The Daily Flashback: Leftist Killers Edition

Well, as predicted the black hole spin about the PP murders has circled back to trying to convince that the killer is a left wing, transgendered godless Democrat. Nonsense, of course, but it is hardly the first time such crap has reverberated through the great right wing echo chamber.

The idea that recent mass shooters are mostly registered Democrats is a myth | Examiner.com:

Based on the assertions of Roger Hedgecock a right-wing radio show host, the meme that the five worst recent mass shootings were committed by registered Democrats is making its way through e-mail chains and social media. Hedgecock asserts, without providing any evidence or sources, that the Ft. Hood shooter, the Virginia Tech shooter, the Aurora Theater shooter and Adam Lanza of Sandy Hook infamy were all “registered Democrats”. He acknowledges that Klebold and Harris (the Columbine Colorado shooters) were too young to be registered voters but asserts, again without providing any evidence, that Harris and Klebold’s parents were progressives or liberal Democrats. All of these charges are utterly baseless and perhaps do not even deserve a response. However, given the effectiveness of right-wing lies in saturating social media and duping the incurious (a far too numerous segment of the population), some more detailed debunking is in order...

The Guilt Of The Right

Pottery Barn Terrorists: You Broke 'Im, You Bought 'Im | Crooks and Liars:

The Horror

...The vehemence bordering hysteria with which they thrust this man away from themselves belies the horrible verdict that fair-minded people will reach: the Right Wing created Rob Dear, put the gun in his hand and shoved him toward Planned Parenthood.

Stochastic terrorism is the mechanism by which so-called lone wolves like Dear became, in fact, the product of relentless programming specifically designed to radicalize malcontents to action. I recommend you all follow the link, and this one, as together they are a damning indictment not just of the Right, but of the weakly compliant and meekly complicit media who succumb to both-siderism out of fear and/or laziness...

WTH Bernie

Unintended?  Unintended? These loons have been calling for the murder of abortion providers and anyone who supports them for decades! Get your head out of your rectum and call them for what they are--- otherwise you're not a truth-sayer and a man of the people-- you're just another pol grinding a different axe. Become the Trump of the Left and you might gain some traction among moderates.

Bernie Sanders Calls Planned Parenthood Shooting An Unintended Consequence Of Bitter Rhetoric | Crooks and Liars

The Daily Flashback: Florida Recount Edition

The Bush presidency was my fault: I am so sorry my work stopped the Florida recount -

Salon.com: ...Later when the Florida Supreme Court weighed in, Chief Justice Charles T. Wells cited me in his dissent from the majority decision of the rest of his court to allow for a manual recount of the undervote in Florida. Summarizing the legal maneuverings, I simply note that in part because of Wells’s dissent the ongoing recount was discontinued, the case went to the U.S. Supreme Court, and George Bush was (s)elected president...

Motive? For Murder At PP-- Let's Guess

Investigators search for motive in Planned Parenthood shooting that left three dead - The Washington Post:

The day after a gunman stormed a Planned Parenthood clinic in Colorado Springs, investigators were working to determine what prompted the shooting that resulted in the death of three people, including a police officer...

Does Colorado have the highest shooting rate per capita in the US?

Trump Goes Really Low

Trump denies mocking journalist who has disability, demands an apology - The Washington Post:

A day after he was widely rebuked for mocking a reporter with a physical disability, business mogul and reality TV star Donald Trump on Thursday denied that he had done so and accused the reporter of “using his disability to grandstand.”

Trump also demanded an apology from the New York Times, the reporter’s employer, which earlier in the week issued a statement condemning Trump for ridiculing “the appearance of one of our reporters...”

Worse Excuse For Murder Ever

Fox Host: Lesson From Chicago Shooting Is Laquan 'Should Not Have Been Walking Away' | Crooks and Liars: MaCallum interrupted:

..."But how many situations where someone turns around and says, 'I've got a gripe with you police officer, but I'm going to go with you and then we're going to hash this out.' I mean, this young man should not have been walking away from police who were asking him to come over and talk to them because it ended in absolute tragic circumstances for him and his family..."

Doubling Down On Delusion

Amid Latest Controversy, Trump Claims 'World's Greatest Memory' - NBC News:

...The front-runner is now acting invincible — he even told NBC News in a phone call that he has "the world's greatest memory" — despite intense push back on his latest claims, including that "thousands and thousands" of U.S. Muslims were cheering in Jersey City, N.J., after the Twin Towers came down on 9/11...

Why Lie?

Of all the horns to honk on the Gop Klown Kar, this one, so far, is the weirdest.

Donald Trump's 9/11 celebration claim widely disputed - CNNPolitics.com:

Donald Trump twice repeated over the weekend that he saw people cheering in New Jersey after the September 11 attacks -- but his claims are being widely disputed as false.

GOP primary rival Ben Carson also said he witnessed the same, but his campaign walked back his statement later on Monday...

