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Sunday, June 21, 2015

The Daily Drift

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Jobless claims fall more than expected

What Spain’s Populist, Gender-Neutral Mayoral Shift Could Mean for America in 2016

spanish pop
Last weekend, the Spanish cities of Madrid and Barcelona put the official celebratory touches on a revolutionary transition that occurred during May’s municipal elections. In Madrid, 71 year-old retired judge Manuela Carmena’s supporters leveraged a bit of the Obama slogan magic (“Yes We Can!”) in a jubilant mayoral oath of office ceremony that promised real populist change for the third largest city in the European Union.
Throughout her campaign, Carmena warned both supporters and detractors that she and her team “want to lead by listening to people who don’t use fancy titles to address us…We’re creating a new kind of politics that doesn’t fit within the conventions…Get ready.”
621 kilometers away, housing market reform champion Ada Colau, 41, became the first-ever female mayor of Barcelona, claiming victory with a platform that includes an anti-eviction approach for struggling homeowners. The rise to power of the two women in two different Spanish cities is striking for a number of reasons.
Firstly, Spain’s conservative Popular Party, which currently runs the national government, has struggled mightily to reverse the country’s losses in the wake of the Great Recession. This party ruled Madrid for 24 years prior to Carmena’s win at the polls. Not any longer.  And in a commitment to fellow Barcelonians which demonstrates that change begins with the executive office, a June 14 report from RT.com states that Colau’s “administration will now draft a list of 30 measures aimed at creating jobs and fighting corruption. Along with her colleague in Madrid, Colau announced that she will slash her salary from €140,000, down to €35,000.”
Beyond the profound shift in political party loyalty among voters in the EU’s fifth-largest economy, where the unemployment rate hovers around 24 percent, the disparate ages of the new mayors is also significant. In a 2016 American Presidential primary contest where GOP candidates such as Florida Senator Marco Rubio are looking to frame the election as a “generational choice,” the voters of Madrid and Barcelona sent a very different message. Age? Not important as long as you’re willing to make a profound break with the status quo.
Lastly, beyond casual mention of the genders of Carmena and Colau, and the historical note of Colau’s demographic singularity as the new mayor of Barcelona, the story is not of two women in a still male-dominated political landscape. The narrative thread, rather, is exactly what it should be. As Colau put it, “In Barcelona…a bet was made for change.”
So what do these international events portend for the 2016 general Presidential election?  Beginning with the 2013 referendum in New York City that saw liberal Democrat Bill DeBlasio ride a populist wave of Occupy Wall Street sentiment to the mayor’s residence, the country’s urban left has been louder and more demonstrative. One need only listen to Democratic frontrunner Hillary Clinton’s Roosevelt Island speech to understand the powerful effect vocal liberal heroes such as Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders have had on moving the candidate’s platform sharply to the left. As reported, self-reported liberals now outnumber conservatives.
It may have taken a decade longer than we can rightfully spare with such a lengthy and challenging list of obstacles standing between us and a return to the nation’s middle class solvency, but the growing consensus at home and overseas is clear. If ignorance is the greatest tool of oppression, the right is running out of arrows. The 99 percent knows it’s getting a raw deal, has in fact been receiving one for decades. During each post- Bush 44 election cycle, repudiation of the conservative economic “plan” grows stronger. If we move the conversation away from the age, gender and race of the 2016 candidates (an admittedly tall order), we are left with more than 80 percent of the electorate residing in urban, liberal-skewing hubs waiting for their Spanish moment.

