Sunday, January 31, 2016

The Daily Flashback: Bush Email Edition

Bush White House email controversy - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia:

The Bush White House email controversy surfaced in 2007 during the controversy involving the dismissal of eight U.S. attorneys. Congressional requests for administration documents while investigating the dismissals of the U.S. attorneys required the Bush administration to reveal that not all internal White House emails were available, because they were sent via a non-government domain hosted on an email server not controlled by the federal government. Conducting governmental business in this manner is a possible violation of the Presidential Records Act of 1978, and the Hatch Act.[1] Over 5 million emails may have been lost.[2][3] Greg Palast claims to have come up with 500 of the Karl Rove emails, leading to damaging allegations.[4] In 2009, it was announced that as many as 22 million emails may have been lost.[5]...

Saturday, January 30, 2016

Bernie Planning To Lose?

Does Bernie Sanders Really Want to Win?:

...It occurs to me that Bernie Sanders may not want to be President. Perhaps he knows in his heart that a self-proclaimed Socialist, even a Democratic Socialist, has no chance of winning in a general election outside of a few states with distinctly liberal tilts and a high percentage of college students. Or perhaps he knows he would not be either effective, or happy trying to be effective, as President of the United States...
Meanwhile, Ralph Nader is doing his best to insure another victory for the GOP.

Sleepy Ben And A Kinda Large Lie

Ben Carson Says The One Thing He Would Never Do Is Lie | Crooks and Liars:
CARSON:...Well, I'll never compromise my principles. I won't lie. I'd much rather lose than lie. What good does it do for a man to gain the whole world and lose his soul?

If a Democratic candidate was found guilty of lying about several matters, those would be addressed first and foremost, in every interview. However, we know of Stabby Ben's honesty problem. Some of those include lies about: West Point Admissions, Mannatech, plagiarism and an alleged 'violent' past. Cavuto addressed none of these revelations.

Had I been charged with interviewing Carson, I'd certainly ask him about his decision to recite the Preamble of the Constitution as his closing debate statement. He actually misquoted a few things in the process. But honestly, that's the least of his troubles at this point. Unless something dramatic occurs, Ben isn't too long for this GOP Presidential contest. The Talking Yam and Tailgunner Ted the Canadian are sucking all the oxygen out for the rest of the field...

Crooks & Liars Weekly Cleaning Service

Your Weekly Wingnut Roundup - January 30, 2016 | Crooks and Liars

Friday, January 29, 2016

Retroactive RatFcng

The State Department: Hillary Clinton’s email correspondence contained ‘top secret’ material - The Washington Post:

...Clinton’s spokesman, Brian Fallon, presented the findings as the latest turn in an ongoing struggle between government officials over whether to retroactively classify emails that were not marked as sensitive when they were sent and that Clinton thinks should be made public.

“After a process that has been dominated by bureaucratic infighting that has too often played out in public view, the loudest and leakiest participants in this interagency dispute have now prevailed in blocking any release of these emails,” Fallon said. “This flies in the face of the fact that these emails were unmarked at the time they were sent, and have been called ‘innocuous’ by certain intelligence officials.”

Fallon told MSNBC that withholding the emails from view in their entirety made it impossible for the public to independently judge the validity of the State Department’s conclusion...

On Thanking The Donald

Well, At Least Donald Trump Might Be Hastening The Downfall Of Fox News | Crooks and Liars:

...Rupert's interventions haven't really hurt Fox very much so far, but Fox's response to the wingnut insurgency has been a mess, and no Murdoch seems to know what to do about that. And yet it looks as if Ailes is being set up for a fall. If Ailes goes, or continues on in a diminished role, it's possible that the Murdochs might destroy what Ailes has built.

Which would be awesome for America.

So maybe someday we'll thank Trump someday for being the straw that broke Fox's back.

AOWG Speaks

I'm an Angry Old White Guy. Here's Why.:

...I'm angry not because all these things happened. I'm angry because they are in jeopardy from the likes of Donald Trump and his fellow Republican presidential candidates. They rail about "political correctness" to justify bigotry and cruelty, when in fact the most vigorous enforcer of political correctness is the far right "base" of the Republican Party and its amen corner in the media. Thanks to them, no candidate may dare buck the NRA's absolutist -- and murderous -- stance against any sensible gun regulation. No candidate may acknowledge the reality of climate change and what is needed to save the planet, or the humanity of immigrants and refugees who deserve a medal for enduring untold hardships to make it to this country -- where they are a vital part of its economy and its very fabric -- not the scorn and abuse that has been heaped upon them.

Oregon Terrorist Going For Gun

FBI Releases Video Of LaVoy Finicum Shooting | Crooks and Liars:

...We've clipped the video down to a one-minute clip, encompassing the seconds just before and after Finicum drove the truck into a snowbank where officers had the road blocked. There's no question that he reached into his waistband for his gun (after nearly running another officer down), and even less question about him "being on his knees trying to surrender."

Those video cameras work both ways, militants. Just as we can capture police misconduct on video, so too can we catch militant misconduct on video. From the looks of things, this was a "suicide by cop." No more and no less...

Thursday, January 28, 2016

Cannonfire

Cannonfire: "We need a new word"

...Suppose I said: "I'm a serial killer -- but I'm not like Ted Bundy or Jack the Ripper. I'm a nice serial killer -- a Democratic serial killer, a patriotic serial killer, a jovial serial killer, an anti-racist serial killer, a charitable serial killer." Would you continue to read this blog? Probably not (unless you work for the FBI). The term "serial killer" cannot be redeemed, even if that hated term comes garlanded with much nicer words. A serial killer will always have, at best, a niche popularity.

For a solid majority of your fellow Americans, the word "socialist" equals "serial killer." That's a reality. Instead of wasting your time trying to convince yourself that this reality is not real, you should spend the next few minutes trying to think of a better word.

Wednesday, January 27, 2016

Clinton Roars About Tax Dodgers

Hillary Clinton Bowling Alley Event in Iowa - Hillary Talks Corporate Tax-Dodgers:

..."Johnson Controls begged the administration and the government to bail out the auto industry," she said. "And now, in the last few days, Johnson Controls has decided to pretend to sell itself to a company in Europe just to avoid paying taxes. They call this an IN-version. I'd call it a PER-version. "

There is no question that she's swum in these circles like a fish in cold water. And there also is no question that she's tuned up the populist outrage as a result of being challenged from the left by Bernie Sanders. But, whatever the reason, she is right to call out this company for being the towering corporate ingrate that it is. If this kind of thing becomes an issue in the campaign, and if the free-market fetishists on the other side have to defend this incredible tax dodge, that cannot be a bad thing, either for her, or for her party, or for the country. That battle is now universally joined...

