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Every black person who thinks these open-carry laws are for us, too, here’s some news: we can’t even safely hold a BB gun in a Walmart.
1:46 PM – 8 Aug 2014
https://twitter.com/petesouza/status/497821228112297985/photo/1
https://twitter.com/petesouza/status/497820040159571968/photo/1
Aug 14
The Difference Between Barack Obama and George W Bush
By Liberal Librarian
Last night President Barack Obama announced that he had ordered airstrikes against ISIL positions in northern Iraq.
He didn’t do this to secure oil fields. He didn’t do this to project US power in the Middle East. He didn’t do this to in some sort of misplaced revenge.
He did this, as he stated quite clearly, to prevent a genocide.
The Yazidi community—descendants of the Zoroastrians who used to rule the area—has come under attack by the militants of ISIL. ISIL’s intent is clear: wipe out the community. Whether it’s be starvation in the mountains or slaughter on the plains is of no matter to them. (Although I think those brainwashed fundamentalists would love nothing more than to mow down unarmed men, women, and children.)
Of course, ISIL is a direct result of the chaos unleashed by former president George W. Bush in 2003 with his invasion of Iraq. No, I’m not carrying water for Saddam Hussein. He was a murderous, psycopathic dictator. However, he maintained a level of stability via his terror. The Bush Administration had no plan for what would replace Saddam, Donald Rumsfeld famously saying that US troops would be out of Iraq within six months. Six months turned into seven years, while Mr. Bush’s best and brightest were found out to be the worst and dullest, fumbling around for one solution after another which never worked out. The solution finally decided upon—the regime of Nouri Al-Maliki and his Shi’ite maximalists—was probably the worst possible choice. Replacing a Sunni dictatorship with a Shi’a dictatorship proved not only hypocritical, but suicidal. Mr. al-Maliki, for all his venality, hasn’t been able to project the terror which Saddam did to keep the various sects in line. And the Iraq invasion unleashed all sorts of ethnic and confessional demands. But most importantly, al Qaeda, which had never been in Iraq or the greater Middle East before 2003, suddenly found purchase amidst the chaos. Mr. Bush’s lie that the US invaded Iraq to fight AQ became true after the hornet’s nest he stirred up. ISIL is a direct descendant of those first AQ cadres. So, as with our support of mujahedeen in Afghanistan in the 1980s leading to the formation of al Qaeda, our invasion of Iraq has led to predictable blowback in the form of ISIL.
Every time Mr. Bush had the chance to do the right thing in response to the 9/11 attacks, he chose to fulfill neo-conservative wet dreams instead of remaking the Middle East in America’s image, and subservient to US interests. And he never seemed to be bothered by the thousands of people—Americans and Iraqis—he sent to death.
Pres. Obama is quite different.
http://theobamadiary.com/2014/08/08/the-difference-between-barack-obama-and-george-w-bush/
Breaking News: New airstrikes near Irbil Iraq. #ISIS #Iraq
The View
Whoopi Takes Shot at Barbara …
During Heated Test Show
8/8/2014 1:00 AM PDT BY TMZ STAFF
Rosie O’Donnell got into a heated showdown over abortion with CNN’s S.E. Cupp during a ‘View’ test show taping with Whoopi Goldberg … who ended up taking a thinly-veiled shot at Barbara Walters.
Production sources at “The View” tell us Cupp — who’s vying for the conservative role on the show — had a “nasty” debate yesterday over the Australian couple making headlines for asking their surrogate to abort a Down syndrome baby.
We’re told things escalated when Whoopi jumped in and asked Cupp if she ever had to make a decision about abortion. That shut everyone up momentarily … until Rosie chastised Cupp, saying she didn’t want another Elisabeth Hasselbeck.
Here’s where Babs comes in. After the taping … Whoopi — in front of producers and several potential replacement hosts — said she’d been “working with a cranky 85-year-old woman who’s mad about everything for 2 years, and I need a break.”
Hard to tell who Whoopi was really upset with — Rosie or Cupp — but the shot at Barbara was undeniable.
As for Cupp … doesn’t sound like she left on Rosie’s good side — but then again … that may be exactly what “The View” needs.