Bernie Sanders Praises Pope Francis For His Powerful Message On Climate Change

Bernie-Sanders-point
Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders praised Pope Francis today for delivering a powerful message on climate change. Sanders also reminded Republicans that they invited the Pope to address them and urged climate change deniers to listen to what Francis is saying.
In a statement Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) urged Republicans to listen to the Pope on climate change, “Pope Francis’ powerful message on climate change should change the debate around the world and become a catalyst for the bold actions needed to reverse global warming. The pope helps us all see how those with the least among us will fare the worst from the consequences of climate change. I very much appreciate that the Republican leadership has invited the pope to address Congress. I hope they listen to what he has to say. Denying the science related to climate change is no longer acceptable.”
The Pope’s encyclical embraced the science behind climate change, ” A very solid scientific consensus indicates that we are presently witnessing a disturbing warming of the climatic system. In recent decades this warming has been accompanied by a constant rise in the sea level and, it would appear, by an increase of extreme weather events, even if a scientifically determinable cause cannot be assigned to each particular phenomenon. Humanity is called to recognise the need for changes of lifestyle, production and consumption, in order to combat this warming or at least the human causes which produce or aggravate it. It is true that there are other factors (such as volcanic activity, variations in the Earth’s orbit and axis, the solar cycle), yet a number of scientific studies indicate that most global warming in recent decades is due to the great concentration of greenhouse gases (carbon dioxide, methane, nitrogen oxides and others) released mainly as a result of human activity.”
The fact that the Pope has embraced science has placed him in a more forward thinking and realistic position than science denying Republicans. It also demonstrates how far towards the fringe one of the two political parties in the US has gone.
Francis took on climate change deniers, “Many of those who possess more resources and economic or political power seem mostly to be concerned with masking the problems or concealing their symptoms, simply making efforts to reduce some of the negative impacts of climate change.”
Pope Francis stated that those who hide their climate change denial behind scripture are misinterpreting the Bible, “We are not God. The earth was here before us and it has been given to us. This allows us to respond to the charge that Judaeo-Christian thinking, on the basis of the Genesis account which grants man “dominion” over the earth (cf. Gen 1:28), has encouraged the unbridled exploitation of nature by painting him as domineering and destructive by nature. This is not a correct interpretation of the Bible as understood by the Church. Although it is true that we Christians have at times incorrectly interpreted the Scriptures, nowadays we must forcefully reject the notion that our being created in God’s image and given dominion over the earth justifies absolute domination over other creatures. The biblical texts are to be read in their context, with an appropriate hermeneutic, recognizing that they tell us to “till and keep” the garden of the world (cf. Gen 2:15). “Tilling” refers to cultivating, ploughing or working, while “keeping” means caring, protecting, overseeing and preserving. This implies a relationship of mutual responsibility between human beings and nature. Each community can take from the bounty of the earth whatever it needs for subsistence, but it also has the duty to protect the earth and to ensure its fruitfulness for coming generations.”
The Pope has firmly aligned himself with those who believe that climate change is real and that humanity must act. The Pope echoed a message similar to what President Obama, Bernie Sanders, and others have been saying in the United States. Republicans in this country are holding back global progress on climate change to enrich their corporate donors.
Francis’ encyclical makes it clear that climate change deniers can no longer hide behind their warped version of The Bible. The most powerful religious leader in the world has taken a stand, and he and Bernie Sanders share the same position on protecting our planet.

At 10%, Uninsured Rate Hits New Low — And The Republican Cabal Is Keeping It From Single Digits

by Jesse Berney
The Urban Institute’s regular survey of insurance rates in America has found for the first time that only 10 percent of nonelderly adults in the United States don’t have health insurance, a dramatic change since the Affordable Care Act went into effect.
It’s even lower in states that have accepted federal funds to expand Medicaid; in those states the rate is at 7.5 percent.
But in states where legislatures and governors have refused to allow the Medicaid expansion called for in the ACA, the rate stands at 14.4 percent — nearly twice as high.
It was the Supreme Court who ruled states could opt out of the Medicaid expansion, but it was Republican politicians — almost exclusively — who stood in the way of states accepting hundreds of millions of dollars from the federal government to help some of the most vulnerable families, those just outside the poverty line, from getting coverage.
Obamacare has done a lot to bring that number down: keeping young people on their parents’ insurance until they’re 26, creating the exchanges, mandating coverage. But the Medicaid expansion has been essential to getting millions of people the insurance they desperately need, and the GOP is continuing to let petty politics stand in the way of helping the people they represent.
The number will likely drop into single digits soon, unless the Supreme Court rules against Obamacare in King v. Burwell. But it could get there much faster — instantaneously — if the states that haven’t accepted Medicaid expansion finally put it into place.

North Carolina voting restrictions have racially-disproportionate outcomes

Governor Pat McCrory, via DonkeyHotey / Flickr
Report: North Carolina voting restrictions have racially-disproportionate outcomes
By Chief Justice Roberts’s own standard, “any racial discrimination in voting is too much.”

New Jersey Democrats spurn Christie, push slate of voting rights expansions

Chris Christie, via L.E.MORMILE / ShutterstockNew Jersey Democrats spurn Christie, push slate of voting rights expansions
Senator Cory Booker recently called New Jersey’s voter registration system an “absurdity.”

Good Question

Here are 10 of the worst domestic terror attacks by extreme 'christians' and wingnut white men

A rogue's gallery of some of America's most notorious domestic terrorists
Most of the terrorist activity in the U.S. in recent years has come not from muslims, but from radical christianists, white supremacists and lunatic fringe militia groups.

Corporate Media And The Dangerous Wingnut Elephant In The Room

Corporate Media And The Dangerous Right-Wing Elephant In The Room

Dear Republican Cabal: South Carolina Blood Is On Your Hands

Dear GOP: South Carolina Blood Is On Your Hands
Where does all this hateful rhetoric come from?

Why Don’t We Know Much About Lunatic Fringe Wingnut Terrorists?

The Wingnuts Fired The Guy Studying Them
Why Don’t We Know Much About Right-Wing Terrorists? Conservatives Fired The Guy Studying ThemSince 9/11 more Americans have died on U.S. soil from lunatic fringe wingnut terrorism than from islamic terrorism and wingnuts don’t want you to know about it.

