New Report On LGBT Poverty

Via the Movement Advancement Project:

A landmark report released today paints a stark picture of the added financial burdens faced by lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) Americans because of anti-LGBT laws at the national, state and local levels. According to the report, these laws contribute to significantly higher rates of poverty among LGBT Americans and create unfair financial penalties in the form of higher taxes, reduced wages and Social Security income, increased healthcare costs, and more. The momentum of recent court rulings overturning marriage bans across the country has created the impression that LGBT Americans are on the cusp of achieving full equality from coast-to-coast. But the new report, Paying an Unfair Price: The Financial Penalty for Being LGBT in America, documents how inequitable laws harm the economic well-being of LGBT people in three key ways: by enabling legal discrimination in jobs, housing, credit and other areas; by failing to recognize LGBT families, both in general and across a range of programs and laws designed to help American families; and by creating barriers to safe and affordable education for LGBT students and the children of LGBT parents.

The report documents the often-devastating consequences when the law fails LGBT families. For example, children raised by same-sex parents are almost twice as likely to be poor as children raised by married opposite-sex parents. Additionally, 15 percent of transgender workers have incomes of less than $10,000 per year; among the population as a whole, the comparable figure is just four percent. To demonstrate the connection between anti-LGBT laws and the finances of LGBT Americans and their families, the report outlines how LGBT people living in states with low levels of equality are more likely to be poor, both compared to their non-LGBT neighbors, and compared to their LGBT counterparts in state with high levels of equality. For example, the denial of marriage costs gay and lesbian families money; same-sex couples with children had just $689 less in household income than married opposite-sex couples in states with marriage and relationship recognition for same-sex couples, but had an astounding $8,912 less in household income in states lacking such protections.

Read the full report (PDF).

UPDATE: NBC News reports on the study.

Shortly after her wife died in March, Arlene Goldberg had to give up the beloved South Florida home that the couple shared. Because Goldberg’s 2011 marriage to her partner of 47 years wasn’t recognized as legal in Florida, she was denied her wife’s social security benefits. Without that income, Goldberg, 67, couldn’t pay her mortgage. “I’m trying to figure out how I am going to get through this time,” she said from Fort Myers, Florida. “I really can’t even pay my bills.”

Goldberg is among an untold number of LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) people nationwide who suffer economic distress and in some cases, poverty, as a result of anti-gay laws such as same-sex marriage bans, or from a lack of legal protections, like non-discrimination ordinances, according to a new report by two think tanks, the progressive Center for American Progress and the pro-LGBT Movement Advancement Project.

Census data and other research over the last decade have shown higher rates of financial hardship and poverty among gays. But the report’s authors make the connection between those difficulties and specific laws and policies by analyzing current incomes and poverty rates for LGBT people and their heterosexual counterparts in states that have protections and those that don’t.

Billionaires Could Buy These Cities

The Redfin Research Center has compared the median home prices in major US cities to the estimated wealth of well-known billionaires.

Just how rich is Bill Gates? According to Forbes, he’s the world’s richest person and is worth $77.5 billion. But that kind of wealth is hard to wrap your head around, so let’s put it another way: Gates could buy every single home in the entire city of Boston. That’s 114,212 single-family homes, condos and townhouses, at a total purchase price of $76.6 billion. Given that the average American struggles to afford a home, we wanted to illustrate just how many homes the wealthiest among us could buy. In this fictional real estate investment, the 30 billionaires on our list, with a combined fortune of $582 billion, could afford to own a staggering 6 percent of the total U.S. home equity.”

Ben Stein: The Solution To Poverty Is The End Of Church & State Separation

"My humble observation is that most long-term poverty is caused by self-sabotage by individuals. Drug use. Drunkenness. Having children without a family structure. Gambling. Poor work habits. Disastrously unfortunate appearance. Above all, and counted in the preceding list, psychological problems (very much including basic laziness) cause people to be unemployed, have poor or no work habits, and enter and stay in poverty. Is there any public policy that can help them? We just don’t know so far. But whipping up hate against the successful simply cannot do it. There is no connecting mechanism between envy and greater productivity. Quite the opposite. Envy legitimizes class hatred and idleness and produces nothing. What will make the genuinely poor stop sabotaging themselves? Maybe, just maybe, if we let God back into the public forum it would help. I have seen spiritual solutions work miracles." - Ben Stein, writing for American Spectator. According to Stein, people with indoor plumbing aren't really poor.

