Year: 2014

Categories
Politics

The Republican Who is Waging a #WarOnVeterans Is Not Backing Down


Photo:(AP/Susan Walsh)

Richard Burr sold lawnmowers. That is what he did. Not that anything’s wrong with selling lawnmowers, but in Burr’s case it speaks volume when you consider what he does now.

Burr was never in the military, had never worn a military uniform, never saw combat of any kind. But thanks to the brilliant thinking of the Republican leaders in Congress, Richard Burr’s lack of military background or expertise somehow made him a perfect candidate as the Ranking member on Veterans affairs. Burr is in charge of the Veteran’s affairs.

Senator Lawnmower, as he is affectionately called by Rachel Maddow, chose Memorial weekend to attack veterans groups, writing an “open letter” to the various groups accusing them of politicking with veterans affairs instead of doing what’s best for America’s bravest. In his letter, Burr hammered the various groups, claiming that they “ignored the constant VA problems expressed by their members and is more interested in their own livelihoods and Washington connections than they are to the needs of their own members.”

Of course, the groups had a lot to say about Burr’s letter, and on Memorial weekend, these Veterans groups were in their own war with the Republican senator. I guess you can say that this Republican is waging a #WarOnVeterans!

Given a chance to apologize for his insensitive remarks in the letter, Burr instead doubled down.

“I absolutely stand by my statement,” the North Carolina Republican said in an email to POLITICO, referring to his controversial open letter blasting some of the organizations for not pressing for the ouster of Secretary Eric Shinseki in the wake of the VA scandal.

“In fact, the reaction from some of the Veterans Service Organizations —VFW, DAV, and PVA — seems to prove my point: their national leadership are far more outraged by my words than they have been about the VA scandal or Secretary [Eric] Shinseki’s mismanagement of the agency,” he added, referring to the Veterans of Foreign Wars, Disabled American Veterans and the Paralyzed Veterans of America.

“How many Inspector General, Special Counsel, GAO, and Medical Inspector reports does it take to spur outrage and prompt action? Their position is even harder to understand in light of the statements made by the American Legion, Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, Concerned Veterans for America, and others.”
This one ain’t over folks. I put my money on the Veterans over a Republican any day!

Categories
Barack Obama Maya Angelou Politics

Dr. Maya Angelou on President Obama – “I think he has done a remarkable job…”

In 2011, President Obama awarded Maya Angelou with America’s highest civilian honor – a Presidential Medal of Freedom.

A year later, Dr. Angelou praised the job President Obama had done to that point, while criticizing the block party that is the Republican party.

In an interview with The Guardian, she said, “I think he has done a remarkable job, knowing how much he has been opposed. Every suggestion he makes, the Republicans en mass fight against him or don’t vote at all.”

According to her family, Dr. Maya Angelou passed away at her home. She was 86 years old.


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h/t the grio

Categories
News

Nigeria – Kidnapped Girls Found, But Not Rescued

The Guardian is reporting that Nigeria’s military knows where the more than 200 girls abducted by Boko Haram are but has ruled out using force to rescue them, the state news agency quoted chief of defence staff Air Marshal Alex Badeh as saying on Monday.

Seven weeks since Boko Haram militants abducted more than 200 girls taking exams in a secondary school in the remote northeastern village of Chibok and little is known of their whereabouts or what exactly the military is doing to get them out.

“The good news for the parents of the girls is that we know where they are, but we cannot tell you,” Badeh was quoted as saying. “But where they are held, can we go there with force? We can’t kill our girls in the name of trying to get them back.”

Most officials think any raid to rescue them would be fraught with danger and probably not worth the risk that the girls would be killed by their captors – an Islamist group that has shown a degree of ruthlessness in killing civilians.

Categories
Celebrities dead Maya Angelou RIP

Breaking: Maya Angelou Dead at The Age of 86 – RIP

According to her agent, Helen Brann, the noted author and poet died near her home in Winston-Salem, North Carolina early this morning.

“She’d been very frail and had heart problems, but she was going strong, finishing a new book,” Brann told ABC News. “I spoke to her yesterday. She was fine, as she always was. Her spirit was indomitable.”

