Disturbed Man Tries to Get Into White House

Senator Ted Cruz. (photo: Texas Observer)

By Andy Borowitz, The New Yorker

23 March 15
readersupportednews.org

 
disturbed Canadian man wants to try to get into the White House, according to reports.

The man, who was born in Calgary before drifting to Texas, has been spotted in Washington, D.C. in recent years exhibiting erratic behavior, sources said.

In 2013, he gained entry to the United States Senate and was heard quoting incoherently from a children’s book before he was finally subdued.

More recently, he was heard ranting about a plan to dismantle large components of the federal government, such as the Internal Revenue Service and the nation’s health-care program.

Despite a record of such bizarre episodes and unhinged utterances, observers expressed little concern about his plans to get into the White House, calling them “delusional.”

Is AZ next to legalize recreational pot?

Carlos Alfaro, Arizona political co-director for the Marijuana Policy Project, said a broad coalition is pushing to put recreational use of marijuana on the Arizona ballot in 2016. (Cronkite News Photo by Kelcie Grega)

Advocates see Arizona moving closer

By KELCIE GREGA Cronkite News 

PHOENIX – Democratic bills to legalize the recreational use of marijuana have gone nowhere at the Arizona State Legislature, but advocates say their main strategy has always involved the ballot box.

The Marijuana Policy Project, the Washington, D.C.-based group behind the effort that legalized medical marijuana in Arizona, plans to begin collecting signatures in late April to get the issue before voters in 2016.

While an effort to make the 2014 ballot foundered, Carlos Alfaro, Arizona political co-director for the Marijuana Policy Project, said there is a larger coalition for legalization this time around, in part because Washington and Colorado have done so.  (Washington D.C. and Alaska also recently legalized recreational use.)

“Law enforcement, parents, students at Arizona State and beyond – all the other universities in the state are going to be crucial to this,” he said.

Rep. Mark Cardenas, D-Phoenix, authored bills to decriminalize marijuana possession and to legalize and tax recreational marijuana for adults age 21 and older. Both failed to even see a committee.

With conservatives in control of the Legislature, Alfaro said legalization would have to be done through voters.

“Most people don’t have the time to go through the politics of the Legislature, contact the Legislature and actually get something done,” he said. “It’s going to have to be through the building of coalitions and the ballot initiative we’re building for 2016.”

In 2010, when voters passed Proposition 203 to legalize marijuana use for medical reasons, Alfaro’s group led the campaign.

He said public opinion is heading in the right direction this time around.

A poll by the Morrison Institute for Public Policy at Arizona State University suggested that 45 percent of Arizonans support making recreational marijuana legal for those 18 and older.  (In the poll, 42 percent preferred only medical marijuana, while the remaining 13 percent opted for making all marijuana use illegal.)

“It doesn’t surprise me,” said David Daugherty, associate director of the Morrison Institute. “There has been over the years more and more acceptance of marijuana, and I suspect more and more states will legalize it for recreational use.”

Mason Tvert, communications director for the Marijuana Policy Project, said it’s common-sense to legalize marijuana.

“It’s unconscionable to saddle someone with a crime for something less harmful than alcohol,” he said. “You would never arrest an adult for drinking, so it shouldn’t be a crime to use a safer substance like marijuana.”

On March 17, the marijuana advocacy group Safer Arizona sponsored a march through downtown Phoenix promoting legalization.

“The plant itself is an incredible medicine that has been used for tens of thousands of years,” said Mikel Weisser, the group’s treasurer. “Yet in the last 80 years our country has led the world in destroying the lives of people who would otherwise be taking care of their health.”

What you need to know about Ted Cruz

While Ted Cruz announced it on Twitter, he will make a formal announcement about his presidential bid expected today at Liberty University, a Lynchburg, Virginia-based Evangelical University. But here are some things you need to know about Cruz.

First of many GOP nut jobs declares for presidency

Published: March 23, 2015 | Authors: Josh Israel | ThinkProgress | News Analysis 

nationofchange.org 

The Houston Chronicle reported Sunday that first-term Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) will announce a presidential bid on Monday. He is expected to do so in a speech at Liberty University, a Lynchburg, Virginia-based Evangelical University founded by the late televangelist Jerry Falwell and known for its far-right social policies.
  

Cruz has been an outspoken critic of those in the GOP who he says want to “abandon” the “Judeo-Christian values” on which the country was founded. At Liberty, those values include prohibitions on out-of-wedlock sex and entertainment that might “incite behaviors that are contrary to the Bible and/or the Liberty Way” such as “promiscuity” or “gratuitous crass language/behavior.” 

