Rep. Richard Hanna (R-NY) doesn't like Donald Trump. He doesn't like Hillary Clinton. But given the choice between the two, he said he rather vote for an enemy than a disaster.
He represent Binghamton and Catskills, New York.
Hanna became the first sitting U.S. Congressman from the opposition to endorse Hillary Clinton for president.
I can imagine that Softball Hannity, internet creeper Matt Drudge and old fart Limbaugh are pretty damn upset over this latest round of news. They were pissed at Republicans who refused to support Trump for president. They said if you don't support Trump, you might as well vote for Hillary Clinton.
Hanna said the party is too extreme and the picking of Trump is the final straw.
He said he is tired of Congress not doing anything for the American people. He is retiring from Congress putting up a seat for Republicans to defend.
We're waiting on Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) to endorse Clinton. The last moderate in the Republican Party hasn't endorsed Trump for president. She was clearly annoyed about Trump attacking the Khan family.
The second night of the Republican National Convention in Cleveland.
It's official Donald J. Trump will be the nominee for the Republican Party.
The bombastic business and media mogul has finally accomplish his goal. He's now representing a party somewhat enthusiastic about their chances against Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton.
Right now they are statistically tied. Both candidates are equally hated. Both candidates are equally polarizing. I believe most of the criticism of Hillary Clinton is based on sexism.
President Barack Obama right now enjoys job approvals in the high 50s. He, Bill Clinton, Vice President Joe Biden will speak at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia next week. Clinton will pick her running mate on Thursday and have an event Saturday. Andrea Mitchell will likely have the first interview with the Democratic candidate and her running mate.
Most of the speakers at the "Make America Work Again" event were simply attacking President Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders, and others.
Ben Carson, Chris Christie, Donald Trump, Jr., Paul Ryan, Mitch McConnell, and Shelley Moore Capito were expected to talk about jobs, economy and prosperity.
Of course, they go into attacking Clinton and Obama with ugly rhetoric. The ugly memes were "Lock Her Up", "Hi-LIAR-y" and "Lucifer" aimed at Clinton.
Suicide bombing at Istanbul's Ataturk International Airport.
The junk food media is covering the massacre at Istanbul Ataturk International Airport. The Turkish authorities and the American authorities are investigating the incident. The attack happened around 10pm overnight and the causalities are great. We don't know if any Americans or Western nationals were among the dead.
The Islamic State hasn't claimed responsibility but it's likely their involvement.
Turkey had been the victim of several terrorist attacks in 2016. There were two bombings in January and March of this year. Then there were a few incidents in June.
Some of these events could have been sponsored by the Kurdistan Freedom Falcons or the Kurdistan Worker's Party (PKK) but the groups aren't saying much.
Two men approached the X-ray scanners at a security checkpoint and opened fire. They were fired upon by the law and then when they got them on the ground, they pushed a button on their collars and "BOOM" the room goes into dark.
The terrorist killed themselves and three people in the vicinity.
There could be over 100 people killed in this event. So far the death toll is in the double digits.
The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (media called ISIS) is the terrorist group de jour. They are the most brutal group past al Qaeda. The terrorist organization has been actively recruiting Western members to their group.
The event was captured on social media. A video posted on Twitter shows a view from a camera inside the airport terminal. A few dozen people are walking around and then a bright flash and fireball erupted in the background.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Prime Minister Binali Yildrim both express sorrow and anger tonight. They believe that individuals involved will be nabbed quickly.
The airport is closed. The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration and the FBI are on the ground.
President Barack Obama, Vice President Joe Biden, and Secretary of State John Kerry have also send their condolences to the victims. They promise that the event will merit in a response from NATO.
It was clearly an act of terror. Facebook activates the "I AM SAFE" function. Has it been activated for the most recent attacks besides Istanbul and Orlando?
Will the conservatives blame President Barack Obama for not saying "radical Islam" or "ignoring the threat"?
Let me say this with no remorse, saying "radical Islam" isn't fighting terrorism. It's just divisive and ignorant upon the conservatives to say that. If they really want to fight terrorism, they need to first understand what drives them to terrorism.
The U.S. Congress needs to pass comprehensive background checks and an assault weapons ban to keep terrorists and mentally insane from obtaining firearms. They need to also keep military grade explosives out the reach of non-military officials.
It won't be long before the suicide bombers come into our airports. And of course, the U.S. Congress will allow it to happen because they don't want the "needless" regulations.
World News Today send our condolences to the victims of this senseless tragedy.
It was an evenly divided court that decided on the use of executive orders for presidents. This will affect presidents after President Barack Obama. The 4-4 decision to send the executive order on work permits to immigrants back to the lower court was considered a blow to Obama on his immigration plan.
The liberal and conservative wing kicked the decision back to the lower court which said that it was unconstitutional.
The order would have secured 4 million immigrants living here in the United States.
The Wall Street Journal added that the court's outcome in the immigration case doesn't require the administration to begin deportations of the affected immigrants—all of whom had significant ties to the U.S., such as children who are U.S. citizens or lawful residents. But it does halt the government's plan to normalize their presence by granting them authorization to work.
Speaking from the White House, Obama expressed frustration at the nation's continuing paralysis on immigration policy: "I believe that this country deserves an immigration policy that reflects the goodness of the American people."
The president also complained about the continuation of the open seat at the Supreme Court. Citing the increasingly frequent tie votes, he said that Republicans were extending the court's paralysis by refusing to consider his nominee for the open seat, U.S. Circuit Judge Merrick Garland.
"Republicans in Congress currently are willfully preventing the Supreme Court from being fully staffed and functioning as our founders intended," Obama said.
Republicans have said the next president should decide who should fill the Supreme Court opening.
Obama announced the immigration policies in November 2014, describing them as the furthest he believed he could go using executive authority to normalize the status of illegal immigrants after a Senate-passed immigration overhaul died in the House.
