Category: Politics

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Observations Politics

Each Political Party Has A Story — by James R Martin

“Stories do not materialize from a void but grow out of materials already in history and human experience.” Reading this sentence written by Robert McKee, who is writing about constructing screenplays, reminded me that in the real world there are stories that we live each moment of our lives. These stories have structures, events, beginnings, middles and endings. The outcomes of our personal stories don’t usually break the rules of probability. We always look for positive, happy outcomes for our stories, but in reality happy endings are not always likely outcomes in the actuality in which we find ourselves living. We make decisions and choices but they are often following a pattern, of which we may not be aware. One may dream of being a concert pianist, but without ten thousand hours of practice, study and some natural talent, the probability of that performance at Carnegie Hall in NYC is remote.

What of the political party stories in which we live and vote in the United States? While there are other stories, the main two scenarios, are a Republican story and a Democratic story. The outcomes or actions in these two stories are always predictable and do not change. Each party may attack candidates running for office in the other party. Candidates in each party may attack each other. But it really doesn’t matter who the person running is, if you vote for a Republican you are voting for the Republican story. If you vote for the Democrat, you are voting for a Democratic Story.

I saw a woman on a Facebook video talking about loosing her job in a manufacturing plant owned by Carrier. A factory where the Republican candidate for President told her that she and the other workers would not lose their jobs. Vote for him! He would be sure to stop the company from “outsourcing” work to foreign countries. He would “build a wall.” She said she voted for him because of this fact. But now she was loosing her job because the company was moving production to another country. She was practically begging the President, she helped elect, to keep his promise. However, keeping jobs in America is not part of the Republican story. The candidate ran as a Republican. She is a working class person who voted for the Republican Story.

This phenomenon of working and middle class people voting for Republican candidates, who make promises that don’t fit the plot line of the Republican Party’s story, repeats itself constantly. So, of course these promises are not kept. They are improbable outcomes under a Republican administration. The Republican story never benefits working and middle class people beyond a few superficial perks. The main benefits are always directed at the top one percent and corporate interests. Campaigns supposedly directed at curbing “alleged welfare abuses,” are not just about welfare recipients, they are about cutting larger social programs.  When services are cut, the money saved goes to the rich in the form of tax cuts.

All social reform, middle and working class advances financially and socially come under Democratic Administrations. Republican Administrations always try to take away these benefits. Republican conservatives have never stopped trying to undo Social Security, Medicare and recently the Affordable Care Act. They strip services, and give tax breaks to the wealthy. The story never changes. Yet people are manipulated, persuaded, perhaps on emotional grounds or other issues, to vote against their own best interests. In the back of their minds, they must know how the story ends, but they still buy into an improbable fantasy.

The same people would not suspend disbelief while watching a movie, where the main protagonist chose a course of action that doomed her, even though it was obvious to her that the choice was not good for her survival. For example trusting her life to a pathological liar. Falling off the high cliff into the rocky surf, thousands of feet below, always ends up the same way in reality. The story has only one possible ending. This is not an animated fantasy film.

I hope that voters in elections, now and in the fall, think about what story they are actually voting for. You can help write the story if you vote. Ignore all the rhetoric, spin, negative ads and appeals to tribalism. Vote for a story that will benefit your life and keep the story of the United States, one of the ongoing “noble experiment in democracy” and freedom for all.

Books by James R Martin

Available print and digital on Amazon

Listen Learn Share: How & Why Listening, Learning and Sharing can Transform Your Life Experience In Practical Ways

Documentary Directing and Storytelling: How to Direct Documentaries and More!

Actuality Interviewing and Listening: How to conduct successful interviews for nonfiction storytelling, actuality documentaries and other disciplines … (Documentary and Nonfiction Storytelling)

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News Orlando People Politics

Barack Obama in Orlando Florida May 2008 Campaign Stop

In 2008, early in his campaign for President, Barack Obama made a campaign stop in the  Greater Orlando Florida area suburb of Maitland. The event was organized by local Democrats. Excellent turnout.  Listening to Obama’s speech reminds that he did accomplish many of the things he campaigned on and would have done more with the cooperation of the Senate and Congress for all eight years.

