Motley Moose – Archive

Since 2008 – Progress Through Politics

In the News: Cruel and Unusual – Updated with video and transcript

Tags:

UPDATE: Tuesday, January 7th – Remarks by the President on the Importance of Extending Emergency Unemployment Insurance

From the transcript:

You heard Katherine’s story.  And she’s far more eloquent than I could ever be.  She wrote me last month to say, “Please let those who think I am sitting at home enjoying being unemployed know that I would much rather be working.”  And I had a chance to talk to Katherine, and I think it’s pretty clear that that’s the case.  Katherine went on to say, “I have applied to everything for which I am possibly qualified to no avail.  I have worked hard all my life, paid taxes, voted, engaged in political discussion, and made the ultimate sacrifice:  My two sons serve in the U.S. military.  Job loss is devastating, and if I could fix it myself, I would.  I challenge any lawmaker to live without an income.”  That’s what Katherine said.  It’s hard.  (Applause.)

So when we’ve got the mom of two of our troops, who is working hard out there, but is having to wear a coat inside the house, we’ve got a problem.  And it’s one that can be fixed.  

~

Found on the Internets …



A series of tubes filled with enormous amounts of material

The Cruel …

Democrats Make Last-Ditch Push To Bring Back Unemployment Benefits

When Congress returns from the holiday recess this week, Democrats will kick off the new session with a last-ditch push to renew emergency unemployment benefits that expired on Dec. 28.

But despite their cautious optimism, they face a tough slog as most Republicans have little desire to extend the benefits, which have already lapsed for some 1.3 million Americans who have been out of work for at least 26 weeks, and will expire for more in the coming months.

Senate Democrats have set up a test vote on Monday to extend unemployment compensation for three months. The bill is sponsored by Sens. Jack Reed (D-RI) and Dean Heller (R-NV). Sixty senators are required to break an expected filibuster and it’s not clear there are that many votes.

Poverty Rate Would Be Nearly Twice As High Without Government Programs

Ron Johnson Suing To Cut Health Care Subsidies For Congress, Staff

Wisconsin Lawmaker Wants To Take Away Workers’ Weekends

~

… and the Bat Guano Crazy Unusual.

Gay Marriage Opponents Call For Uprising In Utah

The Constitutional Sheriffs and Peace Officers Association on Saturday organized a meeting in Highland, Utah to call for an uprising and to express their opposition to same-sex marriage in Utah, Fox 13 Now Salt Lake City reported.

“The people of Utah have rights, too, not just the homosexuals. The homosexuals are shoving their agenda down our throats,” Former Graham County, Ariz., Sheriff Richard Mack said at the meeting.[…]

“State sovereignty supercedes what this judge did,” Mack said. “The Governor needs to get some courage and grip.”

Josh Marshall: Trestin Meachum Watch

Yesterday I told you about Trestin Meacham, an idealistic young Utahan who is putting himself forth as the Gandhi of hating gay people, now two weeks into a hunger strike meant to compel Utah to “nullify” federal court decisions that allow gay marriage in the state. He’s even live-tweeting his fast. […]

It turns out Meacham isn’t just some young doofus upset about gay people. Or at least that’s not all he is. Back in 2012 he was a candidate for Utah state senate from the far-right US Taxpayers Party.

~

Editor’s Note: This is an open news thread. Feel free to leave links to other news items in the comment threads.


Categories: Uncategorized.

/ 72 Comments

72 comments

  1. JanF

    The good news is that Governor Dunderhead Walker (R-WI) is spending all his time on the Sunday talk shows, prepping for 2016, and he is forgetting that he is running for re-election here in Wisconsin.

    Please proceed, Governor. Please proceed.  

  2. Diana in NoVa

    Hope he goes down in defeat. And as for Republican politicians–they are the most un-Christlike people in the world. Rank hypocrites, all.

  5. JanF

    Poverty Rate Would Be Nearly Twice As High Without Government Programs

    Were it not for a broad range of government programs meant to reduce poverty by providing assistance to low-income Americans, the poverty rate in the United States would be nearly twice as high as it is today.

    The rate currently stands at 15 percent, a generational high. Without programs like Social Security, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, and low-income tax credits, it would rise to nearly 30 percent, as this chart from the New York Times shows:


    The next time someone talks about “American exceptionalism” and “third world countries”, look at what we would be like if Paul Ryan and his Republican Party had their way and wiped out all the social safety nets. And ask yourself if having 30% of Americans in poverty, 3 out of every 10 people, is “exceptional” or “unconscionable”.

  6. JanF

    Supreme Court Puts Gay Marriage On Hold In Utah

    The Supreme Court on Monday granted Utah’s request for a temporary stay on same-sex marriages in the state, the Associated Press reported.

    In December, a federal court struck down Utah’s ban on same-sex marriage.

    County clerks in the state quickly began issuing licenses to gay couples, though a few counties held off and waited for legal clarification from attorneys.

    Utah asked the federal court that struck down the ban and an appeals court for a temporary stay on the ruling, which keeps counties from issuing licenses to gay couples while the state appeals the ruling.

