The repugican cabal helped Russia annex Crimea

by Bradley Klapper

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said Monday that repugicans may have helped Russia annex Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula in a surprisingly sharp attack ahead of a test vote on a bill authorizing more U.S. sanctions on Russia and $1 billion in loan guarantees to Ukraine.
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Outlining the Senate's agenda after a one-week recess, the Nevada Democrat said the first item would be the Ukraine bill that repugicans blocked just before lawmakers went on break. He urged repugicans to consider "how their obstruction affects United States' national security as well as the people of Ukraine" and said their delay of any congressional action "sent a dangerous message to Russian leaders."
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"Since a few repugicans blocked these important sanctions last work period, Russian lawmakers voted to annex Crimea and Russian forces have taken over Ukrainian military bases," Reid said. "It's impossible to know whether events would have unfolded differently if the United States had responded to Russian aggression with a strong, unified voice."
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Reid's charge comes despite widespread support among repugicans and Democrats in Congress for providing Ukraine with much-needed economic assistance and hitting Russian President Vladimir Putin's government with sanctions.

The repugican cabal May Have Helped Russia Annex Crimea

We shudder to think ...

Democrats Deliver in Connecticut as State Raises Minimum Wage to $10.10 an Hour

 

On March 27th, Connecticut Democratic Governor Dan Malloy signed into law a measure that would raise the state’s minimum wage to $10.10 an hour. As the wage increase is phased in, Connecticut will surpass Washington’s 9.32 an hour minimum wage, to become the highest minimum wage in the country. The 10.10 figure has been pushed by President Obama and congressional Democrats as a federal minimum wage target, but Connecticut wasted no time in becoming the first state to adopt that pay increase for the state’s low wage workers. The current minimum wage in Connecticut is $8.70 an hour, so the increase to $10.10 will be a substantial pay raise for those earning minimum wage.
Clueless and cynical Connecticut repugicans were quick to denounce the new law. State House repugican spokesman Patrick O’Neil dismissed the bill’s positive impact by stating:

This is just politics in an election year and isn’t going to lift anyone out of poverty.

Perhaps an extra 2900 dollars a year would not make a difference for Patrick O’neil, but for a full time minimum wage worker, that amount of money is not insignificant. The raise would amount to 56 dollars every week for a full-time worker. That money becomes real disposable income that can be used for food, health care, housing or utilities.
Connecticut’s Speaker of the House Brendan Sharkey noted that:

Raising the minimum wage helps people who need it most, is good for the economy and is the right thing to do.

Governor Malloy stated:

This is just a step in moving people in the right direction. We will be lifting people out of poverty in the state of Connecticut. Increasing the minimum wage is not just good for workers, it’s also good for business.

The Democrats are right. Despite all the fear-mongering from repugicans that raising the minimum wage will usher in a jobless apocalypse, the truth is raising the minimum wage works. Washington state has had the nation’s highest minimum wage since 1999, and during the last fifteen years they have enjoyed lower unemployment than most states in the country. Now Connecticut is poised to reap the benefits of having the highest paid minimum wage workforce in the nation. Other states may soon follow. $10.10 is a step in the right direction towards making all jobs pay a livable wage. Democrats delivered for workers in Connecticut this week. Yes, it is an election year, but that merely illustrates just how important it is to choose Democrats over repugicans. Democrats believes Americans deserve a raise and repugicans do not. It really is that simple.

A State by State Breakdown of the 2.8 Million People House repugicans Are Screwing

The Senate voted 64-34 to proceed with five-month extension for unemployment benefits, which new data from the Department of Labor shows would help nearly 2.8 million Americans.
The bipartisan, paid-for bill is expected to gain final passage. So naturally, the repugican-led House will purposely let the bill grow mold while they take another Obamacare repeal vote.
“There is no doubting the enormity of the impact that an extension of this program will have on so many Americans looking for work,” said Sander Levin (D-MI), the Ranking Ways and Means Committee Member. “I’m glad to see the Senate take a strong bipartisan first step toward renewing this vital lifeline for 2.8 million job-seekers and their families.”
The Ways and Means Committee Democrats explained that the agreement would actually help more than the 2.8 million folks estimated because it doesn’t count family members who will benefit indirectly, “The estimates include anyone eligible for retroactive or prospective benefits because of the extension of the EUC program under the legislation. It does not count the millions of family members, including children of job-seekers, who will indirectly benefit through an extension.
The Department of Labor estimates* show how many people in each state would receive help due to the Senate agreement.
Number of Job Seekers Benefiting Under Bipartisan Senate UI Bill
Number of Claimants Potentially Eligible for EUC During the First 5 Months of CY 2014 Including Claimants Cut off of EUC Due to the 12/28/2013 Expiration of the Program

