Discussions Of The Obvious Kind

Reaganomics killed America’s middle class - Salon.com:

There’s nothing “normal” about having a middle class. Having a middle class is a choice that a society has to make, and it’s a choice we need to make again in this generation, if we want to stop the destruction of the remnants of the last generation’s middle class.

Despite what you might read in the Wall Street Journal or see on Fox News, capitalism is not an economic system that produces a middle class. In fact, if left to its own devices, capitalism tends towards vast levels of inequality and monopoly. The natural and most stable state of capitalism actually looks a lot like the Victorian England depicted in Charles Dickens’ novels...

Rush Visits The Fruit & Nut Grove

Video at the link. Limbaugh Defends Indiana's RFRA By Comparing Gay Marriage To Bestiality | Video | Media Matters for America

No Dems Allowed

Students upset they had to attend Ted Cruz's Liberty University event or face a fine:

..."At our school everyone is a Republican," she said. "You aren't allowed to have any Democratic groups. That's why I'm doing this anonymously because people will come after you. He told people what they wanted to hear and they are endorsing him, that’s what they are doing."

On Warren

One Of These Things Is Not Like The Other: Why Elizabeth Warren Is Not Ted Cruz:

...Elizabeth Warren's primary mission during her time in the Senate is the re-establishment of an economic order with which most people were happy from 1945 until the election of Ronald Reagan in 1980. There's nothing radical about the Glass-Steagall Act. There's nothing extreme about supporting both Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid in their traditional forms...

The Turning Of A Worm?

N0, not the Governor. ABC's Stephanopoulos Grills Gov. Mike Pence On Anti-LGBT Discrimination After Indiana "Religious Freedom" Law Passes | Video | Media Matters for America

Traffic Execution Of A White Man

Addicting Info – Chilling Audio With Student’s Last Words To Cop Released: ‘So You Are Going To Shoot Me?’ (VIDEOS):

In December 2013 a campus cop, shot honor student Cameron Redus dead in front of his Alamo Heights, Texas apartment at around 2:00 in the morning. Redus was a 23-year-old senior who would have graduated from Roman Catholic University of the Incarnate Word in the spring of 2014.

The details of the case remain murky, because of course Cpl. Chris Carter didn’t have his dash cam turned on. He claimed he stopped Redus for speeding and driving erratically, and that he had to shoot because Redus acted drunk and belligerent. Apparently, white privilege doesn’t go as far as it used to. Still, five shots seems rather excessive....

The New Feudalism Continues

Tire Business:

By a 22-10 vote March 25, the U.S. House Ways and Means Committee passed H.R. 1105, the Death Tax Repeal Act of 2015.

Introduced Feb. 26 by Rep. Kevin Brady, R-Texas, H.R. 1105 would repeal estate and generation-skipping transfer taxes permanently upon enactment...

Lesr We Forget: Newt The Toad Edition

The Long Run: Gingrich Stuck to Caustic Path in Ethics Battles - NYTimes.com:

...Mr. Gingrich, Democrats and Republicans here agree, emerged as one of Washington’s most aggressive practitioners of slash-and-burn politics; many fault him for erasing whatever civility once existed in the capital. He believed, and preached, that harsh language could win elections; in 1990, the political action committee he ran, Gopac, instructed Republican candidates to learn to “speak like Newt,” and offered a list of words to describe Democrats — like decay, traitors, radical, sick, destroy, pathetic, corrupt and shame...

Cruzin' The Grift

Let’s Be Serious About Ted Cruz From The Start: He’s Too Extreme And Too Disliked To Win | FiveThirtyEight:

Texas Sen. Ted Cruz’s newly minted presidential campaign is the media equivalent of a juicy rib-eye that robbers use to distract a guard dog during a heist. He’ll get a ton of media attention, and he’ll get to spread his message — which may be all that Cruz is after — but Cruz almost certainly has no shot of winning the nomination, according to every indicator that predicts success in presidential primaries...

