Month: June 2014

Obama: I’m beginning a new effort to fix as much of our immigration system on my own

Congress isn’t going to pass Comprehensive Immigration Reform. The US Senate has, with enormous bipartisan support, but the House has stalled and republicans are freaking out because Eric Cantor lost in an election where immigration reform was an issue. The problem is, polling after the Cantor loss shows it wasn’t immigration reform. In fact, his district wants immigration reform. So Congress being spineless for political reasons is just an excuse to hurt people.

The President has been controversial around immigration reform for his large number of deportations, but as young children have begun streaming over the boarder without their families things have become more complicated.

President Obama said today in a speech in the Rose Garden:

“There are enough Republicans and Democrats in the House to pass an immigration bill, today. I would sign it into law today. And Washington would solve a problem in a bipartisan way. But for more than a year Republicans in the House have refused to allow an up or down vote or any bill that would fix our broken immigration system. I held off on pressuring them for a long time to give Speaker Boehner the space he needed to get his fellow Republicans on board.”

According to a statement from White House, the President will direct Attorney General Eric Holder and Secretary of Homeland Security Jeh Johnson to take the lead on increasing border security.

“Protecting public safety is and will remain a top priority, and we will continue to focus on removing those who have committed serious crimes from our interior,” the statement said. “But we will redirect other resources to make sure we keep doing what it takes to keep our border secure.

In a letter sent to Congress on Monday, the President called on Congress to help the Office of the President build a much more “aggressive deterrence strategy” while children are continuing to stream in over the border.

Vanden Heuvel to Kristol: “If you want war, then you should enlist in the Iraqi Army”

Wow… If you missed this morning’s episode of This Week with George Stephanopoulos it was a doozy! Katrina vanden Heuvel held Bill Kristol’s feet to the fire about the recklessness of so-called “armchair warriors.” Alluding to the ease of the Beltway conservative media to talk about going back into Iraq because it sure ain’t gonna be them fighting and dying for the catastrophe that was started by the Bush Administration. That’s right, it’s going to be my generation.

So she said it flat out, “If you want war, then you should enlist in the Iraqi Army.” And his natural response was to belittled her by saying it was a “very cute line.” Classy, Bill Kristol. Classy.

ABC US News | World News

“Rep. Frank D. Lucas is no longer alive and has been displayed by a look alike”

Just when you think you’ve heard every reason for a teabagger to challenge the results of an election….here’s one more.

Back home, candidate Timothy Ray Murray challenged U.S. Rep. Frank Lucas (OK-03) in the GOP primary June 24th. He lost. He lost by a lot. But that’s not the end of Timothy Ray Murphy.

He’s not quitting now! Why, you may ask?

A press release (emphasis mine) on Timothy Ray Murray’s website reads:

“The election for U.S. House for Oklahoma’s 3rd District will be contested by the Candidate, Timothy Ray Murray. I will be stating that his votes are switched with Rep. Lucas votes, because it is widely known Rep. Frank D. Lucas is no longer alive and has been displayed by a look alike. Rep. Lucas’ look alike was depicted as sentenced on a white stage in southern Ukraine on or about Jan. 11, 2011.”

Here – I did a screen shot just in case it finds it’s way to being deleted.

In other news the teabagger in Mississippi is contesting the GOP election for Sen. Thad Cochran. In so doing he may also invalidate his own vote

UPDATE: in an article by the Tulsa World, Capitol Hill reporter Barbara Hoberock writes “Lucas could not immediately be reached for comment.” We can only assume this is because Rep. Lucas is no longer alive and has been displayed by a look alike. Come on Barbara, shouldn’t it read “The being alleging to be Lucas could not immediately be reached for comment.”

Historic perspective on Executive Orders shows double standard for Boehner

So it turns out that when Republicans do something, it’s ok, but when Democrats do something similar it isn’t ok. House Speaker John Boehner is suing (or at least will try to sue) President Obama and the Office of the President of the United States for signing a series of Executive Orders that he feels are illegal and excessive.