State
Alaska 15,100
Alabama 27,100
Arkansas 21,100
Arizona 32,100
California 514,300
Colorado 41,400
Connecticut 48,100
District of Columbia 9,100
Delaware 6,400
Florida 132,300
Georgia 98,500
Hawaii 7,000
Iowa 19,100
Idaho 9,100
Illinois 153,400
Indiana 39,200
Kansas 17,100
Kentucky 31,200
Louisiana 16,000
Massachusetts 80,200
Maryland 47,200
Maine 9,000
Michigan 106,200
Minnesota 36,100
Missouri 49,300
Mississippi 22,100
Montana 8,200
North Carolina –
North Dakota 5,500
Nebraska 8,000
New Hampshire 3,800
New Jersey 144,300
New Mexico 14,100
Nevada 34,100
New York 228,700
Ohio 75,200
Oklahoma 16,100
Oregon 43,200
Pennsylvania 158,400
Puerto Rico 41,100
Rhode Island 12,000
South Carolina 29,100
South Dakota 900
Tennessee 41,100
Texas 164,400
Utah 11,100
Virginia 33,300
Virgin Islands 2,300
Vermont 2,500
Washington 57,500
Wisconsin 55,100
West Virginia 14,100
Wyoming 3,500
National Total 2,795,300
This is great, after repugicans tossed 2 million people off of unemployment last December, providing Xmas Scrooge style. The Senate is doing their job. They’ve reached a bipartisan agreement to help the people and boost the economy. Unfortunately, the repugican-led House is where good ideas go to die, so this bipartisan agreement has little hope of passage in the lower chamber.
House repugicans refusal to renew long term emergency unemployment benefits will cost us all 240,000 jobs this year.
The repugican Senators slammed Speaker Boehner for blocking the Senate agreement. Meanwhile Boehner just keeps dancing faster with new and more absurd reasons why he and his caucus couldn’t possibly do the right thing.
What is worth thinking about, though, is if the Senate becomes repugican-led, this will be the last of this sort of agreement. If the repugicans take the Senate in the midterms, it will be run much like the House. The Ted Cruz “wacko birds” will run the asylum, shutting down government on a whim, racking up more fake repeal Obamacare votes for their campaigns, and only passing legislation when it restricts women’s rights. Birth control coverage will be a thing of the past – don’t even pass go on that one. The beleaguered repugican Senators who take their jobs seriously will be outnumbered and relegated to the sidelines.
This is a poignant bipartisan working government moment worth appreciating, as it might be one of the last for a long time if repugicans manage to fool enough voters with their endless dark money.
* – Estimates are based on the FY 2014 President’s Budget economic Assumptions.
– Includes the estimated number of claimants cut off EUC following the week ending 12/28/2014.
– Includes actual regular UI exhaustee data available as of 3/19/2014.
– EUC Claimant estimates represent the maximum potential number of the claimants that would have at some point been potentially eligible for at least 1 week of EUC during the first three weeks of CY 2014.

Smokin’ Joe Biden Pierces repugican Hearts Saying Fair Wages Are Good for Business

 

Vice President Joe Biden said Congress should raise the minimum wage because it’s good for people, business, women, and the economy. He thinks you ought to call your do-nothing representative and ask why they’re not passing a raise for the people. Smokin’ Joe also burned a certain Speaker by saying that Congress ought to do it because it’s what the people want.
But I’m sure Joe knows that Speaker Boehner (r-OH) can’t be bothered with what the people want. After all, he’s got an itty bitty circus tent full of extremists’ egos to stroke in an election year, since they’re the only people who vote repugican anymore besides the party’s actual base — the top 1%. The repugicans are very busy obstructing the economy to get back at President Obama for winning again.
Watch here:

The Vice President got right down to business, “There’s no reason in the world why an American working 40 hours a week has to live in poverty. But right now a worker earning the federal minimum wage makes about $14,500 a year. And you all know that’s incredibly hard for an individual to live on, let alone raise a family on.” Preach it, Joe.
Biden laid out why raising the minimum wage to $10.10 an hour would be good for the worker – they’d be making “$20,200 a year—and with existing tax credits would earn enough to bring that family or a family of four out of poverty. ”
But heck, it’s not just the workers who would benefit. Nope. Business too.
Joe pierced repugican hearts by pointing out that actually, fair wages are good for business, “There’s clear data that shows fair wages generate loyalty of workers to their employers, which has the benefit of increasing productivity and leading to less turn over. It’s really good for the economy as a whole because raising the minimum wage would generate an additional $19 billion in additional income for people who need it the most.”
But… But… Maybe the entire American workforce are just bad negotiators, like repugicans say women are. So it’s their fault and too bad for them!
Joe wasn’t having that either because it’s not just the workers. It’s the economy, stupid. “The big difference between giving a raise in the minimum wage instead of a tax break to the very wealthy is the minimum wage worker will go out and spend every penny of it because they’re living on the edge. They’ll spend it in the local economy. They need it to pay their electric bill, put gas in their automobile, to buy fundamental necessities. And this generates economic growth in their communities.”
This is no fun. Now repugicans can’t justify punishing the hardworking American populace, pretending they’re unworthy of a living wage.
In case repugicans need to hear it from those who are ostensibly their own kind, “And I’m not the only one who recognizes these benefits. Companies big and small recognize it as well. I was recently in Atlanta, Georgia, and met the owner of a small advertising company, a guy named Darien. He independently raised the wages of his workers to $10.10 an hour. But large companies, as well, Costco and the Gap—they’re choosing to pay their employees higher starting wages.”
Then Biden pointed out that governors were doing this on their own — a cooperative, regional initiative the governors started as a go-around the do-nothing repugican-led House.
Joe summed it up for the slow House, “It’s good for business. It’s helpful to the overall economy. And there’s one more important benefit. Right now women make up more than half of the workers who would benefit from increasing the minimum wage. Folks, a low minimum wage is one of the reasons why women in America make only 77 cents on a dollar that every man makes. But by raising the minimum wage, we can close that gap by 5 percent. And it matters. It matters to a lot of hardworking families, particularly moms raising families on the minimum wage.”
Well, okay, we all know that talking about helping struggling moms is only going to make repugicans hate this idea more. The repugicans have made it clear that women shouldn’t be working, so this is really their own fault. And since they think single mothers are the bane of America’s existence, the thing to do is ignore and punish both them and their offspring. But also, no contraception will be covered, thanks so much.
Oh, wait. “And one more thing, folks—it’s what the American people want to do. Three out of four Americans support raising the minimum wage… ”
Joe thinks you should ask your representatives what gives, “So ask your representatives who oppose raising the federal minimum wage—why do they oppose it? How can we look at the men and women providing basic services to us all, like cleaning our offices, caring for our children, serving in our restaurants and so many other areas—how can we say they don’t deserve enough pay to take them out of poverty?” Yes, do it. DO IT.
Raising the minimum wage makes sense, it’s good for business good for people good for women and good for the economy. Call your do-nothing representative, write your local paper, tweet, and ask WHY NOT.
Joe’s work here is done for today.