Categories
News Observations People Politics

Hurricane Coverage — “Just The Facts Mam, Just The Facts…”

I’m in Orlando, Florida. Over the past week or longer I have listened to hurricane Irma news that has become thinly masked hysteria and propaganda. After watching hurricane Harvey devastate Huston and parts of Texas, I decided to be fully prepared for a possible hurricane in Florida this time of year. Having gone through a number of storms including Charley, right here in Winter Park, Florida, I knew how to prepare. Still, I’m grateful for the information communicated on television and online. It is important everyone be prepared and knows what to do.

Except for periodic checks, I am keeping TV news and the Weather Channel turned off. I appreciate this hurricanes severity and I believe everyone should take it seriously. Most reporters mean well, but there seems to be some hysterical reporting of events and tracking data on television. I have watched the predicted tracks of Irma for a week; the European Model, American models etc. and every day they have been predicting an imminent northward track for the storm. First it was up the east coast of Florida, then the center, and now the western coast. But hurricane Irma just keeps heading west. All of the predictions based on the computer models continue to be wrong. The only thing they got correct is that Irma is headed west. If this storm should head west into the Gulf of Mexico, few people will ever trust these forecasts in the future. Even now a well-known AM talk show radio host was claiming it is all “fake news,” before he evacuated the state.

Hurricane Irma is a force of nature and as such unpredictable in a total sense. It is a huge hurricane, 400 miles wide they keep saying, while they show a huge cone sweeping up the Florida peninsula to the north practically to Pennsylvania. Yes the storm is 400 miles wide, but the highest hurricane force winds only extend out about 70 miles from the eye of the storm.   In addition that’s 200 miles on each side of the center. The cone covering the anticipated but speculative track of the storm is misleading.

On Saturday afternoon, September ninth, the storm’s winds dropped to 135 mph and the hurricane became category 3. They are still predicting a northward turn up the west coast of Florida. Currently the storm is heading west, battering Cuba not showing any sign of turning north. Will it ultimately turn north? Probably it will do so, but where and when is not known. What should be said by the coverage is “we really don’t know where this hurricane will go. But here’s our best guess.”

All of the reporters and experts were quick to say that no one should be complacent, the hurricane could still be a category 5 when it goes through the straight and gains strength when it turns North and devastates the entire state of Florida, including Tampa and Orlando. But if the eye of the storm goes over Tampa, there will not be the same impact on Orlando as Tampa.

The governor of Florida is constantly saying “catastrophic,” “life threatening,” and “devastating.” “Worse hurricane in the history of mankind!” And won’t we be grateful and amazed at how well he handled this catastrophe and elect him to the senate. It is obvious that everyone, from politicians to television outlets have decided to purposefully exaggerate conditions in the name of “it’s better to be prepared.” “People won’t take things seriously enough if we tell them the truth or include any optimistic predictions.” It may be true that some “people” will do that. But facts are either true or false. Opinions should be voiced as opinions not reality.

I listened to a reporter on the weather channel increase numbers substantially from what was just reported by the channel’s weather expert. She quickly rounded off the numbers higher. Even the width of Florida shrunk from about 145 miles to 130 miles. Hmm, at the bottom of the peninsula it’s only a few feet! This “spin” of facts is not good. In the end it destroys trust in the reporting. It causes hysteria and panic.

Warnings are fine. But the facts should not be distorted for any reason, however important anyone may think it is to motivate viewers. Distorting and exaggerating the facts causes panic and hysteria. Like people fighting over water and stocking up on enough food for weeks. Of course if you live next to the ocean and a hurricane is approaching you should evacuate of find a shelter. But you need to be able to trust the information is factual and make an informed decision about what you will do. Because of all the spin and hype people just don’t trust what they are hearing.

I am prepared for this storm hitting Orlando in the next couple days. I’ve taken in all the furniture and other things from balconies and front porch. I stocked up on water, spare batteries and food. I am ready. I will work and/or relax. If I need a break read a book or as long as there is electricity find a movie to watch that is not apocalyptic. Definitely do some meditating.

J R Martin

Categories
Politics

Republicans Create DysfunctionalGovernment and Pathological Donald – by James R (Jim) Martin

Republicans must take responsibility for their party creating a dysfunctional congress, senate and Supreme Court, in other words, stopping government from functioning properly. They have done it for money, politics and avarice. They have lulled half the country into believing government is not functioning when in fact it is Republicans in government who are not functioning. Republicans are campaigning to fix all the things they are responsible for breaking. They pathologically lie and misrepresent reality to the public. They have reduced any dialog to name calling and a smoke screen of bullshit. Trump, the man Republicans are nominating to run for President,  is the complete embodiment of all the Republican party now represents.

