbaugh’s call is being answered and more conservative outlets are following his lead, demanding that elected Republican officials to do nothing.
National Review said the idea that Republicans now need to prove their ability to govern is bad politics. The editors mocked Sen. John Thune (R-SD), the No. 3 Republican in the Senate, for urging the GOP to work on issues like immigration reform, trade, and corporate tax reform.
“With all due respect to the senator and like-minded Republicans, this course of action makes no sense as a political strategy,” National Review wrote.
They argued that people don’t actually care about issues like trade. But mostly National Review said that trying to govern would just make the GOP vulnerable. Democrats will filibuster, Obama will veto, and the party will continue to divide between the Tea Party and the establishment.
Instead, it should be all about 2016.
“That means being a responsible party, to be sure, just as the conventional wisdom has it. But part of that responsibility involves explaining what Republicans stand for — what, that is, they would do if they had the White House. And outlining a governing agenda for the future is a different matter from trying to govern in 2015,” National Review wrote. “[N]ot much progress is possible until we have a better president. Getting one ought to be conservatism’s main political goal over the next two years.”
And don’t forget Obamacare!
“If more Republicans endorse an alternative like the one that Senators Hatch, Coburn, and Burr introduced, the party will simultaneously reassure conservatives that it has a plan for replacing Obamacare and the public at large that life after Obamacare won’t involve taking health insurance away from millions of people,” they wrote.
CSPAN got an earful of racism on Thursday when a Republican caller called the network to advise Republicans on their next move in Congress.
“I would just like to say, that the Republicans — and I’m a Republican — please do not overreach,” the caller began. “I know they’re going to overreach but I’m telling you, if you advocate for the repeal of Obamacare and you get too extreme, then Hillary Clinton will be elected President in 2016.”
“This is about race,” he added. “The Republicans hate that nigger Obama.”
Host Steve Scully quickly cut off the caller after he dropped the racial slur.
“Okay, I’m gonna stop you there,” Scully said. “We’re not gonna use that kind of language.”
“You can certainly make your point, but you cross the line when you use language like that,” he added. “And so to our viewers and listeners, I want to apologize.”
So yea, if you thought racism had something to do with the votes for Republicans on Tuesday, you might be right.
In case you haven’t heard the news, Americans had a massive dose of amnesia on Tuesday. They forgot which party got us into the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, they forgot which party was responsible for the great recession of 2008, they forgot which party shut down the government a year ago because they did not want Americans to have healthcare. And these Americans forgot which party is responsible for blocking every jobs bill the President and his party tried to implement.
So with this massive case of amnesia, the American people voted for the Republican party to run the United States Congress, and they also voted for more Republican governors!
Consider this your lesson in The Battered Woman Syndrome – she keeps going back to her abuser!
Well after Americans ran back to their Republican abusers Tuesday night, something miraculous happened. After years of blocking the president and the Democrats, Republicans suddenly began talking about “bipartisanship!” You know, like a real abuser does, ‘baby, I’m gonna change, it will never happen again!’ Republicans blocked progress in this country so much, doses of Drano couldn’t help. But winning Congress apparently opened their eyes and now, after almost 7 years of saying “NO” to everything, they want to say yes!
This is confusing to anyone who follows politics, and Jon Stewart’s confusion manifested itself in his last show.
In one of the clips Stewart showed on Wednesday’s program, Mitch McConnell – the same Republican who infamously said his only goal was to make President Obama a failure – after winning his re-election, McConnell was heard saying, “just because we have a two-party system doesn’t mean we have to be in perpetual conflict.”
I was like, HUH!?!
The look on Stewart’s face said it all. But his words in response to McConnell’s new found willingness to work with the President said even more than his facial expression.
“Who the fuck are you people?” Stewart asked.
“I gotta tell you, that sound bite would have been better not coming from the guy who for six years has been one of the sole owners and operators of this country’s Perpetual Conflictinators,” he added.
The Navy SEAL member who pumped the fatal bullets into Osama Bin Laden in a raid back in 2011, is going public in a Fox interview which will air on November 11th and November 12th, but UK’s Daily Mail has revealed his identity before the interview airs.
Robert O’Neill, a SEAL turned public speaker, has been named by the UK’s Daily Mail and the special operations community blog SOFrep.com as the member of SEAL Team 6 who fired the shots that killed bin Laden in a May 2011 raid on his compound in Abottabad, Pakistan.
O’Neill, a former senior chief, has earned two Silver Stars and four Bronze Stars with combat “V” among many other decorations, according to the Mail Online report. He left the service after 16 years.
