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[benjipwns]

He apparently owns $50+ million (potentially up to $100 million) in land and real estate. Mostly farm land or similar (75%) which nets him another $16-20 million through related agribusiness he's invested in. (I figure this is true for a lot of the states like that, Montana, North Dakota, etc. especially if there's oil or minerals on their land holdings.)

Yes, I'm a Senate expert and no I didn't Google that and just posted from the first article/slideshow on it.

Also some of these wealth estimates can include spouses as it can be difficult to separate their finances on the required disclosure forms.

 

[NYCmetsfan]

Based on a couple of lists it looks like Debbie Stabinow, Kirsten Gillibrand, Chris Murphy and the now defunct Mark Pryor were some of the lowest on various lists covering 2011-13. Though Deb Fisher may have a negative net worth apparently. (Temporarily due to recent stock losses.)

Rubio is in the bottom 20 Senators though. He's also the 93rd youngest senator and only four Senators took office at a younger age than he did (Cotton, Murphy and Mike Lee plus 40 years ago Leahy did.) So he needs some more time getting those Pelosi style deals.

The big ones as estimated by OpenSecrets:

1	Mark Warner (D-Va)	    	$254,168,650 
2	Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn)     $99,581,170 
3	Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif)      $77,235,068 
4	Bob Corker (R-Tenn)	    	$54,419,017 
5	James E. Risch (R-Idaho)  	$53,630,527 
6	John Hoeven (R-ND)	    	$38,665,535 
7	Ron Johnson (R-Wis)	    	$36,840,507 
8	David Perdue (R-GA)	    	$31,670,606 
9	Mitch McConnell (R-Ky)	    	$30,402,026 
10	Claire McCaskill (D-Mo)	    	$23,410,107 
11	Johnny Isakson (R-Ga)	    	$22,531,011 
12	Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn) 	$22,361,024 
13	John McCain (R-Ariz)	    	$20,594,578 
14	Steven Daines (R-Mont)	    	$20,337,086 
15	Rob Portman (R-Ohio)	    	$16,868,060 
16	Mike Rounds (R-SD)	    	$16,097,514 
17	Angus King (I-Maine)	    	$15,481,085 
18	Michael F. Bennet (D-Colo)	$12,110,515 
19	Richard C. Shelby (R-Ala) 	$11,189,008 
20	Thom Tillis (R-NC)	    	$8,646,013

I literally knew you were gonna respond with a some facts lol, thx though this stuff is super interesting. If I ever need some political facts I'm coming to you.

 

[benjipwns]

Ah, I see Richard Blumenthal really lives up to the Fairfield County stereotype.

Hey, he earned it. He served in Vietnam.

 

[benjipwns]

Also, is anybody else surprised by Mark Warner's estimated median wealth? I knew he was rich but I didn't think he was that rich. He could potentially be way wealthier than fucking Romney.

 

[ivysaur12]

He apparently owns $50+ million (potentially up to $100 million) in land and real estate. Mostly farm land or similar (75%) which nets him another $16-20 million through related agribusiness he's invested in. (I figure this is true for a lot of the states like that, Montana, North Dakota, etc. especially if there's oil or minerals on their land holdings.)

Yes, I'm a Senate expert and no I didn't Google that and just posted from the first article/slideshow on it.

Also some of these wealth estimates can include spouses as it can be difficult to separate their finances on the required disclosure forms.

Yeah, I was about to say, I'm assuming most of McCaskill's wealth comes from her husband. And that all makes sense, I just wanted to kick Idaho while it was down.

Also, is anybody else surprised by Mark Warner's estimated median wealth? I knew he was rich but I didn't think he was that rich. He could potentially be way wealthier than fucking Romney.

It's fucking insane. I'm guessing it's real estate investments?

 

[benjipwns]

Looks like he's basically into everything at this point, but this is the original source of his wealth:

In the early 1980s, Warner served as a staff member to U.S. Senator Christopher Dodd, also a Democrat from Connecticut.[5] He later used his knowledge of federal telecommunication law and policies as a broker of mobile phone franchise licenses, making a significant fortune. As founder and managing director of Columbia Capital, a venture capital firm, he helped found or was an early investor in a number of technology companies. He was one of the early investors in Nextel, co-founded Capital Cellular Corporation, and built up an estimated net worth of more than $200 million.

Good ol' Chris Dodd, I feel like he's personally responsible for like 80% of the revolving door phenomenon.

 

[NYCmetsfan]

Hey, he earned it. He served in Vietnam.

