Tag Archives: super

Harry Reid Exposes the Left’s Dirty Little Secret

Mother Jones

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Jason Zengerle profiles Sen. Harry Reid:

“As my staff will tell you,” Reid said to me when we spoke the next day, “I’ve done a number of things because no one else will do it. I’ve done stuff no one else will do.” I expected him to give an ­example of a successful parliamentary maneuver or perhaps a brave political endorsement, but instead he mentioned one of the most disreputable episodes of his long career, when, during the 2012 presidential campaign, he falsely accused Mitt Romney of not having paid his taxes. (Even though the facts were wrong, the accusation spurred Romney to release his tax returns, which showed he had only paid 14.1 percent.) “I tried to get everybody to do that. I didn’t want to do that,” Reid said. “I didn’t have anything against him personally. He’s a fellow Mormon, nice guy. I went to everybody. But no one would do it. So I did it.

Brendan Nyhan comments:

Nyhan is right, but my initial reaction to this anecdote was quite different: Reid tried and tried to get someone else to do this, but no one would.

Can you imagine a similar situation on the right? Sean Hannity would have practically paid for the privilege. Rush Limbaugh would have happily spent an entire show on it. The Wall Street Journal edit page would have been all over it. Newt Gingrich would have pitched in. At least 20 or 30 members of the House would have been happy to do it. I bet Jim Inhofe would have given a speech in the well of the Senate in a heartbeat. Half a dozen Super PACs would have rushed to buy air time.

But among liberals, zilch. No one would do something like this. That’s pretty amazing.

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Harry Reid Exposes the Left’s Dirty Little Secret

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Jeb Bush’s Campaign, Once Flush With Cash, Is Now $260,000 in Debt

Mother Jones

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Jeb Bush, once considered the prohibitive front-runner for the Republican presidential nomination due to his nine-figure war chest, has now revealed that his defunct campaign is more than a quarter of a million dollars in debt.

Bush ended his campaign almost two months ago amid poor poll numbers, but the extent of its wreckage is only now becoming clear. In a filing made over the weekend, Bush revealed that his presidential campaign is more than $260,000 in debt and has just $31,000 in cash on hand. That’s a stunning admission from the candidate who once sat on a pile of more than $115 million in cash, and a demonstration of just how far Bush fell.

A year ago, before Bush was even a declared candidate, he was working closely to wring dollars out of big donors for the benefit of his super-PAC, Right to Rise, which vacuumed up more than $100 million in its first six months of existence. Bush aides talked of a “shock and awe” campaign that would wow and cow his rivals.

According to Right so Rise’s filing from last summer, on April 15, 2015, exactly a year before the new report of the campaign’s debt, the super-PAC raised $852,000—just on that one day alone. The single biggest donor that day, James C. Flores, the CEO of mining giant Freeport-McMoran’s oil operation, gave $250,000. That would now be nearly enough to wipe out the campaign’s remaining debt. (Not that it could: Super-PAC money isn’t legally available for the direct use of the candidate it backs.)

Last April, Bush was actually worried about being seen as having too much money, and he asked his super-PAC donors not to write such big checks. This April, the Bush team is just trying to keep the lights on while it finishes winding down.

As if that weren’t bad enough for Bush, the biggest outstanding debt comes from a $250,000 loan issued during the campaign’s dying days—by Bush himself.

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Jeb Bush’s Campaign, Once Flush With Cash, Is Now $260,000 in Debt

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John Oliver Slams Donald Trump and GOP Rivals for Reducing Election to Dick-Measuring Contest

Mother Jones

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Judging by Donald Trump’s sweeping victories on Super Tuesday, Republican voters have decidedly ignored John Oliver’s plea to #MakeDonaldDrumpfagain and are on track to nominate the “serial liar” for president—at least for the time being.

But that doesn’t mean the “Last Week Tonight” host is done skewering Trump or his GOP rivals, especially after last week’s vulgar debate in Detroit, in which the real estate magnate boasted about the size of his penis on national television.

“That’s right, Donald Trump just talked about his dick during a presidential debate,” Oliver said. “A dick which I presume looks like a Cheeto with the cheese dust rubbed off.”

