Year: 2015

Categories
Barack Obama George Bush Politics

Pure Insanity – George Bush More Popular than Barack Obama

Call it pure Insanity or just American stupidity. The man whose policies erased a surplus and dragged this country into the second great depression while losing 700,000 jobs a month, is seen more favorably than the man whose policies added over 11 million jobs to the economy so far, brought the unemployment rate to the lowest it’s been in years and brought health care to millions of Americans… just to name a few.

I’ll call this the true definition of pure, unadulterated American stupidity.

A new CNN/ORC poll reveals that 52 percent of Americans see Mr. Bush positively, while 43 percent do not. In contrast, 49 percent view Mr. Obama favorably, while 49 percent do not. That makes Obama the least-popular president among all his predecessors today.

“The second term doldrums do exist, but time does seem to heal all,” Douglas Astolfi, a professor of history at Saint Leo University, summed up CNN’s findings.

Presidents and the economy: Who was best, worst? Take our quiz.
Obama’s numbers are down as dramatically as Bush’s are up. In January 2009, shortly after Bush left and Obama entered office, only 35 percent of Americans viewed Bush favorably, while Obama enjoyed stratospheric approval ratings of 78 percent

Categories
Healthcare ObamaCare

Republican Deception on Obamacare Replacement EXPOSED

Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), speaks at the socially conservative Faith and Freedom Coalition "Road to Majority" conference in Washington D.C. on June 20, 2014. McCarthy is the Majority Leader-elect of the United States House of Representatives, elected on June 19, 2014 to replace outgoing Majority Leader Eric Cantor, who will leave the Leader position on July 31, 2014. (Photo by Jeff Malet)
Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), speaks at the socially conservative Faith and Freedom Coalition “Road to Majority” conference in Washington D.C. on June 20, 2014. (Photo by Jeff Malet)

Republicans are in full control. They now control the House of Representatives and the Senate, and have promised their base to expect fast, sweeping changes to Obamacare when the new legislative session began in January. Much was said and many anticipated seeing a glimpse of the Republican healthcare plan, but so far, nothing. And from the looks of it, nothing will happen in the near future.

A piece written on Salon looked at this Republican quagmire and correctly called it a “massive deception” by congressional Republicans. The piece dug deep and uncovered the reason Republicans promised their version of the ‘Obamacare replacement,’ but failed to deliver. And according to Salon, the reason of course, is Politics.

Speaker John Boehner went on Fox News and promised that his party would agree on an Obamacare replacement plan and that it would come up for a vote before the year was out. “There will be an alternative,” he said, “and you’re going to get to see it.” House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy also got in on the act, announcing the creation of “a new working group” consisting of Reps. Paul Ryan, Fred Upton, and John Kline that would “continue to build on patient-centered health care solutions with which to replace Obamacare.”

In keeping with the tired conventions of official Washington, these statements and actions were directed at the “hardworking taxpayers” who were at risk from “the fallout of Obamacare.” But the real intended audience was far smaller: the five conservative justices on the Supreme Court. The high court had, at that point, already agreed to hear arguments in King v. Burwell, the case that threatens to invalidate health insurance subsidies to the majority of states. Republicans obviously wanted the court to endorse the dodgy, bad-faith arguments brought by the plaintiffs, but they also had to consider the implications of a ruling against the ACA. If the subsidies were struck down, the insurance markets in those states would descend into chaos and put people’s lives at risk, and that might give the conservative justices pause.

So, they started sending every signal they could that the Republicans in Congress would be ready to cope with the pandemonium of a ruling against the ACA. McCarthy’s statement announcing the healthcare working group said that it would “develop a contingency plan… to enact in case the Supreme Court rules in King v. Burwell that Obamacare subsidies offered on the federal exchange are illegal.” The message was perfectly clear for those inclined to listen: don’t worry, pull the trigger, we got this.

The day before oral arguments in the case began in March, the three working group members published an op-ed laying out in determinedly vague terms the principles for their Obamacare “off-ramp” proposal. After the oral arguments, the working group released a statement saying “we will be ready to act” if the court rules for the plaintiffs. That was three months ago. The court’s ruling is expected to be released very soon. So where is the “contingency plan” majority leader McCarthy said would be forthcoming back in January?

