Tag Archives: CBS News

May 16, 2013 · 5:40 AM

Four Better Ways To Spend The $55 Million Wasted On Votes To Repeal The Affordable Care Act

The irony seems to escape the GOP and their sycophants  in Congress.  They’ve implemented “sequestration” to curb superfluous spending yet waste $55 million dollars on trying to repeal the Affordable Care Act thirty-seven times…

Think Progress

For the 37th time since 2011, House Republicans will hold a vote to repeal Obamacare on Thursday, bringing the total cost of all of their failed repeal votes to roughly $55 million in taxpayer money, according to one estimate.

Last year, CBS News calculated that the number of hours spent on 33 repeal votes — then roughly 80 hours, or two full work weeks — cost taxpayers an estimated $48 million. Since then, Republicans have held three more votes (another $4.5 million) and will add another $1.5 million with their latest.

At a time when lawmakers have implemented $85 billion in across-the-board cuts on top of$1.5 trillion in spending cuts over the next decade, no dollar can be spared. And the country has serious health-related needs that could use funding. Here are some better health care uses for the more than $50 million these symbolic votes against the Affordable Care Act have wasted:

1. Restore cuts from sequestration to Title X family planning programs and Title V maternal and child health services. The National Women’s Law Center calculates that a 5 percent cut to the budgets of each program will reduce them by $15 million and $32.5 million, respectively. Rather than voting to repeal a bill that expands women’s access to preventative services, the House could use the money to expand them.

2. Double the Department of Justice’s budget for sexual assault services, which has currently been authorized a $50 million budget. The program gives money to states so that they can support rape crisis centers and other nongovernmental organizations that provide direct intervention, core services, and other assistance to the victims of sexual assault. Current funding is inadequate, as some states receive less than $300,000 and many programs lack the resources to meet victims’ needs.

3. Grant a request for $50 million to train 5,000 new mental health professionals as part of a new initiative to expand mental health treatment and prevention services. This proposal came in the wake of the Sandy Hook shooting to address gaps in the mental health system.

4. Help states implement paid leave policies. President Obama included a $50 million State Paid Leave Fund in his 2011 budget to provide start-up support for states that want to enact paid leave for workers. More than 40 percent of workers don’t have access to paid sick leave, heading to work when they or their family members experience an illness, but this funding could help give them a better option.

The current Congress is on track to be the most unproductive since the 1940s, but still has time to hold votes that won’t result in actual legislative change. There are many other priorities lawmakers could focus on instead and better ways to spend taxpayer dollars.

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May 8, 2013 · 8:15 AM

WHAT TO EXPECT FROM [TODAY'S] BENGHAZI HEARING

The Blaze

May 7, 2012

The House Oversight Committee has released excerpts of their interview with Gregory Hicks, one of the two high-profile whistleblowers who will be testifying at tomorrow’s hearing. From what we have heard thus far from Hicks, his account of the events that took place between high level security and State Department officials on September 11, 2012 as a U.S. consulate in Libya was under siege differ drastically from what we have been told by the Obama administration.

CBS News reports:

According to excerpts released Monday, Hicks told investigators that SOCAFRICA commander Lt. Col. Gibson and his team were on their way to board a C-130 from Tripoli for Benghazi prior to an attack on a second U.S. compound “when [Col. Gibson] got a phone call from SOCAFRICA which said, ‘you can’t go now, you don’t have the authority to go now.’ And so they missed the flight … They were told not to board the flight, so they missed it.”

No assistance arrived from the U.S. military outside of Libya during the hours that Americans were under attack or trapped inside compounds by hostile forces armed with rocket-propelled grenades, mortars and AK-47 rifles.

Hicks told congressional investigators that if the U.S. had quickly sent a military aircraft over Benghazi, it might have saved American lives. The U.S. Souda Bay Naval Base is an hour’s flight from Libya.

