Friday Open Thread [9.22.2015]
The Donald waves down from Trump Tower to crowd amassed for the pope. Nothing but boos. pic.twitter.com/cgROTkQ0RD
— Nate Schweber (@nateschweber) September 24, 2015
NEW HAMPSHIRE–PRESIDENT–DEMOCRATIC PRIMARY—CNN/WMUR: Sanders 46, Clinton 30, Biden 14, O’Malley 2, Webb 1, Chafee 0
NEW HAMPSHIRE–PRESIDENT–REPUBLICAN PRIMARY—CNN/WMUR: Trump 26, Fiorina 16, Rubio 9, Carson 8, Kasich 7, Bush 7, Cruz 5, Paul 3, Christie 5, Huckabee 0, Graham 1, Pataki 0, Jindal 0, Santorum 0
Jonathan Chait: “Like all of the non-Trump Republican candidates, Jeb Bush’s economic strategy is built around a program of regressive, debt-financed tax cuts, just as it was under the last Republican administration. In a very clever interview, John Harwood repeatedly asks Bush why he is pursuing this course despite its repeated failure. Bush’s attempts to respond reveal the tangle of denial, non-falsifiability, and cant that undergird the party’s unshakable commitment to voodoo economics.”
Washington Post: “Never pick a fight with someone who buys ink by the barrel. That 19th century adage could be modernized for 2016: if you’re seeking the Republican presidential nomination, don’t screw around with Roger Ailes. The Fox News honcho wields enormous power over an incredibly influential medium, and he’s not messing around after Donald Trump declared that he’s boycotting the cable channel.”
“Megyn Kelly’s show opener last night demonstrated Trump’s dilemma. Kelly used a fresh round of polls to make the case that Trump is on the decline, even though the businessman still maintains a significant lead, using language that sounded like it was written expressly to get under his skin. Combined with critical comments by other Fox hosts, the harsher new tone spells real trouble for Trump.”
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.”
Jeb Bush’s campaign says his plan will get us to 4% growth. We are already there:
The U.S. economy grew almost 4% in the second quarter, powered by higher consumer spending and a bit stronger business investment than previously reported, revised figures show.
Gross domestic product – the value of everything a nation produces – rose at a 3.9% annual rate from April to June, according to the government’s second update of how fast the nation’s economy expanded during the spring. Previously the Commerce Department had said GDP increased 3.7%. The figures get revised as the government gets more data on how the economy performed.
Thanks Obama and Democrats.
Lisa Miller says Pope Francis is the Barack Obama of the Papacy.
Hi everyone, I’ve got a question. I vaguely recall a short time ago there was some kind of bill that removed some sort of check box on employment applications that asked if you had a criminal history or had been arrested or some questions regarding convictions? Can anyone fill me in on the details and whether or not that did become law?
Thanks in advance!
Okay. Jeb is an idiot. PAYGO meant that additional SPENDING had to be matched with cuts in spending or revenue increases. His idiot brother chucked it out the window when he wanted his vanity war to be budget neutral.
http://legis.delaware.gov/LIS/lis147.nsf/vwLegislation/HB+167/$file/legis.html?open
Passed & Signed
IMG_4212Dover, DE – Emphasizing that one of the best predictors of whether ex-offenders will commit more crimes is whether they have a job, Governor Markell today signed legislation to prohibit public employers from inquiring into an applicant’s criminal record before their first interview. Known as “banning the box,” House Bill 167 forbids the practice of asking job candidates to check a box if they have a criminal record. The same prohibition will apply to asking for an applicant’s credit history or score.
11 Ft. waves at the beach tonight, Woo Hoo
http://legis.delaware.gov/LIS/LIS147.nsf/vwLegislation/HB+167?Opendocument
Regarding background checks, organizations conduct background checks primarily for their own due diligence to avoid negligent hiring. After all, 53 percent of job applicants list untruths on their resumes, reports Business.com.
A background check not only helps to protect the company, its employees, and customers, but also ensures that the prospective employee is who she says she is. Quality job seekers understand this need and comply.
Jason 330:
It was not signed today!
And it is for “public employers”
(14) “Public employer” means the State of Delaware, its agencies, or political subdivisions.
And since this is the Friday open thread.