Dem Gov In LA

John Bel Edwards, Democrat, Defeats David Vitter in Louisiana Governor’s Race - The New York Times:

With a victory that defied political geography and near universal predictions from just months earlier, a previously little-known Democrat, State Representative John Bel Edwards, soundly defeated United States Senator David Vitter in a runoff election on Saturday to become the next governor of Louisiana...

Preventing Murder

Anti-terrorism ‘ghosts’ waging war from behind a computer | The Times:

...Ghost Security Group, which counts former military computer experts among its members, is credited with providing intelligence that foiled a terrorist attack against British tourists in Tunisia this year...

Being Safe

The Seduction of Safety, on Campus and Beyond - The New York Times:

I have been searching for safety for most of my life. I experienced a brutal assault when I was young and in that terrible moment, I learned I was vulnerable in unimaginable ways. I have come to crave safety, the idea that I can live free from physical or emotional harm. As an adult, I understand that there is no such thing as safety, that safety is promised to no one, but oh the idea of it remains so lovely, so elusive...

Comment Of The Day: Marco Terror Plan Edition

Florida Man Has All the Answers on How to Destroy ISIS

Craig Swarts ·Columbus, Ohio
So if we unpack Marco Rubio's prescription for dealing with the ISIS threat, we end up with the following scenarios:  
 1) We reignite the civil war in Iraq by insertingAmerican military force on behalf of the Sunni and Kurdish regions of Iraq, while destroying any possible diplomatic outreach to the Shia-led government.
 2) We declare a no-fly-zone in Syria, which effectively means that the U.S.targets Russan planes and starts a war with the second largest nuclear power on Earth.

Southern Baptist Minister Flogs GOP!

At Least One Southern Baptist Has A Soul | Crooks and Liars:

Occasionally, a prominent Christian minister actually does or says the right thing, and when they do it's worth giving them a thumbs-up. Today's accolade goes to Russell Moore, president of the Religious Liberty and Ethics Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention, who had some serious criticisms of what's being said right now by the 2016 GOP field...

The Daily Flashback: Madrid Terror Edition

When Fox News Didn't Blame The White House For A Huge Terror Attack In Europe | Blog | Media Matters for America:

...Looking back at the Fox coverage from 2004, President Bush seemed to be a minor player in the story and his name wasn't often invoked. For Fox viewers, Bush certainly wasn't targeted for much blame following the Madrid attack; he wasn't denounced for providing vacuous leadership.

By contrast, some at Fox today, including "news" anchors, can barely contain their contempt for Obama in the wake of the Paris killings. (Not to mention their open disdain for Islam.)

What's even more startling was the contention among Fox talkers in 2004 that, politically, a terror attack on America in 2004 would be good news for Bush; that it would seal his re-election bid because voters would overwhelmingly rally around the president...

Trump Gets Into Fat Shaming

Trump Says 'Seriously Overweight' Protester Upset Over Talk of Food Stamps - ABC News:

A Donald Trump rally was interrupted several times by protesters tonight and the outspoken presidential candidate suggested that one of them, whom he described as "seriously overweight," was upset because he was talking about food stamps.

"You know it’s amazing,

I mentioned food stamps at that guy who’s seriously overweight went crazy -- Amazing. Amazing," Trump told the audience in Worcester, Mass. "That’s an amazing sight..."

Udders On Boars Polling

Let’s all chill out about the Colorado poll: No one is electing Ben Carson president - Salon.com:

...But when it comes to predicting the outcome of the election this far out? No need to worry about it. We have many long months ahead of us and a lot can and will change before the 2016 election.

Water Gets Hotter For GoodHair

Texas appeals court to consider abuse of powers charge against Rick Perry | Reuters:

The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals is set to hear arguments on Wednesday on whether to dismiss an abuse of power charge against former Governor Rick Perry, who has said the case against him is politically motivated.

Perry, who unsuccessfully campaigned for the Republican presidential nomination this year and in 2012, is facing a first-degree felony charge that could bring up to 99 years in prison because of a funding veto he made in 2013 that was seen as being intended to force a local prosecutor to resign...

Ben's Brain

Doctor worship is no less misguided than jock worship or rocker worship. The mystique of the profession, and good PR in the past, carries them places that most should not tread. Your profession, be it medico or journo, is not an automatic qualification for leadership in the political arena.

Dr. Ben Carson is Not Smart:

...My point is that neurosurgeons are not automatically smart because they are neurosurgeons. To get through training and have any sort of practice they must be disciplined, have immense ego strength, a reasonably good memory, and have mental and physical stamina. However, like many other doctors, they are not always smart. Neurosurgeons, like other surgeons, can be outstanding technicians but that is different than being intellectually brilliant. A truly brilliant internal medicine specialist once told me that “you can train anyone to perform a procedure”. I’ve seen surgical assistants perform technically difficult procedures with stunning alacrity. It’s the old rule: do something enough times and you will get damn good at it...

