Showing posts with label politics. Show all posts
Showing posts with label politics. Show all posts
Wednesday, March 11, 2020
Monday, December 30, 2019
A Recovery Squandered
A Recovery Squandered
Despite a decade of steady economic growth since the Great Recession, America has done remarkably little to address underlying structural weaknesses in the country’s economy and society. The nation has squandered the recovery.
Sunday, March 19, 2017
Sheriff Super-Douche
If one were to attempt to intervene to protect a woman and child from a drunken, tire-iron wielding doofus, for most sane and civil people, this would not elicit ridicule and insults. Many would probably even say it was an act of courage or bravery, or, at least, the right thing to do considering the circumstances.
So this is where we are at now. When presented with facts, the right-wingers and Trumpsters hurl insults and threaten violence. Forget using your brain. When the truth doesn't fit into your political paradigm, time for pitchforks and torches.
Are we interested in actually electing public servants? Or do we just want cartoonish caricatures of Wild West buffoons?
Clarke not only ridiculed Barrett (for an act of bravery), he then did what all Wisconsin Republicans love to do - he took shots at Milwaukee. According to Wisconsin Republicans, Milwaukee is a crime-ridden hell-hole. Maybe if Clarke actually set foot back in Milwaukee one of these days (instead of doing the conservative talk show circuit) he would see all the activity and development taking place. And, as Bruce Murphy recently pointed out, Milwaukee Subsidizes The State.
Let's also not forget that Republicans are supposed to be the party of morals, family values, honor, country, dignity, blah blah blah. Yeah, it's all just a facade. There are no principles underlying any of their proclamations. Their opinions morph as needed. And, the saddest part is all the people that support and parrot the rhetoric. Still towing the party-line and supporting these ever-changing opinions and policy prescriptions. Just look at the faces of their party - Donald Trump, Jeff Sessions, David Clarke, Steven Bannon, KellyAnne Conway. All lying, racist, sexist, self-serving, know-nothings only concerned with maintaining power. How can honest, America-loving conservatives look themselves in the mirror and believe any of this rhetoric or that these opportunists are good for the country?
Wake up, people! Time to see past the smoke, mirrors and vitriol. Sheriff Super-Douche and his band of destructive deplorables are not interested in you or your well-being. Please help us make this a functioning democracy again. Democrats are not perfect, but truth, reality and governance still mean something to them.
This is all so fucked up it's flabbergasting.
Milwaukee Mayor's Alleged Attacker Faces 40 Yrs-Plus In Prison
But in the self-serving, opportunist, know-nothing, faux-cowboy world of Sheriff David Clarke, trying to defend a woman and child, and being unable to withstand body blows form a tire iron, makes a person a wimp.
“The last time Tom Barrett showed up at a crime scene he got his ass kicked by a drunk, tire-iron-wielding man who beat him within inches of his life," Clarke said in the lengthy post. "The milquetoast mayor trying to play cop foolishly thought he could simply talk the man who beat him senseless into backing down. Bet he won't try that again!" [source]Barrett, in response to a reporter's questions, stated a couple a facts about Clarke. Clarke has been more interested in being a right-wing, talking-point parrot than in doing his job as the Milwaukee County Sheriff. Barrett also mentioned that he has never seen Clarke at a crime scene. I guess reality really pisses Clarke off.
Barrett set Clarke off when he said in a TV interview earlier this week that the sheriff has a “great gig going right now: He’s fighting crime one conservative cable TV show at a time.” He said everyone knows that Clarke “rode his horse out of town a long time ago.” [source]Just like his idol, Donald Trump, Clarke doesn't like the real world. If things don't comport with Clarke's distorted world view, something is wrong with the world, not his perspective.
So this is where we are at now. When presented with facts, the right-wingers and Trumpsters hurl insults and threaten violence. Forget using your brain. When the truth doesn't fit into your political paradigm, time for pitchforks and torches.
Are we interested in actually electing public servants? Or do we just want cartoonish caricatures of Wild West buffoons?
Clarke not only ridiculed Barrett (for an act of bravery), he then did what all Wisconsin Republicans love to do - he took shots at Milwaukee. According to Wisconsin Republicans, Milwaukee is a crime-ridden hell-hole. Maybe if Clarke actually set foot back in Milwaukee one of these days (instead of doing the conservative talk show circuit) he would see all the activity and development taking place. And, as Bruce Murphy recently pointed out, Milwaukee Subsidizes The State.
