Happy Father’s Day to all the Daddys out there. Enjoy today with family and friends.
**UDATED WITH flotus video:
Tracy Martin’s Message For Father’s Day
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Black Girls Rock!
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Potus Takes Oath of Office
Flotus & Daughters at Great Wall of China
My Brothers Keeper
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AFRO PUFFS
Most Adorable Shoe Stealer
Six Little Babies
Fatherhood
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Even though 3Chics Politico is written and curated by three women: Ametia, Rikyrah, and SouthernGirl2, I must nominate this as one of the most engaging blogs I've found. Devoted to politics and culture, these three shine a light on contemporary life with humor and spirit.
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here’s Bitter Boyce right on cue:
President Obama’s Stand for Illegal Immigrants, Slap In Face For Blacks
Jun 15, 2012
ByDr. Boyce Watkins
The Obama Administration recently announced that it is no longer going to seek the deportation of young illegal immigrants. Instead, the administration is going to allow them to apply for permits to work. The announcement has major implications for the re-election of President Barack Obama, as additional Hispanic votes can impact a variety of swing states
The Department of Homeland Security is going to implement the announcement immediately, which says that illegal immigrants who were brought to the United States as children will be free from threats of deportation or detainment.
Certainly conditions apply, but the move is expected to impact 800,000 illegal immigrants.
I applaud the president’s bold stand in support of immigrants’ rights. Those who were brought to the United States as children have made America their home, both physically and psychologically. Deportation would be both traumatic and unethical.
This is one of many strong policy stands pushed by President Obama over the past few months. He recently announced his support for gay marriage, which pleased those in favor of marital rights for same-sex partners, as well as legislation for women’s groups. Again, I applauded these decisions myself.
My question for the Obama Administration, which has been courageous on every front when it comes to women, the gay community, and immigrants, is, what about Black America?
African Americans represent the demographic that is most supportive of President Obama, yet they are the most devastated by the effects of mass incarceration, economic racial disparities, and unequal educational systems. The War on Drugs has destroyed millions of our families, with parents of our children being given several life sentences for non-violent crimes, even when they have no criminal record.
Examples are the case of Mario Lloyd in Chicago, whose children have grown up without a father after seeing their dad receive 14 life sentences for a non-violent crime, and Clarence Aaron, who has spent 20 years in prison after simply witnessing a drug deal. While the president has the power of the pardon, Obama has not cared to use it. To date, he has been arguably the least-forgiving president in recent American history, allowing thousands of fathers, mothers and siblings to rot away in prison, as if their lives mean nothing to him or his cronies in the White House.
http://newsone.com/2021107/president-obamas-stand-for-illegal-immigrants-a-slap-in-the-face-for-blacks/
WTF?!
I had a long talk with a Sistafriend of mine. She’s not political, per se, but she always breaks it down for me. She’s my ‘ beat on the street’.
‘Rik, if these Kneegrows don’t know that they better crawl over ground glass to go pull that lever for Obama in November, then I don’t know what to say..’
LOL
told her that there wasn’t anything else to say.
NOPE; NOTHING else to SAY
Valerie Jarrett daughter wedding: Besides Obama, who was there
By Lynn Sweet on June 17, 2012 2:06 PM| No Comments
WASHINGTON–Cook County Circuit Court Judge Neil Cohen officiated at the Saturday wedding of the daughter of White House Senior Advisor Valerie Jarrett, attended by President Barack Obama, Michelle and their daughters.
In a ceremony at the home where Jarrett spent much of her youth–a block north of the Obama home on South Greenwood—Laura Jarrett married Tony Balkissoon before family and friends.
The two met while at Harvard Law School and the graduates of HLS ’10 now practice at rival Chicago law firms, Balkisson at Sidley Austin and Jarrett at Mayer Brown.
Cohen sits in the Chancery Division at the Daley Center and is the husband of Jarrett friend and confidante Susan Sher, who is the former chief of staff for the First Lady. Cohen also is close to Jarrett’s parents: her late father Dr. James Bowman, who died last year, and her mother, Dr. Barbara Bowman
Sher left the White House last year and is now the Executive Vice President for Corporate Strategy and Public Affairs at the University of Chicago Medical Center. Many of the attendees at the wedding–as does Jarrett and the Obama family–have ties to the U of C.
