The Young Turks: Ana Kasparian & Cenk Uygur: 'Meghan McCain Smokes Weed - Does Cenk?'

Source:The Young Turks- Conservative commentator Meghan McCain on The View on ABC.

"Meghan McCain explained how she smoked pot when she was living in Los Angeles . In her appearance on ABC's The View, the daughter of former Republican Presidential candidate John McCain added that she thinks marijuana should be decriminalized. Ana Kasparian, Cenk Uygur, and other members of The Young Turks discuss." 

From The Young Turks

Hearing the term a breath of fresh air to describe a Republican, is like hearing about a dog making out with a cat. I gotta double check that and make sure I'm not hearing things or I'm not dreaming or something, (perhaps high on pot and not ever aware of it) it takes a while for something like that to sink in. 

Before I go further into Meghan McCain's position on marijuana, I think a little background of her is important. 

Meghan McCain obviously the daughter of U.S. Senator John McCain, but they're both Arizona Republicans (not Bible Belt Republicans) and even though her father is not with her on marijuana, this is a state that's produced Republicans like Barry Goldwater, Jeff Flake, John McCain, and his daughter Meghan. 

I'm sure Arizona is a diverse state even within the Republican Party, but we're talking about a place where classical conservatism (or conservative libertarianism, if you prefer) is still very popular. To say we're talking about different types of Republicans as compared with, I don't know Mississippi (just to use as an example) is like saying the weather is different in Wisconsin in January, then it is Florida. You know, it's a different type of winter up in Wisconsin, at least compared with Florida. It would be an excellent impression of Captain Obvious. 

So I'm not surprised that an Arizona Republican, who probably looks up to Barry Goldwater, like Meghan McCain, would be in favor of at least decriminalizing marijuana, if not legalizing it all together. We're talking about big government out-of-our-wallets, bedrooms, classrooms, boardrooms, and perhaps now bodies, Republicans.

The Young Turks: Ana Kasparian & Cenk Uygur: 'Should Fat People Be Taxed?'

Source:The Young Turks- talking about obesity.

"Over one-third of Americans are now obese. What is the impact on employers, health insurance premiums, and other things like gas usage? Should fat people be taxed? Ana Kasparian, Cenk Uygur, Lucas Lilieholm, Jayar Jackson, and Jesus Godoy break down a Reuters report on this topic on The Young Turks.

Read more here from Sharon Begley:Reuters." 

From The Young Turks

I'm not a nanny statist and someone who believes in any form of big government. But I also don't like the idea of irresponsible people (like obese people) being able to pass the cost of their personal, expensive, decisions, onto people who aren't obese, who aren't heavy smokers and perhaps don't smoke at all, who aren't heavy drinkers of alcohol either. 

If people want to stuff their faces, smoke their lungs out, drown their kidney's and hearts in alcohol, that's their personal decisions, just as long as taxpayers don't have to pay for their bad personal decisions.

I'm not with the the Mike Bloomberg's and the other nanny statists who want to prohibit people from making bad decisions with their own lives. But I think taxing junk food, soft drinks, alcohol, and tobacco, products, that are obviously bad for people, makes sense. And is a much better idea, then forcing people to cover the costs of others bad personal decisions.

Sam Seder: 'Firing Government Workers Hurting The Economy'

Source:Sam Seder- talking about government workers in the economy.

"From the Majority Report, live M-F 12 noon EST and via daily podcast at:The Majority Report. Sam Seder was on the Kudlow Report on CNBC last night and the topic: austerity... 

From Sam Seder

I think we need to go back 3-4 and look back at where the economy was before Barack Obama became President and where it is now. Of course the Great Recession was going on and it dominated 2008 and into probably the 1st six months of the Obama Administration in 2009. But they also inherited a  national debt of 11 trillion-dollars, and a budget deficit of 1.5 trillion-dollars. 

This idea that deficits and debt doesn't matter: for anyone whose sane and sober, as well who isn't currently braindead, (hopefully that's a big club in America) who actually believes that debt and deficits doesn't matter, you should stop arguing for higher taxes, even if you only want to raise taxes on the wealthy. Because if debt and deficits doesn't matter, government never needs more revenue to pay for its expenses, because it now has unlimited borrowing authority. 

People on the left (I'm sure Sam Seder is one of them) argue that you shouldn't cut deficits when the economy is struggling. Fine, but the Obama Administration didn't do that immediately. The 2009 Recovery And Investment Act was all borrowed money and it was just a 2-year deal. But since then and since the economy now steadily growing again, they've been operating under PAYGO (pay as you go) and the deficit has been falling ever since. The 2011 Budget Control Act has also contributed do the deficit reduction as well. 