Why We Overlook The Threat From The Lunatic Fringe Wingnut Extremists

Knee-deep in blood

lapierre1 copy

The Wildly Different Ways One Republican Responds To Terrorism: Boston Versus Charleston


It's A Fact

2015 Began with 332 Anti-Choice Provisions in Just Three Months

AbortionRestrictionsMap-040215
The Guttmacher Institute gave us the bad news early on that 2015 was not going to be a better year for women than 2014 :
By the end of the first quarter of the year [April 1], legislators had introduced 791 provisions related to sexual and reproductive health and rights. Nearly 42% of these provisions (332 provisions) seek to restrict ac cess to abortion services; abortion restrictions have been introduced in 43 states…53 abortion restrictions had been approved by a legislative chamber, and nine had been enacted.
The Republican Party, regardless of what it says about the economy – taxes, jobs, trade, manufacturing – is still focused primarily on attacking women’s reproductive health. The Republican War on Women is far from a myth. It is alive and well. The numbers prove it, and it is only getting worse from year to year:
2000-2014-maps-states
As you can see, much as the Republican Party likes to talk about a war on Christianity – or even the criminalization of Christianity – it is in fact people calling themselves Christians who are criminalizing women.
According to the yokels at the inappropriately-named Liberty Council, abortion is Baal worship, (so, apparently, is gayness) echoing Ben Carson’s claim last year that abortion is human sacrifice:
This is the left’s sacred cow. It’s like a religious ritual, a religious rite. They worship at the altar of death, of child dismemberment. It’s like Baal worship of old, worshiping Moloch, where they would sacrifice innocent human beings. There’s no difference. They’re just not putting them in a furnace and worshiping an idol, but they really are worshiping an idol, the idol of abortion, and they’re killing the babies in this clinical setting. It’s no different from child sacrifice of old.
Increasingly, however, Baal the Cloud Rider, the weather god, seems then to be the champion of women who are raped at the behest of YHWH, his old Bronze Age persecutor. I am beginning to think the only thing the Religious Right’s god loves more than money is rape.
Recently, Susan B. Anthony List president Marjorie Dannenfelser told wingnut critics that Lindsey Graham’s 20-week abortion ban’s “rape exception is abominable” – “regrettable,” “just wrong” and “completely intellectually dishonest.”
She didn’t have anything bad to say about rape. Or rapists. Just about letting raped women have access to abortions. Needless to say, the Hobby Lobby ruling ensures they won’t necessarily have access to contraception either.
Wisconsin’s “medical emergency” exemption is under similar attack from so-called pro-life groups. These pro-rape, anti-victim attitudes characterize the GOP today.
Guttmacher Institute tells us that this year started badly and we have already seen that it is not getting any better.
Sure, we have just seen the Supreme Court reject an appeal by North Carolina to restore an ultrasound law, but Scott Walker has unsavory plans for Wisconsin women – banning abortion after 20 weeks – and Kansas has proven that no matter how broke it is, it can always find money to ban abortions after only 14 weeks.
Women should flee Red States today to places where they can breathe the free air. Such havens do still exist. Though that won’t be true if the House has its way.
If states are attacking women’s reproductive choices, the Republican-led House of Representatives, if it can’t create a single job, is more than willing to ban abortion.
Just don’t expect any of those babies born to grow up to jobs waiting for them if the GOP has anything to say about it. Assuming they can get food and medical care to survive that long – or an education to qualify them for the job.
The picture is not a pretty one as women in 43 states are potential victims of legislation introduced by their elected officials, and that was just up to April 1. According to Guttmacher, “More than half of U.S. women of reproductive age live in states that are hostile or extremely hostile to abortion rights”:
more-than-half-women-live-in-hostile
Guttmacher points out that, “legislators in 16 states have introduced state versions of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA),” and while attention has focused on these laws as an anti-gay measure, “the potential impact on contraceptive coverage—and reproductive health more broadly—has received little, if any, attention.”
Communism? Bah! The Red Menace has taken on new meaning for American women.
If you think women are being represented by their legislators, you are wrong: the legislators seem to think they have been elected to regulate, or even put a stop to, female sexuality.
It is a wonder at this point that any woman at all votes Republican. Because for a woman to vote Republican is to enter into sexual slavery. With this man:
ted-cruz-smarmy
And Cruz opposes abortion for victims of rape and incest. He calls contraception “abortion-inducing drugs.”
If nothing else moves you, think about it this way:
Do you want to be a sex slave to people like Lindsey Graham, Scott Walker, Sam Brownback, Greg Abbot, and Ted Cruz – and Bryan Fischer?
Bryan_Fischer_Government
Think about that.

Lunatic Fringe Nutjob: Liberals ‘Worship At The Altar Of Death’, Calls Abortion Our ‘Ritual’

Right-Wing Nutjob: Liberals ‘Worship At The Altar Of Death’, Calls Abortion Our ‘Ritual’When this wingnut started shrieking smack about “the left” he went a world too far. Saying that we love abortion is typical from the lunatic fringe but this was a bit much.

Reporting To Murdoch’s Sons Is ‘Effectively A Demotion’ For Roger Ailes

Reporting To Murdoch’s Sons Is ‘Effectively A Demotion’ For Roger Ailes
 Could Roger be on his way out?
The world surely hopes so.

Mexico’s Supreme Court legalizes same-sex marriage

Rainbow Mexico, via Wikimedia CommonsMexico’s Supreme Court legalizes same-sex marriage
Over 80 percent of Mexican citizens are Catholic, and a majority of them support marriage equality.