The real facts? It turns out if you compare President Obama to other presidents his number is among the lowest. Oops.
Here’s a fun meme I caught online about it

Here’s a helpful timeline of Executive Orders per day via the MaddowBlog

And here’s the data that proves the point:

Executive Orders: Washington – Obama via The American Presidency Project

President	Term	Total Orders¹	Average / Year	EO Number Range

George Washington	Total	8	1.00	unnumbered

John Adams	Total	1	0.25	unnumbered

Thomas Jefferson	Total	4	0.50	unnumbered

James Madison	Total	1	0.13	unnumbered

James Monroe	Total	1	0.13	unnumbered

John Quincy Adams	Total	3	0.75	unnumbered

Andrew Jackson	Total	12	1.50	unnumbered

Martin van Buren	Total	10	2.50	unnumbered

William Henry Harrison	Total	0	0	unnumbered

John Tyler	Total	17	4.34	unnumbered

James K. Polk	Total	18	4.50	unnumbered

Zachary Taylor	Total	5	3.71	unnumbered

Millard Fillmore	Total	12	4.52	unnumbered

Franklin Pierce	Total	35	8.75	unnumbered

James Buchanan	Total	16	4.00	unnumbered

Abraham Lincoln	Total	48	11.66	unnumbered

Andrew Johnson	Total	79	20.32	unnumbered

Ulysses S. Grant	Total	217	27.13	unnumbered

Rutherford B. Hayes	Total	92	23.00	unnumbered

James Garfield	Total	6	11.00	unnumbered

Chester Arthur	Total	96	27.77	unnumbered

Grover Cleveland – I	Total	113	28.25	unnumbered

Benjamin Harrison	Total	143	35.75	unnumbered

Grover Cleveland – II	Total	140	35.00	unnumbered

William McKinley	Total	185	40.83	unnumbered

Theodore Roosevelt	Total	1,081	144.64

William Howard Taft	Total	724	181.00

Woodrow Wilson	Total	1,803	225.38

Warren G. Harding	Total	522	216.27

Calvin Coolidge	Total	1,203	215.14

Herbert Hoover	Total	968	242.00	5075 – 6070

Franklin D. Roosevelt	Total	3,522	290.71	6071 – 9537

Harry S. Truman	Total	907	116.57	9538 – 10431
	I	504	133.40	9538 – 10029
	II	403	100.75	10030 – 10431

Dwight D. Eisenhower	Total	484	60.50	10432 – 10913
	I	266	66.50	10432 – 10695-A
	II	218	54.50	10696 – 10913

John F. Kennedy	Total	214	75.40	10914 – 11127

Lyndon B. Johnson	Total	325	62.90	11128 – 11451

Richard Nixon	Total	346	62.30	11452 – 11797
	I	247	61.75	11452 – 11698
	II	99	63.87	11699 – 11797

Gerald R. Ford	Total	169	68.92	11798 – 11966

Jimmy Carter	Total	320	80.00	11967 – 12286

Ronald Reagan	Total	381	47.63	12287 – 12667
	I	213	53.25	12287 – 12499
	II	168	42.00	12500 – 12667

George Bush	Total	166	41.50	12668 – 12833

William J. Clinton	Total	364	45.50	12834 – 13197
	I	200	50.00	12834 – 13033
	II	164	41.00	13034 – 13197

George W. Bush	Total	291	36.38	13198 – 13488
	I	173	43.25	13198 – 13370
	II	118	29.50	13371 – 13488

Barack Obama	Total	182	33.58	13489 – 13670…
	I	147	36.75	13489 – 13635
	II	35	24.65	13636 – 13670…

“Because when the college and the police won’t do anything you can use it for your civil suit”

Hilarious segment on The Daily Show last night that looked at the absurd case at James Madison University where frat boys who sexually assaulted a fellow student, filmed it, and then passed the video around to others, were punished only by “expulsion after graduation.”

It was awesome Stewart took time out to talk about this specific case, but what comedian Jessica Williams did in the silly then sad skit on The Daily Show, was walk through the reality of what women have to do to protect ourselves. The audience laughed… uncomfortably. I watched wishing it was as absurd as it should have been. But this is the new America. Watch:

The Daily Show
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If you didn’t know what she was, would you still think she rocks?

The best thing about The Voice (Italy in this case): People are judged on what they do, not what they look like or what background they come from. What a concept. This kick-ass rockstar jam is presented by a woman with an unlikely background. Check it out:

This new data on teachers and classrooms is shocking

Today a new international study on teachers was released by the OECD. Sounds like a snoozer, right?

Except there’s some really interesting data. The 2013 Teaching and Learning International Survey (TALIS) was released by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). They surveyed teachers around the world to get a sense of what teachers are seeing in their classrooms.

When you look at the data about the US it’s pretty shocking. American teachers love their jobs but only 34% feel that they are valued by society. Teachers deserve more respect and they realize that the constant attacks from people like Michelle Rhee helps devalue them in society.

