Embedded Files
Law is on DOJ's side in court showdown
John Yoo, a former counsel to Mr. Bush, argued that Mr. Trump was using a potent weapon that has been used throughout history — the presidential prerogative to provoke a constitutional crisis when a vital issue is at stake — on an insignificant matter.
“I hate to see a president waste that kind of authority, which should only be deployed for our most important questions, on this immigration order, which the president could easily withdraw, fix and resubmit,” said Mr. Yoo, now a law professor at the University of California, Berkeley. “President Trump is pressing the accelerator down to 120 miles per hour on every single issue. He will exhaust himself and exhaust his presidency.”
Peter Wallison, a former White House counsel to Ronald Reagan, said the president often wished to weigh in on legal matters concerning personal friends or issues important to his administration, and Mr. Wallison always advised against it, both to protect the tradition of judicial independence and avoid undercutting the courts’ legitimacy.“It’s not illegal, it’s not a violation of the law to these things, but it’s bad policy because it raises questions about the independence of the courts, and it raises questions about the judicial system as a whole when the president says this,” Mr. Wallison said. Mr. Reagan did not always take his advice, he added, and in those instances, “I always cringed.”
“This policy sends a very negative message to countries where we will need indigenous support from translators and peacekeepers.”
What it means if Trump names China a currency manipulator
The trade deal (TPP) Mr Trump is quitting is the same one to which his predecessor signed up and spent years urging allies to do the same. Beijing will now encourage regional Asian governments to compare the reliability of Chinese pledges with American ones
‘Emoluments’ Lawsuit Against Trump May Get Kicked Out Of Court
Citizens for the responsibility and ethics in Washington
Why Trump’s Contempt For The Emoluments Clause Matters
Trump Adviser Michael Flynn Had FIVE Calls With Russian Ambassador On Day Of Sanctions: Source
Poking Holes In Presidency Dems Cast Doubt On Mr Trump's Legitimacy Fox & Friends
John Lewis: Trump is not a 'legitimate' president
Comey Letter on Clinton Email Is Subject of Justice Dept. Inquiry
Senate Republicans Take The First Big Step Toward Repealing Obamacare
Black Lawmakers: America ‘Cannot Count’ On Jeff Sessions
President Barack Obama’s legacy faces nasty reality as he leaves office
President Barack Obama’s legacy faces nasty reality as he leaves office
For the record Obama did the job on Jobs.
A man who personified integrity.
Who grappled honestly with complex challenges.
Who tried his level best to heal an embittered nation.
Who, refusing to settle for cosmetic victories, delivered concrete improvements in millions of lives.
These Americans confidently await the judgment of history on the man who, for eight years, they were proud to call their President.
Intelligence Report on Russian Hacking
Mr. Trump’s victory followed a complicated, multipart cyberinformation attack whose goal had evolved to help the Republican win.The report may be a political blow to Mr. Trump. But it is also a risky moment for the intelligence agencies that have become more powerful since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, but have had to fend off allegations that they exaggerated intelligence during the buildup to the Iraq war.“Putin and the Russian Government aspired to help President-elect Trump’s election chances when possible by discrediting Secretary Clinton and publicly contrasting her unfavorably to him,” the report by the nation’s intelligence agencies concluded.
“We did not make an assessment of the impact that Russian activities had on the outcome of the 2016 election,” the report concluded, saying it was beyond its responsibility to analyze American “political processes” or public opinion.The report’s unequivocal assessment of RT presents an awkward development for Lt. Gen. Michael T. Flynn, who is Mr. Trump’s choice to serve as national security adviser. Mr. Flynn has appeared repeatedly on RT’s news programs and in December 2015 was paid by the network to give a speech in Russia and attend its lavish anniversary party, where he sat at the elbow of Mr. Putin. Mr. Flynn has since defended his speech, insisting that RT is no different from CNN or MSNBC.
The report also stated that Russia collected data “on some Republican-affiliated targets,” but did not disclose the contents of whatever it harvested.