Yes, It Was Classism In Flint

Flint, Michigan: Neglected because city is black, poor? - CNN.com:

The contamination of drinking water in Flint, Michigan, has so outraged community advocates that they now pose a powerful question: Was the city neglected because it is mostly black and about 40% poor?...
Yes, race was a factor, but being poor was more of factor. Remember this?

Tuesday, January 26, 2016

Fox "Expert" Heading To Jail

The Rise and Fall of a Fox News Fraud | Rolling Stone:

...But according to prosecutors, Simmons was living a lie. Last October, the government charged him with multiple counts of fraud, saying he had never worked for the CIA at all. Prosecutors alleged that Simmons used his supposed intelligence experience not only to secure time on Fox and an audience with Rumsfeld, but also to obtain work with defense contractors, including deployment to a military base in Afghanistan. He was also charged with bilking $125,000 from a woman, with whom prosecutors say he was romantically involved, in a real-estate investment that did not exist. He has pleaded not guilty to the charges, and his trial is scheduled to begin February 23rd. If convicted, he will likely face several years in prison...

Say You're Sorry, Fi!

When Will Carly Fiorina Apologize To Planned Parenthood? | Crooks and Liars: .

...It's time that Carly Fiorina abandons her efforts to smear Planned Parenthood, using
bogus videos and apologize for her behavior. There have been many investigations since these videos came to light and Planned Parenthood has been cleared numerous times, but that hasn't stopped Carly. Maybe she should be indicted as a co-conspirator for promoting these apparently illegal efforts?...

Sanders And Obotism

I have had it with naive Bernie Sanders idealists - Salon.com:

...Purdy has accidentally encapsulated not just the fatal flaw in the Sanders theory of change, but also the primary flaw of his supporters. Sanders doesn’t have supporters as much as he has believers. Sanders’ supporters cannot call on facts to support their fervent belief that his message of radical change is possible, because the facts do not support this belief. They become belligerent and hostile any time anyone questions this belief...

Ain't It The Truth

GOP anti-sex lunacy: The Planned Parenthood indictments show how unmoored from reality Republicans have become - Salon.com:

...The entire episode, however, is a stunning illustration of how far the Republicans have gone when it comes to embracing even the most ridiculous and fringe right wing causes. As long as a group or cause is perceived a “liberal,” Republicans will go along with the most ridiculous attacks on it, even if it makes them look like complete morons to anyone outside of the tribal politics of the right...

Prof Gets Much Deserved Praise

Meet the heroic professor who helped uncover the Flint lead water crisis​ - The Washington Post:

...They want Marc Edwards, Virginia Tech’s environmental engineering professor who once led, almost entirely on his own, a crusade against the federal government’s failure to protect residents of Washington, D.C. from lead in the city’s water. And he won...

Monday, January 25, 2016

PP Cleared; Con Man Indicted

Grand Jury Indicts Creators Of Smear Videos, Clears Planned Parenthood Of Wrongdoing | Blog | Media Matters for America:

A grand jury in Harris County, Texas indicted the Center for Medical Progress' founder David Daleiden and associate Sandra Merritt on January 25 for "tampering with a governmental record," a felony, and Daleiden was also indicted for "illegally offer[ing] to purchase human organs" in a video recording he used to falsely accuse the group of illegally selling fetal tissue for profit. The grand jury was investigating based on CMP's allegations, but found no evidence of misconduct by Planned Parenthood...

Obama Has Not Gutted Military

It's an AP article so I can't post any of their precious words. AP FACT CHECK: Gutted? Disaster? GOP hyperbole on military - The Killeen Daily Herald: Associated Press

Clinton Will Win

Hillary Clinton Cannot Be Stopped | Vanity Fair:

...What does that leave? More than one might think. Despite the challenges, Hillary wins by not panicking. Certainly, after an inevitable New Hampshire triumph, Sanders will shoot up in the polls, and Hillary’s lead in most states will shrink a lot. (It’s already fallen by half in South Carolina.) But after a couple of grueling weeks, the air will quietly start to leak from the Sanders tire. Bernie is unlikely to inspire anything close to the support that Obama got among Southern black voters in 2008, and most non-New-England states that preferred Hillary in 2008 will still prefer her now. So my guess is she’ll take a narrow but persistent lead across most of the country, winning steadily, if slowly. She’ll take the South, including South Carolina, Florida, and Texas. She’ll take New York, Michigan, Illinois, Indiana, and California. And she won’t neglect the caucus states, where she was so embarrassingly outplayed in 2008...

Sunday, January 24, 2016

Cruzing A Young Cruz

Teen Ted Cruz joked of goals: ‘World domination, you know, rule everything’:

A new video of a teenaged Ted Cruz, posted Saturday on YouTube, shows a lankier and younger version of the future Republican presidential candidate sarcastically talking about his life’s goals —and they’re far more ambitious than the mere presidency. "Take over the world, world domination, you know, rule everything. Rich, powerful, that sort of stuff,” Cruz says...

On Conservative Victims

Leonard Pitts Jr.: Palin blames Obama for son’s domestic violence incident | Miami Herald:

...Like them or not, agree with them or don’t, conservatives used to espouse clear and consistent values, one of which was an impatience with the so-called culture of victimization. But in recent years, who has cried “victim” more than they?

To hear them tell it, they are a people perennially under siege from a “War on Christmas,” a “War on Whites,” a “War on Males,” political correctness, same-sex marriage and, of course, that old standby, liberal media bias.

Now here is one of conservatism’s biggest stars claiming her son is a victim after he allegedly beat up his girlfriend in a drunken rage. What used to be a consistent principle has shrunk into the kind of situational morality conservatives once abhorred, a “say anything-ism” in which the only consistent ideal is that you never pass up any opportunity to damage the president...

Saturday, January 23, 2016

Here We Go Again: Cop Shoots Naked Man

Georgia cop indicted on murder charges for shooting unarmed naked vet suffering from PTSD:

Instead of reaching for his pepper spray or his Taser, a DeKalb County police officer drew his gun and killed an unarmed veteran suffering from bipolar and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Charged with felony murder and several other charges on Thursday, the officer claims the unarmed veteran was aggressively charging towards him even though witnesses dispute his “official” version of events...

Today's Both Siderism Delusion

The Federalist's Ben Domenech: 'Both Sides Are Responsible For Donald Trump' | Crooks and Liars


...The recent edition of he National Review has created a flurry of controversy amidst a blizzard (aka sh*tstorm) on the right, symbolic of their culpability for the creation of Franken-Trump. The characterization of President Obama as an authoritarian dictator has created fanaticism that is nothing more than a racist display of jealous rage. The conditions were created to build the hateful monster on January 20, 2009. But Ben is a typical representation of those living in the highly deluded incubus of the right-wing, who think every problem has a cause that originates on both sides of the aisle. Thus, he takes no responsibility for something he has most assuredly created...

