Thom's blog
Do you want the CIA & NSA to have unlimited access to your financial records?? Well.. Obama does.
The Obama Administration wants to hand over access to your financial records to the CIA, NSA, and other law enforcement agencies. According to a new report from Reuters, a Treasury Department plan gives spy agencies full access to more raw financial data then ever before, under the guise of national security.
Compromise... with a side of stimulus.
Today Senate Democrats will introduce a plan to replace the sequester, and the propose $100 billion in stimulus spending. Senate Budget Committee Chairperson Patty Murray will present the plan, which reduces the deficit by $1.85 trillion with a balanced approach of 50-50 spending cuts and new revenues.
Why is the FDIC helping banksters avoid trial?
The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp is supposed to insure deposits and regulate banks, but the agency has helped the banksters avoid trial for their crimes since the 2008 financial meltdown. The LA Times reports that the very agency responsible for investigating and prosecuting bank procedures that crashed our economy has been quietly settling charges out of court – and out of the view of the American public.
Republicans suddenly love tax increases...
Republicans hate tax increases... unless they're part of Paul Ryan's budget plan. The adoption of $600 billion in new revenue, fought for by President Obama and opposed by Congressional Republicans, is just one of the many surprises in Paul Ryan's new GOP budget.
Paul Ryan's Medicare voucher plan is back!
You need to know this. House Republicans won't give up on their efforts to voucher-ize Medicare – and now Representative Paul Ryan wants even more people approaching retirement, to be forced into his voucher scam. In a change from Ryan's prior budgets, which set the Medicare cutoff to age 55, the GOP's newest budget proposal will only allow those 56 and older, to stay in the current Medicare system.
Our nation is in trouble when Rand Paul is the voice of reason!
After almost 13 hours of a real-live talking filibuster, at 1am Senator Rand Paul yielded the floor to Senator Dick Durbin. Senator Paul started speaking before noon on Wednesday, blocking the confirmation of John Brennan to CIA Director. The filibuster was a response to Attorney General Eric Holder's statement, that the President is authorized under the Constitution to use drones against Americans within our borders.
Sen. Richard Shelby wants Wall Street to be free!
In 2010, Congress passed the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform Act to regulate the banksters on Wall Street, who crashed our economy in 2008, and many people believe the law doesn't go far enough. But Republican lawmakers have spent the past two years working to undercut and water-down the legislation, and Senator Richard Shelby of Alabama thinks the banksters shouldn't be burdened with those pesky regulations at all.
This is what austerity looks like... and it's just the beginning.
Only 4 days after the March 1st Sequester deadline, people around our nation are already starting to feel the pinch of austerity. Customs and Border Protection reduced overtime for TSA agents over the weekend, and delays at some airports were up 200%.
Stop the economic terrorists!
President Obama is negotiating with economic terrorists. And a new Reuters report shows he's giving in to their demands by offering cuts to our social safety net. In calls with lawmakers over the weekend, Obama said he will cut programs like Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid in exchange for a so-called compromise to replace the sequester, as long as Republicans agree to more tax increases.
As America braces for austerity, Congress goes home for the weekend.
After two failed attempts to prevent the sequester on Thursday, Congress gave up efforts to stop the austerity measures, and head out of town for the weekend. Yesterday, one day before the deadline, two rival bills to prevent the $85 billion in spending cuts failed to get Senate approval.