January 9, 2017

Ron Wyden, Sen. OR-office flooded with calls related to nominations. Hope all Senators offices are

I really hope you all have called all your Senators of all strips.





leoluminary Retweeted
Jon Hecht ?@JonEHecht 2h2 hours ago

Jon Hecht Retweeted Ron Wyden

Democratic organizing, following a call to arms today from @IndivisibleTeam and @Indivisible_OR, getting a call-out from an Oregon Senator.


Ron Wyden Verified account
?@RonWyden

My office is flooded with calls from Oregonians extremely concerned about cabinet nominees moving fwd without ethics forms being submitted.

https://twitter.com/RonWyden/status/818525468974399488


Ron Wyden ?@RonWyden 3h3 hours ago

.@SenateMajLdr's effort to jam thru hearings on these nominees without the required ethics forms is putting politics above public interest
14 replies 104 retweets 226 likes
Ron Wyden ?@RonWyden 3h3 hours ago

Our job is not to rubber stamp nominees. That means no hearings should be held until nominees submit their ethics forms.
19 replies 158 retweets 384 likes
Ron Wyden ?@RonWyden 3h3 hours ago

Ethics forms provide critical info on nominees' conflicts of interests to ensure they will work for the American people not themselves.
19 replies 93 retweets 236 likes

January 9, 2017

Streep was right-Trump did mock a disabled reporter &Trump was wrong about Kovaleski's reporting

Meryl Streep was right. Donald Trump did mock a disabled reporter.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2017/01/09/meryl-streep-was-right-donald-trump-did-mock-a-disabled-reporter/?utm_term=.70948bc70eef


By Callum Borchers January 9 at 9:25 AM

President-elect Donald Trump fired back at Meryl Streep Monday morning after the actress denounced his campaign rhetoric during a speech at the Golden Globe Awards Sunday night. Streep ripped Trump for his obvious mockery of a journalist's physical disability in late 2015, and Trump responded by once again denying that he meant to make fun of the reporter's condition.


This was Streep's commentary:

An actor’s only job is to enter the lives of people who are different from us and let you feel what that feels like, and there were many, many, many powerful performances this year that did exactly that, breathtaking, compassionate work.

But there was one performance this year that stunned me. It sank its hook in my heart not because it was good. It was — there was nothing good about it, but it was effective, and it did its job. It made its intended audience laugh and show their teeth. It was that moment when the person asking to sit in the most respected seat in our country imitated a disabled reporter, someone he outranked in privilege, power, and the capacity to fight back.

It kind of broke my heart, and I saw it, and I still can’t get it out of my head because it wasn’t in a movie. It was real life. And this instinct to humiliate when it’s modeled by someone in the public platform by someone powerful, it filters down into everybody’s life because it kind of gives permission for other people to do the same thing.

And this was Trump's answer:......................


...............As The Post's Fact Checker noted,............

Trump can complain about Streep's speech all he wants, but she was right about his cruel treatment of Kovaleski. And Trump was wrong about Kovaleski's reporting.

January 9, 2017

Chuck Schumer: ... I'll return this letter to @SenateMajLdr with the same requests.

Chuck Schumer ?@SenSchumer 1h1 hour ago

Our requests are eminently reasonable, shared by leaders of both parties. I'll return this letter to @SenateMajLdr with the same requests.







https://twitter.com/SenSchumer/status/818544880658108416



A few replys:


Cruz ?@CruzWhobris 6m6 minutes ago

Thank you, @SenSchumer Why is @SenateMajLdr not following senate's established nomination process? These norms protect Americans &democracy.
0 replies 5 retweets 6 likes
Robert Stephens ?@rstephens 10m10 minutes ago

@SenSchumer @SenateMajLdr YES!
0 replies 0 retweets 4 likes

Laura Silverman ?@LauraJSilverman 9m9 minutes ago

Conspicuously absent are the reams of comments from the MAGA riff-raff, as tends 2b the case in the face of undeniable hypocrisy @SenSchumer
2 replies 3 retweets 10 likes

(((CompanyJail))) ?@CompanyJail 7m7 minutes ago

@LauraJSilverman @SenSchumer This requires a level of understanding of how the US gov't works that would intimidate most of that crew.

January 9, 2017

Sen. Baldwin: "I was not elected to the U.S. Senate .. to take away people's health care...

For those new to Baldwin-she worked with Rep. Conyers in her days as a Representative for Medicare for all. But she will will fight for ACA now. Gov Walker did not expand Medicaid in WI and we have lots of people hurting already.