PsychopathtestbookThe notion that Donald Trump some how represents the interests of working and middle class people is ludicrous since he is a billionaire, son of a millionaire. Donald Trump is not a pull your self up from the bootstraps, entrepreneur, businessman billionaire. He’s a member of the so-called “One Percent” of super rich billionaires. But he represents himself as an outsider, entrepreneur because he knows Americans like self-made people.

It appears that Donald  scores high on “the psychopath test” as  it is profiled  in a book by Jon Ronson entitled “The Psychopath Test-A Journey through the Madness Industry.” © 2011.  While it may be that many top executives and CEO’s would also score high on this test, the question remains, do we want someone who seems to mirror most of these attributes to be President of the United States?

Here is the famous twenty-point Hare PCL-R Psychopath Checklist as reported in the book (pg. 97) How many of the twenty signs appear to fit “The Donald?” Seems like he would get an A+ in a huge way.

  1. “Glibness/superficial charm
  2. Grandiose sense of self-worth
  3. Need for stimulation/proneness to boredom
  4. Pathological lying
  5. Conning/manipulative
  6. Lack of remorse or guilt
  7. Shallow affect
  8. Callous/lack of empathy
  9. Parasitic lifestyle
  10. Poor behavioral controls
  11. Promiscuous sexual behavior
  12. Early behavior problems
  13. Lack of realistic long-term goals
  14. Impulsivity
  15. Irresponsibility
  16. Failure to accept responsibility for own actions
  17. Many short-term marital relationships
  18. Juvenile delinquency
  19. Revocation of conditional release
  20. Criminal versatility”

The current Republican nominee for President is running on all the problems created by the Republican’s for at least sixteen years beginning, after 9/11 with the lead up to and ultimately the Iraq war. One graphic example is ISIS, a result of invading Iraq and the Republican Cheney/Bush administration criminal misrepresentation of the reasons for the Iraq war as demonstrated in this PBS Frontline documentary

“The Secret History of ISIS 54:47Video duration: 54:47 Aired: 05/17/16 Rating: NRVideo has closed captioning.”

mezzanine_456.jpg.crop.767x432“From veteran FRONTLINE filmmaker Michael Kirk and his team comes the inside story of the creation of ISIS, and how the United States missed the many warning signs. The film uncovers the terror group’s earliest plans, the Islamic radicals who became its leaders, and the American failures to stop ISIS’s brutal rise.”

There is one possible error in the above copy for this documentary. The US did not miss “the many warning signs.” Republican’s Dick Cheney and George Bush ignored and suppressed the warning signs reported by US intelligence and others, so they could push the US into invading Iraq. This is apparent in the documentary and other sources.

The media and everyone else are reluctant to place the blame for problems, directly at the feet of the Republicans who caused the problems. News reporters on cable and in print constantly talk about the “dysfunction in congress.” What they should report is the Republican dysfunction in congress. By not reporting accurately and precisely they convey the impression that everyone in congress is part of the problem. When in fact it’s all coming from the Republican radicals and obstructionists who vowed from the start of President Obama’s first term to destroy and obstruct his administration.  Interestingly news sources do not seem to have much of a problem reporting possibly negative issues relating directly to Democrats.

Now we have, an apparent Republican Presidential nominee, Donald Trump, who is an obvious narcissistic, pathological liar manipulating and playing the media to his benefit. He has gotten more coverage than any candidate. He claims he’s going to fix everything the general public believes is wrong about the country. But he knows that it’s all a sham, that the public has been brainwashed with propaganda and conspiracy theories from Republicans, far right conservatives and lobbyists for many years. Trump used conspiracy theories like the racially motivated idea that President Obama wasn’t born in the US (Birthers) to keep his own name out there and to try to discredit the President. The public is distracted from the real problems by “dog whistle” issues that stir religious, racial, ethnic, cultural and social concerns. Working and middle class people succumb to tribal drum beats, as they dance in primitive circles, persuaded to vote against their own interests.

