Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker is on Team Tom Brady

By now, you've likely heard of #Deflategate and the subsequent suspension of New England Patriots QB Tom Brady. While Brady may not have gained the support of NFL commissioner Roger Goodell, he's got at least one powerful figure on his side: Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker (R). Today, at an Ice Bucket Challenge event at the Massachusetts State House to raise money and awareness for ALS, the governor sported a "Free Brady" shirt.

 

7News Boston WHDHVerified account‏@7News

NOW: Gov. Charlie Baker is wearing a "Free Brady" T-shirt while taking the Ice Bucket Challenge #7News

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11:20 AM - 10 Aug 2015

The event featured Pete Frates, a Massachusetts native and former Boston College baseball player who was diagnosed with ALS in 2012 at the age of 27. Last year, he started the viral "Ice Bucket Challenge" that quickly spread worldwide and resulted in thousands of dollars in donations to various ALS charities.

Via: Townhall

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[VIDEO] O'Malley says Dems 'outrageous' for limiting debates

Former Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley continued to rail against the Democratic National Committee Monday for limiting the number of primary debates to six during the 2016 campaign.

Appearing on "Andrea Mitchell Reports," O'Malley blasted the DNC for their "outrageous" decision to cut down on the number of debates from 20 in 2008 to six this cycle.

"My message to the party is this: We're making a big mistake as Democrats if we try to limit debate and have an undemocratic process," O'Malley told host Andrea Mitchell. "There were 24 million people who tuned in to the Republican debate, and there were very few ideas that would serve our nation moving forward that were offered in that debate.

Appearing on "Andrea Mitchell Reports," O'Malley blasted the DNC for their "outrageous" decision to cut down on the number of debates from 20 in 2008 to six this cycle. (AP Photo) 

"It was like the greatest hits of the 80s and the 90s. What our party has to offer are the actual ideas that will move our country forward that will get wages to go up again instead of down. That will move us to a 100 percent clean energy future, and create 500 million jobs along the way."

"Shame on us as a party if the DNC tries to limit debate and prevents us from being able to put forward a better path for our people that will make the economy work for all of us again," O'Malley said. "So I believe we need more debates — not fewer debates, and I think it's outrageous, actually, that the DNC would try to make this process decidedly undemocratic by telling Iowa and New Hampshire that they can only have one debate before they make a decision."

"This election's too important to cut off debate," O'Malley argued. "People want debate, Andrea. They don't want a coronation."

The former Maryland governor has struggled to gain traction in the 2016 primary thus far. According to the latest RealClearPolitics national polling average, O'Malley pulls only 1.6 percent support. Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton continues to lead with 55 percent support, while Sen. Bernie Sanders snags 19 percent. In addition, Vice President Joe Biden, who will likely announce his 2016 intentions in September, is at 12 percent.

Via: Washington Examiner

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[VIDEO] State of emergency issued in St. Louis County, Mo.

St. Louis County, Mo. has issued a state of emergency following a spate of violence amid protests marking the one-year anniversary of the death of Michael Brown.

“In light of last night’s violence and unrest in the City of Ferguson, and the potential for harm to persons and property, I am exercising my authority as county executive to issue a state of emergency, effective immediately,” St. Louis County Executive Steve Stenger said in a statement obtained by FOX2.

Stenger said Police Chief Jon Belmar will have the authority to “exercise all powers and duties necessary to preserve order, prevent crimes, and protect the life and property of our citizens.”

Two instances of gun violence broke out Sunday night as protesters commemorated the death of Brown, an unarmed black man shot by a white police officer. One of the incidents allegedly involved a gunman firing at a group of police in an unmarked fan. Cops returned fire and the suspect is currently in critical condition in the hospital.

“The recent acts of violence will not be tolerated in a community that has worked so tirelessly over the last year to rebuild and become stronger,” Stenger said in the statement. “The time and investment in Ferguson and Dellwood will not be destroyed by a few that wish to violate the rights of others.”

Via: Fox News

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Are liberal city centers dying off politically?

