Last Call For Taking Stock Of 2014

The Democrats have been very good for America's corporate economy, and the trillions that corporate America has been hording are finally, finally now being put to use in expanding hiring and growing the economy.

Oil, the Federal Reserve and an expanding economy set the tone for U.S. stocks in 2014, as the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index rallied to unprecedented highs and extended the bull market rally past 200 percent.

The S&P 500 (SPX) closed 53 times at a record and the Dow Jones Industrial Average (INDU) climbed above 18,000 as accelerating growth fueled optimism in the economy and accommodative central banks sent risk-seeking investors into equities. Energy shares tumbled and airlinestocks soared as the largest U.S. crude output in three decades and OPEC’s refusal to cut production led to a 46 percent plunge in oil prices.

After last year’s 30 percent rally in the S&P 500, “it’s tremendous to be somewhere up in the double digits,” Richard Sichel, chief investment officer at Philadelphia Trust Co., which oversees $2 billion, said in a phone interview. “Stock investors should be very happy about having a follow-through like that. There’s optimism about the economy, and lower gas prices helped as far as consumer confidence.”

The S&P 500 rose 11 percent to 2,058.90 after gaining in 2013 by the most since 1997. While the S&P 500’s 1 percent loss on Dec. 31 left the index down 0.4 percent for the month, breaking a streak of six straight December gains, the index completed its third straight annual advance of more than 10 percent for only the third time.

The Dow added 7.5 percent to 17,823.07, slipping below 18,000 on the final two days of trading. TheRussell 2000 (RTY) Index of small companies climbed 3.5 percent, while the Nasdaq Composite Index advanced 13 percent. 

Doesn't seem to be too much "uncertainty" these days.  Wonder why that is.  Oh, yes, maybe it's because Republicans are now supposed to be taking credit for the Obama economy they've been attacking for six years?

Of course they are.  Will the public buy it heading into 2016?

Only if the Dems let them.

It's Criminal Almost To The Palestinians

The Palestinians have finally realized that if the UN won't help them (and the US will eternally make sure that it won't, no matter what Obama or any American president says about peace) then suing Israel in the International Criminal Court will have to do.

President Mahmoud Abbas moved on Wednesday to have thePalestinian Authority join the International Criminal Court, opening a new front in the Middle East conflict that could lead to war-crimes prosecutions of Israeli officials and that risks severe sanctions from Washington and Jerusalem.

The step is part of a strategic shift by thePalestinian leadership to pursue statehood in the international arena after decades of failed American-brokered negotiations with Israel. It came a day after the defeat of a United Nations Security Council resolutionthat demanded an end to Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territory by 2017.

“There is aggression practiced against our land and our country, and the Security Council has let us down — where shall we go?” Mr. Abbas said at his headquarters in the West Bank city of Ramallah as he signed the Rome Statute, the founding charter of the court, and a number of other international conventions.

“We want to complain to this organization,” he said of the court. “As long as there is no peace, and the world doesn’t prioritize peace in this region, this region will live in constant conflict. The Palestinian cause is the key issue to be settled.”

Naturally, we're already threatening Abbas.

An American State Department spokesman called the action “counterproductive,” arguing that it would only push the two sides further apart.

“It is an escalatory step that will not achieve any of the outcomes most Palestinians have long hoped to see for their people,” Jeff Rathke, the spokesman, said in a statement. “Actions like this are not the answer. Hard as it is, all sides need to find a way to work constructively and cooperatively together to lower tensions, reject violence and find a path forward.”

It'll never happen.  Bringing up Israel for war crimes tribunals is the only card the Palestinians have left.  The US will find some way of blocking it, of course, or will turn up sanctions to the point where Abbas is ousted and Hamas takes control, opening the door for another round of collective punishment.  Certainly Bibi now has his campaign issue heading into March elections in Israel.  But it looks like 2015 will be as bad, if not worse, for the Palestinians than 2014 was.  And that's saying something.