GOP Getting Flexible

The G.O.P. Establishment Doesn’t Need to Surrender Yet - The New Yorker:

...King told the newspaper, “Cruz isn’t a good guy, and he’d be impossible as President. People don’t trust him. And regardless of what your concern is with Trump, he’s pragmatic enough to get something done. I also don’t see malice in Trump like I see with Cruz.”

The quotes from Dole, Giuliani, and King—three moderates—do seem to represent a slight shift. It’s the first time prominent Republicans have indicated that they could accommodate themselves to a Trump nomination and Presidency. Still, Trump has not yet received the endorsement of even one Republican governor, U.S. senator, or U.S. representative. And most of the pro-Trump sentiment reported this week is driven by hatred of Cruz rather than any affection for Trump. The Post’s headline—“GOP Establishment Warms to Trump”—seems overstated and premature. “GOP Establishment Still Cool on Cruz” might have been more accurate...

Friday, January 22, 2016

Hillary Hate And The Media

Hillary and the Jewish People | Uppity Woman:

...And does she gets accolades for standing up against all of this? Since everything she does is cast in a negative light, her standing brave is portrayed as “haughty,” or “indifferent,” or “stubborn.” Do you remember how in 2008, the Obama campaign and the DNC which was strongly on his side, kept urging Hillary to get out of the race; go away; give up; kneel at Sir Obama’s feet? She may have actually had more legitimate delegates then, but they weren’t going to let her have them. This time, if she is winning, do you think you will see any people urge Sanders to leave the race? The media will beg him to stay in, to run as a third party candidate.

The media hates Hillary so much, that they would rather see Trump, who scorns freedom of the press, win, and destroy the country, than see Hillary win. It is a madness, not that dissimilar in nature to the madness of anti-semitism which has infected the world for thousands of years. Looking for some shred of rationality behind it, is to give the insane and hate-filled far too much credit.

Patriotic Death Threats

Oregon ranchers who sparked standoff threatened to wrap official’s son in barbed wire and drown him:

... Leading up to the 1994 incident were the death threats. Cameron says, “My wife would take these phone calls, it was terribly vulgar language. They said they were going to wrap my son in barbed wire and throw him down a well. They said they knew exactly which rooms my kids slept in, in Burns. There were death threats to my wife and two other staff members and their wives. My family went to Bend rather than be in the community because it was so volatile at the time. The families of my biologist and my deputy manager family had to relocate as well for a short time...”

Comment Of The Day: 13 Hour BenzGate Edition

Sorry, Fox News: Benghazi Film Isn’t Really About Hillary Clinton:

Gregory Urbach

Congressional Republicans have spent more than $20 million so far trying to prove that Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton mishandled the 2012 terrorist attack on the U.S. diplomatic outpost in Benghazi, Libya.

Eleven reports and 32 hearings later, they haven't succeeded. But that hasn’t stopped conservative pundits at Fox News from feeding their audience a regular diet of Benghazi conspiracy theories.

For the last two weeks, the network has been characterizing Michael Bay's new film, “13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi," as a threat to Clinton's presidential campaign while promoting a number of discredited stories about the attacks.

Fox Hyping 13 Hours

Sorry, Fox News: Benghazi Film Isn’t Really About Hillary Clinton:

Congressional Republicans have spent more than $20 million so far trying to prove that Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton mishandled the 2012 terrorist attack on the U.S. diplomatic outpost in Benghazi, Libya.

Eleven reports and 32 hearings later, they haven't succeeded. But that hasn’t stopped conservative pundits at Fox News from feeding their audience a regular diet of Benghazi conspiracy theories.

For the last two weeks, the network has been characterizing Michael Bay's new film, “13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi," as a threat to Clinton's presidential campaign while promoting a number of discredited stories about the attacks...

Thursday, January 21, 2016

Comment Of The Day: Cruz Theology Edition

Ted Cruz Executions - Ted Cruz's Work on Executions While Clerking for Rehnquist

Davis Statton · 

Serioiusly twisted, and here's why: (sic)

In a sermon last year, Rafael Cruz said that his son is among the evangelical Christians who are anointed as “kings” to take control of all sectors of society. This is a Christian dominionist agenda that’s commonly called the “Seven Mountains” mandate: (1) Business; (2) Government; (3) Media; (4) Arts and Entertainment; (5) Education; (6)
Family; and (7) Religion.

In fulfilling the “Seven Mountains” Mandate, Rafael Cruz said that his son and other “anointed kings” would help bring about a “prophesied great transfer of wealth” from the “wicked” to the “righteous gentile believers".

This is what he was brought up to believe.

Cowards In Action

Armed Pro-Gun Extremists Menace Meeting On Gun Violence

Sigh. At Least He Didn't Shoot Someone

...I guess. 

Cop Identified Teaching People How To Run Over MLK Day Marchers And Get Away With It (VIDEO) - American News X:

A St Paul law enforcement official is being investigated for allegedly teaching people how to literally run over some MLK Day marchers who held an event that was at least in part sponsored by Black Lives Matter. In addition, he then instructs them to do certain things to get away with the crime. This was allegedly done on a Facebook post, according to a local St Paul Fox affiliate...

Salon Serves Up A Dish Of Reality

Wow. One of the most reliable of Clinton bashing sites-- to the point of full blown CDS--- has touched down in the real world.

Let’s get real, Bernie fans: It isn’t “giving up” to admit a revolution isn’t coming - Salon.com:

...Pointing this state of affairs out is not “giving up” or “accepting the Trumpization of America” or even “mushy centrism.” It is math. If you want more liberal policies signed into law, you need more than a very liberal president. You need more liberal legislators and policymakers at the federal and state and local levels...

O Not The Blame For Bad Track Times

Vets: Don't Blame Obama for Track Palin's Behavior - NBC News:

...Don't blame President Obama for the PTSD that Sarah Palin claims her oldest son is battling.

That was the message Wednesday from the head of a New York City-based veteran's organization that has fought for years to get Iraq and Afghanistan war vets help with their post traumatic stress disorder.

"It's not President Obama's fault that Sarah Palin's son has PTSD," said Paul Rieckhoff, who heads Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America (IAVA). "PTSD is a very serious problem, a complicated mental health injury and I would be extremely reluctant to blame any one person in particular..."
Palin served in 2008 so his mom ought to blame Skippy Bush.

The Poisoned Water Syndrome

Flint water crisis reveals limits of running a state as a business ( video) - CSMonitor.com:

...In Flint’s case, Kousser says, the problem stemmed from what appears to have been a trade-off between cost-cutting measures and public health.