The city gets only 66 cents in state spending for every dollar in state taxes paid.So while the Republican playbook has been bankrupting states and cities across the country, Democratic places, like Milwaukee, are on the ascent. While Scott Walker's policies haven't done anything near his campaign promises, Mayor Barrett has overseen a boom in Milwaukee jobs and development.
Let's also not forget that Republicans are supposed to be the party of morals, family values, honor, country, dignity, blah blah blah. Yeah, it's all just a facade. There are no principles underlying any of their proclamations. Their opinions morph as needed. And, the saddest part is all the people that support and parrot the rhetoric. Still towing the party-line and supporting these ever-changing opinions and policy prescriptions. Just look at the faces of their party - Donald Trump, Jeff Sessions, David Clarke, Steven Bannon, KellyAnne Conway. All lying, racist, sexist, self-serving, know-nothings only concerned with maintaining power. How can honest, America-loving conservatives look themselves in the mirror and believe any of this rhetoric or that these opportunists are good for the country?
Wake up, people! Time to see past the smoke, mirrors and vitriol. Sheriff Super-Douche and his band of destructive deplorables are not interested in you or your well-being. Please help us make this a functioning democracy again. Democrats are not perfect, but truth, reality and governance still mean something to them.
This is all so fucked up it's flabbergasting.
Wednesday, October 26, 2016
Trump in 2008, "Hillary, A Great Woman and A Good Woman."
Another Blast From The Past (starting at 2:02):
Friday, October 21, 2016
Michelle Obama Campaign Speech For Hillary Clinton & America At A Crossroads
And, for all you racists and imbeciles that are incapable of reading a book, research paper or newspaper article, life in America has improved since Barack Obama became president. You aren't improving anything by hurling racial epithets and regurgitating disproven Sean Hannity talking-points.
In case you haven't noticed anything over the past four decades, supply-side/trickle-down economics has been disproven. Tax cuts and deregulation are no panacea. Government is not bad. Government is us. It's only as bad as our weakest link. The weak link in the U.S. is the Republicans, and their supporters, that keep pushing these debunked policies, along with inciting violence, hatred and racism.
For those of you supporting the orange buffoon, spouting your hatred and stupidity, take a deep breath, step back and put aside your preconceived notions that you wrap yourself in, like a blanket, and try to reasonably and rationally absorb what has taken place in the last 8 years.
Specifically, during President Obama's two terms, he has brought our country back from the brink of a second Great Depression. He and the Democrats have also (in the face of Republican obstructionism): regulated the banks, reformed health care, eliminated Osama bin Laden, signed a nuclear agreement with Iran, created over 13 million jobs (almost 7 straight years of expansion), gotten unemployment down below 5%, helped the stock market set record highs, reduced the Federal budget deficit by two-thirds, held government spending increases to only 3.3% annually (the lowest rate since Eisenhower was president), lowered income taxes - for 95% of Americans - as low or lower than they were at almost any point in the last 50 years, and shrunk dependence on foreign oil due to record domestic oil production and improved fuel efficiency standards, to name a few.
Can we actually try to be a sane, civil, reasoned country? How does demeaning minorities or women, or using ethnic slurs, or sticking your head in the sand and refusing to believe reality help grow the economy, create jobs, or improve education or health care?
Maybe these Republicans yearning for yesteryear, the old times, should remember the great years they are always memorializing were due to the New Deal - a progressive idea of shared prosperity, public work, public infrastructure and high taxes on the wealthy. As Paul Krugman described, "An era of widely shared growth. Real wages rose 81 percent, and the income of the richest 1 percent rose 38 percent."
It's sad the knuckle-draggers prefer the bluster and braggadocio from their representatives, rather than actual effective policies. Luckily, they, too, will be pulled further into the 21st Century by Democrats that are actually trying to make all of our lives, and the world around them, a better place.
Hillary 2016!