The current members of the Supreme Court. Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Stephen Breyer, Anthony Kennedy, Chief Justice John Roberts, Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas. Without the ninth justice, it's going to be a quagmire of decisions that could gravely affect the nation. Antonin Scalia passed away in February.
The plan sought to assist more than four million people who already are considered the lowest priority for deportation. Authorities, lacking resources to remove most of the more than 10 million illegal immigrants in the U.S., focus on newly arrived individuals and those with criminal records.
By formally suspending the threat of deportation, the program would give affected immigrants the opportunity to obtain work authorization and other prerequisites for participating in society, such as a Social Security number and a driver's license.
Obama demanded that the voters decide on what the future. He said should they vote, should they continue to allow the federal courts and agencies tied up, mass shootings, gridlock in Congress, partisan gamesmanship, and Donald Trump. He urges that the future lies in the Dreamers who believe that they can change the direction of Congress and the presidency.
It's a tall order given the Republicans gerrymandered areas making it harder to win the House.
Republicans and their conservative allies have a megaphone of agitators and simpletons willing to distort the truth.
Congressman John Lewis (D-GA) returned to his protesting roots. He staged a sit-in inside the House of Representatives chamber after House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI) decided to call for a recess instead of a floor vote. It's becoming a trending issue.
Call the Congress on (202) 224-3121 to demand the House of Representatives do their jobs and pass bipartisan measures to stop gun violence.
Tell them that they need to get things done. Enough of the prayers and silence.
Gotta give up to the Democratic Party. They finally got a spine. They are staging sit-in in the House of Representatives today. They are getting tired of Republicans and their constant inaction on gun violence.
In the wake of the Orlando massacre, Democrats call upon a bill that bans people on the controversial "NO FLY LIST" to have no access to firearms. The Republicans objected to this notion because they believe that the bill would include conservative groups on this list.
Republicans rather waste time chasing after Hillary Clinton's emails than focus on actual issues. They rather waste $9.4 million on Benghazi than a bill that deals with the reasons contributing to gun violence.
By the way, concern trolls: The Democrats mentioned gun violence in every community. It's just not in Orlando, but Chicago, St. Louis, Cleveland, Detroit and many urban centers. The lawmakers have expressed outrage at Republicans for ignoring the concerns of families who want gun control.
They believe that the National Rifle Association and the acolytes of the conservative media will try to distort the message. They are running a sit in on Periscope.
Rep. John Lewis (D-GA) started this sit-in around late morning and it's being recorded on social media through Periscope.
Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA) and Rep. Scott Peters (D-CA) are running it through Periscope and it's been streamed live on CSPAN.
The junk food media have ignored the cries from Democrats.
The Republicans have control of the floor and they cut off the cameras and started their umpteenth recess.
#NOFLYNOBUY is becoming a hashtag as well as #NOBILLNOBREAK.
Time to go..! Republicans are extremely bad at what they do.
In the wake of a mass shooting, the Congress continues to be inept.
Congress continues to support terrorism by allowing them access to firearms. The four amendments that could prevent access to firearms if you're on a terrorist watch list failed.
Sens. Jon Tester (D-MT), Heidi Heitkamp (D-ND) and Joe Manchin (D-MT) aided the Republicans in crashing the bills.
The background check amendment failed, the terrorist watch list amendment and the semi automatic weapons ban were dismissed by the senate.
The GOP and those spineless Democrats have once again failed in passing reasonable gun control in the wake of terrorism, mass shootings and grieving families.
Is it time for the voters to dismiss the inept lawmakers?
Sen. Bill Nelson (D-FL) voted for the bills. He said this opportunity missed shows that Congress is totally inept and the National Rifle Association once again wins the battle.
GUN VIOLENCE IS THE NUMBER ONE THREAT IN THE UNITED STATES. CONGRESS ALLOWS THESE SENSELESS ACTS OF VIOLENCE TO CONTINUE!
I am really tired of the Republicans in control of Congress. They can't pass laws, they stall President Barack Obama's nominees and continue to waste taxpayer money grandstanding.
Unemployment rate down but it's not good news to the cynical agitators.
The unemployment rate dropped to 4.7 perecent. The job market is looking healthy but...there's a catch. The Department of Labor said that 38,000 jobs were added for the month of May.
Criticism is being passed around yet again. This shows the weakest job growth in five years.
The unemployment rate being down is positive, but it comes with a price. People are dropping out the labor force after deciding to give up on their search for a job. The labor force participation rate fell 0.2 percent in May to 62.6 percent, erasing some of the gains that it had made.
That means in other words, over 30 million people have given up on looking for a job.
The Huffington Post reports that figure badly missed the expected increase of about 160,000 jobs.
Already Donald Trump seized on the report in his usual fashion.
Terrible jobs report just reported. Only 38,000 jobs added. Bombshell!
The economic jobs report affects the stock market. It will probably take a hit.
Conservative agitators will seize upon the report as an example of their word vomit of lies and deception. The lie of 94 million people not working will be played again.
The Verizon strike also played a role in the dismal job market.
The Verizon employee strike was on for six weeks. The workers were demanding better pay and working conditions. That caused a negative impact on the job gains.
CNN reports that health care, hotels and government jobs were the only jobs added in May.
Mining, oil and gas jobs fell.
The weak May jobs report may very well take the rate hike off the table.
Janet Yellen was tempted to raise the interest rate but now it's going to be held back due to the unemployment numbers.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) is pathetic.
The most inept leader in Washington, DC goes to CBS This Morning to promote a book about how he can't do his job as leader of the U.S. Senate.
Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) is the Majority Leader. He's been in office as the senator of Kentucky for over 30 years and hasn't really accomplish much. The only thing he's done as a senator is basically get on the president's nerves and the state of Kentucky continues to elected him to office despite him not really doing much for his state.
