The Nation: 'Fighting Back Against Stop-and-Frisk'

Source:The Nation- with a video about stop & frisk.

"Several thousand people marched down Manhattan's Fifth Avenue on June 17 to demand an end to the New York Police department's controversial Stop-and-Frisk tactic. The silent march, organized by the NAACP and a coalition of nearly 300 other groups, sought to draw attention to the damage the massive spike in street interrogations is causing to communities of color.

For more videos visit:The Nation" 

From The Nation 

There are plenty of laws, at least in American history, that are unconstitutional, as well as ineffective. I'm thinking of the so-called Defense of Marriage Act today, as well as bans against homosexuality in the 1950s and 60s, in general, bans against inter-racial marriage, forced segregation by government, alcohol prohibition in the 1920s and 30s, the so-called War On Drugs today. 

There are also laws that are perhaps unconstitutional, but seem to work. I think New York City's Stop & Frisk police policy seems to be one of them. I don't live in New York, I live 200 miles South of NYC, just outside of Washington. But the crime rates there, not just in this century so far, have plummeted, as well as in the 1990s. Stop & Frisk seems to be a reason for that. 

I'm not a lawyer and don't pretend to be one even in the Blogosphere, let alone on TV, but unless opponents (especially on the Left) can argue and claim that minorities and gays are specifically being targeted by the NYPD Stop & Frisk policy, simply because they're minority or gay, or both, they're going to have a helluva time getting this law thrown out by the courts, even in supposed left-wing New York City.

The Young Turks: Cenk Uygur: Mitt Romney - 'I Don't Have A Political Career'

Source:The Young Turks- Governor Flip Flopper (Republican, Massachusetts) I mean Mitt Romney  (easy mistake) talking to CBS News's Bob Schieffer, on Face The Nation.

"Is Mitt Romney a politician? The 2012 Republican Presidential candidate said "I don't have a political career" in an interview with Bob Schieffer on CBS's Face The Nation. The Young Turks host Cenk Uygur breaks it down." 

From The Young Turks

Cenk Uygur is someone that I agree with as often as Jews declare their love for Palestine and Arabs declare their love for Israel. Well, perhaps even more often that that. But Cenk nailed Mitt Romney on the head (to use an ageless cliche) when he said that Mitt Romney only doesn't have a political career, because he keeps losing. 

Mitt lost a very winnable U.S. Senate seat to Ted Kennedy in 1994, when even Teddy wasn't a very popular Democrat (perhaps even in Massachusetts) and when Democrats all over the country and not just in Congress, got their asses handed to them. But Teddy since his opponent was Mitt Romney, was one of those few Congressional Democrats who managed to survive 1994, because his opponent was Flip Flopper. I mean Mitt Romney, but you get the idea. Ted Kennedy was the Democrat who nicknamed Mitt Multiple Choice, a political nickname that Mitt is still trying to live with, almost 20 years later. 

Go up to 2007-08, when Mitt Romney was perhaps the best funded Republican running for President, in a field that didn't have a Republican frontrunner the whole time, until John McCain gets hot in early 08 and starts winning a bunch of primaries. But Mitt finishes 2nd or 3rd in that field, because he spent about a year trying to convince Republican voters that he wasn't who he really was, which was a flip flopping politician, who has no consistent record as a politician. 

So sure, if you want to play semantics, Mitt Romney is not a career politician. But to be a career politician, you first have to get elected and get reelected over and over. And Mitt Romney is still trying to figure out how to get elected in the first place.

The Young Turks: Ana Kasparian & Cenk Uygur: ''Vagina' Gets Representative Banned?'

Source:The Young Turks- Michigan State Representative Lisa Brown.

"Michigan House Republicans blocked a state representative from speaking on the floor on Thursday after she referenced certain parts of female anatomy in a speech on an abortion bill. "Finally, Mr. Speaker, I'm flattered that you're all so interested in my vagina, but 'no' means 'no,'" Rep. Lisa Brown (D) said to cap her remarks in which she expressed stark opposition to a series of bills regulating abortion, including one that would ban the procedure after 20 weeks unless the woman's life was in danger, according to The Detroit News. House Republicans called the remarks over the line and barred her from participating in a subsequent debate on education...".* Ana Kasparian and Cenk Uygur discuss on The Young Turks." 

From The Young Turks 

When people tend to think of political correctness in America, they tend to think of language that may offend minorities (but more likely it just offends far-leftists) that the left-wing (to be kind) in America wants to see banned or go away. But similar with fascism and big government in general, there's left-wing political correctness, but there's also right-wing political correctness that's generally promoted by the so-called Christian-Right in America. And this is the perfect example of that. 

Do yourself a favor: never take people seriously who claim to be against big government, even though they want big government in our personal lives. And never take people seriously who claim to be in favor of free speech, but they're only in favor of free speech that they approve of. Because you'll be taken for a ride over and over, like the blind passenger who gets into the cab of a crooked cabbie.

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.