Yesterday, Virginia Republicans took the first step to move a GOP plan to rig the Electoral College forward in that state. Similar plans are under consideration in Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and Michigan. The Republican election rigging plan targets blue states that President Obama won in 2008 and 2012, and changes the way they allocate electoral votes…
Think Obama’s a huge spender? Then you need to see these two charts.
The takeaway, Drum says, is that “total government spending didn’t go up much during the Clinton era, and it’s actually declined during under President Obama. In the last two decades, it’s only gone up significantly during the Bush era, the same era in which taxes were cut dramatically.” But some said Drum’s chart was a…
California School District Spent $14,000 on New Semi-Automatic Colt Rifles
When the public school students of Fontana, Calif., returned to classes in January, something had changed about their schools. Specifically, the Fontana Unified School District had filled on-campus safes with $14,000 in new Colt 6940 semi-automatic rifles for its 14 police officers. The high-powered, long-distance rifles will only be used in “extreme emergency cases.” As…
Report: Ohio Secretary Of State’s Restrictive Voting Hours Hurt Urban Voters
Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted (R) became one of the most notorious election officials in the country after his many attempts to restrict voting and discard ballots. Husted banned evening and weekend voting hours in all 88 boards of election, in spite of multiple counties‘ requests to stay open to accommodate people who could…
Boy Scouts Losing Big Funders Over Anti-Gay Policy
The Boy Scouts of America teach young men how to build fires, pitch tents, weave camping chairs, and “be prepared”—unless your son happens to be gay. But the Boy Scouts long-standing policy of banning “open or avowed homosexuals” is starting to cost it some major financial backers: In the last six months, companies including UPS, United…
Clinton angrily defends handling of Benghazi attack
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Wednesday angrily defended her handling of the September 11 attack on the U.S. mission in the Libyan city of Benghazi and denied any effort to mislead people. The attack by armed militants that killed U.S. Ambassador Christopher Stevens and three other Americans threatens to stain Clintons legacy as secretary…
Legalization’s Biggest Enemies
The marijuana legalization initiatives that triumphed in Washington and Colorado this past fall faced surprisingly little organized opposition. Money tells the story: Washington’s pro-legalization initiative I-502 raised more than $6 million from supporters, while the campaign against it pulled less than $16,000. In Colorado, meanwhile, proponents of Amendment 64 raised more than $2 million, outdoing…
The Second Inauguration of Barack Obama
This morning, at 11:55 AM Eastern Time, President Obama delivered his Second Inaugural Address. The speech was 2,137 words long and took 15 minutes to deliver. “America’s possibilities are limitless,” he said, “for we possess all the qualities that this world without boundaries demands: youth and drive; diversity and openness; an endless capacity for risk…
Americans’ Reaction to Obama Gun Proposals Is Positive
Americans’ immediate reaction to President Barack Obama’s proposals for new laws designed to reduce gun violence is more positive than negative, with 53% saying they would want their representative in Congress to vote for the set of proposed new laws, while 41% say their representative should vote against them. These results are from…
McDonnell Doesn’t Rule Out Signing GOP’s Secret Redistricting Plan
Gov. Bob McDonnell (R-VA) expressed displeasure Monday with the Republican Senate’s sneaky maneuver to subvert majority rule and gerrymander the Senate in such a way that could give themselves a super-majority — but has not yet said whether he would veto the bill. But to live up to his previous promises, he will have to…
SHOCKING MAP: In These 22 States, Every House Republican Voted Against Sandy Aid
Almost three months after Hurricane Sandy ravaged the East Coast, the GOP-controlled House approved a bill that provides $50.7 billion in disaster relief for the storm’s victims. While passage of the bill is being hailed as a bipartisan success by some (the vote was 241-180), a closer look at how the parties voted by state lines…
Republicans Brag They Won House Majority Because Of Gerrymandering
In a classic Kinsley gaffe, the Republican State Leadership Committee released a report boasting that the only reason the GOP controls the House of Representatives is because they gerrymandered congressional districts in blue states. The RSLC’s admission came in a shockingly candid report entitled, “How a Strategy of Targeting State Legislative Races in 2010 Led…
Corporate Profits Have Grown By 171 Percent Under ‘Anti-Business’ Obama
Business executives like to portray the Obama administration as the “most anti-business” in history, creating an “increasingly hostile environment for investment and job creation.” However, the data tells a far different story. According to a Bloomberg News analysis, corporate profits have grown by 171 percent under Obama, the most in the post-war era: U.S. corporations’…
Republicans worry they’ll lose House if they botch debt talks
There’s growing angst among Republicans that the party’s House majority could be at risk in 2014 if the deep GOP divisions that emerged during the recent “fiscal cliff” negotiations persist in looming negotiations over a slew of budgetary issues. Even as Republican officials maintain the GOP majority is safe, several lawmakers and longtime activists warn…
Conservative Groups Start New Congress With Dose of Reality
The same conservative activist groups that continue to cause the GOP establishment so much heartburn are approaching the 113th Congress and the 2014 election cycle with what might appear to be a surprising level of sobriety and realism. To varying degrees, these organizations acknowledge the limits of Republican power in Washington, recognizing that the GOP…
Obama Unveils Gun Control Policies, Including Mental Health Provisions
The plan includes a variety of executive actions which touch the health care system, including clarifications that the health law does not prohibit doctors asking their patients about guns in their homes and that no federal law prohibits health care providers from reporting threats of violence to law-enforcement authorities. Politico: Obama Announces Guns Pan President Barack Obama on Wednesday announced what…
So What’s Up with Filibuster Reform?
There’s a core of very strong advocates for changing the filibuster, centered around Sen. Jeff Merkley (D) of Oregon. There are various details. But the gist of his plan is the so-called ‘talking filibuster’. The minority can still hold things up but you really have to talk on the floor to do it. So…
Scott in a very bad position
40% of Republicans would prefer someone else Scott’s approval rating is just 33%, with 57% of voters disapproving of him. Scott’s numbers had gradually improved over the course of 2012, but these numbers represent a regression from early November when he was at a 37/48 spread. Scott meets with near universal disapproval from Democrats (21/71)…
GOP congressman: Akin’s rape comments were ‘partly right’
A Georgia Republican congressman said that former Missouri Senate candidate Todd Akin, R, was “partly right” in asserting that victims of “legitimate rape” rarely become pregnant. Rep. Phil Gingrey, R-Ga., a former obstetrician-gynecologist, said at a town hall meeting that Akin was “partly right” in his controversial suggestion, which was widely cited as a factor…
Lobbyists Who Profit From Senate Dysfunction Fight Filibuster Reform
Two years ago, I took a screen shot and saved a tidbit from Duffield’s now-deleted consulting website. Duffield’s firm, still lobbying and called Endgame Strategies, was quite candid in it’s pitch to potential corporate clients to use “backbench Senate Republicans” to block legislation (emphasis added): Managing Holds and Filibusters. Your organization has an interest…