Republicans Support Guns Over Human Life

Republican Value NRA Money More Than Life

Republicans Repeat Tax Cut Big Lie

Voodoo economics entails huge welfare payments to corporations and the already rich, in the disproved notion that their generosity will eventually benefit middle class Americans.

When the rich have more money, they will hire more workers -- and the result will be increased tax revenues that pay for the tax cuts.

Ronald Reagan proved it doesn't work.

George W. Bush proved it doesn't work.

Now Donald Trump is repeating the same lie and pretending it will work for him.

 

Mitch McConnell in 2005: 'The President Alone Nominates Judges'

"The Constitution of the United States is at stake. Article II, Section 2 clearly provides that the president, and the president alone, nominates judges. The Senate is empowered to give advice and consent. But my Democratic colleagues want to change the rules. They want to reinterpret the Constitution to require a super-majority for confirmation. In effect, they would take away the power to nominate from the president and grant it to a minority of 41 senators." -- Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, in 2005, defending the absolute right of a sitting president to nominate judges.

This followed Democratic and Republican opposition to President George W. Bush's nomination of Harriet Miers, who served as his White House counsel.


CNN
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A Few of Donald Trump's Greatest Hits


Trump Air, like a presidential term, lasted four years. Then it went bankrupt.

Trump Casinos filed for bankruptcy for the fourth time in 2014.

Trump launched mortgage company in 2006.Housing market collapsed. Company folded in 18 months.

In 2013, the NY Attorney General sued Trump and Trump University for $40 million for allegedly defrauding students. Some students of the "University" are suing Trump, as well.
Trump University lawsuit

Trump campaign insults NH voters' intelligence

By JOSEPH W. McQUAID, Publisher, Manchester Union Leader
December 27, 2015

Donald Trump is due in New Hampshire this evening. He will attract a large crowd. The crowds, the media coverage, and the polls have led him and some pundits to believe that he will win the 2016 Republican presidential nomination.

That is an insult to the intelligence of Republican voters. Beginning right here in New Hampshire on Feb. 9, a great majority of them will disabuse him of that notion.

Much of the news media are lavishly covering Trump, not just because he’s good for ratings, but because he’s good for Hillary Clinton. They very much want Trump to be the Republican nominee so that Ms. Hillary can move back into the White House.

Trump can certainly be an entertaining character. He toys with TV journalists and dismisses critics with name-calling that drives the Politically Correct crowd insane. But his public descent into bathroom humor and verbal bullying has been painful, and educational, to watch.

According to Trump: John McCain accepted years of torture by the North Vietnamese but is not Trump’s type of “war hero.” Not that Trump ever served in the military. Carly Fiorina, meanwhile, doesn’t have the “face” Trump would want in the White House; and a reporter who questions a Trump falsehood is to be mimicked and mocked for his physical disability.

Trump has shown himself to be a crude blowhard with no clear political philosophy and no deeper understanding of the important and serious role of President of the United States than one of the goons he lets rough up protesters in his crowds.

He reminds us of the grownup bully “Biff” in the “Back to the Future” movie series. Lo and behold, the screenwriter says that he based Biff on Trump. On Feb. 9, we trust New Hampshire Republicans will send “Biff Trump” back to somewhere — anywhere but on the road to the most important elective office in the United States at a most crucial time for this nation.

Manchester Union Leader

Sarah Palin Supports Abstinence Education 

Daughter Bristol Pays the Price

Sarah Palin has put her estate in Scottsdale, Arizona, up for sale while welcoming the birth of a new granddaughter, as daughter Bristol became a single mother for the second time.


The 2008 Republican vice presidential nominee has been in the news lately as a defender/advocate for GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump, with Trump hinting that Palin is potential cabinet material.

The Los Angeles Times first disclosed that the Palins’ digs in the desert are on the market for $2.5 million. The home is 8,000 square feet with six bedrooms, six-and-a-half bathrooms, a six-car garage and high ceilings with chandeliers.  Out back are four acres with a pool, a spa, a sports court, a fire pit plus a synthetic lawn.

