February 16, 2016

Hillary's Bernie Bashing 'one issue' ad is awful but Hilarious

Just clunky and... insincere in that special way she has. Her ad team is so inferior to Bernie's.


Here's the ad and some biting commentary.



https://m.

&feature=youtu.be

February 16, 2016

Berning up the Barn

In the most beautiful Kingdom in the country- the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont.



Two kinda gratuitous Kingdom shots

Bernie lived in Stannard.




Lake Willoughby

February 15, 2016

CALIFORNIA WEIGHS END OF FREE COLLEGE EDUCATION

From 1982


LOS ANGELES, Dec. 27— California's public system of higher education, long the envy of many other states, is edging toward acceptance of something even Ronald Reagan, as Governor, could not force upon it: tuition.

The California Postsecondary Education Commission recommended earlier this month that the state abandon one of the cornerstones of its college and university system, a pledge that the state will pay instructional expenses for all residents.

The recommendation was the latest evidence of deep stresses bedeviling the long-admired California system of higher education. In hindsight, many educators say, the system was allowed to grow too large in the 1960's and is now having difficulty adapting to the falling birth rate, a state fiscal crisis and changing demands from students.

The no-tuition concept was embodied in the state's 1960 Master Plan for Higher Education, which established a three-tier system of free public higher education and led to vast expansion.

The system grew to include nine campuses of the University of California, which accepts the highest achievers among high school graduates; 19 campuses of the California State University system, whose admission standards are less restrictive, and 106 two-year community colleges.


<snip>
http://www.nytimes.com/1982/12/28/science/california-weighs-end-of-free-college-education.html

February 15, 2016

Who Is Sri Srinivasan? Indian-American Judge In Race To Replace Justice Antonin Scalia

Speculations were ongoing Sunday to find out who U.S. President Barack Obama will nominate to replace Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia after he passed away unexpectedly on Saturday. Speculations in local media listed out several possible nominees for the post, but most cited a report from 2013 to suggest that Sri Srinivasan, a former senior Justice Department official for whom Obama had fought to confirm a seat on the U.S. Court of Appeals in the District of Columbia, could be appointed to the post.

Srinivasan, 48, was born in the northern Indian city of Chandigarh while his father belonged to the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu. His family migrated to Kansas in the 1960s, where he grew up. He went on to earn degrees from Stanford in college, law school, and business school, the New Yorker said in a report in 2013, citing Srinivasan as “the Obama Administration’s principal deputy solicitor general.”

Srinivasan was also a law clerk to Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, who was a 1981 appointee by Republican President Ronald Reagan and is now retired. After his clerkships, Srinivasan served as a corporate litigator at O’Melveny & Myers and then worked in the office of the U.S. Solicitor General from 2002 to 2007.

In 2010, Srinivasan defended Jeffrey Skilling, the former chief executive of Texas-based energy company Enron, in the U.S. Supreme Court. However, Skilling was found guilty of financial fraud later. In 2013, Srinivasan also reportedly argued for the same sex marriage under the Defense of Marriage Act.

Srinivasan, who has served on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit since May 2013, was confirmed with a 97-0 vote by the Senate three years ago. His appointment to the District Court of Appeals was a part of an effort to sway the court from its conservative penchant, the Washington Post reported, adding that this was the main reason why the Republicans had fought his nomination.


<snip>
http://www.ibtimes.com/who-sri-srinivasan-indian-american-judge-race-replace-justice-antonin-scalia-2306734

February 15, 2016

HuffPost's Criminal Justice Survey: Full Answers From The Democrats

The Huffington Post sent a list of questions on criminal justice to all of the major 2016 presidential candidates. Here are the full answers from Democratic contenders Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders.

Read reporter Ryan Reilly's analysis of their answers, including examination of the political context, here. And read about the GOP candidates here.

