The Man Who Defeated Allen West

• By Jonathan Mattise

WASHINGTON — U.S. Rep. Patrick Murphy careened through underground catacombs connecting the Capitol complex Thursday, bumping into pockets of other wide-eyed freshmen lawmakers and seasoned members.

He snagged his congressional pin and voting card, prepped for his swearing in an hour later and awaited a swarm of Murphy kin heading to his office.

Murphy's Communications Director Erin Moffet, a bit more tenured in the halls of Washington, caught a rookie mistake.

"Patrick, your shoe is untied," said Moffet, formerly with U.S. Rep. Alcee Hastings' office. Murphy shrugged it off, still grinning. "Don't get it caught in the escalator," she sighed. He finally obliged.

Murphy, who became the youngest member of Congress at 29 years old Thursday, has chipped away at the normal freshman learning curve and chores — figuring out his way around, setting up the office, picking up paperwork, even taking one significant vote for Hurricane Sandy relief money.
After a nationally prominent election tussle with Allen West , however, fellow Democrats want to help Murphy shine among the class of 84 newbies.

"Patrick is a guy who is going to spark some new life," said freshman U.S. Rep. Lois Frankel, D-West Palm Beach. "He's got good values, he's going to be willing to work across the aisle and compromise, and I think that's what the public wants now."

Opponents haven't formally lined up yet, but Republicans are watching closely to see how well Murphy lives up to that bipartisan billing in a divided House. In District 18, where Republicans outnumber Democrats by 2 percentage points, the Jupiter Democrat already is fundraising for anticipated 2014 opposition.

But the same big Democratic congressional names that vouched for him during the campaign — House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer, House Budget Committee Ranking Member Chris Van Hollen and more — are now helping Murphy on the Hill. Vice President Joe Biden even showed up for Murphy's swearing-in party.

"Beating West definitely helped put me on the radar screen for a lot of people," said Murphy, an accountant and businessman. "But I think, beyond that, my age, hopefully eagerness to learn, perhaps not as stubborn as some members, (Democratic leaders) appreciate that."

Hoyer, a Maryland lawmaker, guided Murphy through the committee selection process. The result — Murphy landed a spot on the Committee on Financial Services, his top choice.

"Those are very sought-after spots, so it's a testament to the fact that Patrick is already held in good standing," said Van Hollen, D-Md.

The committee deals in securities, housing, insurance and banking issues — all big issues for Martin, St. Lucie and northern Palm Beach counties in his district. They also provide lucrative fundraising opportunities, a perk because Murphy may not be able to rely as much on anti-West money next election. West, R-Palm Beach Gardens, hasn't publicized his political plans.

Just after Christmas — days before West left office — Murphy still used West as a fundraising backboard over his stance against the fiscal cliff deal. His bout with West brought in more than $30 million among candidates and outside groups, the most in any House race.

"By giving to Patrick's campaign today, we can send a strong message to Allen West that his juvenile behaviors aren't what we want in Washington," the campaign said in a December fundraising email.

Murphy said he's also working to win supporters who specifically just wanted to see West lose.

"Being on a committee, being in certain designated positions in Congress, there are groups that want to support you as well," Murphy said. "I don't know if it counters (not facing West), but it's definitely another mitigating factor."

U.S. Rep. Tom Rooney, a Tequesta Republican who left the Treasure Coast to clinch a central Florida district, supported West when he decided to run in District 18. Both West and Murphy moved to run on the Treasure Coast. At the Capitol last week, Rooney met Murphy's family, and commended him for his reaction to the fiscal cliff deal.

Murphy expressed frustration that the closed-door deal didn't address the debt limit and spending cuts. The two lawmakers already are planning to introduce a bill, possibly on Everglades restoration.

"For a freshman, I've been impressed with his ability to sort of say what he really believes, versus what Pelosi wants him to say," Rooney said.

Murphy had President Bill Clinton, former Gov. Charlie Crist, former U.S. Sen. Bob Graham and more politicos on his campaign's side. Rooney, who comes from another politically connected big Irish family, said those connections can only take Murphy so far.

Murphy's family runs Coastal Construction Group in Miami, which has divvied up campaign contributions between Democrats and Republicans. Rooney's family owns the Pittsburgh Steelers, the Palm Beach Kennel Club and several bars.

"It's nice to have those guys (Clinton and Biden) at your parties, and you shouldn't be ashamed of that," Rooney said. "What Patrick needs to focus on right now is learning the procedure of the House and the procedure of the committees."

U.S. Rep. Ted Deutch, a Democrat from West Boca Raton, said the big issues are overly politicized in the House. But Murphy can still work with Republicans in a variety of topics that aren't divisive, he said. For example, the House passed Deutch's bill helping Chinese drywall victims New Year's Day. His co-sponsor was Virginia Republican Rep. Scott Rigell.

"We just need to be able to apply that to the bigger issues we face as a nation," Deutch said. "I think having people like Patrick, with the experience and enthusiasm he brings, will help us get there."

Will Social Security get chopped in debt ceiling talks?

President Obama has already shown willingness to reform Social Security and now Republicans are baiting him into including benefit cuts in a deal to raise the debt ceiling. Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., joins Ed Schultz to explain what people can do to ensure Social Security is not part of the latest economic deal-making in Washington.

 

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Paul Ryan: Flood insurance for him, yes; Sandy relief for the Northeast, no

NBC’s Mike Viqueira joins Martin Bashir to report on how Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., could vote for a flood relief bill for his own district – but not a similar bill that will bring much-needed, albeit delayed, relief to Hurricane Sandy victims.

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Watch Ed Rendell Squirm

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Former Head of U.S. Mint Says Trillion Dollar Coin is Legal

Philip Diehl, head of the U.S. Mint from 1994-2000, tells Capital New York that the minting of a trillion dollar coin to circumvent a fight over the debt ceiling is perfectly legal.

Diehl was head of the Mint when the law giving authorization for such a move was passed and says, "My understanding of how this all works suggests that this is a viable alternative."

He added: "One of the ironies in this story is that a GOP Congress passed the legislation over the objections of a Democratic Treasury, and now, today, Treasury may well be in a position to use the law as leverage to neutralize the GOP's threat to hold the debt limit hostage."

The Daily Beast has more on the possible tactic.

Merkley, Udall Release Filibuster Reform Plan, Claim Between 48 and 51 Votes

By David Weigel

This afternoon, as the pomp of the 113th Congress's opening wound down, Oregon Sen. Jeff Merkley and New Mexico Sen. Tom Udall -- the freshmen behind filibuster reform -- sat reporters down to tell them of coming victory.