Good-Bye, Bobby

Bobby Jindal Drops Out of 2016 Republican Presidential Race - ABC News:

Republican presidential candidate Bobby Jindal has dropped out of the race for the White House, ending a campaign plagued by low polling numbers both nationally and in Iowa, where he had focused most of his 2016 bid...

Anonymous Has Been Fighting ISIS

Anonymous Declares War on ISIS:

...Anonymous first mobilized against ISIS in January, after the terror attacks on Parisian newspaper Charlie Hebdo, and has since targeted 149 websites, ​101,000 Twitter accounts and 5900 propaganda videos, ​The Telegraph​ reports.

While the efficacy of shutting down Twitter accounts in slowing the spread of extremism has been disputed, it's clear that breaking up the means of communication for online extremists will require more resources, and skill, than ever. Reports today that ISIS operatives can communicate through PlayStation 4 and online games, without speaking or typing, indicate the sophistication and scale of the problem.

[H/T Time, ​T

he Telegraph​]...

Killing ISIS

There Is Only One Way to Defeat ISIS:

...It is long past time for the oligarchies of the Gulf states to stop paying protection to the men in the suicide belts. Their societies are stunted and parasitic. The main job of the elites there is to find enough foreign workers to ensla…er…indenture to do all the real work. The example of Qatar and the interesting business plan through which that country is building the facilities for the 2022 World Cup is instructive here. Roughly the same labor-management relationship exists for the people who clean the hotel rooms and who serve the drinks. In Qatar, for people who come from elsewhere to work, passports have been known to disappear into thin air. These are the societies that profit from terrible and tangled web of causation and violence that played out on the streets of Paris. These are the people who buy their safety with the blood of innocents far away...

Anonymous Targets Terrorists

Anonymous Issues Threat to ISIS Over Paris: 'You Will Now Be Hit by Major Cyber Attacks':

“We are furious with the repeated slaughter of innocent citizens in the name of a peaceful religion,” hacktivist group says

Hacktivist group Anonymous has issued another threat to terrorist group ISIS following Friday’s deadly attacks in and around Paris...

The VA Has Dental Care?

Most Vets Don't Qualify For VA Dental Care. So These Dentists Are Giving It For Free:

In order for veterans to qualify for full VA dental benefits, they have to be 100 percent disabled, have been a prisoner of war or have developed a dental condition during their service. The need is so great that homeless veterans list dental care among their top three unmet needs, along with housing and child care...

A personal sore point with me because I can get no help for injuries suffered on active duty because I "make too much money." I never thought I'd hear those words connected to an NC teacher's pension.

Dem Debate: Clinton Ok--- As Were All

Democratic Debate in Des Moines - Hilary Struggles with Wall St and 9/11:

...HRC did what she had to do, which essentially was not make any obvious gaffes and to counterpunch effectively which, after a rough start, she did well. If the game has changed in any way, it is devoutly to be hoped that it changed in that people in the country will assess the new threat posed by the Paris attacks and decide whether they want to govern themselves through politicians willing to engage in serious arguments about policies, or through politicians willing to make fear dance on a string to old and noxious tunes. I make that even money either way.​

Who'ya Gonna Declare War On?

Now the truth emerges: Here’s how the US fueled the rise of ISIS in Syria and Iraq:

...But terrorism is now squarely in the eye of the beholder. And nowhere is that more so than in the Middle East, where today’s terrorists are tomorrow’s fighters against tyranny – and allies are enemies – often at the bewildering whim of a western policymaker’s conference call...

Comment Of The Day: Paris Terror Edition

Peggy Noonan: Nobody Looks To Mr. Obama For Wisdom And Will In Fight Against ISIS | Crooks and Liars
Geraldo an hour ago

These people would happily destroy the world if it would hurt Obama's polling numbers.

No Vote For Old People

I guess it's time to cap the voting age - at 65 - AMERICAblog News:

...But now the evidence suggests that those who ratified the 26th Amendment were looking at the wrong end of the age range. Because not only are people under the age of 25 too incompetent to vote, according to USA Today columnist and conservative law professor Glenn Harlan Reynolds, so is everyone over the age of 65...

GOPer Fear Mongering Upswing

The Aftermath of the Paris Attacks Is a Time to Grieve, Not Fear Monger�|�Sam Corey:

In the wake of the horrific Paris attacks that claimed the lives of at least 153 innocent people, FOX News and some Republican presidential hopefuls wasted no time to fear monger and stir up some good-ol-fashioned Islamophobia.

FOX anchor Megyn Kelly hosted R-NY Representative Peter King, a former IRA sympathizer, who stated in the interview:

"This was terrorism at its worst. This can happen in any major, large city in the U.S. and Europe. We always have to be on our guard. I hope this is a wake up call. I hope the president is listening when he says that ISIS is contained..."