The wedding festivities took place in the house and in a tent in the large yard. City of Chicago records show Dr. Bowman received a permit to erect the tent for the wedding.
Among those present:
Newton and Jo Minow: Minow is a senior counsel at Sidley. When Obama was at
Harvard Law School, Minow recommended that Sidley hire him for a summer job in Chicago. Obama took the job and met his future wife, Michelle, at the firm. Minow’s daughter, Martha, is the Harvard Law School dean.
John Levi: Levi is the Sidley partner who actually hired Obama–and before him, one Michelle Robinson. Obama tapped Levi to be the Chairman of the Legal Services Corporation. Obama also appointed Martha Minow to the Legal Services board.
Martin Nesbitt: He is a close personal friend of Jarrett and the Obamas’ and lives a few blocks away. Lesser known is that he is the treasurer of the Obama for American campaign committee. His wife, Dr. Anita Blanchard is also one of Mrs. Obama’s closest friends; she delivered the Obama daughters. She is an Associate Professor of Obstetrics/Gynecology at the U of C Medical School–where Dr. James Bowman was the professor emeritus in the departments of Pathology and Medicine.
Eric and Cheryl Whitaker: The couple are close to Jarrett and the First Couple. Whitaker and Nesbitt are also frequent golfing companions of the president. On Sunday, the men were playing at the Beverly Country Club at 87th and Western. Whiteaker is the Executive Vice President for Strategic Affiliations and Associate Dean for Community-Based Research at the U of C Medical Center.
Vernon and Ann Jordan: While Jordan has a high national profile – a Washington insider’s insider–the connection with Jarrett is through Ann, a cousin. Ann Dibble Jordan is a former Chicagoan with long-time connections to the University of Chicago, where she is a trustee emeritus.
John Rogers and his daughter, Victoria: Rogers, the founder of Ariel Investments, grew up with Jarrett on South Greenwood. Years later, by chance, Rogers recruited one Craig Robinson to play basketball at Princeton. Robinson is Mrs. Obama’s brother. Rogers is major Obama fund-raiser. His former wife–Victoria’s mother–is Desiree Rogers, a former White House Social Secretary whose departure stratined the relationship with Jarrett and Mrs. Obama.
Roxanne Ward: A friend who is a former executive at at Ariel.
Paula Wolff and Wayne Whalen: Wolff–who has a long civic resume–Mayor Rahm Emanuel tapped her to head the City Colleges Board in February–and Whalen–a partner at Skadden Arps–are longtime Jarrett neighbors, living on the same block on South Greenwood.
Antoinette Cook Bush: a Jarrett cousin who is a partner at Skadden.
Attorney General Eric Holder and Sharon Malone:
While Holder gets most of the attention, lesser known is that his wife, an ob-gyn, is also a close friend to Jarrett and Mrs. Obama.
Allison and Susan Davis: Obama joined Davis’ law firm out of Harvard Law School. The couple live in Kenwood.
Dan and Fay Hartog Levin: Jarrett was a one-time top staffer for former Mayor Richard M. Daley. When she left City Hall, she landed at The Habitat Company, founded by Dan Levin. She became Habitat president in 2007. Obama tapped Mrs. Levin to be the U.S. Ambassador to the Netherlands, a position she resigned last year.
http://blogs.suntimes.com/sweet/2012/06/valerie_jarretts_daughters_wed.html
Faith & Freedom Director Jokes That Obama Steals WH Silverware
Evan McMorris-Santoro-June 16, 2012, 7:45 PM
From the department of evangelical conference warm-up acts is this mock list of Obama’s New Year’s resolutions, read by the Faith & Freedom Coalition Executive Director Gary Marx Saturday night at the conference’s closing banquet in downtown Washington D.C.
“It seems that the president may see the writing on the wall from November’s election,” Marx said. “And so I thought I’d share some of them with you. So here are Barack Obama’s 2013 New Year’s resolutions.”
Here’s Marx’s list:
1. Party with the Secret Service one last time.
2. Pack up that White House silverware!
3. Consult with Bill Clinton what’s the best price for a presidential pardon.
4. Fire up the paper shredders.
5. Throw Eric Holder under the bus.
6. I gotta get Joe Biden a muzzle.
7. Ask MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow and Vogue magazine’s Anna Wintour just who does their hair.
http://2012.talkingpointsmemo.com/2012/06/conservative-leader-jokes-president-obama-steals-silverware.php
Montana GOP Convention Features ‘Obama Library’ Riddled With Fake Bullet Holes
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Pema Levy-June 17, 2012, 10:50 AM6601
Outside the Montana state Republican Party convention this weekend was an outhouse labeled the “Obama Presidential Library” and covered in painted-on bullet holes.
