May 5, 2017

NY Sens Schumer & Gillibrand and NY AG Schneiderman leading opposition to Trumpcare

http://www.blackstarnews.com/us-politics/white-house/fast-and-furious-condemnation-of-trumps-american-health-care

New York Attorney General, Eric T. Schneiderman, said: "In addition to the devastating impact this bill would have on every New Yorker’s access to affordable healthcare, the legislation that passed the House today is unconstitutional in several critical respects—and I stand ready to challenge it in court. First, House Republicans’ attempt to effectively deny women access to reproductive healthcare services is a cruel and unconstitutional attack on women’s rights - especially the most vulnerable. Further, the Collins-Faso Amendment is a cynical ploy by House Republican leadership and President Trump that exceeds Congress’s authority by interfering with how New York has long elected to fund its Medicaid program. This bill threatens to slash essential healthcare services for millions of New Yorkers who need them the most. For these reasons, if this disastrous and unconstitutional healthcare bill is ultimately signed into law, I will challenge it in court.”

New York's senior Senator Charles E. Schumer said: “This bill is going nowhere fast in the United States Senate. Rather than trying to pass a different version of the same Trumpcare bill that would mean higher costs and less care, Senate Republicans should refuse to follow their House colleagues over a cliff, reject repeal, and work with Democrats to improve our healthcare system in a bipartisan way.”

“The Trump health care bill that passed today on a party-line vote is atrocious and must be defeated in the Senate," Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-New York), said. "Health care shouldn’t be about politics. It is about people and this bill would harm people. The only beneficiaries of this bill are big insurance companies and the wealthiest among us, with the price tag being paid by everyone else through higher premiums, less coverage, and millions of vulnerable Americans losing their insurance.".blackstarnews.com/us-politics/white-house/fast-and-furious-condemnation-of-trumps-american-health-care
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Hooray for NY and our great statewide elected officials!

April 30, 2017

xPost from V&M, FYI after posting this pic, I will be dropping the mic, thank you!

April 30, 2017

FYI all, after posting this pic I will be dropping the mic. Thank you.

April 26, 2017

Does everyone agree this White House Senate meeting is about "Here is why we have to go to war

against North Korea" ?

Does anyone disagree?

April 26, 2017

Sorry Kasich, no sale. You be reasonable toward the next Democratic President first.

April 25, 2017

Re: Bernie's popularity, GWB had a 90% popularity rating once too.

Argumentum ad populum is a logical fallacy for a reason.

April 24, 2017

Shattered or Contorted? What a New Book Gets Wrong about the Clinton Campaign

Shattered” or Contorted? What a New Book Gets Wrong about the Clinton Campaign

https://medium.com/@creynoldsnc/shattered-or-contorted-what-a-new-book-gets-wrong-about-the-clinton-campaign-7c566a4fa786

Update - Better link: https://goo.gl/pV6c0C

In politics, as Winston Churchill once noted, history is written by the victors. Pundits and politicos take that one step further, framing the winning campaigns as geniuses and the losing campaigns as the Keystone Cops. In a new book, “Shattered: Inside Hillary Clinton’s Doomed Campaign,” the overarching narrative paints a picture of a campaign bogged down by infighting which as a result is paralyzed, leading to its own eventual demise.

I’m not writing to debate where the blame lies for the loss. While I’ve certainly got opinions (and a list of my own mistakes I’d love to take back), I’ll leave that debate to the media. And I’m not here to fact check, except to note that contrary to the book, I was not the research director — that was a talented man named Tony Carrk who led a terrific team.

I wanted to speak out because after spending most of the campaign watching some people question the enthusiasm and our supporters, it’s hard to read a depiction of the campaign that paints a dedicated, cohesive team as mercenaries with questionable motives who lacked a loyalty to a candidate described as “imperial” and removed from the campaign.

That’s just not the campaign, the staff or the candidate I was in the trenches with for 18 months.
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April 12, 2017

Breaking: O'Reilly may be off Fox for good. Is on extended vacation

http://www.newsmax.com/Newsfront/OReilly-Fox-Murdochs/2017/04/12/id/783888/?ns_mail_uid=42004350&ns_mail_job=1725083_04122017&s=al&dkt_nbr=eb8idc4h

Fox News host Bill O'Reilly announced Tuesday he's taking a long-planned vacation, but New York magazine's Gabriel Sherman reported there's speculation the embattled star may be gone for good.


According to Sherman, O'Reilly's decision to go off the air amid a reported sex harassment scandal and advertiser boycott "has the appearance of a suspension."

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"Around this time of year, grab some vacation because it's spring and Easter time," he said in his "Tip of the Day" segment Tuesday night. "Last fall I booked a trip that should be terrific, not going to tell you where it is, but we have a contest on billoreilly.com… I'll have a full report when I return."


A Fox News spokesperson told Sherman that O'Reilly will return April 24.

But citing four unnamed network sources, Sherman said talk inside Fox News is that "tonight's show could be his last."

April 12, 2017

Louisville Courier-Journal receives backlash from its article on Dr. David Dao

http://money.cnn.com/2017/04/11/media/david-dao-united-passenger-louisville-courier-journal/

On Tuesday, a day after the public reacted in horror to a video of United passenger David Dao being violently removed from a flight, Louisville's Courier-Journal ran a story examining what it called his "troubled past."

And just like that, an internet-wide conversation on air travel protocol and corporate responsibility gave way to one about journalistic ethics, with a chorus of reporters denouncing the unflattering coverage of someone who'd never sought the spotlight in the first place.
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The story was written by Morgan Watkins, a state enterprise reporter for the Courier-Journal, who referred requests for comment to Joel Christopher, the executive editor of the Courier-Journal.
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In a phone interview on Tuesday, Christopher stood by the story, saying it was a valid subject as Dao's story is known to the paper's local audience. But Christopher also acknowledged that the initial version of the story did not clearly establish Dao's connection to the local audience.
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I am not sure I buy this excuse and I am still not sure if they have the right Dr. David Dao. Seems there is confusion on this point.

April 8, 2017

xPost from V&M: Steven Leser discusses the Syrian strike and its aftermath with Bill Tucker on Newsm

The portion of my appearance on Newsmax yesterday where I discuss the Syrian strike. Sure, I'm in favor of punishing a dictator that has used poison gas against his own civilian population. That decision isn't a tough one or one that necessarily makes you "Presidential".

The real issue of Syria is, since Trump has reversed himself regarding the US being involved and Assad needing to be gone, now what do we do? I have zero confidence Trump will figure out the right way to deal with the broader issues here and make no mistake this is a complex and difficult situation.