stevenleser

stevenleser's Journal

April 30, 2015

We've discussed, Hillary, Bernie and Elizabeth. What about Lee Mercer Jr.? He was first to file...

All three!!!!!

http://www.buzzfeed.com/andrewkaczynski/lee-mercer-jr-is-already-running-ads-for-the-next#.rlQOA58D8

Meet the first person to run ads for the next presidential election: perennial candidate Lee Mercer Jr. of Texas, who has already filed paperwork with the FEC to run for president in 2016.

Mercer’s TV ad ran at a discounted price on several channels. A Brooklyn resident told BuzzFeed he saw the commercial while watching a hockey game on NBC Sports on January 29th, and people on Twitter responded that they saw the ad that day as well.

“Lee L. Mercer, Jr. of Houston, Texas is announcing his campaign for President of the United States in 2016 as a democrat to save America with Intelligence Management Education,” the ad says.”He is campaigning a Special Election Government Platform New Neutral Developed Intelligence Second U. S. Government that was patented in 2000 by the U.S. Department of Justice and Defense research and development testing.”

“The U.S. Congress’s bid appointed him Conservator President of the United States
with power of attorney. Political ad authorized and paid for by Mercer for President,” the ad concludes.

April 29, 2015

To fellow veterans and active duty military re: House GOP blocking protections vs lenders

Fellow military vets and current active duty, if you don't know this already, you need to understand that Republicans say they love military folks but that love manifests itself like how ticks love dogs.

Sure, they will fight to get you the most expensive weapons systems, because the defense contracting firms are donating tons of money to their campaigns so that they do, but the fight isn't nearly as hard to make sure those weapons systems actually work once delivered.

Then, when it comes to ponying up to pay for health services for veterans after they've served, or protecting active duty military from predatory lenders, or just plain not throwing military personnel into meat-grinding conflicts that didn't need to happen in the first place? Republicans don't have much love for active duty or veterans at all, just the opposite.

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http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/04/29/predatory-lending-military_n_7171748.html?ir=Politics&utm_campaign=042915&utm_medium=email&utm_source=Alert-politics&utm_content=FullStory&ncid=newsltushpmg00000003

House Republicans Want To Block Predatory Lending Protections For American Troops

WASHINGTON -- House Republicans are pushing legislation to block predatory lending protections for American soldiers, under pressure from the banking lobby.

GOP lawmakers tucked the deregulation item into the National Defense Authorization Act -- a major bill setting the military's funding, along with a number of other controversial terms on Guantanamo Bay and other issues. If the banking item is enacted, it would impose a one-year delay on new Department of Defense rules meant to shield military families from abusive terms on payday loans and other forms of high-interest credit. The bill is being considered Wednesday before the House Armed Services Committee.

The military has been struggling with the financial impact of predatory lending on service members for years. A 2014 report issued by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau documents a host of abuses targeting troops. One family that took out a $2,600 loan ended up paying back $3,966.84 over the course of a year. Another borrower spent $1,428.28 to pay off a $485 loan in just six months. Thousands of service members receive short-term, high-interest loans each year.

In 2006, Congress passed legislation imposing a 36 percent cap on interest rates for payday loans, auto title loans and tax refund anticipation loans to military families. Lenders responded by slightly tweaking the terms of their loans to avoid the limits. Since the law applied to payday loans with terms of 91 days or less, and amounts of $2,000 or less, credit companies were able to shirk the rules with 92-day loans, or loans of $2,001.
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(more at above link)

April 28, 2015

Statement from a friend who grew up in Baltimore

"Look. I'm a Baltimore kid. Nobody wants violence, but people have been pushed to the limit and massive peaceful protests have resulted in no material legislation and no national agenda. What the hell do people expect to happen? -chet..."

The other side of that, a profoundly sad side, is that Chet talks about how parts of Baltimore that were destroyed 40-50 years ago in riots that happened still aren't rebuilt.

That's Chet on the left with Charlie

https://www.facebook.com/chet.whye?fref=ts

April 27, 2015

xPost from GD - NYC Comptroller Scott Stringer holding discussion on Income Inequality

NYC Comptroller Scott Stringer will be holding a discussion on the NYC economy and the fight against inequality. Also featured will be local candidates for civil court.

Tonight at 7pm

550 W 155th St., New York, NY (I believe that is the Church of the Intercession)

Link to FB event: https://www.facebook.com/events/1576335479287308/

April 27, 2015

NYC DUers - NYC Comptroller Scott Stringer holding discussion on Income Inequality

NYC Comptroller Scott Stringer will be holding a discussion on the NYC economy and the fight against inequality. Also featured will be local candidates for civil court.

Tonight at 7pm

550 W 155th St., New York, NY

Link to FB event: https://www.facebook.com/events/1576335479287308/

April 26, 2015

Politicsusa.com: Bush Campaign Shows Signs Of Unraveling As Jeb Drops To 4th Place In GOP Race

http://www.politicususa.com/2015/04/24/bush-campaign-unraveling-early-jeb-drops-4th-place-gop-race.html

Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush was hoping to use a shock and awe fundraising blitz to establish himself as the GOP front-runner early on in the campaign. The Bush strategy was to lock up donors and early primary voters, in order to give him the same sense of inevitability on the Republican side as Hillary Clinton enjoys in the Democratic race. However, a Fox News poll released on April 24, 2015 finds Bush’s candidacy floundering in the polls, mustering a meager 9 percent support in the multi-candidate GOP field.