Inside the outhouse contained a fake birth certificate for Barack Hussein Obama, according to the Helena Independent Record.
It was stamped “Bull——.” A graffito advised “For a Good Time call 800-Michelle (crossed out), Hillary (crossed out) and Pelosi (circled in red.)”
State GOP Chairman Will Deschamps said he didn’t know who was responsible for the outhouse but called it a “sideshow,” the paper reported.
“It’s not something I’m going to agonize over,” he said. “Some of that stuff is not real good taste. We do have a president of the United States, and we have to honor that.”
There was no indication of who brought the outhouse and parked it outside the hotel where the convention was taking place, though it has made a previous appearance in Montana at a Memorial Day parade in Corvallis.
Newt Gingrich was the featured speaker at the convention.
http://2012.talkingpointsmemo.com/2012/06/montana-gop-convention-features-obama-library-riddled-with-fake-bullet-holes.php
Obama’s Immigration Move Puts Romney Between Hispanics, Conservatives
SAHIL KAPUR
JUNE 17, 2012, 12:23 PM
President Obama’s move Friday to grant immunity and temporary legal status to some young undocumented immigrants is putting his rival Mitt Romney in an irreconcilable predicament between Latinos and his immigration-weary conservative base.
Appearing Sunday on CBS’ “Face The Nation,” Romney three separate times declined to say whether he’d reverse Obama’s decision if elected president.
“What I would do, is I’d make sure that by coming into office, I would work with Congress to put in place a long-term solution for the children of those that have come here illegally,” Romney said. “My anticipation is I’d come into office and say we need to get this done, on a long-term basis, not this kind of stop-gap measure.” He refrained from getting specific.
Romney has encouraged Sen. Marco Rubio’s (R-FL) work in crafting legislation to achieve similar ends. Rubio has been using his unreleased bill to damage the president’s standing with Hispanic voters. But since Obama’s announcement, Rubio has downplayed expectations for legislative action, and his office is telling reporters that he wasn’t consulted and may not release his scaled back DREAM Act after all.
The backtracking makes it easier for Democrats to clarify the choice facing Hispanic voters. It also suggests that for Rubio and Romney, part of the purpose of sympathizing with DREAMers was to obscure the GOP’s hostility to the DREAM Act and other immigration relief measures, something party stalwarts fear will hurt the party with Latinos on Election Day.
Appearing Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union,” Rick Santorum, now a Romney surrogate, said the Republican nominee is “trying to walk the line” with his immigration stance in order to avoid sounding “hostile” to the increasing important Hispanic voting bloc.
Meanwhile, congressional Republicans have been fiercely critical of Obama’s move, complicating Romney’s political balancing act. Rep. Steve King (R-IA) vowed to legally challenge it, while Senate candidate Richard Mourdock called on Romney to reverse the decision if elected. Republicans on Capitol Hill are not hiding their anger.
“President Obama and his administration once again have put partisan politics and illegal immigrants ahead of the rule of law and the American people,” said Rep. Lamar Smith (R-TX), the chairman of the committee with jurisdiction on immigration.
The Latino community’s strong praise for Obama’s order means it could have important implications for the presidential contest as well as close congressional races where analysts say Hispanics — the nation’s fastest-growing demographic — could be decisive.
Any discussion of the emotionally charged matter forces the Republican presidential nominee to either aggravate immigration-weary conservatives (whom he catered to during the primary) or alienate Latinos (whose votes he needs in the general election). The rift between the two factions is too wide to be reconciled.
http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2012/06/romney-immigration-hispanics-conservatives-obama-dream.php?ref=fpa
• “Never once did I interrupt a president in any way while he was making a formal statement, a speech, honoring awardees or in any other way holding the floor. Yes, almost always when he was finished in the Rose Garden or in the Briefing Room or at a photo opportunity with other world leaders I tried to question him (only rarely was it a shout on the rope line, more often a more normal tone of voice) and other reporters of course did the same thing along with me.