NEW YORK CITY: The Rich Get Much Richer, The Poor Get Much Much Poorer

From the New York Daily News:

The number of city residents receiving aid under the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, commonly known as food stamps, soared from 1.3 million in 2008 to 1.8 million today. Yet, with so many people in need, the biggest benefit reduction in the 50-year history of food stamps took effect Nov. 1. That’s when a temporary increase in benefits — pushed through by President Obama in 2009 as part of his economic stimulus program — lapsed. New York households receiving food stamps saw their benefits decrease by an average of $30 to $50 a month, depending on a complex formula that takes into account family size and income. For a typical family of three, that meant a drop to $189 a month, down from about $220. Food pantry and soup kitchen operators said the impact was swift and dramatic: Although the economy had rebounded since the financial crisis, those at the bottom of the ladder had not fully shared in the recovery. Nearly every emergency food program in the city has struggled in the wake of the November cut in food stamps. “Eighty-five percent reported a drastic increase (in clients) in November 2013 compared to November 2012 — and remember we’d already set records that month because of Hurricane Sandy,” said Margarette Purvis, president of the Food Bank for New York City. Nearly 50% of pantries and soup kitchens ran out of food in November, and an additional 25% had to move to smaller rations, said Purvis.

One in five New Yorkers are now on food stamps.

Lyin' Ryan Busted Lyin' At CPAC

"The left is making a big mistake here. What they’re offering people is a full stomach and an empty soul. The American people want more than that. This reminds me of a story I heard from Eloise Anderson. She serves in the cabinet of my buddy, Governor Scott Walker. She once met a young boy from a very poor family, and every day at school, he would get a free lunch from a government program. He told Eloise he didn’t want a free lunch. He wanted his own lunch, one in a brown-paper bag just like the other kids. He wanted one, he said, because he knew a kid with a brown-paper bag had someone who cared for him. This is what the left does not understand." - GOP Rep. Paul Ryan, speaking yesterday at CPAC.

Calling Ryan's claim "a story too good to check," the Washington Post reveals that the whole thing is a big ole lie that was probably lifted from the 2011 book, The Invisible Thread, a suspicion first voiced by Wonkette. The Post then gives Ryan "Four Pinocchios" - its lyingest rating for liars. Ryan has apologized in a Facebook post.

Today at CPAC, I shared a story I heard from Eloise Anderson, the secretary for children and families for the state of Wisconsin. She mentioned it in her testimony for a House Budget Committee hearing last year. I have just learned that Secretary Anderson misspoke, and that the story she told was improperly sourced. I regret failing to verify the original source of the story, but I appreciate her taking the time to share her insights.

Of course the lie already has legs on wingnut sites like the National Review.

It should be noted that the author of the book is actually an advocate of school lunch programs who works with a group called No Kid Hungry.

Crazy Eyes Vs Sen. Bernie Sanders

Clip recap:

It was the type of shout-fest debate that would not have been out of place in the original Crossfire. But instead of taking place on the reboot of that show, Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) went head-to-head on CNN's The Situation Room Monday afternoon. Once they got going, all host Wolf Blitzer had to do was get out of the way as these two ideologically-opposed lawmakers went at each other's throats for nearly fifteen minutes straight.

It really is something to watch. Blitzer to Sanders: "More taxes on the wealthy?" Sanders: "Yeeeeessss! My goodness!" Crazy Eyes: "Well. I happen to be a former tax litigation attorney...blah blah blah."

Gregory Brothers Songify The News

Featuring a singing Newt Gingrich and Bill O'Reilly.  The "steak, vodka, and caviar" chorus is pretty catchy.

Nigerian King: I Have A $1M Watch And Have The Same Cars As Queen Elizabeth

"I have a wrist watch that cost $1 million. I wear expensive wrist watches, shoes and chains, all made of diamond. First and foremost, I am very creative and secondly, I emulate the style of our forefathers, wearing royal beads as an old style. You know these days, if you want to become a popular and flamboyant king, you have to use diamonds, diamond chains, diamond wrist watches, diamond shoes, diamond ring and my muffler is also made of diamond or gold. And that will make you unique among other Obas and that doesn’t make you proud. I like to be the first in everything. I have the largest oil tank in West Africa today. I use the same type of automobile with the Queen of England, Queen Elizabeth. We use the same Rolls Royce and Bentley. Aside that, I have a seven-door limousine Mercedes, I want to be the first in everything." - Obateru Akinruntan, billionaire Obat Oil founder and tribal king of western Nigeria. (Via the Nigeria Daily Post)

Facebook Graphic Of The Day

Source.