Like Falwell’s campus, Cruz has espoused some rather controversial views. Among them: 

1. Denies that humans are contributing to climate change because it snowed in New Hampshire.

Cruz has repeatedly rejected overwhelming scientific consensus on climate change, making the debunked claims that recent weather and non-oceanic temperatures create great doubt. Moreover, by pushing the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline, a ban on fracking regulation, the repeal of EPA regulations that he says “kill jobs,” increased drilling, and greater fossil fuel exports, his energy agenda would increase CO2 emissions and hasten climate change. 

2. Calls same-sex marriage “tragic and indefensible.”
Nearly a decade since Congress rejected a federal constitutional amendment to prohibit same-sex marriages, public sentiment has hugely shifted to the point that 60 percent of Americans indicated support for marriage equality in a recent poll. But Cruz continues to fight against equal protection for same-sex couples, pushing for legislation and a federal constitutional amendment to allow states to deny them the freedom to marry. He denounced 2014 court rulings overturning state same-sex marriage bans as “judicial activism at its worst,” calling them “tragic and indefensible.” “Traditional marriage is an institution whose integrity and vitality are critical to the health of any society. We should remain faithful to our moral heritage and never hesitate to defend it,” he said. 

3. Refers to emergency contraception as “abortifacients.”
Cruz is a strong opponent of abortion rights, but also has opposed access to contraception. He backed the Blunt Amendment to decimate the Affordable Care Act’s guarantee of contraception coverage and denounced emergency contraception as “abortifacients,” incorrectly suggesting that Plan B causes abortions. 

4. Believes Social Security is a “Ponzi scheme.”
Cruz, in a 2011 interview with the Texas Tribune, agreed that Social Security was indeed a “Ponzi scheme.” While he called it a “vital bulwark of our society,” he also proposed a three-part plan to raise the Social Security retirement age, cut future benefits, and privatize much of the program. A similar privatization proposal by President George W. Bush died at the hands of a solidly-Republican Congress in 2005. 

5. Worried about Sharia Law being imposed on America.
Although the U.S. constitution expressly prohibits the establishment of a national religion, Cruz has expressed concern that a religious group that makes up only about 1 percent of the nation’s population might do just that. At a 2012 candidate forum, Cruz warned “Sharia law is an enormous problem” in the United States.
6. Fears a United Nations plot to ban golf courses. 

In a 2012 article on his Senate campaign site, Cruz sounded the alarm that “Agenda 21 is wrong, and it must be stopped.” Cruz wanted that George Soros and others backed a 1992 United Nations agenda to “abolish ‘unsustainable’ environments, including golf courses, grazing pastures, and paved roads.” The non-binding resolution, signed by 178 nations including the United States (under then-President George H. W.Bush), was nothing more than a general statement about reducing policy and building sustainable environments — and has, more than two decades later, not been used to eliminate golf courses.

Authors

Josh Israel

Bio: Josh Israel is a senior investigative reporter for ThinkProgress.org at the Center for American Progress Action Fund. Previously, he was a reporter and oversaw money-in-politics reporting at the Center for Public Integrity, was chief researcher for Nick Kotz’s acclaimed 2005 book Judgment Days: Lyndon Baines Johnson, Martin Luther King Jr., and the Laws that Changed America, and was president of the Virginia Partisans Gay & Lesbian Democratic Club. A New England-native, Josh received a B.A. in politics from Brandeis University and graduated from the Sorensen Institute for Political Leadership at the University of Virginia, in 2004. He has appeared on CNBC, Bloomberg, Fox News, Current TV, and many radio shows across the country.

GOP sinking hopes of entire generation

Senator Elizabeth Warren thinks student loan debt is hurting an entire generation of Americans. (photo AP)

By Elizabeth Warren, Reader Supported News

22 March 15

readersupportednews.org

ast year, I introduced a bill that would allow people getting crushed with student loan debt to refinance their loans down to today’s lower interest rates.

More than 700,000 people signed petitions in support of the plan. Every Democrat, every Independent, and three Republicans voted to move the bill forward. But the rest of the Republicans filibustered the bill, so it didn’t pass.

Since last year, nearly a million more borrowers have fallen behind on their payments. Altogether, students are now struggling with $100 billion MORE debt than they were a year ago.

Student loan debt was an economic emergency last year – and now that emergency is getting worse. That’s why I’m reintroducing the Bank on Students Emergency Loan Refinancing Act. Join me in telling the Senate Republicans: Student loan refinancing can’t wait another year.

