++Sean Hannity made good on his promise and has moved to Florida but keeping a ranch in Texas. New Yorkers can breathe easier now.
++In the ceremony opening the 9-11 Museum,the program deleted the scheduled musical interlude of "A Bridge over Troubled Waters" after Chris Christie spoke.
++California is burning as forest fires ramped up again as the entire state is considered a drought zone.
++April was the second hottest in recorded history.
++Richard Scaife, the 81-year old owner of the Pittsburgh Tribune has incurable cancer. Dick Scaife was a primary funder of conservative causes and institutions for generations.
++This week you can read about the largest funders of the Right in the new book "Sons of Wichita", which chronicles the history of the Scaife family and their emergence on the political scene. Goodies include inter-family disputes ,including private eyes, in the dispute over the father's estate,David's hedonistic heydays,the family's blackmailing the gay son, and the long history of federal violations. The book doesn't flinch from Dad, who favored Mussolini.
++Australia reports that "carbon sink", the capacity of the ocean to absorb carbon, has reached the tipping point where it threatens the entire marine food chain.
++Greenland is melting at a faster rate than previously thought but here in North America, glaciers in British Columbia and Alaska are melting even faster and getting now news coverage.
++Karl Rove this morning doubled down on Hillary's "brain damage" and Rinse Penis said that Hillary's health and age are fair game.
++This week may not be a good one for Karl Rove. There is a story about to emerge about his divorce and his ex-wife accusing Karl of having an affair with a man. I'm betting it doesn't emerge because of Rovian pressures and that gay is so passé.
++There has been an explosion of same-sex marriage decisions and stays it's getting confusing. Arkansas, Utah, Idaho, and the list goes on.
++Michael Lind has a provocative article in Salon about possible party alignments because of the death of "social conservatism".
++Conservative websites are attacking Jeb Bush for a host of imaginary ideological crimes but the nastiest writing is attacking his wife. They claim she doesn't like being a political wife,she isn't fluent in English,has the well-documented problem with Customs, bringing in significant purchases without declaring them. But I guess if you can attack Michelle Obama , you can attack Jeb's wife. Doonesbury today has a fake Jeb interview for good fun.
++The Right--or at least the social conservatives who met the other year at Mount Vernon--met here in Washington behind closed doors. Considering the GOP thinks this is their year,what are the Right complaining about--the nature of the GOP.
++Rubio must be running. He again asserted his anti-choice position and denied climate change. That's pretty ballsy considering this week scientific blogs ran maps how Miami and southern Florida will disappear because of the rise in the sea.
++This past week's announcement that the West Antarctic ice sheets are collapsing faster than expected raise the issue of how conservative climate scientists are. The UN report undervalued the impact of the melting poles and glaciers on the climate. What you have read is really worse.
++Ms. Geller is back hiring busses to run her anti-Islam ads and ,of course, invoked the Holocaust. Could we reach agreement that the term "Holocaust" be used only for the Holocaust. And "Hitler" is the historical figure Hitler and not Barack Obama.
Showing posts with label Michael Lind. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Michael Lind. Show all posts
Sunday, May 18, 2014
Tuesday, October 15, 2013
Any Case For Republican Governance Has Collapsed
++Unless you have a Republican friend or family member running for office,there is virtually no reason to vote Republican. This was a stunning day--two days away from default--when the House GOP could not formulate a bill, even a vindictive one, or muster enough votes for any thing. There is a total collapse of House Republicans and there dysfunction is beyond anything I have ever seen in my lifetime.