Bring It On, Wall Street

The Warren Effect: Here Is A Bluff That Needs To Be Called:

...This is a fight the Democratic party must have, if it's going to be worth a damn as a political entity. If some Democratic politicians line up on the wrong side, and they go down, so be it. The rest of the country has sacrificed enough for the plague-ridden benefits of its investor class.

Walker Got Paid

The Pay-To-Play Allegation Walker's Watchdog Isn't Defending | Blog | Media Matters for America:

...At issue is over $1.5 million in donations made in 2012 to the Wisconsin Club for Growth (WCG), a group that defended the Governor during his 2012 recall election and is directed by Walker's campaign advisor, Yahoo News' Michael Isikoff reported on March 23. The donations were made by hardware store franchise owner John Menard Jr. According to Isikoff, in the years after Walker survived that recall election, Menard's business has benefited from "up to $1.8 million in special tax credits from a state economic development corporation that Walker chairs..."

Freedom To Keep Your Money Away

Indianapolis looks to limit 'religious freedom' damage:

The reviews are in.

From institutions such as the NCAA to major employers such as Eli Lilly and Co. to the city's Republican mayor, Indiana's new "religious freedom" law is almost universally loathed by Indianapolis' political and economic elite...

Reid Quitting

Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid Won't Seek Reelection in 2016 — The Atlantic:

Harry Reid, the longtime Democratic leader in the Senate, won't run for reelection in 2016, he announced on Friday. His departure will end an era marked equally by significant achievements—passage of the 2010 healthcare law being foremost—and long periods of gridlock that frustrated lawmakers and the public alike...

Un Koch Blocking

The Kochs take millions in subsidies in Montana, then try to block Medicaid expansion - Salon.com:

In every red state where they’ve spent big, the Koch brothers have defeated Medicaid expansion, the piece of the Affordable Care Act that is optional for states and gives relief to the working poor. But in Montana — by some measurements the reddest state in the country — the Kochs are hitting the skids. Their monster political group, Americans for Prosperity, or AFP, has laid an egg. And Medicaid expansion now has a real chance of happening.

What’s gone wrong?...

Say What? Nurses Genderized Too

Male nurses scarce but still make more money than women RNs: study - Washington Times:

Even in an occupation that women overwhelmingly dominate, they still earn less than men, a study of nurses found.

The gender gap for registered nurses’ salaries amounts to a little over $5,000 yearly on average and it hasn’t budged in more than 20 years...

Another War We Can Stay Out Of

Exclusive: Saudi Arabia building up military near Yemen border - U.S. officials | Reuters:

Saudi Arabia is moving heavy military equipment including artillery to areas near its border with Yemen, U.S. officials said on Tuesday, raising the risk that the Middle East’s top oil power will be drawn into the worsening Yemeni conflict.

The buildup follows a southward advance by Iranian-backed Houthi Shi'ite militants who took control of the capital Sanaa in September and seized the central city of Taiz at the weekend as they move closer to the new southern base of U.S.-supported President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi...

The Unfortunate Democratic Bottom Line

Daily PUMA: If you want a taste of how bad it will be if the republican party make gains in 2016 elections, look at their recent behavior.:

...And once again the democrats will let the over the top possibly treasonous actions taken by Republican politicians when clearly some republican politicians have stepped over the line of treason with their recent foreign policy interference.

Flogging Cotton

Here are 10 horrifying facts about one of the worst bullies in the Senate — Tom Cotton:

Hailing from Arkansas, 37-year-old Senator Cotton boasts the title of being the youngest member of the Senate, but he spouts the old warmongering rhetoric of 78-year-old Senator John McCain. From Guantanamo to Iran, food stamps to women’s rights, here are ten reasons why Tom Cotton is a dangerous dude...