For Further Reading:
14 Facts About Obama's Presidency
Life Got Better Under Obama, According to Gallup
Republican Scapegoat Politics or Demeaning Government: Cutting Off Our Nose To Spite Our Face
Saturday, September 5, 2015
The Latest Walker Wrongdoings
22-Year Political Veteran Scott Walker Says He Is Not A Career Politician
Walker Scandal: Who Got Convicted and Why
Principals Decry Loss of Funding, Local Control Under Scott Walker
Ex-WEDC Employees Say Politics, Haste Tripped Up Job-Creation Agency
Here's Why Scott Walker's Harley Davidson Love Is Pretty Awkward
The Most Gerrymandered State
Why Scott Walker Is An American Dictator In Waiting
Who Is Scott Walker?
Walker Scandal: Who Got Convicted and Why
Principals Decry Loss of Funding, Local Control Under Scott Walker
Ex-WEDC Employees Say Politics, Haste Tripped Up Job-Creation Agency
Here's Why Scott Walker's Harley Davidson Love Is Pretty Awkward
The Most Gerrymandered State
Why Scott Walker Is An American Dictator In Waiting
Who Is Scott Walker?
Saturday, May 10, 2014
Sunday, October 20, 2013
Gerrymandering Reinforces & Enables Further Polarization
More revisionist fantasy was presented as reasoned analysis in a recent op-ed from Nolan McCarty, Keith Poole and Howard Rosenthal. The authors claim, Gerrymandering Didn't Cause America's Polarization.
They begin, "The right wing of the Republican Party has embraced a fundamentalist version of free-market capitalism and succeeded in winning elections."
The authors continue, "The "blame it on the gerrymanders" argument mistakenly assumes that because redistricting created more comfortable seats for each party, polarization became inevitable."
Conversely, as an example, which Bloomberg reported, "Michigan’s 14th congressional district looks like a jagged letter ’S’ lying on its side. From Detroit, one of the nation’s most Democratic cities, it meanders to the west, north and east, scooping up the black- majority cities of Southfield and Pontiac while bending sharply to avoid Bloomfield Hills, the affluent suburb where 2012 Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney was raised. Its unusual shape is intentional. Michigan Republicans, seeking to maximize their political strength, drew the district lines -- and the residential patterns of Democratic voters made their job easier. Michigan’s 14th district underscores how Democrats across the U.S. are bunched in big metropolitan areas, resulting in the party’s House candidates often winning by wide margins on Election Day while Republicans capture more seats because their voters are spread out."
The Bloomberg reporters continue, "It’s a prime reason Democrats fell 17 seats short of winning a House majority in 2012, even as their congressional candidates drew about 1.4 million more votes than Republicans nationwide."
The only reason just a few extremists can polarize our politics is because of gerrymandering.
Ignoring what gerrymandering is - manipulating the boundaries of an electoral constituency to favor one party - the McCarty, et al. purport the myth that somehow this all happened naturally. People just sorted themselves geographically, ideologically and culturally. Yet, in the real world, gerrymandering is done to maintain power. Without manipulating the boundaries of electoral districts, Republicans would not be in power right now. They wouldn't be able to shut down government.
As Gary Giroux explains, "A majority of Americans disapprove of the Republicans in Congress, yet the odds remain in the party’s favor that it will retain control of the House. One big reason the Republicans have this edge: their district boundaries are drawn so carefully that the only votes that often matter come from fellow Republicans."
Next, for some odd reason, the authors use the Senate for an example, "Consider, for example, the rise of the mastermind of the government shutdown, Sen. Ted Cruz. The Texas Republican won his seat, as does every member of the Senate, in a statewide race, without any benefit from gerrymandering. The same is true for other tea party stalwarts in the Senate such as Rand Paul of Kentucky and Mike Lee of Utah." The only problem here, Democrats control the Senate!
"The number of politically safe seats in the House isn't fully explained by gerrymandering, either. Other, longer-term trends play a role, too," the authors claim.
They begin, "The right wing of the Republican Party has embraced a fundamentalist version of free-market capitalism and succeeded in winning elections."
The authors continue, "The "blame it on the gerrymanders" argument mistakenly assumes that because redistricting created more comfortable seats for each party, polarization became inevitable."