Read more: http://www.tmz.com/2014/08/08/the-view-whoopi-goldberg-barbara-walters-rosie-odonnell-se-cupp-test-show/#ixzz39pgRZg76
McDonnell gifts list
What they received from Jonnie
By Denise Lu, Rachel Weiner, Rosalind S. Helderman, Matt Zapotosky and Laura Vozzella
Published: August 6, 2014
Former Virginia governor Robert F. McDonnell (R) and his wife Maureen are on trial for lending the prestige of the governor’s office to a wealthy Richmond businessman, Jonnie R. Williams Sr., in return for more than $150,000 in loans, vacations, golf outings and luxury goods. Williams, who was then executive of a dietary supplement company, Star Scientific, testified he wanted help
promoting a new product. Here are some of the gifts given to the couple and their children by Williams from 2011 to 2012.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/special/local/mcdonnell-gifts/
Why the White Americans Got the ‘Secret’ Ebola Serum
After two missionaries were given an experimental treatment for Ebola, questions have swirled about why the hundreds of Africans infected aren’t getting it. For good reasons, it turns out.
A Washington Post blog asks: “Why do two white Americans get the Ebola serum while hundreds of Africans die?”
The New Republic demands: “Why did two U.S. missionaries get an Ebola serum while Africans are left to die?”
That was just media yammering, but it was echoed on streets and in subways by otherwise reasonable people.
Never mind that there seem to have been no more than eight doses of the serum in existence.
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/08/08/why-the-white-americans-got-the-secret-ebola-serum.html?utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter&utm_campaign=cheatsheet_afternoon&cid=newsletter%3Bemail%3Bcheatsheet_afternoon&utm_term=Cheat%20Sheet
http://youtu.be/xhoI7BFBxTk
https://twitter.com/JesusWife/status/497784596109344768/photo/1
Scandal-plagued DesJarlais faces uncertain fate
08/08/14 11:39 AM—UPDATED 08/08/14 11:47 AM
By Steve Benen
Only three congressional Republican incumbents have lost primary fights this year: Virginia’s Eric Cantor, Texas’ Ralph Hall, and Michigan’s Kerry Bentivolio. Will Tennessee’s Scott DesJarlais join the small club?
It’s apparently too soon to say.
State election officials say they will move to speed up the finalization of results from Thursday’s primaries in the 4th Congressional District, but it may be weeks before the outcome becomes clear in the race between U.S. Rep. Scott DesJarlais and state Sen. Jim Tracy.
Secretary of State Tre Hargett and coordinator of elections Mark Goins told reporters in a conference call after midnight on Friday morning that they have begun to contact election commissions in the 16-county districts to move up meetings to certify the results of the race, which DesJarlais appears to have won by 35 votes based on unofficial returns.
DesJarlais’ 35-vote margin is, of course, a remarkably narrow advantage given that more than 70,000 votes were cast in the race. It’s the kind of margin that’s so small, it’s fairly easy to imagine the scales tipping the other way after a recount.
But what makes this House contest so interesting is the fact that DesJarlais, in theory, shouldn’t be competitive at all.
For those who’ve missed our previous coverage, we learned a couple of years ago that DesJarlais was caught up in a sordid tale in which he committed adultery by sleeping with a patient – he’s a medical doctor by trade – then pressured his mistress to have an abortion in the hopes of hiding his misdeeds from the wife he allegedly abused.
http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/scandal-plagued-desjarlais-faces-uncertain-fate
The Tea Party’s setbacks mask larger victory
08/08/14 08:37 AM
By Steve Benen
In his final campaign rally before his Republican primary, Sen. Lamar Alexander (R) joked with Tennessee voters about the pointlessness of asking “who’s the most conservative” candidate. The incumbent said it’s a bit like asking who’s the thinnest lineman on the University of Tennessee football team. “They’re all over 300 pounds!” Alexander said.
The point, of course, was to make clear that divisions within the Republican Party have nothing to do with moderates competing against conservatives. Rather, GOP primary voters have been asked to choose between conservative Republicans and very conservative Republicans, who differ on tactics and tone, but not policy.
For Lamar Alexander, the pitch worked, and he won his primary. The margin was hardly overwhelming – the senator ended up winning by about nine points, despite recent polls that showed him with a much larger lead – but the Tennessee Republican dispatched his Tea Party challenger and will almost certainly keep his seat in the fall.