Our proposal is simple: Refinance outstanding student loans down to 3.9% for undergraduates, and a little higher for graduates and PLUS loans. This single change would give borrowers across the country a chance to save hundreds – and for some, thousands – of dollars a year.

That’s real money that these borrowers could put toward paying down the balance on their debt, saving for a home, buying a car, starting a small business – money they can put toward building a solid future.

We should have done this a year ago, but Republicans said no. They refused to even debate the bill. They said there were other, better ways to tackle student debt – but then the Republicans did nothing – nothing except filibuster the only student loans bill on the table.

I don’t kid myself: Refinancing loans won’t fix everything that’s wrong in our higher education system. We need to cut the price of college, to reinvest in public universities, to shore up federal financial aid, to crack down on for-profit colleges, and to provide better protections on student loans.

But let’s start with the $1.3 trillion in outstanding student loan debt. Let’s start by cutting back on the interest payments that are sinking young people and holding back this economy. Tell the GOP: Let’s start with Bank on Students.

The Republicans can’t just close their eyes and pretend this isn’t happening. By refusing to act, they are sinking the hopes of an entire generation.

It’s time for Congress to step up and fix this problem, before it drags down another million Americans, and another, and another. It’s time to refinance student loan debt.

Comments

20 Reasons We Must Support the Dem Nominee

Hillary Clinton and Elizabeth Warren (photo: Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty)

By Scott Galindez, Reader Supported News

19 March 15

 

would love to see Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders, or another progressive win the Democratic Party nomination and then the White House. I will not be caucusing for Hillary Clinton here in Iowa. I am, however, resigned to the position that if she wins the nomination, I will vote for her in November of 2016. I will vote for whoever wins the Democratic Party nomination.

Out here in Iowa I have a close-up look at the Republican field running for president. They are a frightening bunch, and I’m terrified of what they might be able to do in concert with a Republican Congress. Then add another seat or two on the Supreme Court and we are finished. If you don’t want to have to vote for Hillary, you’d better get out there and help another candidate win the nomination. Any thought that a third party candidate has a prayer in the current system is delusional. The last time I voted for the Green Party, I was in California and Al Gore had the state wrapped up. If I had been living in Iowa I would have voted for Al Gore.

One thing that many people do is watch from the sidelines and then complain when the nominee is not acceptable to them. Hillary’s fundraising advantage will be hard to overcome. A grassroots campaign is needed or we will have to settle. Just take a look at the alternatives.

1. Scott Walker - Look what he did in Wisconsin. A Walker presidency would be a disaster for working people. Collective bargaining would be on the chopping block. There wouldn’t be a social program safe from him and the Koch brothers. There are a bunch of really bad options here, and Walker is probably the worst. The scariest thing is he is a frontrunner. Unlike most extreme right-wingers, he will have the money to go all the way.


2. Jeb Bush - 12 years in the Bushes was enough. He is already sounding some populist themes. He wants us to believe that he will save the middle class. He will do what his father and brother didn’t do and grow the economy so America can work for the middle class again. Of course his answer to our problems is entitlement reform. The phony empathy is new; the prescription is the same old same old.


3. Rand Paul - Some of his libertarian views are appealing. Forget entitlement reform with him – for the libertarians it’s entitlement dismantling. His support of “getting government out of our lives” includes getting government out of the lives of people who need its help. For example, Paul called Social Security a Ponzi scheme.


4. Chris Christie - Another one who has found empathy for the middle class all of a sudden. He is going to simplify the tax code and tackle entitlements. We have heard that before. With Jeb in the race I don’t see Christie raising the money to compete, but if he does the middle class will have anything but a champion in him.


5. Rick Santorum - Had his chance four years ago. All he had to do was beat Romney after winning Iowa. It’s clear he is running for a cabinet position, one that he likely won’t get. The Kochs would pick Walker’s cabinet and Santorum won’t be on the short lists. If he wins the nomination, God help us. Wait, Santorum is on God’s team!


6. Ted Cruz - Now this would be scary. Could you imagine — no, don’t do that, you will have nightmares. If Ted Cruz became president we would have the looniest leader in the world;yes, even loonier than North Korea’s leader. His obsession with doing away with Obamacare borders on psychotic.


7. Rick Perry - Here is another one who doesn’t know when to give up. Message to Rick Perry: if you couldn’t beat the cast of characters that ran four years ago, what makes you think you can beat this field? While it’s full of nuts, it is a stronger field with Walker, Christie, and Bush 3.


