The shooting happened yesterday but already, Harry Reid is shutting down Senate action on gun control.
“We don’t have the votes. I hope to get them, but we don’t have them now,” Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said on Tuesday when asked if the Senate would revisit a bill to tighten background checks after Monday’s shootings. The Senate rejected a similar measure in April.
That measure failed by five votes — Reid switched his “yes” vote to “no” in a procedural move that permits him to bring the proposal up again. On Tuesday, Reid said that he might consider revisiting a separate, limited bill that would exclusively address mental health issues.
“Anything we can do to focus attention on the senseless killings that take place,” Reid said. “That’s something we will look at.”
On Monday, the tone of frustration with Congress’ inaction on gun legislation came from the very top, as President Barack Obama deplored that “we are confronting yet another mass shooting.”
“We’re going to be investigating thoroughly what happened, as we do so many of these shootings, sadly, that have happened, and do everything that we can to try to prevent them,” he added.
Obama made no mention of another push in Congress — and White House press secretary Jay Carney added to the impression of congressional stalemate at his briefing not long afterward.
“We will continue to work to take action to reduce gun violence in this country through executive action, and hopefully Congress will take action to reduce gun violence as well,” Carney told reporters.
(AP) — In a blistering warning to congressional Republicans, President Barack Obama said Monday it would be the “height of irresponsibility” for lawmakers to cause a new economic crisis just five years after the near-collapse of the nation’s financial system.
“I cannot remember a time when one faction of one party promises economic chaos if it can’t get 100 percent of what it wants,” Obama said, contending that the stance of some conservative lawmakers amount to just that.
Some of those Republicans say they will vote to extend current spending levels or to increase the nation’s debt ceiling only if Obama delays putting in place his health care law, a condition Obama has rejected. Others say that scheduled spending cuts should stay in place to reduce the deficit, while Obama wants the “sequestration” cuts reworked.
The president spoke at a White House event pegged to the fifth anniversary of the bankruptcy of the Lehman Brothers investment bank, which marked the beginning of a global financial crisis. The White House used the anniversary to lay out the president’s markers for upcoming fiscal fights with Congress over funding the government and raising the nation’s debt limit.
Obama reiterated his refusal to negotiate with Republicans over the debt ceiling. And he called on Congress to “pass a budget without drama.”
On Sunday night, Nina Davuluri beat out 52 other contestants to become the first Indian-American woman to seize the Miss America title.
“Thank you so much,” the aspiring doctor, 24, said through tears, as last year’s titleholder Mallory Hagan crowned her in Atlantic City’s Boardwalk Hall.
Competing on a platform of “celebrating diversity,” Davuluri performed a fusion of classical Indian and Bollywood-style dancing in a dazzling red and turquoise ensemble after momentarily missing her stage cue.
During her interview, she was asked about Julie Chen’s decision to have surgery in order to further her career. “Unfortunately, I don’t agree with plastic surgery,” responded Davuluri, who graduated from the University of Michigan. “Be confident in who you are.
In case you missed it, there’s a terrific piece on Governor Christie in the New Jersey media. Written by columnist Tom Moran, it lays bare the basic fact that although Christie has benefited from disaster, he’s actually been a disaster as governor.
The basics:
Essentially, New Jersey has experienced failure at almost every level by which a politician is measured. And the one area where Christie got help from Democrats, on a pension and benefits bill that weakened collective bargaining and will eventually force public workers from their jobs, the economic effects will be devastating. In fact, many teachers will be bringing home less money three years from now than they are today. I’ve done the calculations: My take-home income will be going down over the next three years despite my actually getting a small raise. If you’re a teacher and you want very bad news, input your salary and insurance premiums on this site. Do not have anything breakable nearby when you do.
