Thursday Open Thread

Posted on January 5, 2017 by rikyrah

ICYMI

This entry was posted in Current Events, Honor, Media, Open Thread, Politics, POTUS, President Obama, Vice President Joe Biden and tagged , . Bookmark the permalink.

80 Responses to Thursday Open Thread

  6. rikyrah says:
    January 5, 2017 at 8:34 pm

    As it turns out … Bentley’s driver’s license closures were racial, after all

    By Kyle Whitmire | kwhitmire@al.com
    Email the author | Follow on Twitter
    on January 05, 2017 at 11:16 AM, updated January 05, 2017 at 2:23 PM

    All you had to do was look at a map to see it.

    When the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency announced the closure of 31 driver’s license offices in 2015, I printed out a blank map of the state’s 67 counties and began coloring in the ones that no longer had a place to get the most common form of photo ID.

    Rural Alabama had been hit hard by the closures, but especially the Black Belt — the region of Alabama that takes its name first from the color of its rich soil but also from the concentration of African-Americans who live there. A few economic development projects aside, the Black Belt has always suffered the worst from Alabama’s sins, leaving its citizens with the least means the farthest distance from basic necessities, be it a job, simple trip to a grocery store, utilities like broadband internet.

    And now a place to get a driver’s license.

    ………………………………..

    And for what? We now know the driver’s license closures saved little money — somewhere between $200,000 and $300,000, tops, according to Bentley’s former ALEA secretary Spencer Collier. The routine shortfalls in the General Fund budget typically range from $100 million to $200 million. The closures didn’t even scratch that. They were a naked act of political vengeance.

    So I made a crude digital version of my colored paper map and published it here. My colleague John Archibald looked at census and elections data and found more ugly facts. In the 10 counties with the highest proportion of minorities, the state closed driver’s license offices in eight. The other two remained open because it might be too much to explain, I suppose, for Alabama not to have driver’s license offices in Montgomery or Selma.

    Maybe the governor didn’t intend to target minority citizens with the closures, but ultimately his intent is beside the point. The effect was the same, and the reaction was as swift as it was predictable. Alabama again became a national embarrassment. The NAACP sued and the United States Department of Transportation investigated.

    Last month, the latter of those two legal actions concluded.

    “Based on its investigation, DOT has concluded that African Americans residing in the Black Belt region of Alabama disproportionately underserved by ALEA’s driver licensing services, causing a disparate and adverse impact on the basis of race,” the department said.

    ALEA had already buckled and reopened many of the offices but for fewer hours. However, under an agreement struck between the state and federal agencies, ALEA agreed to add more hours of service to the Black Belt offices.

    Maybe now that everything has been put back the way it was before, there’s no longer any harm. But we shouldn’t forget that all of this was avoidable.

    And what was the cost? The legal fees alone will diminish — if they haven’t already exceeded — any paltry savings.

    Reply
    • eliihass says:
      January 5, 2017 at 9:23 pm

      Advanced elder-life crisis embattled Bentley, trying to kill 2 birds with a stone…distract from his adulterous affair with a campaign staff that ended his marriage…bribe, assuage and appease his racist base with the racist policies and white supremacist assuring actions they crave…

      Reply
  7. rikyrah says:
    January 5, 2017 at 8:24 pm

    ‘James Bond of Philanthropy’ Gives Away the Last of His Fortune

    By JIM DWYER
    JAN. 5, 2017

    As it happens, Donald J. Trump is not the only person to announce plans to shut down a personal philanthropy, just the best known.

    This is the story of a man who made and kept that same promise.

    Nearly five years ago, Charles F. Feeney sat in a cushy armchair in an apartment on the east side of Manhattan, grandchildren’s artwork taped to the walls, and said that by the end of 2016, he was going to hand out the last of a great fortune that he had made.

    It was a race: Mr. Feeney was then 81, and Atlantic Philanthropies, a collection of private foundations he had started and funded, still had about $1.5 billion left. Flinging money out the window or writing checks willy-nilly was not Mr. Feeney’s way.