“I believe if we had been able to scramble a fighter or aircraft or two over Benghazi as quickly as possible after the attack commenced, I believe there would not have been a mortar attack on the annex in the morning because I believe the Libyans would have split. They would have been scared to death that we would have gotten a laser on them and killed them,” Hicks testified. Two Americans died in the morning mortar attack.

During an interview with CBS , Hicks says that everyone knew Benghazi was a terrorist attack “from the get-go.”

As Washington braces for the hearing Wednesday, the Benghazi attack, response and investigation is once again turning into a major scandal that conservatives lament Obama dodged in the fall shortly after the attack and amidst the presidential campaign. Jim Geraghty notes though in his column on the conservative National Review Online that Republicans should go into the hearings dedicated strictly to unearthing facts, rather than showboating.

Dear Republicans on the House Oversight Committee:

Please do not grandstand. Please do not take the time before the television cameras to tell us how outraged you are, even though what you are investigating is, indeed, outrageous. There will be plenty of time for that after the hearing. All day Wednesday, give us the facts, and then more facts, and then more facts….

On ‘Real News‘ Tuesday the panel previewed what to look for from tomorrow’s hearing, namely, if we get answers to two questions: Were military forces told to stand down? And, did the administration lie to the American people afterward about the events that took the lives of four Americans?

Watch clip here.

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February 8, 2013 · 9:22 AM

Fox News’ Credibility At ‘Record Low’: PPP Poll

The Huffington Post

Fox News’ credibility has fallen 9 percent since three years ago, according to new Public Policy Polling (PPP) results released on Wednesday.

The annual poll asks participants to rate their trust in multiple networks including Fox News, MSNBC, CNN, PBS, Comedy Central, ABC News, CBS News and NBC News. According to PPP’s press release:

Just like its actual ratings, Fox News has hit a record low in the four years that we’ve been doing this poll. 41% of voters trust it to 46% who do not. To put those numbers into some perspective the first time we did this poll, in 2010, 49% of voters trusted it to 37% who did not.

Just like last year, researchers also found that Fox News is both the least trusted and most trusted network when compared to the other networks in the survey. Thirty-four percent said they trust Fox News the most, while 39 percent said they trust it the least.

Other news outlets are not entirely better off. Thirty-five percent of respondents said they trust MSNBC, while 44 percent said they do not. When it comes to CNN, 38 percent of voters said they trust the network, but 43 percent said they trust the cable network the least.

PBS is the only outlet that respondents trust more than distrust, with 52 percent of voters saying they trust the network, and 29 percent saying they do not.

Click over to PPP for the full report.

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December 15, 2012 · 12:44 PM

Hillary Clinton Faints, Now Recovering After Concussion

Hillary Clinton Faints

I wish Secretary of State Clinton a speedy recovery…

The Huffington Post

Hillary Clinton fainted and had a concussion, the AP reports.

The State Department said an ill Clinton is now recovering at home after the incident, according to the AP.

CBS News’ Margaret Brennen reports Clinton was dehydrated from a stomach bug.

This is a developing story.. Check back for more..

UPDATE: Due to her concussion, Clinton will no longer testify before Congress about the investigation into the deaths of four Americans in the Sept. 11 Benghazi attack. The Hill reports:

Clinton will not testify as scheduled before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said Jodi Seth, a spokeswoman for Chairman John Kerry (D-Mass.).The State Department told Kerry of Clinton’s concussion on Saturday morning, and, when he heard, Kerry insisted that she not attend the hearing.

“Senator Kerry was relieved to hear that the secretary is on the mend, but he insisted that given her condition, she could not and should not appear on Thursday as previously planned, and that the nation’s best interests are served by the report and hearings proceeding as scheduled with senior officials appearing in her place,” Seth said.

Clinton deputies Tom Nides and Bill Burns will testify in her place, Seth said.

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December 14, 2012 · 1:24 PM

Elementary School Shooting In Connecticut

As a grandmother of elementary school age children, this totally breaks my heart.  