McConnell is by far the most dirtiest, corrupt and ignorant person in the country. His stubborn stances are dooming the country.
Right now, he's bragging about not doing his job as a senator by delaying President Barack Obama's pick for the Supreme Court. In February, Antonin Scalia passed away and immediately the politics kicked in.
Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) fired off the "I won't support anyone Obama picks" nonsense and soon McConnell followed by saying that during a...whatever man!
When all Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL), Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY), Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) all decided to waste taxpayer's money to run for president, McConnell was hoping for a rational leader like Jeb Bush to win. He couldn't stand the senators. He basically stayed down until Donald Trump emerged as the winner.
McConnell now embraces the controversial billionaire and his radical proposals.
In an interview on "CBS This Morning," the inept lawmaker was asked what he would like to see Donald Trump do differently as the 2016 race shifts toward the general election.
"I'd like to see a more studious approach," said McConnell, who suggested that Trump should use prepared texts more to deliver speeches instead of delivering them off-the-cuff.
"I think that winning the White House is about more than just entertaining a large audience," he added. "I think the American people would also like to see him fill in the blanks."
Trump's list of potential Supreme Court nominees, McConnell said, was "excellent" and "well-thought out and reassuring."
McConnell explained that he endorsed Trump because he says Hillary Clinton would mean four more years of President Obama's policies.
In reality, eight more years of polarizing and divisive bullshit from McConnell.
"The country is yearning for a change," he said. "I'd rather take my chances on somebody new, particularly with regard to the Supreme Court."
McConnell said that the GOP is uniting despite the fact that House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-KY), has not yet endorsed Trump and a number of top Republicans like Mitt Romney and John McCain plan to skip the Republican National Convention in Cleveland this July.
At the same time, McConnell admitted that both Clinton and Trump are unpopular.
"Neither one of these candidates is likely to get a big wet kiss from the American public," he said.
Republicans loved Clinton when she was criticizing the president. They figure that Benghazi and emails are more important than infrastructure and the economy. Matter of fact, McConnell is probably one of the reasons to why Benghazi happened. His eagerness to cut funds for embassies lead to the deaths of four Americans.
McConnell, you are a piece of shit and you know it. Hopefully, the FBI don't unearth those shady deals you've been running.
Looks like President Barack Obama bitch slapped the unproductive Congress again.
And it seems like the Republicans and conservatives are having another temper tantrum over this.
The president signed an executive order today signaling that effective December 1, 2016, any worker who is making less than $47,000 a year in wage earnings will be eligible for overtime pay. only 7% of the working force gets overtime pay. Most Americans agree with this idea. Salaried workers will be eligible for overtime.
Cue the conservative outrage.
The unproductive Congress didn't pass any legislation that would help the middle class. The minimum wage hasn't been risen in ten years. If the Congress would have passed legislation that would adjust the cost of living to match the wages earned, things would be better for the working class.
The Republicans sit on their high horses complaining about the economy being in the tank. They complain that the working class isn't working under Obama. And in the same breathe, they don't want to pass any laws to make life better for the middle class.
The Department of Labor is finalizing a rule to update overtime protections so they can help millions more Americans. The final rule, which takes effect on December 1, 2016, doubles the salary threshold—from $23,660 to $47,476 per year—under which most salaried workers are guaranteed overtime (hourly workers are generally guaranteed overtime pay regardless of their earnings level). Additionally, this new level will be automatically updated every three years to ensure that workers continue to earn the pay they deserve.
Increasing overtime protections is another step in the President’s effort to grow and strengthen the middle class by raising Americans’ wages. This extra income will not only mean a better life for American families impacted by overtime protections, but will boost our economy across the board as these families spend their hard-earned wages.
This new rule takes into account input from 270,000 public comments and extensive outreach meetings with employers, business associations, small businesses, workers, worker advocates, non-profit organizations, educational institutions, and state and local government representatives. It will:
Raise the salary threshold from $23,660 to $47,476 a year, or from $455 to $913 a week. This doubles the current salary threshold while being responsive to public comments regarding regional variations in income by setting the salary threshold at the 40th percentile of full-time salaried workers in the lowest income Census region (currently the South). Tying the salary threshold to the lowest-wage region of the country has strong historical precedent in previous rulemakings.
Raise Americans’ wages by an estimated $12 billion over the next 10 years, with an average increase of $1.2 billion annually. At the same time, employers retain considerable flexibility in how they comply with the new rule, such as increasing salaries to at least the new threshold to keep positions that are primarily executive, administrative, or professional exempt from overtime pay; paying overtime for hours worked in excess of 40 in a week; or reducing overtime hours.
Extend overtime protections to 4.2 million additional workers who are not currently eligible for overtime under federal law. Others who may already be eligible for overtime will also benefit as the higher salary threshold will serve as a useful bright line test for workers—and their employers—to understand whether they are eligible for overtime. The number of workers in each state who will benefit from the rule can be found HERE.
Update the salary threshold every three years. The updates will ensure the threshold is maintained at the 40th percentile of full-time salaried workers in the lowest income region of the country. Based on projections of wage growth, the threshold is expected to rise to more than $51,000 with the first update on January 1, 2020.
Raise the “highly compensated employee” threshold – from $100,000 to $134,004 – above which only a minimal showing is needed to demonstrate an employee is not eligible for overtime. This upper threshold was designed to ease the burden on employers in identifying overtime eligible employees since it is more likely that workers earning above this high salary level perform the types of job duties that would exempt them from overtime requirements.
Respond to employers’ concerns by making no changes to the “duties test” and allowing bonuses and incentive payments to count toward up to 10 percent of the new salary level. Workers earning more than the salary threshold are still subject to the duties test to determine eligibility for overtime. In their comments to the proposed rule, employers argued that changing the duties test would be difficult and costly to implement, and the final rule leaves the existing duties test in place. Additionally, for the first time, employers will be able to count bonuses and commissions toward as much as 10 percent of the salary threshold.
