2016 Democratic US Presidential Candidates

**RPETER65** · 07-04-2015, 07:39 PM

Originally Posted by bsnub

Originally Posted by RPETER65

So again I ask why don't you tell us your vision for America.

I am not running for office and have no desire to sit hear for the next hour typing out all of the things in America that need changing. Republicans have done massive damage to this country that the nation has still not recovered from even after six years of a Democrat in the white house. Some of the most obvious things I would like to see changed;

Repeal citizens united.
End the disastrous Bush tax cuts.
Raise taxes on the rich substantially.
Pass a constitutional amendment removing money from politics.
Enact term limits.
Force big corporations to repatriate the $2.1 trillion that they have parked offshore refusing to pay taxes on.

Originally Posted by RPETER65

By the way how is that $15 minimum wage working out for the Seattle restaraunt industry?

It is going splendidly. Many restaurants have voluntarily increased wages ahead of schedule.

Have you heard differently? I will remind you that I live in the city of Seattle and have many friends who own and work in the restaurant industry here so you may want to check your facts very carefully before posting up some nonsense from a right wing blog.

Manu Alfau, Chef/Owner of La Bodega: I wish they would’ve done a little more research on how it would affect small businesses. For smaller businesses, only the super strong will survive. It will mean that only owners who are willing and able to work every day at their own businesses to reduce labor costs will survive.

Jeremy Hardy, Owner of Coastal Kitchen and Mioposto: This is a game changer. The myriad of unintended consequences is too complex to really understand; even for restaurant veterans. We cannot survive if we continue doing business as usual. I hope the public will continue to support their favorite spots while everybody figures this thing out. We are going to adjust using all of the tools at our disposal; pricing, reducing menu offerings, look at operating hours, reducing labor where we can and certainly not opening another business in our beloved Seattle. Our business model will need to change. In a business whose goal is “to build community one relationship at a time” this reduction in labor is going to make that even more difficult. This falls somewhere between feeling sad and feeling betrayed that this grenade has been dropped on us.

Brendan McGill, Chef/Owner of Hitchcock Restaurant and Hitchcock Deli: I think what people need to realize is that the money will have to come from somewhere. With a group like mine, we run a very slim margin. To pay my staff more, I need to either buy worse food or raise my prices, and I’m not willing to start buying commodity meats or fish from larger, questionably managed fisheries. My concern is that someone who currently makes $40,000 per year and isn’t affected by the wage hike won’t be willing to start paying more for all their goods and services.

Bottom line, labor can only be a function of sales. If a busy restaurant at lunch serves 150 eaters during the lunch hour, and each person spends $15, the restaurant just grossed $2,250. If labor comprises significantly more than 30 percent, the restaurant won’t be in business for long. So that allows $675 total for labor for the day, and before the employer taxes we pay that allows $550 or so. At $15 an hour, that allows 36 labor hours, which means four people can work a full day. This assumes that everyone is making the new minimum. Now look around in a busy restaurant serving 150 people—do you see more than 4 employees? Of course you do. The new math breaks the system.

**Dapper** · 07-04-2015, 07:43 PM

Originally Posted by S Landreth

I don’t necessarily think it’s Jeb, it’s the entire Rethug outreach program.

Was it Jeb Bush who corruptly stole the vote in Florida by falsifying the polling stations/results in the early 90's, giving his brother George Hellfire Wanker the whitehouse. Which in turn led to the 9/11 false-flag and mass-murder/genocide of millions of victims.

That Jeb Bush?

**Dapper** · 07-04-2015, 07:46 PM

Originally Posted by Davis Knowlton

She is a scary looking old broad!

What, the rug-munching nutbar who's married to the saxophone getting blown hick who's George Hellfire Wanker's best mate?

It's like the "choice" between coke and pepsi.

Both are the fcn same, taste like shit, kill you slowly and cause you to waste money.

**JetsetBkk** · 08-04-2015, 12:36 AM

**S Landreth** · 08-04-2015, 04:05 AM

Originally Posted by S Landreth

I don’t necessarily think it’s Jeb, it’s the entire Rethug outreach program.

He speaks Spanish flawlessly, has personal ties to Central America, and raised his family in the diverse melting pot of South Florida, but Jeb Bush trails Hillary Clinton among Hispanic voters in a possible 2016 presidential match up, according to ABC News/Washington Post polling.

According to the last two ABC News/Washington Post polls, conducted by Langer Research Associates, the former Florida governor trails Clinton with registered Hispanic voters 71-26, a margin of 3-1 -- nearly the same margin by which Hispanics supported President Obama over Mitt Romney in 2012.