Sure! The Obama Administration could've borrowed another 2 trillion-dollars (let's say) after the Recovery Act (had Democrats had not have lost the House) but then the Federal Reserve perhaps steps in and starts raising interest rates because of all the Federal borrowing and maybe we see a spike in inflation as well. And there goes all the progress that country has made as far as economic and job growth since the 2008 Great Recession.

Sam Seder: 'Ed Schultz v. Media Matters...Leave Limbaugh Advertisers Alone!'

Source:Diffen- left-wing talk show host Ed Schultz.

"From the Majority Report, live M-F 12 noon EST and via daily podcast at:The Majority Report: At a Talkers convention, an event for the talk radio industry, Sean Hannity and Ed Schultz both tell liberals and left wing media, like Media Matters, to stop sending messages to right wing media, like Rush Limbaugh, with an advertiser boycott.. 

From Sam Seder

People who like to call themselves Progressives today (but who aren't very progressive at all) like to claim that their spiritual and will even say that they're spiritual, but not religious (which is like being a vegan who only eats pork and fish when it comes to meat) and seem to know a lot about what's called spirituality. 

Well, folks who are familiar with spirituality, know what karma is all about and the whole boomerang theory. If the left-wing (to be kind in America) starts to go after right-wing media companies and personalities and just doesn't go after them and no longer tries to beat them in the market place and try to beat them in a battlefield of ideas, (which is one of the things that a free society is about) and instead tries to take down their business and go after them financially, because they know that government won't try to force right-wingers out-of-business and say you don't have a a right to be on the air, because they don't like what the right-wing has to say, this could and probably would come back to bite far-leftists's ass.

If the left-wing is successful here in taking down right-wing media, then you would see not just right-wing media companies going after the advertising and the revenue of left-wing media personalities, but perhaps you would see some far-right administration, perhaps even at the the federal level, trying to take down left-wing media personalities through government force.  

Russia Today: 'Judge Saves Americans From President Obama's NDAA'

Source:Russia Today- interviewing David Segal.

"Judge saves Americans from Obama's NDAA

Published on Jun 7, 2012 by RTAmerica

Thursday marked another victory against the battle on the National Defense Authorization Act. District Judge Katherine Forrest not only sided with the plaintiffs suing the Obama administration, but with every American. Section 1021 of the act, which allows for the military to indefinitely detain Americans at home and abroad without due process has been met with heavy criticism causing the group of individuals to file the lawsuit. David Segal, executive director for Demand Progress, joins us with more.

Follow us on Twitter and Facebook" 

From Finance & Politics. But they might also be part of President Vladimir Putin's Russia Today.

"RT (formerly Russia Today or Rossiya Segodnya) (Russian: Россия Сегодня)[9] is a Russian state-controlled[1] international news television network funded by the Russian government.[16][17] It operates pay television and free-to-air channels directed to audiences outside of Russia, as well as providing Internet content in Russian, English, Spanish, French, German and Arabic.

RT is a brand of TV-Novosti, an autonomous non-profit organization founded by the Russian state-owned news agency RIA Novosti in April 2005.[8][18] During the economic crisis in December 2008, the Russian government, headed by Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, included ANO "TV-Novosti" on its list of core organizations of strategic importance to Russia.[19][20][21] RT operates as a multilingual service with channels in five languages: the original English-language channel was launched in 2005, the Arabic-language channel in 2007, Spanish in 2009, German in 2014 and French in 2017. RT America (2010–2022),[22][23] RT UK (2014–2022) and other regional channels also produce local content. RT is the parent company of the Ruptly video agency,[5] which owns the Redfish video channel and the Maffick digital media company.[6][7]

RT has regularly been described as a major propaganda outlet for the Russian government and its foreign policy.[2] Academics, fact-checkers, and news reporters (including some current and former RT reporters) have identified RT as a purveyor of disinformation[58] and conspiracy theories.[65] UK media regulator Ofcom has repeatedly found RT to have breached its rules on impartiality, including multiple instances in which RT broadcast "materially misleading" content.[72]

In 2012, RT's editor-in-chief Margarita Simonyan compared the channel to the Russian Ministry of Defence.[73] Referring to the Russo-Georgian War, she stated that it was "waging an information war, and with the entire Western world".[17][74] In September 2017, RT America was ordered to register as a foreign agent with the United States Department of Justice under the Foreign Agents Registration Act.[75]

RT was banned in Ukraine in 2014 after Russia's annexation of Crimea;[76] Latvia and Lithuania implemented similar bans in 2020.[77][78] Germany banned RT DE in February 2022.[79] After the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, Poland and then the entire European Union as well as Canada announced they were formally banning RT as well, while independent service providers in over 10 countries suspended broadcasts of RT.[80][81][82] Social media websites followed by blocking external links to RT's website and restricting access to RT's content.[83][84] Microsoft removed RT from their app store and de-ranked their search results on Bing,[85][86] while Apple removed the RT app from all countries except for Russia." 

