Year: 2016

Incomes in the U.S. surged in 2015, delivering the first increase for family households in eight years, the Wall Street Journal reports. “The median annual household income—the level at which half are above and half are below—rose 5.2% from a year earlier, or $2,800, after adjusting for inflation, to $56,500… The boost leaves household incomes around 1.6% below the 2007 level, before the last recession began.” Thanks Obama.

Byron York: “Could there be a clunkier phrase than ‘basket of deplorables’? Hillary Clinton’s assertion that half — or maybe something less than half — of Donald Trump’s supporters are ‘racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic, Islamophobic, you name it’ struck a lot of observers as not just an odd turn of phrase but politically unwise. You attack your opponent, the idea was, but you don’t attack the voters.” “But now, a few days later, the brilliance of Clinton’s remark is becoming clearer. Yes, she got a few liberal commentators to take her side and defend the substance of it. But the far bigger benefit is that in the wake of her comment, some media figures decided to devise a ‘deplorables’ quiz for Trump supporters. Is Person X deplorable? How about Person Y? The effect was to pressure Trump supporters not only to agree with Clinton’s larger point but with her precise terminology.” I never thought it was a "gaffe." Yes, in the beltway media's mind, it is. Hillary knew that and knew that racists cannot stand being called racists. So she knew Trump would devote this week to attacking her for saying it. And so now we are talking about how evil, bigoted, sexist and racist Trump's supporters are. All week. It is brilliant.

32BJ SEIU, the local chapter of the Service Employees International Union, and the local chapter that represents Delaware commercial office cleaners, today endorsed Bryan Townsend for Congress. Daisy Cruz, the 32BJ SEIU Mid-Atlantic District Director, made the following statement:

“Bryan Townsend will stand up for Delaware’s working moms and dads who are leading a movement to build a better future for their families. He has been a strong supporter of the issues that make a difference for our community like good schools, raising the minimum wage, clean air and water, paid leave and equal pay. “He’s not just giving lip service to these ideas; he has a proven track record of fighting for real change in Dover. Washington desperately needs more leaders like Bryan to level the playing field for working families and fight for prosperity for everyone”

David Atkins at The Washington Monthly says Hillary’s Health Isn’t a “Real Issue in the Campaign”:

The Washington Post is, like many media outlets, a mixed bag. On one hand, they have some seriously great investigative journalists bringing important stories to light. Greg Sargent and Paul Waldman at The Plum Line are national treasures. The editorial page, on the other hand, is a different matter. But worst of all is Chris Cilizza of The Fix, who is the poster child for vapid, process-oriented, horse-race obsessed, campaign pseudo-journalism. Case in point: today’s reaction to Clinton’s minor medical incident today in New York. It was a very hot day, Clinton was in neck-high shirt over the top of a bulletproof vest, and she had a spell of dizziness. As it turns out, she had been diagnosed with pneumonia on Friday—an inconvenience for a presidential candidate to be sure, but not really a major story in and of itself. Conservative media had been noticing that Clinton appeared under the weather recently, most notably due to mild coughing. Whether it’s a simple scratchy throat, or allergies, or a mild cold, or even pneumonia still isn’t very important, and it’s not an issue on which voters should be judging candidates. Health only becomes an issue if there’s a serious chronic condition that might endanger the president’s life or impact their ability to do their job. So far there has been no evidence that Clinton has such a condition. That hasn’t stopped conservative media organizations from speculating that Clinton might be too ill to be president, however. But then, these are the same people who speculate the Barack Obama was born in Kenya, and the mainstream press shouldn’t be feeding the conspiracy trolls.