Categories
Gun Control Politics Texas

The Little Men With Big Guns Causing Huge Headaches in Texas

In Texas, little men with big guns need a law to authorized their little egos. But the good people of the state are speaking up for their right to peacefully assemble and eat at a restaurant without the unnecessary, legally justified intimidation of these little men and their little egos, and their big guns.

It would be an understatement to say that the tactics of gun rights activists have been backfiring of late. The showdown has taken place foremost in Texas, where in recent months groups such as Open Carry Texas have conducted provocative demonstrations in which armed men exercise their right under state law to carry semi-automatic rifles in public. No fewer than five national food and beverage chains have now told them to get rid of their guns or get lost, including Starbucks, Wendy’s, Applebees, Jack in the Box, and Chipotle.

And now Chili’s and Sonic have effectively joined the list: Two videos posted on YouTube on May 19 by the San Antonio chapter of Open Carry Texas—since removed from public view but obtained by Mother Jones—show its armed members being refused service at both restaurants. The two companies have not made official statements on open carry but have since indicated that they are reviewing their policies. [See update below.] From the nervous and angry reactions of some patrons to comments from some of the gun activists themselves, it’s not difficult to see why these spectacles haven’t been winning many people over.

Categories
Gun Control Politics shooting

New Shooting Complements the NRA – 3 Year Old Shoots 18 Month Old in Head

So now, another senseless shooting. This time, a 3-year-old shoots an 18-month-old in the head. I guess the Republicans would say the 3-year-old had mental issues that need to be addressed.

In Payson, Arizona, a town just two hours northeast of Phoenix, a toddler accidentally shot his younger sibling in the head at a residence. According to the Payson Police Department, a 3-year-old boy found a gun in a home he was visiting with his family, then shot his 18-month-old sibling in the head.

At this point, the condition of the baby is not available.

The investigation is just beginning, according to AZFamily. 

Categories
Politics racist Republican

Republicans Lose One Of Their Own – Racist Cliven Bundy Now an Independent

Photo by George Frey/Getty Images

I think this is the Republicans’ way of re-branding their party – getting rid of the racists… but, who will be left after all the racists are gone?

LAS VEGAS — Southern Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy no longer is a Republican. Bundy, who is embroiled in a dispute over grazing with the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, has switched his affiliation to the Independent American Party.
He and his wife, Carol, signed registration forms to the cheers of supporters at an Independent American Party gathering in Las Vegas on Friday night.

The event was held to honor Bundy for what organizers called “his courage in standing up for state sovereignty.”

Categories
Featured mass murders Politics sandyhook shooting

Gabby Giffords Again Urges Congress to Act on Gun Violence

Gabrielle Giffords and her husband, Mark Kelly
Photo: AP

I am of course, a supporter of Gabby’s efforts to get something done on the issue of gun violence. But the fact is, she was a member of Congress, she got shot in the head and you would think that if nothing else caused the gun lovers in congress to act, seeing one of their own suffer would prompt them to do something. But Gabby’s calls for action from her former co-workers have fallen on deaf ears!

In a letter to her SuperPAC, Gabby once again begged Congress to do something to curb gun violence. “These mass shootings are too often followed by stories about the perpetrator’s history of severe mental illness,” Kelly wrote, “Thankfully, taking action on mental health and protecting women from gun violence are issues that Democrats and Republicans can agree on — despite the filibuster of expanded background checks last year.”

“Congress must stop hiding behind the excuse of politics and take up this issue to ensure the dangerously mentally ill don’t have easy access to guns and to protect women from gun death and intimidation,” she said.

Gabby is not giving up. And it is my hope that something will be done before the next mass murder happens. But then again, I’ve had this same hope after the last eight mass shootings.

Categories
Gun Control Politics

Fox News Guest Loses Job After Making Dumb Statement About UCSB Shooting on Fox

First, Robi Ludwig went on Fox News after the shooting in California and said that the mass shooting could have been caused by the shooter not being able to cope with his “homosexual impulses.”

Ludwig, a spokesperson for Coldwell Banker, apparently did not check with her employer before making that statements. After her appearance on the Fox, a concerned viewer shared Ludwig’s statement with Coldwell Banker. The viewer – Scott Wooledge – also asked, “I believe she is a spokesperson of yours, correct?”