    I wonder if it was that guy’s hunger strike or the fear of armed insurrection that led to it. Or maybe the threat of armed insurrection by Scalia and Thomas?

    (ORDER LIST: 571 U.S.) MONDAY, JANUARY 6, 2014

    ORDER IN PENDING CASE 13A687 HERBERT, GOV. OF UT, ET AL. V. KITCHEN, DEREK, ET AL.

    The application for stay presented to Justice Sotomayor and by her referred to the Court is granted. The permanent injunction issued by the United States District Court for the District of Utah, case No. 2:13-cv-217, on December 20, 2013, is stayed pending final disposition of the appeal by the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit

  8. JanF

    Barney Frank: Note to Ryan: Drop the holier-than-thou budget attitude – Republicans, too, are responsible for the debts America has to pay.

    Apparently concerned that many of their most ardent political supporters are unhappy when Washington functions well, many Republican leaders, including those who helped put together the recent compromise to keep the government funded throughout next year, are threatening once again to refuse to raise the debt limit unless they get major concessions.[…]

    In addition to being an economically foolish proposal, this threat also lacks any moral justification. The argument is, from Rep. Paul Ryan, for example, that President Obama and congressional Democrats must give the Republicans something in return for their allowing America to pay our bills. The implicit assumption here is that Democrats are responsible for the debts, and we are asking Republicans to pay them as a favor to us.

    Wrong.

    Ryan voted to incur much more of the current debt than I did. He voted for the war in Iraq; I voted against it. He voted for President Bush’s prescription drug program; I voted against it. He voted for the Bush tax cuts; I voted against them. It is true there are areas in the federal budget when I am for spending more than he is, but the fact is – unfortunately, from my standpoint – I have been much less successful in pushing the bills that I support that would have added to the debt than he has been. So the argument that my former Democratic congressional colleagues will owe him if he agrees to pay the debt that he did so much to run up is nonsense.

  9. JanF

    An Honorable Last Wish For A Dying Marine

    [Hal] Faulkner joined the Marines in 1953, and served in the Philippines. In 1956, he got kicked out with an “undesirable discharge” for being gay. His military papers said “homosexual” on them, quite an obstacle in the 1950s.

    Still, Faulkner moved on, and had a successful career in sales.

    A few years ago, when he got diagnosed with terminal cancer, Faulkner contacted his family about a dying wish.

    He wanted to have his discharge changed to “Honorable” something made possible by the repeal of DADT.

    But a correction of military records usually takes at least six months, as well as a lawyer. The activist group OutServe-SLDN helped Faulkner get a pro-bono lawyer from the New York firm Winston & Strawn.

    The Marines agreed to expedite the case:

    “I didn’t know whether expedited was going to mean six weeks or six months,” Anne Brooksher-Yen says. “So I did have a conversation with him that we might not be able to get this done before he died.”

    The Marines acted on his dying request in just two weeks. Last Friday in Florida, a small group presented Faulkner with his honorable discharge.

  11. JanF

    NC Redistricting Battle Moves to State Supreme Court

    On Monday, January 6, 2014 the Southern Coalition for Social Justice will present oral arguments before the North Carolina Supreme Court, urging the court to find that the 2011 redistricting maps are unconstitutional and racially discriminatory.

    During the summer 2013 trial, the Southern Coalition for Social Justice represented several statewide nonpartisan groups seeking to overturn racially-packed voting districts in North Carolina in the consolidated cases Dickson v. Rucho and NAACP v. NC. On July 8, 2013, shortly after the U.S. Supreme Court gutted the Voting Rights Act, a three-judge panel in North Carolina state court unanimously rejected all challenges to the 2011 redistricting plans for Congress, State House and State Senate.

    SCSJ has argued that redistricting maps were racial gerrymanders, unfairly dividing the state into “black districts” and “white districts,” in violation of the U.S. Constitution and the state constitution.

  12. JanF

    Georgia GOP Schedules Seven Senate Primary Debates

    A handful of candidates are competing for the GOP nomination in the Georgia Senate race. So far there has been no clear frontrunner.

    What better way to introduce the state to the craziness of the GOP primary field than to have them on the TV 7 times arguing over who is crazier. I think one of the guys is the fellow who wants grade school kids to become janitors in order to earn school lunches. And one is the guy who calls evolution and the “big bang theory” lies straight from the pits of hell.

  14. JanF

    Dems Close To Securing 60 Votes For Unemployment Benefits: Vote Postponed

    The procedural vote requiring 60 senators to move forward was initially scheduled for late Monday afternoon, but is now poised to happen on Tuesday morning. Reid moved the vote after Senate Minority Whip John Cornyn (R-TX) criticized him for the timing of it, saying many senators were absent.

    Cornyn thinks it will fail. Democrats think they can get these votes:

    Democrats believe Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) may be a yes. They’re also seeking to win over Republican Sens. Rob Portman (OH), Kelly Ayotte (NH), Lisa Murkowski (AK) and John McCain (AZ).