Crazier Is Coming To Convert You

Bachmann Warns: Rapture Coming Soon, So Convert As Many Jews As Possible:

Ex-U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) warned Wednesday that Jesus is “coming soon,” making the task of converting the masses – particularly Jews – even more urgent...

Brooks Living Large

Twitter Reacts To David Brooks' Article: 'My $120,000 Vacation':

Twitter didn’t take too kindly to a feature story published Friday by New York Times columnist David Brooks that was titled simply “My $120,000 Vacation.”

The piece, which appeared in T, the Times’ style magazine, described Brook’s jaunt on a new round-the-world tour created by Four Seasons for well-heeled clientele. For $120,000, participants can travel around the globe for 24 days on a private jet, stopping off at Four Seasons locations in cosmopolitan centers like Tokyo, New York and Marrakesh...

BTB Psych Story A Hoax

Ben Carson's Psychology Test Story Gets Even Weirder | Mother Jones:

More Ben Carson news today! You remember Doc Carson's story about the psychology test hoax that proved he was the most honest man at Yale? Well, Carson says it really happened, and the proof is on the right. It's a piece from the Yale Daily News about a parody issue of the News published by the Yale Record. Apparently the parody issue announced that some psychology exams had been destroyed and a retest would be held in the evening. Hilarious!...

The Continuing Hypocrisy Of Fox News

...and conservatives in general.

 Fox News: Where Protests Against Racial Discrimination Are Anarchy But Armed Protests Against Federal Law Are "Patriotic" | Blog | Media Matters for America:

...Recall when Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy faced off with the federal Bureau of Land Management (BLM) over his refusal to pay grazing fees for his cattle's use of public lands in April 2014; he threatened violence and incited protests -- which included armed militia supporters -- to resist BLM efforts to collect on his debt. Fox News rocketed Bundy to conservative folk-hero status, lauding the rancher with the network's support even as numerous media reports described Bundy supporters pointing guns at federal law enforcement. BLM was even forced to suspend its operations when protesters -- some of them armed -- marched toward where BLM had impounded Bundy's cattle. Fox personalities praised Bundy supporters as "good, hardworking Americans," "law-abiding American citizens," and "patriotic Americans," and one Fox host, Clayton Morris, sanitized the interactions between Bundy supporters and law enforcement, claiming, "Suddenly people are there protesting peacefully, arguing against government intervention here ... and all of these police and folks roll in with guns and sniper rifles pointing at them."...

tRump Vents

Donald Trump begs Iowans not to believe Ben Carson: ‘Don’t be fools, okay?’ - The Washington Post:

As Donald Trump took the stage in a community college theater on Thursday night, something was off...

More GOPer Panic

Time for GOP panic? Establishment worried Carson or Trump might win - The Washington Post:

Less than three months before the kickoff Iowa caucuses, there is growing anxiety bordering on panic among Republican elites about the dominance and durability of Donald Trump and Ben Carson and widespread bewilderment over how to defeat them.

Party leaders and donors fear that nominating either man would have negative ramifications for the GOP ticket up and down the ballot, virtually ensuring a Hillary Rodham Clinton presidency and increasing the odds that the Senate falls into Democratic hands...

GOP Is The Budget Buster

Rand Paul is just hilariously trolling Republicans now — and inadvertently revealing the two words behind the GOP’s biggest lie - Salon.com:

...If you do start to question it, it becomes immediately apparent that finding a Republican who legitimately wants to shrink the size of the government, on principle, is harder than finding a Republican who has warm things to say about Planned Parenthood. On the contrary, one strong consistent trend over the past century is that Republican presidential administrations contribute more to the federal debt than Democratic ones. Even though almost no one knows it, deficit spending under President Obama has been consistently dropping, now shrunk by a $1 trillion compared to what the federal government had to spend to recover from the Bush recession. Principled adherence to “small government” would simply not lead to voting Republican, if only out of fear that all that war-mongering rhetoric would lead to more expensive adventure wars like the previous President Bush gave us...

You Were Warned, GOP

Liberals and moderates have been warning the GOP for years that their fear-mongering, crazy enhancing, scumming antics would come back to munch on their butts. Guess what, chickens. It's roosting time.

Days of Desperation - POLITICO Magazine:

There is an air of desperation out there on the GOP campaign trail. It’s impossible not to sense it in the kinds of things being said by teetering establishment Republican candidates like Jeb Bush and John Kasich, both of whom started off the last debate virtually pleading

with base voters to come to their senses about Donald Trump, who is barely identifiable as a conservative by any standard measure of ideology. Not to mention Ben Carson, whose views sound like a grab bag of life philosophies. “I want you to know I’m fed up. I’ve about had it with these people,” a flustered Kasich told a rally in his home state of Ohio this week. “What happened to our party? What happened to the conservative movement?”...