The Medicare Money Dance

More and more Republicans are starting to come around to the fact that denying their states Medicaid expansion means their constituents are paying tens of millions in federal tax dollars that are 100% going to other states, and Republican governors are feeling the heat, big time.  Thge problem is their own Tea Party legislatures, who would literally rather let people die than accept help from a black president's health care program.

Several Republican governors and one independent are meeting Republican legislative resistance to their expansion proposals. Some have tried to woo conservatives by adding "free enterprise" provisions, which require federal approval.

Perhaps the most aggressive GOP governor is Bill Haslam of Tennessee, who won re-election in November. Meeting with newspapers and others, Haslam now says Medicaid expansion is "morally and fiscally the right thing to do."

He told the Chattanooga Times Free Press that nearly every elected Republican in Tennessee "has run sometime in the last four years saying, 'I think Obamacare is really bad.'" He said his plan "is not Obamacare." Among other changes, it would offer vouchers to newly eligible adults to help pay for employer-sponsored coverage, and require co-payments for treatment.

Some top Republican lawmakers have praised Haslam's idea. But others vow to fight it, calling the governor's tweaks meaningless. State Sen. Brian Kelsey says Tennessee voters elected Republicans to shrink government, not expand it.

And Haslam is far from alone.

In Wyoming, Gov. Matt Mead opposed Medicaid expansion during his first term but now says it would save the state money and provide needed insurance to poor people.

A committee of Wyoming's GOP-controlled legislature created uncertainty, however, by endorsing a different version. It's modeled on an Indiana plan that would require new Medicaid recipients to pay into a fund similar to a health savings account.

Federal officials have not approved the Indiana plan, backed by Republican Gov. Mike Pence.

Alaska's new independent governor-elect Bill Walker and North Carolina's Republican Gov. Pat McCrory also face serious GOP legislative opposition to their ideas for expanding Medicaid. Virginia's Republican-controlled legislature has thwarted Democratic Gov. Terry McAuliffe's repeated expansion efforts.

And it gets worse.

Arkansas could become the first state to rescind a decision to expand Medicaid. Term-limited Democratic Gov. Mike Beebe negotiated a modified expansion plan with the Republican-controlled legislature. But Republicans made dramatic gains in the November elections, and some legislators want to undo the decision.

Republican Gov.-elect Asa Hutchinson has yet to announce his position, which could prove crucial.

That's right, Arkansas Republican hate people of color so much, they'll take away their health care.  Maybe they'll die or go to another state, right?

And let's not forget, Republicans in Washington want to take health care away from tens of millions for "principles".

Some principles, huh?

StupidiNews, New Year's Day Edition!

• Former Florida GOP Gov. Jeb Bush continues to quit boardroom positions and non-profit positions ahead of a possible presidential run.
• Chief Justice John Roberts says the Supreme Court will introduce a new case-filing system in 2015 that will allow the public to read case documents on the court's own website.
• A New Year's Eve stampede in Shanghai turned deadly as 36 people were killed rushing to get coupons thrown from a building that looked like Chinese bank notes.
• Average weekly jobless in claims in 2014 were the lowest since 2000 as more evidence rolls in that the economy's labor picture is improving.
• The Fedreal Trade Commission says Snapchat, famous for its "disappearing" messages that vanish after a short time, must submit its messages to an independent monitor.

Last Call For 2014

I wanted to thank all of you for sticking with me for another year.  2014 wasn't all bad for me personally, I have a new job and I love it, but for the country as a whole, we've had better.

Here's hoping your 2015 is a good one.






And yeah, this one still gets me. Every time.

Zandar's 2015 Predictions

Not sure if I can beat 7-2-1 from last year, but I'll give it a shot.  Here are my ten predictions for 2015:

1) Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders, Rand Paul, and Jeb Bush will make it all official in 2015.  All of them will be in the race for the White House.  How far they get, well, that's for this time next year, isn't it?

2) Obama will have 25 or more presidential vetoes by the end of 2015.  Figure that's two a month, plus one for good measure.  Do not be surprised if it's less than this.  Mitch is not going to be able to get passed what he wants in the Senate.