So much for the “Affordable” Care Act.
http://www.delawareonline.com/story/news/2015/09/25/state-workers-healthcare-costs/72794320/
Anonymous- Health insurance for state employees has little to do with The Affordable Care Act. The State is self-insured. It pays health claims out of the general fund. The only involvement with insurance companies is that the State has contracts with two companies who act as Third Party Administrators-they handle claims. State costs go up annually because the number of people covered goes up-that is all current state employees and all retired employees. The second major reason for increases is the increasing cost of prescription drugs. The ACA is largely successful in that it is reaching its major goals- providing and requiring that everyone have health insurance ( saving millions of dollars in emergency room treatment and treating illnesses earlier) and SLOWING the rising cost of health insurance). The ACA was not THE answer to the problem, it was the only answer that could pass Congress. THE answer is single-payer health insurance and regulating the cost of prescription medicine.
ACA
Costs have gone up
Quality healthcare providers are quitting, because of the red tape.
ICD-10, which they have pushed off so many times and wasted so much money. Will finally be implemented. The cost to providers has been extreme, because the government could not get their crap together!
They VA for the most part is a disaster AND YOU WANT A SINGLE-PAYER SYSTEM. THAT IS A JOKE!!
After all their dire predictions of disaster for the economy and healthcare failed to materialize, in fact just the opposite, conservatives still carry on as if it had all come true.
Reality has a liberal bias:
http://www.gallup.com/poll/183014/americans-views-gov-handling-healthcare-sharply.aspx
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/federal-eye/wp/2014/04/17/va-hospitals-on-par-with-private-sector-for-patient-satisfaction/
I should not have even responded to Mitch’s comment.
Puck, The Washington Post is a very liberal newspaper.
For me I don’t even know why I even looked at DL, today. The Pope is in Philadelphia and I would rather be inspired by he’s enlightenment.
Have a great weekend all.
Anonymous: If you truly want to be inspired by the Pope, might I suggest you listen real close when he talks about the significance of climate change, the moral obligation to feed the hungry, house the homeless, and heal the sick, and not “judge” others…
You know… All those things which you & your ilk continue to rail against as being part of our socialist President’s plan to turn America into a shell of its former self.
“might I suggest you listen real close when he talks about the significance of climate change, the moral obligation to feed the hungry, house the homeless, and heal the sick, and not “judge” others… ”
Wow, Prop Joe. You should look in the mirror & heed your own words.
When you judge another, you do not define them, you define yourself.
Wayne Dyer
@Anon “Puck, The Washington Post is a very liberal newspaper.”
Clueless… Really clueless.
Do you have any idea what you are talking about?
There are thousands of examples putting the abject lie to this.
Here’s just one..They championed GWBush’s stupid wars.
Anonymous “The Washington Post is a very liberal newspaper. ”
So what? American Customer Satisfaction Index is a data driven quality measure by an independent quality organization. Just because a “liberal” media outlet reports it, doesn’t make it false.
Therein lies the crux of your problem. You judge the veracity of facts based on the entity that brings those facts to your attention. If you would ever bother to read for understanding you might have found who publishes the index, how the data is obtained and the means they use measure quality. Instead, the best you can do is to say well “it’s a liberal very newspaper” when the newspaper is not even the source for the information. People like you drive me nuts. Facts are facts and while you are entitled to your own opinion, you are entitled to your own facts.
All media have biases. Some liberal, some conservative, some local, some national, ad nauseam. If you are not intelligent enough to read for understanding regardless of the source and then to separate the wheat from the chaff, perhaps you best leave reading and comprehension to those who employ critical thinking.
As I said, therein lies the crux of your problem. You demonstrate a preference for letting others do the thinking, feeding you the distillation of that thinking, infused with their own biases. The best you can do with that methodology is to select the sources which best reflect your own biases rather than do your own thinking, which from your comments, it is apparent that’s what you do. The consequence is that your opinions are not even your own, since they essentially parrot the opinions you’ve been fed.
Polly want a cracker?
Liberal elite & Dave:
When you judge another, you do not define them, you define yourself.
Wayne Dyer
Say what you will, I’m dome with this post!
@Anon “…you define yourself.”
So… You’re telling me that I am defining myself as someone who thinks you’re clueless?
Yea… OK… That works for me.
“I’m dome with this post!”
You sure are…
I wasn’t judging. It was merely an observation that you erroneously blind yourself to information because you don’t like the messenger. And of course that’s a consequence of your confirmation bias affliction. Or as I colloquially refer to it as ” news you can choose.”