It seems like Republicans rather see you work your ass off for little or no overtime pay. It seems like Donald Trump will probably speak out against it. It's likely Bernie Sanders will not mention this huge news to his trolls. It seems like Hillary Clinton will credit her husband for allowing Obama to come up with this idea.
Again, the Congress is unproductive. The three candidates running for president are too polarizing.
The opinions of most lawmakers is extremely low.
Conservatives are getting outraged over the most trivial things.
The most nastiest election year ever. This is the most unproductive Congress ever!
Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders are very bad. If one of them becomes the 45th President of the United States, they will have the most unproductive Congress ever.
The presidential candidates are extremely negative. The American public isn't inspired to vote for these guys. Bernie Sanders finally got his share of negative exposure. His supporters acted a fool at the Nevada Democratic convention, and he didn't condemn the ignorance. The public is starting to turn on Sanders.
Trump is the frontrunner in negativity. Clinton follows closely behind and Sanders is gaining on her.
The Republican controlled Congress is extremely bad. They have stall the nomination of Merrick Garland, they wasted over $7 million investigating Benghazi and now calling Facebook to face harsh criticism
And yet, no media coverage of President Barack Obama's rising job approval ratings. At present time, the president is enjoying 56% job approval in his final year.
Besides who wants to be the president of a do nothing Congress?
House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI) met with Republican presumptive nominee Donald Trump today.
The two were feuding over Ryan's refusal to endorse the candidate. That set off a slew of controversy.
Many see this attempt to at least find common ground given the highly polarizing Republican primaries.
Trump is determined to win over the hearts of skeptical Republicans who fear that his rhetoric could doom their chances at winning the White House.
“The United States cannot afford another 40 years of the Obama White House, which is what Hillary Clinton represents,” the pair wrote. “That is why it’s critical that Republicans unite around our shared principles, advance a conservative agenda, and do all that we can to win this fall. With that focus, we had a great conversation this morning.”
“While we were honest about our few differences, we recognize that there are also many important areas of common ground,” the statement continues. “We will be having additional conversations, but remain confident there’s a great opportunity to unify our party and win this fall, and we are totally committed to working together to achieve that goal.”
“We are extremely proud of the fact that many millions of new voters have entered the primary system, far more than ever before in the Republican Party’s history. This was our first meeting, but is a very positive step towards unification,” they conclude.
The controversial media mogul has called for banning Muslims entering the United States. Trump has called immigrants, rapists, drug dealers and criminals. Trump has said that Mexico will be responsible for paying for the border wall that he promises to build.
Trump beaten 16 candidates in one of the most contentious Republican primaries ever.
Under the whem of Ryan's buddy, Republican chairman Reince Priebus, the two met for a few hours to discuss concerns about his campaign.
Trump also had to kick out a delegate who was a devout White extremists. William Johnson was chosen to be a California delegate for Trump. He made robocalls and even went forth to stump for Trump. It turns out that he's hoping that Trump could win so he can enact his hateful agenda.
Another senseless mass shooting in the country and the junk food media covers it.
As expected, another mass shooting will grab the nation's attention. There were shootings at a Maryland mall, a grocery store and a school within a 24 hour period. The terrorist was a part of the federal witness protection unit. That means he's a federal vice officer.
President Barack Obama, Maryland governor Larry Hogan and Washington, DC mayor Muriel Bowser will be notified and express condolences to the families lost in these senseless tragedies.
Eulalio Tordil, a former federal officer cause a few days of terrorism in suburban Washington, DC.
He was placed in the freezer after allegations of spousal and child abuse surfaced. The terrorist struck up a conservation with a woman before he pulled out a semi-automatic firearm. He would shoot her a point blank range and then attack the people who came to the aid of the woman. One of the men who rushed to the aid was killed.
The first victim of this tragedy was the terrorist's wife.
There was a shooting a local high school where four people were injured by the violent acts of this terrorist.
The first victim of this mass shooting was his wife Gladys. That piece of paper drove Tordil crazy.
Gladys served him with a restraining order after she called the law on him after he assaulted her.
Montgomery County police believe that he is also behind two additional deadly shootings on Friday in Montgomery County. One man died and two other victims were treated after a shooting at Montgomery Mall in Bethesda, and a woman was killed at a Giant grocery store in Aspen Hill.
In Thursday’s incident, a bystander, another parent who tried to intervene, was also shot, but he is expected to survive, the Prince George’s County Police Department said in a press release. His name was not released.
Thursday’s shooting happened at about 4:30 p.m. at High Point High School in Beltsville, according to police. No students were injured and it was not an active shooter situation, police said.
The terrorist worked for the feds.
Mind you this terrorist is of Asian American descent and is a federal police officer.
Cue the conservative outrage. Who are they going to blame for this situation? Since it's not a White person, automatically he's a liberal. He comes from the metro Washington, DC area, a strong Democratic area. He is a federal worker. The conservatives complain that the government is huge and the Republicans want to shrink government. He's Asian, so I am assuring that racial arsonist Colin Flaherty will waste no time trying to make the case about Black on whatever violence.
Conservatives will say that "if I was there...." or "the state laws hurt arming citizens in tragedies" excuse.
Here's a poll for you.
The mass shooting in Maryland. The suspect was caught. Who actually takes the blame in this senseless tragedy?
World News Today send our condolences to the families of the victims lost in these senseless tragedies. Unfortunately Congress refuses to pass regulations to curb gun violence. The 114th session of Congress controlled by Republicans is inept. The most unproductive Congress ever in American history is more concerned about winning the presidency and control of the upcoming 115th Congress.
Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders will debate these issues and offer little to no suggestions to curb the rise in American gun violence.