"Reform of the rules will be front and center when we return," said Udall, referring to the work Congress would do after the president's inauguration. "I don't think you should infer anything into the fact that we've delayed the vote. Momentum is on our side -- my uncle Mo used to refer to the 'big mo.'"

That was an ominous reference -- Mo Udall spoke of momentum right before losing key Democratic primaries -- but Udall confidentally spoke of "51" votes for reform in the reformers' pockets. Merkley would only refer to "48" votes, and Democrats have balked at saying who was still holding out. (Hint: Mark Pryor, Carl Levin, Joe Donnelly.) But when someone pointed that out, and asked whether a rival, weak bipartisan reform would stunt the plan, Merkley joined the confidence parade.

"Most serious reforms of the rules occur because the leader has 51 votes behind him," he said. "That's where Harry Reid is now. When I refered to 48, I was only referring to public whip counts. But Harry can say 'I have 51 votes with me.' That's what allows him to negotiate."

The rule changes in question were handed out to reporters; both senators averred that the "talking filibuster" was the hardest to build a majority for.

1. Eliminate the Filibuster on Motions to Proceed: Clears a path to debate by making motions to proceed not subject to a filibuster, but providing two hours of debate.  

2. Require a Talking Filibuster: Forces Senators who filibuster to actually speak on the floor, greatly increasing public accountability and requiring time and energy if the minority wants to use this tool to obstruct the Senate.

3. Expedite Nominations: Reduces post-cloture debate on nominations from 30 hours to 2 hours, except for Supreme Court Justices (for whom the current 30 hours would remain intact).

4. Eliminate the Filibuster on Motions to Establish a Conference Committee: Reduces the steps to establish a conference committee from three motions to one, and limits debate the consolidated motion to 2 hours.

Morning Joe Millionaires Continue Their Demand That Obama Cut Social Safety Nets

By Heather



I don't know about anyone else, but I'm getting really tired of watching a bunch of extremely rich pundits sit around and tell the rest of us that there just hasn't been enough shared sacrifice from the working class, the elderly and the poor yet in order to solve our deficit problem. But that's exactly what the viewers are treated to day after day on MSNBC's three hour long Villager conventional wisdom regurgitation-fest called Morning Joe.

This Wednesday was no exception and immediately following the so-called "fiscal cliff" debacle coming to a conclusion, and the pundits on there didn't miss a beat with demands that President Obama had better get out there and use his bully pulpit to explain to the American people that we're all just going to have to be willing to give a little more in order for Republicans to not kill the hostage called the world's economy over this upcoming debt ceiling standoff.

This week we had Tom Brokaw going on Meet the Press and telling everyone that there's nothing wrong with raising the retirement age for Social Security and telling the lie that Americans are living longer. It's little wonder he'd have that view since he's not ever going to have to worry about his retirement security. And yes, rich people like himself are living to be older. Not so much for most of the rest of us.

If these guys want to go on the air and pontificate about how we ought to get a pound of flesh out of the working class, I think their salaries and net worth ought to be displayed right under their names in the chryon for the viewers. Maybe they'd feel a little differently about their opinions.

According to Forbes, Brokaw has an estimated net worth of $70 million.

And if the site Celebrity Networth is accurate, Scarborough's is $18 million and Brzezinski's is $8 million.

I'm not sure what some of the others who were on there this Wednesday like David Walker, Chuck Todd, Dan Senor, Richard Haas and Mark Halperin are worth, but I'm pretty sure they're all being paid really well and aren't worried about relying on Social Security for a comfortable retirement as well. But every one of them was joining in on carping about the deficit that none of them cared about it when Bush was blowing holes in it a mile wide with tax cuts and wars that weren't paid for. Deficits only matter when Democrats are elected as president.

And as far as Walker's claim that his group has gone around the country and gotten a positive response from ordinary people as they explained to them that they need to cut our social safety nets in order to balance the budget, well, that's not the experience our own Susie Madrak had when she went to one of them. As she noted:

You know what most of them wanted to do? Soak the rich -- and cut defense spending. [...]
I thought maybe it was just my table, but when they tabulated the results, it was pretty much the same throughout the crowded ballroom of several hundred attendees.

And of course absent from this conversation was any discussion about what to do to get Americans back to work. If we were at full employment and had some sort of decent economic growth in the United States, this deficit problem would take care of itself because we'd have more people paying taxes.

They also keep pretending like Social Security adds to our deficit. It doesn't and it has a surplus. And if they want to solve the problem with Medicare, we need to fix our health care costs over all. We pay way more than any other developed country with worse outcomes and putting seniors into the private insurance market doesn't solve the problem. It just shifts the costs around and drives them up. But you won't hear that discussion while they're pounding their fists about lowing the deficit.

Boehner Says He'll No Longer Negotiate with Obama

House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) "is signaling that at least one thing will change about his leadership during the 113th Congress: he's telling Republicans he is done with private, one-on-one negotiations with President Obama," The Hill reports.

"During both 2011 and 2012, the Speaker spent weeks shuttling between the Capitol and the White House for meetings with the president in the hopes of striking a grand bargain on the deficit. Those efforts ended in failure, leaving Boehner feeling burned by Obama and, at times, isolated within his conference."

Instead, he'll try to "pass bills through the House that can then be adopted, amended or reconciled by the Senate."

Christie Slams House Republicans

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) absolutely unloaded on House Republicans for spiking the hurricane relief bill last night. It's must-see video.

Fiscal Cliff Bill Passes House

Posted by Tor at 11:56 PM

 Ending a climactic fiscal showdown in the final hours of the 112th Congress, the House late Tuesday passed and sent to President Obama legislation to avert big income tax increases on most Americans and prevent large cuts in spending for the Pentagon and other government programs.

The measure, brought to the House floor less than 24 hours after its passage in the Senate, passed 257 to 167 with 85 Republicans joining 172 Democrats in voting to allow income taxes to rise for the first time in two decades, in this case for the highest-earning Americans. Voting no were 151 Republicans and 16 Democrats.

Congress Plunges U.S. Over The Fiscal Cliff

With only hours left until the end-of-year fiscal cliff deadline, Congress is not expected to make a deal regarding the fiscal cliff.

Only hours after President Barack Obama and leading members of Congress said on Monday afternoon that a deal between lawmakers was within reach, reports out of Washington suggest that a compromise will not be made before the new year. Bloomberg News and CNBC both reported eight hours before the 12-midnight deadline that no vote would be made before the end of the year.

