As Oily As They Come

Meet Charlotte Lucas, co-founder along with her Forrest husband of one of Indiana's largest corporations, Lucas Oil.  If the name sounds familiar, it's probably because the NFL's Indianapolis Colts play at Lucas Oil Stadium.  In 25 years, the company has gone from local to international on the strength of its sales of petroleum products and fuel additives in the hot rod crazy Midwest.

And it took all of one Facebook post to show the world just what kind of horrible person Charlotte Lucas really is.

"I'm sick and tired of minorities running our country!" Lucas wrote in the post. "As far as I'm concerned, I don't think that atheists (minority), muslims [sic] (minority) nor any other minority group has the right to tell the majority of the people in the United States what they can and cannot do here. Is everyone so scared that they can't fight back for what is right or wrong with his country?"

In a phone call with Call 6 Investigator Rafael Sanchez, Lucas confirmed the Facebook post.

"I was very upset when I wrote that," she said. "I will not elaborate other than to say that there are certain people who are trying to make the whole world eat what they want to eat and do what they want to do. I don't think it's any of their business what I put in my mouth. Thank you."

Must be really hard being a multi-millionaire.  You still have to put up with those nasty, sub-human brown people, right?  I wonder how many "minorities" work for Lucas.  Nice to know the woman who co-founded the company thinks we're all vermin, right?

PS, I bet she voted Republican all her life.

A House Afire Situation

The Supreme Court named on Thursday some of the cases it will take up starting later this month as the new term begins, and one of those cases could end up meaning the effective end of the Fair Housing Act.

The U.S. Supreme Court agreed to decide whether people suing for housing discrimination must prove they were victims of intentional bias, in a case that may give long-sought protection to the lending industry. 

The justices today said they will hear an appeal from Texas officials sued under the U.S. Fair Housing Act over tax credits for low-income building projects. The question is whether people can sue by showing a practice had a “disparate impact” on racial minorities, or whether they must meet a higher standard by proving intentional bias. 

The court will consider jettisoning the disparate-impact theory, which has helped the Obama administration get hundreds of millions of dollars in fair-lending settlements with Bank of America Corp., Wells Fargo & Co. (WFC) and other financial institutions. The court has twice before granted review on the issue, only to have settlements scuttle the case. 

“The far-reaching scope of disparate-impact liability makes this a question of exceptional importance,” Texas officials led by Attorney General Greg Abbottargued in their appeal.

So without the disparate impact theory, Texas will be able to get away with this:

Texas is fighting a lawsuit by the Inclusive Communities Project, a Dallas-based group that advocates for integrated housing. The organization accuses Texas of allocating a disproportionate number of federal low-income housing tax credits to minority neighborhoods.

“That practice makes dwellings unavailable in particular areas, thereby perpetuating residential segregation in the Dallas area,” the group said in court papers.

But oh well, banks need protection from those people.   Oh, and just in case you think this won't affect you as a minority because you don't live in low-income housing:

The case could also affect the Equal Credit Opportunity Act, the law used by the administration against Bank of America and Wells Fargo. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has relied on the disparate-impact doctrine in enforcing that law, which contains language similar to that in the Fair Housing Act.

So without disparate impact, punishment for lenders who discriminate en masse against minorities by denying them credit goes away too.

Because you know racism is over.  Chief Justice Roberts said so.  And I fully expect him to be joined by four other votes too.

Last Call For Voting Your Conscience

An instructive lesson on voting, political power, and influencing elections: first, the reaction of the black community reaction in Missouri to police brutality and mass incarceration, a place where Democrats have notably failed and Republicans have no intent to make it better...

Voter registration jumped 30 percent in Ferguson, Missouri between August 9 — the day unarmed teenager Michael Brown was fatally shot by Officer Darren Warren — and September 30. As protests and clashes with police continue, the town’s residents want to see more race representation in their local government in the near future. 

Approximately 3,300 citizens in the town of 21,000 registered to vote after Brown’s death, totaling two-thirds of new voters in St. Louis County. Currently, 5 of 6 Ferguson council members are white, but roughly 70 percent of the city’s population is black. And Ferguson’s mayor is white Republican James Knowles.

Recent voter registration is due, in large part, to community efforts to boost civic engagement. Organizations like the NAACP and League of Women Voters, in addition to sororities and fraternities, are actively involved in registering the city’s residents. Other community members are handing out registration cards for voters to mail them in.

Second, the reaction of the Latino community in Arizona to immigration and deportation, a place where Democrats have notably failed and Republicans have no intent to make it better...

Sandra Bernal plans to boycott the upcoming midterm election. 

