Dorothy Rabinowitz, an editorial board member for the Wall Street Journal, disparaged New York City’s recently launched bike-share program. “Do not ask me to enter the mind of the totalitarians running this government of the city,” Rabinowitz said when asked what she thought was the motivation behind the program. The program is privately funded,…
Author: TRP
Kansas Gov. Doubles Down On Taxing The Poor More Steeply Than The Rich
Gov. Sam Brownback R will soon sign what he calls the “fabulous package” of sales tax hikes and income tax cuts passed by the Republican-dominated legislature over the weekend. The sales tax rate increase will apply to food as well as other purchases, making it even more targeted at the lower end of the…
GMO Wheat Found In Oregon Field. How Did It Get There?
The U.S. Department of Agriculture says its investigating, trying to find out how this wheat got there. The USDA says there’s no risk to public health, but wheat exporters are worried about how their customers in Asia and Europe will react. In fact, worry about export markets is the main reason why genetically engineered wheat…
Wonkbook: If austerity is so bad, why is the economy doing so well?
The economy is holding up well in an age of austerity. “Housing prices rose faster over the past year than they have in the past seven, according to data out Tuesday. Consumer confidence hit its highest level in five years. The stock market rallied another 0.6 percent as measured by the Standard & Poor’s 500, leaving…
Republican Court Unpacking Plan Takes Judicial Manipulation to a New Level
Republicans in the Senate have made no secret of their efforts to block the President’s constitutional responsibility to appoint federal judges. They have filibustered unquestionably qualified nominees, like Caitlin Halligan. And their obstruction of the confirmation process kept several nominees waiting more than a year for a vote. In fact, on average, our judicial nominees…
Study Finds Rise in Accidental Marijuana Ingestion By Children In Colo.
The report in JAMA Pediatrics looked at children who accidentally ate marijuana and needed emergency treatment. Health Policy Solutions (a Colo. news service): Accidental Pot Ingestion Spikes In Babies, KidsSince medical marijuana has become legal in Colorado, doctors have seen a dramatic spike in the number of babies and children who accidentally ate marijuana and…
The GOP’s dangerous Obamacare strategy
In today’s New York Times, Jonathan Weisman and Robert Pear report on a peculiar problem faced by the Affordable Care Act: Republicans who’re unable to repeal it also refuse to permit any tweaks or technical correction that would help it work better. In fact, they’re creating new problems by withholding implementation funds. This is…
Chinese hackers access major weapons systems: Washington Post
Chinese hackers have gained access to designs of more than two dozen major U.S. weapons systems, a U.S. report said on Monday, as Australian media said Chinese hackers had stolen the blueprints for Australia’s new spy headquarters. Citing a report prepared for the Defense Department by the Defense Science Board, the Washington Post said the…
Texas legislature passes tax cuts for businesses
Texas lawmakers sent Governor Rick Perry more than $1 billion in proposed business tax cuts shortly before the end of the biennial legislative session on Monday. The tax-cut package – the final piece of which was approved by the House and Senate late on Sunday – includes an extension of a business franchise tax…
Oklahoma Senator Won’t Support Tornado Relief Without Budget Cuts
Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK), who has long objected to federal funds being spent on everything from veterans benefits to relief in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy, is already insisting that any additional appropriations should be paid for with cuts elsewhere. “That’s always been his position [to offset disaster aid],” Coburn spokesman John Hart said….
Opinion: If democracy dies, we will have killed it
A recent nonpartisan Pew Research Poll finds our knee-jerk partisanship has increased dramatically. This road were on will lead us step-by-step to an extreme: either an autocratic government that functions, or a dysfunctional anarchy. The petty squabbles, bilge in the name of party or principle, will dissolve our self-government. Abraham Lincoln felt no foreign…
Canadian Government Pursuing Aggressive Lobbying Push On Keystone XL
The Canadian government has nearly doubled its spending to promote the Keystone XL pipeline to $16.5 million, up from $9 million a year ago. This dramatic spending increase is a result of an increased lobbying effort the government is planning, which includes high-profile ad buys and dispatching a series of officials to reiterate talking…
Yet Another Piece Of Evidence That Obamacare Is Already Positively Impacting The Health Sector
There’s new evidence to suggest that Obamacare is impacting the health industry for the better by successfully encouraging a greater emphasis on primary care. Ensuring that Americans are receiving regular preventative care is an important tenant of the health law, since it can ultimately help lower costs by preventing people from delaying medical treatment…
Virginia GOP Nominee For Attorney General Would Force Women To Report Their Miscarriages To Police
If a woman in Virginia has a miscarriage without a doctor present, they must report it within 24 hours to the police or risk going to jail for a full year. At least, that’s what would have happened if a bill introduced by Virginia state Sen. Mark Obenshain R had become law. And yet,…
Fellow Progressives: The IRS ‘Scandal’ Is a Crock and You Should Fight Back
Here’s what the IRS has been looking for. The biggest political farce on earth is the extraordinarily naïve perception that a Tea Party 501 (c) (3), the right-wing entity that sprung up nationwide, fully nurtured and politicized in a matter of weeks, hasn’t been in daily violation of the letter and spirit of what…
The IRS Scandal Disintegrates into Wild and Unproven Republican Accusations
The press is reporting both that IRS chief the Bush appointee who was running the IRS in May of 2012 knew about what the IRS was doing in their Ohio office and that the now acting commissioner also knew in May. This narrative presumes that the IRS was guilty of targeting conservatives, which has actually…
Alex Wagner: IRS, AP, and Benghazi
Here’s a good segment from NOW with Alex Wagner about the latest so-called scandals with a nice summary at the beginning.
USDA Sticks It to Monsanto and Dow—at Least Temporarily
Back in early 2012, the US Department of Agriculture seemed on the verge of approving new genetically modified crops from agrichemical giants Monsanto and Dow. The two companies were pushing new corn and soy varieties that would respond to the ever-expanding problem of herbicide-tolerant superweeds by bringing more-toxic herbicides into the mix—and likely ramping…
A New Progressive Voice From New Mexico Joins the Senate
When Martin Heinrich was in seventh grade, he learned a lesson about labor relations. His mother worked in a non-union auto-supply factory; when management informed the workers that their hours were going to shift from five days a week to six, there wasn’t much they could do. When they then moved to seven days…
Medicaid Opinions: Several State Leaders Come In For Heat For Not Moving Toward Expansion
Editorials and columnists in several papers around the country pressed officials toward accepting a Medicaid expansion and offered suggestions about implementation. Also, comments continued about a recent study on Medicaid. Los Angeles Times: A Public Health Compromise For California The Legislature is poised to offer health insurance to millions of additional low-income Californians, with…