 

[ivysaur12]

Looks like he's basically into everything at this point, but this is the original source of his wealth:

Good ol' Chris Dodd, I feel like he's personally responsible for like 80% of the revolving door phenomenon.

Ugh. We had two pretty shitty Senators at once in CT until a few years ago. I have no real opinion on Blumenthal, but I like Chris Murphy. Rosa DeLauro is a good congressman, but I'm very excited for John Larson -- who has to be one of the least essential members of the any leadership team in recent memory -- to retire so that Beth Bye can be congressman.

I traded Dodd and Lieberman for Feinstein and Boxer. At least Boxer was excellent on the environment while Feinstein feels as if she's legislating from a time long gone, especially for a Democrat.

 

[benjipwns]

It's kinda amusing that CT has the second wealthiest Senator and potentially the 99th wealthiest Senator. (Murphy's estimates range from 96th-99th.)

Like they meet and ask each other what they did that weekend and both went out on their boats. But Blumenthal is talking about his 180 foot yacht and Murphy's talking about his used dingy.

 

[pigeon]

what is the school lunch program doing lol

Giving hungry children food?

 

[Plinko]

Does anyone here have a link or a list of things the GOP gutted from the ACA before it was passed?

I am dealing with a 60-year old man who is furious that his insurance rates went up so much ($400 a month to $850 with higher deductibles) because of the plan. He is blaming democrats for everything and I am positive I read a ton of things the republicans did to the bill that made it less appealing.

 

[David Incorporated Esq.]

Does anyone here have a link or a list of things the GOP gutted from the ACA before it was passed?

I am dealing with a 60-year old man who is furious that his insurance rates went up so much ($400 a month to $850 with higher deductibles) because of the plan. He is blaming democrats for everything and I am positive I read a ton of things the republicans did to the bill that made it less appealing.

What the fuck, how did it go up so much on an older person? Was his last insurance plan "If you get cancer we'll cover the taxi back and forth to the hospital for chemo"?

 

[Plinko]

What the fuck, how did it go up so much on an older person? Was his last insurance plan "If you get cancer we'll cover the taxi back and forth to the hospital for chemo"?

No idea. Self-employed, makes $70000 a year, just him and his wife. Fantastic plan, too. Much lower deductibles.

 

[David Incorporated Esq.]

No idea. Self-employed, makes $70000 a year, just him and his wife. Fantastic plan, too. Much lower deductibles.

Yeah but for what coverage? That significant a jump seems crazy.

 

[gcubed]

Giving hungry children food?

i thought the school lunch program was pretty bad at enforcing or checking its income based requirements on a consistent basis. That could be why the number is so large

 

[Plinko]

Yeah but for what coverage? That significant a jump seems crazy.

The bronze plan he can get for $850 now is worse than his previous plan.

 

[pigeon]

i thought the school lunch program was pretty bad at enforcing or checking its income based requirements on a consistent basis. That could be why the number is so large

Yeah, definitely. What I was trying to say is, the school lunch program is probably bad at enforcing its income based requirements because that enforcement requires telling hungry children they can't have food that is already prepared.

That is a difficult task for most people to do!

 

[Black Mamba]

The bronze plan he can get for $850 now is worse than his previous plan.

Is he a smoker?

But $450 month plan for a 60 year old has to be a fucking shit plan. Come on, that's what the market in Cali was nearly charging many 30 year olds!

Wait, $450 for both him and his wife? Nope. Not buying it. Either he had a garbage plan or he's lying.

Yahoo News retweeted
STEW ‏@StewSays 13m13 minutes ago
Sen. McConnell and @SpeakerBoehner announced that @SenJoniErnst will deliver the GOP Address to the Nation Tuesday night. #SOTU

LOL, Bachman Part Deux.

 

[Joe Molotov]

I assume she's giving the official Republican response, not the Tea Party's Response, or the Voices in Rand Paul's Head's Response?

 

[thepotatoman]

The bronze plan he can get for $850 now is worse than his previous plan.

You can have all the low deductables, co-pays, and preimums you want, but it's not going to do anything for you if the insurance company cancels on you the moment you get sick with anything serious. If he really did have a plan that cheap, it probably was a plan like that, which was legal until ACA happened.

 

[PhoenixDark]

Remember when Aaron Strife said insulting farmers was no big deal and dems would hold Iowa?

Now she's giving the response to the SOTU. Great to see women do well in politics.

 

[NYCmetsfan]

LOL, Bachman Part Deux.

They tried a women last year or was it the year before?.

Its gonna be the same "kindergarten lecture" style that seems extremely patronizing.

 

[Black Mamba]

Remember when Aaron Strife said insulting farmers was no big deal and dems would hold Iowa?