3) The Supreme Court will strike down Obamacare subsidies in federal exchange states.  I'm not a lawyer by any stretch, but I know vindictive political backstabbing when I see it coming.  King v. Burwell is going to sorely test the GOP however.

4) Having said that, SCOTUS will also rule in favor of national same-sex marriage.  Hedge here that the decision may not come in 2015, but they'll take up a case to decide it before 2016. I just think Justice Kennedy wants this to be what he's remembered for.

5) Oil will close 2015 at under $60 a barrel.  Pretty huge hedge too, it'll probably be a lot lower.

6) Still feeling good about Marvel movies, so I'll say Ant-Man and Avengers: Age of Ultron will break $200 million.

7) Google Glass will officially get the plug pulled.  At least on the home version.  Watch for the business model to stay viable, however.

8) Apple iWatch will be huge.  Morgan Stanley says it could do anywhere from 30 million to 60 million, I'll peg my guess at 40 million worldwide in 2015.

9) My off the wall projection:  A US embassy in Havana will be in place, with ambassador, before the end of 2015.  It'll also be the end of Marco Rubio, but hey.

10) ZVTS will be here for another year.  Haven't lost on this one yet...

Have a safe New Year's Eve and 2015, folks.

Slow Down, You Move Too Fast, Gotta Make Extortion Last

New York’s Finest, at their finest.

NYPD traffic tickets and summonses for minor offenses have dropped off by a staggering 94 percent following the execution of two cops — as officers feel betrayed by the mayor and fear for their safety, The Post has learned.

The dramatic drop comes as Police Commissioner Bill Bratton andMayor Bill de Blasio plan to hold anemergency summit on Tuesday with the heads of the five police unions to try to close the widening rift between cops and the administration.

The unprecedented meeting is being held at the new Police Academy in Queens at 2 p.m., sources said.

Angry union leaders have ordered drastic measures for their members since the Dec. 20 assassination of two NYPD cops in a patrol car, including that two units respond to every call.

It has helped contribute to a nose dive in low-level policing, with overall arrests down 66 percent for the week starting Dec. 22 compared with the same period in 2013, stats show.

Citations for traffic violations fell by 94 percent, from 10,069 to 587, during that time frame.

So your brilliant, devious plan is this: you’re going to show the people who believe that the NYPD is full of power-hungry bullies and paramilitary goons what for by displaying to the country exactly how most of the collars you make are in fact wholly unnecessary exercises of petty microagression towards the citizenry you hold in open and rancorous contempt.

Okay then. Go with that plan, guys.

The Thin Blue Line, indeed.

StupidiNews, New Year's Eve Edition!

• Democrat Jim Webb, in 2016 presidential contention, is already facing questions over his PAC's payments to his wife and daughter of more than $90,000.
• As expected, the UN Security Council failed to pass a resolution on Palestinian statehood with the US and Australia voting no, and five other countries including Britain abstaining.
• The US will station around 150 armored vehicles in Europe for use by American forces for training purposes and increased ground exercises with an eye on Russia and Crimea.
• Nine are dead in Edmonton, Alberta as RCMP investigators are trying to determine if one of the dead men killed eight people in two separate homes and then took his own life.
• West Virginia is the latest state to take on teaching climate change in schools as the state school board has modified science textbooks that show "unfair negativity" to the state's coal mining industry.

Last Call For Grimm Tidings

So Mikey Suits is out, and the GOP need somebody to run to fill his House seat.  So naturally, Republicans look to the obvious choice: Daniel Donovan.

You know, the Staten Island prosecutor who completely failed to indict the cop who murdered Eric Garner.

Daniel Donovan, the Staten Island district attorney who most recently failed to secure an indictment in the Eric Garner case, is lining up support behind-the-scenes for a bid to replace Mr. Grimm. And Mr. Donovan, well-liked by the borough’s Republican machine, is a front-runner to win the backing of the Staten Island Republican Party in a special election that will likely be held sometime next year, sources say.