Baldwin poised to hold Trump accountable
http://www.jsonline.com/story/news/politics/2017/01/08/baldwin-poised-hold-trump-accountable/96294368/


Bill Glauber , Milwaukee Journal Sentinel 7:20 p.m. CT Jan. 8, 2017




Sen Tammy Baldwin

(Photo: Milwaukee Journal Sentinel files)

.....................During a recent interview with the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Baldwin outlined an agenda to hold Republicans accountable, including President-elect Donald Trump and his cabinet nominees.

From calling on Trump to release his tax returns to unsuccessfully pushing for legislation to require American-made iron and steel to be used in drinking water projects, Baldwin has already sought to set markers.

Last month, Baldwin was disappointed when congressional Republicans stripped a permanent "Buy America" provision she introduced and which the Senate passed in a water infrastructure bill in September. Afterward, Baldwin said she didn't see a "tweet or a peep" from Trump.

Democrats are trying to rebuild. As part of that process, Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer of New York expanded his caucus leadership team and Baldwin got a spot. Baldwin is among 10 Democratic senators up for re-election in 2018 in states that Trump won.

........................omitted part tells of the committee's she is on....................

"I was not elected to the U.S. Senate by the people of Wisconsin to take away people's health care," she said. "That we are at this point is incredibly maddening. The Republican establishment has had seven years to articulate a replacement and they have nothing. Nothing."........................

January 9, 2017

Fox turns on Trump for attacking Meryl Streep: How does name calling make American great again?

ha ha. perhaps a few in the RW hate machine are actually getting concerned of what a fool Trump actually is!!






Fox turns on Trump for attacking Meryl Streep: ‘How does name calling make American great again?’

http://www.rawstory.com/2017/01/fox-turns-on-trump-for-attacking-meryl-streep-how-does-name-calling-make-american-great-again/

David Edwards
09 Jan 2017 at 11:51 ET

Even pundits on the Fox Business network were calling out President-elect Donald Trump on Monday after he launched a Twitter tirade against actress Meryl Streep.

On Sunday, Streep delivered a moving speech at the Golden Globes that highlighted Trump’s mocking of a disabled reporter.

“It kind of broke my heart when I saw it, and I still can’t get it out of my head,” Streep told the audience. “And this instinct to humiliate, when it’s modeled by someone in the public platform, by someone powerful, it filters down into everybody’s life, because it kinda gives permission for other people to do the same thing.”

Trump responded on Monday with a series of tweets calling Streep “one of the most over-rated actresses in Hollywood.”

Trump’s defense, however, was a bridge too far for Fox Business host Stuart Varney and his Monday morning panel of guests.

“How does name calling make American great again?” business journalist Elizabeth MacDonald asked. “Doesn’t that undercut Mr. Trump’s agenda by responding in ways like this?”

“I mean, he demeans himself,” she added. “You cannot expect people to climb on board with agenda when your judgement is so poor in making attacks like that.”

“I got it and I think you’re right,” Varney agreed.

Watch the video below from Fox Business, broadcast Jan. 9, 2017.

January 9, 2017

Putin's -and Trumpsworldwide deceit... Nice GRAPH....

Larry ?@crazylary51 24h24 hours ago

@MonsterMarcia @SIIPCampaigns #TheResistance


:large

January 9, 2017

A new low for humankind: Russian government uses racist trolls Pepe meme in official tweet

http://www.rawstory.com/2017/01/a-new-low-for-humankind-russian-government-uses-racist-trolls-pepe-meme-in-official-tweet/


‘A new low for humankind’: Russian government uses racist trolls’ Pepe meme in official tweet


Brad Reed

09 Jan 2017 at 09:10 ET





Trump as Pepe the Frog


Many white nationalists see Vladimir Putin as a heralded savior of the white race — and now it seems Putin’s government is reciprocating those warm feelings by employing white nationalists’ favorite memes.

In a tweet sent out by the Russian embassy in the U.K. on Monday, Russia’s government called out British papers for encouraging Prime Minister Theresa May to stop President-elect Donald Trump from getting too cozy with Putin — and then it posted a picture of Pepe the Frog to back up its point


Pepe the Frog was originally a character from a comic strip that first appeared in a 2005 edition of Matt Furie’s Boy’s Club comic strip. Over the past year, however, the character has been appropriated by racist trolls on the web as a symbol for the rise of white nationalism. In fact, Pepe became such a notorious neo-Nazi meme in 2016 that the Anti-Defamation League added it to its database of hate symbols.

Twitter users reacted with horror to the Russian government’s decision to send out a dog whistle to Trump’s white nationalist fans, with one user calling the tweet “a new low for humankind.”

Check out some choice responses below....................................

