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There’s no denying it: The National Rifle Association has won — again. Even though more than 3,000 Americans have died via gun violence since 20 children and six adults were murdered at Sandy Hook Elementary in December, the NRA has somehow managed to triumph. The victims’ families and gun-control advocates have lost. Forget an assault weapons ban — or any other serious gun regulation. It’s not happening.
— Joe Gandelman says the NRA has already won -
It’s not quite clear who actually takes seriously the idea of minting a pair of $1 trillion platinum coins to sidestep the upcoming debt-ceiling battle, who just wants the option on the table as a warning to House Republicans, and who’s just having fun with the idea. But it’s pretty clear that the “oddball suggestion” is gaining traction. But somebody would have to grace the design with their trillion-dollar face. Here, 10 suggestions.
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“You are so pretty. God love you, holy mackerel.”
“Spread your legs — you’re gonna be frisked!”
“Need any help on your pecs, man, give me a call.”
The vice president clearly loved holding court in the Senate, making hilarious and vaguely inappropriate comments to lawmakers and their families. WATCH: Joe Biden’s wackiest one-liners from swearing in the 113th Congress
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Cartoon of the day: The public has spoken
CHAN LOWE © 2013 Tribune Media Services(Source: theweek.com)
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“The most dysfunctional ever…”
“The most worthless, incompetent, do-nothing gathering of lawmakers in the nation’s history…”
“The most unproductive session since the 1940s…”10 insulting labels for the outgoing 112th Congress
(Source: theweek.com)
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![The fiscal-cliff fix: Winners and losers
WINNERS
Joe Biden — Biden certainly “emerges with enhanced stature from the budget mess,” says The Daily Beast’s Kurtz. He was “called off the bench” on Sunday, then “showed a deft hand — and the experience of growing up in [the Senate] — in quickly hammering out a deal with Minority Leader Mitch McConnell.” If the 70-year-old vice president “decides to run for Obama’s job in 2016, such performances could more than offset his reputation for shooting from the lip.” Of course if Democrats end up hating the deal, this could actually “bite Biden down the line,” says Chris Cillizza at The Washington Post. But he clearly ranks among the winners for negotiating the deal and persuading Democrats to support it. The vice president is often underestimated by the political press, but “the ‘Biden as major White House asset’ storyline writes itself” now.
The rich and elderly — Obama’s decision to raise the threshold for higher taxes from $250,000 to $450,000 makes for “a big tax cut for all kinds of rich people, not just those with adjusted gross incomes between the two figures,” says Matthew Yglesias at Slate. Because our tax rates are marginal, meaning that only income above $450,000 is taxed at the higher rate, “if you make $600,000 or even $1 million a year you still have a very large share of your income that’s taxed at a lower rate thanks to this deal.” The deal also didn’t have any of the expected cuts to Social Security and other federal retirement security programs, so at least for now, “old people are the winners,” too.
LOSERS
John Boehner — “The fiscal cliff talks were cast as a moment for [John] Boehner to cement his legacy as speaker,” negotiating a grand bargain that would “set the country on the right financial course through the Republican-controlled House,” says Cillizza at The Washington Post. “The exact opposite happened.” The Ohio Republican dropped negotiations with Obama to pass his own “Plan B” — raising taxes on only people earning $1 million a year — but that plan failed to even get a vote, raising questions about “how much — if any — control he had over his fellow House Republicans.” That idea was reinforced when Boehner couldn’t get more than half of his caucus, or even his top lieutenants, to back the final compromise, says Daniel Newhauser at Roll Call. Boehner “now slumps into the 113th Congress with gavel firmly in hand but with scant ability to wield its power.”
Hurricane Sandy victims — After the messy fight over the fiscal cliff bill, House GOP leaders canceled a scheduled vote on a supplemental spending bill for areas ravaged by Hurricane Sandy, mostly in New York and New Jersey. The House Appropriations Committee had even teed up a $60 billion package, matching the Sandy relief bill that passed the Senate last week. “Absent a change of heart, the upshot now is that the Senate bill will die with this Congress on Thursday at noon,” says David Rogers at Politico. “I assume there is as tactical consideration here, that the Republican leadership didn’t want to be anywhere near a big spending bill after the fiasco of their handling the tax debate,”says Rep. Rob Andrews (D.N.J.). “I understand the tactics but there is a real human need here that is being ignored.”