The terrorist was taken in custody without incident. The terrorist will face federal charges and state charges. Federal charges could carry the GAS. State charges could land him in the iron college for LIFE. The terrorist is innocent until proven guilty.
Also noticed that he was taken in without incident. Think of the Black, Muslim or Hispanic mass shooters. They would be gunned down within a bat of an eyelash.
About 46.3 people a day are injured or killed by gun violence and no one but the victims seems to care. I mean how many more people will have to be buried?
Why is it easier to get a firearm but not a voter registration?
Why is it easier to purchase multiple firearms but you can't smoke weed in a public venue?
President Barack Obama at a local bookstore celebrating small business day.
The monthly jobs reports were released this morning and it shows an outlook that may pose a risk for the economy. The April jobs report shows that the U.S. Department of Labor added 160,000 were added.
That was the smallest gain since September and below the first-quarter average job growth of 200,000.
Employers added 19,000 fewer jobs in February and March than previously reported. While the unemployment rate held at 5.0 percent that was because people dropped out of the labor force.
Economists polled by Reuters had forecast payrolls rising 202,000 last month and the jobless rate unchanged at 5 percent.
The stepdown in job growth could raise concerns that the weakness in overall economic activity was spilling over to the labor market. Economic growth slowed sharply in the first quarter this year.
The most unproductive leaders of the Congress, Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) and Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY). The Speaker of the House and Senate Majority Leader both voice concern about Obama's policies and their standard-bearer Donald Trump.
Average hourly earnings were a bright spot in the employment report, rising eight cents or 0.3 percent last month. That took the year-on-year increase to 2.5 percent from 2.3 percent in March, still below the 3.0 percent advance that economists say is needed for inflation to rise to the Fed’s 2.0 percent target.
The U.S. central bank last month offered a fairly upbeat assessment of the labor market, saying that conditions had “improved further.”
The Fed raised its benchmark overnight interest rate in December for the first time in nearly a decade. Fed officials have forecast two more rate hikes for this year.
Market-based measures of Fed policy expectations have virtually priced out an interest rate increase at the Fed’s June 14-15 meeting, according to CME Group’s FedWatch. They see a less than 50 percent probability of rate hikes in September and November, with a 59 percent chance at the December meeting.
The labor force participation rate, or the share of working-age Americans who are employed or at least looking for a job, fell 0.2 percentage point to 62.8 percent. It had increased 0.6 percentage point since dipping to 62.4 percent in September.
The labor force fell by 362,000 as people dropped out in April.
The vast private services sector dominated employment gains in April. Manufacturing added 4,000 jobs last month after shedding 29,000 in March, the biggest loss for the sector since December 2009.
Donald Trump in Charleston, WV stroking his gift from the coal industry.
There were further job losses in mining as the energy sector adjusts to weak profits from a recent prolonged plunge in oil prices. Mining payrolls fell 8,000 last month. Mining employment has decreased by 191,000 jobs since peaking in September 2014, with 75 percent of the losses in support activities.
Gains in construction employment slowed sharply, with the sector adding 1,000 jobs in April, after home building showing some signs of fatigue last month.
Retail payrolls fell 3,100 after hefty gains in the first quarter, despite sluggish sales.
This shatters the constant streak over added jobs over 200,000.
As usual the conservatives will complain about the job numbers. The conservatives will say that the president and the Labor Department are fudging the numbers.
They will say that 94 million Americans aren't working. They will complain that the annual payroll rates being stalled by government regulations.
All the while, ignoring the lackluster activities of the Republican controlled Congress. The Congress so far the most unproductive in American history. It's about to shatter the record of the 113th Congress, the least productive since Republicans and Democrats shared control.
It looks like the hits keep on coming. The conservative Craigslist decided to make fun of Ted Cruz while he did a stump stage in Indiana. He was confronted by a boy who told him he sucked.
Cruz responded to him and told him that he's rude and children like him deserve a spanking!
He also got an earful from Donald Trump supporters. He got into a heated confrontation with a Trumpublican. The ignorant exchange was caught on tape.
The New York Times gets the exchange word-by-word.
“Vote Trump!” one shouted.
“Say something really funny!” a Cruz supporter replied.
“Ted Cruz is going to win!” a Trump fan in dark sunglasses shot back.
Then Cruz did something unusual: He crossed the street.
With a phalanx of aides and reporters trailing him, Cruz approached his critics with a question.
“What do you like about Donald Trump?” he asked.
“Everything,” said the man in the sunglasses, who later refused to give his name.
When the protester mentioned the Second Amendment, Cruz said he had defended gun rights in front of the Supreme Court. The man appeared unimpressed.
When he mentioned immigration, Cruz was ready with a bit of opposition research.
“May I ask you something?” the Texas senator said. “Out of all the candidates, name one who had a million-dollar judgment against them for hiring illegal immigrants. Name one. Donald Trump.”
“Self-funding,” the man replied.
“O.K.,” Cruz said, “so you like rich people who buy politicians?”
The man asked Cruz where his “Goldman Sachs jacket” was, alluding to the employer of Cruz’s wife, Heidi, who took a leave from her job for the campaign.
Cruz responded that he had attracted more than a million campaign contributions, with an average of $60. He was interrupted sporadically by shouts of “Lyin’ Ted” from the protester’s peers.
“Sir, with all respect,” Cruz said, “Donald Trump is deceiving you. He is playing you for a chump.”
Cruz conjectured that Trump would not have walked over to meet the protesters.
“If I were Donald Trump, I wouldn’t have come over and talked to you,” he said. “You know what I would have done? I would have told the folks over there, ‘Go over and punch those guys in the face.’ That’s what Donald does to protesters.”
The catcalls of “Lyin’ Ted!” returned.
“O.K., stop,” Cruz said. “What word did I say was a lie?”
“About Donald telling people to punch people,” the man said.
