October 19, 2012

Cult Beats Alt

October 19, 2012 Buck Banks

Of course, Mormonism is a cult, said Pastor Bob Jeffress,
But he said still you should vote Romney, nonetheless.
Even though it’s a “false religion”
And has gods by the legion,
The Mormon’s still better than Obama, who’s black and godless.

Stop Calling to ‘Bring Back’ Jobs We Never Had

October 19, 2012 Buck Banks

Ten years ago, approximately zero Americans were employed in manufacturing tablet computers and smartphones and that’s still the case today. But there’s been enormous net growth in the number of Americans whose jobs relate, in whole or in part, to the tablet and smartphone industry… The entire ecosystem couldn’t exist until the phones and tablets can be built cheaply enough to sell to a mass audience. Americans never had any jobs manufacturing iPads. But thanks to the fact that Chinese factories are churning out iPads, lots of people have jobs that wouldn’t exist if the iPad wasn’t available as a hit product.

— Matthew Yglesias, writing for Slate, astutely pointing out that efforts to “bring back” many of the manufacturing jobs performed in China to the US don’t make sense “for the very good reason that it was never here in the first place.”

Biden Says Obama in Second Debate the Man He Knows on a Daily Basis

October 19, 2012 Buck Banks

You all saw the man that I have sat with every day on average four to six hours a day.

— Vice President Joe Biden, quoted by Politico, on President Obama’s debate performance.

Majority of Maryland Voters Now Backs Gay Marriage

October 19, 2012 Buck Banks

52% to 43%

A majority of likely voters in Maryland support an upcoming ballot question on same-sex marriage by a slight majority, according to a new Washington Post poll.

Gallup Internals Show Obama Up by 4-Plus Points in the Northeast, Midwest and West – But Down by 22 Points in the Old Confederacy

October 19, 2012October 21, 2012 Jon Ponder

graph-gallup-tracking-regional

Ezra Klein at the Washington Post Wonkblog published the chart above. It explains why Romney is leading President Obama by a whopping 7 percentage points in the current Gallup daily tracking poll. Klein also says it suggests that Obama could well win decisively in the Electoral College but lose just as decisively in the popular vote — a much more lopsided (not to mention legitimate) version of what happened in 2000, when George W. Bush was awarded Florida’s Electoral College votes by Republicans on the Supreme Court, while Al Gore won the popular ballot by over 500,000 votes.

(It also happened in 1876, when Republican Rutherford B. Hayes won in the Electoral College but lost to his Democratic opponent, Samuel Tilden, by 300,000 votes; and in 1888, when Republican Benjamin Harrison won in the Electoral College but lost the popular vote to Democrat Grover Cleveland, by about 100,000 votes.)

Klein does not go there, but what screams out about this breakout is that the United States’ first African-American president is ahead by what might be called a “normal” majority — an average of 4.6 percentage points — in every region of the country, except for the states of the Old Confederacy, where he is behind by an insurmountable 22 points.

[…]

Republican Tax Policies Added the Portion of the 47% Who are Poor

October 19, 2012October 19, 2012 Trish

Kim Dixon at Reuters:

Mitt Romney has distanced himself from his remarks lamenting the nearly 47 percent of Americans who do not owe federal income taxes, but his fellow Republicans helped engineer the very tax breaks that have put many in that category. And little change is expected soon.

Economist: ‘There is some degree of disconnect between complaining about the 47% and yet supporting the policies that brought it about’

A key reason: The breaks in question – the earned income tax credit and the child tax credit – are based on core Republican philosophies of encouraging work to lift people out of poverty, Republican aides and many conservatives say.

The number of Americans not owing federal income taxes has been growing since the mid-1980s, and the increase largely stems from expansion of these two tax credits – championed by Republicans from conservative economist Milton Friedman to former President Ronald Reagan.

“It is absolutely true – there is some degree of disconnect between complaining about the 47 percent and yet supporting the policies that brought it about,” said economist Alan Viard of the conservative-leaning American Enterprise Institute.

The income credit began under Republican President Gerald Ford and was significantly expanded by Reagan. The child credit doubled to $1,000 under Republican President George W. Bush.

Read the full story.

Day: October 19, 2012

Cult Beats Alt

Stop Calling to ‘Bring Back’ Jobs We Never Had

— Matthew Yglesias, writing for Slate, astutely pointing out that efforts to “bring back” many of the manufacturing jobs performed in China to the US don’t make sense “for the very good reason that it was never here in the first place.”

Biden Says Obama in Second Debate the Man He Knows on a Daily Basis

You all saw the man that I have sat with every day on average four to six hours a day.

— Vice President Joe Biden, quoted by Politico, on President Obama’s debate performance.

Majority of Maryland Voters Now Backs Gay Marriage

52% to 43%

A majority of likely voters in Maryland support an upcoming ballot question on same-sex marriage by a slight majority, according to a new Washington Post poll.

Gallup Internals Show Obama Up by 4-Plus Points in the Northeast, Midwest and West – But Down by 22 Points in the Old Confederacy

Republican Tax Policies Added the Portion of the 47% Who are Poor

Poetic Justice

Verbatim

“The man is afraid of the voice of the people and that the people understand and know what he’s doing. He’s trying to stifle the ability of journalists to let the people of America know what’s really going on with their government.”

— “Kamala Harris called President Donald Trump’s ban of CNN, MS NOW and Politico from the White House ‘absolutely abhorrent,’” The Wrap reports.

“Not one of them is trained in technical skills. Not one research PhD, as opposed to China, where half the cabinet is science and technology PhDs. We’re led by grifters and fools.”

— Columbia professor Jeffrey Sachs, on X, on President Trump’s 35-person cabinet.

“Mr. President, some of your immigration enforcement efforts have gone too far… The same Hispanics who helped you get to the White House in 2024 feel betrayed today.”

— Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar (R-FL), breaking with President Trump in a direct-to-camera video.

Numerati

1,000

10%

“The unprecedented spate of mid-decade redistricting for the U.S. House has changed the congressional districts for one-tenth of Americans and significantly altered the makeup of at least one-fifth of districts, according to a new study,” the Associated Press reports.

71%

A new Fox News Poll finds 71% of voters think the Trump administration lacks a clear strategy for ending the Iran War, including 95% of Democrats, 83% of independents, and 43% of Republicans. Sixty percent say U.S. military action against Iran was the wrong decision, while just 37% say it was right.

$9.5 billion

“The Trump administration last year spent $9.5 billion on paid administrative leave for federal workers as part of its plan to shrink the government and save taxpayers money, according to a new estimate by a congressional watchdog,” CNN reports.

470

Reuters has documented at least 470 targets of retribution under Trump’s leadership – from federal employees and prosecutors to universities and media outlets. The list illuminates the sweeping effort by the president and his administration to punish dissent and reshape the government.