Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Something needs to be done about our bogus SCOTUS.

The truth is, these are not very bright guys, and things got out of hand.

You don’t get to peddle hatred on saturday and offer condolences on sunday.

Peak wingnut was a lie.

We still have time to mess this up!

Speaking of republicans, is there a way for a political party to declare intellectual bankruptcy?

If you are still in the GOP, you are an extremist.

Conservatism: there are some people the law protects but does not bind and others who the law binds but does not protect.

The poor and middle-class pay taxes, the rich pay accountants, the wealthy pay politicians.

Their freedom requires your slavery.

Pessimism assures that nothing of any importance will change.

Meanwhile over at truth Social, the former president is busy confessing to crimes.

A last alliance of elves and men. also pet photos.

Bark louder, little dog.

A sufficient plurality of insane, greedy people can tank any democratic system ever devised, apparently.

Just because you believe it, that doesn’t make it true.

I did not have this on my fuck 2022 bingo card.

Sitting here in limbo waiting for the dice to roll

Is it irresponsible to speculate? It is irresponsible not to.

Perhaps you mistook them for somebody who gives a damn.

The next time the wall wtreet journal editorial board speaks the truth will be the first.

T R E 4 5 O N

Battle won, war still ongoing.

If senate republicans had any shame, they’d die of it.

You are here: Home / Archives for The Failed Obama Administration (Only Took Two Weeks)

Unintended Consequences

by | 66 Comments

This post is in: ,

Fail:

When President Barack Obama increased unemployment benefits as part of his economic stimulus, he also made some Americans ineligible for hundreds of dollars a month in food stamps.

Under the economic recovery plan, laid-off workers have seen a $25 weekly bump in their unemployment checks as part of a broad expansion of benefits for the poor. But the law did not raise the income cap for food stamp eligibility, so the extra money has pushed some people over the limit.

Laid-off workers and state officials are only now realizing the quirk, a consequence of pushing a $787 billion, 400-page bill through Congress and into law in three weeks.

And for people hurt by the change, there’s no way around it.

“Everybody tells you, ‘Yeah, I can understand why you’re frustrated. It doesn’t sound right.’ But nobody knows where to go,” said Mark Milota, 47, of Marietta, Ga., who was laid off in November from his job at a medical billing company.

The Georgia Department of Human Resources explained in a letter to him last month that, because of the stimulus, he was ineligible for food stamps. He now makes $1,538 a month — $21 too much for a family of two to qualify.

Something to think about while everyone is screaming for health care reform RIGHT NOW. I’d rather they take their time and get it right than rush it to just get something done. Obviously the stimulus package was a unique situation, but it is still worth keeping in mind the unintended consequences of everything the government does.

Unintended ConsequencesPost + Comments (66)

Mission Creep

by | 66 Comments

This post is in: , ,

Here.

Is it just me, or is there a really solid lack of understanding what we are doing over there and why? I understand that people are willing to give the new President some time to formulate a policy, but I’m really at a loss to know what it is. Other than the appointment of McChrystal, adding some troops, and continuing aerial missions with less than optimal results, I really have no idea what the grand strategy is or if there is one. This may be my fault for not reading up enough, but at the same time, it is not like it has been front and center. The economy blowing up and other weighty issues like mustard choices and releasing terrorists onto the streets of Fon du Lac seem to dominate the news.

What exactly are we doing over there? And I’m not saying that seizing the things that makes the Taliban go is a bad thing, just that it is hard to figure out what our big plan is in the region. Drug seizures in a region renowned for opium production just seems kind of whack-a-mole.

Mission CreepPost + Comments (66)

Choking On the Ashes of Her Enemy

by | 52 Comments

This post is in: ,

A perceptive piece by Daniel Larison (via his blog):

Critics have been belittling President Obama’s recent visit with Latin American leaders as a “contrition” and “apology” tour. But a more accurate tag would be “accountability” tour, and it’s long overdue.