71-26. Damn!

Originally Posted by RPETER65

Polls show Hillary and Jeb all square.

RPETER65

I should have added a couple things to the post above, but was busy this morning. So,……..

Originally Posted by sabang

1/2/3/4/5- She isn't Ted Cruz.

6 and 7,.....or someone who isn't either dangerous (6) or delusional (7)

Ted Cruz isn’t an idiot, he’s delusional — and that’s far more dangerous

Since Ted Cruz first announced his candidacy, much has been made of his chances of winning, his arrogance and his extreme conservative views. But most of the controversy over his candidacy centers on his lying.

It is no surprise to any of us that politicians lie. We generally assume they stretch the truth to get elected, to denigrate their political foes, and to bolster their images. But Cruz may just represent one of the biggest liars in recent history. In fact, he may be a whole new form of political liar.

The Daily Beast reports that, “Cruz’s Politifact track record for publicly asserted falsehoods is the second-highest among front-runners, totaling 56 percent of all statements they’ve looked at.” And Matthew Rozsa tell us that “Googling ‘Ted Cruz lies’ pulls back an astonishing 7,890,000 results, and on Twitter, the two phrases are basically synonymous.”

The trouble with this angle on Cruz’s misstatements is that it presumes that Cruz is, in fact, lying. But lying depends on the liar knowing that what he is saying is false. Cruz shows no signs of such awareness. As Ann Marie Cox points out in her survey of Cruz’s lies, there’s more going on here than just a politician’s twisting of the truth or a partisan spin on data. She wonders whether it is time to take seriously the idea that he really believes what he is saying. “There are objective falsehoods that show Cruz could just be looking at a different set of data. Other, more telling whoppers show that Cruz isn’t just looking at different data, he’s living in a different universe.”

That different universe is Cruz’s world of misinformation. He doesn’t lie because lying would require that he actually know the truth. And that is what makes Cruz an even greater threat to the health of our democracy than all of his lies put together. Cruz represents a turn in GOP politics where political beliefs operate more like religious fervor than reasoned inference.

Researchers have long worried about the connections between democracy and public knowledge. For obvious reasons, an informed electorate is a key part of a strong and effective democracy. Voters need to have relevant facts in order to make good choices at the polls. But research by Brendan Nyhan and Jason Reifler explains that there is a vast difference between an uninformed public and a misinformed one. An uninformed public is ignorant, but a misinformed one is delusional—and that’s far more dangerous.

This distinction is essential. An uninformed voter can have contact with the truth and learn from it, but a misinformed one already believes an idea that’s wrong. Think of Cruz’s delusional comments about climate change, the number of IRS agents, and crime rates rising in areas with stricter gun control laws. Each of these examples indicates a whole new level of political “lying,” since each represents fiercely held beliefs with no basis in fact. This is not a case of simple stupidity. It’s a case of deeply believing something that’s just wrong.

If you care about truth and think it should influence political decisions, this is highly disturbing. But it gets worse. Nyhan and Reifler further suggest that those who hold misinformed beliefs are even less likely to learn from correcting information than those who have no clue.

That means that for those who think like Cruz, there is virtually no amount of data, reality checks or facts that can persuade the deluded citizen to give up their false ideas. This is the mindset of the Tea Party, the Koch brothers, and many on the far right. Nyhan and Reifler refer to this as “motivated reasoning.” What they find is that people who are attached to falsehoods perceive any correcting information as partisan and flawed. So conservatives don’t perceive science as information. To them, it’s just a liberal agenda. In other words, they don’t believe the truth.

And there’s more. Not only do those with false beliefs practice “motivated reasoning,” we also now know that any challenge to their beliefs is likely to “backfire.” Nyhan and Reifler found that when conservatives who thought there were weapons of mass destruction in Iraq were exposed to news stories correcting that view, “the correction backfired.” That is, “conservatives who received a correction telling them that Iraq did not have WMDs were more likely to believe that Iraq had WMD than those in the control condition.”

This means that exposure to the truth not only failed to adjust their views to reality, it actually made them believe in their false ideas even more strongly. This is why Cruz’s candidacy is really scary. This is not a case of a politician strategically using lies to advance a career; his whole career is dedicated to advancing a political platform built on a delusional view of the world. The catch is that to those who think like Cruz it isn’t delusional, it makes perfect sense.

Cruz’s misbeliefs are part of a longer story of how the GOP has come to be redefined by a vocal, aggressive, highly visible faction that has decided that any facts that contradict their worldview are merely liberal bias. This is what Stephen Colbert called “truthiness.” Think back to the lies of Paul Ryan at the 2012 RNC or to Anderson Cooper’s confrontation with Michelle Bachmann over her penchant for lying. Recall also the research showing that viewers of Fox News actually know less about the world than people who watch no news of any kind.

