Justin Baragona is the Managing Editor at Politicus Sports as well as Senior Editor at PoliticusUSA. He was a political writer for 411Mania.com before joining PoliticusUSA. Politically, Justin considers himself a liberal but also a realist and pragmatist. Currently, Justin lives in St. Louis, MO and is married. Besides writing, he also runs his own business after spending a number of years in the corporate world. You can follow Justin on Twitter either with his personal handle (@justinbaragona) or the Sports site's (@PoliticusSports).
A new poll released Thursday by Suffolk University and the Boston Herald shows that Republican Scott Brown trails Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) by 10 points in his bid to defeat the incumbent.
Rep. Steve King (R-IA) is known for going out of his way to make blatantly offensive and outlandish comments in order to bring attention to himself. He stayed true to his reputation on Wednesday.
During the broadcast of her radio show Tuesday, Laura Ingraham had Rep. Raul Labrador (R-ID) on to discuss his attempt to succeed Rep. Eric Cantor (R-VA) as House Majority Leader. They ended up butting heads over immigration.
Dick Cheney, along with his daughter Liz, penned an unbelievable piece of retcon tripe for the Wall Street Journal where they claimed that Obama lost the war that was already won, while at the same time positioning Dick Cheney as a hero.
The way Republicans and conservative media reacted to this good news, which also provided proof that the President is adhering to his promise to bring those responsible for the Benghazi attacks to justice, shows that they have collectively lost their minds due to that most deadly of afflictions, Obama Derangement Syndrome.
During a panel discussion on Tuesday’s Morning Joe, neocon torchbearer and Weekly Standard editor Bill Kristol attempted to make the case that the United States needs to send thousands of troops into Iraq for an indefinite period of time without any clear mission.
In a story posted by Daniel Strauss of Talking Points Memo on Tuesday, Thom Tillis, North Carolina’s State House Speaker and Republican nominee for US Senate, did an interview in 2012 where he suggested that Hispanics and blacks are not ‘traditional’ Americans.
Here we go again. During an interview with local Pennsylvania radio host Gary Sutton, Rep. Lou Barletta (R-PA) commented that House Republicans most likely have enough votes to impeach President Obama.
Republican Texas Governor Rick Perry, who is contemplating a 2016 run for the White House, appeared on CNBC Monday morning to talk with Squawk Box host Joe Kernen. The interview did not go well for Perry.
In an op-ed piece for Politico published Sunday, former Democratic Governor of Vermont Howard Dean stated that the recent primary loss by House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) offers five lessons for Democrats in upcoming elections.
On this week’s five Sunday news shows (CNN’s State of the Union, ABC’s This Week, NBC’s Meet the Press, CBS’ Face the Nation and Fox News Sunday) almost all of the guests that were brought on for interviews were white Republican males.
On Friday, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) appeared on five different cable news shows to discuss the recent flare up of sectarian violence in Iraq and directly blame it all on President Obama and his administration.
Ari Fleischer, the White House Press Secretary under President George W. Bush during the early years of the Iraq War. took to Twitter on Friday to help conservatives pin the blame on Obama for the recent surge of violence in Iraq.
During an interview on Morning Joe Friday morning, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) predictably placed the recent flare-up of ethnic violence in Iraq at the President’s feet.
On Tuesday, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Rolf M. Treu ruled in favor of the plaintiffs in the Vergara vs. California court case. Essentially, the judge stripped teachers of due process and ruled that tenure is unconstitutional. A war on teachers is being waged in this country.
Republican Texas Governor Rick Perry addressed the Commonwealth Club of California Wednesday night. He shocked the crowd, and perhaps put the final nail in the coffin of his Presidential ambitions, when he compared homosexuals to alcoholics.
On Tuesday, a website based in Oklahoma, MooreDaily.com, ran a story featuring Facebook conversations from a Republican candidate for the Oklahoma House of Representatives. Esk said then that he believes homosexuality is punishable by death.
House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) lost in the Republican primary Tuesday night to Tea Party upstart David Brat. Republicans may think this means they need to oppose immigration reform.
Another day, another school shooting in America. On Tuesday morning, news hit that a gunman entered a school in Troutdale, OR, a suburb of Portland, and opened fire, killing one student. It is the 74th school shooting since Sandy Hook.
A poll released Tuesday by the Public Religion Research Institute shows that a large majority of Americans support a path to citizenship for immigrants who are in the United States illegally.
Well, that sure didn’t take long. Alex Jones, crazy right-wing conspiracy theorist and con artist, took to his radio show on Monday to claim that the Las Vegas shooting that took place on Sunday was a false flag operation to turn public sentiment against the so-called patriot movement.