1. In your view, should the primary goal of incarceration be rehabilitation or punishment?

Clinton: I believe there should be consequences for committing crimes, and I also believe that we are a nation of second chances and should strive to live up to that ideal. That means taking a rehabilitative approach to justice, particularly for children, including employing alternatives to incarceration where appropriate. It also means, for example, reforming mandatory minimum sentences so we are not sending people to prison longer than is necessary or useful. And for those who are given a second chance (and for the health and safety of the communities to which those individuals will return), we should ensure that those who suffer addiction or mental health problems receive proper treatment and that individuals have access to effective programs in prison to prepare them for success when they return home. Too often, the reentry pathway is littered with barriers, rather than paved with a fair opportunity for success.

Sanders: To my mind, it is essential that rehabilitation be the primary focus of incarceration in America. That's not to say that rehabilitation should exclusively be the focus -- certainly, those who commit crimes deserve to be punished. But through mandatory minimums, so-called truth-in-sentencing laws, and other misguided attempts to fight the disastrous War on Drugs, we have created a criminal justice system where the punishment often far exceeds the crime. We should be helping those who can serve their sentences and become productive members of society.

2. The United States makes up less than five percent of the world's population, yet incarcerates nearly a quarter of the global prison population. In your view, are too many, too few, or about the right number of people incarcerated in the U.S.? What is the proper role of the federal government, in your view, in reducing incarceration levels?

<snip>
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/huffpost-criminal-justice-survey-democratics_us_56bb85eae4b0b40245c5038b

February 15, 2016

This is what a Sanders campaign state headquarters opening is like

This is what momentum looks like.


The air may have been frigid outside, but inside Bar Louie in the South Loop, the temperature was practically sweltering as hundreds filled the bar for presidential candidate Bernie Sanders official state campaign launch. Plenty of well known Chicago Democrats and progressives turned up Saturday morning for the kickoff, and some supporters of the Vermont Senator's bid for the Democratic nomination came from as far away as suburban Aurora, Rockford and Kankakee.

“We’re going to wage a comprehensive vigorous campaign across Illinois as we work to earn every single vote,” said Clem Balanoff, the Illinois Director for the Sanders campaign.

Balanoff told the tightly packed crowd of supporters offices would be opening in the coming weeks in at least a dozen areas across the state including Evanston, Dekalb, Rockford, Springfield, and more. The Chicago campaign headquarters will be located on Jefferson Avenue in the South Loop, across the street from Manny’s Deli.

“This is about bringing the people into the White House,” said Ald. Carlos Ramirez-Rosa, a delegate for Sanders, who highlighted Sanders’ immigration platform and willingness to consult with and include input from undocumented immigrants on his campaign as a reason for his support. “He’s not just saying I’m going when the polls say it’s time to take a stance I’m going to take a stance, he’s saying I’m going to build power for working people alongside you.”

Sporting a red Chicago Teacher’s Union sweatshirt, Ald. Tara Stamps reminded the audience of the relationship between Mayor Rahm Emanuel and Hillary Clinton. “Emanuel is a superdelegate for Hillary,” she said, which the audience met with loud boos at the mention of the mayor’s name. “This is the same man that closed 50 schools...this is personal.”


<snip>
http://chicagoist.com/2016/02/15/hundreds_pack_south_loop_bar_saturd.php

February 15, 2016

In Nevada, a tightening race threatens Clinton’s post-New Hampshire ‘firewall’

Less than a week before the Nevada caucuses, Hillary Clinton’s political nightmare came to the Origin India restaurant near the Las Vegas Strip. More than 100 activists were packed between a curry buffet and a canvas sign for Bernie Sanders. They talked. They made caucus commitments. They cheered as a “multi-ethnic coalition” of speakers asked them to dump the long-time Democratic presidential front-runner.

“She had the same information as Bernie, and she voted for the war in Iraq,” said Vicenta Montoya, an immigration lawyer. “She supported a wall along the border. And while she was secretary of state, she did absolutely nothing to alleviate the hardship of people separated from their families.”

“The white Americans have already shown the momentum in Iowa and New Hampshire,” said Zaffar Iqbal, a doctor and member of Muslims for Bernie. “Now is the turn for Nevada to stand up.”