Well, apparently he’s of a different mind now over whether it’s right and proper for the House working group to weigh in before the Supreme Court has actually released its ruling. According to the Wall Street Journal:

Mr. McCarthy told reporters Monday that Republicans would be prepared regardless of what the court decides, but that they would not unveil a proposal before a ruling.

“Don’t expect us to pre-determine the Supreme Court. We have to first see what their decision is and what we have to solve,” Mr. McCarthy said. Republicans still might release outlines of their response, but not a formal bill, an aide said.

Categories
Politics

AFL- CIO Say Hillary Clinton Might Lose Union’s Endorsement

AFL-CIO president Richard Trumka told USA Today that Clinton, who has so far refused to say where she stands on the deal, will have to say where she is – and warned if she doesn’t stand with them on the issue, she may lose out on their endorsement.

“She’s going to have to answer that,” he said. “I think she won’t be able to go through a campaign without answering that and people will take it seriously and it will affect whether they vote for her or don’t vote for her.”

Trumka warned that if Clinton does back the 13-country deal known as the Trans-Pacific Partnership “it will be tougher to mobilize working people.”

He also said it’s “conceivable” that the 12 million-member AFL-CIO might not endorse a presidential candidate “if both candidates weren’t interested in raising wages and creating jobs.”

Categories
Death Penalty News Politics

The New Kansas-Nebraska Acts

It’s been an interesting week in the conservative heartland. Nebraska legislators overturned the governor’s veto and abolished the death penalty, while in Kansas, the state legislature is thinking about raising taxes  because, well, that old conservative orthodoxy that says you can cut taxes and spur economic growth doesn’t seem to be working. Even would-be conservatives like Governor Chris Christie are paying the price for slow growth, and Christie still wants to cut taxes.

But there’s more. In a new Gallup survey, the number of people who consider themselves socially liberal has caught up to those who say they are socially conservative, a large jump from previous polls. Couple this with the news that younger Evangelical Christians are more socially progressive than their elders and you have the beginnings of the swing back to the middle this country so desperately needs.

The fever, it seems, might be breaking after all.

This was inevitable, as social and political shifts have been occurring approximately every 30 years. What began in the 1980s as a swing to the right, with Ronald Reagan’s presidency and gained momentum and roots with the conservative takeover of the Republican Party during the 1990s has evidently peaked and is now poised for a slow decline that will gain speed as a new generation of voters – who tend to be more progressive – participates in greater numbers. I certainly remember moderate Republicans and conservative Democrats in the 1960s and 70s, and I look for them to return sometime soon.

The main problem for the Republicans is that this new attitude might not save them for the 2016 presidential race. Social conservatives who vote in large numbers tend to be older than the new progressives, and they turn out for primaries. That’s why somewhat more moderate candidates, such as George Pataki and Chris Christie, will find it difficult to gain traction. But that movement away from the far right will also doom Rick Santorum and Rick Perry. Rand Paul could benefit, but my sense is that he’s ahead of the GOP curve. By 2024, he could be the mainstream nominee.

What we are seeing is the beginning of a new alignment that will take a couple of election cycles to define itself. How each party reacts to this is key, but the effects on the country will be real.

For more, go to www.facebook.com/WhereDemocracyLives or Twitter @rigrundfest

Categories
Newt Gingrich Politics

Former Republican House Speaker Accused of Sexually Abusing Another Male

Oh these Republicans have balls!

It is common knowledge that while Newt Gingrich masterminded the impeachment of President Bill Clinton for having an affair with Monica Lewinsky, Gingrich himself was busy having an affair of his own. And it is common knowledge that while Clinton was being impeached for said affair, another Republican leader, Rep. Bob Livingston of Louisiana, had to step down from being House Leader because he too was involved in multiple affairs.

Balls, right? Yea, I know.

But that’s not the end of if. Apparently, the biggest balls of all go to the next Republican who took over as House Speaker and became the longest-serving Republican House speaker in U.S. history, Dennis Hastert. It is now being revealed that Hastert had a secret of his own, and his secret was big… very big. Big enough that Hastert felt it was necessary to pay $3.5 million to a blackmailer to keep the secret… secret.