“Dan is almost certainly in and is lining up his support,” a source close to the Staten Island Republican Party told the Observer. “He will probably emerge as the clear front-runner for the party’s support.”

Of course he will.

Another Staten Island Republican source confirmed that Mr. Donovan has emerged as the strongest candidate. The source cited his career as district attorney, particularly his work battling a prescription drug epidemic and strengthening DWI prosecutions while keeping a balanced office budget.

A special election to replace Mr. Grimm will mean no Democratic or Republican primaries. Instead, the Staten Island Republican and Democratic organizations will each select a candidate to face-off after Gov. Andrew Cuomo selects a date for the election.

Despite the controversy Mr. Donovan courted in December when a grand jury voted not to indict a white police officer in the death of Garner, a black man, the district attorney is still relatively popular in the borough and with party insiders, sources say. Voters in the 11th Congressional District, far more conservative than in many in other parts of the city, did not view Mr. Donovan as unfavorably after the decision in the racially-charged case.

And he'd be a giant SCREW YOU to de Blasio, Eric Holder, President Obama, and oh yeah, every person of color in NYC.

He'll win by 20 points.

Zandar's 2014 Prediction Scorecard

Time to see how I did with my 2014 predictions ahead of any 2015 prognostication, and I'm glad to say this year I did a lot better than in 2013.

1)  The Dems will keep the Senate, the GOP will keep the House in November.

Blew it.  This was a long shot, but I didn't know just how long it was. The Dems failed miserably here for a variety of reasons:  terrible candidates who tied themselves in knots running away from Obama,  garbled messaging, lousy campaigns, and a Democratic base that doesn't vote in midterms.  In fact, Dems bailed so hard on voting that the polls were off by six to eight points in most races, and that turned close races into easy wins, and easy GOP wins into complete routs.  It's as much our fault as it is the Democrats', and I won't make that mistake in predicting we'll vote in 2018, should ZVTS get that far.

We just don't care anymore as an electorate in midterm years, it seems.

2)  Google Glass will be delayed until 2015, or later.

Nailed it.  At best this tech is a niche application for niche users in niche fields.  It'll be a long time before something like Glass is widespread among consumers.

3)  Alison Lundergan Grimes would beat Mitch McConnell to be the next Senator from KY.

Blew it.  In fact, no Dem ran a worse 2014 campaign than Grimes, who bungled things so badly she lost to a guy with a 35% approval rating by sixteen points.  Her absolute refusal to say she voted for Obama cost her everything, she refused to run on Kynect as a national model for Obamacare success, and it's important to note that even the Clintons coming out to rally for her did absolutely nothing...and may have actually hurt her even more.

4)  And speaking of the Clintons, Hillary won't announce any run for 2016...at least not in 2014.

Nailed it.  As I said, too cagey to tip her hand in 2014.  I expect this to continue for as long as she can get away with it in 2015, because as Jeb Bush is finding out, there's nowhere to go as front-runner except down.

5)  Marvel will continue their movie hot streak in 2014

Nailed it. Not only was I right about all three Marvel films I predicted would make $200 million domestically (Amazing Spider-Man 2 barely did it, but did it) but if I had remembered X-Men: Days of Future Past in my prediction, it would have been the fourth Marvel franchise film to break the $200 million mark in 2014.  Big Hero 6 is the movie I left out of that $200 million club for a reason, but it squeaked over the $200 million line by the end of the year anyway. That's five $200 million plus films just domestically, guys.  Marvel is the biggest player in Hollywood right now.

And yes, this means I was right about Guardians of the Galaxy.  Going to enjoy that for a bit.  I'm going to enjoy Marvel in 2015 too.  More about that tomorrow...

6)  The Supreme Court will hear oral arguments on same-sex marriage later in 2014, but the decision won't come until 2015.

Jury's still out.  Like a lot of people, I might add, nobody expected SCOTUS to punt on same-sex marriage, but punt they did.  Since then, Michigan and Louisiana are asking for direct rulings from the Supreme Court on this issue, and the Sixth Circuit has upheld state bans with several other circuits striking them down.  There's still a chance that the Supreme Court could take up these cases in January and have a decision by June, or take up the case next fall.