On the surface, Tea Partiers have reason to be discouraged. They had hoped to defeat some GOP Senate incumbents this year, and as the primary season comes to close, they won exactly zero contests, and memories of their successes in 2010 and 2012 are starting to fade. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell boasted a few months ago that literally all of his party’s incumbents would prevail in their primaries, and on this, he was exactly right.
But beware of analysts who misinterpret these results. Those who see the Republican mainstream reasserting itself and the party’s far-right extremists losing their influence are focusing too much on the trees and not enough on the forest.
Jonathan Capehart flagged a valuable insight from, of all people, Herman Cain.
Herman Cain made no sense when he ran for the 2012 Republican nomination for president…. But Cain made absolute sense when he talked about the state of the tea party on Fox News yesterday.
“The tea party movement is alive and well. Now, I never expected tea party-backed candidates … to take Congress by storm,” he said. “But I think the key thing is it’s causing many of the incumbents to move more to the right relative to what the tea party message is.”
Oddly enough, that’s entirely correct. I suppose even a broken clock is right twice a day.
http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/the-tea-partys-setbacks-mask-larger-victory
If not for GOP sociopathic Governors, that Medicaid Number would be TWELVE MILLION!
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New Medicaid enrollments top 7 million under Obamacare
WASHINGTON Fri Aug 8, 2014 10:55am EDT
More than seven million Americans have gained health coverage through government programs including Medicaid since enrollment in Obamacare health insurance was launched October 1, the U.S. administration said on Friday.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) said 7.2 million new participants in Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program by June brought overall Medicaid enrollment to 66 million people.
The enrollees include uninsured Americans who gained coverage through traditional Medicaid, as well as a special Medicaid expansion in 26 of the 50 U.S. states under President Barack Obama’s Affordable Care Act.
Traditional Medicaid programs often cover only a patchwork of poor individuals, including pregnant women and disabled elderly.
The Obamacare expansion extends coverage to all Americans earning up to 133 percent of the federal poverty line, or $15,521 for an individual and $31,720 for a family of four.
Two dozen states, many led by Republicans opposed to Obamacare, have not expanded Medicaid coverage. HHS said 5.7 million low-income people remain uninsured in those states.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/08/08/us-usa-healthcare-medicaid-idUSKBN0G81LV20140808
Chicago folks..
Remember..
Saturday, August 9, 2014
Bud Billiken Parade
Cops gun down Ohio man holding toy rifle in Walmart ‘like he was not even human’
By Travis Gettys
Friday, August 8, 2014 8:01 EDT
Police fatally shot a man carrying an air rifle at an Ohio Walmart earlier this week.
Another customer called 911 to report 22-year-old John Crawford waving what appeared to be an AR-15 at children and others at the Beavercreek retailer.
The mother of Crawford’s children said she was speaking to him by cell phone when he was confronted by police in the store.
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/08/08/cops-gun-down-ohio-man-holding-toy-rifle-in-walmart-like-he-was-not-even-human/
Walmart SELLS GUNS. Something stinks with this shooting.
Christina Hendricks Uses Mad Men Style to Advocate Fair Wages for Women on Funny or Die
by Matt Wilstein | 3:22 pm, August 7th, 2014
http://www.mediaite.com/tv/christina-hendricks-uses-mad-men-style-to-advocate-fair-wages-for-women-on-funny-or-die/
GOP Obstructionism Is Holding up Funds to Catch Rapists
A spending bill blocked in the Senate would allot $41 million to help cities and states catch sexual predators.
—By Erika Eichelberger | Fri Aug. 8, 2014 9:44 AM EDT
For weeks, Republicans in the Senate have held up an $180 billion spending bill that would direct money to several federal agencies, from the Justice Department to the Department of Transportation. Funding for all kinds of measures—from rent subsidies for the poor, to a new NASA rocket, to transportation projects—has been left in limbo. But one specific provision that’s being held up has victims’ advocates particularly worried: A $41 million grant to help states and localities go after rapists by funding jurisdictions to process backlogs of rape kits, the samplings of biological evidence that are taken after a sexual assault and used to identify attackers.
http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2014/08/rape-kit-backlog-senate-republican-spending-bill
Amazon.com Just Upped Its Game Against Netflix
When Amazon.com first launched its Prime Instant Video, it was a subpar offering against Netflix’s powerhouse content. When Netflix introduced its own original programming, though Amazon did the same, that gap widened even further.