“The private marketplace works because of competition, but governments often have monopoly,” he notes. “When Volkswagen screws up, you can buy a Ford. But when lead starts coming out of your tap, you can’t just turn on another tap...

Wednesday, January 20, 2016

What Would Walter Cronkite Do?

Or Howard K. Smith, or Harry Reasoner, or any of the old school, fair-minded mavens of the media? Well, they certainly wouldn't sit by and get stomped on.

Trump Bullies The Press -- And The Press Yawns | Blog | Media Matters for America:

...On and on the bullying goes and the pushback remains minimal. This is a profound embarrassment for the national press corps. It's a profound embarrassment for editors and producers in positions of influence who have voluntarily acquiesced their power in order to bow down to Trump and his campaign road show.

The gleeful bullying of the press meshes with the bullying that often goes on at Trump rallies, where violence percolates. Like those thug rallies, we've certainly never seen this kind of behavior from a major party's political frontrunner.

But like the Trump rallies, where's the indignation over the constant press intimidation? Where are the outraged editorials? Where are the endless, handwringing TV panel debates about what Trump's hatred of the press really means; what it tells us about his possible character flaws, and his would-be presidency.

It's possible the press doesn't want to make itself the story, that it wants to maintain its role as observers and not newsmaker and that's why it has refrained from turning Trump's bullying into a big story. That theory takes a hit though when you consider the same press corps has written endlessly about Hillary Clinton's relationship with the press and has stressed over and over what a central role reporters play in her White House push...

Hack Flogging

driftglass-- Imaginary Whigs Assemble! -- Update

...One of the worst hacks in American journalism continues:

Years ago, reform conservatives were proposing a Sam’s Club Republicanism, which would actually provide concrete policy ideas to help the working class, like wage subsidies, a higher earned-Income tax credit, increased child tax credits, subsidies for people who wanted to move in search of work and exemption of the first $20,000 in earnings from the Medicaid payroll tax. This would be a conservatism that emphasized social mobility at the bottom, not cutting taxes at the top.

Maybe it’s time a center-right movement actually offered that agenda...

Actually, such a center-right movement already exists and has already been trying for years to improve the lives and opportunities of the poor and the working class. It's called "The Democratic Party" and -- spoiler alert! -- they could have made so much more progress in helping the poor and the working class had Mr. Brooks' Republican Party not made an absolute fetish out of blocking them at any cost every single fucking time they tried...

Comment Of The Day: Roasting Bernie Edition

Dem Debate #4 | Uppity Woman:

From commenter GWM4Hill @7:20 PM

...“Few voters are aware that of all the various people Sanders worked with in congress over the years, none of them – not even his closest ideological allies like Elizabeth Warren or Barney Frank or Sherrod Brown – have shown any interest in supporting his campaign. In fact, most of those who know Sanders best have endorsed Clinton instead. Even fewer are aware that almost none of the legislation Bernie has introduced in congress over the decades has found any support at all. In 2013 he offered a health care plan which was considered such a punchline, not a single of his senate allies would touch it. Now he refuses to clarify whether or not the supposed “2016 health care plan” he keeps generically referring to is the same as his failed 2013 treatise or not. Yet no one has yet called him out on any of the above on any level...
This is a long comment. Quit a bit more at the link.

Biden Blowing Bernie Gas

Daily PUMA: Joe Biden's "Hillary Clinton late to the Income Inequality fight" comment is Incomprehensible.:

...Hillary Clinton lost the 2008 democrat nomination to Barack Obama specifically because she was not going to cowtow to Wall Street and their home mortgage gambling shenanigans.

Hillary Clinton had already proposed a 90 day moratorium on all home foreclosures until a solution could be worked out...

Ernst Trying To Castrate EPA

The hog de-baller, now in an even more target-rich environment, has continued apace. 

Amid Flint water crisis, President Obama forced to veto GOP attempt to gut the Clean Water Rule - Salon.com:

...Republicans, of course, don’t have the two-thirds votes necessary to override the veto but after a federal court blocked the EPA from enforcing the regulation while its legal merits are reviewed, many Republicans are hopeful the rule will eventually be struck down.

Of course, none of the Republican presidential candidates frequenting Ernst’s state and pandering to the corn farmers on ethanol subsidies have even ventured a coherent statement of any kind on the government sanctioned poisoning of Flint’s water source, despite national uproar...

Crazy In NC: Public Screwing Continues Edition

The myth of limited resources to support NC education | News & Observer:

One of the ongoing tensions underlying much of the current debate over public education in North Carolina is the amount of money available to support our schools.

Last year, with an economic recovery resulting in a $400 million surplus – the first such surplus in years – educators and public school champions regularly heard from lawmakers that the resources “just weren’t there,” that funding important investments for our students and schools would necessitate cuts elsewhere.

But the problem wasn’t resources. It was priorities.

The benefit of last year’s economic recovery to our public schoolchildren was nowhere near what it could have been. Changes to the state’s tax code “shrunk the pie” and left significantly less money available. How much less? Reductions in corporate income taxes alone reduced available resources by $450 million this year and $700 million next year. Even modest changes would have made it possible to fund many of the worthy education priorities that were instead left on the cutting-room floor...

Draft-Dodging Coward Calls For Murder

NRA Board Member Ted Nugent Calls For Clinton And Obama To Be Hanged Over Benghazi | Blog | Media Matters for America:

National Rifle Association board member Ted Nugent called for President Obama and Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton to be hanged over their supposed malfeasance during the 2012 Benghazi, Libya terrorist attacks...
Lest we forget Ted.

Reich Gets That It's Not Always Race

Who Lost the White Working Class?�|�Robert Reich:

...All true, but this isn't the whole story. Democrats also abandoned the white working class.

Democrats have occupied the White House for sixteen of the last twenty-four years, and in that time scored some important victories for working families -- the Affordable Care Act, an expanded Earned Income Tax Credit, and the Family and Medical Leave Act, for example.

But they've done nothing to change the vicious cycle of wealth and power that has rigged the economy for the benefit of those at the top, and undermined the working class. In some respects, Democrats have been complicit in it...

The Gates Statement On GOP Field

Robert Gates On GOP 16' Field: 'They Don’t Know What They’re Talking About' | Crooks and Liars:

...GATES: Well, they -- First of all, they don't know what they're talking about. Carpet bombing would be completely useless. It's totally contrary to the American way of war. Total disregard for civilians. So I mean, part of the concern that I have with the campaign, particularly when it comes to national security, is that the solutions being offered are so simplistic and so at odds with the reality of the rest of the world, with the way the world really works.

Gates is refuting pretty much the entire Republican presidential candidates penchant for blood lust when discussing the threat posed by ISIS and other terrorist groups around the world. He's calling them all children when a grown up is needed in the real world...