8. Ben Carson - Here’s the one Republicans love to support publicly to show how much they have evolved, but when it comes time to pull the lever in the voting both, can they really do it? He is trendy, but I don’t think the GOP is ready to nominate a black man. When he speaks, he reminds me of a motivational speaker, or one of those guys on an infomercial selling snakeoil.


9. Marco Rubio - Vice President? He is not running as hard as the rest. I think he wants a spot on the ticket. He brings to the ticket the ability to deliver Florida and shrink the map for the Democrats. I think Jeb jumping in shrunk the map for Rubio, and he knows it. Maybe he can pass Jeb a glass of water.


10. Mike Huckabee - The true nationalist in the field. When he was giving his nuanced answer on free trade, I realized that it was an answer Pat Buchanan would have given. Then he called himself a nationalist and bashed the globalists. Be very afraid. He always talks with a smile and cracks a lot of jokes, but his message is not funny.


11. George Pataki - He really wants a job. He hung out longer than anyone at the Iowa Ag Summit even though he failed to support the most important issue to Iowa’s corporate farmers. Renewable Fuel Standards will help get ethanol to the pump. Pataki had the guts to oppose them and hang around and talk to the press and the crowd after the event was over. I think he would be in a GOP cabinet.


12. Carly Fiorina - I am missing something here. After the Freedom Summit many pundits on the right said they were impressed with Fiorina. I just don’t get it. She speaks in one tone, boring. She trails Scott Walker in the Field Poll in California, her home state. Every time Fox News needs a response to Hillary saying it’s time to elect a woman president, they march out Carly. She has not shown any life in the polls, and I personally don’t see her poll numbers coming to life anytime soon.


13. Lyndsey Graham - Late-comer to the race. He is hiring staff, so he is serious about a run. The New York Times did a feature article that called him the “maverick” of 2016. To get the GOP nomination, he would need to get all the moderate Republicans behind him, a tall order with Jeb in the race. The Tea Party hates him, and anti-immigration activists don’t likehim. I think he is at least 10 years too late for a run for the White House.


14. Donald Trump - In a sign that he really is running this time, he did not renew his contract with NBC for his TV series. His main theme will be that he knows how to build and he will rebuild America. He will get some policy into his speeches around his love fest of himself. We will probably learn how old he was when he first used the toilet by himself. He loves to talk about one thing … himself.


15. Jim Gilmore - Former RNC chairman, and former governor of Virginia. It’s okay if you don’t know who he is, most Republicans don’t either. He is not likely to even break 1% in any primary if he runs.


16. Bobby Jindal - When will this guy go away? For some reason, the press likes to build him up as a contender, but he never gains any traction in the polls. What has he ever done to get so much attention?


17. John Kasich - He is still listed as a prospective candidate in some places, but I don’t think he is crazy enough to join this field. Remember he had the audacity to work with President Clinton and help pass four consecutive balanced budgets. His presidential run in 2000 was a disaster. I’m not seeing many signs that he is is getting in this time.


18. Marsha Blackburn - Talk about crazy, now we get to the real crazies! Yup, even crazier than The Donald. Blackburn, who opposed the Violence Against Women Act because it would protect lesbians and illegal immigrants, insists on being called Congressman, and doesn’t believe women want equal pay. She still believes Obama was not born in the United Statesand that Obamacare has death panels.


19. John Bolton - Ready for World War III? The ultimate neo-con spoke at Steve King's Freedom Summit. John Bolton was ambassador to the UN, even though he didn’t believe in diplomacy with anyone but Israel. The military would be called on often if Bolton werepresident.


20. Sarah Palin - Need I say more?

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Scott Galindez attended Syracuse University, where he first became politically active. The writings of El Salvador's slain archbishop Oscar Romero and the on-campus South Africa divestment movement converted him from a Reagan supporter to an activist for Peace and Justice. Over the years he has been influenced by the likes of Philip Berrigan, William Thomas, Mitch Snyder, Don White, Lisa Fithian, and Paul Wellstone. Scott met Marc Ash while organizing counterinaugural events after George W. Bush's first stolen election. Scott will be spending a year covering the presidential election from Iowa.

AZ Students decry state cuts for community colleges

Students demonstrate against cuts to education funding on March 5, 2015, outside the State Capitol. (Cronkite News Photo by Samantha Incorvaia)By SAMANTHA INCORVAIA Cronkite News
PHOENIX – When Arizona State University cost too much for Xochitl Rayas, she said Phoenix College was an ideal alternative.