“O.K., let me ask you, sir,” Cruz responded. “Just go home and Google ‘Donald-punched-in-the-face-protester.’ This is on national television.”
The man ignored him to make a conjecture of his own: “You’ll find out tomorrow. Indiana don’t want you.”
Cruz turned toward the cameras, as if making a closing argument in court.
“A question that everyone here should ask,” he began.
“Are you Canadian?” the man interjected.
“Do you want your kids,” Cruz continued, “repeating the words of Donald Trump?”
Cruz said he respected the man and believed in the people of Indiana to show good judgment. He started walking to his car.
A television reporter asked why he had bothered to engage.
“Because I believe in the democratic process,” he said.
Did he hear anything that concerned him?
“Well, there’re five of them and hundreds of us,” he said, reaching the door. “So, no.”
Moments later, when the cameras cleared out, the man strolled east, crossing railroad tracks with his peers in tow. He reached for a cigarette.
Cruz’s nerve had surprised him, he allowed, but failed to impress him.
“Anything that Donald Trump talks about,” he said, “that’s what I’m about.”
Also running mate Carly Fiorina is turning out to be a major flop. The junk food media was shaking their heads in disgust after Fiorina sung off key about Cruz's daughters. Then Fiorina took a nasty fall during a campaign rally for Cruz. The junk food media lauded Cruz for not noticing that she fell.
It's getting nastier in this race. Indiana is starting to look more dim. Ted Cruz's last ditch efforts may go down in flames. He tried to pull Carly out of his pocket and she tumbled.
He says that Donald Trump's endorsement from Mike Tyson is insane. He said that Trump is no different than Hillary Clinton. Nothing has worked so far. The endorsement from establishment lawmakers hasn't been beneficial to the self-proclaimed "outsider" elected to Washington.
Matt Drudge is the reclusive conservative agitator who is Trump's press secretary. We confirmed that the website has turned on the Texas Republican senator. He's not making it a secret. Everything and anything to make this a race between the insurgent Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton, the right's second favorite whipping post after President Barack Obama.
I bet you money that if Cruz fails to secure the nomination, he will go back the Senate a defeated man. He will continue to be a part of the Stallmigos. If Trump should become the president, I can bet you money, Cruz and Rand Paul will block everything.
The hit Fox series Lucifer is greenlighted for a Fall return. The series debuted in Winter and managed to fill the void that Minority Report failed at. Lucifer will follow Gotham on Mondays.
Over at Stanford University, former House Weeper John Boehner had no love for Ted Cruz and his struggling campaign.
On tape, the former speaker said that he would never support that "miserable son of a bitch". He said that he's pretty cool with Donald Trump. He said of his friend John Kasich, that he has no real reason to be in this race.
"I have Democrat friends and Republican friends," the former House speaker said during a frank on-stage discussion at Stanford University Wednesday. "I get along with almost everyone, but I have never worked with a more miserable son of a bitch in my life."
Boehner clowning on Ted Cruz and Carly Fiorina.
Boehner, who retired from Congress at the end of October, also let loose on the two other GOP candidates in the race.
Boehner called Cruz, "Lucifer in the flesh".
When asked about the comments Cruz and running mate Carly Fiorina said that Boehner is one of the reasons why government wasn't working. He's giving credence to Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton.
Boehner lives in West Chester, Ohio. He was the Congressman from the 8th Congressional district.
West Chester is in Butler County. That county went to Trump in a 2:1 ratio.
Boehner is no friend of Cruz. He blames Cruz for dragging Congress into the crapper.
Ted Cruz is feuding with Sean Hannity. Hannity admits he gives softball interviews to Republicans.
Many in the junk food media say that the likelihood of Ted Cruz and John Kasich winning the Republican nomination is highly doubtful. Donald Trump's victory in New York pretty much stopped the momentum of both Cruz and Kasich.
Many Republicans are starting to warm up to Trump.
Cruz and Kasich vow to win the nomination and they are willing to take this to the Republican Convention.
Cruz and his staff are pretty upset with the junk food media giving Trump all this airtime. They had enough of the "all access" treatment from the world's most annoying conservative agitator to ever have a radio and/or television program. Ted Cruz had told his staff that he's done with Sean Hannity.
Hannity is the most annoying agitator in the junk food media. He is a Republican ass-kisser and a huge concern troll.
But that's my opinion. I want to know your opinion in this poll.
Is Sean Hannity The Most Annoying Agitator In The Junk Food Media?
According to the Cruz campaign, he seriously believes that Donald Trump's biggest supporters on the right are Laura Ingraham, The Drudge Report and Hannity.
Cruz got into a heated argument with Hannity. The video was posted on Hannity's official YouTube page.
Hannity admits to giving softball interviews to Donald Trump and Ted Cruz got fed up with the Texas senator talking in circles over his "voter-less" victories in Colorado and Wyoming.
Hannity even went as far to tell Cruz to stop deflecting the questions.
Media Matters for America got a portion of the transcript of the exchange.
SEAN HANNITY: I think the number one question on the minds of Republicans right now is what is going on with the delegates. For example, if you can explain to people that your campaign, that you have every right within the rules, to talk to candidates that are pledged on a first ballot, to Candidate A or Candidate C, you being Candidate B, and that -- tell us what that process is. You are assuming this is going to the convention, you told me that in the last two interviews. So as part of that, you’re hoping to get to a second ballot. In other words, in a second ballot people that support Donald Trump or John Kasich or Marco Rubio, if those delegates are still relevant, can then switch their votes. So you are in the process of talking to delegates and it seems to be very extensive. Can you explain to people what's going on?
