Commentary on current events, politics, government, and popular culture from John Sheirer, author of the book, Make Common Sense Common Again.

Monday, December 29, 2014

It's a cliché to say that Congress is full of criminals, and then there's Michael Grimm.


Michael Grimm (R-NY) got reelected by a 13-point margin with a 20-count indictment hanging over his head, and he threatened to assault a reporter on national television. It's a cliché to say that Congress is full of criminals, but this guy actually is a convicted criminal.

What kind of people wasted their votes on this creep?

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Tuesday, December 23, 2014

What happened to the Republican obsession with Ebola? Oh, yeah, that was a lie.


Republican politicians and conservative media pundits told repeated lies about Ebola leading up to the November elections. They lied to try to instill fear into voters because fear always benefits Republicans--especially when they tried to paint the government and President Obama as somehow weak on preventing Ebola. Of course, after the election they stopped talking about Ebola altogether when it was clear that the government response to the disease was excellent, stopping any outbreak in the United States. The strategy is typical Republican dishonesty, and PolitiFact did well to call their lies.  

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Monday, December 22, 2014

It's a Wonderful Life is so popular because it touches America's long-term liberal values.


Henry Potter put profits above people. George Bailey put people above profits. If Potter were a real person alive today, he'd watch Fox News, donate to right-wing organizations, and vote a straight Republican ticket. America loves this movie because, at our core, we have always been a nation that embraces liberal values. 

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Friday, December 19, 2014

Republicans wrong, Obama right ... as usual.


Not long ago, Republicans were slobbering all over themselves about what a strong leader Putin is and what a wimp Obama is. They said that if Obama had somehow just been tougher, then Putin magically wouldn't have invaded Ukraine. They said Obama's economic sanctions were worthless. Some even criticized Obama for not invading Russia.

Like so many Republican claims, this one has also been proven false. Obama has once again been proven right.

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Sunday, December 14, 2014

Can people please, once and for all time, give up comparing marriage equality to bestiality?


Can people please, once and for all time, give up comparing marriage equality to bestiality? A sane person does not compare a loving and committed relationship between two consenting adults with sexual acts between a person and an animal. Rick Santorum, Rand Paul, and Bill O'Reilly, people who should know better, have compared marriage equality to bestiality--and it's sick and disgusting. If they really believe the comparison is apt, then they're the actual perverts. If they're just trying to make an outlandish comparison to stir up mindless hatred of gay people, then they're complete jerks. Either way, pervert or jerk, they should grow up and shut up.
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Saturday, December 13, 2014

Michelle Bachmann is "The Christmas Bomber"


So, you're leaving Congress after years of stirring the crazy pot. At the White House Christmas party, you have one last chance to talk to President Obama, a man you've lied about and insulted many times. Do you apologize for being such a jerk? Do you just say "Merry Christmas" and move along? Do you look at the floor and shuffle your feet because there's nothing that you can say to make up for the way you've wasted your time in public service acting like a creepy lunatic?

Nope. Michelle Bachmann told the president to bomb Iran. Merry Christmas--let's kill some brown people who don't believe in God the same way we do.

Crazy in--crazy out. At least she's consistent.


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Friday, December 12, 2014

Torture didn't help get bin Laden.


The people claiming that torture was necessary after 9-11 seem to be living inside a Hollywood movie script instead of reality. Zero Dark Thirty was a very well-made film, but it's not some kind of historical document that proves the value of torture in getting Osama bin Laden.

The fact is that torture did not help get bin Laden. It's time to put cinematic fantasy away and focus on the facts.


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Thursday, December 11, 2014

On the torture issue, Bush and Obama, Republicans and Democrats, couldn't be more different.


The Bush administration violated international human-rights law forbidding torture and ignored decades of evidence that torture doesn't work. They lowered America's standing in the world and promoted terrorism by engaging in torture. Now Republicans are still defending the Bush administration torture program (with the notable exception of John McCain, an actual victim of torture).

On the other hand, President Obama immediately banned torture when he took office.

When people naively say Republicans and Democrats, Bush and Obama, are "all the same," they're ignoring mountains of evidence and enabling Republicans to continue rejecting bedrock American values.


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Wednesday, December 10, 2014

Oh, Speaker Boehner ... President Obama has found those jobs you were looking for.


When criticizing President Obama's economic record, John Boehner famously asked, "Where are the jobs?" Aside from the fact that Boehner and his Republican buddies have been blocking every job-creation effort they could to try to make the president look bad, job creation has been a clear strength of the Obama presidency. November was far better than expected, and we've had 57 straight months of private sector job growth.

So, of course, Republicans create fake scandals to divert the public's attention.

Here's an analysis from back in September that shows how Obama's economic record is even better than Republican hero Ronald Reagan's.


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Monday, December 8, 2014

Amnesty, Shamnesty! Republicans are wrong about every aspect of Obama's immigration action.


Republican are obsessed with using an inaccurate term to describe President Obama's immigration actions because they know it stirs up outrage and clouds the issues. 

Not surprisingly, Republicans are also wrong about every other aspect of the president's immigration action. 

John Sheirer's monthly newspaper column debunks the latest round of Republican talking points. 

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Amnesty, Shamnesty!

Since President Obama announced his executive actions on immigration, the word "amnesty" has been flying around more frequently than flakes in a New England snowstorm. Social media and the news are full of rants about "Obama's amnesty." All of this attention ignores a basic fact: The president's executive actions don't come close to actual "amnesty."

"Amnesty" is a pardon. In 1977, President Jimmy Carter granted actual amnesty in the form of an unconditional pardon to people who fled the Viet Nam draft. President Obama's immigration plan is far different.