The repugican Communications Guru Says Really Stupid Things About the Pay Gap for Women

National repugican Senatorial Committee Communications Director Brad Dayspring said there is no problem with a pay gap because a law was passed in 1963 to address gender pay…

This explains a lot. While National repugican Senatorial Committee Communications Director Brad Dayspring has a past littered with reasons why this is not the best job for him, today he’s really taken it to the next level.
Friday morning, Mr. Dayspring, Grand Communicator for the repugican cabal that is trying to win those lady votes, huffed with the confidence born of privileged ignorance that Democrats can’t run on equal pay because there’s already a law on the books for equal pay.
See here:

Brad Dayspring 

CNN: "Democrats seize on equal pay as a midterm issue." Problem: USA passed a law requiring equal pay for equal work in 1963.

Who’s going to tell this fool? Sigh. When (DEMOCRATIC) President Kennedy signed the Equal Pay Act into law in 1963, women were earning an average of .59 cents on the dollar compared to men. Today women earn about .77 cents on the dollar compared to men.
Allow me to translate this into language Mr. Dayspring might understand: We do not consider ourselves 77% of a person, Mr. Dayspring. FOR REALZ.
But we understand that Mr. Dayspring is handicapped by his own issues with women. This is the guy who called Alison Grimes an “empty dress” who “babbles”. But totes loves women. Snort.
Maybe he needs to check his own cabal’s offices, because right there in the Texas repugican candidate for Governor’s office, there are many women being paid less for the same work as men. This man is the current Attorney General for Texas. So even in repugican fairy land where a law means it never happens, it is happening right in the guy’s office who is charged with upholding the law. Irony much, Mr. Dayspring?
Of course that man, repugican AG Greg Abbott, expressed the same confusion when he announced to the world that there were four laws protecting women so there is no need for another one. This prompted state Senator and Democratic candidate for governor Wendy Davis to ask which of those four laws he broke in his office of the Attorney General (you can’t make this stuff up).
HUH.
The responses to Mr Dayspring’s ignorance explain who is voting for the Cretin Party:

• Brent Boydston ‏@baboydston 3h
@BDayspring on the equal payi ssue…does this mean it would also apply to Dems?
• Keith Appell ‏@keithcrc 3h
@BDayspring @CNN If Dems want to talk equal pay, good place to start would be FEDERAL workforce http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/ali-meyer/63-federal-workers-earning-100k-are-men …
• Low Info Buffalo ‏@DeadBuffaloBlog 2h
@BDayspring @instapundit Didn’t Barry campaign on the back of, what’s her name, Lilly Leadbelly?

Regarding the CNS article, Obama doesn’t set the wages of federal workers. Really.
Congress controls spending. Obama did use his pen to direct a minimum wage for federal workers under purview of the executive branch. This is as much as he can do. He’s not allowed to run around spending money. Only Congress can do that. So these clowns using this as their big “GOTCHA!” are actually faceplanting on their own ignorance and they don’t even know it.
Did “Barry” campaign on the back of “Lilly Leadbelly”? HA HA HA. Good one. Well, clueless, yes Barry did campaign on the Lilly Ledbetter Act and he also SIGNED IT FIRST THING WHEN HE GOT INTO OFFICE. It was the very first bill he signed into law.
Since this happened in 2009, there’s not really any excuse for not knowing it. The Lilly Ledbetter Act doesn’t guarantee equal pay. It makes it easier for women to seek legal remedy if they are being discriminated against.
President Obama and the Democrats have also been pushing the Paycheck Fairness Act that is being blocked by repugicans. This act would offer more transparency on the issue of equal pay. Why is this needed? Oh, I dunno. See Greg Abbott’s office, and mind that it’s much easier to find out what government employees are making than it is to find out in the private sector.
How would a woman know what her male colleagues are being paid unless they told her? And how many of them are going to do that? (Here’s an idea for you awesome men out there — start a revolution by telling your female co-workers what you’re being paid! Total white hat crusade.)
The repugicans are trying to say there is no pay inequity so bugger off ladies. But NPR reports, “The number of pregnancy and maternity discrimination charges filed with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has steadily increased since the late 1990s.”
Here’s the part for Mr. Dayspring. Yes it’s against the law and yes it is still happening:

“I think what’s interesting is that it’s against the law, I assume everybody knows it, yet it still occurs. And it occurs in a very overt fashion,” says David Lopez, the agency’s general counsel. “That means that employers often leave trails of emails saying, in effect, ‘We don’t want her because she’s a mother.’ “

Even their own candidates prove Mr. Dayspring wrong. As does reality and stuff.
My question is this: If repugicans are so sure that women are being paid equally, why aren’t women being paid equally? And if they are so sure this is already in place, what do they have against allowing a woman to sue should she stumble over information that she is in fact not being paid equally?

The Truth Is ...

