The Daily Drift

Hey, wingnuts, yeah we're talking to you ...!  

 

The Truth Be Told is read in 203 countries around the world.

 
Republicans true blood comes out at night ... !

Today is - National Night Shift Workers Day

 

Don't forget to visit our sister blog Carolina Naturally

Some of our readers today have been in:

The Americas

Alegre, Joinville, Rio de Janeiro, Salvador and Sao Paulo, Brazil

Chelsea, Greater Sudbury, Guelph, Montreal, Ottawa, Regina, Richmond and Vancouver, Canada

Bogota, Colombia

Mexicali, Mexico City and Tlalnepantla, Mexico

Boaco and Managua, Nicaragua

San Juan, Puerto Rico

Oranjestad, The Bottom and Sint Eustatius-Saba

Florin, Loudon, Swayzee and Zearing, United States

Barquisimeto, Venezuela

Europe

Minsk, Belarus

Sarajevo, Bosnia-Herzegovina

Glavinitsa, Ruse and Sofia, Bulgaria

Malarm and Rovinj, Croatia

Brno, Pizen and Prague, Czech Republic

Bristol, Chester and London, England

Vantaa, Finland

Cerny, Laval, Lyon, Nice, Paris, Roubaix, Rouen and Velizy-Villacoublay, France

Berlin, Eschborn, Hamburg, Hurth, Leipzig and Munich, Germany

Athens, Greece

Reykjavik, Iceland

Dublin and Tallaght, Ireland

Campello sul Clitunno, Eboli, Milan, Prato, Rome, Sala Bolognese, Terlizzi and Vence, Italy

Riga, Latvia

Alphen aan den Rijn, Amsterdam, Den Haag, Rotterdam and Utrecht, Netherlands

Belfast, Northern Ireland

Bergen and Gjerstad, Norway

Kozy, Krakow, Szczecin, Tarnowskie Gory, Warsaw and Wroclaw, Poland

Costa de Caparica, Portugal

Moscow, Ryazan and Vladivostok, Russia

Edinburgh and Forth, Scotland

Belgrade, Serbia

Leganes, Madrid and Pontevedra, Spain

Stockholm, Sweden

Baar, Switzerland

Kiev, Ukraine

Hook and Wrexham, Wales

Asia

Dhaka, Bangladesh

Rangoon and Thanatpin, Burma

Beijing and Guangzhou, China

Hong Kong and Kowloon, Hong Kong

Bangalore, Coimbatore, Delhi, Kolkata, Mumbai, New Delhi, Noida, Rajkot, Ranchi and Shillong, India

Bandarlampun and Jakarta, Indonesia

Gorgan, Iran

Kiryat Ono and Tel Aviv, Israel

Seoul Korea

Kuwait, Kuwait

Alor Setar, Bandar Labuan, Johor Bahru, Kota Kinabalu, Kuala Lumpur, Kuala Terengganu, Kuchang Puchong, and Sibu, Malaysia

Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia

Islamabad, Lahore and Muzaffarabad, Pakistan

Doha, Qatar

Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

Kandy and Maharagama, Sri Lanka

Bangkok and Phitsanulok, Thailand

Dubai, United Arab Emirates

Africa

Rabat, Morocco

Johannesburg and Pretoria, South Africa

Lusaka, Zambia

The Pacific

Darwin, Heidelberg, Homebush, Strathfield and Sydney, Australia

North Carolina To Teachers: No Free Speech For You!

Don't "wear red for Ed" in North Carolina!

Prosecutor Admits To Discriminating Against Latino Abuse Victims In Visa Applications

by Esther Yu-Hsi Lee

A North Carolina county prosecutor won’t certify visa applications for Latino domestic violence victims if their assailants are also Latino. In an interview with the Charlotte Observer, Gaston County District Attorney Locke Bell said that he would only certify U visa applications, designated for victims of domestic abuse or violence, for Latinos if their abusers are non-Latino.

More

Non Sequitur

There's an American named Jade Helm. And yes, she's a little pissed right now.

"I promise the entire Texas military will watch this woman until we know what she's up to."

If three months from now this poor person decided to move to Vanuatu, you really couldn't blame her.

Three months ago, being that one American named Jade Helm would have been a curiosity of the oh-that's-an-interesting-name sort. With the advent of Jade Helm '15, the miltary-exercise-turned-massive-conspiracy-theory, however, being Jade Helm has taken a turn for the annoying. [...] "The lowest point was when I saw a Mr. Rogers meme about Jade Helm — of course posted on my Facebook timeline by one of my helpful friends," Helm said. "This was not how I hoped to be associated with Mr. Rogers."

Pin this one up as a reminder that all things considered, you probably have a pretty good life. At least you don't share your name with the single stupidest conspiracy theory to ever grace an actual sitting governor's synapses.

Republicans Crushed As Obamacare Transforms Into A Winning Issue For Democrats

A new poll shows Republican hate sowing the seeds of future failure as Obamacare is a winning national issue for Democrats.

Three findings within the AP/GfK poll are devastating for Republicans:

Fifty-six percent said the court should keep the subsidies without restriction while 39 percent said the financial aid should be limited to residents of states that set up their own health insurance markets.

….