But really if we want to peg the rise of a misinformed GOP on a politician we would have to start with the George W. Bush administration.

Back in 2008, we learned the Bush administration made 935 false statements in the lead-up to the Iraq war. Yet today, despite multiple bipartisan reports confirming no WMDs were found, a significant faction of the U.S. public still cling tenaciously to the idea that the war there was just. A recent poll conducted by Fairleigh Dickinson University found that 40 percent of US citizens still think there were WMDs in Iraq.

But falsehoods are only the tip of the iceberg. The bigger problem is the emotional attachment to the falsehoods. The new GOP is increasingly connected to a sense of constant threat and a persistent worry that the nation and its values are under attack. When we combine a great distortion of reality with a party politics based on fear and extremism, we threaten the viability of a functional political system. That, of course, was exactly what Cruz did when he led the government shutdown of 2013.

Democrats, too, hold dear to their beliefs. It’s part of human nature to want to resist information that contradicts with the way we see the world. Psychologists call the practice confirmation bias, and define it as the tendency to interpret information in ways that support our preconceptions. And yet, we don’t all resist correction of our false beliefs to the same degree.

Indeed, there is research that suggests there is a vast difference between a liberal’s ability to accept a new take on the world than a conservative’s. To put it simply, part of what it means to be liberal is to be open-minded. That means liberals are open to information that might change a perception. In contrast, conservatives are defined as resisting change and as emotionally attaching more strongly to their beliefs. What we find with Tea Party politics, though, is a far more extremist version of Republican beliefs than we have ever seen before. Michael Grunwald of Time calls the new GOP an example of “reality-defying extremism and chronic obstructionism and borderline surrealism.”

The poster boy for this extremist, reality-bending faction of the party is Ted Cruz. As the Washington Post reports, “Cruz isn’t [just] running for president—he’s running to be the leader of a new GOP.” And that’s no lie.

I also forgot to add,……..

Benghazi Emails

**Boon Mee** · 08-04-2015, 05:21 AM

Landreth & friends want more of this???

Former WH Staff Confirm In New Book Not Only Are The Clintons “Paranoid”, They’re Terrible Human Beings.

An excerpt from former Bloomberg News reporter Kate Anderson Bower’s new book “The Residence: Inside the Private World of the White House” was published by Politico Magazine, and it doesn’t exactly paint the Clintons in the best light.

For one thing, a White House florist confirmed the longstanding rumor that Hillary Clinton once threw a lamp at Bill during a heated argument, while shouting “goddamn bastard!”

“You heard so much foul language” in the Clinton White House, he said.

White House help also confirmed that the Lewinsky affair was common knowledge, and that the staff even kept track of “Lewinsky sightings.” “Some on the staff have said that Hillary knew about Lewinsky long before it came out, and that what really upset her was not the affair itself but its discovery and the media feeding frenzy that followed,” Bower writes.

Former White House usher Skip Allen tells Brower the Clintons were “about the most paranoid people I’d ever seen in my life.” Another usher Chris Emery was fired because he taught former first lady Barbara Bush how to use a computer, and later took her call when she had technical problems. But the Clintons saw his call log, became convinced he was informing on them, and found a pretense to fire him.

“I was out of work for a year,” Emery says. “They ripped the rug right out from under me. You wonder what they’d do to someone who’s really powerful.”

One White House staffer shared the disturbing time Chelsea Clinton called a Secret Service Agent a “pig” to his face, a derogatory term for law enforcement."

WH Staff: Clintons Were Paranoid, Called Secret Service Pigs | The Daily Caller

**bsnub** · 08-04-2015, 06:03 AM

Originally Posted by RPETER65

Originally Posted by bsnub

Originally Posted by RPETER65

So again I ask why don't you tell us your vision for America.

I am not running for office and have no desire to sit hear for the next hour typing out all of the things in America that need changing. Republicans have done massive damage to this country that the nation has still not recovered from even after six years of a Democrat in the white house. Some of the most obvious things I would like to see changed;

Repeal citizens united.
End the disastrous Bush tax cuts.
Raise taxes on the rich substantially.
Pass a constitutional amendment removing money from politics.
Enact term limits.
Force big corporations to repatriate the $2.1 trillion that they have parked offshore refusing to pay taxes on.

Originally Posted by RPETER65

By the way how is that $15 minimum wage working out for the Seattle restaraunt industry?

