only lowering the amount of the proposed increases, not the overall amount currently mixed in gas

-5

6/1/2015 5:04:09 PM

Obama Administration Opens Up Thousands Of Acres Of Public Lands To Coal Mining
http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2015/06/01/3664633/blm-coal-lease-decision/

6/3/2015 6:41:37 PM

http://www.foxnews.com/world/2015/06/04/isis-shows-off-us-gear-seized-from-iraqis-in-fighting-near-fallujah/

good job obama. this man is a worse leader than... well I can't think of a worse leader in the 20th century, except maybe woodrow wilson.

6/4/2015 10:25:15 PM

^^You must be sarcastic with that post. That is far from credible.

6/5/2015 8:08:40 AM

^^This article is too perfect for this topic:

http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/congress-failing-fulfill-the-bare-minimum-isis

Quote :

"Right. So, the Obama administration launched airstrikes in August 2014. The president called on Congress to authorize the mission in December 2014. Obama devoted part of his State of the Union address to this in January 2015. The White House even sent draft legislative language to Capitol Hill in February 2015. And in June 2015, a committee was willing to endorse a non-binding measure that said Congress really should, someday, do something to meet its constitutional obligations. That’s it. That’s as far as lawmakers have been willing to go."

Add on top of that the blood and guts rhetoric coming from a majority of the Republican Campaign contenders, but when it comes to votes in congress, no one is willing to do shit about ISIS except complain. It doesn't bother me on this issue since I'm not sure we should be leading the way over there right now, but the complete lack of leadership in congress is just mind-boggling

6/5/2015 8:43:59 AM

ISIS has cut off key water supplies to cities in Iraq.

But we're too busy talking about Caitlyn to care.

6/5/2015 9:13:47 AM

and in your head we should blame Obama for that?

adorable.

6/5/2015 9:39:07 AM

No, no not at all. I guess that's the assumption since it was posted in this thread. That was just a general comment on how much America sucks right now, not the president.

I don't blame him for the capture of the dam, unless you trace it back to the troop withdrawal. No the dam thing is on the Iraqis.

6/5/2015 9:56:09 AM

Even the U.S. troop withdrawal from Iraq can be traced back to the Status of Forces Agreement signed by Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki and President George W. Bush.

6/5/2015 4:41:57 PM

^ that's kind of a cop out answer, because it's not like Obama would have kept the troops longer if he had even wanted to. He could have really changed this agreement if he wanted.

But you can't necessarily say keeping the troops there would have changed the outcome. IS in its current form probably wouldn't have been created, but those fighters and leaders wouldn't have just evaporated. Likely we'd still see IS just making a bigger push in Syria.

But things must be really bad in Iraq if IS sees such a power vacuum that they are making this their major front. What was our diplomatic engine doing for the past 10 years? It's almost like they literally didn't accomplish anything.

Either way, i can't see how anyone can say Iraq was worth it in hindsight. Our weapons are in the hands of enemies (60% of the iraqi humvees are now in IS's hands), a trillion dollars down the drain, major diplomatic headaches, extremism in the region has grown, Iraq is far less stable than it was, and this is all just fueling more unrest in Syria and Egypt.

I don't know enough to say how Iran and early 200x Iraq compare, but the way we've handled Iran is better than anything about Iraq.

6/5/2015 9:48:31 PM

OBAMA MAKES IT LEGAL FOR AMERICANS TO FUND TERROR GROUPS (like isis, etc)...

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2015/06/23/white-house-to-release-hostage-policy-review-wednesday/?intcmp=trending

6/23/2015 4:06:27 PM

[Edited on June 23, 2015 at 4:18 PM. Reason : ]

6/23/2015 4:18:53 PM

6/26/2015 11:28:21 AM

This is my house. lol

6/26/2015 11:56:25 AM

^^remind me again what Obama did to make gay marriage legal?

6/26/2015 4:15:12 PM

Sotomayor and Kagan.

6/26/2015 4:56:55 PM

haha, touche!!!! I love them ladies!!

6/26/2015 4:59:41 PM

The two people they replace almost certainly would have voted the same way. Stevens and Souter were definitely two of the more liberal justices we had.

Giving Obama credit of this is akin to blaming him for Citizens united.