7)  No impeachment measures in 2014, but 2015 will be a different story.

Nailed it.  If the GOP is going to impeach, 2015 will be the year.  The GOP is trying to do everything they can short of it, but eventually somebody's going to bring up articles for a vote.

8)  Obamacare will be around through 2014 and beyond.

Nailed it.  But 2015 will be a radically different story if SCOTUS kills subsidies in federal exchange states.  It will make insurance pretty unaffordable for millions and could even put families on the hook for billions in back payments, which will be an utter disaster.

Of course, that's the point.

9) The Sochi Winter Olympics will be a disaster.

Nailed it.  Sochi was, by any conceivable metric, only the start of the worst year of Vladimir Putin's life.  The Sochi Games were rightfully mocked and the venues were a joke.  We got a close look at how rotten the Russian economy was, and falling oil prices have all but wrecked Moscow.

10) ZVTS will make it to 2015.

Nailed it.  I'm glad to still be here, and I'm back over at Balloon Juice to boot.

So my final score for the year, 7 right, 2 wrong (albeit BIG wrongs) and one big SCOTUS question mark.  Much better than 2013's numbers, for sure.

I'll have my predictions for 2015 out tomorrow, as usual.

Stopped Clock Is Right Alert

Today's contestant on "Even a Stopped Clock is Right Twice A Day": Huckleberry Graham on the GOP and immigration.

If Republicans don't wield their congressional majority next year to pass immigration reform legislation, a GOP takeover of the White House in 2016 will be "difficult, if not impossible," Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina said during a CNN interview released on Sunday. 

Graham, a Republican who has long-favored comprehensive immigration reform, said he believes the GOP has hurt itself with Hispanic voters due to its resistance to reforming the current system. And without a major change, Democrats will get another four years in the Oval Office, Graham told CNN's Dana Bash on "State of the Union." 

"If we don't at least make a down payment on solving the problem and rationally dealing with the 11 million [illegal immigrants believed to be in the U.S.], if we become the party of self-deportation in 2015 and 2016, then the chance of winning the White House I think is almost non-existent," he said.

Yep.  And that's exactly what's going to happen, and why I'm not terribly worried about 2016. Republicans won't be able to help themselves.  (It's also the reason that Jeb Bush will never win the GOP nomination, by the way.)

Graham supports giving a pathway to citizenship to the so-called DREAMers -- undocumented immigrants who crossed into the U.S. illegally as children and have lived in the U.S. since. And in 2014, Graham showed the political viability of his position by successfully beating back a tough primary challenge in his conservative state by reaffirming -- rather than running away from -- his stance on immigration. 

"If the Republican Party cannot muster the political courage to deal with the DREAM Act children in a fair and balanced way after we secure our border, that says a a lot about the Republican Party's future regarding the Hispanic community," Graham said. "I don't believe most Americans would fault the Republican Party if we allowed children who have been here since they're babies to assimilate into society with a pathway to citizenship after we secure our borders." 

Graham was one of the most ardent supporters of a bipartisan immigration bill he helped negotiate in 2013 that passed the Senate but did not get a vote in the House. The bill would have bolstered border security and created a path to citizenship for millions -- many of whom are now getting temporary relief under Obama's executive action.

I doubt that Graham, if he proposed the exact same legislation again, would even get a vote.  The one thing I can guarantee you that won't happen in the next two years is the GOP passing comprehensive immigration legislation, and it'll cost them the White House in 2016.

Of course, they're okay with that as long as they continue to hold Congress, an overwhelming majority of state legislatures, and an overwhelming majority of Governor's mansions.  I don't see that changing much in 2016 either.

StupidiNews!