We are becoming a nation of the Corporation, by the Corporation and for the Corporation

The repugican Led 'Red States' Are Dragging America Down By Leeching Off Of Your Tax Dollars

The rest of the nation is in decline because "Red States" are taking valuable resources in the form of tax dollars and preventing reinvestment in America.…

Synergy is the interaction of multiple elements in a system to produce an effect different from or greater than the sum of their individual effects. The term synergy means “working together” for the greater good and it can be distilled down to the concept that “the whole is greater than the sum of its parts;” in America that concept is proving to be increasingly false. It is true that as a whole America is still barely a first world nation, but it is in no way thanks to repugican-controlled states. In fact, about the only thing exceptional about America is the preponderance of wealth limited to a few very rich families and its military might; other than those two aspects, this country is slowly being dragged into mediocrity at best due to the waste of resources being spent on truly ignorant people at the expense of the nation as a whole.
For all of America’s wealth and technological advancements, it ranks below most developed first world nations due to a significant number of low-achieving, backward thinking, and unenlightened human beings residing primarily in repugican-led states. About three weeks ago a Huffington Post article displayed maps showing the dire situation of residents living in the South titled “These 9 Maps Should Absolutely Outrage Southerners,” but a more apt title would have been “these maps should absolutely enrage America” because the rest of the nation is in decline because the 'Red States' taking valuable resources in the form of tax dollars and preventing reinvestment in America. Most Americans do not resent sending taxes collected in Democratic-controlled states to feed, house, and provide healthcare for the destitute, but they do resent giving their hard-earned tax dollars to people unwilling and unable to help themselves due to religious intransigence, resistance to education, and opposition to policies that would improve their lot in life and benefit the entire nation.
Although the 'Red State' mindset is not quite setting the agenda for the entire nation, there are just enough repugican representatives in Congress elected by gun zealots, bible fanatics, and low intellect racists that they are hampering progress and damaging the rest of the nation with their rejection of policies that would lift their standard of living to a point they could be self-sufficient and help invest in America to put the nation back on track to becoming an exceptional country. Last year a Forbes pundit commented that, “the common media view of the 'Red States' is as a regressive region, full of overweight, prejudiced, exploited, and undereducated numbskulls,” and according to empirical measurements it is a fair representation of America’s third-world.
One of the great contributors to the 'Red States'' recession into third world status is their adherence to a mindset that encourages more guns, religious extremism, less education, willful ignorance, and low pay leading to no economic mobility that repugicans convince their constituents defines the vaunted “real America.” This “real America,” in great part, is the price the entire nation is paying for a states that have distorted education as a liberal plot to drive the nation into Socialism founded on liberal values, and why repugicans so easily convince ignoramuses  that voting against their own best interests is waging war against Obama “liberalism” that keeps the 'Red States' the nation’s most impoverished regions.
The 'red States'  boast lower than minimum wages, the least economic mobility, least affordable medical coverage, lower percentages of high school and college graduates, lowest housing values, lower life expectancy, and lower household incomes. The 'Red States'' low wages, less union representation, less education, and lower incomes all contribute to the high cost to the rest of the nation to prop up and support ignorant people living in 'Red States' who cannot fend for themselves and are not contributing to the nation as a whole.
The repugicans are successful at marketing so-called takers living off the government to ignorant dolts with dog whistles portraying people of color as draining resources from the government, but when repugicans use dog whistles belittling “takers,” they mean the 'Red States' most dependent on government assistance. It is ironic that repugicans’ greatest support comes from the 'Red States' that takes more from the federal government than it contributes, and if not for Democratic states contributing more in tax revenue to the government due to higher wages, a better educated populace, and higher household income, the ignorant “real America” would be in deep distress indeed.
If people in the repugican-controlled states would elect representatives at the state and federal level who would fight for better economic opportunities for their constituents like more education funding, well-paying jobs, and affordable healthcare instead of tax breaks for the rich and corporations, then not only would they eliminate the need for taxpayer-funded government assistance, they could begin contributing to reinvesting in America. This once world-leading nation has fallen so far over the past thirty years since repugicans convinced morons that instead of investing in America, it was economic Utopia to invest in the wealthy who fund repugicans responsible for perpetuating the deplorable conditions in the repugican-controlled states. It is a vicious cycle that has starved the government of revenue to rebuild, reinvest, and modernize America because what little revenue taxpayers in Democratic-controlled states contribute is needed to sustain 'Red Staters' barely surviving the repugicans they continue electing.
America needs about $3.6 trillion in infrastructure improvements in the next five years to bring the country up to first-world standards to compete with every developed nation on Earth. Last month a very well-respected  economist suggested that President Obama should propose, and Congress should immediately approve, a minimum of $1.2 trillion in infrastructure funding to create good jobs and strengthen the economy. The repugicans responded with more tax cuts for corporations and the rich and more spending cuts to domestic programs that are sustaining their constituents that drew great support from voters in the South.
Americans are generous people and do not hesitate helping those in need, especially other Americans in  'Red States'tates with repugicans keeping their constituents in dire economic conditions. However, at some point those in need have to help themselves and abandon their idea of “real America” founded on religion, low wages, guns, illiteracy, poor health, and racial animus. Because not only have they made the  'Red States' a veritable third world nation, they are dragging the entire country into something less than mediocrity. Besides, those guns, bibles, ignorance, and racism have not provided one iota of food, housing, and healthcare assistance that has come courtesy of Democratic-controlled states that would rather spend their hard-earned tax dollars investing in all of America and not just the third world 'Red States' .