Cruzing A New Math

Ted Cruz's no-good, very bad day - CNNPolitics.com:

...Branstad's comments came at a summit celebrating the ethanol mandate Cruz opposes. And though Cruz has taken an offensive posture -- seeking to re-educate Iowans by arguing that "lobbyists and Democrats" have misled them -- his opposition to the mandate has dogged Cruz on the trail, with many Iowans confronting him at events during his bus tour earlier this month.

Cheetham said he felt Branstad's decision to actively dis-endorse a candidate showed he was merely vindictive because of ethanol.

"Why would he say that? That's an incomplete thought. That's like saying, 'I'm giving you a math problem. I'm not going to give you the answer, but 4 is not it,'" Cheetham said. "I think it exposes the quid pro quo..."

The Daily Flashback: Skippy Quote Edition

Ridiculous George W. Bush Quotes | The Farce Report - Part 2:

“I hear there’s rumors on the Internets that we’re going to have a draft...”


More at the link but it is an annoying website.

Tuesday, January 19, 2016

Flogging The Free Press Of Detroit (And Flint)

Dear Free Press: That Water Situation In Flint Is Partly Your Doing | Crooks and Liars:

...To which I call bullshit. You endorsed a monster. Twice. And now you're busy trying to undo a tragedy that never had to happen. You want to be heroes? It's too late. The children of Flint have already been poisoned. You can't undo that. You can't undo your endorsements. You had your chance before the elections in 2010 and 2014 and you blew it.

You blew it...

Clinton Can: The Revoluntionary Candidate

You Say You Want a Revolution? I Do Too. It's Why I Support Hillary Clinton�|�Lorraine Devon Wilke:

...As for the boorish "I don't vote with my vagina" meme (per Sanders supporter, Susan Sarandon.), let me say this to that: I don't either. My vagina is too busy doing other more vagina-oriented things to influence my vote. And, believe me, if the female choices for president were limited to Carly Fiorina, Michele Bachmann, or Sarah Palin, my vagina would go running right for the best male option on the Democratic roster. In fact, if I thought Bernie Sanders really was the best candidate, I'd put aside the "old, white, male" issue and vote for the guy (and will in the general if he gets the nomination).

But I don't think that. Given her platforms, her history, her experience, and what I believe this country needs at this moment in time, I'm with her. That isn't blind feminism. It's about acknowledging the historical juncture at which we find ourselves, one in which we actually have a valuable, viable, and very worthy female candidate who offers us the opportunity to change and advance our culture in profound and revolutionary ways.

Yes, revolutionary...

LLCL: Media Silent On Crime

LLCL= Lying Liar Caught Lying

Sunday Show Hosts Fail To Report Ted Cruz's Undisclosed $1 Million On Campaign Finance Filings | Research | Media Matters for America:

...The two loans, which together "totaled as much as $750,000 and eventually increased to a maximum of $1 million," were not included in campaign finance reports during his 2012 Senate campaign as required. The Times added that "there would have been nothing improper about Mr. Cruz obtaining bank loans for his campaign, as long as they were disclosed. But such a disclosure might have conveyed the wrong impression for his candidacy" because he was campaigning as a populist who "liquidate[d his] net worth" to run against the establishment:...

Petraeus May Get ReBusted

Exclusive: Pentagon May Demote David Petraeus - The Daily Beast:

The Pentagon is considering retroactively demoting retired Gen. David Petraeus after he admitted to giving classified information to his biographer and mistress while he was still in uniform, three people with knowledge of the matter told The Daily Beast.

The decision now rests with Secretary of Defense Ash Carter, who is said to be willing to consider overruling an earlier recommendation by the Army that Petraeus not have his rank reduced. Such a demotion could cost the storied general hundreds of thousands of dollars—and deal an additional blow to his once-pristine reputation...

GOPers Trolling For Bernie

Republican Operatives Try to Help Bernie Sanders - Bloomberg Politics:

Republican operatives are having a strange crush on Bernie Sanders.

During Sunday night’s Democratic debate, the Republican National Committee made the unusual move of sending no fewer than four real-time e-mails to reporters defending the self-described democratic socialist from attacks by Hillary Clinton or echoing his message against her. Based on their content, one could be forgiven for thinking the RNC communiques came from the Sanders campaign...

Killing Schools

4 ways privatization is ruining our education system - Salon.com:

Profit-seeking in the banking and health care industries has victimized Americans. Now it’s beginning to happen in education, with our children as the products.

There are good reasons – powerful reasons – to stop the privatization efforts before the winner-take-all free market creates a new vehicle for inequality. At the very least we need the good sense to slow it down while we examine the evidence about charters and vouchers...

Contemplating Sanders

The Case Against Bernie Sanders -- NYMag:

...Sanders’s core argument is that the problems of the American economy require far more drastic remedies than anything the Obama administration has done, or that Clinton proposes to build on. Clinton has put little pressure on Sanders’s fatalistic assessment, but the evidence for it is far weaker than he assumes. Sanders has grudgingly credited what he calls “the modest gains of the Affordable Care Act,” which seems like an exceedingly stingy assessment of a law that has already reduced the number of uninsured Americans by 20 million. The Dodd-Frank reforms of the financial industry may not have broken up the big banks, but they have, at the very least, deeply reduced systemic risk. The penalties for being too big to fail exceed the benefits, and, as a result, banks are actually breaking themselves up to avoid being large enough to be regulated as systemic risks...

Monday, January 18, 2016

She's Right, You Know

Hillary Clinton Makes Her Case: It's Me Or The GOP:

With two weeks to go before Iowa's caucuses, the former secretary of state offered several closing arguments:

If you liked Barack Obama, stick with Clinton.
Sanders is too risky, he'll jack up your taxes, and what he wants to do can't get through Congress anyway.
Clinton is the only seriously electable Democrat in the race, regardless of polls that show otherwise at the moment...

1% Skating By

Martin O'Malley wants to get rid of this entitlement (VIDEO):

...Americans have been duped into believing that income made from investments deserves some preferential treatment. They speak about the risk the investor makes. To be clear, both the investor and the worker risk something. The investor risks his/her capital. The worker risks his/her limb, wellbeing, health, and sometimes life. The worker affords the investor the ability to earn without any physical responsibility.

So why do workers potentially pay more in taxes than investors? It is a farce. Because we allow the politicians to write laws to favor the rich. That is why we must vote to elect candidates with a moral compass who will ensure all pay their fair share of taxes.