Voters believed that President Obama would bring change and end the wars the country was involved in when he was elected. But the Republicans made sure he couldn’t do it in an absolute way. For example, they watered down a very workable Affordable Health Care Act and then spent the next six years trying to destroy it in any way possible. Republicans made it impossible for the President to close Guantanamo by passing restrictive laws. Republicans tried to shut down the government and did, causing problems. Republicans stopped economic progress by not allowing the administrations plans for national infrastructure building and repair. Republicans voted against saving the American auto industry, brought to its knees by the Republican sponsored real estate crash beginning in 2007, but put up little resistance to the, too big to fail, bank bailout. The complete list is a story by itself.

Despite all the Republican dysfunction and obstruction, the President and the Democratic administration brought the country back from a terrible crisis in 2008.  They saved the auto industry, which is doing well now, and paid back loans to the government, with interest. The economy has steadily improved, unemployment gone down, the deficit reduced, troops brought home. This doesn’t seem to get much press.

Republicans have wasted billions of dollars on committees to investigate things like Bengazi and Hillary Clinton’s emails all for political gain. There is a technique practiced by Fox News, the Republican propaganda cable news outlet. Make up absurd claims about anything, throw them out there, twenty-four/seven, and see if anything sticks. Create enough smoke so that the public will believe there is a fire and blame it on the firemen, in this case the President, the Democrats and Liberals. There is so much smoke the general public doesn’t know what to believe because they can’t see things clearly.

Another hoax perpetrated on the public is the myth of the “liberal media.” When ever a fact contrary to Republican interests is reported, even though it’s accurate, it is deemed as liberal. I suppose it is a “liberal” trait to tell the truth but in this case the term is used to discredit the reporting as biased in some way, perhaps because the information was reported on in the first place. It is also a way to intimidate the press into using language that is less precise and ambiguous. Instead of saying Republicans in congress are causing government to not function properly, the report defers to just saying “congress is causing…” This gives the impression that it is all of congress that is obstructing and not doing their jobs when in fact it is just the Republicans. The public believes it is all of congress and therefore government that is the problem.

At the same time as the right-wing is running around claiming liberal media bias they are using all sorts of “frames” and “spin” to make it appear that the problem is something other than their obstruction.

Who ever wins the Democratic Party Nomination will face an onslaught of “dirty politics” from the Donald Trump campaign. It has already started with Trump calling Hillary Clinton names like “crooked Hillary,” and other things each time he mentions her in some false accusation, rambling tirade.  He is just continuing the bashing of Hillary Clinton that the Republican party has been doing for the last eight years and longer going back to when her husband was President. This continual attack has biased people to think ill of her unfairly.  Fair or not the perception is out there.  If the Republicans thought Bernie Sanders was going to be the nominee they would be attacking him.

Hopefully moderate and normally conservative Republicans will either, hold their noses and vote Democrat or vote for a Libertarian candidate.  Democrats need to unite after the primaries, rally around the Democratic nominee and turn out the vote as they did for Barack Obama in 2008. Because of new restrictive voter laws, early registration of voters is important. In addition to voting for President there is an opportunity to shift the balance of power in the Senate and Congress sending a message that the smoke screen is no longer working.

 

 

The Psychopath Test: A Journey Through the Madness Industry

 

Categories
Observations Politics Spirituality

Religious Liberty is the Separation of Church and State

Kim Davis, jailed for Contempt, has been released.  She and some other “Christians” believe their religious liberty is being curtailed because they must obey laws of which they say their religion doesn’t approve. Interesting to note this is their personal interpretation of their sect’s belief, not necessarily written anywhere.

The notion of “Religious Liberty” is that, we are all free from any religion imposing its beliefs on us as individuals, or on our government. According to the Constitution, we are free to believe in what ever religion, or no religion, we wish to choose.  We just can’t expect, or try to force anyone else to believe in our religion. There is no attempt on the part of the government or anyone else, to force Christians to change their beliefs. It is quite the opposite.

The law, upheld by the Supreme Court, says that same-sex marriage is legal. Government officials must issue same-sex couples a marriage license.  It is legal, and everyone has a right to choose whomever they wish to marry. Under the law, no person has the right  to prevent anyone from being married to whomever they choose. No one is asking Christianity to marry same-sex couples in their churches. It wasn’t so long ago that interracial marriage was not allowed in many states.  Certain Christian religions claimed that was against their teachings. Many Christians also believed in slavery and cited the Bible as the reason.