Charles Koch Says The Poor Have It Really Good So They Need to Stop Complaining

Poverty is a condition that refers to the general dearth of material possessions or money that prevents people from having access to basic human needs such as food, water, sanitation, clothing, shelter, health care, and education. It is a sad fact of life that in the richest nation in the history of the world, an inordinately high number of Americans live in abject poverty and do not have the means to provide their families with fundamentally basic needs of food, shelter, or healthcare. It is little surprise that repugicans are planning to increase the number of Americans living in poverty according to their intent to eliminate the nation’s anti-poverty programs, and it is not because the country is broke as repugicans are wont to claim.  It is more likely due, in part, to one of the two richest men in the country who claims the tens-of-millions of Americans living below the poverty line need to shut up, stop complaining, and start celebrating their good fortune as members of the richest one-percent in the world.
First, it is important to note that poverty, at least relative poverty, is generally defined by reputable economists contextually as economic inequality in the location or society in which people live, and in that context, it is likely that more than half of the American population is living in poverty. Charles Koch completely disagrees and last year his foundation produced a commercial stating that a family earning $34,000 annually are part of the richest one-percent in the world; especially when compared to developing third world nations and countries such as China and India where the majority of the population lives in absolute squalor.
It is not just Charles Koch, another wealthy CEO, Bud Konheim, said just last month that “We’ve got a country that the poverty level is wealth in 99% of the rest of the world, so we’re talking about woe is me, woe is us, woe is this. The guy that’s making, oh my God, he’s making $35,000 a year, why don’t we try that out in India or some countries we can’t even name. China, anyplace, the guy is wealthy.” Except Americans living in poverty do not live in China or India, or third world nations; they live in America where according to the Economic Policy Institute, a family of three would have to earn at least $48,000 annually just to afford the basic necessities to survive such as food, housing, and healthcare. Another organization, the Working Poor Families Project, estimates that the required income to meet the most basic survival needs is $45,000 annually; America’s median household income is approximately $51,000.
If the measure of poverty in America was not based on economic necessities for living standards during the 1950s and 1960s and applied to living costs today, the federal poverty level would exceed three times the current levels meaning that over half the nation is living below poverty. Simple arithmetic informs that if the current measure for a family of three earning 100% of the federal poverty level is $19,790 annually and exactly three times that figure is $59,370, then well over half the American population is, undoubtedly, living in poverty if the median income is $51,000.
It is astounding, but poverty measures are still based on food costs of the 1950s that have at least doubled, housing that has more than tripled, and healthcare costs that are six times higher than they were in the late 1970s. According to the Congressional Research Service, “The poverty line reflects a measure of economic need based on living standards that prevailed in the mid-1950s…It is not adjusted to reflect changes in needs associated with improved standards of living that have occurred over the decades since the measure was first developed. If the same basic methodology developed in the early 1960s was applied today, the poverty thresholds would be over three times higher than the current thresholds.” According to Bureau of Labor Statistics and Census Bureau calculations, a median family income of $51,000 will barely cover food, housing, health care, transportation, taxes, and other household expenditures in America; not China, India, or any sub-Saharan developing country. Between 2000 and 2011, the “official” poverty rate increased 25% with children and senior citizens being impacted the most drastically. Using the official poverty rate, 55% of seniors and 60% of children are considered very poor using “relative poverty” as a measure. For elderly women the figures are worse with Wider Opportunities for Women reporting that “60% of women age 65 and older who live alone or live with a spouse have incomes insufficient to cover basic, daily expenses,” but according to Charles Koch they are members of the richest 1% in the world.
What is often forgotten when discussing the state of American poverty is that the overwhelming majority of low-wage working families and senior citizens earning less than necessary to stave off starvation, ill-health, and exposure could not survive without anti-poverty programs Republicans and the Koch brothers want eliminated to return to pre-Depression era standards. Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, food stamps, minimum wage, overtime pay, housing and heating assistance, and school lunch programs are all that keep tens-of-millions of Americans from falling victim to “killing poverty” Republicans and the Kochs are frantic to impose on all Americans. It is probably just one reason why Charles Koch and other extremely wealthy Americans are preparing the population for what is on their horizon by congratulating them for being part of the richest 1% of people in the world while living in dire poverty in the richest nation on Earth; because they have every intent to make conditions worse like in India and China.
It is irrelevant that Charles Koch is patronizing the poor in America by telling them they are wealthy by third world standards; it is precisely what Americans should expect from one of the two richest men in America who can fathom taking everything from the people and will not rest until he achieves his goal. It is not enough the Kochs and their ilk have repugicans in Congress poised to “reform” (read eliminate) anti-poverty programs, Social Security and Medicare, food stamps, and every other safety net preventing 99% of the population from sinking into poverty while “reforming” (drastically cutting) tax rates for the rich and corporations; they have ALEC and the State Policy Network raiding state public employees pensions to drive the entire population into poverty. When Charles Koch says $34,000 annually puts dirt poor Americans in the richest one percent by third world standards, he is preparing Americans for his vision of America to rival living conditions in China and India where those earning $32,000 annually are regarded as the wealthy elite.
It is no exaggeration to claim at least half of Americans are either extremely poor or low income that qualifies them as living in dire poverty according to the Census Department’s “Relative Poverty Measure used in developed countries to measure poverty.” It is likely there are way more than half the population living in poverty because even people barely surviving are likely to over-report their financial situation because no American wants to admit that despite working hard and scrimping to put food on their families’ tables and a roof over their heads, they are stuck in poverty. One thing is certain though, they know that although Charles Koch tells them they belong to the world’s richest one percent, in the richest country on Earth they are still living in dire poverty and with the Koch brothers’ cabal funding repugicans in Congress, they know they will never escape and can look forward to the rest of the population joining them much sooner than later.

The Truth Be Told

Faux News’ Geraldo Rivera Says That Minorities Are More Likely To Be Politically Corrupt

 

Former tabloid talk show host, now supposed serious news journalist, Geraldo Rivera was on Faux & Friends Friday morning to discuss recent political scandals that have effected Democratic elected officials. The two main stories that were discussed involved the recent arrest and resignation of Charlotte Mayor Patrick Cannon and the arrest of California State Senator Leeland Yee on gunrunning and bribery charges. Rivera, along with the hosts, used these stories as proof of liberal bias in the mainstream media. Rivera would later take it even further.
Basically, host Steve Doocy and Rivera discussed these two stories and stated that other media outlets made sure not to mention that these two politicians are Democrats. Rivera then stated that it is ‘provable’ and ‘undeniable’ that the media has a definite liberal bent and that the reporters don’t want to go against Democrats if they don’t have to. The discussion between Doocy and Rivera went along the line that media outlets want to portray repugicans as hypocrites when caught being corrupt and never want to label Democrats as it goes against their preconceived narrative.
Then, Rivera made the following statement:

“Usually, the politicians who are robbing on the Democratic side tend to be ethnic politicians, as in these cases…We are the antidote to that particular problem.”