January 9, 2017

#TrumpEffect: Girls basketball team greeted by hanging black dummy at mostly white NJ high school

If I had been the couch from this visiting school, I would have had the team re-board the bus and taken them home.




http://www.mycentraljersey.com/story/news/local/union-county/2017/01/07/officials-investigate-black-dummy-hanging-plainfield-game/96297268/

TWEET
Girls basketball team greeted by hanging black dummy at mostly white NJ high school http://ow.ly/t1Ie307OVE6


Girls basketball team greeted by hanging black dummy at mostly white NJ high school
Travis
09 Jan 2017 at 08:52 ET




Dummy found hanging at Johnson High School




A girls basketball team in New Jersey found a black dummy hanging by its neck in a classroom when they arrived for a game at another school.

The Plainfield High School team, which comes from a community that’s 50 percent African-American, was visiting Arthur L. Johnson High School in Clark, where less than 1 percent of the population is black, reported My Central Jersey.

The girls were given a classroom to change into their uniforms for a game Saturday morning, and they found the dummy hanging by its neck from a string tied to a post with a basketball attached.

......................................

Someone on the team photographed the dummy and posted the image on Facebook.

January 9, 2017

Ryan GOP plan would remove the tax exemp for employee health care- benefits as taxable income

It gets worse everytime read something about ACA



http://www.rawstory.com/2017/01/gop-plan-to-replace-obamacare-gives-big-tax-break-to-the-rich-while-sticking-it-to-low-earners/


GOP plan to replace Obamacare gives big tax break to the rich while sticking it to low earners

09 Jan 2017 at 10:32 ET



U.S. House Speaker Paul Ryan makes a statement to the media on Capitol Hill in Washington ruling himself out as a potential 2016 presidential candidate April 12, 2016. (REUTERS/Yuri Gripas)






.....................A Republican plan to replace President Barack Obama’s health care reform law would turn employee health benefits into taxable income and shift more tax savings to high earners.

In a report over the weekend, congressional correspondent Jamie Dupree revealed that buried within an Obamacare replacement bill proposed by the Republican Study Committee in the House is a provision that would create a standard deduction for health insurance (SDHI) of $7,500 for individuals and $20,500 for families.
..............................................

The value of the proposed deduction in the AHCRA would be inversely related to income, as all deductions are. A millionaire in the 39.6 percent tax bracket would receive almost $3,000 in income tax reductions for purchasing individual coverage and over $8,000 for purchasing family coverage. An individual in the 15 percent bracket would receive a maximum of $1,125 in tax reduction for an individual or $3,075 for a family. An individual without earned income would get no help at all. All individuals who had income subject to payroll tax would additionally receive a reduction in their payroll taxes (The payroll tax reductions would presumably reduce the funding of the Medicare and Social Security trust funds.)

Most individuals with low incomes would not be able to afford coverage with this level of assistance. Moreover, low-income individuals would not have the capital to pay premiums for health insurance until they realized the deduction at tax filing time. Finally, they would get no help with cost sharing unless they had enough money to save through an HSA.....................more .....

............

January 9, 2017

Wisconsin's climate may need to adapt to Trump:

UW-Madison used to be world renowned research center but has suffered greatly under budget cuts from Gov Walker over the years. Now it most likely will have cuts from Federal research climate changes also!

As the story points out--Gov Walker and his repug buddies recently removed all references from the Wisconsin state public website

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Wisconsin's climate may need to adapt to Trump

http://chippewa.com/news/local/state-and-regional/wisconsin-s-climate-may-need-to-adapt-to-trump/article_cdab8de9-6979-5306-b89f-83bd55117357.html

STEVEN VERBURG Lee Newspapers Jan 8, 2017 0

MADISON —Wisconsin conservationists and UW-Madison researchers say they are bracing for potentially big changes in environmental policy after Donald Trump is sworn in as president with Republican Congressional majorities at his side.

Trump’s claim that climate change is a Chinese hoax and his vows to dismantle the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency foreshadow cuts in UW-Madison’s broad array of climate research, and an easing of EPA pressure on the state over lax enforcement air and water pollution laws, researchers and attorneys say.

“It seems like climate science is going to be targeted,” said Michael Notaro, associate director of the university’s Center for Climatic Research, which receives about 90 percent of its roughly $3 million budget from federal sources. “We are very vulnerable, and from our standpoint we see climate change research as something very critical that has big impacts on the state and the globe.”

In addition to about 20 scientists whose research into the complex mechanics of climate change is funded by three federal agencies, there are dozens of others working on ways to slow the release of greenhouse gases through things like better batteries and alternative fuels.

And there is even more research into issues such as the ways human health and drinking water will be affected and how farmers, foresters, wildlife managers and others can best adapt so that changes in climate don’t undermine their work, said Dan Vimont, CCR director.

.................................

Another Trump-related concern in Wisconsin is whether the EPA will continue to push the state to fix dozens of deficiencies in its protection of lakes and streams, and do more for rural residents whose drinking water has been polluted for years by animal waste.
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