He then played audio excerpts of Trump’s ex-wife’s equally cringe-worthy romance novel, read by Morgan Fairchild.

As Oliver declared last night, welcome to “Clowntown Fuck-The-World Shitshow 2016.”

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John Oliver Slams Donald Trump and GOP Rivals for Reducing Election to Dick-Measuring Contest

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Big Donors Have Fled Jeb Bush’s Super-PAC

Mother Jones

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This summer, Jeb Bush’s warchest seemed unbeatable. In July, the pro-Bush super-PAC, Right to Rise, announced a record haul of $103 million. Bush insiders said at the time that this staggering total was meant to “shock and awe” the former Florida governor’s competitors and pressure uncommitted donors to either climb on the bandwagon or stay the hell out of the way. Now it’s Right to Rise’s fundraisers who must be feeling shocked and awed: According to just-released disclosures, they managed to raise just $15.1 million during the second half of the year, as Bush fell from presumptive favorite to Donald Trump’s favorite punching bag.

In July, when the super-PAC’s first-half numbers were released, we counted at least 23 donors who gave $1 million or more to Right to Rise. This time, there was just one donor who gave more than $500,000—former AIG chairman and CEO, Hank Greenberg, who donated a whopping $10 million. And where during the first half of the year Right to Rise had 9,400 donors, it reported just 155 contributors in its latest disclosure.

Last spring, the super-PAC was so worried about appearing elitist and hurting Bush’s “man-of-the-people” image that it instructed donors to hold off on making any donations larger than $1 million. According to its latest filing, the super-PAC still has $54 million in cash (after having blown more than $58 million), but still, Right to Rise officials must be regretting that decision now.

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Big Donors Have Fled Jeb Bush’s Super-PAC

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Marco Rubio Sure Does Have a Lot of (Very, Very) Secret Admirers

Mother Jones

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We all know that dark money is this year’s hotness, right? So who’s the king of dark money? It turns out the answer is Marco Rubio. Other candidates all have their Super PACs, but Super PACs disclose their donors. Rubio has the Conservative Solutions Project, a 501(c)(4) that doesn’t. And as Andrew Prokop points out, CSP has been responsible for virtually all of the TV ads so far promoting Rubio.

Wait—allow me to revise and extend. 501(c)(4) groups aren’t allowed to promote candidates, so of course CSP isn’t doing so. It’s doing “issue education.” Like this, for example:

Can you feel the education? Sure you can! So far Rubio’s buddies who run CSP have spent $8.4 million educating us about the problems facing America and the types of fresh, young, Cuban-American men who are leading the charge to solve them. For some reason though, none of the worthies involved in this issue education care to make their largesse public. I wonder what they’ve got to hide?

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Marco Rubio Sure Does Have a Lot of (Very, Very) Secret Admirers

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Can game theory predict what will happen at the U.N. climate negotiations?

Can game theory predict what will happen at the U.N. climate negotiations?

By on 24 Sep 2015commentsShare

Over the past few months, upwards of 50 countries have made their views on fighting climate change exceedingly clear. In submitting pledges to the United Nations in the run-up to the Paris negotiations, cabinets and diplomats the world over have spelled out exactly what their governments are prepared to commit to the global climate dilemma. Now, a team of economists from Norway, the Netherlands, Germany, and Scotland thinks it can leverage these positions to predict the outcome of the Paris talks in the same way football analysts might use players’ stats to predict the winner of the Super Bowl. (After all, COP21 will basically be C-SPAN’s Super Bowl.)

Viewing most national interests as frighteningly cemented, these self-dubbed “predictioneers” are employing a branch of economics called game theory to call the outcomes. Game theory is the math behind rational decision-making. In practice, what the economists’ work takes is figuring out how to convert negotiating blocs’ positions into streams of usable numbers. Climate Home has the scoop:

One method anticipates the bargaining positions of all main actors and blocs, from the United States, European Union to the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS).

How salient is the issue of loss and damage – or climate compensation – for cyclone-menaced AOSIS, for example? How flexible can it be on the issue’s inclusion in a final pact? And what clout can it exert over other countries?

Those variables, deduced by researchers’ scanning of official UN submissions as well as conversations with negotiators, award a value for each “actor”.