What was Hastert’s secret? Was it sexual in nature? Hell yea! He is a Republican after all. But unlike the sexual nature of his predecessors Newt and Livingston, Hastert’s sexual secret involved another man who might have been underage when Hastert had sex with him.

“It goes back a long way,” said one official discussing the recent seven-page indictment against Hastert.

On Friday, federal law enforcement dropped the anvil when they revealed that Hastert paid $1.7 million of the $3.5 million to a male he’s accused of sexually abusing when the boy was his student in Illinois.

And if they can all do it over, I’m sure Gingrich, Livingston and Hastert would all impeach Bill Clinton again for his affair with Monica Lewinsky.

Balls!

Categories
Politics

Martin O’ Malley’s Presidential Announcement – Video

Martin O’Malley joins Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders as the third officially announced Democrat running for president in 2016.

Categories
Politics

Going Nowhere Fast – 5 GOP Hopefuls Tied for 1st Place

How fast can the clown car go with five clowns sitting in the driver’s seat? I don’t know. I’m not a Republican.

A new poll released on Thursday tells the tale of The Five.

The group, which includes former Florida governor Jeb Bush, who has yet to declare his candidacy, and Senator Marco Rubio, was clustered at 10 percent support each, with none beating Clinton in head-to-head matchups.

Also bunched at the top, according to the Quinnipiac University poll, are three arch-conservatives: Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker; former Arkansas governor, onetime preacher and Fox television show host Mike Huckabee; and retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson, the only likely African-American in the crowded Republican field.

Libertarian-leaning Senator Rand Paul, in the spotlight recently for his opposition to the US government’s controversial surveillance of millions of Americans, earned seven percent, while rival Senator Ted Cruz came in at six percent and business magnate Donald Trump received five percent.

Categories
arrested child porn Politics

Another Conservative Arrested for Owning and Distributing Kiddie Porn

May 22, 2015 - Brooklyn, NY: Joseph Hayon, a Brooklyn politician running for a city council seat, is arraigned at Brooklyn Criminal Court for possession of child pornography.
May 22, 2015 – Brooklyn, NY: Joseph Hayon, a Brooklyn politician running for a city council seat, is arraigned at Brooklyn Criminal Court for possession of child pornography.

This is straight from the morally superior depleted Republican party.

An ultra-conservative one-time Brooklyn city council candidate — whose campaign slogan was “Our children are our future” — has been nabbed for possessing and sharing kiddie porn, prosecutors said Friday.

Joseph Hayon, 37, was arrested Thursday and admitted to police that he traded the sick pics of kids between the ages of 2 and 12 in December 2014 using his email account ArtModel@juno.com, according to a criminal complaint.

At his arraignment in Brooklyn Criminal Court, prosecutors said a tip led police to search Hayon’s Midwood home, where the stash of child porn was found.

Cops confiscated Hayon’s two laptops, five desktops, video camera, Samsung cellphone and one DVD, prosecutors said.

He was also slapped with an order of protection Friday barring him from coming in contact with his four children, ages 9, 7, 4 and 15 months. He was released on $50,000 bail.

“I can’t comment, my lawyer told me not to talk,” a scruffy Hayon, clad in a yarmulke, button-down and khakis, told reporters when he was released.

When asked whether his wife, Batya, tipped cops off to his disgusting behavior, he only said, “Definitely not my wife.”

Categories
Domestic Policies Foreign Policies Healthcare News Politics Wisconsin Union Bashing

Afraid of Rubio? They All Scare Me.

Ooohhh! Scary!!! Yes, The New York Times reported last week that many Democrats are most afraid of a presidential match-up between Hillary and…Marco Rubio.

Scary!!!

And why? Because…he has a story! Scary!!! And he’s good looking. And he’s a good speaker. And he’s Hispanic and his father came here from Cuba and he won big time races in Florida. And he was once friends with Jeb Bush who might or might not have promised not to run for president in 2016, which would have opened a spot for Rubio but Jeb evidently doubled back on that maybe promise and now Marco’s really really really scary angry.

Scary!!!

So why am I so, you know, cool about this whole thing? One reason is that once GOP primary voters wake up they’ll realize that Rubio represents everything the Republicans oppose in…Obama. Scary!!!