++Earlier in the day Mitch McConnell suspended the negotiations with Harry Reid to see what the House would produce. Throughout the day, we were told various options were being considered by the House, including the Vitter amendment, which would strip the President, the Vice President,cabinet members and congressional staff of their federal health insurance. This has actually been on the table for the last week, first in a Republican version of the Senate bill and now in the House. The meme of "fairness for all Americans" is meant to be code for this amendment. The Einsteins in the House who thought this was school kid clever--Teehee--never considered it was unconstitutional. God knows whether it would resurface in something tomorrow. Their latest bill did not please the tea baggers so Heritage Action vowed revenge and Boehner said there would be no bill tonight. Peter King of New York, who is not a moderate as advertised but conservative,cried out loud that "My party is going nuts." By evening,Harry Reid and Mitch McConnell were backed negotiating. House staffers wailed that they would have to accept the Senate bill or the bill from the "Surrender Caucus". Peter King said that for all this talk over the last two weeks about Obamacare,the House bill didn't even touch it and all they got was misery and woe for the American people.
++Tomorrow, President Obama has called Jack Lew to the White House for a meeting, including Joe Biden. Rick Hertzberg wrote a compelling case in the New York why President Obama has to invoke the 14th Amendment to allow Treasury to pay America's debts. As Bruce Bartlett, the adviser to Reagan and Poppie Bush, told Thom Hartman this morning he hoped President Obama didn't cave on this. He said there is no economic problem, this is a political problem that you would have to go back to the Civil War to see it replicated.
++But the sabotage of the American economy has already occurred. The short-term bond market has flipped out and large Hedge Funds have been liquidating their short-term debt already. China has called for the "De-Americanization" of the global order. The global community can not trust the United States anymore. While the NSA revelations shock the confidence of our allies,the whimsical default on the American debt by a handful of short, white freaks is just too much. Already,the idea of creating another global currency is surfacing from more mainstream countries and not simply as a proposal from radical states. Those who cry,"U.S.A!, U.S.A!", will have unilaterally diminished America's influence and power in the world, nothing a $1trillion Defense, intelligence and Homeland Security budget can ever bring back. Incredibly over 50% of Republicans actually believe defaulting on the debt is no big deal. But, remember these are the same people who argued that the Geneva Conventions do not apply to us,that international organizations are against our interest ad who believed we could act unilaterally in the world. So,they will be flabbergasted by the backlash against the United States and try to gin up some jingoistic response for 2016. They will try and blame Obama for the shrinking influence in the world the United States will have. But don't be fooled.
++The implosion of a major party in the Western world creates serious collateral damage both here and abroad. Progressives thought there was some kind of alliance with libertarians to stop the Syrian War. But the GOP response was old-fashioned isolationism. Their empire has collapsed and they want to bring the country further down. Note the Syrian bill that had passed the House only months before as token pressure on Obama to engage more fully in the Syrian situation. It was close to a declaration of war signed by the House GOP. But when push came to shove, they fled authorization of military action. I'm glad Obama didn't move militarily but the GOP's actions were not only knee-jerk anti-Obama but a refection of their new isolationism. The remnants of neo-conservatism are helpless before this new tide. Notice what little impact Bibi Netanyahu's visit to the States made or how ineffectual were the 250 AIPAC lobbyists on the Syrian Resolution. The GOP has no strategy for foreign policy at all.
++Karl Rove has said that the GOP depended on their strength in national security and on their tax policies. They lost both in the 2012 election and now they do not have any foreign policy credibility or any economic policies, which could improve the lot of their fellow Americans. In fact, they have even abandoned their business donors, who are now terrified at the Republican Party. They created the Teabag Monster and now it is devouring the Party.
++Ed Kilgore of the Washington Monthly took on Michael Lind's thesis that what we are seeing is that the South has taken over the Republican Party and that the current situation is the inevitable conclusion of the South triumph as witnessed by the Confederate flags at yesterday's rallies. Lind made a persuasive case about this but Kilgore takes him down a notch. Pat Buchanan is dancing in the streets over the Teabag sedition, saying it is reminiscent of Barry Goldwater taking on the Rockefeller establishment. I guess Bruce Bartlett got in the final word on this when he told Thom Hartman that the GOP should be encouraged to run the craziest candidate in 2016 so that they can lose in all 50 states and maybe something could rise from the ashes.