TED CRUZ: Sean, with all respect, that's not what people are concerned about. I'm campaigning every day, people are concerned about bringing jobs back to America. People are concerned about raising wages. People are concerned about getting the federal government off the backs of small businesses, and people are concerned about beating Hillary. And the media loves to obsess about process, this process, and this whining from the Trump campaign, it's all silly. It's very, very simple --
HANNITY: Senator, I'm -- hang on a second, I'm on social media with millions of people. I have 550 radio stations, and I have the top rated cable show in my hour, all across the board. And I am telling you that people are telling me that they find this whole process confusing. You know, I can read the articles, for example, about -- you know, people want to know about what actually happened in Georgia this weekend, where people that have, I guess, on the first ballot are going to Donald Trump, but representatives of yours talked to them, and are persuading them to vote for you on a second ballot. That is an important question, because I think most of people would like to know how this works, and I'm really am asking you more than a process question. It's an integrity of the election question, and everybody's asking me this question. So I'm giving you an opportunity to explain it.
CRUZ: Sean, the only people asking this question are the hardcore Donald Trump supporters.
HANNITY: Why do you -- but senator, why do you do this? Every single time I -- no, you gotta stop. Every time I have you on the air, and I ask a legitimate question, you try to throw this in my face. I'm getting sick of it. I've had you on more than any other candidate, on radio and TV. So if I ask you senator, a legitimate question that would explain to the audience, why wouldn't you just answer it?
CRUZ: Sean, can I answer your question without being interrupted?
HANNITY: Go ahead.
CRUZ: In the last three weeks, there have been five elections in five states. Utah, North Dakota, WIsconsin, Colorado, Wyoming. We've won all five, over 1.3 million people voted in those five states, we won all five. All of this noise and complaining and whining has come from the Trump campaign, because they don't like the fact that they've lost five elections in a row, that Republicans are uniting behind our campaign, so they are screaming on Drudge, and it's getting echoed, this notion of voterless election. It is nonsense that they are making it up. Over 1.3 million people voted, we won landslides in all five. Now, there is a second component beyond the elections, which is the individual delegates are elected by the people. Donald Trump's campaign does not know how to organize on the grassroots.
The interview went viral and it's gotten so much attention. Hannity defended his interview with Cruz.
Hannity said that Cruz comes off as angry and desperate. Hannity respects Cruz as a champion of conservative causes, but even Hannity admits that Cruz has no chance of winning the nomination without stealing it in a contested convention. Hannity constantly tells his gullible audience that he's given more airtime to Republican candidates because he believes that they are infinitely better than Hillary Clinton or Bernie Sanders.
If you ask me, I believe Sean Hannity, Rush Limbaugh and The Drudge Report will help the Democrats win the White House. Because of these entities, Barack Obama clobbered John McCain and perennial loser Mitt Romney in two landslides.
Hannity believes that Republicans failed in taking out Obama. Hannity seriously believes that Obama's "associations" to Jeremiah Wright, Bill Ayers and Al Sharpton should have defeated him.
Hannity believes that Hillary Clinton would be heading to federal time out for having classified emails on her secured personal server.
I believe that Hannity's days at Fox News are numbered. I predict that Sean Hannity will be fired out the cannon in 2017 if the Democrat nominee wins the White House.
The Supreme Court divided is a lose-lose situation for conservatives. Pictured: Justice Elena Kagan (back), Chief Justice John Roberts (left), Justices Anthony Kennedy, Ruth Binder Ginsburg, Stephen Beyer and Sonia Sotomayor.
Looks like it's a lose-lose situation for the Republicans. They continue their opposition to President Barack Obama's Supreme Court nominee Merrick Garland. And with the Court not at full strength, many issues conservatives took to court are being defeated.
Voting rights is spared for now. The Republican-controlled state of Texas ended up losing a crucial piece of power. The power they had to keep the U.S. Congressional districts in their favor is coming to an end.
Greg Abbott, the controversial Republican governor of Texas might want to wheel himself back to the drawing board. The court found that the Texas redistricting map isn't fair to the constituents and the Court struck it down.
The court ruled that the "one person, one vote" rule allows counting non-voters, including minors, prisoners, ex-convicts and immigrants -- a decision that traditionally helps Democrats.
"We hold, based on constitutional history, this court's decisions, and longstanding practice, that a state may draw its legislative districts based on total population," Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg wrote in delivering the court's opinion.
The plaintiffs -- Sue Evenwel and Edward Pfenninger -- argued that Texas should count only eligible voters in drawing up legislative districts of roughly equal size.
That would have favored rural areas with a high proportion of eligible voters in the allocation of legislative districts, over urban areas with larger absolute populations but a smaller proportion of eligible voters.
Since urban areas tend to vote Democratic and rural areas lean Republican, how the population is counted has a direct political impact.
If a state bases its electoral districting on the total population -- and all 50 states do -- people who are ineligible to vote are counted in the process.
These ineligible populations, such as non-citizen Hispanic immigrants, are usually present in larger numbers in urban areas.
As a result, each eligible voter in those areas proportionally has greater clout.
Samuel Alito, Sonia Sotomayor and Clarence Thomas.
"Even so, it remains beyond doubt that the principle of representational equality figured prominently in the decision to count people, whether or not they qualify as voters," the court said.
"Adopting voter-eligible apportionment as constitutional command would upset a well-functioning approach to districting that all 50 states and countless local jurisdictions have followed for decades, even centuries. Appellants have shown no reason for the court to disturb this longstanding use of total population," the court added.
- Unanimous decision -
The justices heard oral arguments in the case in December before the sudden death of Justice Antonin Scalia on February 13, which has left the court evenly divided between liberals and conservatives.
But even before Scalia's death, the justices had expressed skepticism about the challenge to the Texas law, which was borne out by the unanimous decision.
Had the court ruled in favor of the plaintiffs, legislative districts would have had to have been redrawn in states from New York to California.
Civil rights leaders and minority groups backed the status quo, arguing a change would negatively impact Hispanics.
"Our representatives represent people," said Nina Perales of the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund.