Sunday, January 17, 2016

No Bern Here

Is Bernie Sanders Surging? So What if He is? - TalkLeft: The Politics Of Crime:

...That's opinion, not fact. Sanders doesn't energize me at all, let alone inspire me. During every debate, Hillary has been outgoing, confident, easy to understand, positive and inspiring. The prospect of Sanders being President leaves me with a sinking feeling Government will come to a standstill. He's too polarizing, just like Trump, only he's at the other end of the spectrum. In the long run, I don't think the American people will elect either one of them.

While I agree with many of Sanders' position on issues, I think he really only cares about campaign finance and Wall St., neither of which are important to me. During the debates, he's stooped over except when he talks about those issues. Sanders does not energize me. He reminds me of your aging grandpa. Would I vote for him if nominated? Of course. But I'd rather vote for Hillary...

Why Iran Is An O'Win

Barack Obama Wins on Iran and It Ultimately Is Good for America - NO QUARTER USA NET:

...For me the issue is simple. Bringing Iran into the mainstream is in the interest of the United States. The country we ought to be isolating is Saudi Arabia. It is Saudi Arabian money that is funding and fueling the vast majority of terrorism in the world. It is the Saudi version of Islam that is motivating the terrorists, not the Shia Islam of Iran.

On this particular deal, in terms of the implementation of the Iranian nuclear accord, Obama is a winner.

On Detained Sailors

The Rude Pundit:

...3. This is the standard, though, for the Republicans at this point. There is nothing left that they will not lie about. It's why this Iran kerfuffle has to be the beginning of the battle for civilization, not a minor incident. It's why Benghazi is the worst thing to happen to this country ever, worse than ten Iraq wars times a dozen 9/11s to the power of Pearl Harbor. It's why every single one of those twats in Charleston could pretend that we are living in the end times of the United States unless one of them is elected...

How The Real World Works With Iran

Secretary of State John Kerry used negotiations to free Iran hostages — not bluster and prayer:

...But it wasn’t god that negotiated the release for the US: it was Brett McGurk, a senior State Department official who normally works on managing the anti-Islamic State coalition. He and his counterpart, an Iranian intelligence official, according to reports , worked through a channel that had been established in late 2014 and picked up steam after the nuclear deal was struck in July 2015.

And it wasn’t the prayers that got Rezaian and company home. It was a compromise. Yes, the US had to give up something it wanted – to pursue the various sanctions busters it let go to the fullest extent of the law – but the administration judged that bringing back American prisoners held abroad was more important...

tRump Sez Iran Scared Of Him

Trump takes credit for Iran prisoner release | TheHill:

Republican primary front-runner Donald Trump on Saturday said his rhetoric condemning the Iranian regime played an integral part in securing the release of four U.S. prisoners.

“So I’ve been hitting them hard, and I think I might have had something to do with it,” Trump said at the South Carolina Tea Party Convention in Myrtle Beach, S.C...
Does Trump believe his own crap?

Saturday, January 16, 2016

Bernie Has Baggage...

...enough to fill a train car.

Bernie, We Hardly Know Ye. But What We Know is Horrible | Uppity Woman:

Bear with me. I simply have to store all the links I am collecting on who Bernie Sanders is. It’s not pretty. Not pretty at all...

Bundybutt Arrested

Finally! One Of The Bundy Militia Members Arrested | Crooks and Liars:

At long last, one of the Bundy militia has been arrested for taking a federal vehicle and moseying down to the local Safeway in Burns to get some supplies...

Friday, January 15, 2016

Lying Liars Debate Lying Again, Part I-1

Economists, Reporters Slam Fox's Neil Cavuto For Implying The Financial Crisis Happened On Obama's Watch | Research | Media Matters for America:
...Fox's Neil Cavuto Suggests Obama, Not Bush, Responsible For 2008 Financial Crisis. During the January 14 Fox Business Republican Presidential Debate, co-moderator Neil Cavuto asked Gov. John Kasich (R-OH) how he would handle recent stock market fluctuations should he become president. Cavuto framed his question by wondering what needs to happen if American stock market declines continue to escalate "like it did back when Barack Obama first assumed the presidency," failing to mention that the Obama administration actually inherited a recession and financial crisis from President George W. Bush:...

Just A Few Lies

Here's A Fact Check Of The Latest GOP Debate


Cruz And The Phony Rednecks

Ted Cruz Goldman Sachs - Cruz Hid Loan from Investment Bank, Has His Eligibility Questioned:

...Then there's the risible campaign commercial in which the Tailgunner dresses up in camo and face paint and hangs out in the blind with the Duck Dynasty crew, looking like a G.I. Joe who's lost his kung-fu grip on his senses. Or like a Raiders fan. I haven't made up my mind...

Thursday, January 14, 2016

GOPer Agonistes

Why I Will Never Vote for Donald Trump - The New York Times:

...There are many reasons to abstain from voting for Mr. Trump if he is nominated, starting with the fact that he would be the most unqualified president in American history. Every one of our 44 presidents has had either government or military experience before being sworn in. Mr. Trump, a real estate mogul and former reality-television star, hasn’t served a day in public office or the armed forces...

Defining The GOP

driftglass: He's Told Us Not To Blow It...:

...That's not a party in trouble. That's a party which is as dead as Ronald Reagan. Not a party at all, any more, but a tribe of moochers and con men who have stashed Reagan's corpse in the basement and who take his name and forge his signature because they want to continue sponging off of his pension.

And that tribe of moochers and con men no longer represent a force capable of summoning anything like the strength or discipline it would take to unmake the Obama Legacy. Instead, as time inexorably drags them kicking and screaming from the stage, history will record them for what they were: a gang of parasites, bigots and demagogues who tried and failed to make America small enough and weak enough and dumb enough and scared enough for them to rule it...

Cruz And The Cookie Jar

Ted Cruz Forgot To Mention That Wall Street Financed His Senate Bid | Crooks and Liars:

...Except they didn't really liquidate their savings at all. Instead, Cruz got a low interest loan of of $500,000 from Goldman Sachs, using his investments as equity, and additional loans from Citibank. All told, he borrowed between $750,000 and $1 million from the Big Banks to finance his Senate bid.

None of this would be awful, except for the fact that Cruz routinely uses his platform as candidate to claim he is a man of the people, who will stand up for those humble "white working voters" everywhere...

Wednesday, January 13, 2016

Comment Of The Day: Donald Double Standard Edition

Maureen Dowd's Clinton Obsession - Dowd Says Trump Can Attack Hillary With Bill's Record
U of mn  John Kelly ·
So what do you think of Ivana Trump ( wife no . 1 ) testimony about The Donald beating her , tearing her hair out , and committing marital rape ? Didn't your source of info tell you about that ? Even the so called liberal media is allowing Trump to hurl accusations about Bill while ignoring The charges against The Donald .