++I like political practitioners. I always have appreciated Nancy Pelosi mastering a very simple task--always knowing the exact vote count when a bill was brought up on the floor. The GOP can't even get that straight. During the last two years, the House GOP has never had an accurate Whip count, even on such a crucial thing for the GOP base as the Farm Bill.If they can't even manage to Whip their own bills, why would anyone entrust them with managing anything in government.
++Steve Israel today sent viral a clip of the Rules Committee changing the rule that would allowed the shutdown to happen. In other words,Republicans were caught ensuring that the shutdown would happen and that no clean C/R could ever be brought to the floor. But what was worse is today when they were not getting their way, the Teabaggers objected to the rule. The problem for the rest of us is that it may mean that the Senate agreement may not even make it to the floor.
++We witnessed today an amazing threat. Senator Rafael Cruz threatened to filibuster any bill to raise the debt ceiling on the floor of the Senate. Yesterday, we saw Paul Ryan, master of the budget, threaten to attach an amendment to the debt ceiling that would prohibit insurance companies for covering contraceptives for women. And not to be outdone, Rand Paul threatened to attach an amendment to the Senate bill to raise retirement age for Social Security and for Medicare eligibility.
++Basically the Religious Right wing of the GOP is anti-American unless we adopt their rules. The GOP's foreign policy is now isolationist but still making unilateral demands that the world ignores. For example,Iran is supposed to cease all uranium enrichment before sanctions are lifted. This conveniently ignores that Iran is a signatory of the non-proliferation act, which allows enrichment for energy purposes. The demand will be laughed out of the EU and by other countries with sanctions on Iran. On Syria, the GOP is absolutely silent on Syria's compliance with its pledge to destroy its chemical weapons. A major interest of the GOP in the past is simply not considered important. And because of the impression of the Congressional disarray abroad,Russia is charging we are not living up to our obligations to bring the Syrian opposition to the table in Geneva. There is an eerie feeling that the United States is not reliable in anything.
++Foreign observers are dumbstruck by our government shutdown. They basically think it is strange that any country would shutdown in protest against a healthcare law that was already approved over four years ago. It is baffling. The perception of a possible default is fear. They never believed it before but now they see a whole section of our society as not taking this prospect seriously. Simply put, we are not a serious country.
++I'm not clear I know what the GOP stands for anymore. We all know what they stand against. Contraceptives,gay rights,equal rights, affirmative action,health care, social security, Medicare,Hispanics,women in general,veterans issues,labor rights,the environment,government disaster aid,gun control, and you add to the list. They are for the government shutdown,for default, for military monuments,and they don't even seem to be for "family values". It is stunning to see the total collapse of a major party, just as polls show finally the American people have returned to the belief that government plays a vital role in our society and our prosperity.
++Earlier in the day Mitch McConnell suspended the negotiations with Harry Reid to see what the House would produce. Throughout the day, we were told various options were being considered by the House, including the Vitter amendment, which would strip the President, the Vice President,cabinet members and congressional staff of their federal health insurance. This has actually been on the table for the last week, first in a Republican version of the Senate bill and now in the House. The meme of "fairness for all Americans" is meant to be code for this amendment. The Einsteins in the House who thought this was school kid clever--Teehee--never considered it was unconstitutional. God knows whether it would resurface in something tomorrow. Their latest bill did not please the tea baggers so Heritage Action vowed revenge and Boehner said there would be no bill tonight. Peter King of New York, who is not a moderate as advertised but conservative,cried out loud that "My party is going nuts." By evening,Harry Reid and Mitch McConnell were backed negotiating. House staffers wailed that they would have to accept the Senate bill or the bill from the "Surrender Caucus". Peter King said that for all this talk over the last two weeks about Obamacare,the House bill didn't even touch it and all they got was misery and woe for the American people.