6/27/2015 11:03:48 AM

Especially considering he was against same sex marriage...until it became politically convenient not to be against it. Curiously, he was pro same sex marriage as a state congressman before that.

6/27/2015 11:11:06 AM

Yup, absolutely agree. His "I've evolved on the issue" line was so transparently horseshit it's sickening.

6/27/2015 11:15:10 AM

So you're saying McCain or Mitt would have replaced Stevens and Souter with pro-SSM justices?

6/27/2015 12:19:11 PM

Nope, but I suspect both would probably still be sitting if a Republican had won in 2008.

If it looks like there's a strong Republican candidate with a shot at winning in 2016 I wouldn't be surprised to see RBG retire prior to election.

6/27/2015 12:29:41 PM

Nah, that tough old broad isn't going anywhere, at least not until Scalia is out. She got enough of his salty tears from these last two decisions to fuel her for at least another 4-6 years.

6/27/2015 12:50:39 PM

I actually met her once, a service at the national cathedral in DC shortly after she was confirmed to the court.

6/27/2015 3:21:48 PM

6/30/2015 4:16:56 PM

7/1/2015 12:21:32 AM

I'll give him some credit for pardoning a coiled people imprisoned on BS drug possession charges. Also give him credit for talking about needed reforms to our criminal justice system

7/14/2015 9:52:20 PM

It's good he's talking about prison reform and the need for rehabilitation. This is pretty much what the research into this issue recommends, it's what works in other countries (albeit this isn't directly comparable).

However, I don't see congress biting on this issue... it's pretty much never the case that we do politically what research suggests. But... maybe this time will be different.

7/14/2015 10:05:42 PM

He gets some credit for commuting sentences.

There's still several hundred thousand more people he needs to do this for though.

I guess I'd be more of an Obama fan if he hadn't consistently been worse than Bush (which is just fucking staggering) on virtually every civil liberties issue.

7/15/2015 12:06:05 AM

So what is the reason that he is not lowering flags for the Tennessee shootings? Seems like a political no brainer to me.

7/20/2015 10:52:54 PM

because he's a secret Muslim who hates America and the people who risk their lives to defend it

duh

7/20/2015 11:07:25 PM

^^
http://www.cnn.com/2015/07/20/us/tennessee-naval-reserve-shooting/

Quote :

"Gov. Chris Christie controversially ordered New Jerseys flags to half-staff for Houston, as he did for saxophonist Clarence Clemons of Bruce Springsteen's E. Street Band. The last time there was a national call to fly the flags at half-staff was Memorial Day, the rules for which dictate keeping the flags at half-staff until noon. As for honoring people, the flags were last lowered in April, in commemoration of President Abraham Lincoln's death, and in December 2013, in honor of South Africa's Nelson Mandela. Among the tragedies that have prompted the honor are the 2009 mass shooting at Fort Hood, Texas; the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in Newtown, Connecticut, in 2012; the 2012 attack on the U.S. Embassy in Benghazi, Libya; the Boston Marathon bombings in 2013; and the 2013 Washington Navy Yard shooting. Flags are flown at half-staff on holidays such as Memorial Day, Patriot Day, Peace Officers Memorial Day and Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day. They're also lowered for the annual Fallen Firefighters Memorial Service. "

My guess is someone just forgot. My first thought after hearing the news wasn't "someone should lower the flags!" but it's not my job… i'm assuming this is someone's job? either way, it seems a bit silly to view this as an affront.

7/20/2015 11:28:23 PM

Yeah, I can see that someone just dropped the ball and forgot, which speaks to the President's credibility as much as just refusing to honor the soldiers.

Quote :

"it seems a bit silly to view this as an affront."

I mean, five people died serving their country. Lowering a flag isn't really asking a lot. You really need to re-examine your blind loyalty to Obama if you cant see how some people might be offended by this.

7/21/2015 12:59:01 AM

^ Something tells me that people that are offended don't get similarly offended whenever we don't lower the flag for other troop deaths?

In fact, I bet if obama lowered the flags, people would be attacking him for NOT lowering the flags for other troop deaths. This whole flag thing is dumb, and I doubt it really affects peoples' perceptions of Obama either way (nor should it).

7/21/2015 1:08:17 AM

faux outrage

7/21/2015 8:48:55 AM

Sounds like something my aunt would post on Facebook.