Now she's giving the response to the SOTU. Great to see women do well in politics.

Remember those 2 weeks when you weren't a troll?


Anyway, made a thread on this. ACA has successfully reduced number of people struggling to pay medical bills and those delaying medical care. Take a look. http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=972560

 

[ivysaur12]

God, I can't wait until we're rid of Joni Ernst.

 

[NYCmetsfan]

God, I can't wait until we're rid of Joni Ernst.

Its so far from now ..... damn it Iowa

 

[WayneMorse]

Is there anything about Joni Ernst other than she's a mother and a soldier?

God, I can't wait until we're rid of Joni Ernst.

Ernst is the Tea Party in the final form. She's charismatic and likeable enough that literally any position she holds is irrelevant because her personality and backstory (she is a mother and a soldier after all) is enough to carry her through politics.

 

[Joe Molotov]

Is there anything about Joni Ernst other than she's a mother and a soldier?

She cuts off hog balls.

 

[WayneMorse]

Every time I think UK politics is just as bad as American politics I always remember that they don't have this ridiculous obsession with backstory like we do here. There are no MPs bragging that they're a mother and a soldier.

 

[Aaron Strife]

Remember when Aaron Strife said insulting farmers was no big deal and dems would hold Iowa?

Now she's giving the response to the SOTU. Great to see women do well in politics.

Remember when PhoenixDark said Scott Brown had Massachusetts on lockdown (lost by 7 points) and Claire McCaskill would lose in Missouri (won by 16 points)?

We all have our misfires. The DSCC's was assuming Bruce Braley would be a good candidate.

 

[PhoenixDark]

Is there anything about Joni Ernst other than she's a mother and a soldier?

That's rather demeaning...

 

[WayneMorse]

That's rather demeaning...

Well I mean, I'm just asking a question, because her campaign last year was ran on the mantra that she was a mother and a soldier.

Joni Ernst, a mother, soldier and conservative serving the state of Iowa. Candidate for U.S. Senate 2014.

Literally the byline for her campaign site when you Google her.

 

[Black Mamba]

With Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell promising an open debate on the Keystone XL pipeline bill, Senator Bernie Sanders, the maverick Independent from Vermont, has crafted a beauty of an amendment. He plans to offer a “sense of Congress” resolution in the debate asking each senator if he or she agrees with “the opinion of virtually the entire worldwide scientific community” that climate change is a factually proven problem resulting in “devastating problems in the United States and around the world.”

If nothing else, the proposal should attract extra attention to the pipeline debate and Republican members’ discomfort in staking an un-hedged position on the global warming issue.

Senator McConnell, anxious to garner all the support he can, insisted there will be no back room maneuvering to block amendments. “We are wide open,” he told Capitol reporters. When asked if that included the Sanders amendment, Mr. McConnell exclaimed, “Yeah,” according to The Hill newspaper.

The Sanders amendment confronts what lately has been the classic answer from Republican politicians trying the shave the issue: “I’m no scientist.”

“Okay, but what do you think as a senator?” is effectively Mr. Sanders’ follow-up question. No I’m-glad-you-asked-me-that essay answers, please. An aye or a nay will do, on the record.

Registered Republican voters recently faced much the same question (“Do you think global warming is happening?”) from the Yale Project on Climate Change Communication. Forty-four percent agreed it was. That’s not a majority, but at least they answered unequivocally—which is exactly what Senator Sanders is aiming to make his colleagues do next week.

http://takingnote.blogs.nytimes.com...icans-to-state-their-views-on-climate-change/'

trololololol

 

[Wilsongt]

Well I mean, I'm just asking a question, because her campaign last year was ran on the mantra that she was a mother and a soldier.



Literally the byline for her campaign site when you Google her.

She apparently has a thing for balls.

 

[Fenderputty]

http://takingnote.blogs.nytimes.com...icans-to-state-their-views-on-climate-change/'

trololololol

Holy shit.

 

[NYCmetsfan]

Didn't know Benji was in Watch_Dogs

 

[Rhomega Beta]

Arizona passes law requiring high schoolers to take a US citizenship test to graduate:

http://www.azcentral.com/story/news...requiring-students-pass-civics-test/21830955/

Arizona will became the first state to require high school students to pass a civics test to graduate when Gov. Doug Ducey signs a bill that was fast-tracked Thursday.

HB2064 sailed through the Legislature's committees Thursday morning and was approved by both houses Thursday afternoon.

Daniel Scarpinato, Ducey's spokesman, said the governor would sign the bill Thursday, as he promised in his State of the State speech on Monday.