But the issues go beyond the eventual devastation of a few hundred thousand people. There are millions of people in this state who cannot find jobs because of the governor’s lack of leadership and the property taxes he promised to lower have actually gone up. Why? In the leafy suburbs where I live and work (for now), the governor slashed aid to schools and municipalities. More money has come from Trenton in the past two years, but the rest of the missing money had to be made up by a rise in local property taxes. For this past year, the district in which I work received one dollar ($1) more in state aid than last year. Meanwhile, salaries, supplies, state mandated testing, public safety and public accommodations still had to be paid for, not to mention basic municipal services.
The net effect of all of this is that people are making less money, costs are rising, jobs are not forthcoming and the governor is against common sense items such as raising the minimum wage, recognizing marriage equality, but he is in favor of protecting the wealthy by not asking them to contribute a little more to alleviate the pain.
And for this, Christie has a 20 point lead in the polls.
That’s because many Democrats in New Jersey have sold their souls for the primary reason that they see Christie as their gravy train. Not for state money, mind you, but for personal gain and power. How else to measure the utter lack of support for Democratic candidate, Senator Barbara Buono?
Here is a terrific, personable, dynamic, focused, humanistic candidate who is on the right side of the issues that New Jersey cares about. She stands up for women’s health in the face of Christie’s cuts to Planned Parenthood, supports marriage equality and has a plan to get the economy moving again. I saw Buono and her running mate, Milly Silva, speak at an event last week and I can say from personal experience that these are two highly intelligent, articulate people who act the opposite of the volatile, bullying, inappropriate antics of the present occupant in Trenton.
But the Democrats are split and President Obama is nowhere to be found. Still, Christie is only polling at 50%. Yes, he’s ahead, but if the left can get its act together and highlight what Moran has written, this race could get closer.
Which then brings us to Christie’s dream of a 2016 presidential run. If he wins with close to 50% of the vote, he can’t claim a mandate as a crossover candidate. Further, he won’t get much anything else done with a Democratic legislature. Where does that leave him? To bloviate and fuss about what he would do if he had the means, and that will force him to move farther to the right. The problem is that any right-wing opponent will only have to play the video of Obama and Christie at the shore after Sandy and the magic will seep out of his campaign. Along the way, he’ll also hurt himself by saying things that sound great to his supporters when you see them on YouTube, but will not play well at all with those who want a responsible adult as their leader.
Mark my words: Chris Christie will never be President of the United States. Let’s also try to make sure he isn’t reelected. We can’t afford even two more years of his misrule.
Denise McNair, 11, Carole Robertson, 14, Addie Mae Collins, 14, and Cynthia Dianne Wesley, 14, were killed 1963 when a bomb was thrown into the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Ala.
Fifty years ago, four little girls went to Church to worship on a Sunday morning. They did nothing wrong, as a matter of fact, going to Church is exactly what most people would consider the right thing to do. But they were murdered in the Church when a hate group bombed the building.
They did nothing wrong. Their only crime? They were black.
Tucked up above 42nd Street in Times Square, situated next to advertisements for Ripley’s Believe It or Not and Madame Tussaud’s, is a new political message that feels out of place in a space touting the latest in fashion and entertainment.
The billboard, sponsored by the Heritage Foundation, is shaped like a federal tobacco disclaimer and warns New Yorkers about the dangers of Obamacare: “WARNING: Obamacare may be hazardous to your health”:
The message is just the latest political stunt from the organization that first developed the individual health care mandate in 1989 and later touted Obamacare-like reforms in Massachusetts. But this strategy is particularly obtuse. While premiums in the law’s soon-to-be opened health care exchanges have varied throughout the country, New Yorkers will experience savings of at least 50 percent as a result of Obamacare.
“…but he isn’t about to do it — and It can’t be done, obviously.”
A couple more faux pas like the one Secretary of State John Kerry made at a briefing on Syria earlier this week and we’ll have achieved World Peace in no time!
This piece of statistical evidence will be disputed by the guns don’t kill people, people kill people reasoning of the NRA in 3,2,1…
The study, which appears in the American Journal of Public Health, challenges the National Rifle Association’s claim that increased gun ownership does not lead to higher levels of gun violence.