This is just laughably bad and lazy ‘journalism’ by Rivera, along with it being at least a tad racist and bigoted. To start, he bases everything on the premise that the majority of media outlets did not reveal the political affiliation of either Yee or Cannon when reporting on these stories. Does he offer any proof? No. He just says it as if it is established fact. Neither he nor Doocy provide anything to back up their claims that only Faux News made sure to point out that both of these politicians are Democrats.
After going down that road and stating that mainstream media as a whole is liberal and that it is ‘undeniable’, Rivera then moves on and makes another statement without providing any actual proof. He states that when a Democratic politician is involved in corruption, that politician is usually ‘ethnic.’ Rivera then goes on and states that this makes it even more troublesome for liberal media members because of ‘political correctness.’ After that, he points out that Faux News provides the antidote for all of that, as they are the only ones with the guts to really report the facts.
What Rivera did was nothing more than conjecture, not actual reporting. He based his opinions on nothing more than his already biased notions. He didn’t cite actual facts once. Just because you say something is ‘provable’ or ‘without a doubt’ doesn’t necessarily make it so. It is possible that Rivera might be right about some or even all of what he said, but without citing anything at all, he is just shooting from the hip in an effort to sway the audience to agree with his position.
Finally, can Faux News please stop acting as if they are NOT part of the mainstream media? At every opportunity, you will see one of their screeching heads boast about Faux being the #1 news network ratings wise. Yet, at the same time, they will bemoan and chastise the MSM. I hate to tell you this, but if you are the most watched news channel, and you are owned by a guy that also runs several high-profile newspapers, then you are a major part of the mainstream media.

The wingnuts Plant A New Insane Conspiracy By Accusing Obama of Common Core Mind Control

Wingnuts think President Obama has taken hold of their minds via Common Core

The new scandal is the mind control behind Common Core, or “ObamaCore” as the tea party calls it. Never mind that it’s not a federal mandate, “It was developed by the National Governors Association, through a panel led by Delaware Gov. Jack Markell (D) and then-Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue (r).”
BUT OBAMA I tell you. He tells you what chair to sit in with ObamaCare and now he’s taken hold of our minds by trying to educate Americans. Well, the lunatic fringe isn’t having it.
Michelle Malkin tells us we are wrong not to be paranoid, for a national data base is being made for kids information (sorta like a Sarah Palin Death Panel, only less effective as a scare tactic due to her smaller platform), “They don’t loathe anti-Common Core parents because these parents are “paranoid.” They fear them because “paranoid” is the political demagogue’s word for active, alert, and well-informed.”
Yes, if by “well-informed” one means misinformed. It turns out that the data mining is voluntary and has nothing to do with Common Core. Also, like so many things the Right suddenly finds objectionable, it was going on long before Common Core.
The point of the story? Obama scares wingnuts a lot and so now they hate education. Prepare to be inundated with “non partisan” fear stories about Common Core.
Common Core is the new wingnut Benghazi, IRS (insert crazed, planted scandal here). Wingnuts are calling it “ObamaCore”, in what some say is a reflection of their frustrated inability to repeal ObamaCare (something everyone but the wingnut base knew was not going to happen, and the repugican leaders stoked those cheap flames of misinformed outrage).
Reid Wilson at The Washington Post explained on Tuesday that wingnuts have introduced 100 bills to “slow or reverse” Common Core, “an 85 percent increase over the year before”, even though their paranoia is unfounded.
Back in October, PolitFact rated the mind control fear mongering claims “Pants on Fire”. You see, Common Core is not even a curriculum. It’s standards. “Determining the curriculum is left up to local school boards, districts, and teachers.” So, it’s sorta like mind control only not.
In a long “guide to Common Core” published by USNews on March 6th by Allie Bidewell, the person she uses to lead us through the Common Core maze is Rick Hess from The American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research (AEI). She never tells the reader that the AEI is a private, conservative, partisan institution or that some AEI members were leading architects of the shrub’s public policy. Dick Cheney, John Bolton and former deputy secretary of defense Paul Wolfowitz are associated with the organization — not exactly the folks many would want driving our education policies.
Rick Hess, who is an articulate scholar, also has a Wiki Page that was marked in January of this year as possible spam, “This article reads like a news release, or is otherwise written in an overly promotional tone…” And again, “This article contains wording that promotes the subject in a subjective manner without imparting real information.” But heck, his page is up in time for him to be used as an “non partisan” expert, as his Wiki page claims, so that’s handy when you have a narrative to weave.
Hess, who is big on Libertarianish sounding things like “educational entrepreneurship” and school “reform” brought about by cost cutting (LOL), was the undisclosed conservative lens through which the public got to view the alleged demise of Common Core on USNews. Hess followed up his disguised policy push with a March 26 (today) article in the National Review that reads exactly like the wingnut argument to ObamaCare.
On March 20, Hess argued in the National Review that Common Core wouldn’t be an issue in the midterms and if the tea party really want to see something done, it will only happen if tea party candidates win out over establishment repugicans (very subtle Mr Hess), which he ended with this opportunity for alert tea partiers, “… in this case, on how well (or poorly) the fancy new assessments work, on whether the public finds the test scores credible, and on whether parents find the homework and new lessons compelling.”
Just five days later, and voilà! Guess what was trending today (written Tuesday), the day after Indiana dropped out of Common Core? Via Yahoo:

A Facebook update from a father frustrated with the Common Core math program at his son’s school is making the Internet rounds after the father Jeff Severt expressed (via what looks like a kid’s homework assignment) how convoluted the teaching approach is.