The laws of the United States say that we are all created equal.  No one can be discriminated against for any reason. If you are a government official or clerk you must follow the law. Refusing to follow the law and then forcing others to refuse is a crime.   Government employees, elected or hired, do not work for God. He does not pay their salary.  They work for the people of that State and/or the country. The state and God are separate employers. If a person’s personal beliefs prevent them from doing their job, and upholding the law, they should resign from holding public office.

The Constitution of the United States does not adhere to any religion. It is a set of  principles and laws on which the country is founded. Neither the national government or any individual state or municipality may adopt religious beliefs into its laws. No state elected official or employee can impose his or her religious preferences on how they will perform their jobs. The Constitution does not infringe on anyone’s religion.

This country has been brainwashed by the Christian right-wing to the extent that many people have forgotten that this country is founded and built on the principle of  separation of church and state.  Any church, any state. The founders of the United States made a choice to exclude religion from a role in government. It appears some Christians would like to create a religious state like Iran or Saudi Arabia.

The Christian Right has been imposing their beliefs on the entire country, in an organized fashion since the 1930’s. To name a few things, there have been movements to have the Bible read in the classrooms of public schools.  Christian prayers in public schools.  Under President Eisenhower Christian groups got “In God We Trust” on to US currency and had “God” inserted into the Pledge of Allegiance.  Presidents and politicians have been pressured into ending every speech with the words, “God Bless America.”  Congress has prayer meetings.   The founding fathers of this country never had a “Prayer Meeting” before they wrote the Constitution.

Judging by how they behave, Congress probably needs more prayer, but it is not part of the law that they do so.

Written by J R Martin – Documentary Filmmaker

LINKS

National Memo Story

Categories
News Observations Politics

Donald Trump Show – Spin, Frame, False Equivalency

trump
Illustration Donald Honkey

Donald Trump, as he conducts his wrestling show run for the Presidency of the United States, is entertaining to many people. In a perverse way politics and Trump have become a comedy reality show. Watching Trump’s altercation with Univision reporter Jorge Ramos on August 25, 2015, may have given the public a brief glimpse into the narcissistic, pathological  mind of Mr. Trump, not so obviously seen in public up until now.

Jorge Ramos knew he would need to ask his question and hold his ground because Trump had refused to talk to him previously. Trump did not answer the question being asked, instead he showed disdain for the reporter dismissing Ramos in a demeaning fashion. Trump then had his bodyguards physically manhandle and push the reporter out of the room. Outside one of the bodyguards can be heard telling Ramos, an American citizen, to go back to Mexico. Other reporters in the room asked Trump why he wouldn’t answer Ramos’s question and had Mr. Ramos removed. Trump quickly tried to paint Ramos, a respected, veteran reporter, as out-of-order and crazy.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d2Z7k75SnN4

(This video showing Trump telling is people to throw the reporter out etc has been removed from YouTube.)

Trump appears to be a natural at “Framing” arguments, “Spin,” and “False Equivalency” posturing. First he frames his argument or answer to any question on his own terms. This often includes a “False Equivalency” comparison. In a pathological moment, he then believes what he spins is true.

One of the bogus arguments in defense of Trump’s behavior at this press conference is to compare his actions with the reporter, to being appropriate and not like Bernie Sanders’ reaction to the “Black Lives Matter” protesters that confronted Sanders at a rally. Since Trump has publicly stated that he would never be like Bernie Sanders and give up the stage to protesters it is likely Trump over reacted to Ramos to prove, once again, how strong and tough he is. The only thing Trump needed afterward, was to present Ramos as an unreasonable interloper.

But the situations were totally different. This is a false equivalency frame. Ramos was not a protester; he is a serious, credentialed Univision reporter, asking a question, at a news conference. Trump’s current animosity to Univision, he’s suing them for not running his Beauty Pageant show, also played a part. After Trump had Ramos removed from the room, he was asked why by other reporters. Trump’s response was to immediately spin that Ramos was “screaming,” and out-of-order. The video of the confrontation shows something else.   Ramos did not have a microphone, so he may have been speaking louder than normal to be heard, not screaming. Screaming implies, emotional hysteria, a spin word to make Ramos appear irrational or angry, and the belligerent, annoyed Trump as rational. Trump’s reaction to reporters after Ramos was ejected was pathological lying, not just spinning.