Bush has embarrassingly fallen into single digits, trailing fellow Floridian, Senator Marco Rubio (13 percent support), Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker (12 percent), and Kentucky Senator Rand Paul (10 percent). Bush is tied for fourth place with former Arkansas Governor and FOX TV personality Mike Huckabee, garnering just 9 percent support from potential Republican voters.

While the poll numbers alone are a source of concern for Jeb Bush, what may cause him even more consternation is that he also seems to be losing his grip on the invisible primary of wealthy donors in the GOP. The Bush campaign always figured they might struggle to appeal to some socially conservative rank-and-file Republicans, but their strategy was to lock down the donor class.

With enough financial support, Jeb’s hope was to essentially pummel his opponents financially and will his way to victory through the power of the almighty dollar. Bush planned to rely on the ability of heavily funded pro-Bush super PACs to trash his primary opponents and propel him to the nomination, following a pattern similar to the one employed by Mitt Romney in 2012 to fend off Rick Santorum, Newt Gingrich and Ron Paul.
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(more at above link)

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This is good and bad news. The good news is that of all the GOP hopefuls in 2016, Jeb probably would have the best chance against whoever we nominate (probably Hillary). The bad news is, you never know what can happen, and this means a really crazy wingnut is going to be nominated and that person could end up as President.

I predicted several months ago that Ted Cruz would be the nominee.

April 26, 2015

My daughter Angela is 4 weeks old today! Here she is playing in her Kick & Play Piano Gym

April 21, 2015

Gallup: Of 5 major world powers, people think most highly of US, and least of Russia

http://www.gallup.com/poll/182795/russia-receives-lowest-approval-world-highest.aspx?utm_source=World&utm_medium=newsfeed&utm_campaign=tiles

This article is based on the findings from Gallup's first-ever report -- Rating World Leaders: What People Worldwide Think of the U.S., China, Russia, the EU and Germany -- on the status of how the world rates the leadership of five of the world's major powers.

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Russia in 2014 earned the lowest approval ratings globally for the eighth consecutive year and posted the highest disapproval ratings it has received to date. U.S. leadership received the highest approval rating in the world, with the median 45% approval topping ratings of the leadership of the European Union, Germany, Russia and China -- as it has most years since 2009.
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Survey Methods

Results are based on face-to-face and telephone interviews with approximately 1,000 adults, aged 15 and older, in each country or area. This report provides annual results of leadership approval of the U.S., Germany, the European Union, China and Russia from 2007 through 2014. Throughout 2014, residents were asked to rate U.S., German and Russian leadership in 135 countries or areas, and residents in 136 countries or areas were asked to rate the EU and China. For results based on the total sample of national adults, the margin of sampling error ranged from ± 2.5 percentage points to ± 5.2 percentage points at the 95% confidence level.
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Methinks the Putinista's heads will be exploding.

April 21, 2015

CNN: Obama approval level climbs into positive territory on positive perception of economy

Oh and besides the below, George W. Bush's approval rating at this point in his Presidency was 37% and heading south due to economic and foreign policy failures. Too bad so sad GOP.

CNN: President Barack Obama's approval rating is shifting back toward positive territory, as the public's take on the economy hits a new high mark for Obama's tenure, according to a new CNN/ORC poll.

For the first time since May of 2013, more Americans polled say they have a positive impression of how Obama is handling the presidency than a negative one: 48% approve of the way Obama is handling his job, while 47% disapprove.

While the share saying they approve is not significantly larger than the share disapproving, it's a notable shift in perceptions of Obama's presidency.

Obama's numbers are on the rise at the same time the public gives the economy the highest ratings of his presidency.

The poll finds 52% describe the U.S. economy as very or somewhat good, while 48% call it very or somewhat poor. That marks the first time since Obama took office that significantly more people describe the economy as "good" than "poor," and only the second time since then that a majority has described the nation's economy as "good."

http://www.cnn.com/2015/04/21/politics/cnn-poll-obama-economy-congress/

April 16, 2015

UK Guardian: Ted Cruz's early 2016 funding topples Romney, suggesting big-money race

http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/apr/16/ted-cruz-presidential-campaign-donations-first-week

Ted Cruz is raising money for his presidential campaign at a significantly faster rate than Mitt Romney did four years ago, eclipsing the early total raised by the former Massachusetts governor who went on to win the Republican nomination in 2012.

The conservative Texas senator, who is seeking to unite the Republicans’ Tea Party wing behind his White House run, raised $4.3m during the final days of March – his first full week after declaring as a candidate for president.

Cruz proved particularly popular with small donors, raising more in his first week from contributors giving $200 or less than Romney did in the first 11 weeks of his campaign.

But the rightwing senator also raked in some noteworthy donations from two wealthy Republican donors – a sports owner and a private-equity investor – who are likely to be kingmakers in the forthcoming race for Super Pac money.
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(more at above link)
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Cruz remains my prediction for who will win the 2016 GOP nom. Oh, and check out this hurlworthy quote from Cruz:

Ted Cruz backs unlimited campaign cash: 'Money absolutely can be speech'

Profile Information

Name: RuggedRealist
Gender: Male
Hometown: New York, NY
Home country: USA
Current location: NYC
Member since: Tue Jan 4, 2005, 05:36 PM
Number of posts: 32,886

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