• Convicted felon GOP Rep. Michael Grimm will be resigning his House seat after all, the Staten Island Republican will step down on January 5.
• An Indonesian naval ship has located at least 40 bodies believed to be from the crash of AirAsia Flight QZ8501 lost over the weekend.
• GOP House majority whip Steve Scalise is in trouble for a 2002 speech given at a white nationalist conference organized by former Klansman David Duke in Louisiana.
• Oil has dropped to its lowest price since 2009 as end-of-year supply gluts have pushed the price down to under $57 a barrel.
• British banks see problems with Apple Pay's payment services over data privacy, but at least one London bank is in talks to expand the service into Europe in 2015.

Last Call For The Kroog's Look Back

Paul Krugman takes stock of the last six years, in inimitable Krugman fashion.

Suppose that for some reason you decided to start hitting yourself in the head, repeatedly, with a baseball bat. You’d feel pretty bad. Correspondingly, you’d probably feel a lot better if and when you finally stopped. What would that improvement in your condition tell you? 

It certainly wouldn’t imply that hitting yourself in the head was a good idea. It would, however, be an indication that the pain you were experiencing wasn’t a reflection of anything fundamentally wrong with your health. Your head wasn’t hurting because you were sick; it was hurting because you kept hitting it with that baseball bat. 

And now you understand the basics of what has been happening to several major economies, including the United States, over the past few years. In fact, you understand these basics better than many politicians and commentators.

The best part is we handed over the economy to the GOP so we can start bashing ourselves in the head some more, because two-thirds of us stayed home in November.

And yes, I'm going to keep harping on "two-thirds of us stayed home in November" until things change.  At some point, we've got to learn that if we don't vote, we get screwed.

The Joke's On Chuck

Pretty telling that Chuck Todd, his Meet The Press ratings even more dismal than that of his predecessor David Gregory, had a panel of political satire show comedians on Sunday, and ended up telling the hard truth about himself and his profession as a pundit.

During a panel discussion with about the popularity of political satire, Todd asserted that comedians may be guilty of fueling the public’s cynicism.

But comedian W. Kamau Bell argued that programs like The Daily Show gave viewers hope.

“You feel like I can laugh my way through this,” he pointed out. “I think that whenever they watch Jon Stewart or John Oliver, they feel like they are at least getting that person’s perspective. I don’t think people believe with the news, you know, you feel like you’re getting a corporation’s perspective.”

The Daily Show‘s Lewis Black said that it was unfair to blame comedy for cynicism when many Americans were even more angry than comedians.

“I have watched you and everybody else,” he told Todd, “where somebody comes on, and I don’t know how you do it because I’d be barking at them.”

“We all sit there because we know the first time we bark is the last time we do the show,” Todd explained. “There’s something where all of the sudden nobody will come on your show.”

Let's think about this.  Todd, in his head, knows he's talking to crazy people, but politicians don't go on news shows to face tough questions, they go to get exposure of their political views and get them vindicated by softball nonsense.  Vindicated by people like Chuck Todd.

Can't ask the newsmakers the tough questions because otherwise you have no guests.  Instead, you get John McCain every third week or so.  And this is the dance that we watch every week.

Or well, fewer of us are watching every week, judging by Todd's rapidly crashing ratings.

Perhaps he should examine the state of his show.  You know, while he still has one.

The Longest War

The 13-year long nightmare that is our combat mission in Afghanistan is finally over.

President Barack Obama says the longest war in American history is coming to a responsible conclusion.

Obama is welcoming the end of U.S. combat operations in Afghanistan. The war came to a formal end Sunday with a ceremony in Kabul.

Obama says in a statement that the effort has devastated al-Qaida's core leadership, brought justice to Osama bin Laden and disrupted terrorist plots. He says U.S. troops and diplomats have helped Afghans reclaim their communities and move toward democracy.

Obama is also honoring the more than 2,200 Americans who have died in Afghanistan since the war started 13 years ago. Obama says those years have tested the U.S. and its military.

From a peak 140,000 troops in 2010, the U.S. and NATO plan to leave just 13,500 behind.

