#Rapegate: Lena Dunham #39;s Republican Rape Story Exposed
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#Rapegate: Lena Dunham's Republican Rape Story Exposed - Video
Would You Vote for a Liberal Republican? Question
Audience Question: Would you vote for a Republican if they were liberal? -On the Bonus Show: Amazon haggling, video game college scholarships, celebrity aliases leak, much more... Website:...
By: David Pakman Show
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Would You Vote for a Liberal Republican? Question - Video
Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, a Republican, made his strongest indication yet he may throw his hat in the 2016 White House race. (Saul Loeb, AFP)
COLUMBIA, S.C. As he signals strong interest in a 2016 presidential campaign, Republican Jeb Bush on Monday encouraged college graduates to "shake things up" and embrace change during a commencement address at South Carolina's largest university.
The former Florida governor's appearance, weeks before a self-imposed deadline to decide his political future, marked his second visit in three months to the state that hosts the presidential primary season's first contest in the South. Bush avoided any direct political references in his 10-minute speech to the University of South Carolina's winter commencement, but his mere presence in the state fueled new speculation about his 2016 intentions.
"Do not settle for artificial limits on you or this nation," Bush told an estimated 2,750 college graduates and 14,000 friends and family gathered in South Carolina's capital city. "We can be greater than we are."
In a TV interview shown the day before, Bush dropped more hints that he's moving toward a presidential run.
Bush said he "would be a good president," disclosed that he was writing an e-book about his time as governor that would come out in the spring, and promised to release about 250,000 emails from his time in office.
The son of one president and brother of another, Bush has the power to transform the 2016 contest like no other Republican.
He can tap into his family's vast political network, and his campaign would attract strong support from the same donor pool that other establishment-minded Republicans New Jersey Chris Christie among them need to fuel their own prospective campaigns. A Bush candidacy also would impact Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, who came up through Florida politics as a strong Bush supporter and has been considering his own presidential run.
Bush did not meet political operatives while in South Carolina, aides report, but news of his appearance buzzed through the state's political class.
"There's a lot of affection for the Bush family in South Carolina," said Warren Tompkins, a veteran South Carolina Republican operative who advised George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush.
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Republican Jeb Bush speaks in S.C. amid hints of presidential run
Businesses and industries too often seek to use the power of the state to eliminate or impair their competitors. Such protectionist proposals end up hurting consumers because they result in less choice, reduced convenience, and higher prices. A new protectionist effort is currently underway in Utah, a politically red state with a Republican governor and a state legislature completely controlled by the GOP.
The target of this latest ill-advised push is Zenefits, a San Francisco-based startup company launched in 2013. As TechCrunch describes it, Zenefits helps businesses by providing a cloud-based dashboard to HR departments designed to help small businesses manage hiring, termination and all the benefits and payroll details necessary in-between those events. Zenefits also connects companies with health insurance providers.
This cutting edge startup has experienced great success early on in large part because, as the aforementioned TechCrunch article points out, Zenefits makes it justthat much easierto manage the insurance piece once a business has authorized the company as its broker. And, as a result, more traditional insurance brokers are finding it difficult to compete with the companys business model.
Utahs traditional insurance brokerage community is none too pleased about having to compete with Zenefits. On November 20, Utah Insurance Commissioner Todd Kiser sent a letter to Zenefits, informing the company that it is violating Utah inducement and rebating laws because it offers its software for free. Kiser said the company should be assessed $5,000 for each violation and twice the profit generated per violation. Because of this, Zenefits would currently be on the hook for at $97,000 penalty.
Kiser told Zenefits that it could come into compliance with state law by raising prices and ceasing to advertise. Zenefits does not charge businesses for their software, but they generate a profit from commission paid by the insurance providers with which they connect their clients. Zenefits understandably does not wish to go along with Kisers orders. Its worth noting that Commissioner Kiser was an insurance broker for 25 years prior to being elected to the state legislature. Kisers dictate, at the expense of small businesses, will protect brick-and-mortar brokerages like the one he used to run. He even said, in his own words, the ease of using Zenefits is part of the reason why he went after them.
So in Utah, its apparently a bad thing for a new company to make it easier for employers to operate their business. Thats an odd approach and one that wont help the state market itself to companies looking to move to and create jobs in Utah. Its also at odds with Utah Gov. Gary Herberts stated commitment to foster and support tech innovation in the state. Other states have smartly welcomed Zenefits.
According to Mark J. Perry, a scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, its classic government-enforced protectionism that protects existing, incumbent high-cost industries from the competition of efficient, low-cost startup rivals. And its also, as Perry puts it, a classic case of regulatory capture, which is when a regulator eventually becomes dominated by the very industry it was supposed regulate.
Its a shame that Utah officials are targeting a company that is creating jobs and helping local small business. According Fortune Magazine, Zenefits has 2000 paying clients and 450 employees. The San Francisco-based company has signed a development deal with Arizona to add 1,300 jobs there in the next three years. After raising $66 million in a June funding round and being referred to as the hottest deal in Silicon Valley, the startup, valued at $500 million, and its job-creating capacity are poised for further expansion.
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Republican Crony Capitalism On Display Out West
For the second time in three years, the trucking industry has found a friend in Senator Susan Collins.
The Maine Republican got a rider attached to the spending bill approved over the weekend so truckers will no longer have to get two nights sleep in a row before starting a work week. Suspending year-old federal regulations means truckers will be allowed to work as many as 82 hours over eight days -- upending what safety advocates said was a key component of a 15-year effort to reduce deaths caused by drowsy long-haul drivers.
I am seriously concerned that this suspension will put lives at risk, U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx said last week in a letter to lawmakers urging them to drop the measure.
Collins convinced a bipartisan majority of the Senate Appropriations Committee to support the suspension in June, just days before a trucker who police said had not slept for more than 24 hours slammed his rig into a limousine carrying comedian Tracy Morgan on the New Jersey Turnpike. Morgan, a former star of NBCs Saturday Night Live and 30 Rock, was badly hurt and fellow comedian James McNair was killed.
The bill that the measure was attached to didnt advance. Last week, defying a last-minute push by safety advocates and Foxx, the rider ended up in the $1.1 trillion spending plan Congress passed and sent to President Barack Obama on Dec. 13 to avert a government shutdown.
I care deeply about safety on our nations roads, and no one wants to see an accident caused by driver fatigue or by any other cause, Collins said in a statement last week. But, she said, the suspended rest rules presented some unintended and unanticipated consequences that require further study.
In 2011, Collins shepherded a measure also supported by the trucking industry that allows bigger trucks on Maines interstate highways for 20 years.
This years legislative victory followed an intense lobbying campaign by trucking groups, who argued the Transportation Department hadnt taken into account the consequences of its rules, like forcing more trucks onto the road during early morning rush hours because of stipulations that their weekly work breaks include at least two nights.
Small-business truckers applaud the House and Senate for rejecting scare tactics, said Todd Spencer, executive vice president of Grain Valley, Missouri-based Owner Operators Independent Drivers Association.
The Collins amendment suspends until Oct. 1, and orders a study of, rules the Transportation Department implemented last year. Under those rules, drivers, after working 70 hours over eight days, were required to rest for 34 hours before beginning another workweek. And that had to include two consecutive nights from 1 a.m. to 5 a.m.
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Maine Senator Is Again Friend to Trucking as Rule Eased