I won’t use the pictures of surviving children being led from the school in question, but I will illustrate my opinion about assault weapons.

Think Progress

Multiple people — including children — werekilled on Friday morning when at least one gunman opened fire in an Sandy Hook elementary school in Newtown, CT. The school’s principal was apparently the target of the attack, according to MSNBC.

Children were reportedly told to run out of the building with their eyes closed after the incident occurred Friday. TIME reports that one teacher was shot in the foot. The extent of other injuries is not yet known, but MSNBC reports that the apparent gunman has been killed. Reports from the Hartford Courant suggest that the shooting took place inside of a kindergarten classroom.

One gunman has been identified by CBS news as the father of a student. A second gunman is apparently still at large, according to a local ABC affiliate.

According to Hartford Courant reporter Dave Altimari, the gunman was “heavily armed” with “multiple weapons when he entered the school.” He was also reported to be wearing camouflage. Two handguns were recovered from the scene.

The Sandy Hook school serves children in grades kindergarten through 4th. The entire school system in the area is now reportedly on lock down.

UPDATE

ABC News points out this chilling statistic: There have been an estimated 31 school shootings since the shooting at Columbine in 1999.

UPDATE

CBS News now is reporting 27 people are dead, including 18 children. Up to 20 children may have been shot. The AP adds that one whole classroom of students is unaccounted for.

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September 13, 2012 · 3:44 PM

Romney heckled in Virginia for ‘politicizing’ U.S. ambassador’s death

Mitt Romney speaks in Virginia

So, what happened to the American value called free speech in this instance Mr. Romney?

The Raw Story

Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney on Thursday was confronted by an angry heckler who accused him of “politicizing” the death of the top U.S. diplomat in Libya to gain an advantage over President Barack Obama.

On Tuesday, U.S. ambassador to Libya Chris Stevens and at least three members of his staff had been killed during protests over a film that mocked that the Prophet Muhammad and was promoted by Terry Jones, a U.S. pastor who had previously sparked deadly riots threatening to burn Qurans.

Romney on Wednesday had used the death of Stevens to score political points by accusing Obama of “sympathizing” with the enemy after the U.S. embassy in Libya released a statement condemning the anti-Muslim film.

 

“It’s disgraceful that the Obama administration’s first response was not to condemn attacks on our diplomatic missions, but to sympathize with those who waged the attacks,” Romney said.

That initial statement from the former Massachusetts governor and his press conference later in the day were both panned as “irresponsible” and “craven.”

Although Romney toned down his criticism of the president the next day at a campaign stop in Fairfax, Virginia, one heckler refused to forgive the candidate.

“Why are you politicizing Libya?” the man screamed. “Why are you politicizing Libya?”

At that point, Romney supporters in the crowd began to chant “U-S-A!” and “Mitt! Mitt!”

The Associated Press reported that supporters also attempted to cover the man’s face with a Romney-Ryan campaign sign, but he ripped it up and left the event.

In an interview with CBS News on Wednesday, Obama explained that Romney “seems to have a tendency to shoot first and aim later.”

“And as president, one of the things I’ve learned is you can’t do that. That, you know, it’s important for you to make sure that the statements that you make are backed up by the facts. And that you’ve thought through the ramifications before you make ‘em.”

Watch this video from ABC News, broadcast Sept. 13, 2012.

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July 5, 2012 · 9:18 AM

Romney Directly Contradicts His Campaign, Now Insists Health Mandate Is ‘A Tax’

Romney is more confused than I originally thought…

Think Progress

Earlier this week, Mitt Romney’s top campaign adviser broke with the entire Republican party and insisted that the individual mandate at the center of the Affordable Care Act and Massachusetts’ 2006 health care law is “not a tax.” “The governor disagreed with the ruling of the Court. He agreed with the dissent, which was written by Justice Scalia, which very clearly stated that the mandate was not a tax,” Eric Fehrnstrom told MSNBC’s Chuck Todd.

