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Tag: paul ryan

  • Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella to Open NRF 2020 Vision: Retail’s Big Show

    Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella to Open NRF 2020 Vision: Retail’s Big Show

    In a press release issued today, the National Retail Federation (NRF) announced that Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella is scheduled to deliver the opening keynote at the federation’s 109th annual convention.

    Microsoft has supported the NRF’s annual convention for over 20 years, leveraging their IoT, cloud, data, AI, modern workplace and mixed reality solutions to help retailers digitally transform and embrace intelligent retail.

    “At NRF 2020, we’re bringing together the brightest and most influential leaders from around the world who have a clear vision for the retail industry’s future,” NRF President and CEO Matthew Shay said. “Satya Nadella will kick us off with an inspiring session on how Microsoft’s success is built around a purpose-led culture and business model.”

    Other notable speakers include:

    Mastercard President and CEO Ajay Banga

    Hudson’s Bay Company CEO Helena Foulkes

    Sam’s Club President and CEO John Furner

    Crate and Barrel CEO Neela Montgomery

    Nordstrom Co-President Erik Nordstrom

    Former Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives (2015-2019) Paul Ryan

    Additional details for sessions and speakers at NRF 2020 Vision: Retail’s Big Show can be accessed here.

    Complimentary registration is available to editorial members of the news media and discounted registration is available to accredited retail analysts. For more information, visit the NRF 2020: Retail’s Big Show media registration page.

    About NRF
    The National Retail Federation, the world’s largest retail trade association, passionately advocates for the people, brands, policies and ideas that help retail thrive. From its headquarters in Washington, D.C., NRF empowers the industry that powers the economy. Retail is the nation’s largest private-sector employer, contributing $2.6 trillion to annual GDP and supporting one in four U.S. jobs — 42 million working Americans. For over a century, NRF has been a voice for every retailer and every retail job, educating, inspiring and communicating the powerful impact retail has on local communities and global economies.

  • Alicia Keys Sends Love Note To House Speaker Paul Ryan, Wants To Be His Valentine

    Alicia Keys is pulling out all the stops in order to get House Speaker Paul Ryan to bring the criminal justice and reform bill to a vote. Instead of starting a rally or writing a song about the issue, the 35-year-old R&B singer-songwriter is using her feminine charms to invite Ryan to join her advocacy.

    In a YouTube video that was uploaded on Wednesday, Alicia Keys is seen writing Paul a note on a Valentine card while admiring a photo of him lifting weights.

    Alicia Keys Asks Paul Ryan to be Her Valentine

    “Can I call you Paul?” she says in her trademark sultry tone. “I never saw the Speaker of the House working out before. He must be cool,” adds Keys before addressing him directly through the camera.

    “Are you cool, Paul? Show me how cool you are.”

    She even went as far as to ask him to be her Valentine if he “helps her spread some love” by supporting her cause.

    The minute-and-seventeen-second video was recorded by Alicia Keys on behalf of her advocacy group called We Are Here. The campaign aims to gather various individuals to reach out to Ryan and urge him to push the bill to the floor for debate.

    “Help bring justice reform to a vote so we can keep families together and reunite those that have been torn apart by excessive incarceration instead of just getting the help they needed,” appealed Keys to Ryan.

    Alicia Keys Advocates Criminal Justice Reform

    On Thursday, the Speaker pledged that Republican member of the House will allot time to vote on a number of criminal justice bills that were passed by the Judiciary Committee. While no specific timeline has been set, Ryan told Fox News that the bill is “well on its way here in the House.”

    Alicia Keys started the We Are Here movement in 2014 to channel her music and fans to social justice causes like gender equality, stricter gun laws, and criminal justice reform.

  • Obama Impeachment: Paul Ryan Says No

    Sarah Palin fired the first volley. The half-term Alaska governor took to the pages of Breitbart to insist that impeachment proceedings begin against President Obama. Her reasoning behind the move?

    “Because of Obama’s purposeful dereliction of duty an untold number of illegal immigrants will kick off their shoes and come on in, competing against Americans for our jobs and limited public services. There is no end in sight as our president prioritizes parties over doing the job he was hired by voters to do. Securing our borders is obviously fundamental here; it goes without saying that it is his job.”

    A few other GOP candidates and voices hopped on the bandwagon with Palin soon thereafter. But the Grand Old Party as a whole is having none of it. In fact, they seem to be a bit perturbed that some of their number are running forward with the argument.