If the fiscal cliff can’t be averted, there will be a lot in store for the new year. Taxes will go up, spending will go down and the limit on how much money the United States can borrow will once again be maxed out.

For starters, just about every working American can expect to see changes in their paycheck in 2013. If a deal isn’t cut on Capitol Hill before January 1, payroll taxes will increase across the board by two full percentage points, at least for the first $113,700 of income earned. Payroll taxes will rise instantly from 4.2 to 6.2 percent, snipping a substantial amount of money from every middle- and lower-class worker’s paycheck starting right away to help save the country from default.

Even those who don’t need to work will be asked to endure some austerity policies, too: Americans earning high wages will be asked to pay all new taxes to cover the cost of Pres. Obama’s hallmark health care legislation, and Capital gains and qualified dividends will be subject to higher fees, as well.

Those already without work won’t be having it any easier, either. Extended unemployment benefits will be over instantly for around 2 million residents, effecting many of the Americans on the lookout for work but unable to find any — currently around 7.9 percent of the labor force. Additionally, those looking for assistance will be subjected to a scaled back entitlement program, with funding for Medicare expected to be trimmed by around one-third.

The unemployed, of course, won’t be the only Americans pinching pennies. Should Congress fall to act in time, federal spending will see some significant changes. Also inevitable if the Senate and House can’t hold it together are billions of dollars in defense spending being stripped away. In all, sequestration would trigger around $1.2 trillion in automatic cuts, with an estimated $55 billion being taken out of the Pentagon in just 2013. During the next decade, the military would miss out on around ten-times that amount.

"If they are allowed to occur as currently scheduled, the long-term consequences will permanently alter the course of the US economy's performance, changing its competitive position in the global economy," Dr. Stephen Fuller of George Mason University and Chmura Economics and Analytics determined in a report on sequestration earlier this year. According to those researchers, more than 2 million Americans will see their jobs eradicated in just 2013 because automatic spending cuts will make their jobs essentially obsolete.

Of course, tax hikes aren’t imperative and the military budget might be saved from a severe slashing. Democrats and Republicans in halves of Congress are trying to come to an agreement that will see lawmakers making serious sacrifices in order to keep the country afloat during a time of tremendous fiscal turmoil.

“Analysts expect that the austerity crisis will weaken the economic recovery and quite possibly plunge the United States back into a recession,” the Washington Post reports this week.

Back in June, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke warned that Washington lawmakers would have until the end of the year to iron out a deal or suffer some seriously grim consequences.

“The so-called fiscal cliff would, if allowed to occur, pose a significant threat to the recovery,” Bernanke warned. “If no action were taken and the fiscal cliff were to kick in in its full size, I think it would be very likely that the economy would begin to contract or possibly go even into recession, and that unemployment would begin to rise.”

That was six months, though, and senators and congressman have but only a few hours before the new year arrives.

Speaking from the White House Monday, December 31, Pres. Obama offered an early afternoon address that seemed to suggest a deal was almost all set.

"Keep the pressure on over the next 12 hours or so," he said. "Let's see if we can get this thing done."

Deal Reached To Prevent Milk Price Hike

By Alan Colmes

Leaders in the House and Agriculture committees agreed to a one-year extension of the farm bill, which could stop milk prices from doubling in early 2013.

Senate Agriculture Committee Chairman Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., indicated the House could vote on the bill soon, though House leaders have not yet agreed to put the bill on the floor. In addition to the one-year extension that has the backing of the committees, the House GOP is also considering two other extension bills: a one-month extension and an even smaller bill that would merely extend dairy policy that expires Jan. 1.

Expiration of those dairy programs could mean higher prices at the grocery store within a few weeks. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said Americans face the prospect of paying $7 for a gallon of milk if the current dairy program lapsed and the government returned to a 1948 formula for calculating milk price supports.

President Obama can easily satisfy and silence liberal critics

By Demo_Chris

Some folks have said that President Obama’s liberal critics are purists, and that we will accept nothing less than progressive perfection. That, like the Tea Party folks on the right, anything less than this leaves us frothing in self-righteous rage.

I disagree. In my opinion, silencing the critics is easy.

Your liberal critics are not fools. We understand that politics is the art of the possible, and that it requires compromise. We knew this when we voted. But the promise, the expectation, was that we were sending a champion of our beliefs to the negotiation table. Someone to fight for our principles.

We voted for someone to demand and fight for…

* Ending the wars.
* Drastic cuts in military spending.
* Closing Gitmo and all the secret prisons.
* Eliminating the Patriot act and all domestic spying.
* Removal of the cap on social security.
* Lowering the age of eligibility and increasing benefits.
* Increasing safety net spending.
* Massive and necessary infrastructure investment.
* Radically increasing the tax rate on affluent Americans.
* Taxing capital gains as income.
* Significant efforts to address wealth inequality.
* A champion of civil rights for ALL.
* Eliminating so-called Free Trade Agreements.
* Blanket amnesty for illegal immigrants.
* Serious action to address global warming.
* Single payer healthcare.

Obviously, being intelligent people, we knew we would not get everything we wanted; we might not get anything we wanted. We knew our champion might have to compromise, but our beliefs would be represented.

President Obama asked for that job. Now he is refusing to do it. He is positioning himself, not as the champion of liberal democratic voters (or even the majority of Americans), but as the voice of rational conservatism.

President Obama, silencing your liberal critics is easy. Stop representing the GOP, and start representing the people who voted for you. That’s the job you said you wanted, so do it. 

Eagles fire Andy Reid

Mike Garafolo, USA TODAY Sports5:51p.m. EST December 30, 2012

(Photo: Robert Deutsch, USA TODAY Sports)

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. – Andy Reid has been fired after 14 seasons as head coach of the Philadelphia Eagles, with the official announcement coming Monday, according to a person informed of the team's plans for releasing Reid.

The person, who spoke to USA TODAY Sports on condition of anonymity because the Eagles haven't made any announcement yet, was unsure if it will be spun as Reid resigning or if he'll be fired, but said it's clear he will not coach the Eagles after Sunday's 42-7 loss to the New York Giants.

HOT SEAT: Who's in trouble as Black Monday nears?

"Either way, I understand," Reid said in his postgame press conference. "If I'm here again, I'll love every minute of it. If I'm not, I'll understand that, too."

The Eagles denied that Reid had been told that his stint with the team is over.