"Representatives don't represent land. They don't represent acres. They don't represent counties."
The NAACP civil rights group said that 75 million children, 13 million of whom are black, "would have been counted out of the redistricting process" since children cannot vote.
The case, it said, harked back "to nefarious periods in our democracy similar to when black people were counted as 3/5ths of a person for redistricting purposes."
Meanwhile Democratic presidential hopefuls Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders chimed in from the campaign trail in support of the decision.
Elena Kagan, Sonia Sotomayor, and Ruth Binder Ginsburg were the majority of the court.
"In our democracy, every one of our voices should count. Glad the Supreme Court affirmed this fundamental right," Clinton tweeted.
- 'Significant leeway' -
Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito were part of the majority, but wrote separate concurring opinions.
Alito, while agreeing with the majority, rejected the government's argument that there is a constitutional basis for requiring that legislative districts be equal in total population.
In a similar vein, Thomas noted that the court's decision did not provide clear guidance on what exactly "the one person, one vote" principle protects.
"The Constitution does not prescribe any one basis for apportionment within states. It instead leaves states significant leeway in apportioning their own districts to equalize total population, to equalize eligible voters, or to promote any other principle consistent with a republican form of government.
"The majority should recognize the futility of choosing only one of these options. The Constitution leaves the choice to the people alone -— not to this court," he wrote.
The month of March gave the best news for President Barack Obama, however it gave a rise to the unemployment rate. The Department of Labor released the job numbers and it shows a steady pace of employment.
The economy roars with 215,000 jobs added for the month of March and it did lead to the unemployment rate to head to 5 percent.
Nonfarm payrolls increased 215,000 last month, the Labor Department said on Friday. Data for January and February was revised slightly down to show 1,000 fewer jobs created than previously reported.
Average hourly earnings increased seven cents. While the unemployment rate rose to 5.0 percent from an eight-year low of 4.9 percent, it was because more Americans continued to return to the labor force, a sign of confidence in the jobs market.
The labor market has largely shrugged off slowing global economic growth, a robust U.S. dollar that has hurt manufacturing exports, and cheap oil prices, which have hit energy sector profitability.
Fed Chair Janet Yellen said on Tuesday that slowing world growth and lower oil prices posed a downside risk to the U.S. economic outlook, adding that she considered it appropriate for policymakers to “proceed cautiously in adjusting policy.”
Fed officials last month downgraded their economic growth expectations and forecast only two more rate rises this year. The U.S. central bank raised its benchmark overnight interest rate in December for the first time in nearly a decade.
Financial markets have almost priced out the likelihood of a rate hike at the Fed’s June policy meeting and see a roughly 47 percent chance of an increase in November and a 57 percent probability at the December meeting, according to CME FedWatch.
The employment report came on the heels of recent data showing sluggish consumer spending and weak business investment on capital in the first two months of the year, as well as some deterioration in the international trade balance.
Of course, Republicans and conservative agitators will say that the job numbers are fake. They will actually say that 1/3 of Americans aren't working (roughly 94 million).
They will continue to deny the fact that there are students in high school, stay at home spouse/parent, disabled, those in the iron college, those in college, those who were born and those died.
Births and deaths happen every freaking day. Someone just lost their job. Someone just quit their job.
The real unemployment numbers aren't relevant. Because there's so many contributing factors to why Americans chose to work or chose not to work.
Conservatives can say all the bullshit on television, radio, internet and print. But it's not true.
The lamest Congress ever, refuses to raise the minimum wage. They refuse to pass paid family leave.
They refuse to allow better safety equipment for those who work around hazardous chemicals.
But yet, say that the job numbers aren't right. The Republican Party and its allies contributed to the near downfall of our country and yet they want to reclaim the White House.
Terrorist panicked Washington, DC with a pellet gun. The terrorist caused a panic at the U.S. Capitol in a politically motivated attack.
There was a shooting at the U.S. Capitol today. A terrorist panicked Washington, DC with a toy gun.
The incident allowed innocent civilians at the Capitol Visitor Center get injured. The DC Capitol Police put the threat down.
Officers shot and injured the threat around 3pm after he entered the north screening area of the Capitol Visitor Center and drew a weapon. It turns out that the terrorist had a pellet gun. So I am guessing he was trying to commit suicide by cop.
The terrorist was taken to a local hospital and was being treated for his injuries. An uninvolved bystander was injured and taken to a local hospital. The terrorist was a former pastor at St. Luke’s Community Church in Nashville, according to his Facebook page and the church’s website.
Panic in Washington, DC.
The terrorist cause the Capitol to shut down, the White House to shut down. It disrupted traffic along Interstate 395 and Interstate 695. Washington, DC was fearing that this was an act of terrorism caused by a Muslim.
Of course, that's what our conservative agitators in the junk food media were hoping for.
They wanted to continue this tongue flexing of how they can stop the so-evil "radical" Islam.
The terrorist is named Larry Russell Dawson. He's a man from Tennessee who was a Prophet of God.
Now he's a Black man, a Christian extremist and a legal owner of a firearm. Who's gonna get the blame for this?
In the wake of the DC Capitol shooting, the suspect was caught. Who takes the blame in this controversy?
Tell you what! Congress won't move the needle on gun violence. Even though this threat was considered a nut job, this stuff is happening way too much. This terrorist could have been strapped with explosives and would have been a perfect example of a suicide bomber.
Yeah, since he's a Christian extremist, you won't hear much about that. Since he's complaining about raising the minimum wage, a goal liberals want accomplished, conservatives will single out President Barack Obama, Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton for this terrorist actions.
Of course, when this terrorist is released from the hospital, he will face federal charges. The charges could put this terrorist in federal time out for LIFE.
The terrorist is innocent until proven guilty.
World News Today sends our prayers to those injured in this senseless act of ignorance.