Conversely, as an example, which Bloomberg reported, "Michigan’s 14th congressional district looks like a jagged letter ’S’ lying on its side. From Detroit, one of the nation’s most Democratic cities, it meanders to the west, north and east, scooping up the black- majority cities of Southfield and Pontiac while bending sharply to avoid Bloomfield Hills, the affluent suburb where 2012 Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney was raised. Its unusual shape is intentional. Michigan Republicans, seeking to maximize their political strength, drew the district lines -- and the residential patterns of Democratic voters made their job easier. Michigan’s 14th district underscores how Democrats across the U.S. are bunched in big metropolitan areas, resulting in the party’s House candidates often winning by wide margins on Election Day while Republicans capture more seats because their voters are spread out."
The Bloomberg reporters continue, "It’s a prime reason Democrats fell 17 seats short of winning a House majority in 2012, even as their congressional candidates drew about 1.4 million more votes than Republicans nationwide."
The only reason just a few extremists can polarize our politics is because of gerrymandering.
Ignoring what gerrymandering is - manipulating the boundaries of an electoral constituency to favor one party - the McCarty, et al. purport the myth that somehow this all happened naturally. People just sorted themselves geographically, ideologically and culturally. Yet, in the real world, gerrymandering is done to maintain power. Without manipulating the boundaries of electoral districts, Republicans would not be in power right now. They wouldn't be able to shut down government.
As Gary Giroux explains, "A majority of Americans disapprove of the Republicans in Congress, yet the odds remain in the party’s favor that it will retain control of the House. One big reason the Republicans have this edge: their district boundaries are drawn so carefully that the only votes that often matter come from fellow Republicans."
Next, for some odd reason, the authors use the Senate for an example, "Consider, for example, the rise of the mastermind of the government shutdown, Sen. Ted Cruz. The Texas Republican won his seat, as does every member of the Senate, in a statewide race, without any benefit from gerrymandering. The same is true for other tea party stalwarts in the Senate such as Rand Paul of Kentucky and Mike Lee of Utah." The only problem here, Democrats control the Senate!
"The number of politically safe seats in the House isn't fully explained by gerrymandering, either. Other, longer-term trends play a role, too," the authors claim.
Again, without such manipulation, Republicans wouldn't be able to shut down the government or obstruct the Affordable Care Act. If not for gerrymandering, the Republicans wouldn't have the House.
For Further Reading:
Saturday, January 26, 2013
Peeling Back The Scales
The "Grill Hillary" theatrics of the Republican party perfectly encapsulates why, without the help of gerrymandering, they can no longer win elections.
Their smoke screens aren't working any more.
The conservative game used to be misdirecting voters with distractions and wedge issues, whilst simultaneously ramming through negligent legislation. Their moral absolutism and folksy noble facade, all wrapped in an American flag, persuaded many to vote against their own interests, believing that anyone with such strong character (which we knew because of their strong positions taken on "common sense" issues) must have the purest of intentions.
Funny how bread and butter issues, like high unemployment, can suddenly bring the truly important issues into focus. Political theatrics no longer equate with good policy making.
The Benghazi witch hunt is yet more wails and woes of a dying political strategy. [All the Republicans can do now is cheat.]
Their smoke screens aren't working any more.
The conservative game used to be misdirecting voters with distractions and wedge issues, whilst simultaneously ramming through negligent legislation. Their moral absolutism and folksy noble facade, all wrapped in an American flag, persuaded many to vote against their own interests, believing that anyone with such strong character (which we knew because of their strong positions taken on "common sense" issues) must have the purest of intentions.
Funny how bread and butter issues, like high unemployment, can suddenly bring the truly important issues into focus. Political theatrics no longer equate with good policy making.
The Benghazi witch hunt is yet more wails and woes of a dying political strategy. [All the Republicans can do now is cheat.]
The Colbert Report
Get More: Colbert Report Full Episodes,Political Humor & Satire Blog,Video Archive
Get More: Colbert Report Full Episodes,Political Humor & Satire Blog,Video Archive
Friday, August 24, 2012
Saturday, August 11, 2012
Meet Paul Ryan
Hat-tip to Cory Liebmann at Eye on Wisconsin, he's found an extensive research report by American Bridge Political Action Committee - a 290 page magnum opus on the seemingly endless policy failures and nonsensical views of Paul Ryan.