Handy Obama Diagram

The Batshit Theory That Obama Tried To Nuke Charleston - The Daily Beast

Clinton Slideshow

I hate the way the ads gum up the content at this site but the slides do offer a good Clinton summary.

12 Reasons Why Hillary Clinton Will Be The Best President of Your Lifetime - Answers.com:

Experience In State Department After serving in the Senate for 8 years as a Senator from New York and then running unsuccessfully for the Democratic nomination for president, Hillary served as President Obama's Secretary of State from 2009 until 2013...

Walker's Goofs

Scott Walker's Terrible, No Good, Very Bad Week:

...Liz Mair, a veteran Republican strategist, announced on Tuesday her resignation from Walker's nascent campaign after a conservative furor over a series of tweets in which she criticized Iowa's caucus system -- and its ethanol politics -- for having undue influence over the nominating process. The backlash snowballed Tuesday night, when Iowa GOP Chair Jeff Kaufmann called for Mair's firing over the "naive" and "juvenile" comments.

What came next was even more damaging to Walker's image in the GOP. How could the Wisconsin governor stand up to Islamic State terrorists, as he once claimed his experience fighting unions gave him credibility in doing, when he couldn't even stand up to a few Republicans in Iowa? And what kind of message does this send to current and potential aides? Would he fight for them when the proverbial crap hits the fan?...

Encore Crook

America’s sleaziest Republican: Jail time, again, for a governor and one-time GOP young star - Salon.com:

...Great line. I thought of it Wednesday as former Gov. John G. Rowland was sentenced for the second time on corruption charges. No Connecticut politician, in my 35 years covering the state, made such a show of being tough on crime and fond of prisons crammed to capacity with people serving long sentences. We’re starting to see why he found the subject so compelling.

Also known as federal inmate No. 15623-014, Rowland governed the state for 10 years and then resigned with the Furies of impeachment snapping at his heels. Rowland went to prison on April Fool’s Day 2005 and stayed there less than a year. The prank was on the people, not the perp. The scope of Rowland’s corruption was mammoth, but he drew a federal judge famously lenient with white-collar criminals...

Actual Journalism

Voices: Schock case a reminder of why reporting matters:

As a guy who both practices and teaches journalism, I find this week's resignation announcement by Rep. Aaron Schock, R-Ill., a comforting reminder of the value of Actual Journalism...

This Could Help

Bill Would Make ‘Policing For Profit’ Ticket Schemes a Federal Civil Rights Violation:

...Cleaver’s will introduce a bill that would make the sort of policing practices documented in the DOJ report a federal civil rights violation.

Representative Cleaver is calling the bill The Fair Justice Act. It would make it a civil rights violation punishable by up to five years in prison for any police officer, chief or department in the United States to try to enforce any criminal or traffic laws if the purpose for such enforcement is raising revenue for the city...

When Everyone Is A Criminal...

The Shocking Finding From the DOJ's Ferguson Report That Nobody Has Noticed�|�Nathan Robinson:

...It turns out that nearly everyone in the city is wanted for something. Even internal police department communications found the number of arrest warrants to be "staggering". By December of 2014, "over 16,000 people had outstanding arrest warrants that had been issued by the court." The report makes clear that this refers to individual people, rather than cases (i.e. people with many cases are not being counted multiple times). However, if we do look at the number of cases, the portrait is even starker. In 2013, 32,975 offenses had associated warrants, so that there were 1.5 offenses for every city resident...

But There's No Difference In The Two Parties

House Republican Budget Overhauls Medicare and Repeals the Health Law - NYTimes.com:

House Republicans on Tuesday will unveil a proposed budget for 2016 that partly privatizes Medicare, turns Medicaid into block grants to the states, repeals the Affordable Care Act and reaches balance in 10 years, challenging Republicans in Congress to make good on their promises to deeply cut federal spending...

Down Goes Another Crook

Congressman Schock to resign after spending questions: Politico | Reuters:

U.S. Representative Aaron Schock, a Republican from Illinois, will resign from Congress after concerns arose about his use of taxpayer dollars, Politico reported on Tuesday.

