February 24, 2019

OMG !!! Dame Edna Everage and Donald Trump

Terry Wogan (1990) 14.55 in.

Couldn’t stand more than 2 minutes of of it. Good luck .

February 24, 2019

Sherrod Brown: End Taxpayer Subsidies for Drug Ads

U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown recently introduced the End Taxpayer Subsidies for Drug Ads Act

Washington, DC — U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown (D-OH) recently introduced the End Taxpayer Subsidies for Drug Ads Act, legislation that would prohibit pharmaceutical drug manufacturers from claiming tax deductions for consumer advertising expenses.

According to a press release from Brown, advertising expenses by pharmaceutical drug manufacturers have more than quadrupled over the past two decades, rising from $1.3 billion in 1997 to $6 billion in 2016. In that same time period, advertising from drug companies has increased from 79,000 ads to 4.6 million ads, including 663,000 TV commercials. Economists have estimated that nearly one third of the growth in drug companies’ spending can be attributed to the increase in advertising for prescription drugs.

Brown says that under current law, drug manufacturers are allowed to deduct the cost of advertising expenses from federal taxes and the End Taxpayer Subsidies for Drug Ads Act would eliminate this tax deduction for drug advertising costs, ensuring that taxpayer dollars are not used to subsidize drug advertisements.

“The purpose of medicine is to help people, not to line the pockets of Big Pharma executives. It’s time to stop using taxpayer dollars to give tax breaks to Big Pharma, especially at a time when too many hardworking Americans are struggling to afford the medicine they need and the culprit is often price gouging by pharmaceutical corporations,” said Brown

https://www.lovelandmagazine.com/u-s-senator-sherrod-brown-recently-introduced-the-end-taxpayer-subsidies-for-drug-ads-act/

February 24, 2019

tЯump's approval is climbing up

According to 538 tЯump has recovered the ground he lost during the shutdown (42.3% Dec 23).

February 24, 2019

FDR: An American Prayer

We are all of us children of Earth

The Spirit of man has awakened
The Soul of man has gone forth

Grant us the wisdom and the vision
to comprehend the greatness of man's Spirit
that suffers and endures so hugely for a goal
beyond his own brief span

We are all of us children of Earth
Grant us that simple knowledge
If our brothers are oppressed,
then we are oppressed
If they hunger, we hunger
If their freedom is taken away,
our freedom is not secure

Grant us a common faith,
that man shall know bread and peace
That he shall know justice and righteousness,
Freedom and security, an equal opportunity,
and an equal chance to do his best,
not only in our own lands, but throughout the world.

And in that faith, let us march,
march toward the clean world our hands can make.
Amen

Franklin Delano Roosevelt
June 14, 1942

The common faith of Democratic Party, as true today as it was 75 years ago.

February 24, 2019

Andrew Yang: Automation puts one in three jobs at risk.

It’s Time To Take Andrew Yang Seriously

The inevitability of automation, job loss and the only presidential candidate willing to talk about it.

“One of the main reasons Donald Trump won in 2016, is that we automated away 4 million manufacturing jobs based in Michigan, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Wisconsin, Missouri, [and] Iowa– all the swing states he needed to win in the center of the country. A lot of that [the work available] is manufacturing work,” Yang explained on The Joe Rogan Experience last week.

“We actually are getting rid of the most common jobs in the U.S. economy [held] by high school graduates and then replacing them with a handful of jobs for higher skilled people in different places. Then, we’re pretending that the first [displaced] population is somehow going to access those new opportunities, when the odds are of them moving to Seattle and becoming a web designer or a logistics manager or a data scientist are essentially near zero.

This is what gave rise to a lot of the anger that got Donald Trump elected. They looked around their communities and were like ‘Hey, I used to work in this manufacturing plant, this manufacturing plant no longer exists, and, for whatever reason, I’m being told that it’s somehow my fault that I wasn’t adaptable enough.’”

https://medium.com/nat_65543/its-time-to-take-andrew-yang-seriously-bb3d341927dc

Andrew proposes a Univeral Basic Income of $12,000 per year for Adults 18 years or older.

https://www.yang2020.com/policies/the-freedom-dividend/

It’s time to have a debate on GMI - Guaranteed Minimum Income? Neo liberals treat workers as roadkill. Trade and automation may push along the economy but Corporations and Government are free riders, shirking all the economic, social and human costs. Time to pay up, IMO.

February 24, 2019

Amy Klobuchar: Legalize recreational marijuana.

Legalizing Marijuana is becoming mainstream

Sen. Klobuchar says she favors legalizing recreational marijuana

Minneapolis (AP) Add Amy Klobuchar to the list of Democratic presidential hopefuls who support legalizing marijuana.

Klobuchar said in a statement Friday that she supports legalization and that states should have the right to determine how to handle marijuana in their territory.

