Chicago Teachers on strike, Crazy Uncle Joe, Krugstradamus, Rand Paul learns something, the beatings will continue until morale improves, Waiting for Godot in Texas, Joe Walsh: Terrible Person, and Wells Fargo: Terrible Person.
Welcome to the Daily Sausage.
First up, via Al-Jazeera: Chicago Public Schoolteachers have gone on strike for the first time since 1987 after negotiations with the city and Mayor Rahm Emmanuel broke down. 29,000 teachers are off the job, and public schools in Chicago are closed.
Public schools are the bedrock of our society. They are a guarantee that every single child in the United States, regardless of income, can get an education. They are a backstop against the creation of a permanent, uneducated underclass. And yet, every time a district tries to raise property taxes to pay for new teachers, new facilities, new programs, or even just maintaining existing versions of the above, it gets voted down.
It’s not just a “do as I say, not as I do” argument we accept from our politicians; we accept it from ourselves as well.
Next up: TPM has a great picture of Joe Biden hanging out with some bikers. Because hey, why the hell not.
The New York Times’ Tom Edsall has a great piece on the fact that Paul Ryan is basically comprised entirely of smoke and mirrors. I mean really, it’s fantastic. Meticulously detailed, well thought out, well written, etc.
The New York Times’ Paul Krugman also has a great piece on the fact that Paul Ryan is basically comprised entirely of smoke and mirrors. Same deal; detailed, thought out, well written, etc.
The difference is that Tom Edsall’s piece is from today, and Paul Krugman’s is from TWO YEARS AGO.
From now on, Paul Krugman shall be referred to as KRUGSTRADAMUS. If someone would be so kind as to Photoshop a Swami hat on him, I’d really appreciate it.
Speaking of KRUGSTRADAMUS, he utterly schools Senator Rand “Ron Paul’s Spalpeen” Paul on the subject of government employment, which has dropped tremendously under President Obama, in this piece from ThinkProgress.
Of course, none of this should surprise us, considering that in a recent poll 15% of Republicans thought that Mitt Romney was responsible for killing Osama Bin Laden. I’ll let that sink in for a bit.
With President Obama doing well in the polls, there’s early speculation as to whether the GOP will work with him during his second term.
BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
Yeah, no. The GOP will not be working with President Obama during his second term.
As a matter of fact, I fully expect the GOP to lose their goddamn MINDS after he gets re-elected.
You see, this is the end of the line for the GOP as a national party without significant structural change. They’ve grown too extreme, too nutty, too far out there to nominate a Presidential candidate that can survive both the GOP Primary as well as win the Presidency. Let’s be realistic: if President Barack Hussein Obama was named President Andrew Tyler Smith and were a white guy, he’d be winning by twenty points and well on his way to a landslide right now.
Change is never easy, and America is undergoing a tremendous demographic one right now. The Greatest Generation, the Silent Generation, and the Boomers are getting older and dying off. They’re being replaced by Generation X and my generation, the Millennials, which are significantly more diverse and tolerant.
Nowhere is this more notable than in Texas, where Texas Democrats see a promising future where Texas could turn Purple or Blue.
Right now, Texas is the only majority minority state that votes reliably Republican. All 29 statewide offices are held by Republicans. The general consensus, however, is that that will almost certainly change.
Don’t be surprised if, in the next ten years or so, Democrats start competing in Texas. Of course, it’s worth mentioning that Hollywood Park, Texas Mayor William Bohlke was killed by a donkey late last month. Seriously. I can’t make this shit up if I tried.
Joe Walsh, Deadbeat Dad is back in the news, saying that Sandra Fluke should “go get a job”. Joe Walsh is a terrible fucking person, but I suppose it’s progress that he didn’t try to tell her to get back in the kitchen. Baby steps, people. Baby steps.
Finally, Corporate Person Wells Fargo accidentally foreclosed on a wrong house and sent a crew to empty it out, and managed to lose or destroy all of the family’s possessions in the process. This is, amazingly enough, not the first time this has happened. Wells Fargo is also a terrible fucking (corporate) person. I hope a new beachfront condo in Malibu will salve the couple’s emotional wounds, because they’re about to get PAID.