Three of Reid's four children were at the game. Sons Britt and Spencer were on the sideline. His wife, Tammy, and his daughter, Crosby, sat on a folding table waiting for him after the locker room. They got into a golf cart with him as he drove off. Another daughter did not attend.

Reid's son, Garrett, died of a drug overdose while working with the team in the strength and conditioning program during the preseason.

Reid, who has one year remaining on his contract, has said repeatedly he wants to coach next season and is expected to garner interest as jobs begin to open Monday. The San Diego Chargers and the Arizona Cardinals are at the top of the list of potential suitors.

Reid and owner Jeffrey Lurie met on Friday, though there are conflicting reports as to whether Lurie told Reid he's going to be fired. CSNPhilly.com, citing two Eagles sources, said Reid was told he will be fired. The Eagles' radio broadcast stated Lurie did not tell Reid he's out.

Reid said Sunday he hasn't spoken to Lurie about his future.

In his tenure with the Eagles, Reid was 130-93-1 in the regular season, good for most wins in franchise history. But he was 10-9 in the postseason, with the 24-21 loss to the New England Patriots in Super Bowl XXXIX obviously the most painful of the defeats.

Reid's Eagles also dropped a pair of NFC Championship games at home (to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in January 2003 and the Carolina Panthers in 2004) as well as two on the road (to the St. Louis Rams in 2002 and the Arizona Cardinals in 2009).

Several candidates could be atop owner Jeffrey Lurie's wish list, including Oregon coach Chip Kelly and Atlanta Falcons offensive coordinator Dirk Koetter.

SKFU teases us with what could be a native PlayStation Vita hack

By Jd8531

Just recently developer SKFU has made progress on what could be a native hack of the Vita, giving us our first visual glimpse!

It seems hacking progress is regularly attempted outside of the PSPemu (which is the typical eCFW and VHBL) by SKFU. Awhile back you may remember our reporting on news that the developer SKFU was able to get a developer PS Vita and had slowly started to peal back the veil of his own Vita exploit by releasing common app paths in the Vitas filesystem.

Now, SKFU has revealed a picture of what could be a native Vita exploit, confirming that he has made progress with that Dev unit. SKFU posted the picture below and playfully teasing us by saying “VHBL is not the only thing working on 2.02 ”

It seems that if this photo is correct, SKFU has been able to do a very in depth analysis (something we saw with his reveal of the Vitas common app eboot paths) of the Vita and has made some progress in his investigations. What’s shown in the picture is a custom icon and naming of said application.

But don’t get too excited yet. Showing icons of homebrews in the XMB has always been possible on the PSP, it didn’t mean the PSP would accept to run them if they weren’t signed. The PS Vita however is known to prevent you from even copying homebrews to the memory stick, so SKFU has at least figured out how to do that… or is this just a feature of the dev units?

This could be a false lead, but as of now this is the only known one outside the pspemu, besides Yifanlu’s UVL. This is likely to be a huge and developing story so stay tuned for more information, we’ll try to reach out to SKFU for more details on this.

Racism in America

2012 brought us the re-election of America's first African-American president, and it also brought us a surge in hate speech and racist stunts. The latest comes from a man in Kentucky, who has put up an Obama mannequin with a watermelon in front of his house. Michael Eric Dyson talks with activist Marcia Dyson and Marc Morial of the National Urban League.

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Matt Damon: ‘The Game Is rigged’

By PATRICK GAVIN | 12/27/12 10:15 AM EST

Matt Damon rather infamously said in 2011 that he wouldn’t mind if President Barack Obama — whom the actor had supported in 2008 — was a one-term president because he’d rather have a “one-term president with some balls who actually got stuff done.” (The comment even earned Damon some flak from the president himself.)

But, he still did his part to give Obama a second term, admitting that he still voted for him in November.

“I assume there will be some Supreme Court appointments in this next term; that alone was reason to vote for him,” Damon told Playboy magazine in its January 2013 issue. “I don’t think I said anything a lot of people weren’t thinking. It’s easier now more than ever in my life to feel the fix is in, the game is rigged and no matter how hard you work to change things, it just doesn’t matter.”

Damon also was asked for his thoughts on Clint Eastwood’s performance at the Republican National Convention (the two worked together on 2010’s “Hereafter”).

“I heard the backlash, but I never saw the whole thing because I just didn’t want to see my friend … you know. Look, his knowledge of filmmaking is so vast and deep that he can wing it beautifully on the set. What he did at the RNC was an unrehearsed bit he decided to do at the last minute. You can’t go onstage and do 12 minutes of stand-up completely unrehearsed. But I agree with what Bill Maher said — Clint killed it at the convention for 12 minutes, and the audience loved him. I wouldn’t do that unless I spent a month rehearsing.”

Damon’s newest flick, “Promised Land,” has him playing a salesperson trying to persuade homeowners to sell their natural gas drilling rights, which means that their land will ultimately be “fracked,” a term used to describe a process by which gas is released through drilling and pressurized fluid. The issue of fracking has become a political hot potato lately, in part because of the 2010 Oscar-nominated documentary, “Gasland” (and subsequent counter-movies, including “Truthland” and “FrackNation”). In May, Al Gore put his support behind Vermont’s effort to ban fracking, citing environmental concerns.

Damon explained what politics, if any, are behind “Promised Land.”

“We went to the studio saying, ‘Who fucking wants to go see an anti-fracking movie?’ and were all in agreement. When we were working on the script, it was about wind farms, but we changed it to fracking — a good issue because the stakes are so high. That shit is real. They’re debating about letting it happen in New York now. To us, the movie was really about American identity. We loved the characters because they felt like real people making the kinds of compromises you have to just to live your life.”

Damon said he isn’t so naive to think that any politician would ever move to make serious action against fracking.

“We’re at a point where politicians don’t really get any benefit from engaging with long-term issues. Instead, it’s all about the next election cycle. Those guys in the House don’t do anything now but run for office. So unless they can find some little thing that zips them up a couple of points in the polls, they’re not interested. There’s a consensus among scientists, though, that we face serious long-term issues. They’re saying that unless we engage with those issues, we’re genuinely fucked. The way it looks, we’re going to wait until one of those big issues smacks us.”

Spike Lee takes issue with 'Django Unchained'

Director Spike Lee is criticizing Quentin Tarantino's new film, "Django Unchained," an homage to spaghetti Westerns, set in the antebellum South. Lee has critiqued Tarantino's use of racial slurs before, and now believes this latest film is "disrespectful" to his ancestors. Michael Eric Dyson explains.