The Minnesota senator is carving out a moderate image in a field that includes more liberal candidates like Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts. But she joins them and others, including Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey and Sen. Kamala Harris of California, in backing legalization.

Minnesota allows medicinal marijuana, but not recreational, although Democrats in the state have introduced legislation this year to legalize it.

https://www.valleynewslive.com/content/news/Klobuchar-says-she-favors-legalizing-recreational-marijuana-506274601.html

Looks like the Dems 2020 are reaching a consensus on legal marijuana.

February 24, 2019

Cory Booker to deliver address at Selma Bridge Crossing Jubilee

Cory Booker to deliver address at Selma Bridge Crossing Jubilee

U.S. Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., a candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination will deliver a keynote address at Historic Brown Chapel AME Church in Selma on March 3 as part of the annual Bridge Crossing Jubilee, commemorating 1965's Bloody Sunday.

Booker will be one of several Democrats attending the annual event, which frequently draws national political figures, particularly Democrats.

The Rev. Leodis Strong, pastor of Historic Brown Chapel AME Church, said in a statement released by the Booker campaign that the candidate had "dedicated his life to paying forward the deeds and sacrifices of the Selma generation."

"When so many of our leaders traffic in the currencies of fear and division, Sen. Booker’s message of love and courageous empathy is precisely what we need to hear as we tackle the challenges that our generation must now confront,” the statement said.

https://www.montgomeryadvertiser.com/story/news/2019/02/22/cory-booker-deliver-address-selma-bridge-crossing-jubilee/2946117002/

February 24, 2019

Sharrod Brown : I will be the most pro-union, pro-worker candidate.

Brown pledges to be most pro-union 2020 candidate if he runs

LAS VEGAS: Democrat Sherrod Brown brought a pro-worker message Saturday to Las Vegas casino workers who are members of what's considered Nevada's most powerful labor union, declaring that if he decides to run for president, he will be "the most pro-union, pro-worker candidate."

Brown, a U.S. senator from Ohio, said he's going to make a decision about 2020 in the next month. He addressed workers in the union hall of the Culinary Union as he kicked off a trip to the early Western caucus state, which is seen as a key test of a candidate's appeal to diverse demographics.

Brown is the first potential or announced 2020 candidate to hold an event this year with the housekeepers, bartenders and others in the heavily Latino union, though other contenders have had private meetings with union leaders in recent months.

The Culinary Union, which represents about 57,000 workers in casino-hotels in Las Vegas and Reno, helped Nevada Democrats deliver the state for Hillary Clinton in 2016.

https://www.kansascity.com/news/politics-government/national-politics/article226699479.html

http://content.jwplatform.com/players/3DgrM5Gk-Bw0sFO2g.html

February 24, 2019

Gillibrand on Al Franken : No regrets

Kirsten Gillibrand, Al Franken & The Perils Of Standing Up To Powerful Men

This past week, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand made it clear that she doesn't regret calling for Al Franken's resignation, despite the how-dare-she anger from prominent Democratic donors, conservative political columnists, and bored men on the internet. On campaign stops and in phone calls with supporters, as well as in Facebook ads that asked for donations, the New York senator and 2020 presidential candidate said she is fighting for sexual assault survivors to be heard and doesn't care if she pays the price for it. ...

"I will stand up to our own party if I need to," Gillibrand told supporters this week at a bar in Iowa City, IA. "And that's what Al Franken's about. And I know Democrats are very sad about Al Franken, I'm sad about Al Franken. But the truth of this issue is very clear, he had eight credible allegations against him that were corroborated in real time, by the press that were investigating it. ... Enough was enough."

"[Gillibrand] was not the only person to call for his resignation; she was among a group of Democratic senators who called for him to step down," Manne told Refinery29. "But Gillibrand is the one who is singled out and blamed. When what she did was take a principled stance — her overall platform is prioritizing the interests of women and being quite progressive on gender politics — she was called an opportunist and a betrayer. I thought that was pretty misogynistic." ...

Rebecca Brubaker, a 22-year-old living in L.A., said she supports Gillibrand because, "She has been a champion for sexual assault victims. That made me have immense respect for her." Sexual assault on college campuses and in the military were part of the core of Gillibrand's legislative agenda in the Senate.

https://www.refinery29.com/en-us/2019/02/225028/kirsten-gillibrand-al-franken-sexual-harassment-2020-presidential-race

Gillibrand calls for Al Franken’s resignation

February 23, 2019

Zero tolerence for sexism.

This is my request for the Primaries. When tempers are frayed it’s easy to slip into misogynist media narratives.

I’ll give you an example. In 2008 Joe Scarborough referred to Hillary’s laugh in an interview as a ‘cackle’ . DU became consumed with it. This time round the RW is saying Kamala has a ‘witch like’ cackle.

Elizabeth, Kamala, and Amy are fine candidates. In the heat of battle it’s not to much to ask posters to pull back if they cross the line. A simple ‘that’s sexism let it go’ would do.

My 2c