Obama says some Americans are paranoid, fretting about an imagined tyranny lurking behind the corner. Progressives cheer as he mocks his lowly subjects. Yet some among them embrace one of the most despotic state powers imaginable: the draft. … Read More
Progressives pull Facebook ads over Zuckerberg’s big oil agenda
Progressive groups unfriended Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg en masse on Tuesday, hoping to get the point across that they do not appreciate his new pro-immigration group praising senators for supporting the Keystone XL pipeline and opposing the Affordable Care Act. Led by Progressives United,…
My Barbara Lee mistake
I’ve been so dispirited by the way Democrats caved on the FAA “fix” to the sequester bill that I got a fact wrong on C-SPAN’s Washington Journal Wednesday morning.Talking about how President Obama’s advisers dismissed the notion of a veto because the bill passed both the House and Senate with veto proof majorities, I listed some progressives who voted for the bill, including House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and Rep. Maxine Waters. I also included Rep. Barbara Lee, which was really surprising to me. Surprising, because I was wrong, and she didn’t cave.My larger point stands: Although the White House blames the overwhelming Congressional vote for its inaction, had the president made voting against the bill a priority for Democrats, the bill would likely still have passed, but not with a veto-proof majority. It only got 41 “no” votes, 29 of them Democrats. (Here’s the final vote.) Now that the FAA’s been protected, we’ll likely see other carve-outs – but none will protect Head Start kids or Meals on Wheels recipients. Those of us who thought the August 2011 debt-ceiling “compromise” that led to the sequester deal was “a sugar-coated Satan sandwich” were right.Continue Reading… … Read More
Progressives vow to fight Democrats who voted against background checks
Progressives vowed to target Democrats who voted against expanded criminal background checks after the Senate on Wednesday rejected an amendment to gun legislation that would close the so-called gun show loophole. “Today, the Senate voted against the 91% of Americans who support background…
House GOPer compares gun registry to Rwandan genocide
Rep. Jeff Duncan, previously seen saying executive action on gun control would be reminiscent of a dictatorship, has now argued that a national gun registry has “evil consequences,” and compared it to genocide in Rwanda.”The 2nd Amendment is (or should be) equal to the 1st Amendment and the 4th Amendment and all of the others,” Duncan, a Republican from South Carolina, wrote in a Facebook post. “Ask yourselves why it is under attack? Ask yourselves about a National gun registry database and how that might be used and why it is so wanted by progressives.”He continued:Continue Reading… … Read More
Beware the Irresistible Siren Song of the Slots
Progressives catch a lot of crap, and
rightfully so, for a lack of belief or support for personal agency
and responsibility and a tendency to hold “society” responsible for
people’s choices. But paternalism isn’t the only reason for
misplaced blame. Sometimes losing a whole lot of money will do
it.
From
Courthouse News:
A candy wholesaler sued an Ameristar casino for $4 million,
claiming it “enticed and enabled” a worker who embezzled the money
and blew it on slot machines.
Colombo Candy & Tobacco Wholesale Co. dba Colombo
Distribution sued Ameristar Casino Council Bluffs in Douglas County
Court, Tulsa.
It claims its employee, Jane Doe, blew more than $3 million of
the $4 million she embezzled at the Ameristar casino in Council
Bluffs, Iowa.
Courthouse News reports the employee has entered into a
settlement with her employer admitting to the embezzlement and has
a judgment against her for $4 million, which she doesn’t have,
because she blew it all at the casino. So they’re arguing that the
casino induced her to gamble by treating her like a VIP because she
was giving them lots of money and therefore the casino should have
to give the money back.
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24_7@reason.com, or tweet us stories at ;@reason247. … Read More
White House courts progressives on chained CPI
Even before the White House releases its budget today, the line item that’s made the most waves is the inclusion of a switch to the so-called chained CPI, which would reduce benefits for Social Security recipients by changing the way inflation is calculated. This naturally touched off a firestorm on the left from many who say that, in addition to being bad policy, it’s political suicide for a Democratic president to cut a social safety net program.We’ve given plenty of space to the detractors, and on Tuesday, two senior White House officials laid out their case to Salon and a small group of other reporters in a background briefing. Here’s what they’re thinking:First of all, the officials insisted, the White House will not go any further than what they’re offering now. As they see it, they went halfway with their last offer to House Speaker John Boehner and the CPI switch, so now they’re looking to see if anyone will meet them there. This way, if a grand bargain never materializes — which they acknowledge is the most likely scenario — it will be harder for Republicans to blame them for killing it.Continue Reading… … Read More