“It’s a peaceful way of protesting,” she told ThinkProgress in Spanish, “It’s saying, ‘We’re here and we’re tired of so many broken promises.’” 

Bernal, a US citizen from Mexico who has lived in Phoenix for nearly 20 years and raised three children on her own, said her views on politics were shaken to the core by two recent events: the arrest of her undocumented sister, andPresident Obama’s decision to delay a planned executive order to stop some deportations. She said the mostly-Democratic Congressional Hispanic Caucus’s decision to go along with the President’s new deadline for action alienated her even further.

“I think they’re doing nothing more than dragging this out, giving us false hope so that we keep voting for the Democratic Party,” she said. “They’re using us like puppets, thinking we’ll go along with their game. Unfortunately, many Latino groups are working right now to get out the vote. But I think it would be better for us as a community, as a people, to boycott, to not vote. Then they’ll learn that without the Hispanic vote, they’re not getting anywhere.”

One group is trying to see the issues important to them fixed by voting and taking part.  The other group is trying to see the issues important to them fixed by not voting and not getting involved.

If you're still pondering which approach is more effective, you're the reason why these issues aren't going to get fixed anytime soon.

Your Libertarian Moment Of The Day

So let's all strive to deal with Ebola in a responsible manner that respects the rights of citizens and reasonably protects the populace OH WAIT IT'S TEXAS YEEHAW MUTHA BITCHEZ!

Health officials say the family of a Liberian man diagnosed with Ebola while visiting them in Dallas left their home, and that's why a "control order" was put in place to keep them inside. 

Family members of Thomas Eric Duncan were ordered Wednesday night to stay home or face criminal charges. Four to five people, who are not showing symptoms of the deadly disease at this time, were put under the quarantine by Texas health officials. 

The group is not allowed to leave their home in Dallas and cannot visit with anyone outside the home, the State Health Department said on Thursday. 

"We have tried and true protocols to protect the public and stop the spread of this disease," Texas Health Commissioner Dr. David Lakey said. "This order gives us the ability to monitor the situation in the most meticulous way." 

The family must also be available to give blood samples and be monitored until the incubation period for Ebola has passed on Oct. 19.

Glad the state with the largest number of uninsured Americans led by a governor that has repeatedly said that heath care is not a government issue is suddenly very worried now about the government stepping in on a public health issue.

Jobapalooza

September jobs numbers came out this morning, and they were BEAST MODE.

Nonfarm payrolls grew more than expected in September as the unemployment rate fell to its lowest level since July 2008. 

According to the latest employment report from the BLS, nonfarm payrolls grew by 248,000 in September. 

The unemployment rate also fell to 5.9% from 6.1%, the first time the unemployment rate has been below 6% in more than six years. 

Expectations were for a gain of 215,000 with the unemployment rate expected to remain at 6.1%.

BEAST MOOOOOODE.  The internals are pretty good too. Unemployment among African-Americans has gone from 13% to 11% in just one year, that's huge.  But tell me again how President Obama isn't doing anything for black America.

This is another big jobs report.  We're finally under 6% unemployment under Obama.  He turned this economy around but he will continue to get nothing but hate from the left and the right, and that saddens me greatly.

StupidiNews!

• NBC News is reporting that a freelance American cameraman working for the network in Liberia has contracted Ebola and will be treated in the United States.
• A week after a contractor set a fire damaging an FAA control center near Chicago, hundreds of daily flights in and out of O'Hare and Midway Airports remained delayed or canceled.
• Australia will join the US, Canada, and UK in sending special forces to Iraq to advise Iraqi Army forces battling ISIS.
• Hackers apparently exploited an employee password to gain access to JP Morgan's servers where they made off with information pertaining to 76 million accounts.
• Angry Birds maker Rovio announced that it will cut 130 jobs after the Finnish game maker's profits have suffered in 2014.

Last Call For Rand Paul, Responsible Guy

Glad to see that my junior senator is representing the Bluegrass State well by using his medical knowledge to not senselessly spread fear and misinformation about the Ebola virus.

Oh wait, I was confusing Rand Paul with "not an asshole".

Sen. Rand Paul said Wednesday that experts and government officials are downplaying the Ebola threat, and he speculated whether the U.S. may end up with a "whole ship full" of American soldiers infected with the virus. 

In two interviews the Kentucky Republican and ophthalmologist suggested that the U.S. consider canceling flights from affected countries, and that the border with Mexico is not secure enough to keep infected individuals out. 

Speaking to conservative talk radio host Laura Ingraham, Paul questioned whether the Obama administration should carry out its plan to send 3,000 troops to Ebola hot zones in Africa. 