“I don’t think what worked in a campaign against Jeb Bush is really going to work when you are dealing, you know, with the combined power of the C.I.A., N.S.A. and the F.B.I.,” said John Weaver, a frequent critic of Mr. Trump who worked on Ohio Gov. John Kasich’s unsuccessful primary campaign against him.
Attack dog strategy has its limits.
Attack dog strategy has its limits.
How a Sensational, Unverified Dossier Became a Crisis for Donald Trump
Jared Kushner, a Trump In-Law and Adviser, Chases a Chinese Deal
Obama tells Democrats: 'Don't rescue' Republicans on 'Trumpcare'
U.S. Punishes Russia for Election Hacking, Ejecting Operatives
The Russian military has 771,000 personnel, 22,000 tanks, 1,337 combat aircraft, and approximately 4,500 deployed and stockpiled nuclear weapons. China has 2.3 million active military personnel, a further 500,000 estimated in the reserves, and approximately 250 stockpiled nuclear weapons. In contrast to these large standing forces, ISIL has approximately 100,000 fighters located mostly within Iraq and Syria. Based upon the framework presented here, Russia is the only existential threat to the United States, in large part due to their nuclear arsenal. And while China can threaten United States interests worldwide, ISIL's main capability to strike the United States is through inspiring someone already there to conduct an attack.
Did the Russians “hack” the election? A look at the established facts
Why are Americans so pro-Israel? For reasons practical and idealistic, religious and strategic. They are linked by the kinship of common values -- an affinity of strength and decency that reflects the best of both nations, and sets them apart.
Electoral College Settles Donald Trump’s Victory, but Little Else
The matter of what exactly to confront Mr. Trump over is harder to figure. In the next few weeks alone, progressives will be forced to decide how much money and attention to devote to Mr. Trump’s cabinet and White House appointments, his pick to fill a vacant seat on the Supreme Court, his financial conflicts of interest and his stated plan to quickly repeal the Affordable Care Act. That’s not to mention unexpected foreign or domestic crises that may arise as Mr. Trump takes the oath of office.
“In terms of needing to fight Trump and get back on track in the states, the left is unified,” said Gara LaMarche, the president of the Democracy Alliance. “The harder question is how you fight intelligently and strategically when every house is burning down.”
While progressives were furious with how Mr. Bush came to office in 2001, he was part of a well-known political family and had run on a message of “compassionate conservatism.”
The arrival in Washington of Ronald Reagan as leader of the conservative movement is the better comparison, Mr. Kazin said. He noted that then, as now, liberal advocacy groups and publications saw their support soar in the days after Reagan’s election and that progressives organized vast protests (a quarter-million people descended on the capital in September 1981 for a little-remembered Solidarity Day march organized by the A.F.L.-C.I.O.). Reagan, however, had won in a 44-state landslide, capturing 489 electoral votes and leaving little doubt about his mandate. Mr. Trump, as the protesters Monday sought to make clear, is coming to office under far different circumstances.
Trump Offers Jeff Sessions Attorney General Job
DONALD TRUMP’S 10 POINT PLAN FOR BLACK AMERICA – SO WHADDYA THINK?
Donald Trump’s Win Met With Dark And Foreboding Reactions
CNN’s Van Jones Perfectly Explains The Pain Of A Donald Trump Victory
After High-Profile Shootings, Blacks Seek Prosecutor Seats
A Scandal Too Far? Huma Abedin, Hillary Clinton, and a Test of Loyalty
Trump no longer welcome in Hollywood
Donald Trump Tax Records Show He Could Have Avoided Taxes for Nearly Two Decades, The Times Found
Why Donald Trump Should Not Be President
Colin Powell Thinks Donald Trump Is A ‘National Disgrace,’ Leaked Emails Reveal
Office of Research & Development
Obama appointments already pulling appeals courts to the left
Trump talks taxes, but media mesmerized by GOP defections
First on CNN: Ex-top Christie aide backs Clinton over Trump
Russell Simmons: ‘My Greatest Fear’ For America Isn’t A Trump Presidency
Black GOP Senator Talks About Being Pulled Over By Police 7 Times In One Year
Why in America do we have to choose between caring about Philando Castile and Dallas cops?