    Speaker John Boehner has said that he has no interest in pursuing impeachment against the president. In fact, Boehner has tried to quiet the talk by saying that it was not even a Republican idea, ignoring the fact that Palin is on record as starting the idea. Since Democrats have had loads of success lately fundraising on the back of the threat of impeachment, Boehner has said that the whole thing was a Democrat “scam.”

    Now Paul Ryan is following Boehner’s lead. But Ryan is going even further to distance the party from the actions of the few.

    “I see this as sort of a ridiculous gambit by the president and his political team to try and change the narrative, raise money, and turn out their base for an upcoming election that they feel is not going to go their way… [The Republicans’ differences with the White House do] not rise to the high crime and misdemeanor level.”

    In all honesty, the Democrats and the White House have used the threat of impeachment to change the narrative, raise money, and turn out their base. The problem is, the impeachment gambit has verifiably Republican origins.

    But the most interesting part of Ryan’s comment is the second half. Sarah Palin has been saint that more Americans would be screaming for impeachment if they only understood what “impeachable offenses” were. Paul Ryan does know.

    Article II, Section 4, of the U.S. Constitution states that “The President, Vice President, and all civil Officers of the United States shall be removed from Office on Impeachment for, and Conviction of, Treason, Bribery, or other High Crimes and Misdemeanors.”

    As Ryan pointed out, that is not what is going on with Obama.

    The idea of impeachment is red meat to any political party. It riled up Republicans when Clinton was in office. There were rumblings about it when Bush was in. And now here we are. But without a basis for it, why would someone like Sarah Palin leave the comfy confines of her Facebook echo chamber and venture out to Breitbart to throw down her challenge? Palin even faced off against members of her own party when she said that Americans “should vehemently oppose any politician on the left or right who would hesitate in voting for articles of impeachment.” What gives?

    Well, she did launch a so-called “online television network” soon thereafter. That isn’t going over well, either. It costs $9.95 a month and is a glorified blog with videos posts. But Palin made a smart move to get her name back in the search engines before the launch.

    Image via YouTube

  • Paul Ryan May Be Challenged By Dead Sikh’s Son

    In 2012, a white supremacist military veteran loaded up with weapons and attacked the Sikh Temple of Wisconsin in Milwaukee. Five people were killed in the attack, including Satwant Singh Kaleka, the small-business owner who founded the temple. No motive was ever discovered.

    Now, the AP reports Kaleka’s son, Amar, will be filing paperwork on Wednesday to form an exploratory committee and next month he will announce his Democratic candidacy for Paul Ryan’s Congressional seat.

    Amar Kaleka said he wants to see the return of accountability and transparency to Washington politics, and he blames the government shutdown on Ryan, currently the chairman of the House Budget Committee. “There’s a fever in the nation, and specifically in this district,” he said, “for our leaders to stop playing politics and do their jobs. All I want to do is bring democracy — a government of, for and by the people — back to America.”

    Kaleka had been making documentaries in southern California for several years when his father’s temple was attacked. Although he had previously thought of running for public office when he was in his 50’s, he decided to pursue it sooner in light of his father’s death.

    The Sikh temple shooting had received attention from Michelle Obama and Attorney General Eric Holder who spoke at the funeral, but President Barack Obama did not display a personal interest. Kaleka was bothered by his disinterest as an Obama supporter, and wrote it off as the president following the Washington trend of placing politics above people.

    Kaleka also expressed frustration at Congress’ inaction regarding gun control despite a vast majority’s desire to see stronger gun regulations. “They’re more concerned with the groups, the corporations that are giving them money than with what the people want,” he said.

    On the subject of running in the wake of his father’s death, Kaleka said “I’ll agree my father’s death has put me in a position where people listen to me more. But it’s not that I’m taking advantage of that situation. I’m trying to further his dream of building the community and leading in a way that’s very democratic. That’s what drives me.”

    [Image via this YouTube video, identical to the one above]

  • Paul Ryan: Possible Dealstriker on Fiscal Crisis

    Paul Ryan is stepping up to the proverbial plate in negotiations within the troubled government on the two impending crises in our great nation, according to Fox News.

    He is proposing a plan to increase federal debt that is tied largely to simplifying the tax code, to make enough changes to Medicare to offset cuts to domestic spending and defense programs, and a solid promise from Senate Democrats and President Obama to continue talks about reopening the federal government, among other fiscal issues.