Here We Go Again: The Clenis

Trying To Breathe Life Into A Dead Scandal | Crooks and Liars

Tuesday, January 12, 2016

tRump HillTrumped

Hillary Clinton Rips The Heart Out Of Donald Trump's Attacks On Bill Clinton:

...The Clinton campaign has learned from the failures of the Republican presidential candidates who tried to take on Trump. Hillary Clinton isn’t going to give Trump the attention that he desperately craves. She isn’t going to allow this election to be decided on his terms. Donald Trump can’t discuss the issues, so he uses personal attacks to throw his opponents off of their game...

On The Bundy Bunch Wishlist

Welcome Back to Pottersville: "We will kill or be killed... as soon as we get our tampons, slippers and French vanilla creamer.":

...Boxer briefs (No word, yet, on whether there's a need for Magic Bundy Fundie Undies, since he's Mormon.)
Throw rugs, any and all sizes (Any Muslims reading this who want to get rid of a frayed prayer rug, now's your chance.)
French vanilla coffee creamer (An indispensable staple of the rough frontier life when Bundy's forebears camped on the plains surrounded by hostile Native Americans.)
Slippers. Yes, slippers. Apparently, their tootsies are cold as they're slopping around in the cubicles on a Sunday morning harvesting names and Social Security numbers off the federal building's database...

Monday, January 11, 2016

Hypocrisy On Steroids

The Media And Trump's Rally Thugs | Blog | Media Matters for America:

...Secondly, I'm talking about what's routinely absent from the thuggery coverage; the crime of omission.

For anyone who thinks the coverage has been pitch perfect, just imagine, for instance, if Hillary Clinton supporters were roughing up conservatives at her rallies, punching and choking them. Imagine if Bernie Sanders supporters were kicking and taunting attendees at Sanders rallies who were protesting the Democrat's agenda. Imagine if conservatives quietly protesting Clinton and Sanders were being hauled out of events by cops while mobs of Democrats hurled insults at them.

Cardiac arrest barely begins to describe the type of communal meltdown that would occur within the Beltway press if any of those things had taken place under the auspices of the Democratic Party. Let alone if they took place over and over and over again...

Sunday, January 10, 2016

Is The Bundy Bunch Wishlist On Amazon?

From tampons to french vanilla creamer: Armed Oregon militants update their occupation wish list:

One week into their uninvited stay at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, the militia members who have occupied the park have given no indication that they will be leaving soon, posting a wish list of items they have requested from their backers...

tRump Sez Lil'SadEyes Can't Be POTUS

Donald Trump Hammers Away At Ted Cruz's Citizenship:

Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump on Sunday hammered away at his closest challenger's eligibility to be U.S. president, while the party's Senate leader said the chamber will stay out of the fray involving Ted Cruz's citizenship.

Under the Constitution, presidents must be "natural born citizens." Cruz was born in Calgary, Alberta, but his mother was a U.S. citizen, which he says makes him eligible to run...
So if mom was voting in Canadian elections does that mean she had renounced her US citizenship? What are the Canadian rules on such things? Oh, yeah there's Teh Google. Go get it.

Searching For The Low Bar

Trump: Hillary Is The 'Enabler' Of Husband's Adultery So She's 'Not A Victim' | Crooks and Liars:

..."No, no, no, she's not a victim," Trump declared. "She was an enabler."

"She worked with him," he continued. "Some of the women were destroyed, and Hillary worked with him. There's no feeling sorry for Hillary in this situation, and all you have to do is look at some of the facts and look at some of the settlements, there's no feeling sorry for her."

You Could Expect No Less From tRump

Silently protesting Muslim woman ejected from Trump rally - CNNPolitics.com:

A Muslim woman wearing a hijab was escorted out of Donald Trump's campaign event on Friday by police after she stood up in silent protest during Trump's speech...

Saturday, January 09, 2016

Oh Gee! That's Just Too Bad

For Republicans, Mounting Fears of Lasting Split - The New York Times:

The Republican Party is facing a historic split over its fundamental principles and identity, as its once powerful establishment grapples with an eruption of class tensions, ethnic resentments and mistrust among working-class conservatives who are demanding a presidential nominee who represents their interests...

Comment Of The Day: GOPer Criminal Edition

Rahm Emanuel and Rick Snyder Should Step Down

Karl-Heinz Gabbey ·

Let’s call a spade a spade: Snyder, Michigan’s self-appointed Republican dictator, is a criminal. One need only see his modus operandi of removing constitutionally elected public officials with whom he disagrees and replaces with his hand-picked “emergency managers.” Snyder’s recklessness and callousness in this incredible environmental catastrophe and generally as governor is beyond shocking. Then, he blames the EPA. The primary responsibility of poisoning the people of  Flint, Michigan, particularly of its children was his fault. Period! The buck stops in his office in Lansing...
Much more at the link. Great rant. Go read it.

Friday, January 08, 2016

He's Not From The South

Governor Paul LePage Says Heroin Dealers Come to Maine, 'Impregnate a Young, White Girl Before They Leave' - The Atlantic:

...The traffickers—these aren't people who take drugs. These are guys by the name D-Money, Smoothie, Shifty. These type of guys that come from Connecticut and New York. They come up here, they sell their heroin, then they go back home. Incidentally, half the time they impregnate a young, white girl before they leave. Which is the real sad thing, because then we have another issue that we have to deal with down the road...

Bundy Bunch Flogged Again

This 'Pissed As Hell' Oregon Rancher Doesn't Want Help From Bundy's Militia | Crooks and Liars:

Harney County resident Georgia Marshall delivered a scathing condemnation of Ammon Bundy's militants and called on them to end their armed occupation of the nearby Malheur National Wildlife Refuge.

At a county meeting on Wednesday night, Harney County Sheriff David Ward expressed frustration that Bundy's group had refused to leave the federal property even after they had been ordered to do so. Bundy has maintained that he will "go home" when local ranchers begin to assert their rights over federal lands...

Another Reason LEOs Lose Public Support

Federal judge: Drinking tea, shopping at a gardening store is probable cause for a SWAT raid on your home - The Washington Post:

In April 2012, a Kansas SWAT team raided the home of Robert and Addie Harte, their 7-year-old daughter and their 13-year-old son. The couple, both former CIA analysts, awoke to pounding at the door. When Robert Harte answered, SWAT agents flooded the home. He was told to lie on the floor. When Addie Harte came out to see what was going on, she saw her husband on his stomach as SWAT cop stood over him with a gun. The family was then held at gunpoint for more than two hours while the police searched their home. Though they claimed to be looking for evidence of a major marijuana growing operation, they later stated that they knew within about 20 minutes that they wouldn’t find any such operation. So they switched to search for evidence of “personal use.” They found no evidence of any criminal activity...