Naval Special Warfare Command spokesman Lt. Cmdr. Mark Walton said he could not speculate on the identity of the Fox News interview subject. The command will respond after the interview airs, he said.
O’Neill and his family decided to reveal his role in the Navy SEAL’s most storied raid despite the risks. Tom O’Neill, Robert’s father, told the Mail Online, “People are asking if we are worried that ISIS will come and get us because Rob is going public. I say I’ll paint a big target on my front door and say come and get us.”
This revelation comes days after Rear Adm. Brian Losey, head of NSWC, and Force Master Chief Michael Magaraci issued a reminder to special warfare sailors to stay out of the limelight when it comes to their service.
“At Naval Special Warfare’s core is the SEAL ethos,” according to the letter, which was obtained by Navy Times. “A critical tenant of our ethos is ‘I do not advertise the nature of my work, nor seek recognition for my actions.’ Our ethos is a life-long commitment and obligation, both in and out of the service. Violators of our ethos are neither teammates in good standing, nor teammates who represent Naval Special Warfare.”
Seeing someone walking through Subway cars preaching is a common sight in New York. Commuters have learned to tune them in or tune them out depending on what these preachers have to say. But as far as I can remember, I’ve never seen anything quite like this.
The video below features a subway preacher and DeLaria (aka Big Boo) – the star of the hit show, Orange Is The New Black!
I have been quiet. I let the elections play out without writing inane predictions or coming up with facile “keys to victory” that you see on so many other blogs and media outlets. I let the candidates do what they felt was necessary to win, and even though I’m a cynic I felt that people wouldn’t want to elect a party that has obstructed every step of the way and that was responsible for the economic collapse that Obama has almost totally cleaned up. I mean I talk about how dumb many Americans are all of the time but I didn’t think they would be that dumb, that suicidal. Of course I was wrong.
Americans did elect Republicans, but not just enough to barely give them control of Congress but in a huge wave, no wait, a tsunami, and it wasn’t just the House and the Senate but in Gubernatorial races as well. There will be a Republican governor in Illinois and Maryland!! Watching the coverage of the returns I could only shake my head at the response from the millionaire pundits. They wanted to “dissect and analyze” the results. “What does this mean?” they questioned. “This is a total repudiation of Obama!” was of course the answer that right wing politicians and “strategists” gave. No wait….”This is just the way it goes for a President in the mid-term of his second term in office.” Just the way it goes.
The answer my loyal readers is obvious, simple. There is no need for hours, days, weeks, months of head scratching and “soul searching.” Americans are simply the dumbest creatures to roam the earth. That’s it. Am I disappointing you? Did you expect something more “high brow?” Andy Borowitz, the brilliant satirist for the New Yorker wrote one of his mock articles and the point was simply that Americans have the memory capacity of a gnat. But is this really the excuse? That they forgot that this was the party that caused the economic collapse that almost put in a depression? That this is the party of war that loved our time in Iraq and wanted more of it? That this is the party that tried and continues to try to take away health care from the millions that have acquired it through Obamacare? Did they really forget that this President has created jobs for over 60 straight months? That the stock market has doubled since he took office? That the deficit has been cut in more than half? That gas prices are lowest in ages, and the same goes for unemployment? That he got us out of two wars, killed Bin Laden, etc etc etc.??
People like the schizophrenic Chris Matthews thinks the people want to see jobs! You see to a guy like Matthews it’s all a game. A political game that has no real meaning in his life because he is rich and famous and will continue to be no matter what happens. Same goes for folks like Chuck Todd, and all of the morons on Fox News. It’s just a game. The real answers are ones they are not willing to give because they would lose their gigs if they did.
Americans are dumb yes, ignorant, yes, can’t remember what happened yesterday (which is I guess why they are dumb and ignorant.) But there is another element to this. Many people are just simply racist and evil. It doesn’t matter what the Republicans did to the country and it surely doesn’t matter what Obama has done to bring us back. This is the revenge of the racists. They knew that blacks (and I will get to you folks in a minute!) weren’t going to vote the way they did when Obama was heading the ticket so this was their chance. No way to negate their racist votes this time! Same goes to the young voters (got yours coming as well!). So they pounced. Seized the moment. They registered their disgust at a black President. Of course not one pundit came anywhere close to talking about this. Watching MSNBC, I knew that Al Sharpton was seething. You could see it on his face. He had every right. Not only had the racists won, but his own people had let him down.