    Last month, Mr. Feeney and Atlantic completed the sprint and made a final grant, $7 million to Cornell University, to support students doing community service work.

    He had officially emptied his pockets, meeting his aspiration of “giving while living.” Altogether, he had contributed $8 billion to his philanthropies, which have supported higher education, public health, human rights and scientific research.

    “You’re always nervous handling so much money, but we seem to have worked it pretty well,” Mr. Feeney, now 85, said last week in a phone interview.

    His remaining personal net worth is slightly more than $2 million. That’s not quite broke, by any standard, but it is a modest amount for a man who controlled thousands of times as much wealth. He and his wife, Helga, now live in a rented apartment in San Francisco.

    Reply
  8. rikyrah says:
    January 5, 2017 at 8:14 pm

    Perfecting My Jenifer Lewis Face To Fight White Supremacy
    Sheree Greer, 1/4/17

    ………………….

    I discovered my Jenifer Lewis face when, at the start of the fall semester, campus security and Milwaukee County Police joined forces to shut down a back to school party just blocks from my apartment. The party, which I happily attended, was packed with Black bodies dancing and hugging and laughing in all the ways we needed to face another semester at a PWI; we raised our hands and voices to Nas’s “If I Ruled the World,” all the while knowing the White boys around the corner actually do. The party eventually spilled out from my friend’s small, first floor apartment and onto the front lawn. Some of us were taking a moment to catch our breath in the crisp, cool breeze rustling through the golden and fire red trees of autumn in Milwaukee. Some of us were just shooting the shit, talking about midterms or who was getting down with who once the last jam played. Were we loud? Probably. Were we standing around laughing, slapping fives, and dranking? Of course. Were we burning shit, turning over cars, throwing homemade pasta-sauce-grenades at each other and fucking up people’s cars? Absolutely not.

    When the campus and city police showed up, flashing lights and shining ultra-bright beams across the lawn and into our faces, they ordered us, via bullhorn, to either go inside or go home. Shit was a scene from “Higher Learning.” When too few of us responded, the police whooped their siren and repeated their order: Go inside or go home. The campus security made their way out of their cars, holding flashlights and already calling for college IDs. The city police opened their doors in support of the move, ready to jump out and accost anyone who moved too slowly. The security checked for identification and made moves to shut down the party. I knew the look I had on my face, but more importantly, I knew the way I felt, that acrid and heavy feeling in the pit of my stomach, was telling me something I needed to remember. The world works one way for them and another way for us. And this is America.

    This was never more clear than when I moved to Florida shortly after graduating from Marquette. I took an IT consulting position that relocated me to sunny St. Petersburg, Florida. I worked with a diverse set of people, both nationally and internationally, but the folks at the very top never looked like me. In fact, they looked like mostly sober, clean-shaven versions of the frat boys who lived across the street from me in the not-so-distant past. New to area, I hadn’t spent a lot of time in the south. All I knew were beaches and beach trolleys, sun hats and sunsets. I was quickly introduced to a lot of things—some good (Cuban bread, mango and avocado trees growing in back yards), others troubling (Confederate flags on pick-up trucks everywhere, all the time), and still another a great but confusing marvel of contemporary shopping that, at the time, I had no frame of reference for… my first Walmart.

    I had stepped into the superstore on the Northside of St. Petersburg (a city historically segregated by north and south by Central Avenue, North for Whites and South for Black people. The lines are blurring now though. See also: Gentrification. See Also: Urban Colonialism) because it was open late, and them long days as a consultant many times stretched past normal store hours. The looks started the moment I stepped out of my car and followed me all the way in to the bright overhead lights. Still in my smart, I’m-coming-for-a-management-position-suit and pinstriped shirt, I walked up and down the aisles, marveling at how tires, socks, DVD players, rifles, bikes, and Juicy Juice could share the same space. And without a membership? Walmart was off the chain. More remarkable than the stock in the place was me taking stock of the place. Other than two others, who were both workers, I seemed to be the only person of color in the entire store. And these White people, trying to enjoy their late-night shopping experience, were mad at me. They were mad I was in their store, on their side of town, and they were mad that I had on a suit, mad that I apparently had a job. The hate palpable, their mouths tight frowns and their eyes slits of accusation. I called my sister while I stood in line the shit was so ridiculous. I remember saying, Jenifer Lewis face intact, voice not even a little hushed, “You should see how these White people staring at me in this Walmart though. Like they ain’t never seen no Black woman with a job before.”