The American Civics Act will require students to pass 60 of the 100 questions on the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization civics test, and they can retake the test until they pass, starting in eighth grade.

QUIZ: Can you pass a sample test?

The requirement will start for the class of 2017, today's high school sophomores.

It will be up to school districts and charter schools to determine how to include civics instruction in their curricula and how to test their students.

Sydney Hay of Silver Bullet, a consulting firm, said that with Ducey's signature, Arizona will be the first state to pass such a measure. Her firm is working to pass the bill in all states by Sept. 17, 2017, the 230th anniversary of the U.S. Constitution.

She said North Dakota is also fast-tracking the bill. In all, 18 states are likely to pass the bill this year, she said.

 

[PhoenixDark]

Sounds like the Keystone pipeline has enough votes to beat a veto right?

 

[NYCmetsfan]

Sounds like the Keystone pipeline has enough votes to beat a veto right?

last I heard was 63, they need 67. They won't hit that unless they get something out of the GOP

 

[thepotatoman]

Arizona passes law requiring high schoolers to take a US citizenship test to graduate:

http://www.azcentral.com/story/news...requiring-students-pass-civics-test/21830955/

Is there a lot of kids that can't pass it or something? I believe it's a pretty easy test. Seems like a waste of time if kids can already ace it without any extra focus in schools, but if there's honestly a lot that can't, then I guess it's a good idea.

 

[NYCmetsfan]

Is there a lot of kids that can't pass it or something? I believe it's a pretty easy test. Seems like a waste of time if kids can already ace it without any extra focus in schools, but if there's honestly a lot that can't, then I guess it's a good idea.

My first thoughts it a measure to make sure people are 'real americans' and get back at people who desire to identify themselves with others aspects of the US like latino culture, native american culture. But if they are using the Immigration test's questions its not horrible (though not needed) as those questions are pretty good and not as USAUSAUSA as I'd imagine a AZ created test would be

 

[OmniOne]

last I heard was 63, they need 67. They won't hit that unless they get something out of the GOP

Wouldn't they also need 2/3rds of the House?

 

[FyreWulff]

Sounds redundant. They should already be teaching proper civics knowledge anyway.

As long as there isn't a forced loyalty oath at some point.

 

[Aaron Strife]

Wouldn't they also need 2/3rds of the House?

Yup. It's dead Jim.

 

[Poodlestrike]

Arizona passes law requiring high schoolers to take a US citizenship test to graduate:

http://www.azcentral.com/story/news...requiring-students-pass-civics-test/21830955/

That's... honestly not a bad idea. Isn't there a statistic floating around that only 30% or so of Americans could actually pass the citizenship test?

 

[Plinko]

Arizona passes law requiring high schoolers to take a US citizenship test to graduate:

http://www.azcentral.com/story/news...requiring-students-pass-civics-test/21830955/

This is a brilliant idea. Probably the smartest thing Arizona's government has done in years.

 

[Wilsongt]

It might be a good idea, but you all should know better on why they are doing it.

 

[B-Dubs]

It might be a good idea, but you all should know better on why they are doing it.

Honestly it's a dumb idea, if you can pass a cumulative US History test (like the NYS Regents exam) you can pass the citizenship test. I could train a dog to pass that test. There's no point to it.

 

[Wilsongt]

*snort* Pfft hahahaha

CORONADO, Calif. (AP) — Republican presidential prospect Ben Carson on Thursday compared the Islamic State group to American patriots willing to die for freedom.

In a speech to the Republican National Committee's winter meeting outside San Diego, the former neurosurgeon and conservative favorite praised American patriots for their willingness to give their lives for their beliefs. Then he mentioned the Islamic State group.

"They got the wrong philosophy, but they're willing to die for what they believe, while we are busily giving away every belief and every value for the sake of political correctness," he said as Republican officials from across the country interrupted him with applause. "We have to change that."

You heard it here, folks. Americans are like Islamic extremists.

 

[thepotatoman]

*snort* Pfft hahahaha



You heard it here, folks. Americans are like Islamic extremists.

Let me get this straight. He's asking americans to be inspired by ISIS's will to stand up for what they believe in, and to use that inspiration to fight against political correctness?

What is it with Ben Carson and political correctness? Why does it matter to him so much? Maybe he's just confused, and thinks he'd be immune from criticism if political correctness didn't exist.

 

[speculawyer]

*snort* Pfft hahahaha



You heard it here, folks. Americans are like Islamic extremists.

No, we are not like them. He says we need to be more like them. Great idea . . . Theocracy for all!