Schock, 33, gained a following for posting flashy photos on social media of himself traveling, surfing and on other adventures. But he was hounded with questions after The Washington Post wrote in February about lavish decorations in his Capitol Hill office...

Comment Of The Day: Clinton EMoDodism Edition

This Will be the Longest 18 Months Ever - Lawyers, Guns & Money : Lawyers, Guns & Money: joe from Lowell says:
March 16, 2015 at 10:12 am

One more reason to hope Hillary is not the nominee.

Oh, I’m not falling for that one again!

Joe 2008: “You know, I’m not sure I can stand eight years of the media and Republicans going full-metal ape shit over Hillary Clinton. It’s just going to be ginned-up non-scandals, ugly personal attacks, and partisan polarization for her entire term, and I’m not sure I want that. I’m going to vote for a more unifying figure like Barack Obama so we can have some more reasonable politics.”

It was pretty dumb of me to think that way after what they did to Kerry in 2004, but I’m capable of being that dumb. But even brute beasts and wandering birds don’t fall into the same trap or net twice.

A Con Take On Ferguson

Addicting Info – Conservative Writer Slams Conservative Response To DOJ Report On Ferguson:

...Wolf lays out the following items he found most disturbing about the DOJ’s report on Ferguson:

The Ferguson Police Department acts almost exclusively as a revenue generation machine for the city;
The Ferguson PD habitually uses excessive force;
The Ferguson PD has utterly failed to supervise its officers’ use of force;
The Ferguson PD systematically punishes residents of Ferguson for “contempt of cop;”
The evidence of racial bias in the administration of justice in Ferguson is overwhelming...

LOLing All The Way

More Americans Want To Press Charges Against #47Traitors Than Deport Justin Bieber:

“He who laughs last laughs best,” the old adage goes.

On March 9, C.H. created a petition demanding that the White House file charges against the #47Traitors who wrote, signed and sent a letter to Iran titled: “File charges against the 47 U.S. Senators in violation of The Logan Act in attempting to undermine a nuclear agreement.” And of course, the right-wing trolls converged upon this earnest demand for justice like a pack of cackling, flea-bitten hyenas circling a defenseless morsel of prey...

The Clinton Lock?

Why Hillary Clinton Will Be the Next President�|�Fernando Espuelas:

...In terms of the Latino vote, even though many Republicans are counting on him, Sen. Marco Rubio's (Fla.) craven flip-flopping is not likely to endear him to many Hispanics outside of Miami. Conversely, Clinton is hugely popular among Hispanics, as is her husband. She's been a steadfast supporter of immigrant rights and was Latino voters' favorite during the 2008 primaries. She will sweep the Hispanic vote.

Lastly, the first couple of months of Republican congressional hegemony has been an exercise in immigrant-baiting. Republicans seem to have a visceral need to attack undocumented immigrants. It's an article of faith among the majority of Republicans who voted in both chambers of Congress several times that Obama's immigration actions must be destroyed -- even if young people like the Dreamers are deported. In a recent Latino Decisions poll, 89 percent of American Latinos favored Obama's executive actions...

Mickey D's First Aid

'Managers Told Me To Put Mustard On It': Fast-Food Workers Say Burns Are Rampant, File OSHA Complaints:

More than two dozen low-wage McDonald's workers filed health and safety complaints against the fast-food chain on Monday, alleging that understaffing and time pressures in stores have led to burns, falls and other injuries, according to the worker group representing them...

If You Think Racism Is Dead...

...take a look at the comment thread here: Arrest Made In Shooting Of 2 Police Officers In Ferguson � CBS St. Louis

O & C: Who's What?