But on Wednesday, in another sign that the Romney campaign doesn’t appear to speak for its candidate, Romney told CBS News that he agrees both with the Supreme Court’s dissent striking down the law and also its majority opinion upholding the mandate as a tax:

Q: Do you now believe that it is a tax at the federal level, that the Supreme Court has said it’s a tax, so it is a tax?

ROMNEY: Well, I said that I agreed with the dissent. And the dissent made it very clear that they felt it was unconstitutional. But the dissent lost — it’s in the minority. And so now the Supreme Court has spoken. And while I agreed with the dissent, that’s taken over by the fact that the majority of the Court said it is a tax, and therefore it is a tax. They have spoken. There is no way around that.

Watch:

Republicans have seized on the Supreme Court’s decision to claim that the mandate is a “massive tax hike” on the middle class, labeling it the “largest tax increase in history.” But Romney — who instituted a similar requirement in Massachusetts — insisted as governor that the penalty is a way to discourage free-riders, though he has previously referred to the penalty as a “tax” penalty.

Earlier this week, Romney campaign spokeswoman Andrea Saul claimed “Governor Romneythinks it is an unconstitutional penalty.” Today, it’s clear that Romney disagrees.

UPDATE

Romney shook hands as he marched in the Wolfeboro, N.H. Fourth of July parade and again agreed that the mandate is a tax:

UPDATE

Romney also tried to argue that while Obama’s mandate is a “tax” his own virtually identical provision is a penalty. “Actually the chief justice in his opinion made it very clear that at the state level, states have the power to put in place mandates,” Romney replied. “They don’t need to require them to be called taxes in order for them to be constitutional. And as a result, Massachusetts’ mandate was a mandate, was a penalty, was described that way by the legislature and by me, and so it stays as it was.” He has, however, previously described the Massachusetts mandate as a tax.

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March 26, 2012 · 1:52 PM

Santorum calls reporter’s question ‘bulls–t’

Rick Santorum talks with a NYT reporter. Screenshot via CBS.

What?  The “holier-than-thou” Rick Santorum becomes unhinged?

The Raw Story

An angry Rick Santorum lashed out at New York Times reporter Jeff Zelany after a campaign rally in Wisconsin Sunday evening, calling the paper’s story on him “bullshit.”

The former Pennsylvania senator’s temper was fueled when Zelany asked him for clarification about a line attacking Mitt Romney in his speech.

“You said Mitt Romney was the worst Republican in the country, is that true?” Zelany said.

“What speech did you listen too?” Santorum replied. “Stop lying! I said he is the worst Republican to run on the issue of Obamacare. And that’s what I’m talking about. I said uniquely for every speech I give, I’ve said he’s uniquely disqualified to run against Barack Obama on the issue of healthcare. Would you guys quit distorting what I said?”

Santorum added: “Quit distorting my words. If I see it, it’s bullshit! Come on man, what are you doing?!”

The Louisiana Primary winner later released an email to his supporters, telling them “he was aggressively attacked by a New York Times reporter” but that he “didn’t back down” nor “let him bully me.”

Santorum continued to praise his actions in an interview on Fox News Monday morning.

“If you haven’t cursed out a New York Times reporter during the course of a campaign, you’re not really a real Republican is the way I look at it,” he said.

WATCH: Video from CBS News, from March 25, 2012.

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January 25, 2012 · 4:13 PM

SOTU

The POTUS came away from The State of The Union speech with some amazing stats.

Now we know why the Republicans in Congress look so uh…ill…during last night’s State of the Union speech.

Mario Piperni

There’s a lot out there on the President’s SOTU, so I’ll keep my thoughts short and sweet.

