Since July, Donald Trump’s been leading the Republican primary polls, garnering between 25 to 30 percent support—not an easy feat with 15 contenders vying for the 2016 GOP nomination—but still short of a majority. As support waivers and contenders drop out, how will Trump fare against more established politicians like Jeb Bush or Marco Rubio? A… Continue reading “Poll: Rubio, Not Bush, Could Beat Trump”
It’s official: The first Democratic presidential debate is not boring.
Not only is it not boring, Tuesday’s debate also featured a number of substantive policy-oriented exchanges between the five candidates, highlighting stark differences between them. The first of those exchanges was on gun control, where each candidate takes a slightly difference stance.
The first exchange was, predictably, about the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act (PLCAA), a law passed in 2005 that gave gun manufacturers and dealers broad immunity from being sued. Sanders voted to pass that bill, while Clinton voted against it. They faced off on that issue, before going on to debate background checks, comprehensive gun safety legislation, and the reality of trying to compromise with Republicans to pass laws with a country divided on the issue.
Watch the full, 5-minute exchange between the candidates here:
The discussion of PLCAA was particularly timely; Earlier on Tuesday, a Wisconsin court found a gun store liable for its role in an illegal gun sale, which ultimately led to two police officers getting shot in the face. Attorneys say the ruling could make it easier for plaintiffs to sue gun stores when they negligently participate in an illegal gun sale.
Only 7 black servicemembers from the WWII era have ever received the honor
Source: Why Black Soldiers Were Finally Given the Medals of Honor They Deserved
A special Senate task force has been appointed to examine whether or not rules surrounding the filibuster should be modified, the Hill reported Monday. This new look at the procedural hurdle is the latest sign that Republicans are putting tough pressure on Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., to get legislation through the body and make… Continue reading “Filibuster Under Fire In Senate”
With corporate-conservative calls for full or partial privatization of the United States Postal Service (USPS) escalating, groups are sounding the alarm about new nominees to the USPS Board of Governors.
The Senate is scheduled soon to consider the nominations of Mickey D. Barnett, James C. Miller III and two other nominees. Miller is a notorious privatization advocate and Barnett is a payday lender lobbyist. The Leadership Conference, a civil & human rights coalition, has sent a public letter to Senate Majority Leader McConnell and Minority Leader Reid asking them to oppose the nominees. (Since all four nominees are to be voted on as a package, the Leadership Conference is asking that the entire slate be voted down. At Naked Capitalism, in Epic Fail for the Postal Service: The Wrong Model and the Wrong Board, the other two nominees are described as not particularly bad for the USPS, but are “… a reflection of a system that treats public service as a revolving door for political and economic elites. This leaves a permanent imprint of the one percent on government and may be one of the primary reasons for cynicism in the electorate.”)
Miller: Privatization Advocate
Nominee James C. Miller III has for years been a forceful advocate of privatizing the Postal Service. The Leadership Conference letter says of Miller:
As OMB Director in 1988, Miller stated, “There is no good reason why [the Postal Service] should remain part of the U.S. government and no good reason why it should enjoy a monopoly over the delivery of letter mail.” Speaking at his 2012 Senate confirmation hearing on his second nomination to the board, Mr. Miller stated that “I think it would be best for the world, for the economy, and for the American people if the Postal Service was de-monopolized and privatized.”
As far back as 1988, Miller wrote at the Cato Institute (formerly the Koch Foundation), in It’s Time To Free The Mails, Miller calls for outsourcing USPS jobs. In it, Miller complains about “friends of the Postal Service” and organized labor who don’t want the USPS to “contract more with retail stores” instead of using actual post offices, and promotes “contracting out rural mail delivery to private carriers” in order to create “savings.”
This kind of privatization might at first appear to “save” the USPS some money but we now know the costs. These savings are realized from laying off people with good wages and replacing them with low-to-minimum wage employees. The rest of us pick up the cost of this as bankruptcies and foreclosures devastate the communities where the laid-off workers live, and taxpayers provide assistance to them and their low-wage replacements.
Miller has advocated privatization of the USPS before and since. He should not continue on the USPS Board. It does not serve the public to privatize government services.
Barnett: Payday Lender Lobbyist vs. Post Office Banking
The USPS has been hobbled both financially and in its ability to provide needed services to the public. Many are suggesting that the USPS restore “post office banking.” Many countries have post office banking, and the U.S. used to. This would help the USPS as well as millions of Americans who do not have bank accounts by offering accounts that enable people to deposit and write checks, have a savings account and even receive small loans at reasonable interest rates. This would help millions of lower-income Americans avoid the excessive fees charged by predatory check cashing and lending “services.”
Nominee Mickey D. Barnett is a lobbyist for the notorious “payday loan” industry. This industry preys on “underbanked,” low-income people by charging interest rates that can reach over 500 percent, imposing onerous fees and using abusive debt collection practices.
Obviously a lobbyist for these industries is being nominated so that he will oppose having the USPS provide banking relief. At a time when people are proposing that the USPS reinstate public banking – a service that would help millions of Americans – Barnett is clearly the wrong choice for the USPS Board.
Call Your Senators
The Leadership Conference coalition letter asks the Senate,
At a time when the future of the USPS is unclear, largely because of Congress’s inability to pass a comprehensive reform bill, it is especially important that the Board of Governors be composed of individuals who have demonstrated a strong commitment to the public service role of this great institution, and who have shown an openness to exploring all reasonable, public service-oriented options which might contribute to the vitality and sustainability of the USPS. Unfortunately, on this basis, we must urge you to reject the current slate of nominees.
