The Truth Be Told: 04/28/15

Tuesday, April 28, 2015

The Daily Drift

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It Looks Like Bernie Sanders Is Going To Run For President

bernie sanders republicans cut social security to disabled vets

It is looking more and more likely that Sen. Bernie Sanders is going to challenge Hillary Clinton and run for the 2016 Democratic nomination.

msnbc reported that Sen. Sanders is leaning towards running for the Democratic nomination in 2016:
Sen. Bernie Sanders is only days away from making a decision on a 2016 run, and leaning towards yes, according to his top strategist.

“I think we’re coming to the critical moment of truth here. He’s now spent enough time traveling around the country talking to people and feels there is genuinely a large audience of people who are with him,” veteran Democratic strategist Tad Devine, who is advising Sanders, told msnbc.

A formal announcement of his candidacy is expected to occur later in May.

It must be noted that a lean is not a yes, and Sen. Sanders could change his mind, but if the answer was going to be no, it would be expected that the trips to early primary states would cease and a flat denial of his candidacy would be issued.

If Sen. Sanders (I-VT) does run, it will be great news for Democrats and liberals on numerous fronts. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) is not running. Former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley has not traction with Democratic voters. Sen. Sanders is largely unknown to many rank and file Democrats, but he is on television often enough that he has more of a base of support than any of the other non-Clinton Democrats who are considering running.

A Sanders campaign means that voters would likely get to see some Democratic primary debates, and the issues that might be debated include income inequality, Wall Street, the need to break up the big banks, trade agreements, Citizens United, and several other issues that do not get attention in the mainstream press but deeply matter to many on the left.

Sen. Sanders has stated from the beginning of this process that he would run if no one else from the left stepped up to challenge Hillary Clinton. No credible challenger has emerged, so it looks like Bernie Sanders is running.

Sanders draws passionate crowds all across the country when he speaks, and he will bring that passion with him to the campaign trail.

Sen. Sanders will have to run a small grassroots campaign. His odds of being the Democratic nominee are slim, but while he wants to win, Sanders’s candidacy will be important because it will allow for a discussion of important issues.

Bernie Sanders will be a welcome addition to the 2016 race.

Democrat Introduces Bill Called The ‘Restrain Steve King From Legislating Act’

This House Democrat just publicly shamed teabagger loon Steve King like no other, and it’s amazing.

Read more

Boehner Says We Finally Have a Senate That is Actually Working

Boehner's reaction to Senate dysfunction is to claim a change of leadership in the Senate has given us a Senate that is actually working.…

Republican leaders Senator Mitch McConnell and John Boehner speak after a bipartisan meeting with President Barack Obama at the White House in Washington

Boehner’s Press Office informed us that, “In an interview on Bloomberg’s With All Due Respect, Speaker Boehner discussed the first 100 days of the new Congress, his recent visit to the Middle East, and more.”

That “more” is a euphemism for a heavy dose of lies. What stands out is the following pronouncement:

Finding common ground for the American people: “I think the fact that we have a change of leadership in the Senate has certainly made a difference. … The fact that the Senate is actually working is helping us. It’s fostered bipartisan, bicameral discussions on cybersecurity, on trade, on the collecting of foreign intelligence, elementary and secondary education reform. There’s a whole host of things where there are bipartisan, bicameral conversations.”

I do not believe a bigger lie has come from John Boehner’s lips unless it is in the repeated claims that the House has actually created jobs.

But “a change of leadership in the Senate has certainly made a difference”?

Really? This begs the question: For Republicans, what does “working” actually mean?

It is a claim, fortunately, that is easy enough to examine.

Mitch McConnell, as Steve Benen wrote at MSNBC, “has taken congressional obstructionism to a level unseen in American history, effectively rewriting the rules of federal governance because it suited his partisan agenda.”

This is the same man who pledged last summer to end Senate dysfunction. It is impossible to say that without laughing. Go ahead and try.