It’s a given in American politics that urban centers are essentially Democrat strongholds. There is no point in Republicans or conservatives competing there because you’re simply not going to gain any votes or find any agreement on key policy points. This can be attributed to both economic and demographic factors. The low income urban communities are predominantly composed of minority voters and they stand with the Democrats in numbers which are too daunting to contemplate. The majority of the wealthy tend toward the limosene liberal crowd who can afford destructive taxes and have the leisure time available to dictate proper life choices to others no matter how they live their own lives. (Be sure to take a limo or a private jet to your next climate change conference.)

But is this changing? Joel Kotkin at Real Clear Politics looks at the numbers and finds that while urban population centers are still large, they are not growing in relation to the exurbs and rural areas, and they’re also not turning out to vote in the same numbers as they did in the heyday of the Democrats.

This urban economy has created many of the most unequal places  in the country. At the top are the rich and super-affluent who have rediscovered the blessings of urbanity, followed by a large cadre of young and middle-aged professionals, many of them childless. Often ignored, except after sensationalized police shootings, is a vast impoverished class that has become ever-more concentrated in particular neighborhoods. During the first decade of the current millennium, neighborhoods with entrenchedurban poverty actually grew, increasing in numbers from 1,100 to 3,100. In population, they grew from 2 million to 4 million.Some 80 percent of all population growth in American cities, since 2000, notes demographerWendell Cox, came from these poorer people, many of them recent immigrants.

Such social imbalances are not, as is the favored term among the trendy, sustainable. We appear to be creating the conditions for a new wave of violent crime on a scale not seen since the early 1990s. Along with poverty,public disorderliness, gang activity, homelessness and homicides are on the rise in many American core cities, including Baltimore,  Milwaukee, Los Angeles and New York. Racial tensions, particularly with the police, have worsened. So even as left-leaning politicians try to rein in police, recent IRS data in Chicago reveals, the middle class appears to once again be leaving for suburban and other locales.

When Democrats begin looking at these types of numbers in a serious fashion they must be asking a question which conservatives have been pondering for some time. Who has been running things in the cities for decades now? The Democrats. And how’s that working out for you? Crime rates in the cities have been – and remain – epic. You can try to blame vast social conflict on the police if you like, but the fact is that the police go where the crime is. The social infrastructure in so many large cities has simply collapsed and it’s all taken place on the watch of the liberal Democrats who rule the roost. They whip up their voters into a frenzy every election cycle, warning of the dangers of the Republicans who hold no power over their lives, but it is under their leadership that you saw the current mess develop.

On the upper end of the scale, particularly in places like New York City, there is a jarring contrast which is hard for the Democrat base to ignore. How do you talk about income inequality and the evils of the fat cats when it’s those same fat cats financing the election of the same Democrats over and over again? Isn’t there a bit of a disconnect there?

Looking at the numbers in that article I have have to wonder if Barack Obama – by virtue of being able to generate racial empathy – might be the last Democrat who will turn out large numbers of voters in the cities. What does Hillary have to offer them which is any different than the policies which have seen New York’s murder rate skyrocket once again and Baltimore going up in flames?

Via: Hot Air

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Why Did Seattle Restaurants Lose 1,000 Jobs? Report Blames The Minimum Wage

According to a report released Sunday by the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), the $15 minimum wage has caused Seattle restaurants to lose 1,000 jobs — the worst decline since the 2009 Great Recession.

“The loss of 1,000 restaurant jobs in May following the minimum wage increase in April was the largest one month job decline since a 1,300 drop in January 2009, again during the Great Recession,” AEI Scholar Mark J. Perry noted in the report.

The citywide minimum wage increase was passed in June of last year. The measure is designed to increase the city minimum wage gradually to $15 an hour by 2017. The first increase under the plan was to $11 an hour in April. According to the report, Seattle restaurants have already faced severe consequences as a result. In contrast, in the six years since the 2009 financial crisis, the industry has been recovering in areas without the $15 minimum wage.