Killing The Bi-Partisan Chicken

The Single Question Republican Candidates Refused To Answer During The Undercard Debate | Bustle:

It's probably safe to say that the candidates in Tuesday night's non-primetime Republican debate didn't expect to be talking a lot about Democrats (unless you're Chris Christie). They were clearly even less prepared to talk about Democrats they like. They seemed to have readied their usual jabs at each other and even the occasional jab at Hillary Clinton, but when the candidates were asked about working with Democrats in Congress, the candidates quickly deflected and refused to answer the question...

Nerdist Revenge By English Majors

Read The Latest Updates On The Fox Business GOP Debate:

...Happily, Wells reports that "median midcareer salaries" for people with English degrees "are $ 71,400, which is slightly more pay than the average for people with degrees in business administration."

ROFL!

Boo-Hooing For Jesus

Christian Persecution Peddlers Want Special Treatment -- Not Religious Freedom�|�Dale Hansen:

Christian persecution has become a new religion for many. These people take it on faith that a war on Christianity is being waged in America. The reality is, the only war being waged right now is one to define the religious freedoms afforded to Americans by the Constitution. Despite this fact, the Christian crusaders in the conservative media are still out in full force trying to convince their viewers that any limitations to how and when they can practice their religion are tantamount to outlawing Christianity...

Daddy Cruz Not Heroic

Cuban Peers Dispute Ted Cruz’s Father’s Story of Fighting for Castro - The New York Times:

...The elder Mr. Cruz, 76, recalls a vivid moment at a watershed 1956 battle in Santiago de Cuba, when he was with a hero of the revolution, Frank Pa�s, just hours before he was killed in combat.

In fact, Mr. Pa�s was killed seven months later and in a different place and manner.

In interviews, Rafael Cruz’s former comrades and friends disputed his description of his role in the Cuban resistance. He was a teenager who wrote on walls and marched in the streets, they said — not a rebel leader running guns or blowing up buildings...

Sanders Nails One

The Democratic Forum Illuminated the Shitshowery of the Republican Debates:

...And what republicans are doing is so un-American, it is so outrageous that it is literally beyond belief. They are political cowards, and if they can't face a free election, they should get another job… Let me quote from my fellow Vermonter, Howard Dean, the Democratic party, as radical as it may seem, should be a 50 state party. You can't give up on South Carolina, or Alabama, or Mississippi...

Cruz Diss Cause

A lot of people just don’t like Ted Cruz. How come that’s okay with him? - The Washington Post:

...“There’s not a lot of love lost for the guy,” said Josh Holmes, a former chief of staff to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.). “And it’ s not what he’s trying to accomplish or what he says he’s trying to accomplish that bothers people,” Holmes added. “It’s that he’s consistently sacrificed the mutual goals of many for his personal enhancement.”

Karl Rove, a former senior adviser to Bush, sees Cruz as someone who conveniently takes aim at former allies “for political purposes...”

The Daily Flashback: Skippy 9-11 Edition

How Much Is George W. Bush Responsible for 9/11?�|�Elizabeth Drew:

...But that's not the heart of the matter. The heretofore hushed-up public policy question that Trump stumbled into is: Did George W. Bush do what he could have to try to disrupt the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001? It's not simply a question of whether he could have stopped the devastation--that's unknowable. But did he do all he could given the various warnings that al-Qaeda was planning a major attack somewhere on US territory, most likely New York or Washington? The unpleasant, almost unbearable conclusion--one that was not to be discussed within the political realm--is that in the face of numerous warnings of an impending attack, Bush did nothing.

Osama bin Laden was already a wanted man when the Bush administration took office. The Clinton administration had identified him as the prime suspect in the 1998 bombings of two US embassies in Africa, and it took a few steps to capture or kill him that came to naught. Outgoing Clinton officials warned the incoming administration about al-Qaeda, but the repeated and more specific warnings by Richard Clarke, who stayed on from one administration to the next as the chief terrorism adviser, were ignored. In a White House meeting on July 5, 2001, Clarke said, "Something really spectacular is going to happen here, and it's going to happen soon." By this time top Bush officials regarded Clarke as a pain, who kept going on about terrorist plots against the US...

BTB Carson Piles On The BS

As Carson Stumbles, Trump Slowly Turns the Knife | The Fiscal Times:

Republican presidential contender Ben Carson struck back on Sunday, with somewhat mixed results, at a barrage of stories from the media suggesting that he had embellished – or just plain made up – a number of elements in his otherwise compelling life story.

He ripped a Wall Street Journal article in which the reporter claimed that a class given at Yale Carson claimed to have taken in his book Gifted Hands, did not actually exist. Carson pushed back by posting to social media what he said was a syllabus from the class. However, Carson claimed to have taken the class in 1970, and the syllabus was from 2002...

Sigh. "Feared For Life"

WATCH: Arizona cops assault unarmed man for pulling out his phone during profiling stop:

...Police claim that they feared for their lives when Velazquez told them that he was calling his sister, so they had no other choice but the escalate the situation to violence and beat an innocent man.