Bill Maher On Christian Values

Mediaite recaps:

Bill Maher ended his show Friday night with a blistering takedown of religious people who would love to do things like take care of the starving and needy if it weren’t always for some personal conflict getting in the way. Maher said these Christians should “just admit you’re selfish” and come to terms with the fact that their actions do not “mirror the spirit of Jesus.” Maher mocked the Christian message of “I believe in charity, just not for people who need it” and concluded that “there’s always a good moral Christian to tell everyone you meet to fuck off and die.”

Pat Robertson To The Poor: Don't Stop Tithing Or God Won't Cure Your Diseases

In today's "Bring It Online" segment on the 700 Club, Pat Robertson fielded an email from an elderly woman who is living on Social Security and wonders if it would be a sin to stop tithing in order to help pay her sick husband's medical bills. Robertson responded: "Read carefully what the bible has to say in Malachi. He says, 'Prove me with your tithes and offerings and I will rebuke the devourer for your sake.' Your husband has all these medical problems because the devourer has not been rebuked! You need to rebuke him, you give your tithes faithfully and God, he says, 'I will rebuke the devourer, the person who is eating up your money and eating up your health.' So, you want to be healthy, that's a promise in the word!" Start at the 3:20 mark in the clip below.

Ted Cruz Is Still Talking

As of this writing Sen. Ted Cruz has been talking for over 17 hours.

A final vote on passage of the stop-gap spending measure is expected to come late Sunday if all the time for debate is used. This leaves the House of Representatives with less than a day to work on the continuing resolution before the Oct. 1 deadline at which point the government would shut down. Cruz has used his marathon session to make the case for why the Affordable Care Act should be defunded in the continuing resolution. He has repeatedly called Obamacare a "train wreck" and read tweets from constituents praising him for his commitment to the issue. But at times, his speech has turning playful as he read his daughters a bedtime story through C-SPAN. "I do not like green eggs and ham. I do not like them, Sam I am," Cruz said quoting Dr. Seuss' "Green Eggs and Ham."Cruz even quoted popular television show "Duck Dynasty" and the lyrics of Toby Keith's "Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue."

Family Research Council: There Is Nothing More Christian Than Cutting Food Stamps

Family Research Council "senior fellow" Ken Blackwell speaks to the Christian Post:

"I think through empowering others and creating self-sufficiency…there within lies the path to sense of worthiness," Blackwell told CP. "When I was growing up, there was fundamental belief, that there were times in people's life when they needed a hand up…there were temporariness to hose programs, where they were structured so that they didn't breed so that they didn't breed dependency." Blackwell also suggested that there was "nothing more Christian" than "not locking people into a permanent dependency on government handouts, but making sure they are participants in their own upliftment and empowerment so that they in fact through the dignity of work and can break from the plantation of big government."

Last week the House approved a bill that cuts the food stamp program by $39B over the next ten years. Every Democrat voted against it.

Rep. Jackie Speirer Uses Steak & Vodka Props To Slam GOP Food Stamp Cuts

Just watch this. Watch the whole thing.

PREVIOUSLY ON JMG: Speirer introduces House resolution against "ex-gay quackery."

NEW YORK CITY: Bloomberg Suggests Fingerprinting Public Housing Tenants

Speaking on his weekly radio address, yesterday New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg suggested fingerprinting the city's public housing tenants.

“What we really should have is fingerprinting to get in. And of course there’s an allegation that some of these apartments aren’t occupied by the people who originally have the lease,” said Mr. Bloomberg during his weekly radio sit-down with WOR’s John Gambling. The mayor noted that, while New York City Housing Authority building house about five percent of the city’s population, they account for about 20 percent of city crime. “We’ve just gotta find some ways to keep bringing crime down there,” he said, arguing that most people who live in the buildings want more police protection. “If you have a stranger walking in the halls of your apartment building, don’t you want somebody to stop and say, ‘Who are you? Why’re you here?’ Because the locks on these doors, with so many people coming and going, you really can’t,” he said.

Democratic mayoral candidates immediately slammed the idea.

Within an hour of Bloomberg's radio appearance, the mayoral hopeful Bill Thompson derided the fingerprinting idea as "disrespectful" and "disgraceful." "Just like stop-and-frisk, this is another direct act of treating minorities like criminals," said Thompson, a former city comptroller, in a statement. "Mayor Bloomberg wants to make New Yorkers feel like prisoners in their own homes." The public advocate Bill de Blasio, who is one of the front-runners in the mayoral race, called Bloomberg "out of touch" and urged the mayor to instead install security cameras within such public buildings, which house more than 400,000 people.