"You also have to be concerned about 3,000 soldiers getting back on a ship. Where is disease most transmittable? When you're in a very close confines on a ship, we all know about cruises and how they get these diarrhea viruses that are transmitted very easily," he said. "Can you imagine if a whole ship full of our soldiers catch Ebola?"

It's funny that Mr. Libertarian here seems to be implying we need to implement heavy militarization of our borders and military quarantine procedures, or that somehow thousands of Americans are going to come back to the states and vomit Ebola all over everyone.  Maybe we should institute national federal martial law just to be safe.  BUT YOU CAN NEVER BE 100% SAFE CAN YOU!?!?!

Also we shouldn't do anything to stop the spread of Ebola in other countries too, because Ebola is the scariest thing ever and you should fear everything.

In a separate interview with conservative talk show host Glenn Beck, Paul expressed concern about the lack of security at the border, saying an insecure "border is not only a danger for national security purposes, it is also a danger for a world-wide pandemic should it occur."

Yep, sure glad Rand Paul isn't just another Republican asshole ruled by fear and ignorance.

Last Call For Hypocrisy General

Republicans really can't help being both crooked as a snake oil salesman and stupid enough to think they'll never get caught, so they're always shocked when they get busted.  Today's contestant: the GOP candidate for Arkansas Attorney General, Leslie Rutledge.

Officials have cancelled the voter registration of Arkansas candidate for Attorney General Leslie Rutledge (R) for being registered to vote in multiple places, according to the Blue Hog Report. 

The implications: "First, for the AG candidate of the party who likes to scream about voter fraud to be registered in two (or three) places at once is ironic and amusing on its own. However, the bigger implication is Article 19, section 3, of the Arkansas Constitution, which states: 'No persons shall be elected to, or appointed to fill a vacancy in, any office who does not possess the qualifications of an elector.'" 

"The qualifications of an elector" include this that the person must be "Lawfully registered to vote in the election."

Reminder: the only voter fraud out there seems to be perpetrated by Republican politicians registering to vote in multiple precincts.  But this time it may cost the GOP a election.  Here's hoping Rutledge's opponent, Democrat Nate Steel, can turn this into an easy win.

We're Hip To The Kids, Man

The College Republicans try to "stay relevant" in the 2014 election with an ad from 1974.

The first ad in a nearly $1 million campaign, "Say Yes To The Candidate," is based on TLC's "Say Yes To The Dress" and compares the Florida gubernatorial candidates to wedding dresses.

The ad opens with a woman explaining that she's on a budget. She first tries on the Republican Rick Scott dress.

"The Rick Scott is perfect," she says. "Rick Scott is becoming a trusted brand. He has new ideas that don’t break your budget."

He's dreamy and listens to records and drives a Dodge Dart.  He may even own a Timex!

The woman's mom prefers the Democratic Charlie Crist dress. She tells her daughter, "It’s expensive and a little outdated, but I know best." 

But of course, the Crist gown "comes with additional costs" like taxes, debt, and tuition increases, and the woman ultimately chooses the Rick Scott. 

CRNC national chairman Alex Smith told the Wall Street Journal that the ads are geared toward experiences young people have every day. 

"How do you reach the generation that has their earbuds in and their minds turned off to traditional advertising?" she said. "It's our goal to start the conversation by presenting ourselves in a culturally relevant way."

Culturally relevant being relative, with dialogue written by by Lifetime.  Also, the entire concept of marriage isn't relative to Millennials at all, especially since  Millennials are getting married far later in life, it at all.  In fact, numbers show 1 in 4 Millennials will never marry.

So why would they be worried about what wedding dress to choose?  Oh yeah, that's what Republicans think women want to be: married to some douchebag like Rick Scott.

StupidiNews!

• Mexican Army troops have arrested alleged drug cartel leader Hector Beltran Leyva in a seafood restaurant in Guanajuato state.
• The grand jury investigating the death of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri is itself being investigated for jury misconduct as one juror may have discussed proceedings outside of court.
• White House fence jumper Omar Gonzalez is pleading not guilty and has been ordered to undergo a mental competency review as his lawyer argues the veteran suffers from PTSD.
• Hong Kong police are warning pro-democracy protesters that they will be forcibly removed from government buildings if they try to occupy them as street protests continue.
• Verizon has killed plans to throttle data of unlimited users of cell phones who download more than 5 GB a month after FCC chair Tom Wheeler criticized the move.

Last Call For The Service's Dirty Secret, Con't

US Secret Service Director Julia Pierson is out.  There was just no way she was going to keep her job after the fence jumper incident.  And then the White House shooter incident 3 years ago.  And then lying about how far the fence jumper got into the White House.  And then the armed contractor getting into an elevator with President Obama.