Well, the "combat mission" part is over, not the war.   No, I don't blame Obama for this.  He didn't start this mess and he's doing what he can to end it.   His predecessor is another story, however.  Frankly, we never should have been there in the first place, and if Bush had done his job, we wouldn't have been sucked in for half a generation.

At least we're getting out.

StupidiNews!

• Indonesian officials believe AirAsia Flight QZ8501 is "at the bottom of the sea" after disappearing from radar yesterday with 162 aboard.
• Two Idaho men were taken into custody by police after firing a BB gun in a Wal-Mart store in Post Falls, in contrast to a similar incident where a black man was killed by police for holding a BB gun.
• Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras will ask for dissolution of the country's current parliament and call for snap elections in four weeks after lawmakers failed to elect a new president.
• "The Hobbit: Battle of the Five Armies" held off multiple Christmas challengers to win the final weekend of 2014's box office.
• Facebook is apologizing for its end of year review algorithm generating dismal reminders for how awful 2014 was for some users, and then pestering them about it for days.

Last Call For Just Blame Obama

Former Rep. Allen West has gotten the taste of that sweet Wingnut Gravy Train and he's never going to let it go.  He's found his niche as the Black Guy Who Hates Obama and he'll ride that for as long as he can, Ben Carson be damned.

On Sunday, Fox News host Charles Payne asserted to West that many people believed that Obama was the “central reason” why the racial divide seemed to be worsening.

“For President Obama, when you look at it from his perspective as a progressive socialist community organizer, he believes race relations are fine because of the impact they are having on social justice,” West explained. “So when you have this divide among us because that is the goal of collectivism, which is what the president believes in, then everything is fine for him.”

“When you have somebody like Al Sharpton visiting the White House and providing him counsel 82 times, and standing and putting pressure on Sony, and other individuals,” he continued, “and this angst that has happened, and this mob atmosphere that is going on, this is really what the president would like to have. This vomiting of dissension. But that is not what the inner-city needs right now.”

Payne opined that the country seemed to be more racially divided because the president had taken opportunity “at every turn” during his administration to blame racism for America’s problems.

“They created that atmosphere back early in 2009,” West agreed. “Eric Holder said we were a nation of cowards when it came to race. And you look at the fact that we have elected and re-elected the first black president, but yet he still believes that is not enough. We have [black people as serving as] the national security advisor, the [secretary of] Department of Homeland Security.”

“I don’t know what else you need to have.”

How about not being shot for being black, asshole? 

Gotta hand it to West, being a black person making white racists feel better about their racism has been very profitable throughout American history.  It takes a certain hardness of spirit to do that, probably the kind of thing he picked up in Iraq before getting kicked out of the Army for torturing Iraqi civilians.  Please note this didn't stop him from winning a term in Congress, because as I've said before, we're a nation that largely approves of torturing brown people.

But yes, blaming President Obama for "race relations" in this country is exactly what millions of racists want to hear from a black guy on FOX News.  West will be set for a long time.

A Metric Crapton Of Stupid

It's bad enough that we have yet another missing Asian airliner to worry about now (and CNN is having a grand old time with it) but FOX News still takes the cake for stupidity when it comes to disaster porn.

Fox News host Anna Kooiman speculated on Sunday that an AirAsia flight could have gone missing because international pilots were trained using the metric system.

During breaking coverage of missing Flight QZ8501, Kooiman asked former FAA spokesperson Scott Brenner if the “real reason” the plane had disappeared was because of the “different way other countries train their pilots.”

“Even when we think about temperature, it’s Fahrenheit or Celsius,” she pointed out. “It’s kilometers or miles. You know, everything about their training could be similar, but different.”

IT WAS THE METRIC SYSTEM. (lightning, scary organ music)

Brenner, however, said that the major difference between international pilots and U.S. pilots was the reliance on automatic pilot.

“And a lot of that… is because a lot of crashes are due to pilot error,” he explained. “So, if you try and eliminate any potential risk, you try and eliminate the pilot’s ability to make incorrect inputs into the aircraft.”

