May 14, 2016

Homicide Rates Jump in Many Major U.S. Cities, New Data Shows

The idea of a “Ferguson effect” — named for the Missouri city where the
police shooting of an unarmed black man, Michael Brown, in 2014 prompted
widespread protests — was first cited by the police chief in St. Louis, D.
Samuel Dotson III. It took hold in the popular lexicon after a Wall Street
Journal column a year ago blamed the phenomenon for the spike in crime.
Some proponents of the theory said the string of police confrontations
and widely seen videos that followed the Ferguson shooting had made some
officers reluctant to aggressively police their districts.

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/14/us/murder-rates-cities-fbi.html?emc=edit_th_20160514&nl=todaysheadlines&nlid=70251688

If only the police were allowed to freely shoot and kill black people without interference this would stop!

May 14, 2016

This coming Tuesday, Christie's goose is finally cooked...

'John Doe' request to stop release of Bridgegate names denied

Traffic Mystery
John Doe, the still unidentified individual tied to the Bridgegate scandal, has lost his bid to keep his name from being disclosed. The matter is likely to be appealed. (AP Photo/Mel Evans)
Ted Sherman | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com By Ted Sherman | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com

on May 13, 2016 at 5:43 PM, updated May 13, 2016 at 7:48 PM
NEWARK—A federal judge today denied efforts by an unnamed "John Doe" to keep the names of others tied to the Bridgegate scandal from being disclosed.

The matter was immediately appealed in advance of a Tuesday noon deadline requiring prosecutors to publicly release the list of "unindicted co-conspirators" involved in the politically-motivated 2013 George Washington Bridge lane shutdowns.

A consortium of news organizations—including NJ Advance Media—has been fighting in court to reveal the names—those who federal prosecutors said had conspired in the bridge scheme, or in the subsequent cover-up, but had not been charged.

http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2016/05/john_doe_filing_to_hold_up_release_of_bridgegate_n.html#incart_river_home

May 10, 2016

Absurdity: "Study Finds Bernie’s Healthcare Plan Would Cost OVER $30 TRILLION IN TEN YEARS"

Last fall, the Wall Street Journal reported that Bernie Sanders would add $18 trillion to America’s national debt. Now a second study has confirmed that. Additionally, the new study claims Bernie’s healthcare plan alone would cost over $30 trillion in just ten years.

http://www.progressivestoday.com/study-finds-bernies-healthcare-plan-cost-30-trillion-ten-years/

How can this panicky claim possibly be true when every other developed country with national health care does it for far less with better outcomes than our current half assed healthcare system? Are they extrapolating from the current system? Why not emulate the other systems that are working well at less cost right now?

U.S. spends more on health care than other high-income countries but has worse outcomes

Data from the OECD show that the U.S. spent 17.1 percent of its gross domestic product (GDP) on health care in 2013. This was almost 50 percent more than the next-highest spender (France, 11.6% of GDP) and almost double what was spent in the U.K. (8.8%). U.S. spending per person was equivalent to $9,086 (not adjusted for inflation).

...On several measures of population health, Americans had worse outcomes than their international peers. The U.S. had the lowest life expectancy at birth of the countries studied, at 78.8 years in 2013, compared with the OECD median of 81.2 years. Additionally, the U.S. had the highest infant mortality rate among the countries studied, at 6.1 deaths per 1,000 live births in 2011; the rate in the OECD median country was 3.5 deaths.

http://www.commonwealthfund.org/publications/issue-briefs/2015/oct/us-health-care-from-a-global-perspective

May 9, 2016

Trump throws a bone to his dog Christie...

Trump taps Christie for key role if elected president


on May 09, 2016 at 11:24 AM, updated May 09, 2016 at 11:29 AM
TRENTON — Presumptive 2016 GOP nominee Donald Trump announced Monday Gov. Chris Christie will head his transition team if the billionaire businessman clinches the race for the White House.

The governor would serve as chairman of Trump's transition team and oversee "an extensive team of professionals preparing to take over the White House," Trump's campaign said.

Christie became an early supporter of Trump's campaign after he dropped his own 2016 bid following a poor showing in the New Hampshire primary.

http://www.nj.com/politics/index.ssf/2016/05/trump_taps_christie_for_key_role_if_elected_president.html#incart_2box_nj-homepage-featured

May 9, 2016

Where is Hillary's detailed plan to "increase opportunity and decrease inequality?"

May 8, 2016

Hillary embraces the praise of Republicans for her foreign policy...

Henry Kissinger, Hillary Clinton’s Tutor in War and Peace

Clinton just can’t quit him. Even as she is trying to outflank Bernie on his left, Hillary Clinton can’t help but stutter the name of Henry Kissinger. Last night in the New Hampshire debate, Clinton thought to close her argument that she is the true progressive with this: “I was very flattered when Henry Kissinger said I ran the State Department better than anybody had run it in a long time.”

Let’s consider some of Kissinger’s achievements during his tenure as Richard Nixon’s top foreign policy–maker. He (1) prolonged the Vietnam War for five pointless years; (2) illegally bombed Cambodia and Laos; (3) goaded Nixon to wiretap staffers and journalists; (4) bore responsibility for three genocides in Cambodia, East Timor, and Bangladesh; (5) urged Nixon to go after Daniel Ellsberg for having released the Pentagon Papers, which set off a chain of events that brought down the Nixon White House; (6) pumped up Pakistan’s ISI, and encouraged it to use political Islam to destabilize Afghanistan; (7) began the US’s arms-for-petrodollars dependency with Saudi Arabia and pre-revolutionary Iran; (8) accelerated needless civil wars in southern Africa that, in the name of supporting white supremacy, left millions dead; (9) supported coups and death squads throughout Latin America; and (10) ingratiated himself with the first-generation neocons, such as Dick Cheney and Paul Wolfowitz, who would take American militarism to its next calamitous level. Read all about it in Kissinger’s Shadow!

http://www.thenation.com/article/henry-kissinger-hillary-clintons-tutor-in-war-and-peace/

Jeb Bush presented Hillary Clinton with an award for having “dedicated her life to serving and engaging people across the world in democracy.”