It is going splendidly. Many restaurants have voluntarily increased wages ahead of schedule.

Have you heard differently? I will remind you that I live in the city of Seattle and have many friends who own and work in the restaurant industry here so you may want to check your facts very carefully before posting up some nonsense from a right wing blog.

As the implementation date for Seattle’s strict $15 per hour minimum wage law approaches, the city is experiencing a rising trend in restaurant closures. The tough new law goes into effect April 1st. The closings have occurred across the city, from Grub in the upscale Queen Anne Hill neighborhood, to Little Uncle in gritty Pioneer Square, to the Boat Street Cafe on Western Avenue near the waterfront.

The shut-downs have idled dozens of low-wage workers, the very people advocates say the wage law is supposed to help. Instead of delivering the promised “living wage” of $15 an hour, economic realities created by the new law have dropped the hourly wage for these workers to zero.

Advocates of a high minimum wage said businesses would simply pay the mandated wage out of profits, raising earnings for workers. Restaurants operate on thin margins, though, with average profits of 4% or less, and the business is highly competitive.

There have been no shutdowns and most restaurant owners have come out in favor of the wage increase. Once again you failed to post your link to were this quote came from so I did a little digging. It came from this right wing blog;

Seattle's $15 wage law a factor in restaurant closings | Washington Policy Center

This is clear example of right wing lies and propaganda. This article clearly and soundly debunks the nonsense;

The claim: Recent Seattle restaurant closures may have been linked to the city’s new $15 minimum wage.

What we found: False.

An article suggesting the $15-an-hour minimum wage was a factor in some recent Seattle restaurant closures caught fire with national and conservative media this week. The only problem: When we asked the restaurateurs in question, they said it’s flat wrong.

“Why Are So Many Seattle Restaurants Closing Lately?” asks Seattle Magazine. Two Seattle restaurants shut down in February, the piece explains, while another will close later this month, another in May. There’s general discussion of the various reasons restaurants close (location, etc.), after which the writer turns to “another key consideration … the impending minimum wage hike to $15 per hour.”

The speculation took hold as fact in the conservative blogosphere, with the Washington Policy Center asserting “Seattle’s $15 wage law a factor in restaurant closings.”
As various outlets got on the bandwagon, headlines grew more strident. The American Enterprise Institute reported “Seattle’s new minimum wage law takes effect April 1 but is already leading to restaurant closings and job losses.” Then Rush Limbaugh chimed in. Meanwhile, The New York Post ran an editorial called “Jobless in Seattle” and Forbes claimed “We Are Seeing The Effects Of Seattle’s $15 An Hour Minimum Wage.”
Anthony Anton, president of the Washington Restaurant Association (WRA) — an industry lobbying organization among the most vocal campaigners against Seattle’s $15 minimum wage — told Seattle Magazine: “Every operator I’m talking to is in panic mode, trying to figure out what the new world will look like.”

No wage increases have occurred yet in Seattle; they begin, incrementally over seven years, in April. The Seattle Magazine article itself notes that “none of our local departing/transitioning restaurateurs who announced their plans last month have elaborated on the issue.”

Well, now they are.

Renee Erickson is closing Boat Street Cafe, her first restaurant, but she runs three others and is in the process of opening two more. Asked in an email about the closure being associated with $15, she replied: “That’s weird, ha. No, that’s not why I’m closing Boat Street. Would have said so.”

Erickson continued, “I’m totally on board with the $15 min. It’s the right thing to do … Opening more businesses would not be smart if I felt it was going to hinder my success.”

Little Uncle proprietors Poncharee Kounpungchart (who goes by PK) and Wiley Frank are closing one location, having found the space unsuitable after two years, while remaining open on Capitol Hill and considering new opportunities.

“We were never interviewed for these articles and we did not close our … location due to the new minimum wage,” Kounpungchart and Frank said in an email. “We do not know what our colleagues are doing to prepare themselves for the onset of the new law, but pre-emptively closing a restaurant seven years before the full effect of the law takes place seems preposterous to us.”

Frank went so far as to send a note to the author of the Washington Policy Center post saying: “Our business model is conducive to the changing times and we would appreciate it if you did not make assumptions about our business to promote your political values.”

Shanik proprietor Meeru Dhalwala, who is also mentioned by Seattle Magazine, said in a Facebook message, “My closure is strictly due to location — nothing to do with wages.”