“You have additional people coming to the scene, and you are in fear,” Detective Steve Berry, with the Mesa Police Department said in regards to this innocent man using the phone. “Who might be armed, and showing up to assist...”

BTB (Ben The Blade) Navigating Life

Ignorance and Arrogance:

...But again, that's the exception that proves the rule. When you watch Carson navigating the public square you see someone who is remarkably ignorant about huge swathes of human knowledge and particularly information about US government and public policy. But you also see someone who's quite confident he's very knowledgable. So he's both remarkably ignorant and either stunningly unaware of his ignorance or totally indifferent to it. You might even say he is militantly ignorant. In all aspects of life, that is a dangerous combination. And the combination is almost always rooted in arrogance. None of us know everything. And in a complex world, we don't need to. The key is having some realistic grasp of what you do know and what you don't know...

Clinton On Pot

Hillary Clinton Proposes Reclassifying Marijuana As A Less Dangerous Drug:

..."What I do want is for us to support research into medical marijuana because a lot more states have passed medical marijuana than have legalized marijuana, so we've got two different experiences or even experiments going on right now," Clinton said after being asked about marijuana prohibition during a town hall. "And the problem with medical marijuana is there's a lot of anecdotal evidence about how well it works for certain conditions, but we haven't done any research. Why? Because it's considered what's called a Schedule I drug and you can't even do research in it."

"If we're going to have a lot of states setting up marijuana dispensaries so that people who have some kind of medical need are getting marijuana, we need know what's the quality of it, how much should you take, what should you avoid if you're taking other medications," she continued...

New Crime: WWB

Walking While Black--- similar to DWB.

WATCH: Mob of Austin cops tackle and assault two unarmed men for jaywalking:

Austin, TX — A group of friends, Jeremy Kingg, Lou Glen, Matt Wallace, and Rolando Ramiro were walking home Early Friday morning when they crossed the street in a manner unfit for a police state.

“We were walking across the street, the sign said ‘do not walk,’ but lights were already turning yellow and streets were blocked off, so we kept walking,” Ramiro says...

Threats Matter

My Opinion Doesn't Justify Your Rape Threats�|�Nora McInerny Purmort:

...It matters because this happens to every single woman you know. Every. Single. Woman. We all have a story like this. From real life and from online. A story where we are made to be scared and shut up because we said something or did something that a man didn't like.

But what they represent is colossal: the vile, brewing hatred in anonymous corners of the Internet. Because these aren't just names on a screen. These are people we share the earth with, who hate us, immediately, for daring to have an opinion on how we are treated. Whose default response to a woman saying she doesn't want to be told what to do by a drunk ass stranger is swift and violent and meant to get me to shut the hell up...

Is Business Finally Getting It About Singler Payer Healthcare?

CEO Richard Master Masterminds Full Medicare for All�|�Ralph Nader:

Just when the prospects for single-payer or full Medicare for everyone, with free choice of doctors and hospitals, appear to be going nowhere, from Pennsylvania's Lehigh Valley comes a stirring that could go national and make single-payer a reality.

Throwing down the gauntlet on the grounds of efficiency and humanness, businessman Richard Master, CEO of MCS Industries Inc., the nation's leading supplier of wall and poster frames, is bent on arousing the nation's business leaders to back single-payer - the efficient full Medicare for all - solution...

Keystone Dies And The Good Guys Win

The Keystone Pipeline and the Defeat of Faceless Corporate Power:

...The real story involves an alliance between liberal environmentalists and conservative farmers, between Native Americans and white people, between Democrats and Republicans. The real story involves a grassroots victory for a lot of people you've never heard of who pushed and yelled the national government into reversing a project that seemed almost unstoppable five years ago. The real story involves a defeat for faceless corporate power, and for the money that is poisoning our politics at all levels, and for the corrupt alliance between corporate power and poisoned politics that is so much of our national life these days...

Comment Of The Day: Open Carry Edition

Here's How Open Carry Worked Out For Colorado Springs | Crooks and Liars: by Walldude

"The mere act of openly carrying a gun in a non-threatening manner is not automatically to be considered suspicious behavior."

Wow. Let me make this very clear for you open carry folks. I don't <edit> know you from Adam. If you aren't wearing an orange vest and I see you with a gun, I consider that threatening. If you feel that the world you live in is so horrible that you must carry your weapon into the Produce section at your local grocery store, you are a threat to everyone around you

When Your Hobby Involves Snake Oil...

...expect to find more snake oil.

Ben Carson didn’t get a ‘full scholarship’ from West Point. That’s a big problem for his campaign. - The Washington Post:

Ben Carson's admission Friday to Politico that he had not been offered and accepted a full scholarship to West Point could be a major problem for a presidential candidate whose appeal is almost entirely built on his remarkable personal story...

Blue Wall Didn't Shield Rogue Cop

Police officers did not shield this rogue cop. So how did he continue his behavior for so many years when it was known and documented by so many? Was this political paralysis or was there something more sinister afoot? 