From Wikipedia

I'm thinking indefinite detention is actually part of President George W. Bush's neoconservatism that President Barack Obama likes. Then Senator Barack Obama spent most of 2007-08, and perhaps the early part of 2009, trying to convince Americans that he was the anti-GWB. And on economic policy, as well as foreign policy, he's been very successful at being the anti-GWB. But indefinite detention, the War On Drugs, illegal immigration, if anything, President Obama has govern to the right of President Bush. 

David Pakman: 'Leaked Mitt Romney Emails Confirm He Supported Individual Mandate'

Source:David Pakman- Governor Mitt Romney (Republican, Massachusetts) running for President on CNN.

"Recently uncovered emails show Mitt Romney was hugely personally supportive of the individual mandate for health insurance while Governor of Massachusetts.

--On the Bonus Show: Too much exercise nay hurt the heart, Dutch start-up to colonize Mars, counterfeit money, more.

The David Pakman Show is an internationally syndicated talk radio and television program hosted by David Pakman" 

From David Pakman

If you want to know why Mitt Romney was for it before he was against it, I'll tell you anyway. In 2005-06, Mitt Romney is still Governor of Massachusetts, perhaps the bluest state in the Union, with the most Democrats in the country, per-capita, with a State Legislature that's like 4-1 Democratic. But, he was already planning to run for President, perhaps as early as 2008 when then President George W. Bush wouldn't be eligible to run for President again. 

There's only so much that any governor regardless of the state can do by themself, even through executive order. Which means he or she, has to be able to work with the Legislature, to get most of their agenda passed and be able to take credit for major accomplishments that are long lasting. 

Health care was a big issue back in the mid-2000s, as it's today and I'm thinking then Governor Romney saw health care reform as an issue where he could get ahead of the rest of the Republican Party and potential Republican presidential candidates and say that he was a Republican reformer, like a Teddy Roosevelt perhaps be able to take that issue away from Senator John McCain. If you look at the RomneyCare plan or the ObamaCare plan, it's basically the same plan, with a lot of Republican reforms in it: 

Individual mandate 

Patients Bill of Rights

Tax credit for lower-middle-income workers to buy health insurance 

Private market for health insurance and the exchanges 

But go up to 2012, Mitt Romney is not only no longer Governor of Deep Blue Massachusetts, but he's running nationally now as a presidential candidate in the Republican Party and will be their presidential nominee in 2012. 

The Tea Party Populist-Right now runs the Republican Party, by-in-large, meaning he can't get elected President without their votes. So now Mitt is running around the country for President, while at the same time he's running away from his own political career and career in government, pre-2009 and pretending what he did before 2009, never actually happened. I guess Mitt is courting the blind and death, as well as politically retarded vote for President. 

The Young Turks: Cenk Uygur & Ana Kasparian: 'Packers Rip Scott Walker'

Source:The Young Turks- a Green Bay Packers TE or WR. I don't follow the current Packers very closely.

"Scott Walker's recall election is under way, and he's under fire from an unlikely source - the Green Bay Packers. Several of the Packers made their voices heard Wednesday regarding Wisconsin governor Walker. Which one spokes out, and why? What effect will this have on the race? Cenk Uygur of The Young Turks and Ana Kasparian break it down on TYT Sports. " 

From The Young Turks

As Cenk Uygur was saying (someone who I agree with as often as hippie vegans eat hot dogs with milkshakes) the City of Green Bay is a union city. The State of Wisconsin is a union state. The Green Bay Packers are a union company. Scott Walker is as anti-union, as Ron Paul is anti-socialist. So of course the Packers, perhaps the entire franchise, is going to endorse the presidential candidate whose pro-union. In this case President Barack Obama, over someone if they could would eliminate all collective bargaining (public or private) in the state of Wisconsin. And that's as clear and obvious as I can state this.