Sharon Fillingim, the owner of Grub, the final restaurant referenced, said on Facebook that Grub was “a huge success.” In fact, the restaurant was sold and is reopening imminently under new ownership as Bounty Kitchen.
Is this an unusual number of restaurant closures for Seattle? In February alone last year, before the Seattle City Council approved the $15 wage, Madison Park Conservatory, Marché, Belle Clementine, Azteca in Ballard and B&O Espresso in Ballard closed. The beginning of the year — after the flurry of dining and drinking and spending of the holidays, with taxes looming — is a tough time for the business. Just two prominent closures in Seattle in February could be interpreted as a sign of restaurant industry health. Indeed, 27 new bars and restaurants opened on Capitol Hill alone in 2014.

When it comes to the impact the $15 wage will have on restaurants, University of Washington researchers, University of California, Berkeley, researchers and an owner of seven local Subways agree that restaurants will have to raise their prices about 4 to 5 percent — meaning an additional nickel per dollar on Seattle restaurant checks.

Now that $15 is a fait accompli, even the WRA’s Anton said in a phone interview, “It’s nothing to be afraid of, it’s just something to be aware of. There will be changes, but we’ll make them, and we’ll figure it out.”
“There’s going to be restaurants in Seattle,” Anton added. “It’s just going to be different, and that’s OK.”
As it stands now, the claim that these restaurants closed over the minimum-wage issue is false.

Truth Needle: Is $15 wage dooming Seattle restaurants? Owners say no | The Seattle Times

**Boon Mee** · 08-04-2015, 06:53 AM

Ready for Hillary Fire Sale: 50% Off Champagne Glasses

The pro-Hillary Clinton super PAC, Ready for Hillary, is getting set for the Democratic presidential candidate to officially enter the presidential race. This afternoon, the group sent out an email to supporters announcing a 50 percent sale on whiskey glasses, mason jars, and Champagne glasses.

Ready for Hillary Fire Sale: 50% Off Champagne Glasses | The Weekly Standard

How apropo. She's going for the Redneck Vote with the Mason Jars?

**Boon Mee** · 08-04-2015, 09:36 AM

Investor’s Business Daily tells us that basically, Hillary Clinton’s private server was a foreign spy magnet.

'Epic' Counterintelligence Disaster

"In all, this is a counterintelligence disaster of truly epic proportions, not to mention that, since Clinton admitted she did not use higher-classification email systems at all" — systems like SIPR and JWICS, Schindler said — "we have to assume some bleed-over into her unsecured private email too, which makes this even worse."

And you can bet that foreign governments know all her secrets, and will use them at the appropriate time.

Hillary Clinton's Private Server A Foreign Spy Magnet - Investors.com

**sabang** · 08-04-2015, 11:45 AM

Election season is 18 months away, and Hillary has yet to even officially announce her candidacy. As usual, the RW 'smear Hillary Clinton' industry is prematurely ejaculating, and ultimately just preaching to the choir.

It will be fun to watch- Hillary is (shock horror) white, 'religious' credentials not open to debate, a woman (strong electoral demographic really), a known quantity who has been around for quite a while in the public eye, 'safely' pro-Israel, 'safely' pro business (and money hungry). She ticks all the boxes- this while the GOP does not even have a credible candidate. The obvious safe, predictable, boring candidate- to middle America and the Establishment/ Money alike. Of course she will carry the Liberal spectrum too, although I doubt she would be their preferred candidate. Compared to the succesful Obama campaigns- and the failure of the inevitable RW smear capaign there- this one seems a doddle for the Dems. And of course, the Clinton political machine has weathered several smear campaigns before, quite succesfully. Yawwn

**Boon Mee** · 08-04-2015, 11:51 AM

Originally Posted by sabang

Election season is 18 months away, and Hillary has yet to even officially announce her candidacy. As usual, the RW 'smear Hillary Clinton' industry is prematurely ejaculating, and ultimately just preaching to the choir.

It will be fun to watch- Hillary is (shock horror) white, 'religious' credentials not open to debate, a woman (strong electoral demographic really), a known quantity who has been around for quite a while in the public eye, 'safely' pro-Israel, 'safely' pro business (and money hungry). She ticks all the boxes- this while the GOP does not even have a credible candidate. The obvious safe, predictable, boring candidate- to middle America and the Establishment/ Money alike. Of course she will carry the Liberal spectrum too, although I doubt she would be their preferred candidate. Compared to the succesful Obama campaigns- and the failure of the inevitable RW smear capaign there- this one seems a doddle for the Dems. And of course, the Clinton political machine has weathered several smear campaigns before, quite succesfully. Yawwn

'religious' credentials not open to debate,

What on earth do you mean by that?

**sabang** · 08-04-2015, 12:28 PM

She ain't black.

**Boon Mee** · 08-04-2015, 02:53 PM

Originally Posted by sabang

She ain't black.