The Senate has been, for the past six years, a theater of the absurd, where all the key roles are held by Republicans. McConnell is the guy, after all, who said of his own opposition to healthcare reform,

“It was absolutely critical that everybody be together because if the proponents of the bill were able to say it was bipartisan, it tended to convey to the public that this is O.K., they must have figured it out.”

You remember how the Republican-controlled Senate, led by Mitch McConnell:

Finally confirmed Loretta Lynch (and then only 56-43) as the 83rd Attorney General of the United States after a delay of months? As Harry Reid pointed out, she “waited longer to be confirmed than the first 54 Attorneys General combined.”
Tried to turn an anti-human trafficking bill into an anti-abortion bill, was repeatedly opposed by Senate Democrats, and ultimately failed?
Passed a top-down, rich-get-richer budget which, as the White House said, “refuses to ask the wealthy to contribute a single dollar to deficit reduction, putting the entire burden on the middle-class, seniors, low-income children and families”?
Invited a hate-group leader to testify before a Senate subcommittee on religious freedom? Sure, this is only a subcommittee you say, and not the entire Senate, but The Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on State, Foreign Operations and Related Programs, is chaired by none other than presidential hopeful Lindsey Graham, and also boasts Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell;
Sent a treasonous letter to Iran in an attempt to subvert the president’s foreign policy?
Tried multiple times to overturn Obama’s immigration Executive Order – and failed?
After spending six years obstruction Obama as the Senate minority, deciding as the Senate majority that filibusters should be outlawed?
Blocked a Democratic amendment to actually keep the Keystone XL Pipeline oil in the United States?
Passed the oil-company enriching, ecology destroying Keystone XL Pipeline but without enough votes to override the promised presidential veto?
Blamed Obama for the Senate’s inability to function because of years of Republican obstructionism? McConnell is the guy, remember, who said back in August 2010 that the White House had to do what the Republicans want, even if Republicans are only the Senate Minority.
Finally confirmed Vivek Murthy as Surgeon General after a wait of a year-and-a-half?

There is a reason President Obama has called Mitch McConnell’s Senate leadership embarrassing: it is.

After bragging about obstructing President Obama and deciding up front they will make him a one-term president, and being very public about it to boot, McConnell and his fellow Republicans have decided none of that happened, that we won’t possibly remember any of it, or have film or transcripts, and that it was all Obama’s fault nothing got done, and that filibusters are bad.

If anything, Republicans are worse with recent history than with Early American History.

The Senate got very little done during those long years of Republican obstruction, and it has gotten less done with McConnell as Majority Leader. Boehner actually thinks he is a good House leader so you can see where he might think McConnell is also a good leader, but the GOP has reached a new low if they think we have a functioning legislative branch. To the extent it is doing anything at all – no, let’s cut to the chase: it’s not doing anything at all.

And this – nothing – is apparently the Republican definition of success. What we pay for is a functioning legislative branch. What we get from Republicans is sleight of hand.

With no respect at all to John Boehner and Mitch McConnell – because they have earned none – I think we can do better, and will, in 2016.

Republican Clinton Cash Scandal Collapses Before The Book Is Even Released

The scandal that Republicans hoped would take down Hillary Clinton has already sputtered and fizzled as the media has largely debunked the book Clinton Cash as strong on allegations, but weak on facts.

The main allegation is that Hillary Clinton was influenced by donations to The Clinton Foundation to use her position as Sec. of State to block the purchase of uranium mine.

Time magazine noted that the allegation first reported in The New York Times was not supported with evidence, “The suggestion of outside influence over U.S. decisionmaking is based on little evidence — the allegations are presented as questions rather than proof. The deal’s approval was the result of an extensive interagency process that required the assent of at least nine different officials and agencies.”

NBC News backed off of the Clinton Cash story too, “Indeed, upon reflection, that Times article doesn’t hold up that well 24 hours after its publication. But if there’s a legitimate criticism of the Clintons here — especially when it comes to the other articles about the Clinton Foundation and Bill’s speaking fees (here and here) — it’s that they were sloppy, bordering on being greedy.”

