The Republicans!!!!

The stuff that comes from members of the Republican Party just is absolutely horrible.  Last week, Indiana passed a bill that allows people to refuse to serve or do business with anyone. Because the law that allows people to discriminate, Gov. Pence and the state of Indiana have seen evidence of boycotts and protest.

- Ohio's Republican Attorney General Mike DeWine has displayed his prejudice in his recent comments. RawStory has the latest from DeWine on his views on marriage equality. Mike DeWine has also been against women's reproductive freedom and access to gynecological care. DeWine, who has no uterus, wants to control those who have one!

- Gov. Kasich of Ohio needs to update his knowledge about current events.
Plunderbund:

John Kasich was in New Hampshire this weekend on his pre-presidential campaign tour and he landed himself a spot on a local political talk show where he was asked some softball questions about world events.  Kasich used the opportunity to show New Hampshire and the world just how unprepared he is for any serious discussion on foreign policy.

When asked about the threat from Russia, Kasich replied that the situation with “the Soviet Union and Putin” is “very concerning” and that we “have to convince our European friends like the Germans, the French… that we need tough sanctions.”

Yo, Kasich! The Soviet Union doesn't exist!!!!! Kasich is not ready for prime time!

Nuts!

>  Writer Charles M. Blow of the NY Times responded to some recent comments made by Republican Gov. Bobby Jindal:

...Last week on Fox News, he set about defending his statement that America “shouldn’t tolerate those who want to come and try to impose some variant, or some version, of Shariah law.” But he went so far as to say of prospective immigrants:

“In America we want people who want to be Americans. We want people who want to come here. We don’t say, ‘You have to adopt our creed, or any particular creed,’ but we do say, ‘If you come here, you need to believe in American exceptionalism.’ ”

What? Where is that written? I can’t find this “need to believe in American exceptionalism” anywhere in the Immigration and Nationality Act. Isn’t American exceptionalism itself a creed?

The smart-on-paper Jindal increasingly comes across as nuttier than a piece of praline...

Along with his continuously crazy remarks, Jindal is just not that prepared to be President. 

>>   Canadian Ted Cruz, U.S. Senator from Texas, has announced his intention to run for President. Cruz was born in Canada and many people believe that he is not eligible to be President for that reason alone. Other craziness from Cruz only adds to his lack of capacity to be the Chief Executive. (See the list put together by Raw Story.)

>>>   Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback has a plan to force women to have babies.
RawStory:

...leave it to Sam Brownback, whose completely unjustified massive ego allows him to just speak off the cuff, to go ahead and come out with it by claiming that “economic growth” is “entwined” with a forced childbirth agenda....

Brownback apparently wants to stop all reproductive freedom for women, and tie them up until they can give birth.  Brownback believes in freedom, as long as you aren't a woman!


You can add Rand Paul, Chris Christie, Paul Ryan, Iowa's Steve King, John Kasich, Rubio, Santorum, Jeb, Rick Perry, etc., etc. to the list of nutty Republicans!

The 47

By now everyone has heard of the letter written to Iran by 47 Republican U.S. Senators.  Their plan, as crafted by Sen. Tom Cotton, was to undermine the nuclear talks between the United States and Iran. Their letter is viewed by some as a violation of the Logan Act. The 47 Republican Senators include Rob Portman of Ohio.

The Washington Post has this:

Here's who signed:
Signatories:

Richard Shelby (Ala.)
Jeff Sessions (Ala.)
Dan Sullivan (Alaska)
John McCain (Ariz.)
John Boozman (Ark.)
Tom Cotton (Ark.)
Cory Gardner (Colo.)
Marco Rubio (Fla.)
Johnny Isakson (Ga.)
David Perdue (Ga.)
Mike Crapo (Idaho)
Jim Risch (Idaho)
Mark Kirk (Ill.)
Chuck Grassley (Iowa)
Joni Ernst (Iowa)
Pat Roberts (Kansas)
Jerry Moran (Kansas)
Mitch McConnell (Ky.)
Rand Paul (Ky.)
David Vitter (La.)
Bill Cassidy (La.)
Roger Wicker (Miss.)
Roy Blunt (Mo.)
Steve Daines (Mont.)
Deb Fischer (Neb.)
Ben Sasse (Neb.)
Dean Heller (Nev.)
Kelly Ayotte (N.H.)
Richard Burr (N.C.)
Thom Tillis (N.C.)
John Hoeven (N.D.)
Rob Portman (Ohio)
Jim Inhofe (Okla.)
James Lankford (Okla.)
Pat Toomey (Pa.)
Lindsey Graham (S.C.)
Tim Scott (S.C.)
John Thune (S.D.)
Mike Rounds (S.D.)
John Cornyn (Texas)
Ted Cruz (Texas)
Orin Hatch (Utah)
Mike Lee (Utah)
Shelley Moore Capito (W.V.)
Ron Johnson (Wis.)
Mike Enzi (Wyo.)
John Barrasso (Wyo.)

Did not sign:

Lisa Murkowski (Alaska)
Jeff Flake (Ariz.)
Daniel Coats (Ind.)
Susan Collins (Maine)
Thad Cochran (Miss.)
Lamar Alexander (Tenn.)
Bob Corker (Tenn.)


Those that signed the letter should be admonished for their warmongering and attempt to sabotage agreements. Shame on them all!

How much?

Holy cow! They spent how much on advertising??????

Dispatch:

Ohio’s largest online charter school spent at least $2.27 million of state education tax dollars last school year on advertising to attract students, or about $155 for each student who enrolled that year....

“It seems shockingly high, and I cannot imagine there would be any good reason to spend that kind of tax dollars” on ads, state Rep. Teresa Fedor, a Democrat from Toledo, said of ECOT’s ad budget. She is calling for an overhaul of the state’s charter-school laws.....

....The Dispatch reported last week that ECOT had an average enrollment of 14,600 students last school year, but only because it enrolled thousands of students each month to replace the thousands who left after staying for only weeks or months. ECOT churned through almost 23,000 students over the course of calendar year 2014 to arrive at an enrollment of 14,600....

OMG! How in the world can Kasich promise even more money to charters? Our tax dollars are being wasted while charters fail and their owners get richer.

Do Not Expect the Facts from Fox

The good people over at Plunderbund found some interesting information about the truthfulness of Fox News and their talking heads.

....As he (O'Reilly) continues to defend the purity of Fox News, you might be interested in the tale of the surveys. PolitiFact, the highly respected non-partisan rating system, produced these figures on the accuracy of what advances to its audience, night and day:

True, 14.11 pct.
Mostly true, 14.11 pct.
Mostly false, 26.20 pct.
False, 39.30 pct....


You can do the math  ----   28.22 % True or Mostly True

                                           65.50 %  False or Mostly False

Why is anyone watching Fox News??????

Shame!

Ohio taxpayers have been concerned that their money is being misused to prop up failing charter schools. Now, the failing charter system in Ohio has been noticed by people outside of our state.

Ohio.com:

During a day of panel discussions with education reporters and experts at the University of Colorado Boulder, national and local school choice supporters had plenty to say about Ohio.

None of it, however, was good.....

....Among the lowest performing charter school operators continually identified by Ziebarth, Petrilli and other panelists were: K12 Inc., a national company that operates Ohio Virtual Academy and Insight of Ohio; the Electronic Classroom of Tomorrow, an Ohio online charter school owned by political contributor Bill Lager; and White Hat Management, an Akron-based company founded by local industrialist David Brennan, who pioneered Ohio’s charter school movement.....

Unfortunately, Gov. Kasich and the Ohio Republicans won't stop funding these charters.  Kasich even wants to send more money to these failing schools!  Why would they refuse to stop the charter school waste?  The charter school groups are major contributors to Republican candidates.