How did this note get noticed? Oh, it was posted to the “Patriot Post” Facebook Page and picked up by Glenn Beck. This isn’t mentioned specifically in the article, but it is captioned thusly and the first link goes to Beck. The patriot post declares that the time is now for Americans (white Americans it seems) to decide whether to be slaves or freemen. This article is shared right next to a picture of a car with a bumper sticker reading, “Does your Obama sticker make you feel stupid yet?”
The patriot post has been endorsed, according to their website, by Senator Rand Paul, Jim DeMint, and Dick Armey.
The Yahoo article notes, “The Facebook post (which by Tuesday had generated 4,400 likes, 4,300 shares, and 700 comments debating the issue) coincides with news that on Monday, Indiana became the first state to formally withdraw from the Common Core standards.”
So the story was posted on Monday, the 24, just 4 days after Hess noted that Common Core’s success or failure would be determined by factors like parents finding the homework compelling. It was written up in Glenn Beck’s the blaze on Monday the 24th, Yahoo on Tuesday the 25th, and it’s trending by Wednesday the 26th.
DO YOU GET IT YET? COMMON CORE IS HATED BY RANDOM PARENTS AND A WHOLE STATE JUST DROPPED IT. This is just like the proof that the IRS was “targeting wingnuts” (also debunked), which was provided by wingnuts who had been found guilty of illegally assisting the repugican cabal. (The media didn’t feel you needed to know that last part.) Then followed a summer of lies, later debunked.
If you want to laugh before you cry, read that WaPo article. Wilson explains that this whole big to-do regarding Indiana’s alleged “sovereignty” being protected doesn’t actually mean that they won’t be using Common Core. Or Common Core principles. In fact the new standards look a lot like the old standards, it’s just got a different name. Sort of like how Kentuckians love ObamaCare so long as it’s not called ObamaCare. Wilson notes, “That’s similar to the approach several other states are taking: Pass standards nearly identical to Common Core, but under a different name.”
This is the moment when it’s fair to say we are not actually discussing ideology or ideas. This “debate” is about nothing other than a new way to mask a partisan poutrage over Obama having any power at all, under the guise of alleged objections to policies.
The issue here isn’t whether Common Core is any good or not. Common Core is being pushed by the business community among others and it is not an Obama initiative. The issue is that the public is being duped again about the origins, partisan nature and purpose of the criticisms. And this set up looks a lot like the IRS set up, with coordinated timing of planted sources and claims, that taken together create a publicly accepted narrative that may or may not have any truth to it whatsoever.

Ziggy

Climate change deniers attack philosopher for musing about the debate

 

Climate deniers have attacked a philosopher for pointing out that the funding of the climate deniers could be said to be criminally negligent when there is a 99% consensus amongst scientists that climate change is real.

Here’s a few things that US-based philosopher and academic Lawrence Torcello has been told about global warming over the last couple of weeks
It’s a “lie straight from the Jews”, it “isn’t real”, it’s a “hoax” designed to “enslave people” and it’s an artifact of scientists engaged in a “worldwide collusion to hide the truth”.
Torcello himself was told he was both a “faggot” and a “maggot” but not in the same email. Poets, these correspondents were not (he was also called a fascist and a Stalinist – another chance at a rhyming couplet criminally missed).
Torcello is an assistant professor at Rochester Institute of Technology in New York state who a few days earlier had written a story for The Conversation website.

More

Lamar Alexander: if shills have to tell Congress who's paying them, it will "chill speech"

Lamar Alexander (r-TN) is one of many repugican legislators who've objected to a new policy at OSHA that requires experts to disclose when they have been funded by parties with an interest in the outcome of regulatory proceedings. According to Alexander, he and his colleagues are "very concerned about OSHA's attempt to have commenters disclose their financial backers," because "the chilling effect the financial disclosure could have seems counter to the idea of robust inclusion of a diverse set of ideas and views to inform the rule-making." The current proceeding is about whether silica in cement poses a health hazard, and OSHA wants to know if the experts it's hearing from have been paid to have an opinion one way or another.

Daily Comic Relief

Idaho repugicans Unconstitutionally Vote to Nullify Future Federal Laws

Idaho repugicans overwhelmingly passed legislation proclaiming Idaho does not have to tolerate federal gun laws…