Friday, July 27, 2012
Sunday, June 24, 2012
Friday, December 23, 2011
Thursday, December 22, 2011
Executive Disorder
Tom Barret, a Democrat, spoke like a Democrat, "I think it would be great if he [Scott Walker] could find another line of work," when asked about the impending recall of Scott Walker.
Chris Abele, Milwaukee County Executive and supposed Democrat, said, "I haven't been staying up nights thinking about it. It's not a driving thing." Asked whether he felt Walker should be recalled, Abele also demurred. "I don't know. It's not something I have a burning passion and opinion about."
The article notes, "Abele as county executive has sought to cast himself as an independent and a pragmatist for whom partisanship is secondary." This is not leadership.
You are a public servant...and you have no opinion on collective bargaining or the governor? As the county executive, you have no opinion about how the state is governed?
As Joseph McCartin states, "In 1959, Wisconsin became the first state to enact legislation recognizing the rights of government workers to bargain collectively." Overthrowing a 50-year labor standard for Wisconsin, a policy never mentioned by Scott Walker on the campaign trail, doesn't make Abele ruminate even in the slightest?
Chris Abele, Milwaukee County Executive and supposed Democrat, said, "I haven't been staying up nights thinking about it. It's not a driving thing." Asked whether he felt Walker should be recalled, Abele also demurred. "I don't know. It's not something I have a burning passion and opinion about."
The article notes, "Abele as county executive has sought to cast himself as an independent and a pragmatist for whom partisanship is secondary." This is not leadership.
You are a public servant...and you have no opinion on collective bargaining or the governor? As the county executive, you have no opinion about how the state is governed?
As Joseph McCartin states, "In 1959, Wisconsin became the first state to enact legislation recognizing the rights of government workers to bargain collectively." Overthrowing a 50-year labor standard for Wisconsin, a policy never mentioned by Scott Walker on the campaign trail, doesn't make Abele ruminate even in the slightest?
Not to mention, Walker killing trains, broadband, windmills, numerous federal aid packages and a host of other productive policies and projects that were in the works until Scott Walker took over. Abele has no passion nor thinks about any of this?
Abele wasn't elected to parrot the right-wing with talk of no new taxes and cuts, cuts, cuts. Milwaukee County citizens would like some guidance and direction: provide good, efficient services to the taxpayers and speak to the most pressing and important needs of our community. This whole Walker debacle fits into the latter category, and Abele should be thinking about it.
Saturday, January 29, 2011
Friday, January 21, 2011
Money Makes You Real
More good stuff from Chris Hayes...
Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy
Saturday, December 11, 2010
Sunday, October 24, 2010
Our Ugly Culture
Rachel Maddow is probably our most analytical and insightful television news person. Her recent segment, Decision 1964, was a stellar presentation of elections, Republicans, politics, media, and culture.
Politics is pure power and cronyism.
The implicit (and sometime, even, overt) bigotry being paraded around this country as electioneering is shameful. Anyone with friends, relatives, or even acquaintances, in places where such neanderthals are running for office, be sure to remind those voters of the moral and ethical duties for voting against such uninformed thinking, and the disgrace stigmatized upon anyone whom would allow such monsters to represent our country in any type of public office.
Although, I'm with Rand Paul, let's allow racists to keep blacks out of their place of business. Let's allow private property owners to discriminate against certain customers. Let's bring these racists out of the woodwork. Let them declare they believe certain humans are less than others. Let them discriminate and turn away many potential customers. Let them expose themselves for the hate-filled barbarians they are, and, simultaneously, be shunned by society for such actions and run out of business.
While we're fixing things, let's institute some stricter requirements for holding public office. Christine O'Donnell if you claim to be a constitutional scholar, you should have at least read the constitution. The Tea Baggers and Republicans claim expert legal and constitutional knowledge, yet they seem to have never read the constitution, nor can they ever name a recent Supreme Court decision that would repeal.
And, sorry, Scott Walker, but my candidate for governor should at least be a college graduate. [Not a dropout. Quitters remind me so much of Sarah Palin.] I'm of the opinion that public officials do important public work and I want qualified and educated people analyzing and deciding such work. Not just some folksy wing-nut one might want to have a beer with.
Vote Democrat November 2nd.
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