The Washington Post reported on Sunday evening that State Senator Phillip Puckett, a Democrat, will resign from office Monday. Puckett is resigning so he can take on a new job as deputy director of the state’s tobacco commission, a position with significant benefits.
During yet another appearance on a Sunday show, Rep. Mike Rogers (R-MI) appeared on ABC’s This Week to discuss the prisoner exchange that allowed the United States to retrieve Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, the last American prisoner of war, from the Taliban.
During an appearance at the Texas GOP convention on Friday, Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) decided to make a little topical joke about the recent release of Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl.
On Friday, National Security Adviser Susan Rice hit back at her Republican critics who have tried to make it appear that she said something misleading on Sunday.
On Friday, the Bureau of Labor Statistics released the jobs report for the month on May. For the fourth month in a row, American employers added over 200,000 jobs. For May, we saw 217,000 nonfarm payroll jobs added to the economy.
During an interview with Megyn Kelly of The Kelly File Wednesday night, Rep. Duncan D. Hunter (R-CA) managed a nice little two-fer while discussing Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl — he flip-flopped from his previous opinion of the soldier and he ‘swift boated’ him.
On Thursday’s episode of Morning Joe, host Joe Scarborough went way over the line when discussing the situation surrounding the release of Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, an american POW who was finally brought home after nearly five years in captivity.
Republicans in Washington and the right-wing media decided to push all-in by claiming the President had negotiated with terrorists and endangered the nation’s security in order to save an anti-American deserter who deserved to be held as a prisoner indefinitely by the Taliban.
A few days after the President of the United States announced that our last prisoner of war, Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, had been rescued from his five years of captivity by the Taliban, Republicans are now seriously calling for the President to be impeached for his actions in securing Bergdahl’s release.
Apparently, the talking heads over at Fox News have now decided to attack the father of recovered POW Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl due to the way he looks. It really was only a matter of time.
On Monday, Fox News columnist J.D. Gordon wrote an article that cranked the hyperbole up to 11, as the former Pentagon spokesman evoked Nazi Germany while describing this recent situation involving Sgt. Bergdahl and the Gitmo prisoner swap.
On Monday, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) sent a strongly worded letter to Sen. Carl Levin (D-MI), the Chairman of the Armed Services Committee.
On Monday, a poll, conducted by Huffington Post and YouGov, was released. The poll asked Americans their feelings about open-carry gun laws and whether or not they were comfortable with armed customers in shops and restaurants.
On Sunday afternoon, Democratic Congressional candidate James Kimber, who is running against Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-CA) in California’s 50th District, contacted me to express his disgust with the tactics that Republicans are using to undermine the President.
During a speech at the Republican Leadership Conference in New Orleans on Saturday, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) stated his belief that the 17-day shutdown of the federal government last year will be a positive for the Republican Party this November in the midterm elections.
Late Friday morning, President Obama announced that he’d accepted the resignation of retired four-star general and Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric Shinseki.
A poll released by Public Policy Polling on Thursday shows that Democrats are way ahead of their Republican opponents in Oregon’s major races this year
Since Maya Angelou she was seen as a hero by minorities, women and liberals, some conservative writers decided to use the opportunity of her passing to take a big, giant crap on her legacy.
During Thursday’s broadcast of Morning Joe, the panel, which included former Democratic Vermont Governor and DNC Chairman Howard Dean, discussed President Obama’s commencement speech at West Point earlier this week. I
Per a new ABC-Washington Post poll released on Wednesday, it appears that Republican strategist Karl Rove’s plan to hurt former First Lady and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton by questioning both her health and age has completely backfired on him and the GOP.
Rep. Ralph Hall (R-TX), 91, was seeking his 18th term in office this year. It appears that the oldest member of Congress will be forced to retire in January as Hall was defeated on Tuesday in a Republican primary runoff election.
Phil Robertson, the patriarch of the family featured on A&E’s one-time hit show ‘Duck Dynasty,’ will be a featured speaker at the Republican Leadership Conference this coming Thursday.
Republican State Sen. Dan Patrick of Texas is currently in a primary runoff with Texas’ current Lieutenant Governor, Republican David Dewhurst. The two candidates locked horns in a debate on Tuesday. Patrick said something unbelievable.
Gallup released a new poll on Wednesday showing that support for same-sex marriage has now reached its highest level since the polling firm first started tracking this issue in 1996.
Wheel of Fortune host, and hard-core conservative firebrand, Pat Sajak has frequently used his Twitter account to comment about politics and climate change. On Monday, he sent out a truly outrageous tweet.
The watchdog group Right Wing Watch recently uncovered video footage of Rep. Ted Yoho (R-FL) telling voters in his district that property owners should be the only ones allowed to vote.