    Reply
  9. rikyrah says:
    January 5, 2017 at 8:06 pm

    Everything Makes Sense If You Accept That White People Just Want Everyone And Everything Dead
    Damon Young, 1/5/17

    …………………………….

    Anyway, I’m thinking about this movie today because it helps to put the last three months of American politics in a certain context. Of course, we all know that White people went full capital letter White People and elected Donald Trump President; an act that seemed not to make any sense until you realize that it actually made perfect sense. Today, however, I had an Agent Kujan at the bulletin board epiphany. I even dropped my milkshake in slow motion on the floor.

    Capital Letter White People want everyone dead. Not just us (Black people) or Muslims or Mexicans or Colin Kaepernick. But everyone.

    Before you dismiss this, consider the following:

    1. They elected a man who A) is literally a tweet away from starting a series of events that would culminate in a nuclear war and who B) apparently gives no fucks about the fact that he’s literally a tweet away from starting a series of events that would culminate in a nuclear war

    …………………

    3. They desperately want to repeal Obamacare and defund Planned Parenthood; ultimately snatching health benefits and free and/or reduced cost health care away from millions of Americans — which will totally, definitely result in more dead Americans

    Reply
    • eliihass says:
      January 5, 2017 at 8:18 pm

      But we are witnessing the ‘peaceful transfer of power’ that is our great democracy…

      And everyone needs to get behind the new ‘president’ for the sake of our nation..

      ‘Unity’!

      Reply
  13. rikyrah says:
    January 5, 2017 at 7:47 pm

    Trump said he had $315 million in debt. He left out $1.5 billion.
    A new report reveals the breathtaking scope of Trump’s conflicts of interest.

    Trump filed documents with the FEC over the summer that revealed he owed at least $315 million to ten entities. This debt, some of which is personally guaranteed by him, was a clear conflict. As president, Trump will be responsible for regulating entities that he also owes money to. Worse, these debts are frequently renegotiated, giving these companies leverage over Trump in the regulatory process.

    A report this afternoon from the Wall Street Journal, however, revealed that Trump’s disclosure was the tip of the iceberg. The FEC required Trump only to report debt from entities he fully controls. The disclosure left out “more than $1.5 billion lent to partnerships that are 30%-owned by him.” That debt has been securitized and is owed to at least 150 financial entities.

    These financial institutions include many firms that are under the scrutiny of the federal agencies that Trump will soon control. Wells Fargo, for example, which services over $900 million in loans connected to Trump, “is currently facing scrutiny from federal regulators surrounding its fraudulent sales practices and other issues.”

    Trump will soon appoint the top regulators who will be responsible for scrutinizing the bank’s conduct.

    Reply
  23. SouthernGirl2 says:
    January 5, 2017 at 4:10 pm

    May he burn in the hottest hell throughout eternity

    https://twitter.com/MegKinnardAP/status/817129273416880129

    Reply
    • eliihass says:
      January 5, 2017 at 8:50 pm

      But the poor, sweet kid is suffering from mental illness – schizophrenia specifically; he just doesn’t know it…His untreated mental illness is making him think racist thoughts…if he’d only get help…get on medication, he’d stop having these racist feelings and perhaps he won’t have gone into that church and gently and lovingly held that gun …that dastardly gun that fired those bullets into those 9 people praying in the church…He certainly doesn’t deserve the death penalty, nor does he belong in jail …he just needs treatment…medication, guidance, counseling and lots of hugs and cuddles from his mother…

      But those evil, evil, evil, 4 mean black adults in Chicago…? You know those murderous 18 year old black men and 2 black women who committed that heinous, heinous crime in Chicago…you know those murderous thugs…those 4 scary, raging monsters …those evil terrorists that held a special needs friend of one of them hostage, and cruelly tortured him…those thugs that terrorized their neighbor and bullied and robbed her….