This poster and a whole lot of other folks would vote for Condi Rice in a NY millisecond.

You gotta get over this Obama-revulsion thing cuz he's a Black...

**bsnub** · 08-04-2015, 03:37 PM

Originally Posted by Boon Mee

This poster and a whole lot of other folks would vote for Condi Rice in a NY millisecond.

Just because you would vote for that hag does not mean that you are not a racist.

**RPETER65** · 08-04-2015, 05:24 PM

Originally Posted by bsnub

Originally Posted by RPETER65

Originally Posted by bsnub

Originally Posted by RPETER65

So again I ask why don't you tell us your vision for America.

I am not running for office and have no desire to sit hear for the next hour typing out all of the things in America that need changing. Republicans have done massive damage to this country that the nation has still not recovered from even after six years of a Democrat in the white house. Some of the most obvious things I would like to see changed;

Repeal citizens united.
End the disastrous Bush tax cuts.
Raise taxes on the rich substantially.
Pass a constitutional amendment removing money from politics.
Enact term limits.
Force big corporations to repatriate the $2.1 trillion that they have parked offshore refusing to pay taxes on.

Originally Posted by RPETER65

By the way how is that $15 minimum wage working out for the Seattle restaraunt industry?

It is going splendidly. Many restaurants have voluntarily increased wages ahead of schedule.

Have you heard differently? I will remind you that I live in the city of Seattle and have many friends who own and work in the restaurant industry here so you may want to check your facts very carefully before posting up some nonsense from a right wing blog.

As the implementation date for Seattle’s strict $15 per hour minimum wage law approaches, the city is experiencing a rising trend in restaurant closures. The tough new law goes into effect April 1st. The closings have occurred across the city, from Grub in the upscale Queen Anne Hill neighborhood, to Little Uncle in gritty Pioneer Square, to the Boat Street Cafe on Western Avenue near the waterfront.

The shut-downs have idled dozens of low-wage workers, the very people advocates say the wage law is supposed to help. Instead of delivering the promised “living wage” of $15 an hour, economic realities created by the new law have dropped the hourly wage for these workers to zero.

Advocates of a high minimum wage said businesses would simply pay the mandated wage out of profits, raising earnings for workers. Restaurants operate on thin margins, though, with average profits of 4% or less, and the business is highly competitive.

There have been no shutdowns and most restaurant owners have come out in favor of the wage increase. Once again you failed to post your link to were this quote came from so I did a little digging. It came from this right wing blog;

Seattle's $15 wage law a factor in restaurant closings | Washington Policy Center

This is clear example of right wing lies and propaganda. This article clearly and soundly debunks the nonsense;

The claim: Recent Seattle restaurant closures may have been linked to the city’s new $15 minimum wage.

What we found: False.

An article suggesting the $15-an-hour minimum wage was a factor in some recent Seattle restaurant closures caught fire with national and conservative media this week. The only problem: When we asked the restaurateurs in question, they said it’s flat wrong.

“Why Are So Many Seattle Restaurants Closing Lately?” asks Seattle Magazine. Two Seattle restaurants shut down in February, the piece explains, while another will close later this month, another in May. There’s general discussion of the various reasons restaurants close (location, etc.), after which the writer turns to “another key consideration … the impending minimum wage hike to $15 per hour.”

The speculation took hold as fact in the conservative blogosphere, with the Washington Policy Center asserting “Seattle’s $15 wage law a factor in restaurant closings.”
As various outlets got on the bandwagon, headlines grew more strident. The American Enterprise Institute reported “Seattle’s new minimum wage law takes effect April 1 but is already leading to restaurant closings and job losses.” Then Rush Limbaugh chimed in. Meanwhile, The New York Post ran an editorial called “Jobless in Seattle” and Forbes claimed “We Are Seeing The Effects Of Seattle’s $15 An Hour Minimum Wage.”
Anthony Anton, president of the Washington Restaurant Association (WRA) — an industry lobbying organization among the most vocal campaigners against Seattle’s $15 minimum wage — told Seattle Magazine: “Every operator I’m talking to is in panic mode, trying to figure out what the new world will look like.”

No wage increases have occurred yet in Seattle; they begin, incrementally over seven years, in April. The Seattle Magazine article itself notes that “none of our local departing/transitioning restaurateurs who announced their plans last month have elaborated on the issue.”

Well, now they are.

Renee Erickson is closing Boat Street Cafe, her first restaurant, but she runs three others and is in the process of opening two more. Asked in an email about the closure being associated with $15, she replied: “That’s weird, ha. No, that’s not why I’m closing Boat Street. Would have said so.”