    Ryan seems to have support from establishment Republicans, as well as conservative Republicans. He also has a good working relationship with Democratic Sen. Patty Murray, chairwoman of the Senate Budget Committee, with whom he has yet to meet on the fiscal issues. Eventually, he will likely negotiate with her.

    “I’m working to get a budget agreement,” Ryan told a group of conservative meeting this weekend in Washington. “We need to completely rethink government’s role in helping the most vulnerable. … That means we can never give up on repealing and replacing ObamaCare.”

    His remarks reassured Tea party Conservatives, who were gathered at the Values Voter Summit over the weekend, that his stance on Obamacare has not changed. His recent op-ed piece in the Wall Street Journal seemed to insinuate that he had abandoned the defunding of the Affordable Care Act.

    Failure to increase the debt limit within roughly the next week would result in the country defaulting on its debt for the first time in history. The partial government shutdown started October 1st, and has yet to show hope of a solution.

    Image via wikipedia

  • Paul Ryan: Gay Adoption Ok, Gay Marriage Not

    With a tipping point in the U.S. gay rights debate seemingly reached, even Republican politicians seem to be shifting their positions. In March, Republican U.S. Senator Rob Portman had a “change of heart” after learning his son is gay, and now supports gay marriage. This week Paul Ryan, a U.S. representative from Wisconsin and former vice presidential candidate, revealed that his position on at least some gay rights issues has become moderated.

    According to a Think Progress report, Ryan spoke with citizens at a Town Hall-style meeting in Janesville, Wisconsin on Monday and fielded a question about gay marriage. Though Ryan stated he is still opposed to gay marriage, he told his audience that he supports the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, which would ban employers from discriminating in hiring based on sexual orientation. Ryan also stated that he now supports gay adoption, though he voted against it early in his political career.

    “I do believe that if there are children who are orphans, who do not have a loving person or couple, you know, I think if a person wants to love and raise a child they ought to be able to do that,” said Ryan. “Period.”

  • Mitt Romney Speaks! On Facebook, That Is

    Mitt Romney Speaks! On Facebook, That Is

    Former Republican Presidential Candidate Mitt Romney hasn’t been very active on social media since his defeat in the November election. His last tweet was sent out on November 10th of 2012, and it thanked everyone for their support. On Facebook, Romney’s team had only made two posts since losing the election – one thanking supporters and one wishing followers a Merry Christmas.

    Tuesday evening that changed as Mitt Romney’s Facebook page broke its over-a-month-long silence to wish former running-mate Paul Ryan a Happy Birthday.

    Mitt Romney17 hours ago

    Ann and I send many blessings and best wishes to Paul Ryan today. Join us and wish him a Happy Birthday! Powered by socialditto  1,000+ likes ·  1,000+ comments

    A few days after the election, we noted that Mitt Romney’s Facebook page was losing likes by the second. At one point, the leak was pretty substantial – hundreds of likes in less than 15 minutes. Data for his page showed that the candidate had steadily gained Facebook likes for every single day leading up to the election – and began to lose them on November 7th. I guess that’s what happens when you lose an election.

    On November 9th, Romney had just over 12 million likes. As of today, that number is just under 11.7 million. But three posts in nearly three months? Maybe we can just as much blame inactivity for Mitt Romney’s likes purge.

  • Vice Presidential Debate Saw 3.5 Million Tweets

    Last week’s first Presidential debate broke a Twitter record. With over 10 million total tweets coming in from start to finish, it became the most tweeted-about event in U.S. politics. Could the Vice Presidential debate live up to that sort of social media chatter?

    Not quite. But it did draw an impressive crowd.

    Twitter confirms that last night’s VP debate garnered 3.5 million total tweets from the beginning to the end. When the time is not a factor, 4 million tweets were sent out concerning Joe Biden and Paul Ryan’s contest.

    According to Twitter, 26% of those tweets concerned foreign policy, 21% were about the economy, and 16% specifically dealt with the topic of taxes. Twitter also highlights the top moments of the debate in terms of “tweets per minute.” Biden’s “Now you’re Jack Kennedy?” quip won the night with a spike of 58,275 TPM. Paul Ryan’s statement that “they got caught with their hand in the cookie jar turning Medicare into a piggybank for Obamacare” came in second, with 55,540 TPM.

    Twitter also identifies the winning buzzword of the night. Unsurprisingly, it was “malarkey.”

    If you missed last night’s Vice Presidential debate, you can watch it in its entirety below:

  • Biden Calls Malarkey, Chuckles During Debate

    Joe Biden certainly didn’t disappoint those who tuned in to the vice presidential debate looking for something more than just a dry argument; his somewhat sarcastic, increasingly agitated replies to Paul Ryan are already the subject of web gossip and memes this morning.