Colleagues Accused Crooked Cop Who Killed Himself of Years of Misconduct: Records - NBC News:

Joseph Gliniewicz — the Illinois cop who committed suicide and tried to make it look like a heroic death in the line of duty — clashed for years with many of his own colleagues, who accused him of extraordinary misbehavior on and off the job, according to his personnel records.

War On Cops Crickets Emerge

People Wrongly Blamed A 'War On Cops' For An Officer's Death. Here's What They're Saying Now.:

 ...This puts a number of pundits and politicians in an awkward spot. Immediately after Gliniewicz’s death, many seized on reports that he'd been brutally ambushed, Radley Balko points out in The Washington Post. They took to the airwaves and Internet to blame the Black Lives Matter movement and other groups calling for police reform, arguing that Gliniewicz -- a loving husband and father of four who was revered in his community -- was the latest tragic casualty of a so-called "war on cops."

Here’s what we're hearing from them now:...

The Daily Flashback: Sandinista Edition

Ben Carson Selling Snake Oil for Mannatech Was Good Practice for Running for President as a Republican:

...The process began with Ronald Reagan, the greatest patent-medicine salesman of them all. It was he who marketed the economic snake-oil with a wink and a smile. It was he who taught them how to flex and pose – fiercely denouncing terrorism while selling missiles to the mullahs. It was he who gulled the country with tales of Sandinistas driving jeeps across the Rio Grande, and dangerous Cuban adventurism in Grenada, while Marines were being slaughtered in their barracks. He was the best show in town. The starstruck rubes flocked to see him. The country swallowed the swamproot whole...

Poppy Bush In Legacy Protect Mode

Elder Bush Says His Son Was Served Badly by Aides - The New York Times:

After years of holding back, former President George Bush has finally broken his public silence about some of the key figures in his son’s administration, issuing scathing critiques of Vice President Dick Cheney and Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld...

Culture Arguments On-Air

Activist Shuts Down White Texas GOPer On Live TV For Blaming Bad Cops On 'Black Culture' | Crooks and Liars:

..."Ms. Box, nobody supports a disruptive student in a classroom because it stops other kids learning," Quanell X explained. "But what I do have a problem with is, men should never handle a woman like the way that cop handled that little girl, to turn that desk over the way he did, grab her around her neck, then grabbed that child and threw her across the room, that is unbecoming of a man with decent character and conduct."

"Now for you to say that we need to deal with the culture of black kids in schools," he noted, taking a deep breath. "Let's deal with the culture of these crazy fanatic white boys who go in schools with guns and shoot and kill everybody..."

After reading through the culture argument comments, all of which condemned Box, rightfully I believe, for her arrogance in assuming that she understood black culture, I was reminded of a previous thread where many of the same commenters were passing judgment on Southern (redneck, hillbilly, incestuous mouth breathers, etc.) culture. Hypocrisy knows no political boundary.

The Making Of Rand Paul

Very thorough article. Rand Paul Rode Tea Party Fervor to Washington, Then Yielded - The New York Times

Ben The Cutter's Greatest Hits, Volume 1

Ben Carson Wisecracks: Many Americans 'Are Stupid' (VIDEO):

...Dr. Ben Carson, a retired neurosurgeon, joked last year during a book tour that many Americans "are stupid."

Mother Jones on Tuesday flagged the remark from Carson's Oct. 19, 2014 speech at the Richard Nixon Presidential Library. After an audience member asked Carson about running as an independent—Carson said he wouldn't "want to fracture" the GOP by doing so—the retired neurosurgeon referred to an ambiguous "they" who he accused of infiltrating the American media and school system with the goal of "fundamentally changing this nation."

"Everything was perfect. Except they underestimated the intelligence of the American people," Carson said. "The people are not as stupid as they think they are."

"Many of them are stupid, okay," he added to laughs from the audience. "But I'm talking about overall."

Carson also credited social media and Fox News with enabling him to spread his message outside of the mainstream media...

Current GOPer Prez Conditions

President Obama Runs Out of F*cks to Give, Impersonates Republican Candidates:

...The president has seen the cleansing and clarifying power of ridicule, and good for him. He has given himself over to the liberating power of le Snark. (This revelation also seems to have come upon Megyn Kelly, although I suppose it won't last with her.) There really isn't anything left to do concerning the preposterous position that the GOP has managed to place itself at the moment. The entire Republican presidential field has come loose from reality and is floating free within the bubble, far above us lesser mortals, existing on its own recycled intellectual waste products, a self-generating universe of illusion in perpetual motion. And Dr. Ben (The Blade) Carson, who is a nut in thrall to other nuts, living and dead, just took the lead in at least one national poll...

Crazy In NC: Bosses Get Bucks Edition

UNCA, WCU chiefs among those granted pay raises:

Governors of North Carolina’s public university system awarded pay raises of up to 20 percent to top executives at 12 of the state’s 17 campuses after consultants reported the officials were underpaid, documents released Monday show...