Blimey! The Brexit is upon us — Here's everything you need to know
Muhammad Ali, 'The Greatest of All Time,' Dead at 74
Kerry defends Obama's Brussels response, says GOP campaign rhetoric an 'embarrassment'
6 takeaways from Super Tuesday
Democratic debate: CNN's Reality
Fact Checks of the Sixth Democratic Debate
FBI formally confirms its investigation of Hillary Clinton’s email server
Sanders closing Clinton's national polling lead, as NH votes
'El Chapo's' capture: Is the mission really accomplished?
North Korea Says It Successfully Tested Hydrogen Nuclear Bomb
Reasons They Haven’t Hit Us Again
Anonymous Says ISIS Plans Attacks Against 'Paris And The World' Sunday
Mastermind behind Paris attacks is dead
Russian Ships Near Data Cables Are Too Close for U.S. Comfort
Russian Ships Near Data Cables Are Too Close for U.S. Comfort
The role of the cables is more important than ever before. They carry global business worth more than $10 trillion a day, including from financial institutions that settle transactions on them every second. Any significant disruption would cut the flow of capital. The cables also carry more than 95 percent of daily communications.
Adoption Day
Syrian Government Forces Launch Wide-Ranging Offensive
Obama can't stay in Afghanistan, but he can't leave
In a broader sense, the plight of Kunduz, and the fact that it fell to the Taliban at all, casts an unflattering light on Afghan forces built with billions of dollars from the U.S. and its allies in a bid to provide a rational for foreign troops to go home.
Notable jihadist organisations
Jihadism in the East
East Turkestan Islamic MovementSouth Thailand insurgencyInsurgency in Jammu and KashmirWar in North-West PakistanMoro insurgency in the Philippines
Jihadism in the West
Deal on Greek Debt Crisis Is Reached, but Long Road Remains
The Next Few Days Have the Potential to Transform Greece and Europe
A “Yes” vote means that Greece will continue the grinding era of austerity that has caused so much pain to its citizens over the last five years, in exchange for keeping the euro currency and the monetary stability it provides.
A “No” vote almost certainly means that the country will walk away from the euro and create its own currency (which will surely devalue sharply), bringing financial chaos in the near term but creating the possibility of a rebound in the medium term as the country becomes more competitive with its devalued currency,
The Elephant In The Room: Senators Finally Credit Edward Snowden For Role In Patriot Act Reforms
USA Freedom Act vs. USA PATRIOT Act
ISIS Takes Full Control Of Palmyra, Books Second Major Victory In Days
Americans Against The Tea Party
Was there a cover-up in bin Laden killing?
Eyewitnesses: The Baltimore Riots Didn't Start the Way You Think
Hong Kong Leader’s Warning Renews Protesters’ Zeal as Crowds Swell
"The protests demanding a fully democratic vote for the city’s leader erupted last weekend, then expanded after the police’s use of tear gas and pepper spray spurred public sympathy for the demonstrators. The protesters occupied major roads with sit-in camps that remained mostly peaceful until Friday, when gangs of men assaulted two camps. Some local residents, weary of the disruption from the week-old occupation, cheered on the attacks. The protesters have demanded that the city’s leader, or chief executive, be chosen through a freely democratic vote. But the Chinese government has insisted that Hong Kong accept far more restricted electoral changes, which would allow the city’s voters to choose only among two or three candidates who have the blessing of Beijing and its loyalists."
ISIS an 'Incredible' Fighting Force, US Special Ops Sources Say
occupation
Will the Gulf Monarchies Work Together?
(Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, and Oman)
Iran
Iran
and the
and the
United States
United States
Back opposite sides in the Syrian conflict... but ...