Disgusting (but not surprising) if true: Valerie Jarret allegedly leaked email scandal.
 The Confluence:

...Who is this “source close to the White House” and who do they think is their target audience? That’s the stupidest thing I have read in years. Only an Obot would believe that Obama is more true-blue than Hillary and only a Tea Party person would think that Obama is liberal at all. Is this source targeting aspirational Democrats with a latent conservative leaning that they keep in the closet or are they targeting people who read the NYPost?

On O's Selma Speech

Finally I Hear a Politician Explain My Country Just the Way I Understand It — The Atlantic:

...The political tribalism of this moment means that Democrats are mostly welcoming today's speech, and Republicans and Fox News mostly condemning it. But these days Martin Luther King Jr. is quoted respectfully even at right-wing gatherings. When the political passions of our time have passed, people of all parties will quote this speech as expressing an essence of our American creed.

A Reasonable Pro-Clinton Argument

We must nominate someone who can be elected.



Simply Left BehindThe Non-Rapturist's Guide To The Galaxy: Reality in Politics:

...And yes when Hillary wins, none of that changes, and Republicans will make it tougher for her but heres the thing: she's been there, done that, seen it for twenty five years now. And she gives back with a tuned and measured response that not only deflates the criticism, but points out its flaws and foibles to the point of embarrassing folks.

In other words, she'll silence her critics. And then get stuff done. Even the Republicans will have to work with her or be exposed as sitting in Washington for sixteen years on their hands. Weaker Boener doesn't want that to be his legacy. Neither does McConnell.

And then maybe, just maybe, we can all take a long nap. We've earned it after the 24 hour temper tantrum that is the reality of politics today.

NYT Changing Tune On Eghazigate

The New York Times Reverses Course On Clinton's Emails After Public Editor Admits Fault In Reporting | Research | Media Matters for America:

The New York Times has begun to quietly reverse course on reports about former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's private email use, after Times public editor Margaret Sullivan admitted that the publication's initial misleading insinuation that Clinton violated the law was "not without fault." The new, more accurate reporting underscores the publication's initial sloppiness and rush to judgment...

Email Hypocrites

Trey Gowdy’s Hillary hypocrisy: Why he’s the last person who should be demanding Clinton’s private emails - Salon.com:

...It’s true that there are legitimate issues with Clinton failing to segregate work and personal email. But it’s troubling that Members of Congress handling sensitive investigations into national security matters such as the Benghazi incident don’t appear to be willing to be transparent about their own email practices.

Accountability In Medialand

Univision Swiftly Fires TV Host For Saying Michelle Obama Looks Like A Planet Of The Apes Cast Member | Blog | Media Matters for America:

According to Univision executives, there is no space for racially inflammatory comments on their network. They proved their commitment goes beyond words when they fired host Rodner Figueroa on March 11, within hours of his making an offensive comment on that day's edition of the Univision program El Gordo Y La Flaca...

Truth From The NYT?

“Idiocy”: New York Times editorial board scorches GOP’s nuclear sabotage - Salon.com:

In keeping with the generally staid disposition of the Gray Lady, one might have expected the New York Times editorial board to chide the Republican senators seeking to torpedo the Iran nuclear talks as “misguided,” “wrongheaded,” “imprudent,” or some such. But instead, the Times on Thursday published a scathing editorial condemning the GOP’s diplomatic sabotage in unusually blistering language: The GOP’s stunts, the headline announces, reflect nothing less than “Republican Idiocy on Iran...”

Miz Lindsey Steps On Something

Then steps into something. ALG calls for Lindsey Graham resignation for proposing military coup:

Americans for Limited Government President Rick Manning today called for the resignation of presidential hopeful Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) for suggesting at a New Hampshire event his first act as president would be to use the military to force Congress to end sequestration, saying, “Here is the first thing I would do if I were President of the United States. I wouldn’t let Congress leave town until we fix this. I would literally use the military to keep them in if I had to. We’re not leaving town until we restore these defense cuts. We are not leaving town until we restore the intel cuts”...