***

What is interesting about Obama’s non-confrontational approach to both leaders is that it suggests Obama has learned not to feed the proverbial trolls. On the one hand, Obama has shown a willingness to engage hostile or critical foreign leaders in discussion. But he has also shown no desire to participate in international polemics, perhaps because he has come to see that the U.S. gains nothing from such confrontations. Better still, by largely ignoring the rantings of anti-American zealots, Obama may be able to split persuadable critics of America from those who are reflexively and genuinely anti-American. In an amusing irony, Obama, who is often accused of being an insubstantial rhetorician, has refrained from the long-winded, idealistic bluster on the international stage that his predecessor frequently indulged in. And it may already be paying dividends.

Well worth a read.

Choking On the Ashes of Her EnemyPost + Comments (52)

Seriously, Was This A Joke?

by | 141 Comments

This post is in: ,

This honestly is the most tone deaf thing I have ever seen Obama do:

A president’s first Cabinet meeting, like the White House Easter Egg Roll, is a spring rite that’s more photo op than substantive event.

Barack Obama gathered his Cabinet members around a White House table Monday and asked them collectively to find $100 million in cost cuts over the next three months. That’s a fraction of a fraction of the federal deficit, and it quickly drew ridicule from pundits and Republicans.

What on earth are they thinking? Earlier I thought he was asking every cabinet head to come up with 100 million, and thought that was laughable. $100 million for all of them is even more ridiculous, and not to mention it undercuts the message that the government should be spending during the recession to make up for lost demand in the private sector.

So what gives with this?

Seriously, Was This A Joke?Post + Comments (141)

The Daily “How Obama Is Failing Us” Post

by | 282 Comments

This post is in: ,

Greenwald has the details.

It isn’t the least bit surprising that this is happening, but it really is irritating.

*** Update ***

From the comments:

Funny that Greenwald doesn’t seem to link to the actual filing. But the SCOTUS blog does here with a much more indepth explanation of the Justice Department’s stance

http://www.scotusblog.com/wp/u…..at-bagram/

I love Glenzilla but he is just about ridiculous with his rhetoric in that post. If you look at the substance of the argument it has nothing to do with continuing Bush policy. It has EVERYTHING to do with

1. Waiting to see if the other Judge was right about extending Habeus rights to the prisoners at Bagram which would set a precedent that would extend to more than just the 3 plaintiffs.

2. To try to give the government time to finish their review of detainee policy at Bagram which they believed would be finished within 6 months when President Obama signed the executive order creating the Task Force to study it.

Basically what the government is saying is that they haven’t had time to review all of the cases at Bagram yet and it would be nice to have that opportunity before the courts say all of the detainees have habeus rights and we get a mountain of litigation from those detainees asserting those rights. If you go to the actual link to the court filing the Justice Department points out that just because a detainee was grabbed outside of the theater doesn’t mean they didn’t commit crimes in the theater and then leave. It also talks about the problems that would occur if we were to capture suspects in Pakistan and then not be able to detain them in Bagram (which is in Afghanistan) because of these rulings. Please remember that fighting terrorists isn’t just the same as fighting normal crimes. Especially in a war zone.

The key word in all of this is time. This isn’t Bush confident in his policies and telling the courts to get bent. This is President Obama reviewing the process so they can make changes going forward as soon as they have some recommendations. I understand that for whichever of those prisoners who might truly be innocent in Bagram and have been there for years that they want to be out yesterday. But on the other hand the government has to be careful not to open a pandora’s box whereby the bad get released with the good in the middle of what is truly a war zone.

I guess Glenzilla will end up on the cover of Newsweek and have an appearance on Morning Joe soon since he has now said effectively that President Obama is worse than Bush but he is just about to over play his normally spot on hand with his rhetoric. And thats real.

So I guess people have differing views on this…

The Daily “How Obama Is Failing Us” PostPost + Comments (282)