    It began with Biden calling malarkey after Ryan was asked to give his opinion on the Libya attacks on 9/11, saying, “With all due respect, that’s a bunch of malarkey. Not a thing he said was accurate.” The word came up several more times during the debate, with Biden substituting it for “stuff” at one point and making it clear that the term he really wanted to use wasn’t appropriate for the occasion.

    Ryan seemed to enjoy taking small digs at Biden, alternately telling the elder candidate that he seemed to be under duress–to which Biden laughed–and responding to Biden bringing up Romney’s “47%” remarks with, “As the vice president very well knows … sometimes the words don’t come out of your mouth the right way.” Biden, in turn, chose to be feisty where Obama played it cool, not letting any topic go untouched and calling out the Romney campaign on several points.

    With such an important election–and with Obama getting blasted by the media for a lackluster performance during his own debate–the pressure has been on Biden and Ryan to amp things up a bit, and it seems they hit the mark last night. The next debates will be on October 16th and 22nd.

  • Joe Biden Won the Debate If You Ask the Xbox LIVE Community

    Earlier this month, Microsoft announced that they would live-stream all three Presidential debates and the sole Vice Presidential debate via their new Elections Hub inside the Xbox 360 dashboard. But unlike YouTube, who’s simply streaming the events, Xbox is asking (Xbox LIVE Gold) members to provide feedback during the contests.

    “Throughout the debate, the Xbox LIVE community will be able to weigh in with their opinions by responding to real-time poll questions about the candidate’s performances, their responses to questions and views on issues,” says Microsoft.

    And according to a Major Nelson blog post, over 800,000 individual responses came in during last night’s Vice Presidential debate. That means that Xbox LIVE users averaged about 30,000 responses per question posed during the debate.

    Based on those reactions, Xbox LIVE can confirm that undecided voters swung heavily in favor of VP Biden.

    Here are some of the quick stats from last night:

    • Biden won the debate with Xbox Swing Voters: 44.1% of undecided voters declared Biden the winner with 22.9% choosing Ryan.
    • Biden was overwhelmingly viewed by our swing voters as being more truthful, garnering the favor of 72.2% of undecided respondents.
    • An overwhelming 70.1% of undecided voters do not consider a candidate’s religion when deciding for whom to vote.
    • 53.7% of undecided voters felt that Biden is better prepared to step in as president compared to 21% for Ryan

    When you look at the “who won the debate” question, 88.5% of Obama supporters (whether strong or leaning) chose Biden. The undecideds chose Biden, as did those who identified themselves as “other” – 52.6% to 26.4%. The only voters that picked Congressman Ryan as the winner were voters leaning Romney and those strong for Romney.

    The same breakdown exists for the question “who do you think is more truthful.”

    If you missed out on participating in the live polling on Xbox LIVE, don’t worry – you’ll have another two chances. Both remaining Presidential debates will be available on Xbox LIVE. The next one is on Tuesday, October 16th.

    And while you wait for that debate, you can check out the Xbox Elections Hub for videos and more coverage of the campaign 2012. They say that they’ve made two more additions to the content that should be appearing later this week – BBC and Comedy Central.

  • Vice Presidential Debate Streaming Live on YouTube [Reminder]

    If you want to see the current Vice President of the United States and the man that could assume that role battle it out face-to-face, tonight’s your only chance.

    At 9 pm ET, Joe Biden and Paul Ryan will meet for the only Vice Presidential debate of the campaign season. The debate will take place at Centre College in Danville, Kentucky and will cover topics both domestic and foreign policy oriented. The debate is scheduled to run for an hour and a half.

    If you don’t have access to a television but do have internet access, you’re in luck. That’s because YouTube is continuing their live coverage of the big political events of the year with a live stream of tonight’s debate, starting at 9 pm.

    YouTube says that last week’s first Presidential debate was one of their biggest live-streamed events ever. YouTube streamed it through their new Elections Hub launched back in August. YouTube will also be streaming the final two Presidential debates later this month.

    Here are some top moments from past Vice Presidential debates:

    YouTube is not the only place to watch the debate live. Xbox LIVE members can also stream tonight’s contest on their consoles, and they can also interact by answering poll questions throughout the duration.

    Head on over to YouTube’s Politics and Elections Hub for more election-themed videos as you wait for the debate.