GOPer Gone?

Hullabaloo-- There is no Republican Party:

...This is no longer a political party. It is just a sales force selling snake oil to the rubes on behalf of the 1%...

The Daily Flashback: Thompson And Watergate Edition

The Fred Thompson Watergate Myth - ABC News:

...While some Democrats on the committee to this day profess respect and admiration for Thompson, he was seen as others as a "spy" for the Nixon White House -- an accusation buttressed, at least in part, by Thompson's own writings, which confirm that he tipped off the Nixon White House about internal happenings on the committee.

Moreover, new transcripts from the Nixon White House tapes reveal that the Nixon administration regarded Thompson as a useful idiot -- "dumb as hell," in President Nixon's words, but "friendly." At one point, the White House counsel told Nixon that Thompson insisted he wanted to help the president more than his patron and boss on the committee, Sen. Howard Baker, R-Tenn, would let him...

The Daily Flashback: RayGun Edition...

...along with the Comment of the Day: Worsest(?) GOPer Edition

TheUinTheUSofA

St. Ronny RayGuns
By the end of his term as President,,, 138 Reagan administration Officials had been convicted, had been indicted, or had been  the subject of official investigations for official
misconduct and /or criminal violations.. In terms of NUMBERS of officials involved, the record of his administration clearly show it was theworst White House ever.
/
Todays GOP think the Government started Jan 20, 2009..
/
The GOP, and Reagan History speaks for itself..

More On Whiney GOPers

GOP hopefuls whine like kids about 'mean' media - NY Daily News:

...Perhaps for me the proudest moment of the night was when you, Sen. Rubio, deflected those mean questions about whether you — a 44-year-old junior senator — had the maturity and wisdom to handle a $17 trillion economy, or when jibed by Jeb for missing so many votes. Instead of answering, you rightly blamed mainstream media for having a double standard and for not taking Hillary Clinton down on Benghazi.

And to prove your disgust with the mainstream media, the very next day you went on mainstream media like “CBS This Morning” and Fox News...

The Real Ryan

Paul Ryan Wants to Shut Down the Government, Permanently�|�Dean Baker:

...Unless reporters give Ryan a pop quiz, they really don't know what he knows about the budget, but they do know what he says. And, he has said a lot on the budget and much of it is very clear. In addition to wanting to privatize both Social Security and Medicare, Ryan has indicated that he essentially wants to shut down the federal government in the sense of taking away all of the money for the non-military portion of the budget...

Ryan's Family Leave Hypocrisy

Fox News corners Paul Ryan for demanding more family time while blocking paid family leave:

House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI) defended his demand for more personal family time, but insisted that he would not support paid family leave legislation because it would be a new “entitlement.”

During an interview on Fox News Sunday, host John Roberts pointed out that “there are many people in this country that would like to see you make your priority legislation that gives people the backing of the federal government so that they can have time with their family...”

Dr. Ben And The Tricky Knife

Ben Carson blames reporters as his story about trying to stab a friend falls apart:

...After Gideon Resnick of the Daily Beast pointed pointed out that Carson’s story of attempting to stab a friend when he was 14 has evolved over the years, Carson said the story changed because reporters “record it in different ways...”

And I once saw a turkey fly like an eagle.

Cruzing Wrongly

Ted Cruz’s best moment of the Republican debate was also completely wrong - Vox:

...Cruz's attack on the moderators was smart politics — but it was almost precisely backwards. The questions in the CNBC debate, though relentlessly tough, were easily the most substantive of the debates so far. And the problem for Republicans is that substantive questions about their policy proposals end up sounding like hostile attacks — but that's because the policy proposals are ridiculous, not because the questions are actually unfair.

The Republican primary has thus far been a festival of outlandish policy. The candidates seem to be competing to craft the tax plan that gives the largest tax cut to the rich while blowing the biggest hole in the deficit (a competition that, as of tonight, Ted Cruz appears to be winning). And the problem is when you ask about those plans, simply stating the facts of the policies sounds like you're leveling a devastating attack...

Very Troubling LEO News

AP: Hundreds of officers lose licenses over sex misconduct - seattlepi.com:

...In a yearlong investigation of sexual misconduct by U.S. law enforcement, The Associated Press uncovered about 1,000 officers who lost their badges in a six-year period for rape, sodomy and other sexual assault; sex crimes that included possession of child pornography; or sexual misconduct such as propositioning citizens or having consensual but prohibited on-duty intercourse.

The number is unquestionably an undercount because it represents only those officers whose licenses to work in law enforcement were revoked, and not all states take such action. California and New York — with several of the nation's largest law enforcement agencies — offered no records because they have no statewide system to decertify officers for misconduct. And even among states that provided records, some reported no officers removed for sexual misdeeds even though cases were identified via news stories or court records...