      Those 4 hate-filled, racist monsters…they deserve to die…they deserve the harshest punishment permissible under the law…throw all the books at them…racists…

      Reply
  25. SouthernGirl2 says:
    January 5, 2017 at 3:51 pm

    Wait until he meets his maker and find out Jesus isn’t white.

    https://twitter.com/ChadKMills/status/817124047028912128

    Reply
    • yahtzeebutterfly says:
      January 5, 2017 at 2:13 pm

      This indicates Roof’s extreme disrespect for the emotional pain of loved ones of the Emanuel Nine.

      Reply
  48. rikyrah says:
    January 5, 2017 at 10:40 am

    House Republicans revive obscure rule that could allow them to slash the pay of individual federal workers to $1

    By Jenna Portnoy and Lisa Rein
    January 5 at 9:59 AM

    House Republicans this week reinstated an arcane procedural rule that enables lawmakers to reach deep into the budget and slash the pay of an individual federal worker — down to a $1 — a move that threatens to upend the 130-year-old civil service.

    The Holman Rule, named after an Indiana congressman who devised it in 1876, empowers any member of Congress to offer an amendment to an appropriations bill that targets a specific government employee or program.

    A majority of the House and the Senate would still have to approve any such amendment, but opponents and supporters agree that it puts agencies and the public on notice that their work is now vulnerable to the whims of elected officials.

    Democrats and federal employee unions say the provision, which one called the “Armageddon Rule,” could prove disastrous to the federal workforce, when combined with president-elect Donald Trump’s criticism of the Washington bureaucracy, his call for a freeze on government hiring and his nomination of Cabinet secretaries who seem to be at odds with the mission of the agencies they would lead.

    “This is part of a very chilling theme that federal workers are seeing right now,” said Maureen Gilman, legislative director for the National Treasury Employees Union, which represents 150,000 federal employees.

    The rule is particularly troubling to Virginia and Maryland lawmakers and the District’s nonvoting delegate, who represent large numbers of federal workers in the national capital region.

    The Holman provision was approved Tuesday as part of a larger rules package but received little attention amid the chaos of Republicans’ failed effort to decimate the House ethics office on the first day of the new Congress.

    Republican leaders say the rule increases accountability in government and played down concerns — some within their own party — that it will usher in broad changes to the appropriations process.

    Reply
  49. rikyrah says:
    January 5, 2017 at 10:35 am

    State of Mich. Tries to Pull a Fast One With Invite-Only Meeting on Flint Water
    In its latest faux pas, the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality tried to have an invitation-only town hall meeting on the condition of Flint’s water.

    BY: MONIQUE JUDGE
    Posted: January 4, 2017

    The state of Michigan continues to insult the residents of the city of Flint, who are already enduring what seems to be a never-ending water crisis and the inability to get clean bottled water delivered to their homes without a fight.

    In its latest faux pas, the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality tried to have an invitation-only town hall meeting on the condition of Flint’s water.

    You read that correctly. The same state that, according to MLive, went to court to fight against having to deliver clean bottled water to residents who are unable to drink out of the tap figured it would be a good idea to hold a public session with a handpicked group of people.

    It was only after MLive questioned city and state officials on how attendees were going to be picked for attendance that the organizers of the town hall agreed on Jan. 3 to make the event open to the public.

    According to MLive, the event in its present state still raises questions. Flint has a population of 99,000 people, and public attendance at the Jan. 11 event at the University of Michigan-Flint Northbank Center is capped at 300 people.

    This means that in a town of 99,000 people who cannot drink or use water from the tap without a filter, less than 1 percent will be able to attend a town hall meeting and hear about the condition of the water in their city.

    The state is offering a live stream of the event, but as MLive points out, how many people will be able to find the live stream? And given that 40 percent of the city’s population is living below the poverty level, how many will have internet access to even view the live stream?

    Reply
  50. rikyrah says:
    January 5, 2017 at 10:29 am

    uh huh
    uh huh

    …………………….