Running actors’ values through game theoretic models produces a series of predictions for what observers can expect from the negotiations.

Sound a little too Nate Silver to be true? It might be. Things like political momentum and the reality of fatigued, hungover diplomats are tricky, if not impossible, to capture in game theory.

But in fact, researchers on the team have predicted U.N. climate talk outcomes before — with impressive accuracy. In 2009, before the notably boondoggled Copenhagen negotiations, two of the team’s economists independently predicted the unfortunate Copenhagen outcome (which failed to guarantee any legally binding international climate action). Here’s more from Climate Home:

Frans Stokman at the University of Groningen, predicted a weak, voluntary agreement which slightly deepened pledges made for the Kyoto Protocol, and pledged a limited adaptation fund.

Bruce Bueno de Mesquita, a self-styled “predictioneer” favouring science over punditry, too predicted the Danish summit would be a “bust”.

“Sacrificing self-interest for the greater good just doesn’t happen very often. Governments don’t throw themselves on hand grenades,” he wrote in a Foreign Policy article in October 2009.

Success in Paris won’t take governments throwing themselves on hand grenades, but it will take an immense amount of compromise — especially on behalf of developed countries. How optimistic should we be about these compromises? The economists are expected to reveal their predictions shortly before the negotiations begin in late November.

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‘Predictioneers’ forecast Paris climate talks outcome with game theory

, Climate Home.

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Can game theory predict what will happen at the U.N. climate negotiations?

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You Won’t Believe How Much Money Jeb Bush’s Super-PAC Just Raised

Mother Jones

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Right to Rise, the super-PAC backing former Florida governor Jeb Bush, reported raising $103 million in the first six months of this year. It’s a record haul for a super-PAC and more than almost every presidential candidate has ever raised for their primary campaigns. The group has already spent about $5 million, but claims to have more than $98 million in the bank, which it is waiting to unleash to boost Bush’s candidacy and demolish his rivals.

The super-PAC’s massive fundraising total doesn’t necessarily represent a huge swell of popular support. According to a statement released by Right to Rise, the organization raised money from just 9,900 donors. The super-PAC reports that at least 9,400 of them gave less than $25,000. That may sound like those donors are relatively small time—and they may be compared to the group’s largest donors—but considering the most an individual can give to Bush’s actual presidential campaign is $5,400, the super-PAC’s “small donors” are still big donors in the world of political fundraising.

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You Won’t Believe How Much Money Jeb Bush’s Super-PAC Just Raised

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Super Body, Super Brain – Michael Gonzalez-wallace

READ GREEN WITH E-BOOKS

Super Body, Super Brain

The Workout That Does It All

Michael Gonzalez-wallace

Genre: Health & Fitness

Price: $1.99

Publish Date: December 28, 2010

Publisher: HarperCollins e-books

Seller: HarperCollins


Make the Most of Every Moment Not every movement is created equal. Super Body, Super Brain’s targeted exercise circuits make every second of your workout count, harnessing the power of multitasking to sharpen your mind and tone your body in just minutes a day. Crossword puzzles, Sodoku, computer games, and DVDs—there&apos;s no end to the products touting their brain-boosting benefits. But in this multimillion-dollar business, one crucial tool has been overlooked: the enormous power of physical movement. Until now. As one of New York City&apos;s most popular trainers, Michael Gonzalez-Wallace needed to keep his busy clients happy with engaging, efficient workouts. He quickly noticed that when exercises used several muscles at once, combining coordination and precision with aerobic and strength-training actions, clients were significantly more focused—and achieved better, faster results. Many hours of research and consultations with neuroscientists later, Gonzalez-Wallace had confirmed his instincts: exercises that demand balance and concentration not only tone the body, but actually increase brain activity. In fact, contrary to commonly held beliefs, the brain is constantly rewiring itself and capable of change at any age. This targeted program—the first of its kind—uses a series of carefully designed exercises to do just that. As you move through Super Body, Super Brain&apos;s innovative circuits—for little as 10 minutes a day—you will being to: Improve your alertness and lessen fatigueBecome more mentally sharp with improved memory capabilityImprove your moodLose weight and reduce your body fatStrengthen your core muscles and tone your upper and lower bodyStrengthen your heart and lungs and improve your enduranceImprove your balance and coordinationTransform your posture and become more flexible As a powerful complement to these circuits, Gonzalez-Wallace has teamed up with a top nutritionist to create brain-boosting recipes that help maximize his program&apos;s powerful results. If you have a few minutes to spare, you have the power to look better, feel better, and tackle every day with more energy and efficiency than ever before!