Julia Pierson, the first female director of the Secret Service, resigned her post Wednesday after a fence jumper gained access to the White House on Sept. 19 and a subsequent congressional inquiry uncovered other security lapses. 

Homeland Security Director Jeh Johnson announced the resignation in a statement. He also announced that the DHS would take over an internal inquiry of the Secret Service and that he would appoint of a new panel to review security at the White House. 

Joseph Clancy, formerly a special agent in charge of the Presidential Protective Division of the Secret Service, was named Interim Director, Johnson said in his statement. 

Calls for Pierson to leave her post grew after a poor performance during her testimony on Capitol Hill and another bombshell revelation that the an armed contractor was allowed to get into an elevator with the president during a recent trip to the Centers for Disease Control.

Her head had to roll.  I almost feel like the incredibly lax security around the President may have been done on purpose.

The review of the Secret Service needs to be thorough and complete.  Significant new security measures need to be in place.  The next person that tries to physically harm President Obama or his successor needs to be the absolute last, and this person needs to be subdued in such a way that nobody ever even considers testing the USSS again in my lifetime.

Ever.

Out With The Blackout

The FCC has finally moved to get rid of the ridiculous "blackout rule" in an era where people on the web watch the NFL on their tablets, phones, and PCs along with their TVs.

The FCC dumped the sports blackout rule Tuesday, dealing a blow to the NFL at a time of growing scrutiny for the league in Washington. 

In a unanimous 5-0 vote, the commission eliminated the decades-old regulation, which prevents cable and satellite TV from airing games that are blacked out locally when the team fails to sell enough tickets to fill its stadium. The NFL has defended the rule as a tool to ensure robust attendance, but a growing number of regulators and lawmakers say it unfairly punishes football fans.

Perhaps NFL venues should lower ticket prices, parking fees, and do away with seat licenses in order to increase attendance.  Not even the lowliest teams like the Raiders or  Bucs are hurting for money these days where the league has a multi-billion dollar contract after contract with networks, and they even have their own cable outfit showing games 24/7.

“It’s a simple fact, the federal government should not be party to sports teams keeping their fans from viewing the games — period,” said Democratic FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler. “For 40 years these teams have hidden behind a rule of the FCC. No more. Everyone needs to be aware of who allows blackouts to exist, and it is not the Federal Communications Commission.” 

The league’s defeat on blackouts comes at a time when it’s taking heat in Washington on everything from how it handles domestic violence to the impact of concussions on its players to the name of the Washington Redskins team. As the negative publicity mounts, some lawmakers say they want to examine the NFL’s tax status and antitrust exemption — a move that threatens to damage the league’s business model. 

The sports blackout rule applies to all professional sports teams, but it’s become closely linked to the NFL, which uses it the most and has fought hardest to keep it in place. 

“We’ll review the FCC’s decision on the blackout rule, which has worked for decades to make our games available,” NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy said in a statement Monday ahead of the vote. “With or without the rule, the league will continue to work to find new ways to bring more people to the game, and bring the game to more people.”

The tax exemption for sports leagues has to go, not just for the NFL.  The big four pro sports leagues make tens of billions of dollars every year on tickets, merchandising, TV contracts and stadium naming rights.  Pretty sure they can stand on their own two feet and start putting money into the cities that host these teams instead of demanding tax breaks and sweetheart deals through extortion.

I think you'll see that happening in the next 5-10 years. Sports franchises are billion dollar plus businesses.  Time to tax them like it.

Loco En La Cabeza

Latino advocacy groups aren't even being subtle about their disappointment with President Obama on the push from Senate Democrats to leave immigration until after Election Day.  The message from those groups: if you lose because we don't show up to vote, blame someone else.

Disenchanted with President Barack Obama for delaying executive action on reforming the nation’s deportation system, apathetic about Democratic candidates that for the most part haven’t made a direct appeal to Hispanics and without a galvanizing bogeyman on the right to vote against like Mitt Romney in 2012, Hispanic voters are poised to let Democrats lose Senate races and state houses they could otherwise win, key Hispanic advocates said Monday during a briefing at the National Council of La Raza. 

The preemptive blame-shifting comes as Democrats across the spectrum – from Mr. Obama on down – fear diminished turnout from the base in November’s midterm elections. Gary Segura, a Stanford University professor who is co-founder of the polling firm Latino Decisions, said Latino voters would show their influence by letting some Democrats, like Sen. Kay Hagan of North Carolina, be thrown out of office. 