  • Paul Ryan Contemplates New Band Names in the Latest Bad Lip Reading

    About every couple of weeks, YouTube users can expect another installment of Bad Lip Reading, the hilarious series that redubs popular videos with nonsensical, oftentimes irreverent words – of course, based on the target’s lip reading. Well, it’s that time again, and their latest episode doesn’t disappoint.

    After going after Republican Presidential nominee Mitt Romney back in August, they’ve now turned their sights to his running mate, Paul Ryan.

    This Bad Lip Reading is a bit different from the most recent ones. Here, they’ve added some elements and photoshopped some items into the setting that give it a nice story arc. Paul Ryan, no longer able to call his awesome band “Steak Baby” anymore, must think of some new names.

    We won’t spoil it, but some of them are pretty great. Check it out below:

    We’ll be waiting to see if BLR tackles President Obama and Joe Biden in the last month leading up to the election. If you’re still craving some more BLR, check out these equally awesome episodes featuring The Hunger Games and Twilight.

  • Paul Ryan’s Speech Pushes GOP Convention Tweets Over 2 Million

    On Tuesday, Twitter told us that this year’s Republican National Convention had already produced more tweets that the entirety of the 2008 convention – and it hadn’t even gotten off the ground. When the 2012 convention smashed the 2008 convention in terms of tweets, there hadn’t even been a headlining speaker yet due to the delay for Hurricane Isaac.

    If you want more proof that 2012 really is the first true social media election, here it is: Twitter has just announced that last night during Paul Ryan’s VP acceptance speech, the total tweets surrounding the convention topped 2 million.

    That’s more the six times the total tweets from the 2008 convention.

    Ryan’s speech also drew the top three spikes in tweets per minute last night, with the highest spike coming at the end. As Ryan closed his 30+ minutes speech, 6,669 tweets were sent out in 60 seconds.

    That tops the previous TPM spike, which came at the end of Ann Romney’s speech Tuesday night. When Mitt Romney came out to give his wife a kiss, tweets per minute hit 6,195.

    Former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice also made Twitter buzz, logging 3,961 TPM at one point. That’s the most of any Wednesday speaker outside of Paul Ryan.

  • Paul Ryan Thanks His Nearly 2 Million Facebook Fans [VIDEO]

    When presumptive GOP Presidential nominee Mitt Romney tapped Wisconsin Congressman Paul Ryan to be his running mate, Ryan had to start up a new Facebook page tailored to his VP campaign. His old page that he’d been running as a Representative has fallen off, and his activity is being funneled into the new Paul Ryan VP page.

    And as his new page is approaching 2 million likes, Ryan decided to thank his new fans with a video.

    “Hey everybody, thanks for following us on Facebook,” says Ryan. “I’m out here on the road, talking to Americans across the country about how we get the country back on track. I’m excited about sharing Mitt Romney’s vision for a stronger middle class, getting jobs and the economy growing again, strong national defense, showing our country a better future…”

    “This is exciting,” he continued. “It’s energizing.”

    Check out the short thank you video below:

    It’s interesting that Ryan would use Tout to get out his message, as opposed the the much more popular YouTube or even Facebook video for that matter. Tout, an online microblogging service, allows users to upload short video clips, usuaslly around 15 seconds. It gained some popularity back in June of 2011 when legendary NBA star Shaquille O’Neal used it to announce his retirement from professional basketball.

    Earlier this month, Facebook released some figures about candidate buzz on the site. They said that after Romney picked Ryan, Ryan quickly became the most buzzed-about man in the race.

  • Redditors Photoshop the Hell out of Paul Ryan’s Wikipedia Photo

    Redditors Photoshop the Hell out of Paul Ryan’s Wikipedia Photo

    Redditor SiliconC noticed that presumptive Republican VP nominee Paul Ryan’s Wikipedia page features a photo with an “absurdly high resolution” (2,046 × 2,557 pixels). They suggested that shop-happy redditors have a bit of fun with it. And boy, did they.

    Just another example of how the internet has changed U.S. politics, I guess.

    First their submission, “Little Face Paul”:

    (image)

    “Lazy Eye Ryan”:

    (image)

    No title, courtesy photo:

    (image)

    “Elton Ryan”:

    (image)

    No words. Have fun sleeping tonight. Courtesy user eylyana:

    (image)

    “All lip Ryan”:

    (image)

    There’s plenty more where those came from, as the thread is over 2000 comments long. I truly hope this becomes a series – ObamaShop, RomneyShop, and BidenShop. Only in America, folks.