Well, I think we all knew this was coming, in one degree or another. Former half-term Governor of Alaska and Republican Vice-Presidential nominee Sarah Palin decided to weigh in on the recent brouhaha surrounding Karl Rove’s comments on Hillary Clinton’s health.
During his radio broadcast on Monday, conservative radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh used the recent scandal surrounding a VA hospital in Arizona as a way to compare President Obama to Hitler.
CNN is reporting that Robert Copeland, a police commissioner in New Hampshire who unapologetically used a racial slur when referring to the President, has decided to resign from office.
This week, political news site Politico released a poll showing that Democrats are at a seven-point disadvantage against Republicans in the upcoming midterm elections. The poll is supposed to reflect voter sentiments in the most competitive House and Senate races this year.
On Twitter, the hashtag #AmericanSpringexcuses took off. People have tried to outdo each other over the past two days in coming up with the funniest excuses used by Tea Partiers for not attending the rally this weekend
On Thursday evening, the town of Wolfeboro, NH held a town meeting to discuss the words and actions of its 82 year-old police commissioner, Robert Copeland. Back in March, Mr. Copeland was at the bar of a local restaurant and complained loudly about President Obama, using a racial slur.
Earlier this week, the executive editor of the New York Times, Jill Abramson, was swiftly dismissed from her position at the newspaper. Ken Auletta has reported that Abramson’s objections to her compensation compared with her male colleagues was a major contributing factor to her dismissal.
On Thursday, thousands of fast food workers across the nation walked out on their shifts to protest the low wages and lack of union representation in their industry.
This weekend, a far-right, anti-government group calling itself Patriots For America, plans to organize a ‘huge’ march on Washington, D.C. The march is supposed the be the first phase of a plan they are calling Operation American Spring.
On Tuesday, Lord Christopher Monckton, a contributor for World Net Daily, penned an article for the far-right website complaining about the mainstream media and how it is too far to the left. He suggests a new far-right network.
On Tuesday night’s episode of The Daily Show, Jon Stewart compared the recent insane statements by two men who have completely worn out their welcome — Donald Sterling and Karl Rove.
On Tuesday, during his press briefing, White House Press Secretary absolutely torched Republican strategist and Fox News contributor Karl Rove over his recent comments about former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
On Monday, The New York Post’s Page Six reported that Republican strategist and Fox News contributor Karl Rove made numerous claims at an event last week that former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton suffered a traumatic brain injury in 2012.
In Limbaugh’s mind, the only reason Hillary Clinton didn’t name them as a terrorist group was because they are all black. And also because she might have had the hots for one of the leaders.
Former one-term Republican Congressman, and current Fox News analyst, Allen West took to his personal blog to write about the Boko Haram kidnappings on Monday.
James Kimber spoke with a voter in his district over the weekend and discovered that soldiers stationed in Bahrain will no longer receive Imminent Danger Pay starting June 1st. He feels this is extremely wrong.
During a discussion of Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) on Monday morning, Morning Joe host Joe Scarborough defended Rubio’s position on climate change while also claiming that Democrats are like “televangelists” when it comes to the science behind climate change.
This Sunday on ABC’s This Week, host Martha Raddatz had a panel discussion about the recent reemergence of Monica Lewinsky. Raddatz brought up Lewinsky’s article in Vanity Fair. She cornered Bill Kristol on his recent conspiracy theory and responded with Benghazi.
The right-wing media has focused their attentions solely on former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Based on the logic they are presenting, Clinton is to blame for Boko Haram’s actions due to her not designating them as a terrorist organization during her tenure as Secretary of State.
KLAS-TV in Las Vegas is reporting that the FBI is now conducting an investigation into the armed standoff between Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy’s supporters and local and federal law enforcement.
On Thursday night’s edition of The Daily Show, host Jon Stewart, along with correspondent John Hodgman, addressed the recent Donald Sterling controversy while also sending up the current inequitable relationship in sports between team owners and the athletes.
McConnell’s team has tried to paint her as a Hollywood liberal whose values are all wrong for Kentucky. Recently, it has been revealed that McConnell is a huge hypocrite.
Gallup released a new poll on Thursday which shows that opposition to the Tea Party is at its highest level since the polling firm started tracking the far-right, anti-government movement in 2010.
Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-SC has said that he won’t try to use Benghazi as a fundraising issue. However, the NRCC and other Republicans aren’t following that advice.
On Wednesday’s edition of Morning Joe, co-hosts Mika Brzezinski and Joe Scarborough discussed Monica Lewinsky’s new Vanity Fair piece, which will be released online Thursday and hit newsstands on May 13th. Scarborough threw a tantrum on air.
On Tuesday, while announcing that the White House had released this report, Fox News’ Bill Hemmer, host of America’s Newsroom, stated that the report was perhaps being used to distract people from the “multiple scandals swirling around the administration.”
