Tagged: politics

Los Angeles elected a new mayor on Thursday. With a record low voter turnout of only 15 percent, Mayor-elect Eric Garcetti clinched the win by only 26,000 votes, beating the unfortunately named opposition, city comptroller Wendy Gruel. At 42, Garcetti is Los Angeles's first Jewish mayor and LA's youngest in more than one hundred years. Here's a quick fact sheet on the man to take LA's mayoral office come July 1st. He describes himself as "half-Mexican, half -Jewish, with an Italian last name," which means ethnically he should have been LA's mayor a long [...]

Former Brooklyn congressman Anthony Weiner tossed his hat into the race for New York City mayor on Wednesday morning. His announcement to the press came via email with the below YouTube video, arguing his sympathetic and almost filial connection to the middle class. No dick pic talk whatsoever in the vid. "I made some big mistakes and I know I let a lot of people down, but I also learned some tough lessons," he says. "I'm running for mayor because I've been fighting for the middle class and those struggling to make it my entire life. And I [...]

In a U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals decision on Tuesday, three judges unanimously agreed that the more than 50 Osama bin Laden death photos taken during the Abbottabad raid and ocean burial on May 2, 2011, will remain classified. "It is undisputed that the government is withholding the images not to shield wrongdoing or avoid embarrassment," according to the court's opinion, "but rather to prevent the killing of Americans and violence against American interests." The court decision , ruling in favor of the CIA and the Department of Defense, went on to say that [...]

Picture it:  Sicily America, 2009! As if out of nowhere (by nowhere we mean the Koch Brothers ), hundreds of costumed historical reenactors jumped on the political scene, talking some drivel about how they didn't want to pay taxes and Obama was a Secret Muslin with a forged birth certificate or whatever. It was hard to tell what they were on about, what with their limited spelling abilities and all. It was a more innocent time. At first they even called themselves Teabaggers, having literally no idea that the word was also [...]

Representative Kevin Cramer (R-WTF) is not happy with the state of things here in modern America at all . He gave a graduation speech recently at the University of Mary in North Dakota detailing all of his sadness with the world today. For one thing, did you know that there was a news anchor who said a swear word on the television and then was fired, but was not stoned to death by angry villagers? It's true. Instead of setting him on fire as is proper and right, people just thought it was kind of [...]

Michele Bachmann has long maintained that Obamacare would kill people. There was talk of government "death panels" when universal healthcare was being debated back in Obama's first term, and earlier this year she insisted that in its current form it would " literally kill " people. But all her previous death rants lacked one thing: a motive . This week, with news of the IRS inappropriately picking on conservative groups filing for tax exempt status, she's got finally got one. The IRS hates conservatives so much that they won't simply punk them in their tax-exempt filings, warned [...]

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Attorney General Eric Holder testified on Capitol Hill Wednesday on the Justice Department's seizure of phone records from the Associated Press, even as 52 media outlets protested the agency's "overreach." What unfolded was far from a class act that inspired confidence in the integrity of the DOJ—he basically just threw his subordinates under the bus. Holder made it clear that his second in command, Deputy Attorney General James Cole, ordered the subpoena of Associated Press phone records and that he knew nothing about it. He said only that he'd "recused" himself from [...]

It's nice to know you have a lock before even breaking out of the gate, am I right? The fact that democrats are backing Hillary Clinton for a 2016 presidential run is hardly a news flash, but there's something to be said for the candidate who hasn't said peep about the White House and gets nothing but the most devout endorsements from heads of state. Even as boob tubers remain highly misinformed about a "scandal" that looms on air waves with her name attached, Clinton is continued to be thought of as one of the strongest, [...]

One of the lessons learned from Charles Pierce's 2010 bestseller " Idiot America " is that, no matter how untrue or distorted your message may be, as long as you say it loud enough, people will listen - even though they have no idea what you're talking about. It's no news that Couch Potato Nation has been conditioned to believe whatever comes through their TV sets and monitors. So, when a certain major news network harps on a snafu across the Atlantic and pushes negligence to the point of corruption - i.e., when Fox News attaches the word [...]

Gossip that's been buzzing among political junkies this week turned into headline news on Wednesday morning, after Politico reported that Anthony Weiner has made at least two hires for his prospective New York City mayoral candidacy. The former U.S. congressman has staffed up with a press secretary and, as his apparent campaign manager, Danny Keder, a NYC political operative who has managed at least two congressional runs in the five boroughs. Team Weiner is expected to officially announce its bid for City Hall next week. The New York Post jumped on the coattails of [...]