The letter was signed by representatives of civil rights, consumer and, labor groups. Signers were Wade Henderson, President & CEO, The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights; Lee Saunders, President, American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME); Richard Trumka, President, American Federation of Labor-Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO); Mark Dimondstein, President, American Postal Workers’ Union (APWU); Lisa Donner, Executive Director, Americans for Financial Reform; Hilary Shelton, NAACP Washington Bureau Director & Senior Vice President for Advocacy and Policy; Janet Murgía, President & CEO, National Council of La Raza; Mary Kay Henry, President, Service Employees International Union (SEIU); Mike Calhoun, President, Center for Responsible Lending; Melanie Campbell, President & CEO, National Coalition on Black Civic Participation; and Marc Morial, President, National Urban League.
Writing at Naked Capitalism in “Fight Over Postal Service Board Heats Up as Labor/Consumer Advocates/Minority Coalition Opposes Payday Lender Lobbyist, Privatization Backers,” Yves Smith asks:
I urge you to call or write your Senators to support The Leadership Conference’s opposition to the Postal Service’s board nominees. It’s best to add a reason, for instance, that you want to see a stronger postal service providing more services to the public, particularly in rural areas, where they are anchors for small communities; that you are in favor of a Post Office bank, particularly since big banks are creating more and more “unbanked” consumers; that low-cost delivery services are important for citizens and commerce, and privatization is guaranteed to put an end to that.
This should be a big public issue. Please take a minute and contact your state’s senators and ask them to oppose the nominees for the USPS Board.
Ben Carson Ben Carson’s campaign has come out swinging after GQ magazine launched a profanity-laced attack against the popular presidential candidate, saying the media outlet went way over the top with its F–bomb headline. The name of the piece? “F––– Ben Carson,” by Drew Magary. Get the hottest, most important news stories on the Internet –… Continue reading “GQ slams Ben Carson with profanity-laced attack”
WikiLeaks says it has obtained the intellectual property section of the final text of the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal. The paragraphs cover Internet services, medicines, publishers, civil liberties and biological patents. The agreement among 12 Pacific Rim countries has been called the biggest global trade deal in decades. It accounts for more than 40 percent of… Continue reading “WikiLeaks Releases TPP Intellectual Property Rights Chapter”
There is a time for war and a time for peace, according to the book of Ecclesiastes and The Byrds. In the contest to replace John Boehner as speaker of the House, the Republican candidates chose to sell themselves as full-time political warriors. Forget about the national interest. Their job, as they have framed it, is to smite Democrats.
The security of American diplomats in dangerous places and maintaining America’s promise to pay its debts are a concern to everyone. Sadly, many ambitious Republicans distort the facts surrounding these important matters to fuel their political advancement. In their terms, that means entertaining hard-right voters not tuned in to the big picture. When that happens, governing stops.
Now we are not so naive as to think that a high wall separates governing and politics. But the House speaker needs to know how to avoid political warfare that turns the American people into collateral damage. Boehner understood that much of the time.
One of the aspirants, Jason Chaffetz, vowed to threaten default on the U.S. debt and a government shutdown as a means to yank concessions from Democrats. The Utah Republican’s martial words: “We’re just not going to unilaterally raise the debt limit.”
Huh? Fight over taxes and spending, sure, but compromise America’s reputation for honoring its debts as a negotiating tool? That treats the entire country as a hostage.
After the Republicans’ 2011 debt ceiling outrage, stock prices plunged, and consumer confidence fell through the floor. Standard & Poor’s lowered America’s previously magnificent credit rating. Even though a last-minute fix stopped the horrible from happening, the stunt cost all of us.
Just handing the powerful speaker of the House job to a man suggesting he’d do just that all over again weakens the American economy. If that weren’t sport enough, Chaffetz also backs shutting down the government rather than funding Planned Parenthood.
In promoting his political war skills, the leading contender, House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, foolishly blew the cover off Republican motives for their endless investigation into the Benghazi tragedy.
You see, Hillary Clinton was secretary of state when a U.S. ambassador and three other Americans were killed at the besieged U.S. Consulate in Libya. Now she’s a strong Democratic candidate for president.
McCarthy said this: “Everybody thought Hillary Clinton was unbeatable, right? But we put together a Benghazi special committee, a select committee. What are her numbers today?”
What clever fellows they are. So dragging America through the details again and again had little to do with reaching a truth on Benghazi — one of a multitude of calamities tied to the violent chaos in that part of the world. It was all about pushing down Clinton’s poll numbers.
Republicans are understandably sore at McCarthy for making that revealing statement. What’s interesting is why a practiced politician such as McCarthy would say such an impolitic thing.
Perhaps when everything that happens is seen as politics, nothing seems impolitic. McCarthy was on Fox News Channel, where accusations concerning Benghazi (and Clinton’s use of private email while secretary of state) go round and round in a mind-numbing loop.
McCarthy may have simply lost track of the fact that there’s a voting public outside of the angry Republican base. He forgot that our officials in Washington have duties beyond obsessing about the next election.
As a final thought, let’s note that other democracies have rules in place to temper political warfare.
In Britain, for example, the speaker of the House of Commons must be nonpartisan. According to Wikipedia, “the Speaker, by convention, severs all ties with his or her political party, as it is considered essential that the Speaker be seen as an impartial presiding officer.”
In America, that’ll be the day.
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has maintained his grip on the race for the 2016 GOP nomination in the swing states of Florida, Ohio and Pennsylvania, but retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson performs best among the Republicans in general election match-ups, according to polling released Wednesday by Quinnipiac University. “Those who were waiting for Donald Trump’s campaign… Continue reading “Donald Trump leads 2016 GOP field in Fla., Ohio, Pa., but trails in general election match-ups”
A recent scandal has created concern over “insider trading” in fantasy sports
Source: New York Attorney General Begins Inquiry Into Fantasy Sports
Politics and Reform 