  • The speech did what it had to do which was target liberals and independents and set in motion the 2012 election campaign.
  • It took on the right’s case against him (weak, job-killing socialist) and threw it back in their face as the job-creating, bin Laden-killing, commander-in-chief willing to tackle the big problems facing the country.
  • Made the case that the economy IS improving. Slow as the recovery might be, the numbers point to an economy which is in a better place than it was in 2009.
  • Painted the opposition as the obstructionist, power hungry entity it is.
  • And all this while coming off as the adult in the room.  What more do you want?

Whatever criticism liberals might have of this President, he did not disappoint last night and gave every indication that he’s more than ready to face Mitt or Newt.

UPDATE

Draw your own conclusions from this.

An overwhelming majority of Americans approved of the overall message in President Obama’s State of the Union speech on Tuesday night, according to a CBS News poll of speech watchers.

According to the poll, which was conducted online by Knowledge Networks immediately after the president’s address, 91 percent of those who watched the speech approved of the proposals Mr. Obama put forth during his remarks. Only nine percent disapproved.

Last year, 83 percent of viewers approved of Mr. Obama’s State of the Union remarks.

This year, 82 percent of those who watched the speech said they approve of the president’s plans for the economy, up from 53 percent who approved before the speech. Eighty percent said they approved of Mr. Obama’s plans for the deficit — in contrast to 45 percent before the speech. Eighty-three percent approved of Mr. Obama’s proposals regarding Afghanistan, which received only a 57 percent approval rating beforehand.

The sight of Democrats and Republicans sitting side by side gave speech watchers more confidence about the possibility of bipartisan cooperation: 62 percent said they expect more bipartisanship now than in years past.

Encouraging but the 62 percent who are expecting Republicans to play nice and compromise on some issues, sorry but it won’t happen. If you can be sure of anything in this election year, it’s that Republicans are going to obstruct any and all measures to create jobs and improve the economy.  Their only hope for victory in November, regardless of whom they choose as nominee, is that the economy deteriorates and unemployment climbs back up over 9 percent.

Bipartisanship?  Not from this crew of cutthroat, lying Republicans who refuse to place country before party.

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January 2, 2012 · 2:57 PM

Santorum tells Iowans: ‘I don’t want to make black people’s lives better’ | The Raw Story

One might ask: “WTF”?  However, if you stop to think that Iowa is 91% white and that Santorum is targeting the Evangelicals and anyone else he can get to vote for him, his statement is not that shocking inside Iowa.

Santorum is obviously guilty of taking a page from Newt Gingrich’s talking points.

The Raw Story

Speaking to Republicans in Iowa on Monday, former Sen. Rick Santorum (R-PA) said his administration would reform welfare to the point that it would offer no welfare at all.

After suggesting that an expansion of Medicare is really just a plot to make voters more “dependent” on Washington, Santorum added: ”I don’t want to make black people’s lives better by giving them other people’s money.”

“I want to give them the opportunity to go out and earn their money and provide for themselves and their families,” he added. “The best way to do that is to get the manufacturing sector of the economy rolling.”

One thing he likely overlooked: white Americans account for the largest percentage of welfare payments each month, mostly because they make up the largest sector of the population.

Welfare is defined by the government as benefits funded by tax dollars, meaning that programs like Social Security, food stamps, veterans benefits, Medicare, Medicaid, unemployment and corporate bailouts all fall under that term.

What Santorum seemed to focus on, as many conservatives do, is that black people are disproportionately represented in welfare statistics, along with Latinos, as both populations have much higher rates of poverty than whites.

According to the University of Michigan’s National Poverty Center, 27.4 percent of blacks and 26.6 percent of Hispanics were living in poverty in 2010, compared to 9.9 percent of whites. Unemployment statistics between the racial demographics are similarly skewed.

Despite the factually flawed nature of Santorum’s pitch on Monday, the underlying logic of his pitch is abundantly clear: census data shows that over 91 percent of Iowans are white, a community Santorum must desperately appeal to if he wants a win in Tuesday’s caucuses.

This video is from  CBS News, broadcast Monday, January 2, 2012.

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