Until quite recently, Clinton’s campaign saw Nevada as a chance for a face-saving victory after an anticipated defeat in New Hampshire. But that defeat turned into a trouncing. Now, the Sanders campaign is trying to prove that she can be beaten anywhere. Nevada, where he is facing off against organized labor leaders and a Latino-heavy electorate, has become the first test.

<snip>
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/in-nevada-a-tightening-race-threatens-clintons-post-nh-firewall/2016/02/15/ad347b48-d327-11e5-be55-2cc3c1e4b76b_story.html

February 15, 2016

Hillary is a strong Auterity advocate. Bernie is a fierce Austerity opponent

July 1, 2015
Here’s What Greek Austerity Would Look Like in America

Greece is in the middle of a fresh round of economic tumult as its leaders try to negotiate terms for a new bailout package to keep the country financially afloat. Since 2010, Greece has been receiving money from the European Union and the International Monetary Fund in exchange for agreeing to harsh spending cuts and tax increases. The steep cost-cutting measures, known as austerity, have become a common practice across Europe as the continent has struggled to regain its economic footing following the global financial crisis of 2008.

But Greece’s case has been especially extreme. With steep slashes to health funding, salaries and pensions along with huge tax increases, Greek unemployment has skyrocketed, as have the number of people in poverty. As of Tuesday night, Greece had defaulted on a $1.7 billion payment to the International Monetary Fund, and the financial future of the country is looking increasingly dire. Greece will have to agree to even more spending cuts to continue to receive funding.

To place the severity of Greece’s austerity measures over the last several years in perspective, here’s an idea for how the same types of cuts would impact the United States.

Greece’s minimum monthly wage was cut by 22% in 2012, from 751 euros to 586 euros. A similar cut in the U.S. would drop the hourly minimum wage from $7.25 to $5.66.

In 2009 and 2010 Greece implemented a variety of cuts to salaries for public sector workers that worked out to an average pay cut of about 15%. In the U.S. that would decrease the average government employee’s pay from $51,340 per year to $43,639, using 2012 figures.

Pension cuts have been an especially controversial pain point in Greece, and the combined cuts have lead to a 40% decrease in pension funding since 2009, according to the Associated Press. A similar drop in Social Security payouts in the U.S. would mean the average senior citizen’s monthly would mean a drop in Social Security payouts from $1,294 per month on average to $776 per month.

<snip>
http://time.com/3943337/heres-what-greek-austerity-would-look-like-in-america/

February 15, 2016

Former Greek Finance Minister on Bernie Sanders

Yanis Varoufakis: Bernie Sanders’ backers aren’t voting for socialism


The last socialist to freak out the establishment with a radical plan, former Greek finance minister Yanis Varoufakis, said Vermont senator and presidential candidate Bernie Sanders is earning votes for his common sense, not his political theory, in a recent Quora post:

Last year, the Greeks elected people like me not because they suddenly became leftwing! Similarly with Bernie Sanders. The New Hampshire voters did not suddenly discover they were democratic… socialists! They just had enough of phoney politics and decided to back someone who has been saying the same common sense stuff for decades. They would not vote for a ‘transition to socialism’ (like my voters would not have voted me in last year if I was proposing such a ‘transition’ to them).

But they understand that Bernie and us—his comrades on the Atlantic’s other side—are modest in our aims. We understand that socialism is far, far away—and that it will probably only become pertinent when technology develops further … For now, all we propose is the return to basic liberal democratic principles that the establishment has confined to the dustbin of history—at the cost of everyone (except some, very few, entrepreneurial spivs).

Varoufakis captivated the media with his long-shot efforts to push his country out of a punishing debt repayment plan, but they ended in his own resignation and national capitulation to the EU’s unrealistic demands. Last week, the IMF official in charge of monitoring Greece wrote that that the country’s inadequate pension reforms and the EU’s refusal to consider debt relief mean a Greek exit from the euro zone will soon be back on the table.

<snip>
http://qz.com/617049/yanis-varoufakis-bernie-sanders-backers-arent-voting-for-socialism/