Friday Open Thread

11 thoughts on “Friday Open Thread”

1. Dear Rep. Tipton, this is what you voted for when you told your employers, We the People, something quite different.  Can you please explain yourself, sir?

    

   But if an analysis for the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office is right, it’s hard to see the 40-hour-a-week bill as a boon for US workers.

   The CBO estimated that the measure would reduce the number of people receiving employment-based health coverage by about 1 million people. As a result, more people would rely on Obamacare insurance marketplaces, on Medicaid, or go uninsured. In turn, that would cost the taxpayers $53 billion in higher federal deficits over the next 10 years, the CBO estimated.

   The House passed the Save American Workers Act Thursday. The president has promised a veto.

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2. jobless rate falls to 5.6%  http://www.dailykos.com/story/2015/01/09/1356228/-Gov-t-says-252-000-new-jobs-created-in-December-Official-jobless-rate-falls-to-5-6-U6-to-11-2#comments 

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3. US standard of living – best in 7 years   http://www.gallup.com/poll/180449/standard-living-index-climbs-highest-years.aspx

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4. Progressives seek control of the Democratic Party  :  http://talkingpointsmemo.com/dc/progressives-assert-control-democratic-party

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   1. Why not?  After President George McGovern, President Ted Kennedy, President Walter Mondale and President Dukakis, we need a strong left wing candidate who can return us to the Glory Days!

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      1. There was a recent Democratic Party candidate who did quite well when running for office in '08 and '12 on these kinds of issues. He won Colorado both years. He, and his party, lost support and seats by not following through on many key parts of that populist rhetoric and by letting Republicans dominate the policy discussions and delay and deny even the most obvious and effective solutions around.

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         1. That same Obama who supported bailing out banks, appointed Wall St’s Geitner as Sec of Treasury and put the kibosh on a single payer health Care plan?

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   2. I kinda like this part:

      As Republicans take control of Congress for the first time since 2006, the Democrats' crushing midterm defeat (Thank Goodness Sen. Bennet got his side of the story out. – ed.) and the rise of Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) have empowered the progressive wing to step up their fight for the soul of the party ahead of the 2016 presidential election.

      Their message: Stop catering to big business. Listen to populists like Warren on how to rebuild the tarnished brand. Champion transformative ideas that will improve the lives of middle class Americans. If not, Democrats are toast in 2016.

      "I can tell you, if Democrats try to adopt a Third Way, Democratic Leadership Council-type philosophy (and the increasingly rare Blue Dog. -ed) where we abandon average working Americans, we're not going to be successful [in 2016] or in general," Rep. Keith Ellison (D-MN), co-chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, told TPM.

      "This is a time with people talking about raising wages, fair trade bills that do not offshore our jobs, and strengthening the right to organized labor unions. This is that moment to grab those issues in order to be successful. And if we abandon those issues and we sort of become Republican-lite, we're not going to be successful." (Duh. -ed.)

      With Democrats' popularity at a record low and the party now in the minority in the House and Senate, the progressive caucus and outside activists say the party is now free to stop cutting bad deals with Republicans and must draw red lines against legislation designed to help narrow, wealthy interests.

      "Democrats lost in 2014 because the brand was not associated with big, bold ideas that would be game-changing for peoples' lives," Adam Green, co-founder of the Progressive Change Campaign Committee, said.

      Ellison, Warren and Green are not radical, communist, or any such thing. They aren't anti-business or anti-Capitalist, no matter how many times Mike Rosen says. They are common sense Democrats urging support for economic fairness that can be felt – not just seen and heard – by the people who put our leaders in office and pay their salaries.

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      1. "Common sense", as opposed to being 'political'.

         What a concept!

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5. Anyone care to guess which states have the unhealthiest populations and the highest death rates? Give you a hint: Better dead AND red!

   http://247wallst.com/special-report/2014/12/23/states-with-the-lowest-life-expectancies/2/

   Surprise!

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   1. As they cling to their guns and their religion so bitterly………

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