Photo: Univision reporter Jorge Ramos (L) is escorted from Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump’s news conference before his “Make America Great Again Rally” at the Grand River Center in Dubuque, Iowa, Tuesday, August 25, 2015. REUTERS/Ben Brewer
Photo: Univision reporter Jorge Ramos (L) is escorted from Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump’s news conference before his “Make America Great Again Rally” at the Grand River Center in Dubuque, Iowa, Tuesday, August 25, 2015. REUTERS/Ben Brewer

As far as Bernie Sanders and the protestors are concerned, Sanders appears to actually share the concerns of the protesters. He has been active in all sorts of civil rights activities his entire political career. Instead of creating a confrontation with protesters he simply gave them a chance to speak their minds. This was not a sign of weakness; it was a sign of strength, good will, judgement and experience. In his confrontation with Jorge Ramos Trump has, as he did with Megan Kelly, demonstrated once again his own insecurity and pathological nature.

The Republican establishment would like Donald Trump to self-destruct or go away because he bluntly campaigns on all the “dog whistle” rhetoric the Republicans have been using to manipulate voters. The majority of these issues are fear, race, religious or ethnic based concerns. Trump attacks and scapegoats immigrants unfiltered at the same time as he advocates hedge fund brokers paying their fare share of taxes. He has plugged in to all the gripes Americans have both left and right. If the Republicans outright dump him he could run as a third-party candidate. His support would come from all the, mainly white, voters who feel disenfranchised based on all the right-wing propaganda they have been fed by Republicans.  But the right-wing, along with Fox News, has mounted a campaign against Trump. Democrats don’t want to help them too much at this point since they believe they have a strong candidate in Hillary Clinton or someone else, and that Americans wouldn’t really vote for  Donald Trump.

It is possible that the best-case scenario for Trump to actually become President would be to run as a third-party candidate and pull his majority from both parties. Moderate Republicans and Democrats either don’t vote or protest vote for Trump. Libertarians, New Regan Democrats, NRA supporters, Christian Fundamentalist, Anti Abortion, Tea Party and White Supremacist form the base of the third-party. At this point support comes in from Koch Brothers groups hoping to partner somehow with Trump. Trump campaigns on issues that are real or imagined, with grandiose solutions that are pure fantasy, like building a nineteen hundred mile wall along the border with Mexico and getting them to pay for it.

Thinking Donald Trump is only entertainment and that he really doesn’t “have a chance,” if he becomes the candidate, should be reconsidered. Going back over the years in other countries, there have been unlikely leaders who emerge on issues scapegoating minorities or perceived groups like immigrants. We think that here in the United States we have too many checks and balances for anything like a dictator to emerge. Many of these checks and balances have been or are being eroded by the far right. The right of all citizens to vote, separation of church and state, and women’s rights are among the many being curtailed by factions of the Republican Party.

The steps that any administration would need to take to deport eleven million immigrants would necessitate totalitarian policies. It would promote American pogroms against groups that are suspected of being or harboring immigrants. Documented immigrants, recent American Citizens, Latin, Asian, Black and Middle Eastern looking people would be harassed. The disorder that results could lead to martial law.

Donald Trump knows how to entertain and play a part. His act is brash, pushy, egotistical, tell-it-like-he thinks-it-is, and faux entrepreneur. But those qualities are also those of a narcissistic psychopathic bully. These traits were clearly demonstrated during the Jorge Ramos confrontation if you watch Trump’s  posture, face and listen to is voice during the exchange.   Proceed with caution.

James R Martin, Documentary Filmmaker.

Categories
Observations Politics

Conservatives Have Their Worst Week Ever

Recommended Rolling Stone Article

Conservatives Have Their  Worst Week Ever

By Matt Taibbi

Categories
Observations Politics

Over the last three years the deficit has been reduced

Your helpful Thanksgiving charts about the deficit

Courtesy Rachel Madow

By Laura Conaway

Wed Nov 21, 2012 9:45 PM EST

As Rachel promised on the show, here are the charts that show the U.S. deficit is not growing but shrinking — in fact, it’s shrinking faster than at any time since the end of World War II. The first chart comes from our own Steve Benen. The second is from Jed Graham at Investor’s Business Daily. Let us know how it goes out there, will ya?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Investor’s Business Daily

Categories
Observations Politics

“John Boehner Wants You To Be Afraid…” –MoveOn.org

Email from MoveOn.org

Republicans, led by House Speaker John Boehner, want to scare Americans into accepting yet another extension of the Bush tax cuts for the wealthiest 2% and deep cuts to Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. So they’ve created a “fiscal cliff” boogeyman.