Erickson continued, “I’m totally on board with the $15 min. It’s the right thing to do … Opening more businesses would not be smart if I felt it was going to hinder my success.”

Little Uncle proprietors Poncharee Kounpungchart (who goes by PK) and Wiley Frank are closing one location, having found the space unsuitable after two years, while remaining open on Capitol Hill and considering new opportunities.

“We were never interviewed for these articles and we did not close our … location due to the new minimum wage,” Kounpungchart and Frank said in an email. “We do not know what our colleagues are doing to prepare themselves for the onset of the new law, but pre-emptively closing a restaurant seven years before the full effect of the law takes place seems preposterous to us.”

Frank went so far as to send a note to the author of the Washington Policy Center post saying: “Our business model is conducive to the changing times and we would appreciate it if you did not make assumptions about our business to promote your political values.”

Shanik proprietor Meeru Dhalwala, who is also mentioned by Seattle Magazine, said in a Facebook message, “My closure is strictly due to location — nothing to do with wages.”

Sharon Fillingim, the owner of Grub, the final restaurant referenced, said on Facebook that Grub was “a huge success.” In fact, the restaurant was sold and is reopening imminently under new ownership as Bounty Kitchen.
Is this an unusual number of restaurant closures for Seattle? In February alone last year, before the Seattle City Council approved the $15 wage, Madison Park Conservatory, Marché, Belle Clementine, Azteca in Ballard and B&O Espresso in Ballard closed. The beginning of the year — after the flurry of dining and drinking and spending of the holidays, with taxes looming — is a tough time for the business. Just two prominent closures in Seattle in February could be interpreted as a sign of restaurant industry health. Indeed, 27 new bars and restaurants opened on Capitol Hill alone in 2014.

When it comes to the impact the $15 wage will have on restaurants, University of Washington researchers, University of California, Berkeley, researchers and an owner of seven local Subways agree that restaurants will have to raise their prices about 4 to 5 percent — meaning an additional nickel per dollar on Seattle restaurant checks.

Now that $15 is a fait accompli, even the WRA’s Anton said in a phone interview, “It’s nothing to be afraid of, it’s just something to be aware of. There will be changes, but we’ll make them, and we’ll figure it out.”
“There’s going to be restaurants in Seattle,” Anton added. “It’s just going to be different, and that’s OK.”
As it stands now, the claim that these restaurants closed over the minimum-wage issue is false.

Truth Needle: Is $15 wage dooming Seattle restaurants? Owners say no | The Seattle Times

So, every conservative article that is posted you claim to be nothing but lies, not only on this topic but everything, I say you are full of BS not one restraunt from what I posted is mentioned and nothing about Ivars 21% increase in menu prices aaaaaand your examples come from a highly biased Seattle magazine, that my friend is some pretty weak stuff. I haven't even posted an interview with a Vietnamese Pho restraunt owner who says the Seattle Pho restaurants are not going to be able to afford to stay open.

**RPETER65** · 08-04-2015, 05:29 PM

Originally Posted by bsnub

Originally Posted by Boon Mee

This poster and a whole lot of other folks would vote for Condi Rice in a NY millisecond.

Just because you would vote for that hag does not mean that you are not a racist.

Same goes for you and Obama.

**Boon Mee** · 08-04-2015, 05:30 PM

Originally Posted by RPETER65

I haven't even posted an interview with a Vietnamese Pho restraunt owner who says the Seattle Pho restaurants are not going to be able to afford to stay open.

Well, to the collective mind, what's a few small businesses going bust when we're talking about the Greater Good!

**misskit** · 08-04-2015, 06:00 PM

The thread is about Hillary Clinton, not pho restaurants, socialists, bigots, or greater good.

Get a grip.

**RPETER65** · 09-04-2015, 03:55 AM

Originally Posted by misskit

The thread is about Hillary Clinton, not pho restaurants, socialists, bigots, or greater good.

Get a grip.

I'm done with this one. Back to Hillary.

**S Landreth** · 09-04-2015, 04:34 AM

Bush is even with Hillary in this new poll.

Oh no. My mistake. It’s all blue again.

Good to see the rethugs/teabaggers/malcontents/crazies/science-deniers/bigots getting behind what the GOP is offering up.

**Boon Mee** · 09-04-2015, 05:06 AM

We've been asking for quite some time now just what accomplishments Piano Legs has performed in past to allow her to even contemplate running for any elected office.

Well, we have an answer!

"Did you know Hillary's the greatest Secretary of State ever? Can anyone give me one reason?

• We now have a new Cold War.