  • Paul Ryan: Black Ex Leads To Controversial Article

    Paul Ryan has had his share of controversy this election year, just like every other politician in the running. However, one thing has proved to make him stand out from the crowd, and some are pretty irritated about it.

    As written for The Roots by political correspondent Keli Goff, Ryan reportedly dated an African-American woman while in college. Ryan has famously had his views on black Americans attacked, particularly after being given a rather lousy 10% approval rating on civil rights by the NAACP, which was mentioned in another article by Goff. Now, she’s asking the question, “Is the fact that Ryan has dated interracially a noteworthy detail to consider when analyzing his politics and policies?”

    Goff ponders the merits of exempting one from being labeled a racist simply because that person has or has had a relationship with someone of a different race, saying it’s unwise, and mentions Strom Thurmond and Lou Dobbs to strengthen her case.

    Research has shown that those who hold stereotypes about a particular group of people are unlikely to have those stereotypes altered merely by encountering someone who defies that stereotype. Instead, they are likely to view the individual defying said stereotype as an exception. In other words, it is possible to have a black friend, Asian friend, Hispanic friend or Muslim friend or wife and still exhibit prejudice toward that group. The friend or wife is simply viewed as the exception who is not like the others,she writes.

    Goff’s assertions have not gone over well, to say the least, and the article is garnering hundreds of comments–several have come in just while this article was being written. Goff insists she’s not labeling Goff as a racist, however, but wants everyone to make informed decisions about his policies rather than his personal relationships.

    I am not calling Ryan a racist. I am saying, however, that if you want to know where a politician’s heart lies when it comes to a particular community, it may be best to look at that person’s policies — such as his or her record on civil rights — rather than personal relationships, she writes.

  • Paul Ryan Is Currently the Most Buzzed-About Candidate on Facebook

    You can say what you want about Paul Ryan’s thoughts on entitlement reform, budgetary quirks, or politics in general – the point is that you’re saying it. All of it.

    Apparently, Facebook is buzzing about Mitt Romney’s weekend running mate choice, Wisconsin Congressman Paul Ryan.

    According to the “Talk Meter,” a product of a CNN & Facebook partnership, Rep. Ryan has topped President Obama to be the most talked-about politician in the 2012 race. He has a “talk meter” score of 5.21, which best Obama’s score of 4.84. Current VP Joe Biden takes third with 4.01, and Mitt Romney trails the pack with a 3.74 score. Has Ryan brought the much-needed pizazz to Romney and his campaign?

    CNN notes that “the talk meter calculates a jump in buzz, so Ryan’s relative anonymity helped him jump up the talk meter scale.”

    But Ryan did add a lot of “like” as well, over 237,000 since Saturday’s announcement. He has the most Facebook likes in Texas, Florida, California, North Carolina, and Wisconsin – and the average age of Facebook who “likes” Paul Ryan in 43. A whopping 63% of those “likes” are from males.

    Ryan’s new VP Facebook page popped up over the weekend, and that’s the one taking off in terms of likes. Ryan still maintains a “Congressman Ryan” page, which is the one that contains the most interesting information about the candidate. For instance, he lists Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged as one of his favorite books, although he’s publicly rejected the author’s political philosophies as of late.

    This “Talk Meter” assessment from CNN and Facebook is the first in a partnership announced last month. The two entities say that they will be measuring the electorate’s “pulse” through the campaign cycle.

  • Ayn Rand Disowned by VP Candidate Paul Ryan

    Now that Paul Ryan has been chosen as presidential candidate Mit Romney’s running mate, the incessant digging into Ryan’s past has commenced. As a part of that digging, the candidate’s beliefs and past speeches are now being vetted.

    As relatively young as Ryan is for a vice presidential candidate, the idealistic beliefs he may have held in the past are still fresh enough that they could come into play during the election. This week, the question over whether Ryan is an adherent to the philosophy of Ayn Rand has resurfaced.

    In an interview with the National Review in April of this year, Ryan disavowed any beliefs in Ayn Rand’s Objectivist philosophy. From the interview:

    “I reject her philosophy,” Ryan says firmly. “It’s an atheist philosophy. It reduces human interactions down to mere contracts and it is antithetical to my worldview. If somebody is going to try to paste a person’s view on epistemology to me, then give me Thomas Aquinas,” who believed that man needs divine help in the pursuit of knowledge. “Don’t give me Ayn Rand,” he says.