With the fiscal 2016 state budget cutting all funding for Maricopa Community Colleges, however, Rayas said she’s worried about what will happen to the quality of her education. Chief among her fears: the possibility of staff cuts.

“I’m scared that there’s going to be people without jobs, teachers I won’t see or staff members that will be gone forever,” she said.

A 19-year-old sophomore, Rayas joined other students recently at a protest against funding cuts – from $15.6 million to nothing in fiscal 2016 – for community colleges in Maricopa and Pima counties.

Cuts of $99 million to public universities have received most of the headlines since Ducey signed the $9.1 billion budget into law last week. But community college officials say their hit is also concerning because they already run lean.

Rufus Glasper, chancellor of the 10 Maricopa Community Colleges, issued a statement March 11 saying the budget effectively ends state funding for a system that contributes billions to the economy each year.

“This withdrawal in state investment in community college education to Maricopa forces very difficult conversations about our ability to serve the growing education needs of our community and to contribute to the economic development goals of our state,” he wrote. “The fact is that without adequate funding from the state, tuition and property taxes, we will face decisions about how many students we can educate and prepare to fill quality jobs.”

He pointed to an Examination Management Services Inc. report released the same day as Ducey’s budget proposal that found Maricopa Community Colleges alumni, employees and students contribute $7.3 billion annually to the county.

According to the Maricopa Community Colleges website, more than 265,000 students each year take credit and non-credit courses and the system employs nearly 10,000 people, about 5,200 of them adjunct faculty. The general fund budget for this school year stands at $774 million.

Andrew Tucker, communications manager for Maricopa Community Colleges, noted that state aid to the system had already dropped from $57 million in fiscal 2007 to $8.8 million during the fiscal year ending June 30.

“I think while we’re not happy to see the direction this is going in, we recognize that the budget has to be balanced,” he said.

Tucker said the district has been looking over the last for years for new revenue streams to supplement tuition, property tax revenue and state aid. That includes establishing a corporate college that addresses the training needs of area businesses.

Facing the loss of $6.8 million in state funding, the Pima Community College Board of Governors approved a proposal last week to raise in-state tuition by $5 per credit hour to $75.50 for the upcoming school year.

Ducey’s plan would have also cut from Pinal County’s community colleges. But lawmakers opted to restore $2 million to the system’s state funding.

Daniel Scarpinato, the governor’s deputy chief of staff for communications, said community colleges should encourage students to not worry about their education changing.

He said that the cuts to Maricopa and Pima were made because the governor’s priority was shielding community colleges in more rural areas.

“We’re protecting rural community colleges from reduction,” he said. “The threats are small.”

Scarpinato also pointed to the projected $1.5 billion deficit facing state leaders and said the new budget is fiscally responsible.

“He ran on a clear mission to balance the budget,” he said. “He’s fulfilling his promise.”

  BY SYSTEM  

Maricopa Community Colleges:
• Current state funding: $8.8 million
• Current general fund budget: $774 million

Pima Community College:
• Current state funding: $6.8 million
• Current general fund budget: $170 million

Delays on AZ260 in both directions

Bridge work resumes on SR 260 east of Payson next week

Westbound traffic will be shifted to eastbound lanes 
                                                                                       

After upgrading five eastbound bridge approaches on State Route 260 last fall, the Arizona Department of Transportation is returning this month to replace and repave the approaches to three westbound bridges between mileposts 272-277, approximately 20 miles east of Payson.

Motorists traveling along SR 260 should allow extra travel time and be aware that westbound traffic will be shifted to the eastbound lanes, which will become a two-way roadway through the five-mile work zone, beginning on Tuesday, March 24. A 10-foot width restriction will be in place throughout construction and drivers should be aware of heavy traffic during peak  travel times.

The $2.9 million improvement project, which is expected to be completed in August, includes the removal of the existing bridge approaches and departure slabs, repaving the roadway at the bridge approaches, guardrail reconstruction and the replacement of existing pavement markings.

For more information about this project, please call Tricia Lewis at 928-606-2420 or email tlewis@azdot.gov.

Utility work scheduled on SR 260 east of Camp Verde tomorrow

Drivers can expect minimal delays tomorrow between 7 a.m. and 4 p.m.                                                                   

Utility work is scheduled tomorrow on State Route 260 approximately five miles east of Camp Verde (milepost 225) between 7 a.m. and 4 p.m. 

SR 260 will be restricted to one lane during work hours and drivers will be guided through the work zone with flaggers. Minimal delays expected.

The work zone will be clearly marked by temporary barricades and signage.