++Tomorrow, President Obama has called Jack Lew to the White House for a meeting, including Joe Biden. Rick Hertzberg wrote a compelling case in the New York why President Obama has to invoke the 14th Amendment to allow Treasury to pay America's debts. As Bruce Bartlett, the adviser to Reagan and Poppie Bush, told Thom Hartman this morning he hoped President Obama didn't cave on this. He said there is no economic problem, this is a political problem that you would have to go back to the Civil War to see it replicated.
++But the sabotage of the American economy has already occurred. The short-term bond market has flipped out and large Hedge Funds have been liquidating their short-term debt already. China has called for the "De-Americanization" of the global order. The global community can not trust the United States anymore. While the NSA revelations shock the confidence of our allies,the whimsical default on the American debt by a handful of short, white freaks is just too much. Already,the idea of creating another global currency is surfacing from more mainstream countries and not simply as a proposal from radical states. Those who cry,"U.S.A!, U.S.A!", will have unilaterally diminished America's influence and power in the world, nothing a $1trillion Defense, intelligence and Homeland Security budget can ever bring back. Incredibly over 50% of Republicans actually believe defaulting on the debt is no big deal. But, remember these are the same people who argued that the Geneva Conventions do not apply to us,that international organizations are against our interest ad who believed we could act unilaterally in the world. So,they will be flabbergasted by the backlash against the United States and try to gin up some jingoistic response for 2016. They will try and blame Obama for the shrinking influence in the world the United States will have. But don't be fooled.
++The implosion of a major party in the Western world creates serious collateral damage both here and abroad. Progressives thought there was some kind of alliance with libertarians to stop the Syrian War. But the GOP response was old-fashioned isolationism. Their empire has collapsed and they want to bring the country further down. Note the Syrian bill that had passed the House only months before as token pressure on Obama to engage more fully in the Syrian situation. It was close to a declaration of war signed by the House GOP. But when push came to shove, they fled authorization of military action. I'm glad Obama didn't move militarily but the GOP's actions were not only knee-jerk anti-Obama but a refection of their new isolationism. The remnants of neo-conservatism are helpless before this new tide. Notice what little impact Bibi Netanyahu's visit to the States made or how ineffectual were the 250 AIPAC lobbyists on the Syrian Resolution. The GOP has no strategy for foreign policy at all.
++Karl Rove has said that the GOP depended on their strength in national security and on their tax policies. They lost both in the 2012 election and now they do not have any foreign policy credibility or any economic policies, which could improve the lot of their fellow Americans. In fact, they have even abandoned their business donors, who are now terrified at the Republican Party. They created the Teabag Monster and now it is devouring the Party.
++Ed Kilgore of the Washington Monthly took on Michael Lind's thesis that what we are seeing is that the South has taken over the Republican Party and that the current situation is the inevitable conclusion of the South triumph as witnessed by the Confederate flags at yesterday's rallies. Lind made a persuasive case about this but Kilgore takes him down a notch. Pat Buchanan is dancing in the streets over the Teabag sedition, saying it is reminiscent of Barry Goldwater taking on the Rockefeller establishment. I guess Bruce Bartlett got in the final word on this when he told Thom Hartman that the GOP should be encouraged to run the craziest candidate in 2016 so that they can lose in all 50 states and maybe something could rise from the ashes.
++I like political practitioners. I always have appreciated Nancy Pelosi mastering a very simple task--always knowing the exact vote count when a bill was brought up on the floor. The GOP can't even get that straight. During the last two years, the House GOP has never had an accurate Whip count, even on such a crucial thing for the GOP base as the Farm Bill.If they can't even manage to Whip their own bills, why would anyone entrust them with managing anything in government.
++Steve Israel today sent viral a clip of the Rules Committee changing the rule that would allowed the shutdown to happen. In other words,Republicans were caught ensuring that the shutdown would happen and that no clean C/R could ever be brought to the floor. But what was worse is today when they were not getting their way, the Teabaggers objected to the rule. The problem for the rest of us is that it may mean that the Senate agreement may not even make it to the floor.