But, during the past few months, Amazon launched its Fire TV set-top box, became the exclusive online distributor for HBO content and, this week, added a boatload of new content. All of which have pushed more subscribers in Amazon’s direction.
Taking over streaming
According to the research firm Parks Associates, about 50% to 60% of U.S. homes with a connected consumer electronics device (smart TV, set-top box, etc.) have a Netflix subscription. Amazon’s Prime service currently takes about 34%. Of course, there’s some overlap between Netflix and Prime subscribers.
But while Netflix is the undisputed leader in video streaming right now, Amazon made some big gains during the past few years. Right now, nearly 20% of all U.S. homes with a broadband connection are subscribed to Amazon Prime. And Amazon’s new content deal, paired with HBO and the Fire TV, should start pushing that number even higher.
This week, Amazon acquired the streaming rights to Disney Channel programming, MLB.TV, A&E, Lifetime, Dailymotion, and others. The Disney and MLB channels on Fire TV are available now, with the rest coming before the end of the year.
https://trove.com/#me/content/c2cyt?chid=161394&_p=trending&utm_source=wp&utm_medium=Widgets&utm_campaign=wpsrTrendingExternal-1-opt
When the Koch brothers become a liability for Republicans
By Greg Sargent August 7 at 3:51 PM
A new poll commissioned by the League of Conservation Voters and AFSCME finds that Dem Gary Peters is leading GOPer Terri Lynn Land in Michigan by seven points, 43-37. The average of polls shows Peters leading by over six points.
Is it possible that in this particular race, climate change and the Koch brothers — whose group, Americans for Prosperity, has spent millions bludgeoning Peters over Obamacare — are hurting the Republican candidate?
The internals of the poll — which was done by respected Dem pollster Joel Benenson and hasn’t been released — show that Michigan voters view the Koch brothers unfavorably by more than two to one: 32-15. While it’s true that 33 percent have not heard of them, a total of 56 percent have heard of them, which is pretty high. A large majority finds the anti-Koch message — that Land is beholden to big oil billionaires bankrolling her campaign — convincing.
The poll also finds that 45 percent see climate change as an urgent problem, and another 13 percent see it as a problem to address in the years ahead — a total of 57 percent. And it finds 39 percent would probably or definitely not vote for someone who doesn’t believe human activity is causing climate change. Land’s position is that climate change exists, but she hasn’t, to my knowledge, clarified whether she believes humans cause it.
You should treat such internal polling with skepticism, and it’s hard to know how much this stuff matters, if at all. But here is a race where Dems are campaigning as if they genuinely do think they can make climate skepticism a liability. And when it comes to the long, painful quest of environmentalists to prove that they can turn climate change into an issue that matters in elections, the Michigan contest remains an experiment to watch.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/wp/2014/08/07/when-the-koch-brothers-become-a-liability-for-republicans/
Border crisis exposes dilemma for Republicans as it energizes conservatives
By David Nakamura and Sebastian Payne August 8 at 8:22 AM
On the Michigan airwaves this week, Republican Senate candidate Terri Lynn Land released a TV ad accusing her Democratic opponent of being soft on illegal immigration. In an Iowa campaign stop, Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) told supporters that President Obama’s moves toward protecting many undocumented migrants from deportation amounted to a king changing laws by “royal edict.”
At a Maryland firehouse, Rep. Andy Harris (R-Md.) warned that if Democrats insist on offering citizenship to illegal immigrants, House Republicans would never support a comprehensive immigration overhaul.
“Our position is border security before we discuss immigration,” Harris told more than 50 people during a town hall meeting in Easton on Wednesday night.
As lawmakers returned home to begin a month-long summer recess this week and prepare for the final stretch of a competitive midterm campaign, the debate over how to handle the recent influx of Central American children and families across the southern border has pushed immigration back to the national political forefront and presented a sharp conundrum for Republicans.