Thursday, January 07, 2016

NRA Terrorists

The NRA is backing terrorism: Wingnuts and “patriots” are the real safety threat we should fear - Salon.com:

...After I published an essay on Salon last fall imploring legislators to stand up to the gun lobby and pass meaningful gun safety laws, helpful Internet commenters were quick to remind me that my fears did not trump their freedom. I am a teacher, and I wrote the essay following the school shooting at Umpqua Community College, after I learned that my own college instructed teachers to fight back against active shooters with staplers if necessary. My fears, then, were fears for my life, for my students’ lives, and for the lives of my children. Those lives, to the many vocal opponents of gun safety (who certainly do not represent all gun owners in this country), are less important than their easy and unrestricted access to guns...

Your Surrender Is Not Accepted

After Media Backlash Against Benghazi Committee's Clinton Hearing, Gowdy Declares No More Public Testimony | Video | Media Matters for America

Militia Go Home Or...

Native tribe blasts Oregon takeover - CNN.com:

The leaders of the Burns Paiute tribe have a message for the men and women who have taken over the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge outside Burns, Oregon: "Go home. We don't want you here."

The message came from several tribe members whose ancestors fought and died over portions of that land long before the ranchers and farmers had it, long before the federal government even existed...

Wednesday, January 06, 2016

Being A Responsible Gunner...

...means not being an ammosexual.

Responsible Gun Owners Must Be the Loudest Voices for Gun Safety Legislation�|�Montel Williams:

As a proud, responsible gun owner, I paid close attention to the president's speech outlining his executive actions on guns and studied the written proposal put forth by the White House carefully, and I can't NOT support them. I realize this may not make me popular with some gun owners, and I realize there is deep distrust of President Obama and his use of executive action. Simply put, I've always believed in being a responsible ambassador for the Second Amendment, a right that I hold dear; and, thus, I believe responsible gun owners MUST be the loudest voices for universal background checks and addressing the mental health crisis we face in this country, which form the crux of the president's proposals....

Cruzing Into The Coultergeist

Ann Coulter Says Canadian Anchor Baby Ted Cruz Only Fit To Be President Of Cuba | Wonkette:

Now that the “precarious” issue of Ted Cruz’s citizenship is fair game — and shut up, yes it is — now is also the time for all good men, plus Ann Coulter, to come to the aid of their country and make sure that unlegal foreign from the United States of Poutine Tacos does not get to be president...

Tuesday, January 05, 2016

"It's Not One World"

Mass attacks on women in Germany fuel tension over refugees - The Globe and Mail:

A string of sex assaults and robberies during New Year’s celebrations in Germany has fuelled debate about the country’s ability to integrate large numbers of migrants, after police said that men who targeted dozens of women in the western city of Cologne appeared to be of “Arab or North African origin.”

Political leaders including Chancellor Angela Merkel condemned the attacks, though many also warned against hasty conclusions about the perpetrators. But to some Germans already uneasy about the one million asylum-seekers their country took in last year the incident seemed to confirm simmering fears...

Bundy Thieved Gov Money

Ammon Bundy took out $530,000 federal loan - CNN.com:

...But Bundy told CNN on Tuesday that he's not opposed to government and said that taking a six-figure loan from the Small Business Administration doesn't conflict with his political philosophy...

Monday, January 04, 2016

On The Insurrection

Oregon Standoff - Bundy Family and Extremist Militias Take Over Federal Property in Oregon:

...Before moving on to the larger issues, it's important to note that the local authorities, and the local citizenry, want no part of this noisy claque of armed meatheads. It is popular among these people who apparently have brains wired like short-wave radios broadcasting from upper Michigan to say that the real constitutional authority in this country resides in its local sheriffs. Well, the local sheriff in this case would like it very much if this particular invasive species would abandon his jurisdiction and go back to freeloading on federal lands in Nevada...

Sunday, January 03, 2016

Enough Is Enough

A Militia Has Taken Over A Federal Building In Oregon:

...Ammon Bundy — the son of Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy, who was involved in a standoff with the government over grazing rights — told The Oregonian on Saturday that he and two of his brothers were among a group of dozens of people occupying the headquarters of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge...
Imagine if this were a group of good old boys from South Alabama occupying a building in NYC or even better a group of "Black Panthers" (not the football variety) occupying a building in say, St. Louis. How long and at what level of force would it take to evict them? They shouldn't be getting special SWAT deference just because they are bunch of GOP-heavy political goombs. (Yeah, I just made that word up.)

Saturday, January 02, 2016

Rubio And The Rakes

Marco Rubio Backs Constitutional Convention to Get Term Limits, Balanced Budget Amendment:

...Besides, I thought it was pretty clear that Rubio had invented a new kind of term limits on his own: Get elected to high office. Do nothing. Declare yourself sick of how you get nothing done. Then run for higher office. That's the ticket right there.

Friday, January 01, 2016

Treason By GOPers

Treason: Leaked Wiretaps Reveals Netanyahu Bribed Republicans To Sabotage Obama’s Iran Peace Deal | Occupy Democrats:

You may remember the ridiculous doomsday prophecies and outrageous fear-mongering that defined the Republican campaign against President Obama’s nuclear peace deal with Iran. The motivation behind their unwise and ultimately ineffective resistance to the President’s diplomatic agenda has finally come to light. A new report from the Wall Street Journal reveals that NSA wiretaps found that the the Israeli Prime Minister and other officials of the Israeli governments attempted to, and most likely succeeded, to bribe American legislators in exchange for their support against the deal.

“A U.S. intelligence official familiar with the intercepts said Israel’s pitch to undecided lawmakers often included such questions as: “How can we get your vote? What’s it going to take? Mr. Netanyahu and some of his allies voiced confidence they could win enough votes.” The answers to Israeli proposals have yet to be fully revealed, but it is clear that favors were offered – bribes were proposed – and from the subsequent behavior of Republican lawmakers, we can only infer that our legislators accepted those bribes, from a foreign government in exchange for opposing the diplomatic efforts of the Obama Administration. At the very least, the very discussion itself indicates that they conspired with a foreign government to undermine the foreign policy agenda of their elected Commander-in-Chief, which certainly amounts to treason...

Tax Reform Should Be #1 On 2016 Agenda

5 New Year’s resolutions for reality-impaired conservatives:

...5. Stop Saying Corporations Have an “Insane Tax Burden”

The Wall Street Journal used that phrase in a story about Pfizer, which claims tax-deferred profits overseas and losses in the U.S., and which paid an effective tax rate of just 7.5 percent in 2014, and which is now merging with another company in order to move its corporate offices overseas to avoid even more taxes.

The Wall Street Journal itself admitted that “Pfizer’s accounting methods raise its reported tax rate, without increasing the actual taxes the company pays.” That’s the point. The “tax burden” is an accounting fiction, not reality.