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Super Body, Super Brain – Michael Gonzalez-wallace

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Jeb Bush’s Nonexistent Campaign Faces Nonexistent Hurdles

Mother Jones

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Technically, Jeb Bush is not yet running for president. So technically, there have not been recent staff changes in the former Florida governor’s presidential campaign.

According to an NBC Nightly News report on Wednesday, two top campaign aides, Danny Diaz and David Kochel, were given new titles and new responsibilities. Diaz became campaign manager, and Kochel became chief strategist. While on a trip to Europe, Bush was asked by NBC’s Chris Jansing why he replaced his campaign manager, and his reply was firm. “Well first of all, we don’t have a campaign,” Bush said. “So there was no switching.”

Bush’s strategy seems to be to eliminate any potential questions about internal campaign discord by insisting that the campaign itself does not exist.

But what works for a staff shake up may not be so effective with the Federal Election Commission. Some watchdog organizations contend that this non-campaign campaign could get him into legal hot water. Candidates must follow strict FEC regulations when they raise their campaign war chests, but those regulations don’t apply to candidates who are merely “testing the waters.” Bush’s ambivalence has attracted the attention of some watchdog organizations. Yesterday, the nonpartisan watchdog groups Campaign Legal Center and Democracy 21 sent a letter to the Department of Justice urging it to “investigate apparent campaign finance violations by Jeb Bush and his associated Super PAC.” The groups allege that Bush’s super-PAC has violated federal contribution laws in the way it has raised and spent its money:

We are writing to make clear that Bush’s formal declaration of candidacy has absolutely no effect on the allegations made in our May 27 letter requesting an investigation of the Bush Super PAC scheme. In the letter, we showed that Bush already is, and has for some time been, a candidate for federal office under the statutory definition of “candidate” set forth in the federal campaign finance laws. Bush cannot evade the statutory definition of “candidate” by proclaiming he is not a candidate.

On Monday, Bush is expected to announce that his presidential campaign actually does exist.

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Jeb Bush’s Nonexistent Campaign Faces Nonexistent Hurdles

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A GOP Operative Just Got 2 Years in Prison For Breaking Super-PAC Rules

Mother Jones

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The Department of Justice scored a victory Friday morning in the fight to rein in the campaign finance Wild West that has come with the rise of super-PACs: A GOP operative in Virginia was sentenced to two years in federal prison for breaking a small, but crucial, campaign finance law in the 2012 election. It’s unclear whether this signals a sustained effort by the Justice Department to crack down on campaign finance law violators. But one thing’s for sure: it’s more than the grid-locked Federal Election Commission has done to enforce the law in this area.

There isn’t much that a super PAC can’t do under the 2010 Citizens United ruling. These outfits can raise and spend unlimited cash, soliciting funds from individuals and corporations alike. The one thing that can’t happen is coordination between a super-PAC and a candidate for elected office. And that’s the issue that was at the heart of the Justice Department’s case against GOP operative Tyler Harber, once named a “rising star” by Campaigns & Elections magazine (since revoked), who was sentenced to two years in prison for illegal coordination and lying to the FBI.

Since Citizens United, it’s been fairly clear that rules against coordination were being short-circuited, if not broken outright. Candidates’ political aides have resigned from their campaigns only to resurface at the helm of super PACs supporting that very same candidate; parents and spouses of candidates have created super PACs and pour money in; most significantly, in the run up to 2016, Jeb Bush has merged his campaign with his super PAC, allowing him to raise unlimited amounts of money and hobnob with mega-donors, while hiding behind the excuse that he is not formally a candidate. Campaign finance reformers have cried foul over Bush’s use of this loophole, but the reality is no one is likely to do anything about it. The FEC is, for all intents and purposes, putting itself on the bench this election cycle.

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A GOP Operative Just Got 2 Years in Prison For Breaking Super-PAC Rules

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