Have been enemies since 1979 and remain highly antagonistic on most issues
Have a major common interest in the survival of the Maliki government in Iraq and the defeat of the Sunni extremist militias
United States
United States
and
and
the Gulf Monarchies,including Saudi Arabia
the Gulf Monarchies,including Saudi Arabia
Turkey
Turkey
and the
and the
Iraqi Kurds
Iraqi Kurds
Have developed extensive commercial relations
The Turks are wary of Kurdish gains in Iraq, for fear that it will prompt a flare-up of Kurdish separatism in TurkeyThe Kurds are deeply suspicious of Turkish intervention in Iraq
The monarchies are hostile to the American-backed, Shiite-dominated Maliki government in IraqGulf money has financed jihadist fighters in Syria and Iraq that the United States wants no part of
Have agreed to cooperate in Syria... but ...
Are longstanding allies, sharing an interest in containing IranBack the opposition to the Assad government in Syria... but ...
The Kurds
The Kurds
and the
and the
Maliki
Maliki
Government
Government
Have sectarian differences (most Kurds are Sunnis)… but …
Are at odds over boundaries, oil revenue and the Kurds’ goal of independence
Share an interest in preventing a Sunni militant takeover of either Iraq or SyriaHave cooperated tactically against Sunni militant fighters
The Gulf Monarchies
The Gulf Monarchies
and the
and the
Sunni Insurgents
Sunni Insurgents
Share antipathy for Shiite rule and Iranian influence in Iraq and the region... but ...
Have a common enemy in the Assad government in Syria
The monarchies consider ISIS and its goal of a hard-line caliphate too extreme and a threatThe insurgents consider the monarchies corrupt and
The Powerful, Courageous Maya Angelou
"You may shoot me with your words,
You may cut me with your eyes,
You may kill me with your hatefulness,
But still, like air, I'll rise."
These Four Words Completely And Hilariously Sum Up Harvard Law School According To Mindy Kaling
Why U.S. Is Pushing for Guilty Plea in BNP Paribas Sanctions Probe
Justice Sonia Sotomayor
The Pentagon press secretary, Rear Adm. John Kirby, said in a statement: “Although the Department of Defense finds value in the military-to-military relationship with the Russian Federation we have developed over the past few years to increase transparency, build understanding and reduce the risk of military miscalculation, we have, in light of recent events in Ukraine, put on hold all military-to-military engagements between the United States and Russia.”
“Those who try to interpret the situation as an act of aggression, threaten us with sanctions and boycotts, are the same partners who have been consistently and vigorously encouraging the political powers close to them to declare ultimatums and renounce dialogue,” Sergey V. Lavrov, the Russian foreign minister, said in a speech in Geneva.”
At least 26 killed in Ukraine protests, while pressure mounts on government to end violence
Both sides of the Michael Dunn trial speak out against jury's ruling
CEO pay is determined by a company board of directors . Those directors are compensated for the time they spend shaping the company strategy. Here is what the fortune 100 executives paid each other from 2008 to 2012.
Trade Dispute Centers on Ukrainian Executive With Ties to Clintons
Thadeus A. Thomas, Tom Hooper "Le Miserables" Director
CEOs Slam Fiscal Cliff 'Disaster,' Call For Specific Deficit Reduction Plan
The Few, The Proud, The Marines! Happy Birthday Jar-heads! oorah!
There are only 176,000 of us on active duty, the smallest of all the Armed Forces.
The United States Marine Corps traces its institutional roots to the Continental Marines of the Revolutionary War, formed by Captain Samuel Nicholas by a resolution of the Second Continental Congress on the 10th of November, 1775 at Tuns Tavern in Philadelphia, Pa.
One of the Marines more notable actions occurred during the First Barbary War, 1801-1805 against the Barbary Pirates. Some now say, the first terrorist attack. William Eaton and Lt. Presley O”Bannon led eight, imagine that, just eight Marines and approximately 500 mercenaries in an effort to seize Tripoli. This siege attempt only reached Derna, yet the action has been memorialized in the lyrics of the Marine Corps hymn and the Mameluke Sword adorned by Marine officers.