Lindsey Graham: “She’s dedicated to her job. She loves her country. And she understands the issues, and there are a lot of them in her job to understand. But more importantly, I think she is a good role model. […] [She is] one of the most effective secretary of states, greatest ambassadors for the American people that I have known in my lifetime.”

Marco Rubio to Secretary Clinton: “I want to share sentiments of my other colleagues of tremendous respect for the hard work and service that you’ve put in on behalf of our country, both as a member of this chamber and then, obviously, now in—in the role you have.”

Rick Perry on Hillary Clinton: “Very, very capable public servant. Great Secretary of State, first lady, and she’s very capable.”

Condoleezza Rice: “Hillary Clinton is someone I’ve known for a long, long time. She’s a patriot. I think she’s doing a lot of the right things. […] I think she’s doing a fine job. I really do.”

Henry Kissinger: “[Hillary Clinton] ran the State Department in the most effective way that I’ve ever seen.”

Sen. John McCain (R-AZ): “Secretary Clinton is admired and respected around the world. She and I have been friends for many years. We used to travel together… So, I have – I admire the fact that she is admired throughout the world and a very effective Secretary of State.”

Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT): “I happen to like Hillary Clinton; I think she’s done a good job for the… secretary of state’s position, and I have high respect for her and think a great deal of her.”

Sen. Johnny Isakson (R-GA): “Thank you, Secretary Clinton, for your words of inspiration and for the magnificent job you do as the Secretary of State for our nation.”

Sen. Cory Gardner (R-CO): “[Hillary Clinton] is successful in her own right, no doubt about that, as a senator, successful as Secretary of State.”

Fmr. Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC) to Hillary Clinton: “You’ve, I think, taken an international leadership role in, I think, raising the pressure levels in Iran.”

Fmr. Gov. Jon Huntsman (R-UT): “I have to say she’s a very impressive public servant. […] And I have to say, I haven’t been around too many people as professional; as well-briefed. […] I have to say, she’s a very, very capable person.”

https://www.hillaryclinton.com/briefing/factsheets/2015/07/20/gop-praise/

May 7, 2016

Hillary Clinton Targets Republicans Turned Off by Donald Trump (Really?)

WILLIAMSON, W.Va. — Hillary Clinton’s campaign is trying to seize on the
turmoil Donald J. Trump’s ascent has caused within the Republican Party,
hoping to gain the support of Republican voters and party leaders including
former elected officials and retired generals disillusioned by their party’s
standard­bearer.

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/07/us/politics/hillary-clinton-republican-party.html?emc=edit_th_20160507&nl=todaysheadlines&nlid=70251688

When Bernie said he was going after Republican votes, Hillary's followers said --

"Sounds like desperation, going after people who don't give a rats ass about, women, minorities, immigrants."

"Wow! And people actually hid posts of mine where I questioned this man's character. Turns out, I failed to accurately estimate how low he could actually sink."

"THIS Has been the argument for Bernie for the last 6 months and it's still not compelling."

"And if Hillary had made any effort to court Libertarians and Reps, the howling here at DU about her true colors, her RW policies coming home to roost and more importantly, her decidedly RW policies that would be implemented to make rw'ers feel right at home...all of that howling would be deafening."

Can you hear anything?

May 6, 2016

Sanders Threatens Floor Fight at Dem Convention

" Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders is threatening a floor fight over rules and platform planks at the party's summer convention if the Democratic National Committee stacks the committees with supporters of Hillary Clinton.

Sanders writes in a letter to Democratic National Committee chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz that the makeup of the standing committees should reflect the level of support that he and Clinton received in the primaries and caucuses.

He says many of his supporters have not been included and notes Connecticut Gov. Dannel Malloy will be in charge of the convention's platform committee and former Massachusetts Rep. Barney Frank will run the rules committee. He calls both "aggressive attack surrogates" for Clinton."

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory/latest-trump-britain-off-eu-38924521

I have one comment Hillary supporters, tell her to go back to New York, Arkansas, Illinois. I am really tired of your whining bullshit. Maybe you can start another war, or better yet, why not join Henry Kissinger and the death squads, that is more your style.

on edit--
P.S.--The comment above was a paraphrase of the original post in Hillary Group which excoriated Bernie. I just changed the names. Credit where credit is due.

May 5, 2016

Trump wants to refinance U.S. debt...after that declare bankruptcy!

Presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump on Thursday positioned himself on the far left of the political spectrum on fiscal issues, coming out for low interest rates, against a strong dollar and a more aggressive managing of U.S. debt.

In a wide-ranging phone conversation with CNBC, Trump said he would replace Federal Reserve Chairwoman Janet Yellen when her term expires in 2018, though he didn’t really offer up any criticism of her.

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/low-interest-rate-trump-wants-to-replace-yellen-refinance-us-debt-2016-05-05

Running the U.S.government like a business would inevitably lead to declaring bankruptcy and stiffing all those who hold U.S. Treasury bonds. Trump has used this technique multiple times to escape his bad investments..