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Tagg Romney tells why Mitt lost the presidency

MSNBC contributor Jonathan Capehart and Republican strategist Susan Del Percio discuss revelations – coming from eldest Romney son, Tagg – that their candidate-dad may not have been that interested in the job.

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Sam Donaldson To Tea Partiers: “It’s Not Your Country Anymore”

By Alan Colmes

“It’s our country,” not yours, says former ABC star Sam Donaldson.

“It’s the Tea Party and thinking of the Tea Party and people like that that are driving the Republicans out of contention as a national party,” he said.

Donaldson said that he had a particular aversion to the campaign slogan “We want to take back our country.”

“Guys, it’s not your country anymore – it’s our country and you’re part of it, but that thinking is going to defeat Republicans nationally if they don’t get rid of it,” he said.

PlayStation Vita: the progress and the plan

Posted on December 12, 2012 by Yifan Lu

Sorry that it’s been a while since I’ve said anything about the Vita. I was caught by surprise the last time of all the media attention from just a simple call for help. While I still don’t want to say too much right now, I do want to answer some common questions I’ve been getting and also go over what needs to be done.

If this is news to you, please read this interview I’ve done a while ago about it.

Did you hack the Vita? That’s a very vague question. What I have done, is run native code on the Vita with the same permissions as the game being exploited. This means I can load homebrews written and optimized for the Vita’s CPU and take full advantage of the CPU speed and RAM (unlike the PSP emulator or PSM, both impose artificial limits on resources and system functions). What has NOT been done (yet) is unlocking the system completely for tasks like USB interfacing, custom themes/system mods/plugins, and (fortunately) pirating games.

What’s UVLoader and how far along is it? The last I’ve spoken, I was beginning work on UVL and asked for any help I could get. Even though, I did not really get help, I did find people who were interested in what I was doing and we exchanged information. I also want to brag that I finished the main functionalities of UVL in a couple of weeks, and it has been “done” for about three months now. (Quotes around “done” because I decided to not worry about some features yet). That means, I can basically load most (most being the few that I manually built without an open sdk) compiled homebrews. You can run your standard hello worlds and spinning cubes and such, but in theory, it should load any homebrew built.

When’s the release? What’s taking so long? So as I’ve said, the loader was done three months ago. I have a couple of reasons for not releasing yet. The main reason is that currently, there is no open SDK for compiling and linking Vita homebrew like pspsdk did for the PSP. That means, even with the loader, it would be useless for users because there are no homebrew games, emulators, etc to run, and it would be useless for developers because they can’t build homebrews either. So what’s the progress on the open sdk? Zero, as I’m typing this right now. I have an idea of what it should look like and I spoke to a couple of people who are interested in helping, but so far, no code is written. Why is that? Because for me, I am very busy with lots of other unrelated things, and unfortunately, only me and a handful of other people know enough about the device and the executable format and etc to make the open sdk and none of us have the time currently.

The second reason is that having a Vita exploit at this stage (when it is really hard to find exploits) is very rare if not a once in a lifetime thing. Me and others I’ve talked to agree that right now it’s more important to use this exploit to gather more information about the system in order to find more exploits and such than it is to run homebrews right now. We have PSM for homebrew games and PSP emulator for homebrew emulators, so there really isn’t a huge demand for native PSVita homebrews yet. As I’ll expand on below, we’ve only scratched the surface of Vita hacking and there’s so much more to see.

Are you looking for testers/can I test UVLoader? There’s no need to “test” UVLoader right now because, as I’ve stated before, there isn’t any compiled homebrew and nothing to compile them anyways. Yes, UVL works with some of the custom still I’ve built manually, but it is unwise to write complex stuff without a working SDK.

Can I help? Depends who you are. If you’re an established reverse engineer, you know how to contact me. If you just want to “beta test,” read above. If you know any other way of helping me, don’t ask, just do it™, since UVL is open source. Even though I don’t accept monetary donations before I release anything, if you have access to broken Vitas, memory cards, games, etc, or any unused hardware reversing tools like logic analyzers; anything you wouldn’t mind parting with, one of the things me and others involved don’t have access to is funds for materials to test some of the more… risky ideas and if you could help with that respect, just use the contact link at the top of the page to get in touch with me.

What needs to be done to “hack” the Vita? Again, that term is very vague, but I know what you mean. This is the perfect time to describe (as far as I know) the Vita’s security structure and what needs to be done at each level.

PSP emulator

I’ll start with the PSP emulator just because that is what’s “hacked” right now. How much control do you have of the Vita when you use vHBL? Almost none. On the PSP itself, games are “sandboxed” (meaning some other process tells it what functions of the PSP can be used by the current game, main thing being that one game can’t load another game). Because the Vita emulates the PSP, it also emulates this structure.

PSP kernel

One level up, we have “kernel exploits” on the PSP, which means that we are no longer limited to what functions of the PSP we can use. Any PSP function that is emulated by the Vita can be used, that’s why you see ISO loading as the main thing. However, all of this, the PSP emulator, sits in the Vita game sandbox. This sandbox is just like the PSP one, in that another Vita process tells the game (in this case, the PSP emulator running some PSP game) what Vita functions can be used in a similar fashion. For example, if a game doesn’t explicitly declare that it’s going to use the camera or bluetooth (and Sony approves), any code that tries to use these functions will crash.

Vita userland

This is where UVLoader works; we exploited some game to run code inside it’s sandbox, meaning that if that game doesn’t have camera functions, no UVLoader Vita homebrew can use the camera either. This also means, of course, we can’t load pirated Vita games and so on. A fun fact here is that, in theory, if someone finds an exploit in Kermit, the system inside the PSP emulator that talks to the Vita through a virtual serial port, they can run UVLoader in the process hosting the emulator (one level higher than a PSP kernel exploit), meaning they may be able to modify the emulator to have more RAM or faster CPU or etc. Another advantage of running UVLoader here is that because the PSP emulator has access to more Vita hardware than most games (bluetooth, camera, etc), homebrews could have more access too.