ABC News, which received an advance copy of the book, blunted called out the lack of facts, “The book offers no proof that Hillary Clinton took any direct action to benefit the groups and interests that were paying her husband.”

The author of the book, Peter Schweizer, worked as a foreign policy adviser to Sarah Palin. He was a fellow at the Koch-funded Hoover Institute, a former speechwriting consultant for George W. Bush, and he has a history of botched hyper-partisan reporting.

The New York Times and Washington Post latched on to Clinton Cash potentially because they were led to believe that a companion book was coming out about Jeb Bush. However, Schweizer’s publisher said that there is no Jeb Bush book coming out.

When boiled down, the Clinton Cash scandal is nothing more than a series of empty allegations. Clinton Cash is equal to the Benghazi scandal and every other conspiracy based witch hunt that Republicans are engaging in.

The book has not been released yet, but instead of blowing up into a major story that will rock the 2016 election, Clinton Cash is poised to join the dusty pile of failed Clinton conspiracies of years past.

Rand Paul has been talking up Clinton Cash as the game changer that would disqualify Hillary Clinton from office, but what the episode demonstrated is how out of touch with reality Republicans are, and how eager some in the mainstream press are to enable the GOP’s delusions.

Shocker: Turns Out Clinton Scandal Author Isn't Publishing A Jeb Bush Book!

Claiming he was going to write a Bush book was one way to sell himself as less of a wingnut hack.

Shocker: There's No Jeb Bush Book!

Republicacn Wannabes Oil Their Taut Bodies for Koch Brothers' Swimsuit Pageant

From the "Public Enemies" Department:

GOP Candidates Oil Their Taut Bodies for Koch Brothers' Swimsuit Pageant

The Truth Hurts

http://l1.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/H3O0Eb4XHyDgIEPagifbWQ--/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7Zmk9ZmlsbDtoPTM2NDtpbD1wbGFuZTtweW9mZj0wO3E9NzU7dz01MDA-/http://media.zenfs.com/en_us/News/ucomics.com/crmlu150424.jpg

Hateful Bigot Mike Huckabee Totally Fails At Basic Civics In Long, Idiotic, Anti-Gay Rant

Featured image c.berlet/publiceye. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Mike_Huckabee_in_2007_in_Washington,_DC_at_the_Values_Voters_conference.jpg#/media/File:Mike_Huckabee_in_2007_in_Washington,_DC_at_the_Values_Voters_conference.jpg

He needs a lesson in psychology as well as civics.
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Walker Tries To Rewrite His Job Creation History

Walker can have his own opinions but he can't have his own facts

Walker Tries To Rewrite History

Bobby Jindal Wants Hollywood Corporate Liberals to Stop Bullying Him

Koch-backed cabal sending ‘real scientists’ to school Pope Francis about ‘biblical duty’ to pollute

From the "Blind leading the Blind" Department: Pope Francis (AFP)

“The Holy Father is being misled by ‘experts’ at the United Nations who have proven unworthy of his trust,” said Joseph Bast, president of the Heartland Institute.

‘Real scientists’ to school Pope Francis about ‘biblical duty’

More Pence Errors

From the "It's not going to help" Department:

Republican Drug Smuggler

Guns in the Park

From the "Prue Genius" and "What's the worst that can happen" Departments:

Newly Elected Black Mayor Locked Out Of City Hall By Police

This is what police states look like.

Mayor Locked Out Of City Hall By Police

Arpaio Admits to Targeting Latinos, Hiring PI to Investigate Judge’s Wife

Sex-Trafficking Survivor Couldn’t Go To Police Because They Were Her Abusers, Too

A survivor of human trafficking and sexual abuse, Jessa Dillow-Crisp explains that she couldn’t go to the cops. Because the cops were abusing her, too.

Featured photo with Don Glunt mugshot: Video screen grab/Fox Q13.

Ex-cop Don Glunt claims the girl said she was 19 and those child porn photos were for a presentation on fighting sex crimes against children.