++We witnessed today an amazing threat. Senator Rafael Cruz threatened to filibuster any bill to raise the debt ceiling on the floor of the Senate. Yesterday, we saw Paul Ryan, master of the budget, threaten to attach an amendment to the debt ceiling that would prohibit insurance companies for covering contraceptives for women. And not to be outdone, Rand Paul threatened to attach an amendment to the Senate bill to raise retirement age for Social Security and for Medicare eligibility.
++Basically the Religious Right wing of the GOP is anti-American unless we adopt their rules. The GOP's foreign policy is now isolationist but still making unilateral demands that the world ignores. For example,Iran is supposed to cease all uranium enrichment before sanctions are lifted. This conveniently ignores that Iran is a signatory of the non-proliferation act, which allows enrichment for energy purposes. The demand will be laughed out of the EU and by other countries with sanctions on Iran. On Syria, the GOP is absolutely silent on Syria's compliance with its pledge to destroy its chemical weapons. A major interest of the GOP in the past is simply not considered important. And because of the impression of the Congressional disarray abroad,Russia is charging we are not living up to our obligations to bring the Syrian opposition to the table in Geneva. There is an eerie feeling that the United States is not reliable in anything.
++Foreign observers are dumbstruck by our government shutdown. They basically think it is strange that any country would shutdown in protest against a healthcare law that was already approved over four years ago. It is baffling. The perception of a possible default is fear. They never believed it before but now they see a whole section of our society as not taking this prospect seriously. Simply put, we are not a serious country.
++I'm not clear I know what the GOP stands for anymore. We all know what they stand against. Contraceptives,gay rights,equal rights, affirmative action,health care, social security, Medicare,Hispanics,women in general,veterans issues,labor rights,the environment,government disaster aid,gun control, and you add to the list. They are for the government shutdown,for default, for military monuments,and they don't even seem to be for "family values". It is stunning to see the total collapse of a major party, just as polls show finally the American people have returned to the belief that government plays a vital role in our society and our prosperity.
Saturday, July 27, 2013
Oceans of Tomorrow
++President Obama used Carl Sandburg's term in his speech in Galesburg, Illinois to outline his economic vision for America. John Boehner said it was "an empty shell of a speech" while Rep. Issa said that no Presidential speech created a job. The Washington pundit belt slammed the President for the lack of new ideas. But E.J. Dionne said that like FDR and Reagan Obama was setting down the framework which would guide future Presidents and dominate the future. Writing in Salon, Michael Lind said it was the Speech that won the Economic Debate. Throughout the speech, the President slammed trickle-down economics and refuted the economic arguments made for the past thirty years. He called for a middle out economy to stabilize the ever-shrinking middle class.He also challenged the inequality that has been growing in American society after a generation.
++We are at that stage of summer when President Obama's approval rating droops as always. He is down to 49% and oil rigs are again burning off Louisiana. Congress' approval rating is now below cockroaches, head lice and America going Communist. The House will be leaving next week for a five week vacation and 9 days scheduled in September.
++The President isn't taking August off. He has already hit the road for economic speeches in Jacksonville and next week will hit Tennessee. Most of his points we heard last year when he was campaigning for support of his Jobs Bill. In Jacksonville, he made his pitch for infrastructure spending. Currently, the Senate is grappling with the transportation and urban housing bill and a $100 billion is hung up since the House hasn't passed a budget for the past 100 days. The President made the point that all industrialized countries are investing far greater in improving their infrastructure than we are. The Society of Civil Engineers has released its report card on the U.S. and given the country a D+ in several categories. The GOP, which once boasted of infrastructure spending, has taken their ball and left the field.
++The transportation bill in the Senate has bipartisan support but the House is seeking a cut of 50% to Community Development Block grants, an idea they once supported.