Coldwell replied with this: “Dr. Robi’s comments on the tragedy in Santa Barbara do not represent the opinions of Coldwell Banker. Therefore at this time we feel it best to part ways with her as our lifestyle real estate correspondent.”

Categories
Featured Politics shooting

Joe The Plumber to Families of Gun Violence – “your dead kids don’t trump my Constitutional rights”

The famous Republican plumber, who is not a real plumber but definitely a real Republican, has a message for the families of those killed in what is slowly becoming this nation’s favorite passtime – mass shootings.

To the families of those killed, Joe says who gives a damn if you lost your child is gunned down? As long as you don’t touch my rights to carry a gun.

Okay, so he didn’t say it in those exact words, but here’s what he did say;

It’s a tragedy.

I am sorry you lost your child. I myself have a son and daughter and the one thing I never want to go through, is what you are going through now. But:

As harsh as this sounds – your dead kids don’t trump my Constitutional rights.

Joe’s statement was made in an open letter he wrote to the families of those killed in gun violence. In his open letter, Joe summarizes the NRA’s position, that the guns are never the problem, something else is always to be blamed for mass shootings.

In the most recent mass shooting in California where one man massacred six people before killing himself, Joe, congressional Republicans and the NRA argues that a mental disorder was the culprit. They then insist that everything must be done to better monitor those with mental health issues, but whatever is done cannot include putting any restrictions or regulations on these people or their ability to get more guns.

Those restrictions or regulations they claim, would mean taking away everyone’s Second Amendment rights, you know, the right to be a well regulated melitia.

So protect their constitutional right to follow the Second Amendment, except that pesky part about being “well regulated.” That part… let’s just pretend it doesn’t exist.

Categories
Michelle Obama Politics

Republicans Attack First Lady’s Healthy Lunch Program for School Kids – Pure #Insanity

What’s messed up is having the First Lady of the United States placed in a position where she has to defend her efforts to make kids eat healthier. What is this world coming to, when eating healthy is now the wrong thing to do?

That is the new fight the Republicans are on. They have figured out a way to attack and undercut Michelle Obama’s efforts in her “Let’s Move” program. Their goal is to allow schools to opt out of the healthy lunch program the First Lady is pushing.

First lady Michelle Obama is answering Republicans in Congress who want to roll back healthier school meal standards.

At a roundtable at the White House this afternoon with nutrition experts and school administrators, Obama praised the new guidelines and disparaged Republican efforts to undercut them.

‘This is unacceptable,’ Obama said.

The event is an unusual move for the first lady, who has largely stayed away from policy fights since she lobbied for congressional passage of the child nutrition law that gave the U.S. Department of Agriculture the authority to make reforms to the school lunch program in 2010.

Sam Kass, director of Mrs. Obama’s Let’s Move initiative to combat childhood obesity, said a Republican bill that would allow schools to opt out of the standards is ‘a real assault’ on administration efforts to make foods healthier for kids.

Kass, who is a White House chef, said the event is an attempt to point out the successes of some schools that have implemented the standards, which were set by the Obama administration and Congress over the past several years.

School nutrition officials from across the country will speak about how well the standards are working in their schools.

‘She wants to have a conversation about what is really happening out in the country,’ as opposed to Washington, Kass said. ‘These standards are working.’

Categories
mass shooting Politics

More Mass Shootings, Same Old Non-Response from Congress

Photo: Lucy Nicholson/Reuters

And this is the way things will be until we get a Congress brave enough to take on the NRA.

After the shooting at University of California, Santa Barbara on Friday, a rampage that left six students dead, many parents and politicians found the federal government’s past responses to similar tragedies to be one of the culprits. “Have we learned nothing?” Richard Martinez, father of one of the victims, said. “These things are going to continue until somebody does something, so where the hell is the leadership?”

Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Calif.) had a similar response on CBS’s Face the Nation. “Congress will be complicit if we fail to act.”

The statements felt familiar — we’ve heard similar exhortations for Congress to pass new gun legislation after many mass shootings. However, we also hear arguments for loosening gun restrictions, arguments that have proved far more successful. Since 13 people were killed at Columbine High School in 1999, Congress has passed one major law strengthening gun control in the aftermath of a mass shooting.

In other words, it doesn’t matter how many Americans lose their lives in senseless mass shootings, as long as Congress keep their jobs, everything’s okay.

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