The crisis has empowered conservatives, whose more restrictionist views on the crisis and the broader issue of dealing with the estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants living in the country have taken precedence in the party. House Republicans are pushing for more deportations, and several of the party’s prospective 2016 White House contenders are moving to align themselves with the GOP’s pro-enforcement wing.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/border-crisis-exposes-dilemma-for-republicans-as-it-energizes-conservatives/2014/08/07/4a8ba6b8-1d72-11e4-ab7b-696c295ddfd1_story.html
Morning Plum: As GOP lurches right on immigration, sane Republicans watch in horror
By Greg Sargent August 8 at 9:13 AM
In Arkansas, GOP Senate candidate Tom Cotton is running an ad attacking Senator Mark Pryor over the border crisis that veers headlong into Ted Cruz/Steve King territory. In Michigan, GOP Senate candidate Terri Lynn Land is up with another border spot that is almost as bad.
It is increasingly sinking in with the political classes that the border crisis has pushed the Republican Party to the right on immigration — exactly the opposite direction party officials concluded the party should move after the 2012 election suggested it needs to be recast as more inclusive and welcoming.
Today David Nakamura and Sebastian Payne have a must read spelling out the internal party dynamics driving this — and note the alarm coming from a Mitt Romney adviser about what’s happening:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/wp/2014/08/08/morning-plum-as-gop-lurches-right-on-immigration-sane-republicans-watch-in-horror/
UH UH UH
From Apartheid-Era Jail Cell to the Bench in Pistorius Case
By NORIMITSU ONISHIAUG. 6, 2014
JOHANNESBURG — The murder trial of Oscar Pistorius has never had a shortage of larger-than-life figures: the double-amputee sprinter known as the Blade Runner; the glamorous, blond model cut down in her youth; the Afrikaner prosecutor so pugnacious he was nicknamed the Pit Bull.
But the outcome of the courtroom drama that has riveted the world now rests in the hands of someone from the other side of South Africa, Judge Thokozile Matilda Masipa, a quiet, stern 66-year-old black woman who has steadfastly avoided the limelight even as she rose from a poor township to the nation’s High Court.
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/07/world/africa/oscar-pistorius-judge.html?smid=pl-share&_r=0
Kerry Washington’s Favorite ‘Scandal’ Season 3 Moments
By Kerry Washington
The Emmy-nominated star of ABC’s smash-hit drama tells the stories behind Olivia Pope’s wildest, craziest, and most scandalous moments from the show’s third season.
Season 3, Episode 1 “It’s Handled”
Olivia’s name is leaked as Fitz’s mistress. Hunkered down in a bunker, she, Mellie, and Fitz argue over what details about their relationship they want to make public.
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/08/08/kerry-washington-s-favorite-scandal-season-3-moments.html?utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter&utm_campaign=cheatsheet_morning&cid=newsletter%3Bemail%3Bcheatsheet_morning&utm_term=Cheat%20Sheet
What’s in Maureen McDonnell’s Louis Vuitton handbag? Status, insecurity and maybe jail time.
By Robin Givhan August 7 at 5:34 PM
The designer goods at the center of the government’s case against former Virginia governor Bob McDonnell and his wife Maureen were splayed out on tables in a most undignified way, photographed and entered into evidence. An Oscar de la Renta beaded shift was entombed in thin dry cleaner’s plastic. A Louis Vuitton trenchcoat lay limp on a hanger. A pearl-colored Louis Vuitton handbag look deflated and cheap. Separated from the woman who risked so much to get them, the clothes, with their sizes visible, looked like so many specimens of human weakness, social status and cultural detritus awaiting dissection. Poke at them and the insecurity flows out.
These are not garments that speak, in any profound way, to personal style. Mostly, they are rather bland: gray shift, black pumps, ivory blouse. What little they have to say that is nuanced and distinctive is drowned out by their loud and and insistent declaration of self-importance.
At the highest levels, the fashion industry produces much that is breathtakingly original, beautiful and inspiring. But it also churns out those products that serve far more crass purposes. They equate money with inherent value. They offer a flimsy validation of self-worth. They exploit the superficial belief that power, ambition and success can be encapsulated by few rarefied brands that have — through cynical marketing and false scarcity — come to signify that one has arrived. In a Virginia courthouse, such desperation was laid bare in the form of glazed linen and soutache embroidery.