His own people. There is NO WAY IN HELL if Chicago comes out to vote that a Republican is elected Governor there, same goes for Baltimore in Maryland. Both have heavily black populations. So you see, the racists were able to win almost everywhere they wanted. How does it feel? You guys love to talk about marching, and stand your ground, and Trayvon and Mike Brown, and FUCK YOU! And I can say all of this because I VOTED! I can talk down because I now have the right. If you didn’t vote you can just sit there and read this and take it. Same goes for the young voters who don’t think mid-terms are important enough to pull them away from their sexting. Up yours as well!
Then again maybe I’m being a bit harsh. I mean blacks shouldn’t be called upon to be the saviors of racist America time and again. They shouldn’t have to be. A guy like Obama shouldn’t have to rely on those votes to win. Same goes for the Democrats. Not in a normal country anyway. There was a poll that said it all..in the USA there are still 43 percent of the electorate that believes abortion should be illegal. 43 PERCENT! In the year 2014. This shows the evil and ignorance that slithers here. Go find another civilized nation and find out what that number is. If they even need to have such a poll in any normal country.
The evil and ignorance and racism was on full display on election night. The black man must be punished, he must be shown that it was a mistake for him to ever run for office in the first place. We’ll teach him. They were upset they couldn’t literally hang him anymore but hey second best was to figuratively hang him. Hang the Republicans around his neck instead of a rope.
That’s what happened pundits. It wasn’t about policies or politics. There was no “thought process” with the voters. No need to twist things into a hundred different shapes to try and come up with a reasoning. There was however another problem. This one is age old and will probably never change. Democrats are huge gaping pussies. They have zero backbone. They are weak and feckless and disgusting.
Instead of running on the great record of one of the most successful Presidents of all time, running on such little things as record job growth, record stock markets, lowest gas prices in years, lowest unemployment in years and of course that small accomplishment known as Obamacare which gave millions upon millions the option of actually seeing a doctor and going to the hospital without, you know..dying instead. No they not only didn’t even mention any of that stuff but they actually avoided Obama like the plague, like he was George W. Bush! Grimes, that lame ass woman who ran against the rooster head, wouldn’t even say that she had voted for Obama! I mean how feckless can you be?! By the way, most of the female Dem candidates were just as lame and as useless as the male candidates this time around. Hey I have a great idea. I know it’s groundbreaking and all but here it goes…how about we nominate the BEST candidates?! Hey!! What a fucking idea! How about we nominate people like Alan Grayson of Florida, who aren’t afraid to embrace Obama and his policies??
Guess what? He won! In Florida! Guess who also won? Pretty much anyone who didn’t run away from the President. Guess who lost? Everyone who did. Don’t worry though, all of those campaign advisers will still make millions, write books and be fine. Same goes for the candidates. Republicans never seem to have a problem with embracing their leaders and touting their policies but not Democrats. As Will Rogers once said, “I don’t belong to any organized political party, I’m a Democrat.”
What the Democratic candidates did was simple. They ran away from the black man. As though their lives were at stake. As though he had a shank. They were as racist as the ignorant voters. This is another reason why so many Dems stayed home, so many black voters.
So I say this… There is nothing to lose now. Nothing at all. This President needs to give the Republicans and the racist voters what they have been afraid of all along. The angry black man.
He needs to come out with a huge chain of bling around his neck. A huge chain with four letters spelled out as big as possible. V E T O.
Anything less and his great legacy will dissolve into a big puddle of nothingness.
A day after his Republican party took control of Congress, Rush Limbaugh went on his radio show and began laying down the law, telling Republicans what he expects from them over the next few years – not to govern, but to stop President Obama and any other progress this country expected.
“It is rare that a political party running for office in a midterm election not standing for anything ends up with a mandate, and they have one, and it is the biggest and perhaps the most important mandate a political party has had in the recent era, and it is very simple what that mandate is,” Limbaugh said Wednesday morning. “It is to stop Barack Obama. It is to stop the Democrats. There is no other reason why Republicans were elected yesterday. Republicans were not elected to govern.”
In fact, Limbaugh said it would be impossible to “govern” with a president in office who “disobeys the Constitution” and “is demonstrably lawless.”
“Yesterday’s result cannot in any way mean that voters want Republicans to work with Democrats,” Limbaugh said. “And anybody who tells you that and anybody who thinks that could not be more dangerously wrong.”
Mark my words. Despite the “coming together” rhetoric from the Republicans now that they control Congress, this point of view by Rush Limbaugh will soon permeate the GOP landfill and every elected Republican official will use this talking-point as their excuse not to govern. Expect to hear these Republicans say, we were not elected to govern, but to stop the Democrats!
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