The Wall Street Journal rifled through Chris Christie's campaign documents that were released on Monday and discovered that the New Jersey governor owes a political debt to Silicon Valley. In short, $590,000 of the $6 million sitting in Gov's campaign piggy bank for his 2014 reelection comes from West coast tech - $700,000 if you count non-Cali tech magnates. From WSJ : Residents of the Golden State gave more than $590,000 in reportable contributions to Mr. Christie's campaign, second only to New Jersey gifts, an analysis of campaign documents released Monday [...]

It is possible that Michele Bachmann is headed for a total breakdown. Her home state of Minnesota just passed marriage equality Monday, so we know she's not going to be too happy about that. Check out his insane video of her speech at last week's "Washington: A Man of Prayer" conference, celebrating the piety of our first president, who was not actually all that religious. If you can't watch the video just now because you're at work or something (in which case, seriously, bookmark it and watch it at home [...]

I think we can all agree now that absolutely everyone hates the IRS. Even those of us who think that taxes in principle are a good thing in that they pay for roads, fresh water, education, etc, will readily admit that when it comes time to actually pay taxes—and especially to deal with the IRS—it's miserable. The IRS is like a never-ending dentist appointment for your life that will keep hanging over your head no matter how regularly you stop in for a cleaning. There's always the chance that you've messed something up and you'll find yourself staring into the [...]

Elizabeth Warren is the best, she's just the freaking best- and I am not one who is frequently enamored with politicians. It's pretty much just her and Bernie Sanders. My girl threw down today, suggesting that perhaps- just perhaps - it would be nice to give student loans the same kind of breaks we give banks on their loans from the Federal Reserve. Because starting this summer, interest on student loans will be going up to 6.8%... while banks will continue to enjoy a comfy 0.75% interest rate. “Right [...]

New Jersey governor Chris Christie hosted a group of school children at his Trenton office on Friday and showed them the true power of running the state's executive branch - by smashing a spider on his desk with his bare hand. "Where is he?" he asks the students before pulverizing the arachnid with his meaty palm. Seconds later, the evil brood giggled as the governor, currently running for reelection, rejoiced in cold blood. "That's also another fun part of being governor," Christie remarked. "Any bugs on your desk, you're allowed to kill them and not get in trouble." [...]

Ohio Republicans feel really importantly about voting. Or, rather, they will do basically anything they can to make sure that no one except for people who will vote for them can vote. First, they tried to come for the poor people and the black people with gerrymandering and their voter ID laws. Now, they are coming for students . Ohio Republicans are trying to push through a law that State Schools will have to charge in-state tuition to out-of-state students who vote in Ohio. Which would cause some serious financial damage to the schools. The law will [...]

DO THE WORDS "SENATOR SARAH PALIN" EXCITE YOU? Come on. Do they? Do they make you a little tingly in your no-no place, maybe? Do they conjure up vivid, phosphorescent  dreamscapes of bouffants, pantsuits, and Big Gulps? With like, fairy-winged AK-47s and all of the newspapers floating around deep Alaskan sky? That is what some random Teabagging organization in Alaska would like to know. Because they have made a decision to draft Ms. Palin to be their next Senator! Even though they have not actually asked her yet. Oh, and despite the fact [...]

Larry Flynt, the self-described "smut peddler who cares," is gleefully endorsing noted philanderer Mark Sanford's congressional campaign. You know, because Sanford is such a sexual pioneer. The Hustler publisher and First Amendment rights activist is offering his support in spite of the disgraced former Congressman's trip down the "Appalachian trail of deceit" - in reference to the time in 2009 when the randy Republican disappeared for five days, claiming to have been hiking the Appalachian trail, when actually he was in Argentina banging his mistress. Says Flynt: [...]

Weiner missing shots as goalie in his adult league hockey team. On Monday night, the New York Daily News crashed prospective mayoral candidate Anthony Weiner's adult league hockey game at the Manhattan sports complex Chelsea Piers. The former congressman was missing shots as goalie while politics reporter Jennifer Fermino questioned if and when he would officially join the NYC race. That's when "Weiner darted off the ice," according to the Wednesday edition of the Daily News, "and a teammate — who reeked of beer and claimed to be a doctor [...]