    The Objectivist philosophy, at a basic level, promotes selfishness as a virtue and rejects altruism. It teaches that individuals should act in accordance with whatever is in their own rational self-intrest. Rand’s beliefs are widespread in Libertarian and some Republican political circles, and mesh well with the promotion of laissez-faire capitalism.

    While Ryan’s current sentiments seem clear, it was only seven years ago that Ryan delivered a speech to the Atlas Society in which he praised Rand and credited the woman as his inspiration for entering politics. He even mentions that his staff and interns are required to read Rand’s most well-known novel, Atlas Shrugged. From the speech, which can be heard here:

    “I grew up reading Ayn Rand and it taught me quite a bit about who I am and what my value systems are, and what my beliefs are. It’s inspired me so much that it’s required reading in my office for all my interns and my staff. We start with Atlas Shrugged…”

    ” But the reason I got involved in public service, by and large, if I had to credit one thinker, one person, it would be Ayn Rand. And the fight we are in here, make no mistake about it, is a fight of individualism versus collectivism…”

    “It’s so important that we go back to our roots to look at Ayn Rand’s vision, her writings, to see what our girding, under-grounding principles are. I always go back to, you know, Francisco d’Anconia’s speech on money when I think about monetary policy. And then I go to the 64-page John Galt speech, you know, on the radio at the end, and go back to a lot of other things that she did, to try and make sure that I can check my premises so that I know that what I’m believing and doing and advancing are square with the key principles of individualism…”

    Francisco d’Anconia and John Galt are characters in Atlas Shrugged.

    It seems as though Ryan is rejecting Objectivism due to its atheistic bent. Ayn Rand described Objectivism as a purely rationalist philosophy, and was outspokenly scornful of religion. Considering the large base of Republican voters who are religious, it is no surprise that Ryan is distancing himself from what appear to have been the beliefs that motivated him to become involved in politics.

    (via ABC News)

  • Who is Paul Ryan? Let’s Check His Facebook Page

    Over the weekend, presumptive Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney finally ended all the speculation and picked Wisconsin Congressman Paul Ryan to join him on the ticket.

    As the author of “The Path to Prosperity” (aka the Ryan budget) back in 2008, Ryan quickly made a name for himself in Washington. His plan, derided by some and lauded by others, called for drastic changes in entitlement spending – most notably a gigantic shift in Medicare which would introduce a voucher program for seniors. Ryan’s proposals generated controversy then, and continued to do so through midterm elections and beyond. Earlier this year, Ryan introduced a new version of his budget, adding the phrase “A Blueprint for American Renewal” to the plan.

    In the coming weeks, you’re likely to hear a lot about Paul Ryan – positive from one side and negative from the other. You’ll hear that he’s a radical, with economic ideas that would devastate the poor and elderly. You’ll hear that he’s a rising star, a visionary, and the future of the Republican party. You’ll hear that he wants to end Medicare as we know it. You’ll hear that he’s bold, and brave enough to stand up for controversial ideas that he feels are right.

    Catch my drift?

    But before all of that gets into full swing, let’s look at the fluffier side of Paul Ryan – his Facebook info.

    A “Paul Ryan VP” page has already been set up, and has garnered over 430,000 likes. But it’s his older page, the Paul Ryan as Congressman page that has plenty of info on the Vice Presidential nominee. Let’s take a look at the man who could be VP, according to his Facebook about page.

    Activities: Playing with my kids, bowhunting, mountain biking, mountain climbing Colorado Fourteeners, skiing, and reading

    Interests: economics, hunting, fishing, and – most of all – my family

    Favorite Books: Mere Christianity & The Screwtape Letters – C.S. Lewis; Atlas Shrugged – Ayn Rand; The Road to Serfdom – F.A. Hayek; The Way the World Works – Jude Wanniski

    Favorite Music: Led Zeppelin, Grateful Dead, Metallica, Beethoven, Hank Williams, Jr., and more

    Favorite Movies: The Good, The Bad and The Ugly; Monty Python and the Holy Grail.

    Favorite TV Shows: The Prisoner, Monty Python’s Flying Circus

    He also lists a Teddy Roosevelt quote as his favorite quotation:

    “It is not the critic who counts: not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again, because there is no effort without error or shortcoming, but who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself for a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows, in the end, the triumph of high achievement, and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who knew neither victory nor defeat.”

    Both Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan have already started in on the campaign on Facebook. Although President Obama utilized Facebook to win in 2008, this is probably the first campaign that could be called a true “social media campaign,” as both sides are paying a lot of attention to building a presence.