Palin cashed in on fame.  She quit in mid-term as governor of Alaska, and in the following year took in an estimated $23 million as book author, Fox News personality and in-demand, six-figure speaker.   She used a limited liability corporation to purchase the Scottsdale home in 2011, then in foreclosure, for $1.65 million.

The fame has faded, although Palin has flirted with two presidential runs.  Fox News did not renew Palin’s contract when it came up in July, and she pulled the plug on the pay-to-view “Sarah Palin Channel” due to low viewership. 

Seattle Post Intelligencer Blog

Donald Who Will Face Down World Leaders Lost to a School Board

L.A. Times

In at least one huge deal in L.A., Trump got schooled

 

Long before his run for president and his reality TV career as the ruthless boss, Trump fought an ugly decade-long battle over a Los Angeles landmark.

It's not an exploit he's bragging about on the campaign trail. The prize was the Ambassador Hotel. A legendary Hollywood celebrity hangout and the site of the 1968 assassination of Sen. Robert F. Kennedy, it had endured a long downward spiral before closing in 1989.

The Board of Education already had its eye on the property for a badly needed high school when a Trump syndicate swooped it up for $64 million in 1989 and announced plans to erect a 125-story office tower.
The school board countered with a 7-0 vote to take the property from Trump via eminent domain.
Usually that would start a process in which the parties and their appraisers, or a court, would settle on a price. But not when one of the parties was Trump.

His team launched a fierce lobbying campaign to block a $50-million state allocation to help the district buy the property. Goldberg, then the president of the school board, took on the notoriously tough negotiator.

Roused by Goldberg, protesters outside the Ambassador chanted "Dump Trump" and carried signs saying, "Public need over private greed."

In January 1991, he and his partners decided to take the nearly $48-million deposit the school board offered as part of its eminent domain condemnation suit.

In doing so, Trump Wilshire Associates, in effect, conceded the district's right to take the property.

Two and a half years later, as the eminent domain suit was set to go to trial, the school board abruptly dropped its bid to buy the land. The recession had driven the property's value down to $50 million, and Horton saw no reason to pay the previously estimated value of $74 million.

Barbara Res, executive vice president for Trump Wilshire Associates,  accused the district of duplicity, saying it reneged on a promise to pay $82 million for the entire 23.5-acre site "because they said politically it wasn't a good idea." Horton discounted that, saying the offer was only "a potential deal that we didn't accept, because we couldn't figure out a way to pay for it." Early in 1994 a judge sided with the district. Soon Trump, whose share was reported to be 20%, left the partnership with no signature building and little, if any, cash.

 

Trump Economic Strategy: Bankruptcy

Donald Trump -- or companies that bear his name - have declared bankruptcy four times.

Trump has built an American empire from Las Vegas to New York with towering hotels and sparkling casinos. Forbes estimates he's worth $2.7 billion. But not all of Trump's business ventures have been constant money-makers. In 1991, 1992, 2004, and again in 2009, Trump branded companies or properties have sought Chapter 11 protection. 

"I've used the laws of this country to pare debt. ... We'll have the company. We'll throw it into a chapter. We'll negotiate with the banks. We'll make a fantastic deal. You know, it's like on 'The Apprentice.' It's not personal. It's just business," Trump told ABC's George Stephanopoulos last Thursday.

A business declaring bankruptcy is nothing new in corporate America, where bankruptcy is often sugar-coated as "restructuring debt." But it might seem alarming to everyday Americans who can't get a bank to restructure their home loans. If you want to get Donald Trump hot under the collar, accuse him of declaring bankruptcy.

Doug Heller, the executive director of Consumer Watchdog, said Trump is the "most egregious, almost comical example" of the disparity between what the average American faces when going through bankruptcy and the "ease with which the very rich can move in and out of bankruptcy."

"Under the American bankruptcy laws, if you end up in bankruptcy because you're struggling with divorce or medical payments or a sudden change of income, it's a disaster. If you fail miserably with huge dollars involved then you just need some accountants to rework your books," Heller said.

