Month: September 2015

Molly Ball addresses the current debate about whether Pope Francis is liberal. “What makes Francis different is really a matter of which Catholic beliefs he has elevated to the level of communal concerns—public policy—and which he has framed as individual choices. To Francis, sharing wealth and fixing global warming are matters that governments should address, while not committing homosexual acts or having abortions are individual choices he endorses. (As he famously put it: ‘Who am I to judge?’) This is quite different from the American Catholic church, which has poured its political energy into laws banning gay marriage and restricting abortion.” “Francis is not an American politician, but his perspective on the state’s role in these issues lines up pretty well with that of most American Democrats.” “Francis aligns more with Democrats than Republicans on other issues: He favors immigration reform, played a major role in the Obama administration’s détente with Cuba, and supports the Iran nuclear deal. No wonder the president and other American liberals are trying to claim him—and conservatives see him as a threat.”

I wondered if this would happen after the Papal Visit. He will resign at the end of October. The delayed resignation tells me he plans to pass a clean budget with Democrats in the House and the Democrats and 8 Republican Senators who defected on the Planned Parenthood vote there on Wednesday, and fuck the consequences, since he is resigning.

I suppose a silver lining in this plan is that Maine will learn that its welfare recipients are whites who live next door, and not the Cadillac driving browns they imagine them to be.

The mayor of Lewiston, Maine, has called on the the state legislature to create a public online registry with the names and addresses of those on welfare in the state, as well as how long those individuals have been receiving benefits. In a Thursday column in the Twin City Times, Mayor Robert Macdonald wrote that "the public has a right to know how its money is being spent." He said that he would submit a bill to the legislature that would create the registry.

If history is a trusted guide, a Republican will win the White House in 2016. Here is the operative tea leaf - the deficit. Between 2009 and 2013, President Barack…

Republican Peter Wehner:

The message being sent to voters is this: The Republican Party is led by people who are profoundly uncomfortable with the changing (and inevitable) demographic nature of our nation. The GOP is longing to return to the past and is fearful of the future. It is a party that is characterized by resentments and grievances, by distress and dismay, by the belief that America is irredeemably corrupt and past the point of no return. “The American dream is dead,” in the emphatic words of Mr. Trump. This is all quite troubling to those of us who are Republicans and find these attitudes repellant.

Chris Cillizza:

Sure, appealing to white voters with a message that things aren't as good as they used to be -- the boiled-down appeal that Trump represents -- might work in a Republican primary. But, there is NO mystery or debate that the changing demographic face of the country makes an appeal to the "old ways" an almost-certain electoral loser.

The Musical Chairs continue. The battle is joined. Last week, State Senator Bryan Townsend announced his candidacy after John Carney announced his bid for Governor. Now, we have State Representative Bryon Short announcing his run. His statement:

“Too many politicians in Washington have focused on tearing each other down rather than working together to solve the problems we face. They have failed to address the shrinking middle class, to fortify our workforce in the face of global economic pressure, to reform an education system that prepares our children to be productive citizens, to ensure the promise of a social security system that serves to sustain our nation’s elderly, or to promote basic equality under the law.” “As a small business owner, I understand that our economy is much different than it once was. And as a husband and father, I understand all too well the struggles facing families and the middle class. I want to stand with people who also face these challenges. People like my two daughters, McKinley and Rowan, who will soon be competing for their first jobs out of college. People who want to provide for their family and their future. And people who just want a level playing field and a fair shot at a long, healthy and productive life.” “With your voice and your support we can work toward building a future where the middle class thrives again. A future where our education system serves its students. A future where my girls are paid the same as their male counterparts. A future full of promise and opportunity. A future where Washington once again, works for the people.”

Learning that Sneaky Pete gave his insider cronies a 16% raise is soooo not shocking.

...So it’s disheartening – make that infuriating – to learn that the bosses Delawareans have hired for our state government, the Democratic and Republican leaders of the General Assembly, are spreading scarce state dollars around among members of their political staffs, while keeping a tight rein on the salaries of those who keep us safe, nurse our sick, pave our roads, and do the other jobs that help make Delaware special.

In a speech delivered in 2012, Ben Carson said the big bang theory was part of the “fairy tales” pushed by “high-faluting scientists” as a story of creation, BuzzFeed News reports. He also said he believed the theory of evolution was encouraged by the devil. Said Carson: “I personally believe that this theory that Darwin came up with was something that was encouraged by the adversary, and it has become what is scientifically, politically correct. Amazingly, there are a significant number of scientists who do not believe it but they’re afraid to say anything.” Can we revoke his medical license? If I were a former patient of his, I would be worried about his work on my brain. I mean, either Dr. Ben Carson is the most cynical bastard ever to run for President, since as a neurosurgeon has cannot possibly believe what he is saying, or... he is dumb as fucking shit.

Certain to explode some right wing heads. In the Welcoming Ceremony at the White House, Pope Francis introduced himself as "the son of an immigrant family," and noting that America "was largely built by such families." But he focused more on climate issues:

Mr. President, I find it encouraging that you are proposing an initiative for reducing air pollution. Accepting the urgency, it seems clear to me also that climate change is a problem which can no longer be left to a future generation. When it comes to the care of our “common home”, we are living at a critical moment of history. We still have time to make the changes needed to bring about “a sustainable and integral development, for we know that things can change” (Laudato Si’, 13). Such change demands on our part a serious and responsible recognition not only of the kind of world we may be leaving to our children, but also to the millions of people living under a system which has overlooked them. Our common home has been part of this group of the excluded which cries out to heaven and which today powerfully strikes our homes, our cities and our societies. To use a telling phrase of the Reverend Martin Luther King, we can say that we have defaulted on a promissory note and now is the time to honor it.