    Mitt Romney2 days ago

    I’m proud to announce Paul Ryan as my VP! Together we will offer a plan to restore American greatness and help build a stronger middle class. Stand with America’s Comeback Team: http://mi.tt/Romney-Ryan

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  • “Biggest Brown-Noser” Superlative Starts Wikipedia War

    “Biggest Brown-Noser” may not be the superlative you want to win in high school, but if you have a good enough sense of humor, it’s not that big a deal. However, when you run for a government office later in life, it’s a very big deal. Now that Paul Ryan is officially Mitt Romney’s running mate, he’s getting a lot of attention, and his Wikipedia page has not been spared.

    That page is garnering some controversy today, as fans and detractors alike have taken to it in an epic battle over the “brown-nosing” bit. Obviously, Ryan’s supporters don’t want it to be included in his bio, and have removed it from the page. But others were elated to discover he was voted in to such a dubious title and were so irritated that it was removed, they took it upon themselves to change it back. Now, the page has been revised hundreds of times, and although the info isn’t showing up at the moment, that doesn’t mean it won’t change.

    Of course, though something like this is excellent fodder for the media, it wouldn’t carry so much weight if Romney’s campaign hadn’t been dogged by several gaffes and embarrassing slip-ups. And Romney can’t seem to shake the nerves when he’s in front of a podium, even making a mistake during the crucial running-mate announcement.

  • Obama Says No Google Or Facebook Without Govt.

    President Barack Obama is in full campaign mode. The one thing that he will preach to his supporters is that the Republicans are trying to gut the government. He said that under the Republican budget “the government is shrunk to the point where things that we take for granted as a society — as an advanced, responsible society — are gutted: education, science and research, early childhood education, caring for our environment, looking after our veterans, keeping up with our infrastructure, rebuilding our roads and our bridges so that they’re safe, food safety laws, our capacity to enforce basic consumer protections. All of this is shrunk to the point of near invisibility.”

    He went on to say the “vision” portrayed by the Ryan budget “is of an America where everybody is fending for themselves, a few are doing very well at the top, and everybody else is struggling to get by.” Obama obviously has a vision for how the government needs to interact with it’s citizens. His vision includes an all encompassing federal government and a diminished state government. His “European Spending” includes providing everything for it’s citizens including healthcare, jobs, and housing.

    “I believe in investing in basic research and science because I understand that all these extraordinary companies that are these enormous wealth-generators — many of them would have never been there; Google, Facebook would not exist, had it not been for investments that we made as a country in basic science and research,” Obama said. “I understand that makes us all better off.”

    What he doesn’t say, is that these technologies came from military programs, that then branched out to the private sectors. They did not come from the Federal government investing in companies that they feel push their vision of the country. This is one of the reasons that the military has had a historically massive budget, because of the fact they spend more on research and development than any other entity(govt or private) than anyone in the world. The DOD will spend $77 billion next year on R&D, the highest private company is Merck & Co Inc which will spend $10 billion. The DoD will in fact spend more on R&D than the top 10 companies put together.

    Republicans have their own ideas of what should be done with the Federal government and they say that Obama is distorting the facts while he is trying to get reelected.

    “Chairman Ryan, passed a responsible budget that would help put Americans back to work, protect our seniors, close President Obama’s massive budget deficits, and do ‘all of the above’ to address high gas prices,” House Speaker John Boehner said. “It makes the tough choices the president refuses to make to address the staggering deficits and debt that are slowing our economic recovery, costing jobs, and threatening to destroy the American dream.”

    (image)@NewsNinja2012
    Wayne Dupree    Obama doesn’t take credit for Solyndra, failed stimulus, gas prices, economy, but he will take credit for Facebook and Google……WOW!!!(image) 14 hours ago via TweetDeck ·  Reply ·  Retweet ·  Favorite · powered by @socialditto

    (image)@WeDemandFreedom
    Marwa – B.    Facebook’s clearly made more changes than Obama.(image) 22 hours ago via Twitter for iPhone ·  Reply ·  Retweet ·  Favorite · powered by @socialditto

    (image)@Joy__Bishop
    Joy Taylor Bishop    The Obama spin….Really??? and the sheep follow…Facebook Would Not Exist’ Without Government Funding http://t.co/iTBDOd0Y(image) 21 minutes ago via Tweet Button ·  Reply ·  Retweet ·  Favorite · powered by @socialditto