The whole Tripoli aspect of military history being re-visited again is a bit uncanny.
The values and discipline we learned in the Marine Corps travel with me like the calcium in my bones.
“Here’s health to you and to our Corps/ Which we are proud to serve/ In many a strife we’ve fought for life/ and never lost our nerve/ If the Army and the Navy ever look on Heaven’s scenes/They will find the streets are guarded by United States Marines.
Harvard's Black Studies Program Receives $15 Million Gift
Romney family trust continued to buy investments...
Romney's trust for his grown children also bought and sold shares in China North Oil, recently named by the Congressional Research Service as a likely violator of the Iran Sanctions Act, and in Intesa Sanpaolo, an Italian bank that has been under investigation by U.S. authorities for handling of Iranian funds. There were also trades in stock of Gazprom, Schlumberger, Komatsu and Unilever – all firms that have had business in or with Iran.
Many of those companies are included among an extensive list compiled by United Against Nuclear Iran, a bipartisan group urging pressure on firms with business in Iran. A spokesman for the group, Nathan Carleton, declined to comment on Romney's holdings. But Carleton noted that the group's list – it named several of the firms the Romney trusts bought stock in – "is available for anyone to investigate."
Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy
The year 2012 may become known as a watershed for humanity – the year when mankind was precipitated into a global conflagration involving nuclear weapons. The signs are indeed grimly ominous as formidable military forces converge on the Persian Gulf in the long-running stand-off between the United States and Iran.
On side with the US are its European allies in NATO, primarily Britain, Washington’s Middle East client states: Israel and the Arab monarchies of the Persian Gulf – all bristling with weapons of mass destruction. Recent naval exercises by Iran in the Strait of Hormuz have also displayed a fierce arsenal of missiles and military capability, and Iran has strategic alliances with Russia and China, both of whom will not stand idly by if their Persian partner is attacked.
As we have consistently analysed on Global Research, the conflict between the US-led powers and Iran has wider ramifications. It is part and parcel of Washington’s bid to engineer the social and political upheavals across the Arab World in order to redraw the region in its strategic interests. It is no coincidence that fresh from NATO’s conquest of and regime change in Libya, the focus has quickly shifted to Syria – a key regional ally of Iran. As Michel Chossudovsky has pointed out “the road to Tehran goes through to Damascus”. Regime change in Syria would serve to isolate Iran. Subjugating Iran and returning it to Western tutelage is the prize that Washington and its allies have been seeking for the past 33 years ever since their client the Shah, Mohammad Rezā Pahlavi, was deposed by the Islamic Revolution in 1979.
Iran is an energy-rich colossus, with oil and, more importantly, natural gas reserves that put it, with approximately 10% of global reserves, in the world’s top three oil economies alongside Washington’s client states of Saudi Arabia and Iraq. In sharp contrast, the US has less than 2% of global oil reserves.
The conquest of Iran's oil riches is the driving force behind America's military agenda.
The US-led conquest of Iraq – costing over a million lives in a nine-year occupation – is part of Washington’s long-held plans to dominate the globe’s vast energy resources that reside in the Persian Gulf and Central Asian regions. The decade-long war in Afghanistan is another flank in this US bid for hegemony over the fuel for the capitalist world economy. For nearly three decades, the US-led Western capitalist world has been deprived of exploiting Iranian energy wealth. The Islamic Republic has remained defiantly independent of Washington’s control, not just in terms of its vast hydrocarbon riches, but also politically. Iran is no puppet of the West as it was formerly under the despotic Shah Mohammad Rezā Pahlavi.