Cotton Was Stupid Before Everyone Knew He Was Stupid

Tom Cotton told uninsured voter not to use Obamacare because ‘Russian mobsters’ would steal her identity:

...Rather than telling her that she has an obligation for her own health to seek insurance, Cotton goaded her on, telling her that he himself wouldn’t use the exchange website because “Russian mobsters” may steal his identity...

Flogging The People Who Need It

An Open Letter to the GOP, From a Pissed-Off Public:

Hey there. Remember us? It’s most of America, all those people who you are allegedly in the business of governing. It’s about time we sat down and had a chat about what you’ve been up to of late, because frankly? We don’t know what in the holy hell you are doing, and we’ve had just about enough of it. Every time we turn around there’s yet another story about one of your guys doing something blindingly ignorant...

The Best Summary Of The Anti-Clinton Nonsense

Cannonfire "Oooh, Scarey!":

We've seen this slime-ball tactic before. Plenty of times.

First, the Republicans drum up silly charges against the Clintons. The charges are either unproven or trivial. Nevertheless, the Clintons are forced to respond. When that response comes, the major media do not run stories headlined "Those GOP smear-masters are at it again." Instead, the writers direct all of their cynicism and sneers toward Bill and Hillary: "Ah, those scandal-prone Clintons are playing defense -- AGAIN. How evasive. How slick. How disingenuous."

Such pieces create an aura of scandal even when there's no actual scandal...

TIT Scandal

Why Hillary Clinton’s “Emailgate” Is a Fake Scandal:

When it comes to the teapot tempest that is the Hillary Clinton email imbroglio, the real controversy isn’t about politics or regulations. It’s about journalism and the weak standards employed to manufacture the scandal du jour...

The Daily Flashback: Email Edition

FLASHBACK: When Millions Of Lost Bush White House Emails (From Private Accounts) Triggered A Media Shrug | Blog | Media Matters for America:

Even for a Republican White House that was badly stumbling through George W. Bush's sixth year in office, the revelation on April 12, 2007 was shocking. Responding to congressional demands for emails in connection with its investigation into the partisan firing of eight U.S. attorneys, the White House announced that as many as five million emails, covering a two-year span, had been lost...

If Not Treason...

The Most Important People In The World Are From Arkansas:

...Cotton stands revealed as a true fanatic. He's stalwart in his convictions as regards things about which he knows exactly dick. What he and practically every Republican in the Senate did was nothing short of a slow-motion, partial coup d'etat. It was not quite treason, and it was not quite a violation of the Logan Act, no matter how dearly some of us might wish it was. (Imagine the howls if the Justice Department actually inquired into that possibility, which it certainly has a right to do. Lindsey Graham might never rise from the fainting couch.) But it stands in history with Richard Nixon's grotesque sabotage of the Paris Peace Talks in 1968 and with whatever it was that the Reagan campaign did to monkeywrench the possible release of the American hostages from their captivity in Iran in 1980. It is an act of unconscionable and perilous presumption, reckless at its base and heedless of eventual consequences. Nobody elected Tom Cotton or the rest of these clowns to undermine the ability of this president to conduct foreign policy. (Nobody elected Bibi Netanyahu to do it, either, as sad as this might make Jen Rubin.) It long has been acceptable on the respectable American right to call this president practically anything. It now is acceptable on the respectable American right to do anything to thwart his ability to conduct his office. A twice-elected president must bow to the uneducated whims of the representative of 478,819 Arkansans. We have fallen through the looking glass and left it far behind...

The Right Is Wrong-- Again

5 Embarrassing Predictions About What Obamacare Would Do To The Economy | ThinkProgress:

In February, the economy added 295,000 jobs. It was the 12th straight month the private sector added more than 200,000 jobs, the longest such streak since 1977. The robust job growth coincided almost exactly with the official start of health coverage through the Obamacare exchanges, which began in January 2014. Over that time, the economy has added 3.2 million jobs.