    Judge rules doctors can refuse trans patients and women who have had abortions
    By Marie Solis
    January 04, 2017

    On Saturday, a United States district judge ruled that doctors may turn away women who have had abortions and transgender patients on the basis of religious freedom.

    In his verdict, Judge Reed O’Connor argued laws that would otherwise forbid gender-based discrimination require doctors “to remove the categorical exclusion of transitions and abortions (a condition they assert is a reflection of their religious beliefs and an exercise of their religion) and conduct an individualized assessment of every request for those procedures.” In other words, doctors would have to argue on an individual basis their refusal of a patient.

    This requirement, O’Connor said, “imposes a burden” on doctors’ ability to exercise their religion.

    O’Connor cited 2014’s Burwell v. Hobby Lobby ruling, which allowed family-owned corporations to refuse insurance coverage for birth control under the Affordable Care Act if it went against their religious beliefs.

    At the time, the New York Times predicted the 5-4 Supreme Court decision would “[open] the door to many challenges from corporations over laws that they claim violate their religious liberty.” And, given O’Connor’s interpretation of the decision, it seems the outlet was right.

    Slate’s Mark Joseph Stern called O’Connor’s ruling “an extreme extension of the dubious logic” behind Burwell v. Hobby Lobby, as it flouts the nondiscriminatory guidelines of the Affordable Care Act and the Department of Health and Human Services.

    Whereas they both include discrimination based on “gender identity” and “termination of pregnancy” under the umbrella of sex discrimination, O’Connor’s ruling only acknowledges a more rudimentary definition of gender discrimination — “hostility against a man or woman for being a man or a woman,” Stern wrote.

    O’Connor also justified his ruling by claiming that individual doctors’ refusal to treat trans patients or women who have had abortions does not limit their access to health care and coverage. He argued that the government doesn’t seem to be too concerned about specifically trans people’s access to health care anyway.

    Reply
    • rikyrah says:
      January 5, 2017 at 10:22 am

      Black parents take their kids to school on how to deal with police
      By Janell Ross
      January 3

      HANOVER, Md. — The workshop title is simple, straightforward: “Race & the Law.”

      The problems it seeks to address are anything but.

      Capt. Katherine Goodwin, Western District commander of the Anne Arundel County Police Department, is the only white person in the room — part of a panel of experts leading the session — and she is the one who invites the question.

      “Let’s hear from this young man in the middle,” Goodwin says.

      “Hi, my name is Ezra,” the boy says. “I was wondering, can a police officer arrest another police officer?”

      The room goes silent. A father multitasking his way through email on an iPad stops scrolling and stares.

      It is a Saturday afternoon in early December, and Room 104 at Anne Arundel Community College is packed, all 150 seats taken. There are moms with oversized Louis Vuitton bags from which they produce items such as granola bars and string cheese. But there are more fathers than mothers and a few elementary-school-aged kids. Most of all, there are teens with Beats headphones draped around their necks like electronic jewelry.

      Organized by the Arundel Bay Area Chapter of Jack and Jill of America Inc., “Race & the Law” was one of more than 225 similar events held around the country last year and more than 50 such events scheduled across the nation in the first three months of 2017. They are places where anxious black parents bring their children in hopes of preparing them for potentially fateful encounters with the police. They are, in essence, mini boot camps for children about how to be black in 21st-century America.

      Jack and Jill is a family organization with more than 40,000 members. It aims to entertain and educate the kids of mostly middle-class and wealthy black families. It is an organization where kids are exposed to big experiences, such as lobbying on Capitol Hill and serving holiday food to the homeless, that do not look bad on college applications either.

      “All of these deaths, these unanswered questions about what police officers did or did not do, whether situations could have been handled a different way, have always been with us,” said Devin Tucker, a Jack and Jill father of two who brought his daughters, 14 and 10, to the Hanover event. “They are, however, coming at a frequency and a velocity now that I think no parent is really prepared for.”

      Reply
  59. rikyrah says:
    January 5, 2017 at 8:37 am

    Call me a Hollywood elitist, but I think it’s unconscionable that the richest country in the world would go back to bankrupting the sick

    — John Legend (@johnlegend) January 5, 2017

    Reply
  60. rikyrah says:
    January 5, 2017 at 8:36 am

    “This. Is. Normal.

