COVID-19 & Healthcare

Progressives: Let’s Move Hillary and Bernie to the Left (video)

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Several long-term politicians and a few wannabes have thrown their hats into the ring for the 2016 presidential bid (or are at least hinting at it). Democrats Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders and Republicans Ted Cruz, Ben Carson, Rand Paul, Marco Rubio, Mike Huckabee, and Carly Fiornia have declared. (See the complete list on the New York Times here.) Progressives– disappointed … Read more

‘Rewriting the Rules: An Agenda for Growth and Shared Prosperity,’ and the ‘Progressive Agenda to Combat Income Inequality’

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Earlier today, a panel discussion at a Roosevelt Institute event with economist Joseph Stiglitz, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio unveiled the new report by Stiglitz, “Rewriting the Rules: An Agenda for Growth and Shared Prosperity.” Check out RewritetheRules.org to find out more. Download of the Full Report (.pdf).

Rewriting

Bill de Blasio and Elizabeth Warren Talk Income Inequality:

Who said it is about income inequality, Mayor Bill de Blasio or Senator Elizabeth Warren?

“This doesn’t just come from Republicans. A lot of Democrats seem to have floated along with the idea that the economic growth is in direct opposition to strengthening the well-being of America’s families, and that we have to choose economic growth or our families. That claim is flatly wrong.”

The answer is Ms. Warren, the progressive senator from Massachusetts who some are hoping will decide to run for president as an alternative to a Hillary Clinton bid likely to be funded by donors from the banks Ms. Warren often rails against.

But it could just as well been Mr. de Blasio, who spoke just moments after Ms. Warren at the National Press Club this morning during an event called Rewriting the Rules of the American Economy, which carried with it the tagline “An agenda for growth and shared prosperity.” In recent months, as he’s traveled to the Midwest and now Washington in an effort to urge a focus on income inequality in the 2016 presidential race, Mr. de Blasio too has expressed the idea that even some within his party have not given the issue the attention it deserves.

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Trent Franks is being terrible again

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Crossposted from DemocraticDiva.com

The GOP-led Congress is back with another attempt at banning abortion at 20 weeks. This one is supposed to be an improvement over the one rejected by a few female GOP Reps a couple of months ago over a lack of exceptions for rape and incest. The new version does contain those exceptions but the woman would be required to receive counseling 48 hours prior to the abortion (from a provider approved by the anti-choicers, natch). Gosh, thanks. LifeNews.com explains how the exceptions will be written so as not to leave loopholes for lying harlots to exploit.

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GOP on mass incarceration: ‘it’s all good’

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Howling mad Louie Gohmert (R-TX) is frequently referred to as “America’s dumbest congressman,” with justifiable reason. Gohmert told Fox News guest host Ed Henry, ‘It’s A Real Shame’ That People Want To End Mass Incarceration Of Non-Violent Offenders:

Representative Louie Gohmert (R-TX) questions U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder in WashingtonRep. Louie Gohmert (R-TX) over the weekend lashed out at Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton for calling to end mass incarceration in the United States.

Last week, Clinton had broken with policies of her husband’s presidency and called to “end the era of mass incarceration.” Since 1983, the number of black men in U.S. prisons have increased 231 percent, compared 198 percent for white men.

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When it came to non-violent drug offenders, Gohmert argued that it was a “real shame” that Democrats would not want them to be incarcerated.

“But I can’t help but wonder,” Gohmert added. “There are Democrats that have worked real hard to make sure felons, in some places, can start voting. Maybe [Hillary Clinton] needs their votes.”

If Louie Gohmert is “America’s dumbest congressman,” then what is Willard “Mittens” Romney’s excuse? Mitt Romney: America Doesn’t Have An Incarceration Problem:

romney say anythingDays after Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton laid out proposals for criminal justice reform at Columbia University, former Republican candidate Mitt Romney took time to criticize the presidential hopeful’s comments about Baltimore and mass incarceration.

In her speech, Clinton argued that “without the mass incarceration that we currently practice, millions fewer people would be in poverty,” before diving into the unemployment rate of formerly incarcerated persons, and the exorbitant costs of state prisons. She called for the United States to “end the era of mass incarceration,” and discussed the failures of mandatory minimum sentences, the need to invest in probation and drug diversion programs, and the impact of high incarceration rates on African American communities in particular.

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The root causes of urban violence in America are poverty and lack of economic opportunity

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President Obama held a joint press conference with Japanese Prime Minister Abe, who is in Washington, D.C on a state visit.

President Obama was asked about the situation in Baltimore by Chris Jansing of NBC News. He provided a lengthy response, but I want to focus on his sixth and final point. Remarks by President Obama and Prime Minister Abe of Japan in Joint Press Conference:

And I’ll make my final point — I’m sorry, Mr. Prime Minister, but this is a pretty important issue for us.

We can’t just leave this to the police.  I think there are police departments that have to do some soul searching.  I think there are some communities that have to do some soul searching.  But I think we, as a country, have to do some soul searching.  This is not new.  It’s been going on for decades.

baltimore-cover-finalAnd without making any excuses for criminal activities that take place in these communities, what we also know is that if you have impoverished communities that have been stripped away of opportunity, where children are born into abject poverty; they’ve got parents — often because of substance-abuse problems or incarceration or lack of education themselves — can’t do right by their kids; if it’s more likely that those kids end up in jail or dead, than they go to college.  In communities where there are no fathers who can provide guidance to young men; communities where there’s no investment, and manufacturing has been stripped away; and drugs have flooded the community, and the drug industry ends up being the primary employer for a whole lot of folks — in those environments, if we think that we’re just going to send the police to do the dirty work of containing the problems that arise there without as a nation and as a society saying what can we do to change those communities, to help lift up those communities and give those kids opportunity, then we’re not going to solve this problem.  And we’ll go through the same cycles of periodic conflicts between the police and communities and the occasional riots in the streets, and everybody will feign concern until it goes away, and then we go about our business as usual.

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