Covering 30 years from 1981 and all 50 US states, it determined that for every one percentage point in the prevalence of gun ownership in a given state, the firearm homicide rate increased by 0.9 percent.
In the absence of state-level data on household gun ownership, the study used a proxy variable — the percentage of a state’s suicides committed with a firearm — that has been validated in previous research.
The study, led by Boston University community health sciences professor Michael Siegel, is the first of its kind since the December 2012 mass shooting of 20 children at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut.
“In the wake of the tragic shooting in Newtown … many states are considering legislation to control firearm-related deaths,” said Siegel in a statement.
“This research is the strongest to date to document that states with higher levels of gun ownership have disproportionately large numbers of deaths from firearm-related homicides,” he said.
“It suggests that measures which succeed in decreasing the overall prevalence of guns will lower firearm homicide rates.”
President Obama continued his call for action in Syria whether it be military or diplomatic, and he called on the leaders of Russia and Syria to continue talks with Sec. Kerry on securing and destroying Syria’s chemical weapons. “We’re making it clear that this can’t be a stalling tactic,” the president said. “We need to see concrete actions to demonstrate that Assad is serious about giving up his chemical weapons.”
When it was her turn to share a deep, dark secret during a segment on “The Talk,” host Julie Chen explained that as a young journalist, she underwent plastic surgery to enlarge her “Asian eyes.”
Chen, 43, explained that she developed a deep insecurity about her eyes at age 25 after a boss at a Dayton, Ohio, news station told her that her heritage was hindering her career success.
“He said, ‘Let’s face it Julie, how relatable are you to our community?” she recalled. “How big of an Asian community do we have in Dayton? On top of that, because of your Asian eyes, I’ve noticed that when you’re on camera, you look disinterested and bored.'”
The “Big Brother” host said the same sentiment was shared by a big-time agent she sought out while attempting to further her career.
“He said, ‘I cannot represent you unless you get plastic surgery to make your eyes look bigger.'”
Chen said she had a conversation with her parents and extended family on the polarizing issue, but ultimately she decided to have the eye procedure. The talk show host also brought a before-and-after the surgery comparison.
It’s like the battered woman syndrome. Americans keep running back to their economic abusers.
A new Wall Street Journal/NBC poll is showing some worrisome trends. Americans are beginning to trust the Republicans more than Democrats on issues they’ve proven to know nothing about. Issues like the economy, where Republicans have blocked progress time and time again by defeating numerous jobs bills, deficit reduction and foreign policy, Americans are putting more faith in Republicans.
“Republicans are now rated higher than Democrats on handling the economy and foreign policy, and the GOP’s lead has strengthened on several other issues, including dealing with the federal deficit and ensuring a strong national defense. On topics such as health care, Democrats have seen their long-standing advantage whittled to lows not seen in years.”
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) praised a former conservative senator best known for his opposition to African American civil rights and gay people on Wednesday, suggesting that the nation would be better off if Congress were still filled with lawmakers who shared his beliefs and positions.
“It’s every bit as true now as it was then,” Cruz said at a fundraiser hosted at the Heritage Foundation. “We need 100 more like Jesse Helms in the U.S. Senate.”
Helms, the longest serving senator from North Carolina, is renowned for speaking out against civil rights, voting rights, gay rights, and abortion — causes that Cruz himself has embraced in his short senate tenure.
The late Helms, who died in 2008, famously led a 16-day filibuster to prevent the Senate from approving the Martin Luther King Jr. federal holiday, described the Civil Rights Act as “the single most dangerous piece of legislation ever introduced in the Congress,” organized against the renewal of the Voting Rights Act, and opposed any “federal financing of AIDS research and treatment,” arguing that “There is not one single case of AIDS in this country that cannot be traced in origin to sodomy.” “Homosexuals are weak, morally sick wretches,” Helms was once quoted as saying and he sought to block a nominee “because she’s a damn lesbian.”
Cruz is less inflammatory, but remains committed to Helms’ causes.
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