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/donald-trump-filed-bankruptcy-times/story?id=13419250

Trump Defends Putin

Trump on Putin's crackdown on journalists: 'it’s never been proven'

Donald Trump on Sunday defended Russian president Vladimir Putin’s record on press freedom, challenging journalists to provide him with evidence that the Kremlin has ever sponsored efforts to murder reporters.

The Republican frontrunner also vowed again to work closely with Russia, if elected president. Trump was praised this week by Putin, who described the billionaire businessman as a “very colourful, talented person”.

Putin’s words fuelled attacks by Trump’s rivals for the Republican nomination. But Trump, whose lead in the polls has grown after a series of inflammatory Islamophobic slurs, called the Russian president’s remarks a “great honour” and described Putin as “a man highly respected within his own country and beyond”.

Trump was called out on the platitudes during an interview with MSNBC on Friday. Asked to condemn the Kremlin’s alleged involvement in the assassination of reporters, he responded: “Our country does plenty of killing also.”

 In a heated interview on ABC’s This Week on Sunday, Trump said: “In all fairness to Putin, you’re saying he killed people. I haven’t seen that. I don’t know that he has.” According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, at least 36 journalists have been murdered since 1993, often in direct retaliation for their work. In only four cases was anyone convicted.

If Only the CEOs of the Big Banks That Wrecked the U.S. Economy in 2008 Got This Treatment

Former Massey Energy Chief Executive Don Blankenship was found guilty in federal court on Thursday of conspiring to violate safety standards at the Upper Big Branch mine, the site of a 2010 blast that killed 29 people.

Relatives of those killed and prosecutors hailed the decision as sending a message on mine safety in coal-rich West Virginia even though the jury found Blankenship not guilty of making false statements and of securities fraud.

 One of Blankenship's lawyers, Bill Taylor, told reporters the defense team was disappointed by the misdemeanor conviction but doubted Blankenship would serve any time in prison.

Sentencing was set for March 23 in U.S. District Court. Blankenship, 65, faces a maximum $250,000 fine and up to a year in prison.

 U.S. Attorney Booth Goodwin told reporters he was not disappointed with the verdict. "It brings justice that is long overdue," he said. The jury had deliberated more than two weeks and had twice told Judge Irene Berger it was deadlocked. Blankenship's lawyers did not present a single witness.

Angry Smoker Shoots Waitress Who Told Him Not to Smoke

Johnny Max Mount is accused of shooting and killing a waitress who told him not to smoke inside.

A Mississippi man allegedly shot and killed a Waffle House employee after she wouldn’t let him smoke inside the building.

A waitress in a Biloxi Waffle House asked Johnny Mount, 45, to snuff out his cig but he refused and instead pulled out a handgun and shot the woman a little after 1 a.m. on Friday.

Police arrested Mount at the scene. He had the 9mm pistol concealed beneath his shirt, cops said.

Palin Owes Taxes on Meal Money

from the Anchorage Daily News
By LISA DEMER

Gov. Sarah Palin must pay income taxes on thousands of dollars in expense money she received while living at her Wasilla home, under a new determination by state officials. The Washington Post published a story in mid-September that said she had charged the state almost $17,000 for meals and incidentals while staying in her own home.

Palin billed the state for 312 nights spent in her Wasilla home during her first 19 months in office, according to the Washington Post. She received $60 a day tax free, money intended to cover meals and incidentals, while traveling on state business, her travel forms show.

Is the GOP's shooting star flaming out?

Thanks, I couldn't have done it without your help.

A Day In The Life Of Sarah Palin

Palin’s pastor, Larry Kroon, introduced David Brickner, director of Jews for Jesus, on Aug. 17, according to a transcript of the sermon on Sarah Palin's church’s website.

Brickner described terrorist attacks on Israelis as God's "judgment of unbelief" of Jews who haven't embraced Christianity.