Unfortunately, if you’re following the media story, you may believe Republican claims that the world’s about to end. But the only thing going off a cliff on December 31 is the ability of Republicans to hold our economy hostage for the sake of the rich (read below to find out why!).

That’s why we have to spread the truth, so our friends and family don’t fall for the Republican myth about the fiscal cliff. We’ve put together a 5-point guide on what this fiscal showdown is really all about. Check it out and then share it on Facebook or Twitter, or just forward this email.

5-Point Guide To The Fiscal Showdown

The “Fiscal Cliff” Is A Myth. As Paul Krugman put it, “The looming prospect of spending cuts and tax increases isn’t a fiscal crisis. It is, instead, a political crisis brought on by the G.O.P.’s attempt to take the economy hostage.”

1. Republicans are manufacturing this crisis to pressure Democrats to extend the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy and accept painful cuts to Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. The Bush Tax Cuts Finally End December 31. If Congress does nothing, the ax will fall on all the Bush tax cuts on New Year’s Eve.

2. Then, on January 1, the public pressure on John Boehner and House Republicans to extend the middle-class tax cuts (already passed by the Senate and waiting to be signed by President Obama) will become irresistible.

3. So the middle-class tax cut will eventually get renewed, and we’ll have $823 billion more revenue from the top 2% to do great things with.

4. The Sequester. The sequester is another political creation, forced on Democrats by Republicans in exchange for lifting the debt ceiling last year to avoid crashing our economy.

5.  It’s a set of cuts (50% to a bloated military budget and 50% to important domestic programs) designed to make both Republicans and Democrats hate it so much that they’d never let it happen.

6. And the cuts can be reversed weeks or months into 2013 without causing damage.

7. The Big Three. Nothing happens to Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid benefits on January 1—unless Republicans force painful cuts to beneficiaries in exchange for tax increases on the wealthy, which are going to happen anyway if Congress does NOTHING.

8. So, there’s literally no reason benefits cuts should be part of the discussion right now.

We Should Be Talking About Jobs. The real crisis Americans want Congress to fix is getting people back to work. And with just a fraction of that $823 billion from the wealthiest 2%, we could create jobs for more than 20,000 veterans and pay for the 300,000 teachers and 52,000 first responders, which our communities so desperately need.9 That’s not to mention jobs from investing in clean energy and our national infrastructure.
Please share this with your friends and family—and talk about it at the dinner table next week. The first step to winning this showdown is making sure we’re all armed with the facts.

Thanks for all you do.

–Ilya, Emily, Mark, Tate, and the rest of the team

Sources:

1. “Hawks and Hypocrites,” The New York Times, November 11, 2012
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=284476&id=57918-7249980-zlWyqox&t=5

2. “Bush-Era Tax Cuts,” The New York Times, November 9, 2012
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=284477&id=57918-7249980-zlWyqox&t=6

3. “Boehner Is Bluffing,” Slate, November 9, 2012
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=284478&id=57918-7249980-zlWyqox&t=7

4. “CBO: Ending High-Income Tax Cuts Would Save Almost $1 Trillion,” Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, August 24, 2012
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=284479&id=57918-7249980-zlWyqox&t=8

5. “The sequester, explained,” The Washington Post, September 14, 2012
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=284480&id=57918-7249980-zlWyqox&t=9

6. Ibid.

7. “Let’s Not Make a Deal,” The New York Times, November 8, 2012
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=284484&id=57918-7249980-zlWyqox&t=10

8. “How the Across-the-Board Cuts in the Budget Control Act Will Work,” Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, April 27, 2012
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=284489&id=57918-7249980-zlWyqox&t=11

9. “Veterans’ Jobs Bill Blocked in the Senate,” The New York Times, September 19, 2012
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=284488&id=57918-7249980-zlWyqox&t=12

“Jan Schakowsky Announces New Budget Plan With Focus On Jobs,” The Huffington Post, August 10, 2011
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=263135&id=57918-7249980-zlWyqox&t=13

“Fact Sheet: The American Jobs Act,” The White House, September 8, 2011
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=264021&id=57918-7249980-zlWyqox&t=14

Categories
Observations Politics

Republican Reality Check – It’s still a lie even if you believe it.