It is likely, and almost certain, that every American can recall at least once in their lives hearing a parent tell a petulant child that “this is my house and my rules; if you don’t like them you can get out! When you pay for your own house you can make the rules, but as long as you live under my roof you’ll follow my rules.” The child then has a choice; follow the rules or leave home. In a nation there is a similar situation except that instead of expelling citizens who are unwilling to follow the rules (law), violators  are arrested and thrown in jail to protect society as well as teach the violators that if they are going to enjoy the privilege of living in society they have to follow the law. America has rules that every citizen is required to follow and, for the most part, the overwhelming majority of citizens tend to adhere to the law of the land unless they are repugicans controlling state legislatures.
Since Americans elected an African American President, states with repugican legislatures and governors refuse to follow the law of the land (Constitution) they claim to love more than any being who is not a hardline wingnut, and argue vehemently for nullifying the Constitution because they, like petulant children, cannot tolerate following rules.  According to a rule in the Constitution, the Supreme Court is the ultimate arbiter of the law, but an inordinate number of repugican-controlled states contend that they, not the High Court, decide constitutionality of laws. In Idaho this week, repugicans decided to nullify two parts of the Constitution and federal gun statutes because they believe the National Rifle Association is the law of the land.
Last Friday, Idaho repugicans overwhelmingly passed legislation proclaiming Idaho does not have to tolerate federal gun laws going forward, and to prove the NRA makes and adjudicates federal law they criminalized enforcing federal gun statutes. The law nullifying federal firearm laws passed unanimously in both the House and Senate and takes effect immediately upon the repugican governor’s signature.  The legislation does not just criminalize enforcement of federal gun laws by federal officials, it criminalizes enforcement of federal laws by Idaho state law enforcement officials for adhering to their sworn oath to defend and uphold the U.S. Constitution.
According to a spokesman for the Tenth Amendment Center, nullifying federal gun laws, the Supremacy Clause, and Article III, Section 1 of the Constitution “is an important first step for Idaho. Getting this law passed will ensure that any new plans or executive orders that might be coming our way will not be enforced in Idaho. Then, once this method is established and shown to be effective, legislators can circle back and start doing the same for federal gun control already on the books.” The federal gun law nullification frenzy already saw Alaska and Kansas pass laws similar to Idaho, and an investigation by ProPublica discovered at least 37 other states introduced nullification legislation because they hate America and its Constitution. Besides nullifying federal laws and the Constitution, the repugican states strictly follow NRA law requiring all Americans to be armed and allowed to carry loaded guns any place they are legally allowed to be to use Stand Your Ground laws allowing them to shoot and kill anyone anywhere they are legally allowed to be, especially in Georgia.
A new gun proliferation bill in Georgia is waiting for repugican Governor Nathan Deal’s signature to allow Georgia gun fanatics to carry loaded guns in cults, bars, schools, restaurants, and airports. Regarding loaded guns in airports, the new law eliminates federal criminal charges for gun zealots caught with guns at airport security that probably accounted for the federal Transportation Security Administration’s opposition to the law. The new law also gives convicted felons the right to claim Stand Your Ground defense after they shoot to kill someone if they reasonably believe their life is in danger which is likely why the state’s police chiefs association bitterly opposed the new law. Likely, the police chiefs are aware that a convicted felon will believe, or claim to believe, their life is in danger when they are caught in the commission of a crime or stopped for a parole violation by law enforcement. In fact, the legislation was opposed by the restaurant association (bars), episcopal and catholic churches, and an overwhelming majority (over 70%) of Georgia residents. The legislation also authorizes school districts to appoint staff members to carry loaded guns in schools to make sure there is no public area in Georgia that is safe from gun fanatics.
The new NRA dream law did not set well with a preponderance of bar owners who were surprised at the legislation’s scope. One bar owner in downtown Savannah said, “I don’t have any problems with people owning guns, but I do have a problem with guns and alcohol. Everybody could be in here having a good time, but all you need is one bad drunk with a gun and it could be a bad situation.” The organization founded by former Arizona congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, Americans for Responsible Solutions, called the NRA legislation “the most extreme gun bill in America,” and dubbed it the “guns everywhere” legislation. It is precisely the legislation the NRA lusts to see enacted in every state in the Union.
The NRA heavily lobbied the bill’s passage and hailed it as “the most comprehensive pro-gun” legislation in Georgia history and praised legislators voting to allow anyone, including convicted felons, to carry loaded firearms anyplace as an “historic victory for the Second Amendment.” One local group, Georgia Carry, promoting the “guns everywhere” bill claimed “you can bet those politicians who voted for it knew what their constituents wanted.” That is patently untrue; those politicians voting for the law knew what their masters in the NRA wanted, not their constituents who, according to an Atlanta Journal-Constitution poll in January, opposed both the “guns everywhere” aspect and expanded Stand Your Ground protections by over 70% of voters.
The Georgia law, like Idaho’s nullification law, will likely run afoul of the federal government’s (TSA, Homeland Security) prohibition on carrying loaded weapons into airports, but Georgia repugicans pre-emptively nullified the federal TSA restriction by eliminating federal criminal charges for violating a federal TSA law. The huge effort to allow gun fanatics to carry loaded weapons in any public area is the NRA’s response to the tragic massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School and not due to a rash of new gun restrictions. In fact, no major federal gun control laws have been passed for twenty years (since 1994), and nearly every state allows people to carry guns in public places with 42 states allowing assault rifles, so the NRA focused its legislation on expanding gun fanatics’ rights to carry loaded guns “in all corners of society with expanded Stand Your Ground laws” while nullifying federal gun safety measures and criminalizing their enforcement.
According to repugican states nullifying federal gun laws, they are simply adhering to the National Rifle Association as the law of the land and claim the NRA, not the Supreme Court, decides the constitutionality of federal laws and the High Court’s ability to adjudicate. Another repugican who hates America and the Constitution, Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach, said last year that state legislation nullifying federal laws are not symbolic and that he hopes such laws “make it to the Supreme Court” so the court will disavow every ruling it has made upholding the Supremacy Clause, rule the Constitution null and void except for the 2^nd and 10^th Amendments, and then disband to allow the NRA to govern unchallenged with their ALEC cohorts the Koch brothers.

Anti-video-game California politician indicted for gun-running

California Senator Leland Yee has been indicted, along with 25 others, in an organized crime bust that includes charges of wire fraud and firearms trafficking, as well as accepting bribes for legislative action. Yee is best known for sponsoring legislation to limit the sale of "violent" video-games to minors, which federal courts declared unconstitutional and struck down.

Coming Tomorrow

Coming Tomorrow

• The world's smallest sandcastles
• Derinkuyu
• Wealth and Climate Change are INCREASING the cost of disaster clean-up
• A Yellowstone Supervolcano eruption in our lifetime?

And more ...

These Pintos - our Animal Picture, for today.

The Daily Drift

It's Our Fun Day

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