One term Senator. Check
Makes a good speech. Check
In his 40s. Check
Supports an immigration overhaul that, scary, would lead to a path to legal status. Check
Not a lot of foreign policy experience. Check

Another reason is that the GOP base wants a bona-fide conservative with a record of tax cutting, union-busting and border fence building and that’s not Rubio.

But aside from that, Democrats should not be singularly afraid of any one candidate. They should be quaking in their boots at the thought of any of the announced or near-announced candidates becoming president. All of them have pledged tax breaks for the wealthy and lower taxes for corporations. They’ve all pledged to repeal the Affordable Care Act with no credible plan to replace it, keep health care costs down, or to continue to cover those who have already signed up for care. Each one would either strongly advocate for, or at least tolerate, religious objection laws for marriage equality and contraception coverage. They would all mandate government interference in women’s reproductive health issues. They oppose higher minimum wages and believe that public workers pensions are negotiable or expendable. And none of them has any credible plan for world order other than genuflecting in front of Benjamin Netanyahu and calling for American troops on the ground in Iraq and Syria. Not to mention climate change denial and the unwavering support of the NRA.

That’s a frightening collection of misguided and misbegotten policies that were derided in the 1980s as outlandish pipe dreams, the subjects of journal articles in the 1990s, adopted as the GOP platform in the aughts and now, as mainstream political thought in the teens.

Making any of them a reality? Scary.

For more, go to www.facebook.com/WhereDemocracyLives or Twitter @rigrundfest

Categories
Entertainment

The Avengers – The Redneck Edition – Video

From the good ole folks over at Bad Lip Reading, this is The Redneck’s edition of The Avenges.

Categories
Celebrities

David Letterman’s Set Thrown in a Dumpster Hours After his Goodbye Show

David Letterman spent 33 years hosting what has become an iconic show,  but just hours after Letterman said goodbye to The Late Show, CBS wasted no time in kicking David Letterman’s set to the curb.

Sentimental fans gathered outside the Ed Sullivan Theater on Thursday to watch as stagehands unceremoniously crushed and sawed through iconic pieces of the “Late Show” backdrop the day after the final show.

“I can’t believe they’re just demolishing the whole thing. It’s shocking,” said Stephanie Strausz, of Manhattan, who scored a second-row ticket to Wednesday’s star-studded finale.

“It should go in the Smithsonian, not the Dumpster,” she said.

Strausz was one of many “Late Show” lovers who successfully snagged a keepsake from a theater Dumpster that overflowed with red audience seats and bits of the bridges that made up the set behind Letterman’s desk.

More than a dozen fans waited for the workers and security to clear out Thursday evening before descending on the talk-show trash like vultures, scavenging for salvageable relics.

“Show business. They don’t waste much time,” executive producer Rob Burnett said via Instagram, next to a photo he took of the gutted theater.
There were a few things stagehands carefully carried out, including Letterman’s on-air desk — which was covered in bubble wrap and headed for the Smithsonian — a replica of the George Washington Bridge, loaded into a van, and furniture and instruments belonging to band leader Paul Shaffer.

Most of the costumes and some props were sent to a costume warehouse in Yonkers.

Categories
Politics Tamir Rice

Report – Cleveland Police Charged 12 Year Old Tamir Rice with “Aggravated Menacing”

Tamir Rice was cut down, killed by Cleveland police before he turned 13 years old. The 12-year-old was shot and killed by police in less than 3 seconds after they encounter the minor in a park. And now, months after they killed the boy, it is being reported the Cleveland police filed charges against Tamir in an apparent attempt to justify killing him.

Cleveland police charged 12-year-old Tamir Rice with “aggravated menacing” and “inducing panic,” according to documents published by the Daily Kos on Wednesday.

The incident report is dated Nov. 29, 2014, a week after Rice was fatally shot by 26-year-old Officer Timothy Loehmann within two seconds of encountering him at a local park. Neither Loehmann nor 46-year-old Officer Frank Garmback, who also responded to the call, administered medical treatment immediately following the shooting.

The document lists a “facsimile firearm” as part of the case narrative. Loehmann killed Rice believing him to be carrying an actual weapon. However, emergency dispatchers were originally told that the Airsoft rifle the boy had with him at the time was “probably fake.” Footage from the scene also shows the officers handcuffing Rice’s sister.

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