Posts by Nick Cassella

Daily Clips: January 27, 2017

Daily Clips: January 27, 2017

Tweet of the day: Here are the things that DJT wants to make 20% more expensive: pic.twitter.com/actbMsxYpH — Helen Kennedy (@HelenKennedy) January 26, 2017 US tells the world to kiss the ring…or else: “For those that don’t have our back, we’re taking names, we will make points to respond to that accordingly,” added Republican President Donald Trump’s U.N. envoy. Strong dollar drags US growth to slowest pace since 2011:  For 2016, the US economy grew 1.6%—a clear regression from the 2.6% growth in 2015. David Brooks loves the free market: After calling for a return to capitalism and biblical morality on Tuesday, Brooks devotes his latest column to gushing over Reagan’s embrace of free markets.

Daily Clips: January 26, 2017

Daily Clips: January 26, 2017

Mexico president cancels trip to USA after Trump’s comments about the wall: Our international image is improving already! Awaiting Trump’s Supreme Court pick: The rumored frontrunners for the Supreme Court—Neil Gorsuch, Thomas Hardiman, and William Pryor—are all individuals highly recommended by the Heritage Foundation and the Federalist Society because each would be a conservative justice in the mold of Antonin Scalia. Paul Ryan: U.S. will ‘front money’ for border wall, devise plan to Make Mexico Pay Later : Something tells me that Mexico is never going to pay for this wall. US wage disparity worsens: Top wage earners last year made over 5 times what their lowest-income counterparts took home, the widest gap in data going back to 1979, according to the Labor Department. Tweet of the day: Trump just said he considered leaving Obamacare as-is so it would be a political albatross for Dems in 2018. — Maggie Haberman (@maggieNYT) January 26, 2017

Daily Clips: January 25, 2017

Daily Clips: January 25, 2017

Quite the quote from Samuel Adams:   US journalists arrested, charged following anti-Trump protests: Six US journalists are facing up to 10 years’ jail and a $25,000 fine after being arrested while covering protests during Donald Trump’s inauguration. Economist Intelligence Unit claims “US is no longer a full democracy”: A flawed democracy is a country with free elections but weighed down by weak governance, an underdeveloped political culture and low levels of political participation, according to the EIU. Other flawed democracies in 2016 included Japan, France, Singapore, South Korea and India, the report said. Trump’s Labor nominee gets rich on taxpayer’s dime: …by not paying his workers a living wage or providing affordable health care, Puzder is costing taxpayers about $247 million a year in public assistance funding according to an estimate from the National Employment Law Project.

Daily Clips: January 24, 2017

Daily Clips: January 24, 2017

David Brooks believes Saturday’s marches missed the point: A truly nauseating article from Mr. Sanctimonious. He spends most of his column slamming the identity-based political movements of progressives. Meanwhile, he doesn’t say a god damn thing about conservatives electing a racist, white, nationalist into the highest office. And then he ends his piece with this doozy: If the anti-Trump forces are to have a chance, they have to offer a better nationalism, with diversity cohering around a central mission, building a nation that balances the dynamism of capitalism with biblical morality. Hard pass. The women who helped Donald Trump win:   Trump’s success is specifically among white women without college degrees, 61 percent of whom voted for him. Clinton actually did 7 points better than Trump with white college-educated women. Debt is projected to rise by $8.6 trillion over 10 years How bad biology is killing the economy: Bad biology exerts an irresistible attraction. Those who think that competition is what life is all about, and who believe that it is desirable for the strong to survive at the expense of the weak, eagerly adopt Darwinism as a beautiful illustration of their ideology. They depict evolution – or at least their cardboard version of it – as almost heavenly. John D Rockefeller concluded that the growth of a large business “is merely the working out of a law of nature and a law of God”, and Lloyd Blankfein, chairman and CEO of Goldman Sachs – the biggest money-making machine in the world – recently depicted himself as merely “doing God’s work”.

