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April 2017

Posted by Leslie Eastman on April 29, 2017 21 Comments
A measles outbreak in Minnesota is widening as the state's public health and emergency preparedness officials scramble to stop the spread.
As of Thursday afternoon, April 27, the Minnesota Department of Health had confirmed 28 cases in Hennepin County and one in Stearns County. All were among children under age 5, most of them unvaccinated. "Measles is very contagious and can spread very quickly," said Denise Kragenbring, public health supervisor with Kandiyohi County Public Health.

Posted by Mike LaChance on April 29, 2017 20 Comments
The Democratic Party has apparently conducted an autopsy of their stunning loss in the 2016 election but for reasons which aren't clear, they aren't sharing the information with the public. Heather Caygle and John Bresnahan reported at Politico:
House Democrats bury 2016 autopsy House Democrats are going to extreme lengths to conceal a report on the party’s problems. After nearly five months, Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney (D-N.Y.) presented his investigative report to lawmakers during a members-only gathering at the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee headquarters Thursday night.

Posted by Mark Finkelstein on April 29, 2017 24 Comments
Après Trump, le déluge! There's a "People's Climate March" on DC happening today, and CNN put a reporter on a bus traveling to the March from Harlem. A protester explained that he was going to Washington because people in inner-city areas "don't have resources to escape if we have flooding or other issues caused by climate change." Shades of Al Gore's An Inconvenient Truth, and its apocalyptic vision of a drowning NYC. But not to worry. Worst comes to worst, Al Gore will be out there, plucking people off their rooftops. Al will either be in a boat, or perhaps swooping low in a jet he can afford to charter with part of the proceeds of his $500 million sale of Current TV to the fossil fuel sheikhs of Qatar.

Posted by Kemberlee Kaye on April 29, 2017 15 Comments
North Korea launched another missile, and according to both the U.S. and South Korea, their latest attempt was a failure. Moments after taking off, the missile exploded. The failed launch occurred shortly after Secretary of State Tillerson urged the UN to levy more economic sanctions against North Korea.

Posted by Leslie Eastman on April 28, 2017 27 Comments
There has much chatter about the recently released book, "Shattered: Inside Hillary Clinton's Doomed Campaign". My colleague Mary Chastain penned a superb summary of all the campaign low points in her analysis, and fellow author Neo-Neocon did a exceptionally detailed dissection of the book's main premise that poor messaging was the reason for Hillary's election failure. This post will focus on an actual review, addressing whether or not you should spend the $10-$20 dollars to purchase the book to add to your political library.

Posted by William A. Jacobson on April 28, 2017 17 Comments
When Newt Gingrich spoke at Cornell earlier this semester, he made a very important point. Trump doesn't attack his political opponents, he brands them. The brand for Jeb was "low energy." For Rubio, it was "little Marco." For Cruz, it was "lyin' Ted." Once branded, they could not shake the image. Just ask "Crooked Hillary." Which brings up Elizabeth Warren. As we posted earlier, while Warren is denying that she "is" running for president in 2020, she's making all the normal pre-presidential run moves.

Posted by Fuzzy Slippers on April 28, 2017 16 Comments
As we consider the flood of polls proclaiming that President Trump's approval numbers are lower than those of any other president at this point in his presidency, a former Clinton pollster and current co-director of the  Harvard-Harris Poll takes issue with the majority of political polls' methodology. Mark Penn, writing at the Hill, refers to the problem as a "polling bubble" that involves both polling entities and the media.  He pinpoints three reasons for the unreliability of polls about Trump:  polls directed at "all adults," polls focused on sensationalized "stories," and participants' unwillingness to be honest about their views.

Posted by Kemberlee Kaye on April 28, 2017 12 Comments
The odd saga of Rep. Jason Chaffetz continues. After suddenly announcing he would not seek re-election, House Oversight Committee Chairman Jason Chaffetz then indicated he may not complete his current term. Wednesday, Chaffetz posted an x-ray of his foot on Instagram saying he needed immediate surgery because he "could be at risk for serious infection" due to a previous energy.

Posted by Mary Chastain on April 28, 2017 40 Comments
Democrats in some blue states do not like that President Donald Trump's tax plan includes eliminating the ability to deduct state and local taxes. Just a thought...maybe the states should not tax their citizens so much? Instead, they complain about the burden placed on the citizens from the federal government. From The Wall Street Journal:
At the center of the fight is New York, home of Mr. Trump, Mr. Cohn and Senate Democratic Leader Charles Schumer, who says killing or scaling back the break would be “devastating for middle-class families in New York and elsewhere.”

Posted by Mary Chastain on April 28, 2017 19 Comments
The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has faced scandal after scandal, some of which caused veterans to die while waiting for care. There was even a dentist putting veterans at risk for HIV. But the VA has also punished those who blow the whistle on VA wrong doings. President Trump took a step in the right direction to fix these problems when he signed an executive order that creates the "Office of Accountability and Whistleblower Protection" at the VA.

Posted by Mark Finkelstein on April 28, 2017 26 Comments
Whichever poison you picked this morning—CNN or MSNBC—you would have been treated to snide shots at President Trump. On CNN, responding to President Trump's statement that the presidency has turned out to be more work than expected, David Gregory sneered "thanks, Captain Obvious." Meanwhile, over on MSNBC's Morning Joe, trying to explain President Trump's more measured tone of late, Donny Deutsch wondered if maybe "the meds have changed." When Willie Geist intervened to say that there are no meds involved, Deutsch concurred, saying he was just kibitzing: "we kibitz on Morning Joe." However Donny might want to laugh it off, the fact that he and Gregory were willing to openly say what they did reflects the contempt in which the MSM holds President Trump. Can you imagine members of the liberal media saying something so snide about President Obama?
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