“It’s not just a difference in the way that we measure things?” Kooiman replied. “Is it not as safe in that part of the world? Because our viewers may be thinking, ‘International travel, is it safe? Is it not safe?’”

Yes, because the world uses imperial system measurements.  OH WAIT, NO IT DOESNT.



It's literally the US, Myanmar, and Liberia.  That's it.  EVERY OTHER COUNTRY USES METRIC.

If there's an example of the intersection of American exceptionalism and rampant ignorance of the world, it's the fact that in 2014 we still use miles, Fahrenheit and gallons unlike the other 7 billion people on this planet and it's because we absolutely refuse to change that the rest of the world has to pay good money to convert to do business with us.

I honestly believe FOX would drum up a shooting war just to prevent us from switching over.

Sunday Long Read: Title, Tag, And Taken

Your Sunday long read is the latest financial sector scam to exploit the poor with low credit and destroy families and neighborhoods through usury: title loans.

For many borrowers, title loans, also sometimes known as motor-vehicle equity lines of credit or title pawns, are having ruinous financial consequences, causing owners to lose their vehicles and plunging them further into debt.

A review by The New York Times of more than three dozen loan agreements found that after factoring in various fees, the effective interest rates ranged from nearly 80 percent to over 500 percent. While some loans come with terms of 30 days, many borrowers, unable to pay the full loan and interest payments, say that they are forced to renew the loans at the end of each month, incurring a new round of fees.

Customers of TitleMax, for example, typically renewed their loans eight times, a former president of the company disclosed in a 2009 deposition.

And because many lenders make the loan based on an assessment of a used car’s resale value, not on a borrower’s ability to repay that money, many people find that they are struggling to keep up almost as soon as they drive off with the cash.

As a result, roughly one in every six title-loan borrowers will have the car repossessed, according to an analysis of 561 title loans by the Center for Responsible Lending, a nonprofit in Durham, N.C.

Subprime loans wiped out minority home ownership.  The median black household net worth has dropped to under $4,000, and most of that is in the last thing black households own: a car.  Now those are being repossessed because banks will no longer do business in minority communities.

It's targeted elimination.

Last Call For Making Good On Their Threat

Behold what two-thirds of you not voting in November hath wrought, America.  Republicans are now making the country choose between the Secret Service and President Obama's immigration order, and one of them will be getting the budget axe thanks to the GOP.

Indeed, the whole arrangement is a fragile patchwork since the Department of Homeland Security — of which the Service is a part — is guaranteed funding only under a continuing resolution that expires Feb. 27.

How did it reach this point?

Top lawmakers in both parties and the White House acquiesced to the compromise, which was judged the fastest way to send Congress home, avoid a shutdown and put the rest of the government on permanent footing through Sept. 30 next year.

But it was House Republicans who really drove the bargain because the GOP insisted on holding Homeland hostage as a spending vehicle with which to challenge Obama over his Nov. 20 executive order shielding millions of undocumented immigrants from the threat of deportation.

Before the Homeland CR runs out, Republicans can count on being fully in charge of Congress. Their immediate target is the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services, the office within Homeland that will implement Obama’s order including the issuance of temporary work permits for qualified individuals who come forward.

Ironically enough, USCIS is largely self-funded, living off the fees it collects and not the relatively small share of annual appropriations it gets from Congress. By contrast, the Secret Service is wholly dependent on appropriations and now caught in the political crossfire.

“There was absolutely no intention to freeze the Secret Service,” said a House Republican aide, who quickly added that “the president must bear some responsibility for any fallout that occurs as a result of the Homeland CR.”

So after complaining that the US Secret Service is underfunded, understaffed, and in need of reform Republicans cut $50 million from the USSS budget to put Obama in his place over immigration.  So if the Secret Service is stretched too thin, with a President that already gets more threats than any in modern history, of course that's where "patriots" like today's GOP make budget cuts.

After all, "the president must bear some responsibility for any fallout that occurs".

Republican hatred of Obama is now a direct threat to the safety of the President of the United States.  Remember that.