++While the President had a great week with his economic speech and his comments on the Trayvon Martin case,Eric Holder stepped up to the plate to challenge the voter restriction acts they have mushroomed since the Voting Rights Act was gutted. Holder is using the remaining articles to seek pre-clearance from Texas and other states.
++Since VRA was gutted, Florida has happily begun purging voter lists again,Pennsylvania is defending their ID law and North Carolina has passed the most restrictive voting laws in the country so much so that I was surprised they didn't just outlaw voting altogether. What this will mean is open to debate but polls in North Carolina show the people are overwhelmingly opposed to such restrictions.
++We know what the general outline of the Republican plan is with voter suppression but even Ross Douhat of the New York Times is beginning to believe that such measures will spark a backlash against the party without any great compensation for the effort.
++Nancy Pelosi made a statement that the Democrats may win back the House. Tom Coburn believes that a fight over raising the debt ceiling because of demands for defunding Obamacare will trigger the loss of the House. Personally,I didn't believe the Republicans can lose the House until 2021, after the next census. However, Republicans have placed two more members on the endangered list, bringing the number up to 20.
++But this can't be true because turnout will be lower in the mid-term,minorities will vote less and the elderly will vote overwhelming for the Republicans. Not so fast,Charlie Cook has been rummaging around on the polls about the GOP base and found that , while the Democrats have lost seniors since 2008,losing them be a whopping 59-38 in 2010,there seems to be a reverse trend now where Democrats are only 5% behind on seniors. He doesn't know why that is but maybe it is that seniors realize by now that President Obama didn't cut their Medicare benefits and that the GOP are gunning for their pensions.
++Eugene Robinson has hit the summer doldrum in a column in the Washington Post. Robinson believes nothing is going to happen with Congress on the budget or immigration reform because of gridlock or Republican tantrums and the President's approval will continue to decline because nothing is getting done.
++Rep. King ,who got the House to pass a resolution for the deportation of the DREAM KIDs, blasted them again this week as being a bunch of drug smugglers. While the House leadership had to criticize him for this,the House Republicans are between a rock and a hard place on immigration reform. If Boehner caved and let the Hastert Law go by the boards, the House would pass the Senate bill with Democratic votes. But then again, he would lose his job. Paul Ryan, trying to save the party from catastrophe, claims now that the House will vote for immigration reform in October. He promises there would be a path to citizenship. Evangelicals will be meeting this week with the Republicans to explain why the immigration system needs to be fixed.
++House Republicans have been given little educational packets for their recess to argue to their constituents they are fighting Washington. They are also holding town meetings on the Emergency in Healthcare, which I guess means you might get some. The Koch brothers are handing out Obamacare cards so that college students may burn them--of course, while their parents carry them on their health insurance. Fall is looking to be quite nasty for Congress.
++Christie's Auction house has arrived in Detroit to appraise the collection at the Detroit Art Museum. New York art collectors are horrified by the prospect of over 660,000 items being sold off because they claim it will destroy the global art market.
++The privately owned Detroit Windsor tunnel has filed for bankruptcy.
++The Detroit Emergency City Manager has floated a $400 million bond so the Red Wings will have a new arena.
++Pennsylvania under its free market governor has sunk to 46th place in job creation. The state's attorney general will not enforce the law against same sex marriage and the first five licenses were issued in a town north of Philadelphia.
++Federal judges have stopped the strict anti-abortion laws throughout the country on the basis that they are so restrictive as to prohibit access in the states.
++We are at that stage of summer when President Obama's approval rating droops as always. He is down to 49% and oil rigs are again burning off Louisiana. Congress' approval rating is now below cockroaches, head lice and America going Communist. The House will be leaving next week for a five week vacation and 9 days scheduled in September.