What this man did yesterday is something new, to me wrong and unusual. I think it is probably the result of the growing incivility of the times, the competition among reporters and news organizations to be noticed not only for the work product but for the theatrics of the gathering…and there is one more factor, let’s face it:
Many on the political right believe this president ought not to be there – they oppose him not for his polices and political view but for who he is, an African American! These people and perhaps even certain news organizations (certainly the right wing talkers like Limbaugh) encourage disrespect for this president.
That is both regrettable and adds, in this case, to the general dislike of the press on the part of the general public.
For Tucker Carlson to say that he would if he can give this man a raise for this rude attempt to interrupt the president is reflective of what I’ve said above and, to me, lowers my opinion of Tucker.”
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/06/16/sam-donaldson-tucker-carlson-daily-caller-obama-interrupted_n_1602526.html?1339866773
this is SAM DONALDSON
I see. Has Donaldson loosened his toupe?
Obama Goes Long on Immigration, GOP Goes Crazy
By Charles P. Pierce
at 3:49PM
Now this is more like it, and not merely because it is making the usual suspects squeal.
In a Twitter post, Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina said the decision “avoids dealing with Congress and the American people instead of fixing a broken immigration system once and for all… This is a classic Barack Obama move of choosing politics over leadership,” Graham’s tweet said.
You know what, Huckleberry? Tough. You and your party have demagogued this issue to the point where, in the last presidential campaign, John McCain had to disavow his own immigration bill. Who in the hell is the president supposed to lead?
This guy?
House Judiciary Committee Chairman Lamar Smith, R-Texas, called the change a “decision to grant amnesty to potentially millions of illegal immigrants… Many illegal immigrants will falsely claim they came here as children and the federal government has no way to check whether their claims are true,” Smith said in a statement. “And once these illegal immigrants are granted deferred action, they can then apply for a work permit, which the administration routinely grants 90% of the time.”
Or, maybe, this guy, the nuttiest member of the House not named Allen West….
“I will tell you that — I’m not without experience on this — I’m prepared to bring a suit and seek a court order to stop implementation of this policy,” King said.
And somebody stole the strawberries, too.
Steve King is the leader of your party on this issue, Huckleberry. Live with it.
(Ooops, I may have overrated Steve King here. Congressman West, checking in from beautiful downtown Paranoid Palms, Florida.)
(And here’s a guy from Tucker Carlson’s little vanity publication, acting like a jackass.)
It has the added benefit of being a decent policy move, too, considering it was the only one that the Republican banana factory in the Congress left to him. The president is simply acting as the head of the Executive Branch — the same principle under which John Yoo once assured us would allow C-Plus Augustus to crush a child’s testicles if he saw the need to do so. What he has done is excise the specter of existential dread from the lives of 800,000 young people, most of whom (presumably) will be electorally grateful. That’s enough alone for cynical bastids like me. But it’s also a brave and decent thing to do, which seems to have occurred to (among others) Senator Marco Rubio, who’d like to have a political future after he hits 45, and who probably looks at a party speaking through Steve King on immigration and sees that evaporating before his eyes…
“There is broad support for the idea that we should figure out a way to help kids who are undocumented through no fault of their own, but there is also broad consensus that it should be done in a way that does not encourage illegal immigration in the future,” he said. “This is a difficult balance to strike, one that this new policy, imposed by executive order, will make harder to achieve in the long run.”
Only if your party continues to pander to the flock of loons, senator. You know what’s happening here. The Stupid ice had to be cracked on this issue, and the president’s done that. Ball’s in your court now.
Read more: http://www.esquire.com/blogs/politics/obama-dream-act-9750199#ixzz1y4huMkAO
June 17, 2012
The American right’s ‘butheads’
From what I can gather from Politico’s canvassing of ‘RightOnline’ bloggers in Las Vegas yesterday, majority opinion about the idiot from the Daily Caller lay somewhere betwixt the following polar opposites: since “our president is not transparent … etiquette for previous administrations don’t [sic] apply,” and “I found it embarrassing.”
Those last four words, from one Jon Fleischman, of California’s FlashReport, would in any sane and authentic conservative gathering be broadly embraced as a familiar sentiment. In other words, it–that sentiment–would not leap from the pack as a polite, proper, well-mannered, thoughtful, concise and rational orphan. Yet, with the additional exception of Trent Seibert’s (of TexasWatchdog.org) reaction–“I found it offensive”–it does.