There are many reasons to admire Louis Vuitton ready-to-wear as established by designer Marc Jacobs and carried on by Nicolas Ghesquiere. The clothes can be lavish and fanciful, modern and luxurious. The handbags can be marvels of engineering. But that is not the Louis Vuitton represented in government exhibit 28A. That black trenchcoat is not an expression of inspired creativity or stately classicism. The handbag — exhibit 32A — is not insider or art-house or particularly deluxe fashion. Together they are examples of big, bold blockbuster fashion — the sort that has bus loads of international tourists lined up on the Champs Elysee in Paris awaiting a chance to plunk down a credit card for a $3,000 bag, no matter what it looks like.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/style-blog/wp/2014/08/07/whats-in-maureen-mcdonnells-louis-vuitton-handbag-status-insecurity-and-maybe-jail-time/
FROM TOWN
………………..
Prayers for Hawaii right now.
Thursday, August 7, 2014
GOP Minority Outreach, Operation Mo-Mentum Con’t
Mississippi GOP Rep. Mo Brooks is the new hero of the bigoted right for his comments earlier this week on the “War on Whites” that the Democrats are supposedly waging. And every time Brooks opens his mouth, the Republican party proves it’s the party of casual racism, this time calling the GOP’s outreach efforts to court Latino voters “race-bating”.
The Huffington Post reported that the comments came in response to a passage from the Republican National Committee’s Growth and Opportunity Book 2013, that was read aloud by the National Journal’s Ron Fournier, who was also a guest on the show.
“If Hispanic Americans hear that the GOP doesn’t want them in the United States, they won’t pay attention to our next sentence. It doesn’t matter what we say about education, jobs or the economy; if Hispanics think that we do not want them here, they will close their ears to our policies,” Fournier quoted from the report, while appearing on “The Dale Jackson Show” on WAPI.
Brooks responded by saying “Americans shouldn’t be divided by race” and that targeting Hispanic voters would be “race-baiting.”
“That argument, is playing hand in glove with the Democratic race-baiting strategy, and it has to come to a stop,” he said. “I’m one of those who thinks that it doesn’t make any difference if you’re Hispanic, or you’re white, or you’re Asian, or you’re black, people throughout America want to do what’s in the best interest of America.”
Nothing like an old white guy telling black, Latino, and Asian people that race doesn’t matter, and if you think it does, You’re The Real Racist(tm). Why can’t you people be like us awesome white people and not worry about your race at all because it’s meaningless or something?
This argument is as old as race in America. “Why is there a National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, and not one for all Americans? That’s racist!” It’s a favorite tactic of the right and has been for decades. The answer of course is “I look forward to the day when the NAACP is no longer needed”, meanwhile, Republicans like Brooks are happily helping to dismantle the Voting Rights Act, civil rights, and everything in between.
Just because white America is “tired” of civil rights and wants people to “get over race already” doesn’t mean the need for civil rights is obviated, kids. Today’s bigots in the GOP are proof of that.
http://zandarvts.blogspot.com/2014/08/gop-minority-outreach-operation-mo.html
Breaking
The US conducts airstrikes on ISIS artillery.
************
Miners union endorses Grimes in Kentucky
By Timothy Cama – 08/04/14 09:40 AM EDT
The United Mine Workers of America (UMWA) has endorsed Democrat Alison Lundergan Grimes in Kentucky’s Senate race, despite Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s attempts to paint her as an enemy of coal.
In a statement, the UMWA said Grimes has proven herself to be a coal advocate.
http://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/214192-miners-union-endorses-grimes-in-kentucky#ixzz39nz6ZR00
Obama Is on a Pro-Labor Roll
The president just signed the most important workers’ rights reform of the past 20 years.
By Emily Bazelon
If you’ve been following President Obama’s burst of enthusiasm for executive orders—I know it’s August, but hey, you’re reading this—you may have heard that he’s been flexing his muscle on behalf of labor. Last month, Obama banned federal contractors from discriminating against gay workers. For that one, he won liberal kudos and conservative scolding for refusing to exempt employers that object on religious grounds. Obama got similar attention for his order in January raising the minimum wage for new federal contractors to $10.10 an hour.