    If it wasn’t, if this wasn’t normal, then we wouldn’t have to fight so hard every single day for reproductive rights, for LGBT rights, for Black Lives, for freedom from oppressive religion, for peace, for justice, for equality, for education, for healthcare, for adequate food and clean water and breathable air.

    Ignoring it, ignoring that sea of red in the middle of the country, the KKK and neo-Nazis unashamed front and center at national political rallies, social media full of hate and invective, open racism and misogyny and xenophobia, pretending that’s not the normal state for much of America, refusing to acknowledge it and face it head on instead of with ineffectual bluster and catch phrases, well, that’s why you’re looking at President elect Donald Trump right now.”

    Stonekettle Station: No Middle Ground

    — Pretty Foot (@PrettyFootWoman) January 5, 2017

    Reply
  61. rikyrah says:
    January 5, 2017 at 8:35 am

    Also note Republicans have written a new rule that CBO cannot factor in ACA repeal’s impact on deficit so they can sweep this under the rug

    — meta (@metaquest) January 5, 2017

    Reply
  62. rikyrah says:
    January 5, 2017 at 8:33 am

    A WH official says the Obama WH offered to keep the playset for @realDonaldTrump kid/grandkids, but was turned down. pic.twitter.com/zxELtLijUo

    — Mark Knoller (@markknoller) January 5, 2017

    So the WH playset was removed and donated to “a local organization serving those in need,” says WH official. pic.twitter.com/eIJiPft64J

    — Mark Knoller (@markknoller) January 5, 2017

    Reply
  63. rikyrah says:
    January 5, 2017 at 8:31 am

    The GOP Plan to Crush Senate Resistance is Weak Tea
    by Martin Longman
    January 4, 2017 3:15 PM

    Oh, here’s a newsflash:

    Senate Republicans have a plan to break the Democratic resistance to Donald Trump’s Cabinet: Make their delay tactics as excruciating as possible.

    And how is this supposed to work?

    …the GOP is preparing to keep the chamber running around the clock if that’s what it takes to speedily confirm Trump’s Cabinet. It’s the kind of retaliatory strategy that would bring all-night sessions, 3 a.m. votes and a long slog through the first months of Trump’s presidency that could sap some of the GOP’s legislative momentum.

    Sen. John Thune, the No. 3 Senate Republican, said the GOP will do “whatever it takes” to get Trump his team as quickly as possible.

    They’re going to break the Democrats’ will by pulling all-nighters. Maybe it’s time to invest some of your nest egg in Domino’s or whatever pizzeria is preferred on Capitol Hill.

    Anything else?

    …the GOP believes that if Democrats pull out their dilatory techniques the pressure will increase on moderate Senate Democrats from Trump-leaning states to buck their party and help Republicans move the nominations along.

    I don’t think there are twelve Democratic senators as fearful of their constituents as Joe Manchin. And that’s what it would take to get the 60 votes to stomp on those dilatory techniques.

    So, the real weapon here is simply hope.

    ………………………

    When you combine that with the fact that Donald Trump has the crazy idea that Jefferson Beauregard Sessions III will fly with the Democratic base, that the pathologically diseased Ben Carson is a suitable head of Housing and Urban Affairs, that our Treasury Secretary should be a predatory floreclosure maestro, that our Secretary of State should be a Putin-loving oil magnate with no government experience, and that Rick ‘Oops’ Perry should be in charge of our nuclear weapons, I think you’ll see a little more resolve than we’ve see in the past. There are few acceptable nominees, and certainly not the Amway woman they want at Education or the hamburger dude they have in mind for Labor. These picks are so bad, in fact, that the Democrats are seemingly relieved to give up on civilian control of the military and won’t put up a fight about (barely) Ret. Gen. James Mattis taking over control of the Pentagon.

    And the Republicans are making it easy to fight because they’re trying to blow off the basics, like actually having these nominees submit to normal vetting.