Most expressed opinions (and again, I derive my characterization only from Politico’s survey) came from your typical “Buthead”–the weasely, ill-mannered, irrational noggin implanted with a weasely, unctuous tongue. To wit …
“I don’t believe in being rude, but …”
“The fact that he would interrupt the president, I don’t agree with that. But …”
“Maybe it was a little rude, but …”
There are indeed legitimate opportunities for the epic “but”: e.g., yes the Allies committed atrocious acts during the Second World War, but …; or, yes Dick Nixon and George W. Bush were common criminals better left committed to Leavenworth than pardoned history, but …; or, yes Edvard Munch’s ‘The Scream’ rated an unconscionably obscene price at Sotheby’s, but …
But, this was not one of those opportunities, and it was epic only in that it marked yet another, major degeneration of the American right.
One wonders if there is a bottom.
http://pmcarpenter.blogs.com/p_m_carpenters_commentary/2012/06/the-american-rights-butheads.html
Sunday, June 17, 2012
Why I’ll CONTINUE to have AG Holder’s back
Immediately following the 2010 midterms when Republicans gained a majority in the House, I started the page up at the top of this blog titled DOJ Watch after writing an article titled Why I’ll have Attorney General Eric Holder’s back. In it I cited a prophetic New York Times article.
When the Obama administration wakes up next month to a divided capital, no cabinet member will be facing a more miserable prospect of oversight hearings and subpoenas than Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr…
Mr. Holder is a particularly juicy target because he presides over issues that have served as recurrent fodder for political controversy — including using the criminal justice system for terrorism cases, and federal enforcement of civil rights and immigration laws.
Of course that prediction has come true. AG Holder is now facing the possibility of contempt charges from Rep. Issa’s committee and the blog The Daily Caller (yes, the same one that is now praising their reporter for his disrespect towards the President) has made it their mission to bring down the Attorney General.
For weeks now I’ve been thinking I should write something about all this. But honestly, getting into the content of all the crap that’s being thrown around is just something I haven’t been interested in doing. Part of me is feeling guilty though because this man deserves defending.
Today I found the answer to that dilemma in a blog post by Brown Man titled Senatory Cornyn, Eric Holder is Not Your Nigger (I’ll apologize now for the language – but sometimes these kinds of words speak the truth).
Eric Holder is not your nigger.
He is not going to play the role of the servile coon you and your ilk fantasize about, not going to bow or scrape or say “yassa Boss”, and he damn sure isn’t going to smile in your face and tell you what you want to hear. This man has testified NINE MOTHERFUCKING TIMES ON THE SAME MOTHERFUCKING TOPIC and you chump change, “wish this were Whitewater” motherfuckers want to act like Holder is holding out on you?
Eric Holder is not your nigger.
He is a grown ass man who has probably forgotten more shit than you and the top five members of your staff combined can remember, but you wouldn’t know that, because you can’t believe that even now black people who rise to the top in America have to know their shit backwards and forwards. Unfortunately for you, the shit he knows backwards and forwards is the law of the land, the same one you have to obey like everybody else. So what is this about, really? Because from where I sit, and white folks with good sense sit, and every Latino in the country who is not motherfucking Cuban sits, this looks like you can’t make the president do what you want, so you will abuse your subpoena authority with the next ranking black man in the Obama administration.
Yep, that about nails it. To give these allegations any time or thought misses the point that is being made here. Not only is AG Holder pushing every button these people have on voting rights, civil rights, and immigration…he’s the “next ranking black man in the Obama administration.” That, my friends, is the threat these people are responding to.
And its why I will say proudly that “I have AG Holder’s back!”
http://immasmartypants.blogspot.com/2012/06/why-ill-continue-to-have-ag-holders.html
National Review is Spreading Paranoia
by BooMan
Sun Jun 17th, 2012 at 10:08:11 AM EST
It’s one thing to be stupid or paranoid, but it’s quite another to have no journalistic standards whatsoever. That’s what the National Review is demonstrating by publishing Victor Davis Hanson’s nonsense. Here he is, discussing Obama’s recent decision to not to deport kids who would be covered under the proposed DREAM Act if it were to pass into law.