More winners and losers](http://24.media.tumblr.com/13af98546fc88ed1ff7bf8b3322a592d/tumblr_mg0767JUuY1qdjbb7o1_1280.png)
The fiscal-cliff fix: Winners and losers
WINNERS
- Joe Biden — Biden certainly “emerges with enhanced stature from the budget mess,” says The Daily Beast’s Kurtz. He was “called off the bench” on Sunday, then “showed a deft hand — and the experience of growing up in [the Senate] — in quickly hammering out a deal with Minority Leader Mitch McConnell.” If the 70-year-old vice president “decides to run for Obama’s job in 2016, such performances could more than offset his reputation for shooting from the lip.” Of course if Democrats end up hating the deal, this could actually “bite Biden down the line,” says Chris Cillizza at The Washington Post. But he clearly ranks among the winners for negotiating the deal and persuading Democrats to support it. The vice president is often underestimated by the political press, but “the ‘Biden as major White House asset’ storyline writes itself” now.
- The rich and elderly — Obama’s decision to raise the threshold for higher taxes from $250,000 to $450,000 makes for “a big tax cut for all kinds of rich people, not just those with adjusted gross incomes between the two figures,” says Matthew Yglesias at Slate. Because our tax rates are marginal, meaning that only income above $450,000 is taxed at the higher rate, “if you make $600,000 or even $1 million a year you still have a very large share of your income that’s taxed at a lower rate thanks to this deal.” The deal also didn’t have any of the expected cuts to Social Security and other federal retirement security programs, so at least for now, “old people are the winners,” too.
LOSERS
- John Boehner — “The fiscal cliff talks were cast as a moment for [John] Boehner to cement his legacy as speaker,” negotiating a grand bargain that would “set the country on the right financial course through the Republican-controlled House,” says Cillizza at The Washington Post. “The exact opposite happened.” The Ohio Republican dropped negotiations with Obama to pass his own “Plan B” — raising taxes on only people earning $1 million a year — but that plan failed to even get a vote, raising questions about “how much — if any — control he had over his fellow House Republicans.” That idea was reinforced when Boehner couldn’t get more than half of his caucus, or even his top lieutenants, to back the final compromise, says Daniel Newhauser at Roll Call. Boehner “now slumps into the 113th Congress with gavel firmly in hand but with scant ability to wield its power.”
- Hurricane Sandy victims — After the messy fight over the fiscal cliff bill, House GOP leaders canceled a scheduled vote on a supplemental spending bill for areas ravaged by Hurricane Sandy, mostly in New York and New Jersey. The House Appropriations Committee had even teed up a $60 billion package, matching the Sandy relief bill that passed the Senate last week. “Absent a change of heart, the upshot now is that the Senate bill will die with this Congress on Thursday at noon,” says David Rogers at Politico. “I assume there is as tactical consideration here, that the Republican leadership didn’t want to be anywhere near a big spending bill after the fiasco of their handling the tax debate,”says Rep. Rob Andrews (D.N.J.). “I understand the tactics but there is a real human need here that is being ignored.”
(Source: theweek.com)
- Joe Biden — Biden certainly “emerges with enhanced stature from the budget mess,” says The Daily Beast’s Kurtz. He was “called off the bench” on Sunday, then “showed a deft hand — and the experience of growing up in [the Senate] — in quickly hammering out a deal with Minority Leader Mitch McConnell.” If the 70-year-old vice president “decides to run for Obama’s job in 2016, such performances could more than offset his reputation for shooting from the lip.” Of course if Democrats end up hating the deal, this could actually “bite Biden down the line,” says Chris Cillizza at The Washington Post. But he clearly ranks among the winners for negotiating the deal and persuading Democrats to support it. The vice president is often underestimated by the political press, but “the ‘Biden as major White House asset’ storyline writes itself” now.
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Is it immoral for Congress to cut food stamps?
The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops is criticizing the House Republican budget for cutting food stamps and other social programs too drastically. Rep. Paul Ryan, the House Budget Committee chairman, says his Catholic faith served as a guide when he wrote the spending plan, and that runaway government debt is what will really damage programs for the poor. But the bishops say making disproportionately large cuts to the food stamp program — $33 billion in reductions over 10 years — fails to meet the church’s “moral criteria” to “serve poor and vulnerable people.” Is slashing spending on food stamps really immoral?
Yes. We have to help those in need: More Americans than ever are struggling in this sour economy, says Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite in The Washington Post, and it’s our “moral responsibility” to help them. “The ‘small government’ or even ‘no government’ folks want to say that the churches should pick up the slack on taking care of the poor instead of us paying taxes for a social safety net.” But churches simply “can’t do it all without the government.”