In fact, when you look at the TALIS data it shows that countries where teachers feel valued have higher levels of student achievement.

More importantly, countries that do better than the good old US of A have more teaches on a permanent contract. So while Robert Gibbs and Ben LaBolt join a national right-wing campaign to strip teachers of a permanent contract, the OECD shows that is the exact wrong thing to do.

But the most alarming thing about the TALIS survey is what it shows about poverty. Sadly, 64.5% of teachers teach in schools with 30% poverty or more. That’s the highest among industrialized countries. Mexico only has 44% of teachers teaching in schools with 30% poverty or greater. Think about that: we’re worse than Mexico on poverty in schools.

Why does this matter? Because poverty matters! Poverty affects student achievement. It affects what the teacher is able to do.

So while people push anti-teacher, Vergara style lawsuits to strip teachers of basic workplace rights, the OECD is saying do the opposite.

This international study confirms what true progressive are already saying. Cut back the testing, give teachers respect and job security, a deal with poverty.

Reason Why Women Were Rooting for England In The #WorldCup Goes Viral

An unfortunate statistic about British women has gone viral all thanks to one video.

Tender, a British charity that works to promote healthy relationships based on equality and respect, took a note from a research paper published in the Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency. The statistic shows “a match day trend that the risk of domestic abuse rose by 26% when the England team won or drew, and a 38% increase when the national team lost.”

I always appreciate moments like this where we can discuss the global epidemic of violence against women. I wish it was as simple as it being the fault of passion around the World Cup game, but sports is just an excuse. Abusers abuse. Whether they’re drunk or sober; angry about the World Cup or about someone on the road that cut them off; abusers will find any excuse to abuse.

From an Oklahoman: The meme on KOCO Tonight

I want to preface this by saying I don’t write personal stories. I don’t like the focus of a story to be on me, but something came up today that necessitates it. My home ABC affiliate in Oklahoma City, KOCO-TV, is covering a story tonight about a meme that we posted on our Facebook page. The one below:

OKC

I made this meme. And I was born, raised, and still own a home in the Oklahoma town where I grew up. I go home several times a year, I talk to my mom several times a week, and bless his heart, my PaPa calls me almost every day.

The OKC Bombing happened at a time in my life where I was just beginning to become conscious about the rest of the world, about politics, about a great number of things. Looking back on it, I think watching it on TV every night, night after night… hearing the survivor stories year after year impacted me in a way that I’ve never quite been able to reconcile. A teammate of my step-brother’s baseball team lost his father that day. We later both sang in our high school choir. I remember my friend Melissa being scared and crying because she couldn’t find her dad. That was his office, and it took her much too long to find out he was out in the field that day.

My mom’s first big job as a grown-up that she held for many many years was in the OKC offices of the FDIC, so Mom always banked at the Federal Employees Credit Union at the bottom of the Murrah building. So when I opened my first bank account at 11 years old, it was at the same credit union. It’s now called Allegiance and is located on Meridian, but I’ve never gone to another bank and I never will no matter where in the world I am living or how inconvenient it is to get a check deposited from half way across the country….

We read the 168 names year after year after year. They were our family even if we didn’t even know them. They were ours. They were Oklahomans.

My point is this, and I speak to other Oklahomans, when you see mass shootings on TV now do you feel a special kinship with the survivors and families of the victims? Do you, like me, know and feel their tragedy and loss and think about why we know that feeling so well? And finally, do you ask yourself what the difference would be if McVeigh killed 168 people with a gun instead of with a bomb? Would McVeigh still have been considered a terrorist if he used a gun instead? Why don’t we call Jared Loughner who shot Gabby Giffords a terrorist?

Why does Russell Brand know more about austerity than most of Washington?

At a 50,000 person march on London’s Parliament Square expressing opposition to recent austerity measures by the coalition government, comedian Russell Brand spoke more truth about the struggle of working families than U.S. Republicans have this legislative session!

While Brand is talking about his hometown of Grays, Essex, he could just as easily be talking about parts of Ohio or Detroit where job losses have crippled vibrant cities where working families once thrived.

“Where I grew up … I felt like there were low expectations, low possibilities for people. People like me didn’t have a lot of opportunity. And I was presented with a marvelous glistening spectacle. I remember as a kid when they built Lakeside Shopping Center I felt it would be the best thing that happened in my town and my community. Little did I realize that what that would do is suck the life out of the town center, destroy the tithe of community and along with the erosion of jobs in that area … it brought to it’s knees a community of proud working people. This is an issue that affects the 100%.”

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