Politically, Obama calculates that some polls showing the current likely Hispanic support for him in the high 50s or low 60s would not provide enough of a margin in critical states such as Nevada, New Mexico, and Colorado, or perhaps also in Florida and Virginia, to counteract the growing slippage of the independent vote and the energy of the clinger/tea-party activists. Thus, what was not legal or advisable in 2009, 2010, or 2011, suddenly has become critical in mid-2012. No doubt free green cards will quickly lead to citizenship and a million new voters. Will it work politically?
How will the president’s announced policy lead to a million new voters? Let’s start with what the president said in the Rose Garden immediately before he was rudely interrupted by one of Tucker Carlson’s thugs:
PRESIDENT OBAMA: Effective immediately, the Department of Homeland Security is taking steps to lift the shadow of deportation from these young people. Over the next few months, eligible individuals who do not present a risk to national security or public safety will be able to request temporary relief from deportation proceedings and apply for work authorization.
Now, let’s be clear — this is not amnesty, this is not immunity. This is not a path to citizenship. It’s not a permanent fix. This is a temporary stopgap measure that lets us focus our resources wisely while giving a degree of relief and hope to talented, driven, patriotic young people.
Then consider that the Department of Homeland Security said the following in their press release: “The use of prosecutorial discretion confers no substantive right, immigration status, or pathway to citizenship. Only the Congress, acting through its legislative authority, can confer these rights.”
If you are confused about what this policy change means, here’s a helpful FAQ. The bottom line is that the new policy does only two things. It creates a strictly-defined category of individuals who can go through a formal process that will allow most of them to gain peace of mind that they will not be deported for a two-year period, and that allows them to apply for work authorization (a green card, or the equivalent). There is nothing in the new policy that puts them on a path to citizenship or that would in any way allow them to vote. To suggest otherwise is pure dishonesty. It’s understandable that people might be suspicious or paranoid about the motives or likely outcome of this policy change, but it is up to the editors at the National Review to make sure that they don’t publish blatant falsehoods. They failed that test.
http://www.boomantribune.com/story/2012/6/17/10811/2957
Posted at 11:41 AM ET, 06/17/2012
Romney: No need to detail how I’ll pay for massive tax cuts. Just trust me.
By Greg Sargent
There’s a great deal to chew on in Mitt Romney’s interview with Bob Schieffer, which just aired on CBS.
Romney repeatedly refused to say whether he’d repeal Obama’s order to halt deportations of DREAM-eligible youth. He confirmed that he would not agree to even one dollar in new revenues in exchange for 10 dollars in spending cuts. And he again reiterated that his response to the crisis would be to cut government, in order to “ignite growth,” even though economists say that more austerity now would make the crisis worse.
But I wanted to flag this exchange in particular, in which Romney seemed to confirm that he will not be detailing how he would pay for his proposed tax cuts for the duration of the campaign:
SCHIEFFER: You haven’t been bashful about telling us yo want to cut taxes. When are you going to tell us where you’re going to get the revenue? Which of the deductions are you going to be willing to eliminate? Which of the tax credits are you going to — when are you going to be able to tell us that?
ROMNEY: Well, we’ll go through that process with Congress as to which of all the different deductions and the exemptions —
SCHIEFFER: But do you have an ideas now, like the home mortgage interest deduction, you know, the various ones?
ROMNEY: Well Simpson Bowles went though a process of saying how they would be able to reach a setting where they had actually under their proposal even more revenue, with lower rates. So, mathematically it’s been proved to be possible: We can have lower rates, as I propose, that creates more growth, and we can limit deductions and exemptions.
Romney went on to pledge, as he has in the past, that under his plan, the wealthy would continue to pay the same share of the tax burden as they do now. “I’m not looking to reduce the burden paid by the wealthiest,” he said. In other words, the disproportionally larger tax cut the wealthy would get from the across-the-board cut in rates he’s proposing would be offset by closing deductions and loopholes the rich currently enjoy. But asked twice by Schieffer how exactly he would do this, Romney refused to say, beyond noting that this has been mathematically proven to be possible. And in his first reply above, he confirmed that the details would be worked out with Congress when he is president — which is to say, not during the campaign.
As you may recall, Romney made big news when he was overheard at a private fundraiser revealing to donors a few of the specific ways he’d pay for his massive tax cuts. Since then, details have been in short supply. And today, Romney seemed to confirm that he sees no need to reveal those details until he becomes president.
The message, in a nutshell: No, the rich won’t make out better than everyone else under my plan. No need to say how this would work in practice. Just trust me!