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President Obama will deliver his third State of the Union address at 9 p.m. on Tuesday night, pitching initiatives on jobs, taxes, and housing in what political strategists say will be a “sweeping case for a second term.” In a preview of the speech posted on his campaign website, Obama said he would present a “blueprint” for lasting economic prosperity, calling 2012 a “make-or-break moment for the middle class and folks trying to work their way into the middle class.” What exactly will Obama say, and how will his message be received? Obama’s State of the Union: A viewer’s guide
- The speech will be a campaign-style populist appeal
Obama’s State of the Union address will be a “starkly populist speech,” says Matt Spetalnick at Reuters, in which the president will hammer themes he has already hit on the campaign trail. He’ll “push tax breaks for bringing manufacturing jobs home from overseas, ideas to help the troubled home-mortgage market,” and he’ll probably make another call for higher taxes on the rich. Absolutely, says Obama advisor David Plouffe. “Warren Buffett famously” said that “he should not pay less in taxes than his secretary does,” and you can bet that Obama will specifically outline his proposed “Buffet rule” on Tuesday night.
- Obama will confront a “do-nothing Congress”
“President Obama has spent the past three months railing against a ‘do-nothing Congress,’” says Devin Dwyer at ABC News, and his annual address before a joint session of Congress gives him “the opportunity to deliver his message face to face.” Obama will insist his economic agenda deserves bipartisan support, a pointed reference to his GOP rivals. And with 43 million Americans expected to tune in, he’ll get to deliver his message to an audience bigger than any on the campaign trail.
- The GOP will get a look at what might have been
With the GOP primaries becoming a heated duel between Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich, says Aaron Blake at The Washington Post, Tuesday night will provide the party’s voters a glimpse “of what could have been. Namely, Mitch Daniels.” The Indiana governor, who briefly considered his own run for the presidency last year, will deliver his party’s State of the Union response. Daniels “always has been the adult in the room,” an unflinching but pragmatic conservative. Maybe he’ll “serve as a good example for presidential campaigns that seem headed for the lowest common denominator.”
- The speech will be a campaign-style populist appeal
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Twitter's 100-million-users milestone
In a rare moment of disclosure, the normally tight-lipped Twitter announced last week that it now has 100 million active users. Who are all those people, and how often are they tweeting? Here, a brief guide, by the numbers, to the micro-blogging site’s big milestone:
- 26 million
Number of active users Twitter had at the end of 2009
- 40 million
Number of users who have logged in but not tweeted anything themselves in the past month
- 75
Percentage of NBA players who are on Twitter
- 82
Percentage of congressional members in the U.S. House who are on Twitter
- 85
Percentage of senators who are on Twitter
- 26 million
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The clock is ticking. And with barely a week left to raise the $14.3 debt ceiling before the government runs out of money to pay many of its bills on Aug. 2, Congress and President Obama remain at odds. “Someday, people will look back and wonder, What were they thinking?” says Elizabeth Drew in The New York Review of Books. Why is Congress obsessed with slashing spending when most economic experts agree that “focusing on growth and jobs is more urgent in the near term…”? And how did raising the debt ceiling, a routine procedure in the past, become “ridiculously contorted,” pushing America toward catastrophe? Here, as told in Drew’s “extremely insightful and brilliant narrative,” are four key factors:
- President Obama has become a “pushover”…
- … Because all Obama cares about is getting re-elected
- Republicans are calamitously wedded to anti-tax dogma…a
- … Because they’re all afraid of the Tea Party
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The debt ceiling showdown has revealed Washington’s deepening divisions and aversion to compromise of any sort
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The looming government shutdown: What federal workers are saying
On Wednesday, a late-night White House meeting to resolve the budget stalemate ended without a deal, which means a government shutdown may very well still begin on Saturday morning. And while lawmakers are preparing for political fallout, some 800,000 federal workers nationwide are bracing for an open-ended stretch of unpaid furlough. (Congress could decide later to give furloughed employees retroactive backpay, or not.) Here, some thoughts from a few of those 800,000 people:
- Why will Congress still get paid? “I’ll be sitting home with no work,” says a homeland security contractor at Gawker, “and no income until these clowns in Congress can stop their posturing and this ridiculous political theatre with their eyes only on the upcoming election and achieve what we are paying them to do. (And guess who will continue to get paid and have no gap in their health coverage during a shutdown?)”
- We are real people: “How much will this affect my family?” asks a mail clerk at The Huffington Post. “How much will it hurt us financially? The uncertainty is maddening as I, and my fellow federal workers, watch the stage show that is called Washington Politics gamble with our way of making a living… People need to see that the repercussions of shutting down the government are larger than what they appear. This is working families we are talking about, not ideology.”
- This will devastate us: “My wife and I each work for Social Security,” says an SSA employee at Gawker. “A prolonged shutdown would devastate us, financially. There is a good chance we will be told to come in regardless and work unpaid. We would then lose money, because we would still have to pay for someone to watch our children, not to mention gas and tolls… One of us could not just stay home, as anyone not in would be considered AWOL and could face termination… I don’t see how federally-elected officials can accept their own paychecks when their own grandstanding will leave so many in the lurch.”
More here from employees at the EPA, foreign affairs workers, and a Pentagon employee