Tehran has shown itself to be a trenchant critic of Western imperialist meddling in the region and fawning over the criminal Israeli persecution of Palestinians. Another important source of Western animus towards Iran and the deeply held desire for regime change is the loss that the Iranian revolution implies for the lucrative American, British and French weapons industry. When Shah Mohammad Rezā Pahlavi was kicked out in February 1979, so too was a massive market for Western arms dealers. The recent $50 billion arms sales to Saudi Arabia – the “biggest-ever in history” – that had the Pentagon salivating, would be easily replicated in Iran, if a similar client regime could be installed there.
From the Western powers’ point of view, Iran is both an elusive prize and a frustrating obstacle. Bringing Iran back into the orbit of Western capitalist control has the added significance of depriving energy and other geopolitical advantages to rival powers, in particular Russia and China. In a strategic review earlier this month, Washington highlighted China as its pre-eminent global competitor in the coming decades. The militarized agenda towards China was also heralded by US President Barack Obama during his Asia-Pacific tour at the end of 2011. China is heavily dependent on Iranian oil. Some 20 per cent of all Iranian crude oil exports are traded with China. The latter has billions of dollars worth of energy investments in Iran, in particular the natural gas sector, which energy analysts view as the primary fuel in forthcoming decades. Washington’s policy of hostility and regime change towards Iran and furthering its hegemony over this vital region is as much about wresting control from its perceived competitors, Russia and China. That factor takes on added importance as America’s economic power wanes.
These issues form the bigger picture that explains the drive for war in the Persian Gulf, which the mainstream media has chosen to carefully ignore. The broader implications of this war are either trivialized or not mentioned. People are led to believe that war is part of a "humanitarian mandate" and that both Iran as well as Iran's allies, namely China and Russia, constitute an unrelenting threat to global security and "Western democracy"
While the most advanced weapons system are used, America's wars are never presented as "killing operations" resulting in extensive civilian casualties. While the incidence of "collateral damage" is acknowledged, US-led wars are heralded as an unquestionable instrument of "peace-making" and "democratization".
The selection of articles below is intended to give readers a condensed overview of the events and issues at stake in the so-called stand-off between the US, its allies, and Iran. We have selected articles with a news emphasis while also providing a historical background.
In Part I, Playing with Fire: Covert Acts of Aggression, Provocation and War, our reports and analyses show how the military build-up in the Persian Gulf has an alarming deliberation and potential for an all-out regional conflict. We also expose Washington’s criminal covert war against Iran, including the assassination of Iranian scientists and the incursion of the country’s territory with spy drones. However, we don’t merely report the occurrence of these events, our writers show how this mainly US-led militarization is part of the wider strategy for American global dominance.
We also demonstrate in Part II, War-Making is a Crime: The Latest Episode in America’s Long Record, that the belligerent policy of Washington and its allies is criminal. Before even firing a shot, the Western powers are violating international laws and protocols of diplomacy. Equipped with this legal insight and knowledge is essential for citizens to mount an effective anti-war movement. In this section, we also provide a historical background showing that Washington’s hostility towards Iran is but the latest episode in a long history of criminal war-making by the US.
Central to the Western powers' avowed rationale in the Persian Gulf is their presentation of Iran as a threat to world peace, in particular from its alleged development of nuclear weapons. In Part III, Media Manipulation: Lies, Distortions and Selling Yet Another War to the Public, we dispel the myths, fog and fabrications behind these allegations to show that Iran does not have, nor is intending to build, nuclear weapons. Its “nuclear ambitions” (a phrase so often said with sinister connotations) are to develop civilian energy and medical capabilities – well within the provisions and entitlements of the Non-Proliferation Treaty. Countless inspections over several years by the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), have not found any evidence to support Western claims. Yet these well-worn and hollow claims continue to be recycled in the mainstream media. The IAEA has also shown itself to have become a willing political tool for Western governments and intelligence agencies by casting sinister doubt on the Iranian nuclear programme even though the IAEA has not found any proof to justify such doubts. We show that the supposed nuclear threat feared by the Western powers is a specious pretext for their otherwise criminal aggression towards Iran and its 80 million people.