It wasn’t supposed to be this way...

Holier-Than-Thou AP Flogged

The Troubling Story Of The AP's Flawed Clinton Email Report | Blog | Media Matters for America:

After the Associated Press waited over 14 hours before changing an erroneous story about Hillary Clinton, without issuing an update or correction, ZDNet's David Gewirtz has questions about the integrity of the outlet's reporting.

On March 4, the AP published a story claiming that Clinton used a fake identity, "Eric Hoteham," to register the domain name associated with Clinton's personal email address. This was later discovered to be a misspelled version of a real name, Eric Hothem, who is a former aide to Clinton.

Gewirtz documented a laundry list of changes made to the piece after the AP discovered this information, noting that the AP let the story "run through an entire day's news cycle, and then changed that story in the same article later that evening - without ever releasing an update or correction..."

Maddow On Bill O

Post by Media Matters for America.

Potential Teachers Wising Up

Where Have All The Teachers Gone? : NPR Ed : NPR:

...The job also has a PR problem, McDiarmid says, with teachers too often turned into scapegoats by politicians, policymakers, foundations and the media.

"It tears me up sometimes to see the way in which people talk about teachers because they are giving blood, sweat and tears for their students every day in this country. There is a sense now that, 'If I went into this job and it doesn't pay a lot and it's a lot of hard work, it may be that I'd lose it.' And students are hearing this. And it deters them from entering the profession..."

Crazy In NC: Gettin' Sane Edition

North Carolina inches closer to legalization of medicinal marijuana | Mountain Xpress:

North Carolina could conceivably be one of the next states to legalize marijuana use for medicinal purposes, according to a report by higherperspective.com.

The website cites a bill, introduced by Representative Kelly Alexander in late January 2015, that has passed its first reading in the North Carolina General Assembly. This comes on the heels of a decision by Gov. Pat McCrory last year to sign a law allowing limited use of cannabis derivatives to treat seizures...

Clinton's Emails Prove Sharia Gayness

...or something. Reliable players, including the Gaff and Atlas Shruggin' are coming out of their slime holes to posit additional lunacy. The Email Server Squeaks And Out Come The Freaks | Crooks and Liars

Return To Medievalism!

The ultimate guide to debunking right-wingers’ insane persecution fantasies - Salon.com:

...On its website, the ADF states that it “seeks to recover the robust Christendomic theology of the 3rd, 4th, and 5th centuries.” That’s really the problem, isn’t it? When leaders and members of the religious right go looking for heroes of religious freedom, they don’t turn to Roger Williams, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, or even the Baptist preacher John Leland. They turn to Constantine the Great.

It’s no surprise that many Americans would rather not live in a society governed by a fifth-century understanding of church and state. Many Americans believe that to even suggest it and hold it up as a good thing is alarming. Many Americans are going to do all they can to resist anyone or any movement attempting to impose that on them.

Standing up to and resisting this type of fundamentally anti-American interpretation of the relationship between religion and government is far from persecution. Many of us would consider it something quite different: good, old-fashioned patriotism.

Clinton And The Loyalists

Pwning Hillary: Inside the Innerati’s Clinton Obsession | PETER DAOU:

...I have a personal take on why Hillary Clinton’s reputation is so resilient. Early on a Sunday morning in the summer of 2006, a week after she had hired me as an advisor and after an outbreak of violence in the Middle East, my home phone rang. “Peter, it’s Hillary, I was just calling to make sure your friends and family in Lebanon are OK.” It immediately struck me: the reason Hillary Clinton has so many fiercely loyal friends and advisors, so many fans and supporters, is because of her character, her friendship, her loyalty...