****************************************
UPDATE: Obama spokesman Ben LaBolt responds:
Mitt Romney has made clear that — for political reasons — he’s not going to disclose how he would pay for his $5 trillion tax cuts. So he’s either secretly raising taxes on a whole segment of the population he won’t disclose, making even more devastating cuts to programs essential to the middle class like education or exploding the deficit by 5 trillion dollars.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line
Howard Dean: Obama’s new immigration policy is “a brilliant move”
Former Vermont Governor Howard Dean praised President Obama’s new policy to provide work permits to children of undocumented immigrants, saying it’s good policy and good politics.
“This is a brilliant move on the president’s part, because Governor Romney is on record as saying he would veto the DREAM Act,” Dean said on “Face the Nation,” referring to the Democrats’ legislation to provide a path to citizenship for undocumented youth.
“If he says anything in favor of what the president did, he will alienate the right wing, which has been his problem all along; and if he denies what the president has said, he digs a deeper hole with Latinos,” Dean said.
“I think this is the end of the road for Governor Romney,” he concluded.
Video
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-3460_162-57454785/howard-dean-obamas-new-immigration-policy-is-a-brilliant-move/?tag=re1.channel
Too precious!
Rodney King Dead: Victim in 1991 LAPD Police Brutality Case, Has Died
By LEEZEL TANGLAO (@leezeltanglao)
June 17, 2012
Rodney King, the man who was at the center of the Los Angeles police brutality case that later sparked the Los Angeles riots has died, according to ABC News Los Angeles station KABC.
He was 47.
Suzanne Wickman, a representative for King confirmed to KABC that Rodney King passed away Sunday.
He was home and found by his fiancee. His cause of the death has not been released, according to KABC.
Sources told TMZ that King was found dead at the bottom of a pool.
http://abcnews.go.com/US/rodney-king-dead-victim-1991-lapd-police-brutally/story?id=16589384
The criminal probe of Sheldon Adelson’s casino empire
By Peter Henderson and James Pomfret
SAN FRANCISCO/MACAU, China | Wed Feb 8, 2012 6:15pm EST
Reuters) – It’s never good for the candidate when a big donor runs afoul of the law – as President Barack Obama learned this week: his campaign returned large donations from Chicago’s Cardona brothers after it was reported that a third brother is a fugitive from U.S. drug and fraud charges.
Some Republican candidates for president could find themselves similarly embarrassed if criminal investigations against casino mogul Sheldon Adelson’s Las Vegas Sands for violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act come to fruition before November.
Probes by the Department of Justice and the Securities and Exchange Commission focus on the casino company’s operations in Macau, the world’s biggest gambling hub, court documents show. A former executive in Adelson’s empire, whose allegations are believed to be central to the probe, cites potential illegal dealings with a public official, as well as a tie to an organized crime figure. (That link was first reported by Reuters in a 2010 special report: High-rollers, triads and a Las Vegas giant – link.reuters.com/dyg56s)
Adelson and his wife single-handedly propped up Newt Gingrich’s campaign with $10 million Super PAC donations in January, and Adelson recently signaled he would write big checks to Mitt Romney, too, if he wins the nomination.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/02/08/us-usa-campaign-adelson-idUSTRE8172DS20120208
These video put tears in my eyes this morning.
Happy Father’s Day, POTUS!
Here wer go again…
Meet Your Cousin, the First Lady: A Family Story, Long Hidden
By RACHEL L. SWARNS
Published: June 16, 2012
REX, Ga. — Joan Tribble held tightly to her cane as she ventured into the overgrown cemetery where her people were buried. There lay the pioneers who once populated north Georgia’s rugged frontier, where striving white men planted corn and cotton, fought for the Confederacy and owned slaves.
The settlers interred here were mostly forgotten over the decades as their progeny scattered across the South, embracing unassuming lives. But one line of her family took another path, heading north on a tumultuous, winding journey that ultimately led to the White House.
The white men and women buried here are the forebears of Mrs. Tribble, a retired bookkeeper who delights in her two grandchildren and her Sunday church mornings. They are also ancestors of Michelle Obama, the first lady.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/17/us/dna-gives-new-insights-into-michelle-obamas-roots.html?_r=2&ref=todayspaper
Ok folks, let’s repeat, repeat, repeat:
Two Choices: President Obama Sets Out His Vision for the Economy
Good Morning, and Happy Father’s Day to all our fathers!