"Judgment is very real and we see it played out on the pages of the newspapers and on the television. It's very real. When [Brickner's son] was in Jerusalem he was there to witness some of that judgment, some of that conflict, when a Palestinian from East Jerusalem took a bulldozer and went plowing through a score of cars, killing numbers of people. Judgment — you can't miss it."

MAKE MONEY AT HOME!

Palin Billed State for Nights Spent at Home

Taxpayers Also Funded Family's Travel

By James V. Grimaldi and Karl Vick, Washington Post

ANCHORAGE, Sept. 8 -- Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin has billed taxpayers for 312 nights spent in her own home during her first 19 months in office, charging a "per diem" allowance intended to cover meals and incidental expenses while traveling on state business.

Palin, who earns $125,000 a year, claimed and received $16,951 as her allowance, which officials say was permitted because her official "duty station" is Juneau, according to an analysis of her travel documents by The Washington Post.

She wrote some form of "Lodging -- own residence" or "Lodging -- Wasilla residence" more than 30 times at the same time she took a per diem, according to the reports. In two dozen undated amendments to the reports, the governor deleted the reference to staying in her home but still charged the per diem.

Palin: Iraq War and Pipeline -- God's Will

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin told ministry students at her former church that the United States sent troops to fight in the Iraq war on a "task that is from God."

In an address last June, the Republican vice presidential candidate also urged ministry students to pray for a plan to build a $30 billion natural gas pipeline in the state, calling it "God's will."

Palin asked the students to pray for the troops in Iraq, and noted that her eldest son, Track, was expected to be deployed there.

"Our national leaders are sending them out on a task that is from God," she said. "That's what we have to make sure that we're praying for, that there is a plan and that plan is God's plan."

A video of the speech was posted at the Wasilla Assembly of God's Web site before finding its way on to other sites on the Internet.

Palin told graduating students of the church's School of Ministry, "What I need to do is strike a deal with you guys." As they preached the love of Jesus throughout Alaska, she said, she'd work to implement God's will from the governor's office, including creating jobs by building a pipeline to bring North Slope natural gas to North American markets.

And she can do all this while speaking in tongues.

Spitzer Resigns Over 4,000 Iraq War Dead

New York Governor Elliot Spitzer took full responsibility for the more than 4,000 U.S. soldiers killed in Iraq and announced he would resign.

Spitzer barely held back tears as he told reporters, "By lying about weapons of mass destruction that don't exist, I have violated any sense of right or wrong."

The man elected by a 69% landslide in 2006 said no one could, in good conscience, continue to hold office after causing "so many needless deaths and diverting half a trillion dollars of our national treasure."

Spitzer said he would spend the rest of his life making his transgressions up to his family and the voters who placed their trust in him. He added that he also hoped to clear brush as a pennance.

$3 Trillion Iraq War

Nobel prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz has written "The Three Trillion Dollar War," a book with chilling details of how we've spent our treasure on an unprovoked war now longer-running than our involvement in World War II.

Stiglitz, who served for four years on Bill Clinton's Council of Economic Advisers and another three as chief economist at the World Bank, puts the cost of the Iraq war in context by detailing what one of these three trillions could have paid for:

• 8 million housing units or
• 15 million public school teachers or
• healthcare for 530 million children for a year or
• scholarships to university for 43 million students

Three trillion could have fixed America's social security problem for half a century. America, says Stiglitz, is currently spending $5bn a year in Africa, and worrying about being outflanked by China there: "Five billion is roughly 10 days' fighting, so you get a new metric of thinking about everything."

$16bn The amount the US spends on the monthly running costs of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan - on top of regular defense spending

$138 The amount paid by every US household every month towards the current operating costs of the war

$19.3bn The amount Halliburton has received in single-source contracts for work in Iraq

How Republicans Spend Your Tax Dollars

WASHINGTON, Nov. 13 — President Bush vetoed a $150.7 billion spending measure that would have funded education, health care and job training programs, saying it contained money for too many of the special projects known as earmarks. But he signed a $459 billion bill to increase the Pentagon’s nonwar funding.