A new climate change report was released by the White House on Tuesday. White House counselor John Podesta stated that he hoped that Republicans would look at this report change their minds on the existence of climate change and that it is indeed caused by man.
Ever since it happened, Fox News has tried to turn the tragic events that occurred at Benghazi in September 2012 into a massive scandal that will destroy the Obama presidency.
Gallup released a new tracking poll on Monday that shows that the uninsured rate for Americans dropped to 13.4% in April. This continues a trend that started at the end of 2013
Iowa State Sen. Joni Ernst, who is trying to grab the GOP nomination for Iowa’s open US Senate seat, released a new TV ad this week in the hopes of grabbing some mainstream attention.
During Sunday’s broadcast of Fox News Sunday, host Chris Wallace had Sen. Kelly Ayotte (R-NH) and Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) on to discuss both Benghazi and Ukraine. After letting Ayotte say her piece, Wallace turned to Schiff. The Congressman obliterated the GOP’s case.
On his radio show Friday, Limbaugh not only accused the President of fudging the numbers, he also used the time to complain about the fact that unemployed people in this country are able to eat. Yes, he actually said this.
On a day where the unemployment rate fell to pre-financial crisis levels, and a month after private insurance enrollments through the ACA exceeded all expectations, Republicans decided to focus on the only thing they now think they can hammer President Obama on — Benghazi.
On Wednesday night’s episode of Fox News’ Hannity, host Sean Hannity held a panel discussion on Byron Smith, the Minnesota retiree who was convicted of 1st degree murder earlier this week.
Earlier this week, Mike Vanderboegh, leader of a right-wing militia group known as the Three Percenters, made a speech to a small group of hardcore followers at Cliven Bundy’s Nevada ranch. He called for a civil war and advocated for the castration of Harry Reid.
During Thursday’s broadcast of Morning Joe, host Joe Scarborough lashed out at a guest and caused one of the more shameful and embarrassing moments to be seen on cable news, and that is saying a lot.
On his personal website, West wrote a blog post where he somehow found a way to shoehorn Benghazi and hatred for Obama into a discussion about Donald Sterling’s racism.
The lifetime suspension was met with relief and a certain sense of gratification, as Sterling’s long history of racism and discrimination was finally punished. However, there are a few conservative voices that have popped up that feel that Sterling was set up.
NBA Commissioner Adam Silver announced on Tuesday afternoon that Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling is banned from the league for life.
Former Republican Presidential candidate Rick Santorum appeared on Morning Joe Tuesday morning to peddle his new book. He claimed that one of ‘Obama’s minions’ told him that they were scared of him in 2012
Conservative blowhard Rush Limbaugh brought up the ongoing controversy surrounding Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling. Limbaugh claimed that Sterling is a “big Democrat” and that the only reason this is all a big deal is because “he did not give enough money to Obama.”
On Monday morning, real estate mogul Donald Trump appeared on Fox & Friends and discussed the recent controversy over LA Clippers owner Donald Sterling’s racist comments.
On Sunday’s broadcast of Meet the Press, renowned television journalist Bryant Gumbel pointed the finger directly at the NBA and former commissioner David Stern for allowing Clippers owner Donald Sterling to get away with racist comments and behavior for years.
Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy appeared on CNN’s New Day on Friday morning to discuss the racist comments he made recently that caused a huge stir earlier this week.
During a speech in his home district on Thursday, Speaker of the House John Boehner (R-OH) criticized his House Republicans on their intransigence when it comes to comprehensive immigration reform.
By Thursday morning, Republicans who had previously championed Bundy’s cause and held him up as a hero and patriot were falling all over themselves condemning his remarks.
James Kimber is showing us how Democrats across the country can speak positively about the Affordable Care Act and not run scared from it.
Earlier this week, AFP unveiled yet another anti-Obamcare ad, targeting Democratic Senator Mark Udall of Colorado. It was immediately criticized for being offensive and misleading.
On Wednesday, the Republican Party of Louisiana sent a formal complaint to the Senate Ethics Committee against Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) claiming that Reid is abusing publicly funded resources for partisan and electoral activities.
On Tuesday night’s episode of The Daily Show, host Jon Stewart devoted an extended-length segment of the show to the media’s treatment of women in politics.
Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) appeared on Tuesday’s broadcast of Morning Joe to discuss the ongoing crisis in Ukraine. Once again, McCain called on the US to get more involved in the situation.
Host Jon Stewart spent the first segment of Monday’s show discussing Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy and the recent news surrounding him. He then tore into Sean Hannity.
Sometimes, even the most innocuous gestures from the President and/or First Lady end up being controversial for incomprehensible reasons. We are at that point with the ‘controversy’ over First Lady Michelle Obama’s graduation commencement speech.