Finally, in Part IV Towards a Global Conflagration, we point to the very real danger of a horrendous cataclysm – if Western governments persist in their criminal drumbeat for war in the Persian Gulf. Russia and China are fully aware that a war on Iran is a stepping stone towards a broader war. The Russian government, in a recent statement, has warned the US and NATO that "should Iran get drawn into any political or military hardships, this will be a direct threat to our national security.”
The region is on a hair-trigger for a conflagration that would involve nuclear weapons and the collision of global powers in what would constitute World War III. The consequences are barely imaginable for the loss of life in such a scenario and for the very future of the planet. Yet all the while, the mainstream media has served to justify this march to war or to downplay its horrific possibilities.
The complacency of Western public opinion --including segments of the US anti-war movement-- is disturbing. No concern has been expressed at the political level as to the likely consequences of a US-NATO-Israel attack on Iran, using nuclear weapons against a non-nuclear state.
Such an action would result in "the unthinkable": a nuclear holocaust over a large part of the Middle East. It should be noted that a nuclear nightmare would occur even if nuclear weapons were not used. The bombing of Iran's nuclear facilities using conventional weapons would contribute to unleashing a Chernobyl-Fukushima type disaster with extensive radioactive fallout.
The "Globalization of War" involving the hegemonic deployment of a formidable US-NATO military force in all major regions of the World is inconsequential in the eyes of the Western media.
War is not front page news in comparison to the most insignificant issues of public concern, including the local level crime scene or the tabloid gossip reports on Hollywood celebrities. The broader implications of this war on Iran are either trivialized or not mentioned. People are led to believe that war is part of a "humanitarian mandate" and that both Iran as well as Iran's allies, namely China and Russia, constitute an unrelenting threat to global security and "Western democracy".
Summary of new Health reform law
Thadeus A. Thomas, Kadiatou Fadiga " Miss Guinea"
Sarah Palin
"The latest dispute surfaced Monday when the president said, "I'm confident that the Supreme Court will not take what would be an unprecedented extraordinary step of overturning a law that was passed by a strong majority of a democratically-elected Congress and I just remind conservative commentators that for years, what we've heard is, the biggest problem on the bench was judicial activism or a lack of judicial restraint, that an unelected group of people would somehow overturn a dually constituted and passed law."
GOP Candidates
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama is casting Mitt Romney as a greedy, job-killing corporate titan with little concern for the working class in a new, multi-pronged effort that seeks to undermine the central rationale for his Republican rival's candidacy: his business credentials.
At the center of the push — the president's most forceful attempt yet to sully Romney before the November election — is a biting new TV ad airing Monday that recounts through interviews with former workers the restructuring, and ultimate demise, of a Kansas City, Mo., steel mill under the Republican's private equity firm.
"They made as much money off of it as they could. And they closed it down," says Joe Soptic, a steelworker for 30 years. Jack Cobb, who also worked in the industry for three decades, adds: "It was like a vampire. They came in and sucked the life out of us."
The ad, at the unusual length of 2 minutes, will run in five battleground states: Iowa, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia and Colorado. The campaign declined to describe the size of the ad buy though it's in the middle of running a $25 million, month-long ad campaign in nine states. A longer version of the ad was being posted online Monday.
What President Obama can do that numbers don't is put a human face on the suffering that Romney and Bain Capital created. Following a decade of weak job growth since the dotcom bubble burst, Obama can neatly tie vulture capitalists to the job insecurity that plagues the United States working classes.
It's this simple: there once was a mutual loyalty betwixt an employer and an employee: it was for life, or at least as much of life as could possibly exist. Spending 25, 30, 40 or even 50 years working for the same company was not unusual, and neither were retirement parties where the worker's longevity was celebrated with a gold watch and a nice pension.
Factories didn't shut down and jobs didn't move to China. People belonged to unions which protected them from this kind of economic servitude, a job that was constantly under threat. People were fired only for cause and not because they were caught up in a market contraction.
In return, people put in a 40 hour week and if there was more work than could be done in that time, another hand was hired, because it was cheaper than paying double overtime.