The president's actions do not make undocumented immigrants into citizens or even absolve them from addressing their legal status. His actions simply provide the opportunity for some undocumented immigrants who have been in the country for more than five years to apply for temporary relief from deportation--but only if they have documented children and pass a background check. This will keep those families together and bring them into the mainstream of society where they can fully pay taxes and contribute positively to American culture. That's not amnesty.

"Amnesty" (like "Socialism" and "death panel") is another inflammatory term used by Republicans to agitate their base. Republicans want people to say, "Hey, I don't get amnesty, so why should illegal aliens?" Republicans know that people who actually understand the issue won't say, "Hey, I don't have to do through a complicated enforcement and application process to stay in the country, so why do some illegal aliens?" The boring facts don't stir enough anger, so Republicans prefer a rabble-rousing fiction to pit "us" against "them."

In addition to misusing the term "amnesty," opponents of the president are wrong about the policy itself. Republicans have falsely claimed that the president's actions are unprecedented. In reality, every president (Republican and Democrat) since Eisenhower has taken executive action on immigration.

Republicans claim that Obama's actions are unconstitutional, but the courts have affirmed that all presidents have wide-ranging legal authority to prioritize law enforcement. Recently, more than one hundred legal scholars and immigration experts signed a letter stating that the president's actions are entirely legal, despite the outcry from Republicans that the president is acting like a king who rules by decree. In fact, President Obama is on pace to issue the fewest executive orders per year of any president in more than a century.

Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) claimed that Obama's actions reject the will of the people, especially considering the 2014 election. The fact-checker PolitiFact gave Cruz a "false" rating, noting that 2014 voters actually support the policies enacted by the president. Only extreme partisans are claiming that an apathetic midterm election with thirty-six percent voter turnout represents the will of the people.

Republicans also claim that Obama's action will hurt the economy, but actual economists say immigration reform boosts economic growth. Republicans have cited a widely discredited report from the conservative Heritage Foundation that claims immigration reform will cost trillions of taxpayer dollars in government benefits doled out to undocumented immigrants. In fact, that's completely untrue because the people covered by Obama's plan will not be eligible for the vast majority of government benefits, and they'll sow more in taxes than they reap in very limited benefits. Obama's actions won't even add a penny to the deficit because the Citizenship and Immigration Service, which carries out the actions, is self-funded though application fees.

Reform opponents also claim that Obama should "secure the borders" before anything else. This view ignores the fact that the president's executive actions include increased border security provisions. The Obama administration has actually been strict about border security. Approximately two million people have been officially deported under Obama's watch, more than under President Bush. And fewer people have entered the country illegally in recent years than during the administration of Republican hero Ronald Reagan.

Speaker of the House John Boehner claimed that Obama's actions would "poison the well" for immigration reform in Congress. In truth, Republicans themselves have been pouring the poison for years. Boehner won't bring bipartisan immigration reform that passed the Senate to a vote in the House--even though the bill would certainly pass. If Republicans hadn't also blocked immigration reform under President Bush back in 2007, then we would have laws that actually addressed the problems associated with illegal immigration, rather than the current inadequate laws.

Republicans rail that Obama himself has said for years that he can't unilaterally change immigration law. Of course, changing the law is Congress's job--a job Republicans have blocked. The president's actions are focused on enforcement, not changing the law. That's a big difference Republicans hope their followers are too angry to notice. In their most desperate criticism, Obama-bashers cynically claim that his immigration actions are meant to create more Democratic voters. That's absurd considering the people affected can't even vote until completing a years-long process of gaining citizenship.


When I share these facts with my Republican friends, they cling to their cries of "amnesty" and rants about a dictatorial president. They call me an "Obamabot" with blind loyalty to the president. But I'll remain loyal to the verifiable facts about the president's actions, not Republican misinformation. And I'll be loyal to the basic definition of the word "amnesty," knowing that the false resentment it engenders, like so much Republican outrage these days, simply doesn't reflect reality.

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Sunday, December 7, 2014

"Happy Holidays" isn't some sort of anti-Christian oppressive code word.


Some people have started posting memes about not being ashamed to say "Merry Christmas" instead of "Happy Holidays" and not being afraid of offending all those politically incorrect people who want to oppress their religious freedom.

Seriously?

"Happy Holidays" isn't some sort of anti-Christian oppressive code word. It's an authentic wish that people be blessed with happiness during the entire holiday season. Anyone offended by that is simply wishing for a way to be offended.


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Friday, December 5, 2014

Obamacare saved 50,000 lives through hospital safety provisions. Republicans still hate it.


It's time to talk more about the ways that Obamacare is improving our healthcare system instead of letting Republicans lie about it as much as they do.

For example, safety provisions in the Affordable Care Act have helped to reduce hospital errors by 17%, saving 50,000 lives. And hospital readmissions are down significantly as well, saving another 15,000 lives.

Obamacare isn't perfect, but it's saving lives in a number of different ways.


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Tuesday, December 2, 2014

If you're honestly "pro-life," then you should support Obamacare.


Many Republican men I know object to the Affordable Care Act requirement that health insurance policies cover pregnancy and prenatal care.

"I can't get pregnant," these men say. "Why should I have to pay for a woman's pregnancy?"

Amazingly, many of these men claim to be "pro-life." They don't understand that the ACA requirement is a true "pro-life" public health policy. Being pro-life means supporting mothers-to-be by actually fostering the health of pregnant women and unborn children through our health insurance system.

I can't get pregnant, but I'm happy to support women who choose to be pregnant through my own insurance premiums because I want pregnant women to be healthy and have healthy children. That's honestly being pro-life.


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