However, it’s easier said than done. It’s hard to appreciate  how hard it is to get a Vita userland exploit. Let’s work backwards: we want to somehow run native ARM code, how? Well, the classic route is some stack smash. But wait, modern ARM processors have XN (eXecute Never), which is a feature that only allow code in memory to run at specific locations (these locations are determined by the kernel and are read only). Ok, we have some other choices here: heap overflows, ROP (google if you don’t know), and so on (assuming you even know you got a working exploit, which in itself is hard to know without additional information; most “crashes” are useless), but all of these choices require that you know enough about the system to create a payload fitted for the system. That means, you need either a memory sniffer or somehow dump the memory. Well, let’s rule out hardware memory sniffing since the Vita has the RAM on the same system-on-a-chip as the CPU. How do we dump the memory then? Usually, you need to run some code to dump the memory or do some kind of oracle attack on crashes or error messages or something. Option one only works if we hacked the system before, and the second one, AFAIK, won’t work because the Vita doesn’t give any information when it crashes. So how did I get the first userland exploit? I’ll leave that as an exercise to the reader…

Vita kernel (lv2?)

Vita userland is the most we have access right now and PSP kernel mode is the most that is public. What comes after? Remember all information at this point could be wrong and is based off of the little evidence I have currently. We are in the Vita sandbox right now, which means we can run homebrew, but we can’t use functions that the game doesn’t use (camera, bluetooth, USB, etc). We also can’t modify the system (run Linux, change the theme, add plugins, etc). For those to work, we need to go one level up: the Vita kernel, which might be called lv2. Even with complete userland access, we can’t even poke at the kernel. The kernel acts like a black box, providing functions to the system through syscalls. You pass input into these syscalls and it returns some output, without revealing how the output is created. The kernel’s memory is separate from userland obviously, and even guessing what syscalls do (there’s no names in the memory, only numbers) is a challenge. In order to hack the kernel, we have a problem that is very much like the one I’ve stated above about getting Vita userland, except with even more limitations. Again, there’s the circular problem of needing a kernel RAM dump to inspect for exploits and requiring a kernel exploit to dump the RAM. Now, there’s even less “places” to inspect (visually and programmatically). In order of likelihood, one of the following needs to happen before there’s even a CHANCE of a kernel exploit: 1) Sony does something stupid like the PS3 keys leak, 2) we get REALLY lucky and basically stumble upon an exploit by just testing one of the several hundreds of syscalls with one of an infinite amount of different inputs, 3) some information leaks out from Sony HQ.

It’s still unknown how much control we would have if kernel mode is compromised, but me and some others think that we MAY at least be able to do something like a homebrew enabler (HEN) that patches signature checks temporarily until reboot, allowing for homebrews with no sandbox limitations (access to camera, BT, etc) and POSSIBILITY system plugins and themes. It is very unlikely at any keys will be found at this point or being able to create or run a CFW.

Hypervisor? (lv1?)

At this point, it is purely a thought experiment, as we literally have no information beyond what we THINK the kernel does. It is highly possible that there is a hypervisor that makes sure everything running is signed and the kernel isn’t acting up and such. Getting to this would be EVEN HARDER than getting kernel, which I already think is impossible. Even at kernel, it seems to be over my skill limit, but this would definitely be above me, and someone with real skills would have to attack this. I’m thinking at least, decaps will have to be attempted here. If somehow this gets hacked, we may be able to run CFWs, but like the PS3 before the lv0, newer firmwares would not be able to be CFW’d until…

Bootloader? (lv0?)

Again, only conjecture at this point, but this is the holy grail, the final boss. Once this is compromised, the Vita would be “hacked” in every sense of the word. We may never get here (and by never, I mean maybe 5-10 years, but I would most likely not be working on the Vita at this point). Here’s is where I think the keys are stored. With this compromised, CFW of any past, present, or future firmwares could be created, and anything would be possible.

Summary

I guess to summarize, the reason there’s no release in the foreseeable future isn’t just because I don’t have time to make an sdk so there won’t be homebrews to use even if UVL is released. Even if the SDK does get done, at this point, it would be more attractive to use the control we currently have, double down, and try to get more control. If the exploit is revealed prematurely, getting the game pulled, and the firmware patched, sure we may get a fast N64 emulator in a couple of months when somebody has the chance to write it (and at that point, most people might be enticed to upgrade anyways for new firmware features and PSN access), but we will have to start at square one (read above about finding userland exploits) before having another chance at exploring the full potential of the system. Deep down, I am a researcher, and would have more interest in reversing the system than I would at making a release for users just so I could be the “first”. Like all gambles, I may end up with nothing, but that’s a risk I’m willing to take.

Reason 1,233,454 that Mitt Romney had his ass handed to him

Reason 1,233,454 that Mitt Romney had his ass handed to him

Lindsey Graham Continues His Hostage Taking Threats on the Debt Ceiling

By Heather



Here we go again with Lindsey Graham continuing to threaten to use the debt ceiling to inflict pain on the working class, or as he calls it, "saving Social Security and Medicare." Graham made this exact same threat almost a year ago where he was a little more specific about his plans for our social safety nets.

Lindsey Graham: Don't Allow Debt Ceiling to Be Raised Without Cuts and Means Testing for Social Security

Here he was on the same show, Meet the Press, again telling David Gregory that we should risk the full faith and credit of the United States of America if Democrats won't give him his pound of flesh from our senior citizens:

GREGORY: Sen. Graham, the question for you is could you vote for a bill that extended tax cuts for $250 thousand and below, extended unemployment insurance as the President wants to do and in some way delays some of these automatic spending cuts? Could you vote for that in the short term?

GRAHAM: No. If you want leaders, then you have to lead and the President's been a pathetic fiscal leader. He's produced three budgets and can't get one vote for any of his budgets. You know, Boehner will be Tip O'Neill. Obama needs to be Ronald Reagan and here's what I would vote for. I would vote for revenues, including tax rate hikes, even though I don't like them to get a... to save the country from becoming Greece.

But I'm not going to set aside the $1.2 trillion in cuts. Any hope of going over the fiscal cliff must start in the Senate. Not one Democrat would support the idea that we could protect 99 percent of Americans from a tax increase. Boehner's Plan B I thought made sense. To my Republican colleagues, the Ronald Reagan model is that if you get 80 percent of what you want, that's a pretty good day. We have the same objective of lowering taxes. I like Simpson-Bowles. Eliminate deductions, lower rates, put money on the debt. Tax rate hikes are a partisan solution driven by the President, but he's going to get tax rate hikes. […]

There will not be a big deal. The big chance for a big deal is with the debt ceiling. That's when we will have leverage to turn the country around, prevent it from becoming Greece and save Social Security and Medicare. And anybody listening to this program, I will raise the debt ceiling only if we save Medicare and Social Security from insolvency and prevent this country from becoming Greece. No more borrowing without addressing why we're in debt to begin with. That's where the real chance for change occurs, at the debt ceiling debate.