So it’s a little odd that the latest executive order in this bunch has gone virtually ignored (following a few dutiful daily news stories) even though it packs the biggest punch. “This is one of the most important positive steps for civil rights in the last 20 years,” Paul Bland, executive director of Public Justice, a public-interest law group, says of the July 31 order. The employer-side law firm Littler Mendelson calls it “the most sweeping order to date” that the Obama administration has aimed at federal contractors. The trade group Associated Builders and Contractors is “strongly opposed” and says the order could create a federal contractor “blacklist.”
What’s this about? Bear with me for a minute, because there’s a reason this one isn’t lighting up TV screens or Twitter. It’s important, but it’s also kind of technical. The order, called Fair Pay and Safe Workplaces, does two things. It requires companies bidding for federal contracts worth more than $500,000 to make previous violations of labor law public, if they have any to report. That’s a shaming device that the administration hopes will push companies to settle back wage claims and nudge them toward better behavior in the future.
The second part of the order is what Bland is so excited about. This provision says that companies with federal contracts worth more than $1 million can no longer force their employees out of court, and into arbitration, to settle accusations of workplace discrimination. “Here’s why this is so important,” Bland said when I asked him to explain. “For the last 20 years, the Supreme Court has been encouraging employers to force their workers into a system of arbitration that has been badly rigged against the workers. And so this order will result in millions of employees having their rights restored to them.”
http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/jurisprudence/2014/08/obama_executive_order_on_mandatory_arbitration_huge_news_for_workers_rights.html?wpsrc=sh_all_tab_tw_top
Liberal Librarian @Lib_Librarian
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Moloch has nothing on these two. RT @DavidCornDC: McCain and Graham attack Obama for going too light on war.
10:32 PM – 7 Aug 2014
https://twitter.com/Phil_Cosby_/status/497477984195182594/photo/1
BWA HA HA HA These Tweets are HILARIOUS!
I don’t even like him, but I’m disappointed in Brian Schweitzer. Why won’t he do this for the Democratic team?
My mind still boggles that Walsh got this far without anyone checking through his stuff. Maybe it’s because I’m Black and I automatically assume everyone would go through my **** with a fine-toothed comb. I simply don’t believe a Black politician with this kind of mess would have been allowed to prosper as long.
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Montana’s John Walsh quits Senate race
By MANU RAJU and MAGGIE HABERMAN | 8/7/14 4:07 PM EDT Updated: 8/7/14 6:52 PM EDT
Sen. John Walsh announced Thursday that he’s dropping out of the race for his Montana seat, cutting short a brief Senate career marred by accusations of plagiarism and dealing a blow to Democrats’ already-grim chances of keeping the spot.
Walsh will stay in the Senate through the end of his term, which ends in early January. But he said the plagiarism revelations had “become a distraction” from the debate Montanans deserved to hear in the race.
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Walsh’s decision throws into further doubt Democrats’ shot at holding the seat, which had been occupied by Sen. Max Baucus since 1978 until he was confirmed as U.S. ambassador to China in February.
Democratic Gov. Steve Bullock appointed Walsh, his lieutenant governor, to replace Baucus, in the apparent hope that his incumbency could be a boon in a challenging electoral environment. But with Walsh out, the Montana Democratic Party now has until Aug. 20 to name a new candidate in the November election — and not a strong bench to choose from.
Pressure is building in Democratic political circles for Nancy Keenan, a long-time abortion rights activist, to jump into the race, even though sources say she has so far resisted. And at least one other Montana Democrat, former lieutenant governor John Bohlinger, has expressed interest.
Whoever does step in would face Republican Rep. Steve Daines, who is heavily favored to win a seat the GOP has not held since 1913.
Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2014/08/john-walsh-senate-race-109823.html#ixzz39nvzFYGQ
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I believe the USA cannot continue to fund Israel who are committing GENOCIDE on the Palestinian people.
Good Morning, Everyone :)
Good morning!
Morning, Everyone!
I believe the USA cannot continue to fund Israel who are committing GENOCIDE on the Palestinian people.
What’s the difference between what Iraqis are doing to Americans there & what Israel is doing to the Palestinians in GAZA?
Thank you very much! You’re in my head.