Christine Quinn also issued a statement.

“It’s a completely ludicrous and outrageous notion that NYCHA residents and their guests should have to be fingerprinted to gain access to their own homes and to visit family and friends,” she said in a statement. “Rather than go after law abiding citizens who live in public housing, the City needs to provide residents with the security systems they have been promised for years.”

A spokesman for the mayor dismissed privacy concerns, because...iPhones.

“All security is moving towards biometrics – even the next iPhone will have fingerprint security. Every day the Mayor logs into his computer by placing his finger on the keyboard to login. Why wouldn’t we want to think about providing the highest level of security possible for NYCHA residents?” he asked via email. “You place the strongest security measures on things of most value – what is more valuable than their homes?”

RELATED: The city is about to retrofit 20 public housing towers with hotel-style key cards that will replace standard locks. That project is costing $11M.

16% More American Millionaires

The number of American millionaires rose by 16% in the last year. Via New York Daily News:

Blazing stock market gains pushed more bank accounts past the $1 million mark last year. The number of millionaires around the globe reached 13.8 million by the end of 2012, up from 12.6 million in the prior year, according to a report by Boston Consulting Group. Private wealth worldwide grew by nearly 8% last year to $136 trillion. The biggest driver was the performance of equity markets, which helped the “haves’ have even more. The U.S. was home to the most millionaire households, with 5.9 million — up about 16% from the prior year.

Meanwhile the number of people using food stamps has soared by 70% since 2008.

Martin Bashir Vs TN Rep. Stacey Campfield

Tennessee's "don't say gay" crackpot is back with yet another bigoted plan. This time Campfield wants to reduce public aid to families whose kids are getting low grades.

Tweet Of The Day - Bill Donohue

Donohue is responding to a study issued yesterday by the NYC Department of Health, which observes that the highest rates of STDs are mostly found, unsurprisingly, in the city's poorest neighborhoods.  But don't expect Bill Donohue to acknowledge that Staten Island is quite prosperous compared to the South Bronx.

Among the most severe examples is ZIP code 10474 in Hunts Point, the Bronx, where rates of hepatitis C, chlamydia, gonorrhea and HIV/AIDS all ranked in the top 20 percent of all New York City ZIP codes. Faring even worse was ZIP code 10457, in the Tremont section of the Bronx, which ranked in the top quintile for all seven diseases surveyed. Forty-three percent of residents in the neighborhood live below the federal poverty line, the report said. Overall, the Bronx also had the greatest percentage of ZIP codes – 68 percent – in the top 20 percent citywide for multiple STDs. Nineteen ZIP codes with high rates of poverty in the South Bronx, north-central Brooklyn and northern Manhattan saw top-quintile rates of HIV/AIDS, chlamydia and gonorrhea, the study said.

Zip codes in Chelsea and Hell's Kitchen were also in the top 20% due to higher incidences of HIV. 

Cory Booker's Day Six

"Today is my 6th day of the SNAP Challenge; my 6th sweet potato; my 6th day of canned beans; and, my 6th day of canned veggies. I still like those foods but I found myself craving some variety. I realize when you find food on sale or buy in bulk, you can end up eating a lot of the same thing over and over. As my food supply dwindles, I am keenly aware that millions of Americans face food insecurity and hunger on a daily basis. I am deeply concerned, and believe our nation needs to be more attentive and engaged. The SNAP program is at great risk for budget cuts as Washington pares federal spending to avert a year-end fiscal crisis. These cuts to SNAP funding could mean millions of more Americans - families with children, families with elderly and veterans - will live with less food, less options, and less hope." - Newark Mayor Cory Booker, writing yesterday on his LinkedIn blog.

Cory Booker's Third Day On Food Stamps

"My third day on the #SNAPChallenge was by far the toughest. Today, I was in motion and at meetings all day. My crazy schedule required that I prepare all of my food in the morning to enable me to eat on the go. In addition to preparing and packaging my meals, I realized early this morning that I am eating too much food per meal. If I do not cut back the amount I am eating at each meal, I will run out of food before the #SNAPChallenge is over.  In the days ahead I am now going to eat smaller portion sizes. I decided to eat my dinner of peas, black beans, cauliflower and broccoli in small bites between 3pm and 7pm in between meetings and calls hoping that would allay some of the hunger pains I felt yesterday. This actually worked and something I might try again tomorrow." - Newark Mayor Cory Booker, halfway through his week-long existence on food stamps money.