Chuck Schumer responded by reminding the viewers just how reckless Graham's remarks are and by reiterating that President Obama is not going to allow what happened the last time around to happen again. That apparently has had zero affect on Graham who is still going to go out there and stomp his feet and make ridiculous comparisons to Greece to try to scare the public, when the ones they ought to be afraid of are Graham and his fellow Republicans who are determined to continue to destroy what's left of the middle class in America and to shred every one of our social safety nets for the most vulnerable among us.

Graham feigns concern over the budget deficit now, but he never has those same concerns back when Bush was blowing mile wide holes in it with tax cuts for the rich and invading a couple of countries which he refused to put on the books. Graham's solutions never seem to include any military spending, since that's apparently the only jobs program that Republicans like -- putting military contractors to work.

Two Republican Debacles in 12 Hours

By Taegan Goddard

John Dickerson notes Republicans had two major setbacks in rapid succession: Speaker John Boehner's failed "Plan B" to avert the fiscal cliff and the NRA's embarrassing press conference.

"The Republican Party is in a rebuilding mode after its 2012 election loss. These two events--a defiant NRA and an incompetent leadership--cannot be the face of confrontation the GOP wants to show the public on high-profile issues. Tea Party activists and gun owners are a key part of the party base. But these public acts are out of sync with the moment and completely at odds with party's need to widen its membership."

Joe Conason: What Americans should learn from the "Republican apocalypse."

NRA's Wayne LaPierre Is A Desperate, Cornered Rat

 One week after the deadly massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School, the head of the NRA spoke in Washington. His plan for more school safety is more guns in schools. MSNBC's Lawrence O'Donnell offers his take.

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When Gun Nuts Write Gun Laws, Nuts Have Guns

By Tom Scocca

Read more coverage about gun control in Slate.

So this is what Wayne LaPierre came up with, with a week to reflect on the news that a law-abiding gun owner's legally purchased rifle, in the hands of her firearm-trained son, had been used to slaughter 20 kids: more guns, more law-abiding gun owners, more more more lead-spraying death machinery, more killing to stop the killers until all the killers have been killed. Only when we have eliminated the threat of "gun-free school zones," the danger and horror of children going through a school day unsurrounded by the implements of death, will we all feel safe.

People who live in the world of causes and effects and verifiable truths, the world the NRA has long since abandoned, had no trouble pointing out the flaws in LaPierre's analysis—the fact, for instance, that there had been an armed deputy sheriff on duty at Columbine High School on April 20, 1999.

Around the time LaPierre was speaking, someone in Pennsylvania was shooting another batch of people, including armed state troopers.

Guns kill people. More guns kill more people. What the NRA gets wrong—intentionally or delusionally or, in the psychologically and financially profitable zone where intention and delusion overlap—is its bedrock premise: that gun killings are the work of Bad Guys, predators whose drive to hurt and steal and kill cannot be stopped by anything but a brave Good Guy armed with a powerful firearm and, not at all incidentally, trained through an NRA-backed firearms-training program.

And the NRA insists that these people—"the monsters and the predators," as LaPierre put it—will not be thwarted by gun control, except in the funny T-shirt both-hands-on-my-weapon sense. The next Adam Lanza is already picking out his target, LaPierre said.

That's because the next Adam Lanza is almost certainly able to get his hands on a weapon to point at that target. The original Adam Lanza was apparently too confused and low-functioning to navigate Connecticut's simple waiting period and buy one for himself. But his mother, a gun enthusiast in good standing, had a stock of her own. She reportedly had wanted to feel safe.

So Wayne LaPierre wants to talk about "evil," because evil is elemental and intractable. Evil is part of the human condition. You cannot legislate away evil.

Let's leave the darkest recesses of the soul for a second. Two days before the Connecticut massacre, this happened:

This is not unknowable wickedness. It's banal teenage rage and stupidity, amplified by a gun. That's what everyday gun crime is—fleeting moments of thoughtless viciousness, made permanent with the wiggle of a finger. The Jovan Belcher murder-suicide was an ugly domestic argument; Belcher's gun collection turned it lethal. Maybe, as the gun enthusiasts argue, he might have resorted to using a knife or a club. But that's a less likely result. And even if it did happen, it would be less likely to be fatal.

In Australia, gun violence decreased markedly after the implementation of strict gun control measures. In Bogota, the number of deaths by firearm is reportedly down 58 percent, after the mayor banned public possession of guns. Take away instant, easy death-dealing, and the death rate drops.

LaPierre does not live in the realm of probabilities and harm reduction. He lives in a sick, paranoid universe where guns substitute for law, custom, and morality. Here he is, describing the country as he sees it, a place that teeters on the brink of collapse because of our national softness on crime: "Add another hurricane, terrorist attack, or some other natural or man-made disaster, and you’ve got a recipe for a national nightmare of violence and victimization."

Violence and victimization. Now is a good time to remember what really happened after Hurricane Katrina: brutal cops and bands of racist civilians went around shooting and killing unarmed people.

Why? Because they believed in the NRA message, that predators were waiting to attack law-abiding citizens. And they were right about that. They were just confused as to who the predators were.

The same confusion was apparently on George Zimmerman's mind. Another armed citizen, looking out for danger—and finding it in a teenager walking home with a bag of Skittles. This is what LaPierre wants to mobilize: "millions of qualified active and retired police; active, reserve, and retired military; security professionals; certified firefighters, security professionals, rescue personnel; an extraordinary corps of patriotic, trained, qualified citizens." With guns. Guns, guns, guns. Ready to use them.

And the police, too. "With all the foreign aid the United States does, with all the money in the federal budget, can’t we afford to put a police officer in every single school?" LaPierre said. Annie Lowrey of the New York Times quickly thumbnailed that proposal at $6.4 billion per year.

This is the most extraordinary thing about the NRA's ideology and the climate it's created. By the time you read this, there will almost certainly be someone who has jumped to the comments to denounce gun regulations as an infringement of fundamental liberties. It is only the presence of uncounted millions of guns, in the hands of uncounted millions of Americans—whether pointy-headed liberals recognize this as a "well-regulated militia" or not—that secures our freedom against the encroachment of a totalitarian police state.

Yet today, LaPierre got up and described the gun lobby's vision of our future: "A police officer in every single school." "Armed security ... building design ... access control ... information technology." "An active national database of the mentally ill."

This is the NRA’s idea of a free country. Kindergarteners on lockdown. Federal monitoring of everyone's mental-health status. Cops in every hallway.