    Reply
  64. rikyrah says:
    January 5, 2017 at 8:20 am

    Uh huh
    Uh huh

    Ivanka Trump is working with lawmakers on a completely ineffective childcare plan
    The plan Ivanka is trying to turn into legislation won’t make a dent in the country’s childcare crisis.

    During the presidential campaign, Donald Trump’s daughter Ivanka helped craft a childcare tax credit proposal for her father’s run, and now she’s pressing Republican lawmakers to make it reality. Unfortunately, the plan won’t do much good for most American parents.

    On Sunday, Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) confirmed that she has been in talks with Ivanka Trump about turning her childcare proposal into legislation. “I am delighted to see that we’re looking at options for tax credits, tax incentives, ways for moms and dads to be able to write-off this child-care cost,” she said on CNN’s “State of the Union.”

    President-elect Trump’s proposal, as outlined on the campaign trail, would allow couples who make $500,000 or less and single parents earning $250,000 or less to fully deduct the cost of childcare from their taxes. Unlike a tax credit that gives anyone who’s eligible extra money, tax deductions, which lower someone’s obligation, are most helpful to those who owe the most. The more a qualifying family spends on childcare, the more it can benefit.

    Deductions do nothing for lower-income Americans who earn too little to owe federal income taxes and people with small tax bills. About 35 percent of Americans don’t have federal income tax liabilities.

    Trump’s plan therefore offers a $1,200 rebate for poorer families, which is still less than what they should be able to get under existing law. Parents enrolled in subsidies through the Child Care and Development Block Grant get about $4,800 a year, but the share of families who get that assistance is at a 15-year low thanks to falling funding.

    Reply
  65. rikyrah says:
    January 5, 2017 at 8:14 am

    And the big reveal is!

    Liberal Librarian
    January 4, 2017

    Over the weekend our incoming glorious leader Donald J. Trump made noises that he would have “startling revelations” about Russia’s involvement in our past election. Greeted with the usual mix of derision and shaking of heads, no one gave much thought to it.

    Then today, Trump made his revelation: He agrees with alleged rapist Julian Assange that there was no Russian hacking of the US election, flying in the face of both the CIA (which loathes him) and the FBI (which did much to put him in his current position).

    Welcome to the post-truth, post-fact world. That Trump is siding with a man who helped hand him the White House is not surprising. After all, his bromance with Russian President Vladimir Putin was kicked off when he mistakenly thought Vladimir Vladimirovich had called him a “genius”. People who stroke his… ego tend to become bosom friends.

    But that an incoming President would just dismiss the entirety of the country’s intelligence apparatus is frightening. Equally frightening are rumblings that he’ll put his own people in as intelligence agents. There is a very real threat that he’ll turn the alphabet soup of US spy agencies into nothing more than a collection of glorified information bubbles, delivering only the news he wants to hear. (Probably revolving around the gorgeousness of his hair.)

    Reply
  66. rikyrah says:
    January 5, 2017 at 8:10 am

    Elections Have Consequences:

    From North Carolina:

    Because the federal government is funding 95 percent of the cost of Medicaid expansion, Cooper called on hospitals to put assessments on themselves to generate the other 5 percent because they are “by far the largest beneficiaries” of any expansion.

    Cooper said he plans to file by Friday an amendment to North Carolina’s Medicaid plan submitted to federal regulators to allow an expansion.

    State lawmakers in 2013 passed legislation blocking any expansion, and the governor told reporters after his speech he believes that law infringes on his executive powers.

    “I do believe it invades on the core executive authority of the governor to accept federal funds to look out for the public health of the people, but I would rather not get into a dispute with that. I think it’s important for us to try to be cooperative,” he said. “Someone needs to take action. So, I’m going to take action, and then we’ll try to work it out with them.”

    Reply
  67. rikyrah says:
    January 5, 2017 at 7:59 am

    They might not want to acknowledge it, but they will miss the leadership of President Obama.

    Reply
  68. rikyrah says:
    January 5, 2017 at 7:58 am

    Good Morning Everyone 😐😐😐

    Reply
  69. Ametia says:
    January 5, 2017 at 7:50 am

    Good Morning, Everyone.

    Reply

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