++The President isn't taking August off. He has already hit the road for economic speeches in Jacksonville and next week will hit Tennessee. Most of his points we heard last year when he was campaigning for support of his Jobs Bill. In Jacksonville, he made his pitch for infrastructure spending. Currently, the Senate is grappling with the transportation and urban housing bill and a $100 billion is hung up since the House hasn't passed a budget for the past 100 days. The President made the point that all industrialized countries are investing far greater in improving their infrastructure than we are. The Society of Civil Engineers has released its report card on the U.S. and given the country a D+ in several categories. The GOP, which once boasted of infrastructure spending, has taken their ball and left the field.
++The transportation bill in the Senate has bipartisan support but the House is seeking a cut of 50% to Community Development Block grants, an idea they once supported.
++While the President had a great week with his economic speech and his comments on the Trayvon Martin case,Eric Holder stepped up to the plate to challenge the voter restriction acts they have mushroomed since the Voting Rights Act was gutted. Holder is using the remaining articles to seek pre-clearance from Texas and other states.
++Since VRA was gutted, Florida has happily begun purging voter lists again,Pennsylvania is defending their ID law and North Carolina has passed the most restrictive voting laws in the country so much so that I was surprised they didn't just outlaw voting altogether. What this will mean is open to debate but polls in North Carolina show the people are overwhelmingly opposed to such restrictions.
++We know what the general outline of the Republican plan is with voter suppression but even Ross Douhat of the New York Times is beginning to believe that such measures will spark a backlash against the party without any great compensation for the effort.
++Nancy Pelosi made a statement that the Democrats may win back the House. Tom Coburn believes that a fight over raising the debt ceiling because of demands for defunding Obamacare will trigger the loss of the House. Personally,I didn't believe the Republicans can lose the House until 2021, after the next census. However, Republicans have placed two more members on the endangered list, bringing the number up to 20.
++But this can't be true because turnout will be lower in the mid-term,minorities will vote less and the elderly will vote overwhelming for the Republicans. Not so fast,Charlie Cook has been rummaging around on the polls about the GOP base and found that , while the Democrats have lost seniors since 2008,losing them be a whopping 59-38 in 2010,there seems to be a reverse trend now where Democrats are only 5% behind on seniors. He doesn't know why that is but maybe it is that seniors realize by now that President Obama didn't cut their Medicare benefits and that the GOP are gunning for their pensions.
++Eugene Robinson has hit the summer doldrum in a column in the Washington Post. Robinson believes nothing is going to happen with Congress on the budget or immigration reform because of gridlock or Republican tantrums and the President's approval will continue to decline because nothing is getting done.
++Rep. King ,who got the House to pass a resolution for the deportation of the DREAM KIDs, blasted them again this week as being a bunch of drug smugglers. While the House leadership had to criticize him for this,the House Republicans are between a rock and a hard place on immigration reform. If Boehner caved and let the Hastert Law go by the boards, the House would pass the Senate bill with Democratic votes. But then again, he would lose his job. Paul Ryan, trying to save the party from catastrophe, claims now that the House will vote for immigration reform in October. He promises there would be a path to citizenship. Evangelicals will be meeting this week with the Republicans to explain why the immigration system needs to be fixed.
++House Republicans have been given little educational packets for their recess to argue to their constituents they are fighting Washington. They are also holding town meetings on the Emergency in Healthcare, which I guess means you might get some. The Koch brothers are handing out Obamacare cards so that college students may burn them--of course, while their parents carry them on their health insurance. Fall is looking to be quite nasty for Congress.
++Christie's Auction house has arrived in Detroit to appraise the collection at the Detroit Art Museum. New York art collectors are horrified by the prospect of over 660,000 items being sold off because they claim it will destroy the global art market.
++The privately owned Detroit Windsor tunnel has filed for bankruptcy.
++The Detroit Emergency City Manager has floated a $400 million bond so the Red Wings will have a new arena.
++Pennsylvania under its free market governor has sunk to 46th place in job creation. The state's attorney general will not enforce the law against same sex marriage and the first five licenses were issued in a town north of Philadelphia.
++Federal judges have stopped the strict anti-abortion laws throughout the country on the basis that they are so restrictive as to prohibit access in the states.
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