The experts and counterexperts can and will keep arguing about the local and regional crime-rate effects under our ever-expanding concealed-carry and open-carry laws. One trend line, though, seems obvious: The Second Amendment and the Fourth Amendment have been moving in opposite directions. The NRA has racked up legislative triumph after legislative triumph, extending gun rights into airports, bars, churches, and schools. Yet rather than deferring to the armed public, the police have grown ever more militarized, ever less concerned with warrants, ever more willing to respond to disorderliness with overwhelming force. The government is collecting your email and tracking your phone. Drones are flying police missions in American skies. More than 2 million people are incarcerated.

None of that came up in LaPierre's discussion today, though he had time to denounce video games and the media. An ugly, violent, oppressive world is the world he wants. It's the world that gun culture thrives in. The only liberty that matters to these people is the liberty to kill.

Only An Uprising Will Stop The Chained CPI Now

By Mike Lux

Us progressive insiders are failing. Only an uprising- a real uprising, like with the SOPA bill last year- will turn the tide and stop this bad deal that cuts Social Security.

Progressive insiders have been trying our best, doing what we do. We have reminded Democrats of all the promises they have made to not cut Social Security benefits. We have had the policy discussions about why this is a bad idea for poor and middle class seniors and seniors-to-be. There have been full page ads in the Washington Post, and coalition meetings aplenty to coordinate lobbying strategies. There have been discussions with Democrats about why this is bad for them politically, showing them all the polls that make that point. Appeals to morality and the Democratic legacy on Social Security have been made.

But as of now, it has all been for naught. The President is moving forward with his plan, Nancy Pelosi has jumped on board, and things are rolling. The way DC works, if the Republicans say yes (and they very well might, it has been their goal to cut Social Security benefits ever since it was created), this will happen. Unless the people speak out very, very loudly.


Here’s how DC works: when a Democratic President decides on a policy direction, most of the Democratic insiders tend to either go along, or are very low key in their opposition. In a town built on access and power, few want to directly confront the guy in charge. And you know what? Before everyone gets all worked up about that fact, they should understand that it is the nature of DC insider-ism. It’s not that all these good folks who have been working this issue are bad people or sell-outs, it is just the nature of the DC system. People’s jobs are built around access, and if you make the powers that be too unhappy, you tend to lose access. Everyone here has dozens of fights ahead of them next year and the years after that, crucial fights, and they don’t want to lose the influence they have. Is one fight, no matter how important, worth blowing up your relationships for the next battle, and the next, and the next? That is how folks here operate, and I don’t get angry about it: it is what it is, as natural as the winter following the fall.

So what happens when a President announces a policy direction is that most insiders, even those who have been loudly opposing that direction in all they had previously been doing, soften their tone. They still oppose the policy but they are more quiet, more deferential about that opposition. I've been in rooms, including when I was representing the White House on the other side of the divide, full of people who oppose what a President just announced where very little opposition is expressed- maybe a little bit of push back, maybe some technical questions, but nothing heavy. I've been on conference calls where senior people in institutions who oppose a President’s policy are rationalizing why a President did what he did and reminding people that we have other issues to fight on.

I’m not telling you this so you will get angry at the system: like I said, it is what it is. I’m telling you this so that everyone is very clear: if you want to save Social Security from serious benefit cuts that will cause seniors to go hungry and have their utilities shut off, you have to act. You have to rise up and raise hell, because otherwise this train is going down the tracks- it won’t be stopped unless a lot of people get in the way NOW.

The Capitol Switchboard number is 202-224-3121. The White House number is 202-456-1414. You can sign a petition here. But it is going to take people doing more. Make sure your parents, grandparents, and everyone else you know does something. Talk to people at work and at church and everywhere you go. Join up with groups that are fighting the battle like MoveOn and Working America. Show up at your congressperson’s office and let them know what you think. Organize a picket outside that congressional office. Do not hold anything back if you care about this issue.  

And maybe, just maybe, if enough of us raise some hell, this train headed down the track to cutting Social Security benefits, to taking money out of the hands of vulnerable innocents who had nothing to do with the deficits, will be forced to stop.

Howard Dean on fiscal cliff GOP fail

Former Vermont Governor Howard Dean joins Ed Schultz to talk about House Speaker John Boehner's failure to get enough votes needed to pass his "Plan B" fiscal cliff proposal.

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Rep. Steny Hoyer weighs in on ‘Plan B’ failure

House Speaker John Boehner has lost control of his caucus. He failed to get the number of votes needed to pass his "Plan B" fiscal cliff proposal. Congressman Steny Hoyer of Maryland weighs in on the GOP's failure.

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Republicans try to blame Obama over fiscal cliff

House Speaker John fails to bring his "Plan B" up for a vote. Ed Schultz talks to Steve Benen of the Maddow Blog and Michael Tomasky of the Daily Beast about Thursday's breaking news.

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Boehner fails to get votes for ‘Plan B’

House Speaker John Boehner failed to get enough votes to pass his "Plan B" fiscal cliff proposal. Congressmen Elijah Cummings and John Garamendi weigh in on the breaking news.

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Speaker Boehner's Plan B vote belly flops in the House

House Speaker John Boehner did not have the votes for his Plan B gimmick. Rep. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., joins Ed Schultz to explain what happened.

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Mr. President, I am Disappointed

Remember when the White House said Social Security was “off the table” in the deficit talks because it has a $2.7 trillion surplus and hasn’t contributed to deficits?  Remember when President Obama pledged not to cut benefits for retirees, widows and orphans?

The White House has now agreed to adopt a stingier formula for cost-of-living increases which would cut benefits. 

In a Senate floor speech, Bernie Sanders said the White House had offered repeated assurances that would not happen “and that Social Security should be off the table in terms of deficit reduction. I heard that many, many times. So I wonder how Social Security suddenly has gotten back on the table, including a chained CPI with devastating cuts to seniors and disabled vets,” Sanders said. “Mr. President, I am disappointed.”


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Rep. Keith Ellison says many in Congress refuse to ‘throw Grandma under the bus’ to solve fiscal cliff problems

Congressman Keith Ellison, D-Minn., tells Cenk Uygur that despite reports that Obama has offered to cut to Medicare and Social Security to solve fiscal negotiations, many Democrats have already determined they won’t support any cuts to entitlements. Ellison says, “I’m not one of those who sits back and calculates odds, and then does what I think is the most probable outcome. We are standing for what’s right, and throwing Grandma under the bus to solve these budgetary problems is wrong.”