“Restaurant employment nationally increased by 130,700 jobs (and by 1.2%) during that same period,” the report also noted. “Restaurant employment in Washington increased 3.2% and by 2,800 jobs.”

Supporters of the $15 minimum wage often argue it will help the poor and stimulate economic activity. Opponents, however, argue such policies will actually hurt the poor by limiting job opportunities. How little or how much of either outcome usually depends on the study. Nevertheless, even the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) agrees at least some job loss is expected.

Studies also show that industries with low profit margins, like restaurants, are more likely to be hit the hardest. A June report from the investor rating service Moody’s claims the minimum wage doesn’t even have to go up to $15 an hour for negative effects to occur.

According to a report released Sunday by the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), the $15 minimum wage has caused Seattle restaurants to lose 1,000 jobs — the worst decline since the 2009 Great Recession.

“The loss of 1,000 restaurant jobs in May following the minimum wage increase in April was the largest one month job decline since a 1,300 drop in January 2009, again during the Great Recession,” AEI Scholar Mark J. Perry noted in the report.

The citywide minimum wage increase was passed in June of last year. The measure is designed to increase the city minimum wage gradually to $15 an hour by 2017. The first increase under the plan was to $11 an hour in April. According to the report, Seattle restaurants have already faced severe consequences as a result. In contrast, in the six years since the 2009 financial crisis, the industry has been recovering in areas without the $15 minimum wage.

“Restaurant employment nationally increased by 130,700 jobs (and by 1.2%) during that same period,” the report also noted. “Restaurant employment in Washington increased 3.2% and by 2,800 jobs.”

Supporters of the $15 minimum wage often argue it will help the poor and stimulate economic activity. Opponents, however, argue such policies will actually hurt the poor by limiting job opportunities. How little or how much of either outcome usually depends on the study. Nevertheless, even the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) agrees at least some job loss is expected.

Studies also show that industries with low profit margins, like restaurants, are more likely to be hit the hardest. A June report from the investor rating service Moody’s claims the minimum wage doesn’t even have to go up to $15 an hour for negative effects to occur.

Via: The Libertarian Republic

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Watchdog: Government failing to fully screen Obamacare applications

The Obama administration failed to properly review whether some Obamacare applicants were U.S. citizens or in jail, two factors that should disqualify people from getting health insurance under the law, according to a scathing report from a federal watchdog.

The finding of ineffective screening for applicants came about a month after an undercover operation discovered that fake applications were able to enroll in Obamacare and get subsidies. The report could also spark further outcry from Republicans in Congress, who have claimed for years that the administration has poorly managed the exchanges.

The review, conducted by the Health and Human Services' Office of the Inspector General, looked at 90 applications to Obamacare. They also interviewed marketplace officials and reviewed other documentation.

A slew of problems were discovered while reviewing the applications, including whether the applicant was in jail, the report said.

"Not all of the federal marketplace's internal controls were effective in ensuring that individuals were determined eligible for enrollment in QHPs and eligible for insurance affordability programs according to federal requirements," the report said.

Other inadequate controls included failing to not always properly verify Social Security numbers, citizenship, family size and annual household income, which helps determine the amount of subsidies an applicant could receive.

The report said it also identified weaknesses in the federal marketplace's procedures for resolving inconsistencies. For instance, the marketplace resolved differences in annual household income using a different method than the one it's supposed to be using, the report said.

The watchdog called on the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, which manage the federal exchange, to adopt several reforms. Among them are to improve procedures related to resolving inconsistencies and improve its methods for rooting out problems in an application.

The agency concurred with its recommendations and has either taken or planned to address the measures.

Via: Washington Examiner

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James Woods shares ‘nice visual metaphor for big government socialism’

 

James WoodsVerified account‏@RealJamesWoods

Nice visual metaphor for big government socialism...

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8:09 AM - 10 Aug 2015

Via: Twitchy.com

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Massachusetts Republicans are more liberal than Arkansas Democrats

Massachusetts Republicans like Lt. Gov. Karyn Polito and Gov. Charlie Baker are comparatively moderate.