Quality products were manufactured. We made things that were inexpensive but not cheap.
You could point to any number of things that contributed to the loss of these opportunities: automation, the expansion of the workforce over the decades, the exploitation of economic inefficiencies, or most likely, the combination of all three.
Worse, if Bain and Romney didn't do it, someone else would have, and in a heartbeat. Thing is, none of them is running for President, and if we want to send a message, if the electorate really wants to show its frustration at people who skim the cream of profits off a company before making it deal with less than 80% of its income in order to manage its future, this is that chance.
No one in America...well, very few of us...want to deny anyone the opportunity to make money, even to make as much money as they can. There are limits, however, something a radical capitalist would turn blue in the face trying to deny.
Taking capitalism to its extremes, we would find the most efficient organizations would make nothing and earn as pure a profit as they can.
We call those "investment banks." And in truth, this is where capitalism and democracy have their toughest battles, for democracy is about equal opportunity and the corporatocracy is about protecting opportunity for those who already have it.
And ain't that the story of America in a nutshell? From the Revolutionary War, where only wealthy land-owners had a say in governance, through the civil rights movement, which finally broke two hundred year old ceilings on opportunities, and to today, where the corporatocracy is reforming in bribery and graft-like political activism, America has paid lip service to equality in favor of restoring an aristocratic rule.
That has to change for this nation to have any chance to survive. If President Obama can make this case, that change is inevitable and that we must be that change we seek (and not just sloganeer it, as seemed to be the case in 2008) then we can start down the road of altering our futures for the better.
I do not envy those who are just leaving the cocoon of family and school and staking their claims to the world. You have a lifetime of hard work ahead of you, and if you've been smart, you've paid attention to the news and to events around you.
The one gift that President Obama may have given this nation that may be beyond measure was the activation of the political instincts of an entire generation of kids who might merely have grown into unintentionally ironic hipsters, poised merely to comment and not commence.
Romney's Bain Claims Don't Hold Up
WASHINGTON -- Restore Our Future, the super PAC backing Mitt Romney's presidential campaign, raised a strong $14.8 million in September, making the group the first super PAC ever to raise more than $100 million in an election cycle. The group spent only $4.5 million in the month and entered October with $16.5 million cash on hand.
The biggest contributors were a list of the usual suspects now known as the top Republican super PAC donors. Texas home builder Bob Perry, a funder of the 2004 Swift Boat Veterans group, gave $2 million to increase his total giving to the pro-Romney group to $9 million this election. The other Koch brother, William Koch, gave $1 million through his company Oxbow Carbon. Robert McNair, the owner of the Houston Texans, pitched in $1 million. They were joined in the $1 million club by Nu Skin top executive Steven Lund and his wife Kalleen, and Missouri-based contracting company owner Stanley Herzog.
Those pitching in at the half-million level included previous donors like coal company chief executive Joseph Craft, hedge fund manager Bruce Kovner, investor William Laverack and Texas-based industrialist Harold Simmons.
The super PAC raised most of its money from wealthy individuals -- $10.9 million -- and pulled in $3.87 million from corporations.
One of the top corporate donors is the Washington state-based Greenpoint Technologies, Inc., a supplier of luxury airline interiors, with a $250,000 contribution in September. The truck rental company Penske Corp. gave $250,000 in September, increasing its total giving to the pro-Romney super PAC to $500,000.
Restore Our Future has dramatically increased its spending in October to help put Romney in the White House. After spending just $4.5 million in September, the group has already spent more than $10 million in October, with far more spending planned over the next few days.
The super PAC has also stated that its fundraising took off after Romney's strong performance in the first presidential debate held on Oct. 3.
Political Ticker
Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi (C), Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak (R), Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh (L-bottom),
Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas (top-L) and Secretary General of the Arab League Amr Mussa (top-R) pose for a group picture
ahead of the opening session of the Arab League extraordinary Summit in the Libyan coastal city of Sirte, on October 9, 2010
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