Pitchforks

Pooches And The Israeli PM

Bibi Nastyahoo poked the pooch according to some pundits. Netanyahu blew it: How he misunderstood Congress & inadvertently ruined his own goals - Salon.com:

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had two goals for his address to Congress. The first was to boost his chances for reelection in a couple of weeks by showing off his sway abroad. I am not enough of an expert in Israeli politics to know if this will work on net, but the controversy that it sparked might cut against whatever gains it made. The second goal, however, was to lobby Congress to use its power to sabotage a nuclear deal with Iran. On this count, he’s failed, because he critically misunderstands how American politics works...

The Low End Of The Petty Pole

Boehner Invites Man Who Hated Obama in High School to Address Congress - The New Yorker:

House Speaker John Boehner has scheduled a joint session of Congress in April to hear an address by Kevin Laggett, a man who is on record as having hated President Obama in high school.

Boehner, who personally extended the invitation to Laggett, said that he did not consult with the President before contacting his high-school nemesis...

Ferguson Corrupt

Justice Department releases scathing Ferguson report | MSNBC:

The Justice Department has released a scathing report based on its investigation of the Ferguson, Missouri, police department, in which it says the police department engaged in broad pattern of conduct that routinely violated the constitutional rights of African-Americans.

The DOJ findings include a pattern and practice of disproportionate stops and arrests of blacks without probable cause, unreasonable force, racially bias handling of warrants by municipal courts and a pattern of focusing on revenue over public safety that violated the rights of poor, black residents...

About SOS Clinton's Email

The New York Times' Deceptive Suggestion That Hillary Clinton May Have Violated Federal Records Law | Research | Media Matters for America:

...But The Law Overseeing Retention Of Private Emails Was Not Changed Until After Clinton Left The State Department...

house Of The GOPer

The terrible, horrible, no good start for GOP | TheHill:

The opening weeks of the 114th Congress have been nothing short of a disaster for Republicans, who declared upon taking control of both chambers last fall that the era of governing by crisis and fiscal cliffs was over.

Since their declaration, House GOP leaders have yanked several high-profile bills from the floor after rebellions from rank-and-file members...

About Those Charter Schools

Profits and losses - The Tulsa Voice - February A 2015:

Of all the awful ideas in politics these days—balanced budget amendment, elected judiciary, constitutional convention, flat tax (to name just a few)—nothing leaves more of a stench than charter schools and vouchers.

The lobbyists who push this agenda (aided by local, state and national representatives who line up for the swag and instructions on how to sell the con)1 believe that the best thing for public education is the introduction of the profit motive—their profits. Schools will do a better job of educating children, they contend, if there’s competition between institutions—winners and losers...

Advice For Bill O

What Bill O'Reilly owes America - CNN.com:

...That's easier said than done, especially after O'Reilly chose to start threatening reporters. His best move now would be to do the difficult, responsible thing, the thing truly great journalists have been doing for decades: admit he screwed up, apologize and try to move on.

That might damage his brand as the swaggering no-spin guy, and it might even lose him some viewers. But it would begin to restore his reputation in a profession that isn't perfect and doesn't expect its practitioners to be -- but also doesn't expect valid questions to be answered with the snarling, empty threats of a coward.

Libs Helping A Con

You Won’t Believe Who Is Helping This Obamacare Hating Sheriff Pay His Medical Bills | If You Only News:

Sheriff Richard Mack is the right wing former sheriff of Graham County, Arizona. He is the head of an organization called “Constitutional Sheriffs and Peace Officers Association,” a member of the NRA’s Hall Of Fame, and a staunch opponent of the policies of President Obama, including Obamacare.

Richard Mack has run into some medical problems and since he is uninsured, he’s asking for help. Mack suffered a heart attack on January 12. This apparently came right on the heels of some serious medical issues that were suffered by his wife. His son, Jimmy Mack, has set up a GoFundMe campaign, asking for donations to help offset the cost of medical treatment. Apparently the Macks were expecting right wing supporters to step up to the plate and help out but, judging by the comments that accompany many of the donations, Mack is getting the bulk of his support from liberals...