Right, Radical Republicanism Rejected By The Majority of Americans.

Each time they loose an election Republicans just can’t understand it.  They go around acting as if they won or try to ruin the government of who ever did win.  Some form of aberrant denial. President Obama has beaten both McCain and now Romney. McCain has never gotten over it and in his senile, spiteful way continues to do take swipes at the President and his administration.  Romney is starting out the same way with mean spirited derisive behavior. Romney has recently repeated basically the same things he said in the famous “47 percent video!

At a time when the Senate and the Congress should be focusing on the economy, creating jobs, budget and reducing the deficit all certain Republicans can do is try to create scandals, embarrass the President and the administration and obstruct.

As the presidential election approached Republicans were working on conjuring up an “October Surprise” to “bring down the President.”  Romney was so anxious to find something that he came out criticizing the administration before the facts about the Benghazi attack in Libya were even known. He basically shot himself in the foot.  Shortly after that Republican Congressman Inofe started a congressional investigation, but it seems that mother nature had her own October surprise, it was called “Sandy.”  Had it not been for this hurricane combining with other weather conditions hitting the east coast Republicans would have been pushing harder to turn the attack in Libya in to a foreign policy scandal.  The fact is Republicans voted down money the State Department requested to beef up security at our  embassies and consulates around the world. If Republicans has passed these appropriations there might have been security at the consulate in Benghazi. Is this really another example of what Republican obstruction and partisan politics has done?

Meanwhile an FBi agent, Fredrick Humphrey, known to be a Republican conservative, who was not assigned to the case, tryed to escalate a matter he reported about a woman friend of his getting threatening emails. When things don’t seem to be moving fast enough to create a scandal before the presidential election, he went to a Republican Congressmen claiming the FBI was dragging their feet for political reasons.  This doesn’t pan out before the election but results in General Petraeus resigning as head of the CIA, after the election.  It’s clear that Republicans were desperate for a scandal to embarrass the President before the election.  Now that the election is over, they are trying to use the same “red herrings” to hurt the President and distract the public from the real problems facing the nation. This is unpatriotic and shows disdain for the democratic process.

These crazy Republican distractions are flooding the airwaves. The media loves a scandal.   It’s a scandal that Republican politicians and operatives are wasting their time and our tax dollars pushing.  It’s obvious partisan politics. The press should call them out on this and not just go along with their agenda. In addition to the politicians ugly behavior we have nut case tea party members and others getting up petitions to secede from the union because they lost the election.  This insanity is being fanned by irresponsible, right wing radio and television hacks.

Senator McCain, someone who once had the respect of many people, has turned into a senile blowhard who should just resign from the Senate before he further ruins his reputation and makes a fool of himself. Other Republicans should be called to task for failing to work on constructive projects to improve the economy and create jobs for Americans.

There is no “smoking gun” in Benghazi.  The consulate was hit by terrorists on September 11th because they saw an opportunity. It probably was planned. Apparently our security had no knowledge of the impending attack. One has to wonder why the Ambassador was there without a security detail.  Was the mission in Libya underfunded because of the Republican Congress? The CIA and the State Department need money to gather intelligence.

The whole can of worms around General Petreaus, General Allen and the women involved so far has not been something that jeopardized national security. This agent who tried to politicize this matter should be reprimanded and/or fired from the FBI. He should have let the FBI do it’s work before going public with classified information.

It is no coincidence that the Republican Congress is trying to create problems for the administration now, before the President’s second term even begins.  They want to discredit him through members of his administration to, among other things, hinder him and reduce the mandate he has received from the American people who elected him.  The majority of Americans rejected the far right wing Republican party. But these traitors to the country are still trying to get power no matter what it costs the average American. What they fail to realize is that the Republican presidential candidate was a pathetic liar and panderer.  Americans sooner or later can recognize BS.

Americans need to show support for the President in anyway possible. This will blunt the attack on him and the administration. It will silence all the crazies who are running around getting petitions signed to secede from the union or impeach the president, because they lost the election. But more than anything it will allow everyone to focus on the real issues facing the country.