Don't know where to post this but I was going to a brewery in Apex this weekend and right at the entrance to downtown I see a huge banner with: WAKE UP CHRISTIANS AND JEWS. OBAMA IS MUSLIM..

7/21/2015 9:03:13 AM

so, if Bernie Sanders wants to repeal Obamacare, are ya'll cool with it? Since he's a Democrat?

9/18/2015 12:47:32 AM

how exactly does a single person repeal a law, again?

9/18/2015 12:51:59 AM

Bernie's not gonna repeal shit. In fact, he hasn't proposed one single piece of concrete passable legislation. That's the problem with him, his heart is in the right place but when it comes to actually governing and implementing policy, he's out of his depth.

9/18/2015 12:15:33 PM

"not passable" in the current congress. After (if) he wins the election we will see the entirety of Congress begin swinging back toward the left. Even if he doesn't get his exact legislation through, they are good places to begin negotiation and start the process.

[Edited on September 18, 2015 at 12:54 PM. Reason : This is leaps and bounds better to me than capitulation to the right, aka the Clinton move]

9/18/2015 12:53:04 PM

^^ it doesn't have to be passable. It just has to seep into peoples' brains.

Automation is going to be a big problem within the next 10 years, if we don't get people thinking along the lines of UBI or single payer or livable wages, we're hosed. I think Bernie, even if he doesn't pass anything, will set us up in 4 or 8 years to really tackle those issues.

A Republican would doom us, they're too stuck on their religious/xenophobia nonsense to look into the future, and would probably respond by banning or restricting the research. Hillary is too statist probably.

9/18/2015 6:10:23 PM

Another reminder that Shrike is just a party stooge and not a liberal

9/18/2015 6:57:25 PM

Yeah, you're right, I'm not an ideologue. I'm for considering all good ideas, no matter the source, and implementing what works. You know, democracy? That's what I'm for. I also don't like the democratic party in general, but Obama and Hillary are cool. Why? They've actually done and proposed stuff that has/will work. Bernie's blown a lot of smoke but hasn't proposed anything that will actually work.

[Edited on September 18, 2015 at 8:52 PM. Reason : .]

9/18/2015 8:48:43 PM

^^lol at anybody who is a "true" liberal or conservative. Cause life and opinions are always that cut and dry.

9/19/2015 12:28:25 AM

http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2015/09/18/ted-cruz-ninja-is-13-black-and-just-shredded-obama-on-muslim-clock-boy

9/19/2015 2:57:34 AM

Lol read the comments for the "list of fallacies" rebuttal. Pure gold but nothing new. Conservative talking heads don't know how to argue logically.

9/19/2015 7:30:13 AM

are these true?



don't feel like checking... actually I just google for similar pics, and found hundreds which support that, and hundreds which show the opposite. wonder what the truth is.

10/7/2015 9:21:25 AM

lol, no

10/7/2015 10:39:26 AM

let's see.
Full-time workers: 122M (September 2015)
Workforce participation: 62.4% (I assume a lot of this is due to baby boomers getting to retirement age. but it has been on a steady decline) (source: http://data.bls.gov/timeseries/LNS11300000 )
Home ownership rate: 63.4% (a nearly 50 year low)
Median income: $51,939
Poverty: I don't know what their definition of this is, so who knows.
People on food stamps: 45.5M (this program was expanded during the Great Recession. It's no surprise there are more people on it. The requirements have been loosened because there were lots on people on the margins in need.)
Debt to GDP ratio: 102.98 (This number grew greatly between 2008 and 2012 and has leveled off since then).

So yeah most of those numbers hold. Certainly some of this can be attributed to Obama, but there's been a worldwide recession as well as an adversarial Congress who passed very little after the initial stimulus to help with the labor market in this country.

Also, the numbers to compare should really be January 2015 to now, not 2008. That conveniently misses the beginning of the Great Recession in the Fall of 2008 (when Obama wasn't yet President)

[Edited on October 7, 2015 at 7:25 PM. Reason : .]

10/7/2015 7:23:44 PM

of course what I meant to say in the last paragraph was that we should be comparing January 2009 to now. not 2008 to now. But whatever.

10/7/2015 11:53:56 PM