  15. JanF

    ‘Political Stunt’: Republicans Battle Over Denying Health Care Subsidies To Staff

    [Rep. James Sensenbrenner (R-WI)] slammed it as a “political stunt” and “frivolous” lawsuit that would, if successful, result in a brain drain of congressional staff from Capitol Hill.

    “Senator Johnson’s lawsuit is an unfortunate political stunt,” the congressman said. “I am committed to repealing Obamacare, but the employer contribution he’s attacking is nothing more than a standard benefit that most private and all federal employees receive — including the President. Success in the suit will mean that Congress will lose some of its best staff and will be staffed primarily by recent college graduates who are still on their parents’ insurance. This will make it even more difficult to fight the President and his older, more experienced staff.”

    Well, of course it is a stunt. What one-term Senator Ron Johnson (R-WI) does not get is that in Texas pointing to your craziness will get you votes. In Wisconsin, it just serves to remind us of what we lost in 2010 and make us more determined to return sanity to our state.

    p.s. Pause for a moment to LOL at “brain drain” as it refers to GOP congressional staff. That is the best-and-the-brightest???

  16. JanF

    Senate Advances Unemployment Benefits Extension

    The Senate voted 60-37 Tuesday to invoke cloture on Sen. Jack Reed’s (D-RI) and Sen. Dean Heller’s (R-NV) bill to extend unemployment insurance benefits for three months. The bill needed 60 votes to advance.

    Boehner Reiterates Unemployment Extension Needs To Be Paid For

    House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) on Tuesday reiterated that he would consider an extension of longterm unemployment benefits, but only if the legislation included a plan to pay for the program and a provision that created jobs.

    This from the guy who voted 40 times to repeal the ACA, 10 times to defund Planned Parenthood and/or restrict women’s right to choose. Not a single job was created by a bill that originated in the House in last three years.

    Oh, and Fox News? STHU.

  17. JanF

    Gov. Brian Sweitzer (D-MT)

    “Schweitzer was asked about his 2016 ambitions during an appearance Monday on “Morning Joe.”

    “I haven’t decided that,” he said, prompting the show’s panelists to encourage him to run.

    “It would ruin my life,” Schweitzer said, adding that he has a “great life in the private sector” as chairman of the board for a Montana-based mining company. ”

    Hey, Governor! Don’t ruin your life on our account. Really, the last thing we need is a mining executive running for president. That might sell in Montana but the rest of America is not too keen on destroying the earth.

  18. JanF

    THIS is the takeaway: Obama On Long-Term Unemployed: ‘They’re Not Lazy’

    “Now, I’ve heard the argument that says extending unemployment insurance will somehow hurt the unemployed because it zaps their motivation to get a new job,” Obama said at the White House. “I really want to go at this for a second. That really sells the American people short.”

    “I meet a lot of people as President of the United States,” he added. “As a candidate for President of the United States, and as a U.S. senator and state senator. I meet a lot of people, and I can’t — I can’t name a time where I met an American who would rather have an unemployment check than the pride of having a job. The long-term unemployed are not lazy or lacking in motivation. They are coping with the aftermath of the worst economic crisis in generations.”

    One of these days, maybe, just maybe, unemployed people who vote for Republicans will realize that the Republicans are calling them lazy and will vote for the guys who want to help.

  21. HappyinVT

    [Art] Laffer, the so-called father of trickle-down economics, appeared on the January 8 edition of Fox News’ Happening Now to discuss the possible extension of recently-expired unemployment benefits for the long-term unemployed. When host Jenna Lee asked Laffer and American Enterprise Institute’s Michael Strain about other ways to improve the economy, Laffer recommended doing away with the minimum wage for some workers, saying that “honestly” the requirement is the “black teenage unemployment act.” Strain agreed, and suggested lowering the minimum wage “for the long-term unemployed” to $4 an hour.

    http://mediamatters.org/blog/2…

  22. JanF

    Bridge Closing Emails Come to Light


    Governor Christie has spent an enormous amount of effort trying to get away from the narrative that he is a bully,” he said. “These emails destroy all of that effort in a single day.”

    Christie, who had canceled his only public event on Wednesday after the emails were made public, said the email exchanges were “not representative of me or my administration in any way, and people will be held responsible for their actions.

    New Jersey re-elected a bully because they liked that he took no guff from people. His pals may have caused the death of an elderly woman and, I hope, put an end to his national political aspirations.  

  23. JanF


    BREAKING NEWS

    Thursday, January 9, 2014 11:17 AM EST

    Christie Fires a Top Aide for Lying About Bridge Scandal

    Gov. Chris Christie said that he has terminated the employment of his deputy chief of staff, Bridget Anne Kelly, who wrote an email message to an official at the Port Authority last August, asking if the official, David Wildstein, could order lane closings on the George Washington Bridge. “I am sad to report to the people of New Jersey that we fell short,” Mr. Christie said.

    READ MORE http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.c…

    Subtext: Next time, don’t get caught!!!!

Comments are closed.