In any instance where a Latino-preferred candidate loses and that Latino community turned out in smaller numbers because of the disillusionment, Latinos did make a difference. The decision not to vote is still a political decision and is not necessarily irrational,” Mr. Segura said. “If you’re a Latino in North Carolina and the president delayed his decision to help Kay Hagan in her election, why would you go vote for Kay Hagan? … Latinos can have influence by letting people lose, just as they can have influence by helping people win.”

If this sounds familiar, it's the same tactic far left liberals have been using for years.  To which I will say this:  abdication of voting is cowardice, plain and simple.  If you make the political decision to stay home and not vote in order to punish politicians, you are a coward, and you deserve no voice at all in our political process.

Too many people have fought and died for women, African-Americans, Hispanic and Latino, Asian, and other minorities to be able to vote.  Walking away from that is not only irrational, despite what Gary Segura says, but suicidal.  If you feel that you are voiceless, why make yourself voiceless by not voting?

I can respect voting for the other candidate in order to punish the one you're angry with.  That's at least still exercising the right people bled for.  But to stay home and do nothing?  Insanity.  You only assure that you will not be taken seriously in the future and that your concerns will be ignored.

Why should politicians care about those who do not vote at all?

StupidiNews!

• A man in Dallas visiting family from Liberia is the first recorded case of Ebola in the US, he is in critical condition at a Dallas area hospital.
• The death toll in last month's eruption of Japan's Mt. Ontake has reached 48 as officials are only now reaching remote areas of the volcanic mountain where hikers were overcome by gas, smoke, and ash.
• Another day of pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong as China's National Day holiday meant even larger crowds were on hand to demonstrate against Beijing.
• Pro-Russian rebel forces continue to violate Ukraine's cease fire agreement as fighting cut power to several areas near Donetsk.
• Microsoft has unveiled Windows 10, slated for release in mid-2015 as the company attempts to boost flagging sales with an OS that combines Windows 8.1 with the features Windows 7 users want.

Last Call For A Minimum Of Logic

Republicans seem to think Americans making more money is bad for America.

New Hampshire Republican Congressional candidate Marilinda Garcia dismissed raising the minimum wage as a "wedge issue" by President Barack Obama's administration that actually wouldn't help people and instead is just a "petty, short-sighted type of little issue."

Garcia, considered a rising star among conservative Republicans, made the comments Monday evening during an interview with Chris Ryan on his Pints and Politics show on WKXL in Concord, New Hampshire. The comments were flagged by the opposition-research shop American Bridge. 

"I voted against increasing the state minimum wage when I was in the legislature," Garcia said. "It seems to be sort of a petty — not punitive is the wrong word — but kind of just a petty, short-sighted type of little issue that the President's administration decided to champion for a time to then use as a wedge issue." 

Garcia goes on to say that a minimum wage increase would be slight for the recipients but would be "catastrophic" for the job market. She also calls a hike "trite." 

"Every employer I've talked to says —about deals with the minimum wage says 'look I will literally be laying people off.' Now I ask you, is giving someone a dollar, $1.15 increase helpful or better for them than actually not losing that job to begin with?" Garcia continued. "So what you're doing is you're forcing people to choose between laying people off completely and losing their job or having a somewhat trite and meaningless wage —excuse me raise, and your wage that doesn't do in fact do anything to make your life more affordable, allow for the cost of living, help you heat your home, fill your car, and all these other —afford your healthcare— and all these things we're dealing with. So yeah, I'm opposed to raising it."

There's three problems with Garcia's argument: First, in a country where corporations continue to earn record profits, they have the money to invest back into labor costs. Her assumption that a raise in the minimum wage would have to immediately be compensated by firing people doesn't make fiscal sense.

Second, when multiple businesses increase wages for their lowest-paid employees, these employees have more money to spend into the local economy and all indications are that this is exactly what happens when there's a minimum wage hike.  More money in the economy means growth, and growth means there's more business coming in to pay for these wage increases.   Garcia doesn't make basic economic sense either.  Imagine that.

Finally, her argument doesn't hold water from an empirical standpoint either.  Washington State had up until recently the highest minimum wage in the country at $9.32 an hour.  If Garcia's correct, then Washington State's unemployment rate should be well above the national average.

It's not.  August 2014 it was 5.8%, below the country's 6.1% national average.  Meanwhile, states that had the federal minimum wage at $7.25 an hour like Kentucky and North Carolina have higher than average unemployment, NC at 6.5% and KY at 7.4%.  If raising the minimum wage is bad for the economy, then Washington State should have the worst unemployment in America.

It doesn't.  The argument is silly.

But so is the Republican Party.