The Boston Globe

Those of us in the Bay State know that Republicans in Massachusetts aren’t like those more conservative politicians yakking it up on Fox News. Now there’s firm statistical proof of that.

Massachusetts Republican state legislators are more liberal than Republicans in every other state legislature, and they are even more liberal than Democrats in Arkansas, according to a data-heavy political study from Princeton and Georgetown University researchers.

As The Boston Globe explains, the researchers culled roll call votes of legislatures in every state. They then compared those votes to how those across the political spectrum voted in similar topics. Politicians who vote along similar lines were grouped together.

“Strictly speaking, then, this data doesn’t show that Massachusetts legislators hold a particularly liberal set of beliefs,” the Globe writes. “Rather, it shows that they support the types of policies that are embraced by California and Connecticut, contested in much of the country, and anathema in Oklahoma and Missouri. That, by itself, turns out to be a pretty good definition of liberalism.”

Massachusetts Democrats aren’t radically liberal compared to Democrats in states like California or New York, according to the study. Instead, it’s Republicans’ moderate positions that make the state shift so far to the left.

Via: Boston.com

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Hillary's Poll Numbers Continue Slide

Hillary Clinton’s free-falling public image poll numbers have impelled the often rigid and robotic presumed Democratic nominee to adopt a more aggressive tack, according to The Washington Post. 

The former secretary of state’s new posture, according to the Post, has included "almost daily attacks on the better-known contenders among the wide Republican field," the "surprise release of her health and tax information late last month on the same day as a very public airing — in the home state of [former Florida Gov. Jeb] Bush and Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) — of her policy reversal on U.S. relations with Cuba," and "a preemptive spin campaign" ahead of the first GOP debate. 

Just before the "happy hour" debate kicked off at 5 p.m. Thursday, Clinton blasted a needling message on Twitter, one that embodied the tone of her new demeanor.

Wrote Clinton in a Twitter message typical of her recent postings:

 

Hillary ClintonVerified account‏@HillaryClinton

“Republicans are systematically...trying to stop millions of American citizens from voting. What part of democracy are they afraid of?”—HRC

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1:41 PM - 6 Aug 2015

The "elbows-out approach" by the "no-false-moves" candidate is designed to counter critics within her party that "despite posturing as a fighter, she has rarely taken the gloves off," the Post reports.

She’s also been forced to take more risks as a result of the unforeseen popularity of progressive Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders and rumblings that Vice President Joe Biden may get into the race.

A recent NBC-Wall Street Journal poll found that Clinton’s favorability rating dropped to 37 percent, from 44 percent, between June and July, according to the Post, while other surveys saw Clinton’s lead over Sanders' diminishing.

A June piece by the Post reported on the results of a Post-ABC poll that found Clinton’s favorability ratings had fallen to their lowest since April 2008, when she first ran for president.

The poll found that 52 percent of Americans said Clinton is not trustworthy, "a 22-point swing in the past year," according to the Post, which noted that Clinton support from both independents and Democrats had diminished. 

In July, The Hill reported on a Quinnipiac University survey of voters in Colorado, Iowa and Virginia. The results were staggering.

When tested against leading Republican contenders — Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker — Clinton lost every state to every opponent.

"President [Barack] Obama won all three states in both of his presidential election victories, but they went for former President George W. Bush almost as uniformly in 2004 and 2000," according to The Hill.

Clinton allies tell the Post that the "new injection of energy is partly an effort to counter negative coverage of her email foibles and her falling poll numbers" while her campaign maintains that a decline in polling numbers is expected as the race moves into full swing.

The campaign insists its recent launch of a $2 million advertising campaign in Iowa and New Hampshire — spots that cast Clinton as a "champion for working people and families" — had already been in the works and are in no way a reaction to the falling numbers.

"You’re going to get nicked up a bit" over a long campaign, chief strategist and pollster Joel Benenson said Wednesday. "This is a marathon, not a sprint."

Via: Newsmax

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