Daily Clips: January 20, 2017

Daily Clips: January 20, 2017

DT’s inaugural address transcript: Get ready for unbridled nationalism and divisiveness. His words should prepare progressives for what is to come. Trump to develop missile defense system against Iran, North Korea: The fear-mongering begins. Uber to Pay $20 Million to Settle FTC Charges on Earnings Claims for Drivers Sanders: This is a ‘tough day for millions of Americans’ Tweet of the day: Mnuchin failed to disclose $95 million in assets. When a 90-year-old woman underpaid by 27 cents, he took her house. https://t.co/g6uTS1GIlH — Steven Greenhouse (@greenhousenyt) January 19, 2017  

Daily Clips: January 18, 2017

Daily Clips: January 18, 2017

Tom Price, almost certainly, did some insider trading: Mr. Price, who will testify at a Senate confirmation hearing on Wednesday, has bought and sold stocks worth more than $300,000 over the last four years, The Wall Street Journal reported last month . His trades included shares of at least two companies that stood to benefit from legislation he voted for, had sponsored or was involved in. Earth sets temperature record for third straight year: “A single warm year is something of a curiosity,” said Deke Arndt, chief of global climate monitoring for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration . “It’s really the trend, and the fact that we’re punching at the ceiling every year now, that is the real indicator that we’re undergoing big changes.” Inequality is killing the American Dream: Obamacare Repealers: Trickle Downer of the Week Furthermore, the repeal of Obamacare would generate massive tax breaks—about $180 billion, according to an earlier CBO report —for pharmaceutical companies, health insurers, and medical device manufacturers.  

Daily Clips: January 17, 2016

Daily Clips: January 17, 2016

Republicans Plan to Roll Back Endangered Species Act: Reforms proposed by Republicans include placing limits on lawsuits that have been used to maintain protections for some species and force decisions on others, as well as adopting a cap on how many species can be protected and giving states a greater say in the process. It turns out that a major factor in “making America great again” was removing endangered species from protection. Good to know. Wal-Mart to create 10,000 jobs this year: The “classy way” to let companies sponsor parks:  The marketization of our society is near completion. How Cory Booker went from hero to zero: Booker has long faced criticism on the left for cultivating the elite financial ties that much of the Bernie Sanders wing despises. And while it’s true that his vote may have had more to do with the concentration of the pharmaceutical industry in his home state, it’s also only served to confirm some progressives’ suspicions that he’s too closely allied with corporate interests in the Democratic Party.

Daily Clips: January 13, 2017

Daily Clips: January 13, 2017

Chicago police regularly engage in excessive force, says Loretta Lynch In a scathing review, investigators with the justice department found that police violated both the fourth amendment of the constitution and department policy in the use of deadly force. Investigators faulted poor training and accountability systems for contributing to the department’s unconstitutional policing practices. Truth and politics But Trump’s latest remarks demonstrate the malleable boundaries of the charge, leading even establishment outlets to take umbrage now they’ve been forced to defend themselves — not against other journalists, but the president-elect of the United States. Amazon to Create More Than 100,000 New Jobs in U.S. in 18 Months Tweet of the day Black youths in Chicago told DOJ that officers called them "nigger," "animal," "piece of shit."Chicago officers told DOJ that this is true. pic.twitter.com/HklJ8OdmKF — Brad Heath (@bradheath) January 13, 2017

Daily Clips: January 11 2017

Daily Clips: January 11 2017

Thomas Piketty finds half of the American population hasn’t shared in economic growth since the 1970s   A young scientist compared gun deaths to other leading causes, and found a billion dollar research deficit “To me as a physician and as a research scientist, the idea that knowledge dissemination and knowledge generation was being systematically prevented, that was a pretty strong statement,” Stark recalled. Paul Ryan blocked Planned Parenthood signature gatherers from delivering 87,000 petitions Barack Obama gives a farewell address for the ages Not sure I agree with this piece, but it’s worth a read. I was frustrated with Obama’s perma-optimism. It’s his greatest strength but also his greatest weakness. It makes him appear disconnected from lived experiences. Again, we saw that he touted the stock market and job creation, but only vaguely admitted “we still have work to do.” That’s not good enough, in my opinion.

Daily Clips: January 10, 2017

Daily Clips: January 10, 2017

Tweet of the week (I’m already calling it). It’s really that amazing.  Facebook nitwit celebrating Obamacare repeal finds out Obamacare is another name for the ACA he depends on. pic.twitter.com/ehStqChXqq — Helen Kennedy (@HelenKennedy) January 9, 2017 Mexico again says they will not pay for the wall Many mass shooters have a history of domestic violence. We need to start focusing on this. Small business optimism shoots up Optimism among America’s small businesses soared in December by the most since 1980 as expectations about the economy’s prospects improved dramatically in the aftermath of the presidential election. The National Federation of Independent Business’s index jumped 7.4 points last month to 105.8, the highest since the end of 2004, from 98.4. While seven of the 10 components increased in December, 73 percent of the monthly advance was due to more upbeat views about the outlook for sales and the economy, the Washington-based group said.