• We're hollowing out our military while the Chinese are massively building up theirs.

• Damn near the entire Middle East is on fire.

• Communism is spreading throughout Central and South America.

• And our allies can't stand us.

But she's the "greatest Secretary of State ever".

Doug Ross @ Journal: MARK LEVIN: Hillary Clinton is the Greatest Secretary of State Ever

Back to you

**bsnub** · 09-04-2015, 05:28 AM

Originally Posted by RPETER65

I say you are full of BS not one restraunt from what I posted is mentioned and nothing about Ivars 21% increase in menu prices aaaaaand your examples come from a highly biased Seattle magazine, that my friend is some pretty weak stuff.

You posted an article quoting four resteraunt owners the most critical of whom is based on Bainbridge Island which happens to be far outside of Seattle. That guy does not have a dog in the fight. So three out of thousands have spoken out. Far more have come out in favor of the increase.

Secondly this did not come from a "highly biased Seattle magazine" it is directly linked to The Seattle Times. The main newspaper of the city that happens to be owned by a prominent conservative Seattle family. But you would not know that because you do not live here.

Thirdly with regards to Ivars they are going tip free. I dont know about you but most decent people I know tip 20% so its a wash. But Ivars is sharing that money with its staff;

"The 21 percent price hike will be shared among restaurant hourly staff, with 8 percent going to servers and bartenders, and 13 percent to be divided among bussers, hostesses, dishwashers and others, Donegan said."

Sorry but once again you lose.

**RPETER65** · 09-04-2015, 08:52 AM

Hillary Clinton has no business running for President of the United States. Anyone who enters the service of the United States government, and especially someone who has held such high office as her, is educated rather thoroughly on security procedures and the importance of protecting classified information.
Western Journalism

However, she chose to ignore these rules and not only use a private, unsecured server to conduct government business; she used an unsecured mobile device in a foreign country that is an adversary to the United States. She did this not once or twice; she did it multiple times.

If anyone in the trenches had willfully exposed classified information or even sensitive information in this manner, they would be prosecuted. Of course, we know that the Department of Justice under Obama would never bring charges against a Democratic superstar.

Advertisement-content continues below
A former top intelligence official for the Obama administration believes that it is “very likely” that countries like China and Russia–and maybe even Iran and North Korea–hacked into Hillary Clinton’s private email account while she was secretary of state.

Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn–who ran the Defense Intelligence Agency, which is the sister agency to the CIA, for the Obama administration–told Fox News’s Megyn Kelly on Monday that there is a “very high” probability that nations hostile the United States hacked into Clinton’s private server, which cybersecurity experts have determined had numerous security lapses.

Read more at http://www.westernjournalism.com/hil...f7Ly2gKSSPP.99
Read more at Hillary?s Secret Server Was Most Certainly Hacked By Our Enemies - She Should Go To Jail

**MrG** · 09-04-2015, 10:07 AM

Originally Posted by RPETER65

Hillary Clinton has no business running for President of the United States. Anyone who enters the service of the United States government, and especially someone who has held such high office as her, is educated rather thoroughly on security procedures and the importance of protecting classified information.
Western Journalism

However, she chose to ignore these rules and not only use a private, unsecured server to conduct government business; she used an unsecured mobile device in a foreign country that is an adversary to the United States. She did this not once or twice; she did it multiple times.

If anyone in the trenches had willfully exposed classified information or even sensitive information in this manner, they would be prosecuted. Of course, we know that the Department of Justice under Obama would never bring charges against a Democratic superstar.

Advertisement-content continues below

Read more at Hillary?s Secret Server Was Most Certainly Hacked By Our Enemies - She Should Go To Jail

Lions, tigers and bears.... Oh my!

**RPETER65** · 09-04-2015, 10:58 AM

Originally Posted by MrG

Originally Posted by RPETER65

Hillary Clinton has no business running for President of the United States. Anyone who enters the service of the United States government, and especially someone who has held such high office as her, is educated rather thoroughly on security procedures and the importance of protecting classified information.
Western Journalism

However, she chose to ignore these rules and not only use a private, unsecured server to conduct government business; she used an unsecured mobile device in a foreign country that is an adversary to the United States. She did this not once or twice; she did it multiple times.

If anyone in the trenches had willfully exposed classified information or even sensitive information in this manner, they would be prosecuted. Of course, we know that the Department of Justice under Obama would never bring charges against a Democratic superstar.

Advertisement-content continues below

Read more at Hillary?s Secret Server Was Most Certainly Hacked By Our Enemies - She Should Go To Jail

Lions, tigers and bears.... Oh my!

Are you what they call a denier?

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