The poll found that a bare majority, 51 percent, wants Congress to amend the law to make it clear that people are entitled to help regardless of what their state leaders do.

But 44 percent prefer that Congress leave the law as is and let states decide whether they want to create insurance exchanges that would allow their residents to receive subsidies.

….

The poll found 27 percent of Americans support the law while 38 percent oppose it, and 34 percent say they neither support nor oppose it.

These statistics present an impossible problem for Republicans. By a nearly two to one margin, the those polled either support the law or don’t have an opinion either way. The level of opposition to the law has shrunk to the same level as the percentage of self-identified Republicans and conservatives in polls. This means that the opposition to the ACA is shrinking, but firmly located within the Republican Party.

The fact that a seventeen point majority want the subsidies to continue without restriction, while 69% of Republicans want the subsidies to go away means that Republicans are guaranteed to pay a heavy political price no matter what they do. Republicans are being crushed beneath the weight of their ginned up hatred for the ACA.

Obamacare is now a winning issue for Democrats. The more Republicans that nationally discuss repealing the law, the stronger the Democratic position becomes. Democrats could have a huge victory in 2016 because Republican voters are forcing to their candidates to stick to repealing the health care law.

The ACA turned into a winning issue because people like having health insurance. Republicans are sowing the seeds for future Democratic victories by continuing to fight battles that they’ve already lost.

Republicans: Always Wrong - About Everything

Bernie Sanders Explained Why Voters Aren’t Voting Ten Years Ago

It seems like hardly a month passes without yet another international or national study or survey revealing how America, as the “shining light” of democracy and unlimited economic possibilities, is revealed as lagging the rest of the civilized world in any and every possible category. If America is not at the bottom of the list for dependable infrastructure, access to healthcare, or the number of people in the middle class, it is a world leader in the number of children living in dire poverty, most gun-related homicides, most incarcerations, and a humiliatingly ignorant religious and racist population.

Now another survey reveals that as the one-time exemplar of democracy, America is near the very bottom of industrialized nations with a truly pathetic voter turnout record. Of all the recent sad reports about America, this one can be laid at the feet of Republicans and their moneyed supporters who, with valuable assistance from a conservative Supreme Court, work tirelessly and spend unlimited amounts of cash to prevent Americans from participating in the electoral process.

Before perusing the one-time ” world’s leading democracy” and its truly pathetic voter turnout record, it is worth looking back at comments from Senator Bernie Sanders that he recorded for posterity nearly ten years ago in the 2006 documentary “American Blackout.” In the documentary, the filmmakers recounted the then-astonishing voter suppression tactics being employed to prevent a large percentage of the population from participating in America’s storied representative democracy. Even though it has been nearly ten years since the film’s release, if then-Representative Bernie Sanders knew what the Koch brothers intended in funding outright voter suppression efforts, he certainly would have called them and their legislative arm the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) out by name. Instead, Sanders talked about voter apathy and cited “the people who control politics” as the media, large corporations, and the wealthy people as those most invested in keeping Americans from participating in the election process.

Bernie Sanders explained that the rich and corporations do not want all Americans to vote. He said, “The truth of the matter is that the media, large corporations, the people who control politically our country today do not want you to participate. That’s only bad for them. They want a low turnout of primarily upper middle class people, they want big money to dominate the political process. Their nightmare is that young people, lower income people, working people jump into the political process. They do not want that.” As everyone now understands in retrospect, corporations and the wealthy Koch-types’ worst nightmare came true in 2008 when young people, people of color, working and low income people did jump into the political process electing Democrats to control both houses of Congress and the White House that elicited a ferocious response from the Koch brothers as archetypes of the corporate and wealthy elite Sanders described.

Since now-Senator Sanders’ short comment on voting has been manifest a hundred fold, everything he said ten years ago has morphed into more than the wealthy elite just “not wanting people to participate” in the voting process or “wanting big money to dominate the political process.” In fact, after the 2008 election of Barack Obama with larger numbers of Americans heading to the polls, including more young people, more lower income people (code for people of color), and working people, the wealthy and their corporations went to the Supreme Court to win the right to inject unlimited amounts of money in politics, and paid ALEC to write and pass outright voter restriction and suppression laws in Republican controlled states across the nation; particularly in the racist former-Confederate states. So, exactly what was the result of the Koch’s investment in ALEC and the Supreme Court?

According to a new Pew survey released recently, among all developed nations on Earth, America lagged every nation in voter turnout than three; Japan, Chile, and Switzerland. Americans voter turnout was less than all of the other 37 member nations in the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). Pew measured voter turnout by comparing the number of votes cast as a percentage of eligible voting-age population. According to that measure, America landing 31st among the 34 countries in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development whose member nations are mostly highly developed democratic states.

America’s turnout in 2012 was 53% and the three highest ranking nations were Belgium (87%), Turkey (86%), and Sweden (83%). America’s low voter turnout has predictable consequences as the last midterm election confirms; lower voter turnout always benefits Republicans because not surprisingly, the people that do not turn out to vote generally have “more progressive views.”

This does not necessarily mean that registered Democratic voters are not showing up, although in the last midterm election that appeared to be the case, it just means that Americans who generally support progressive agendas like fair wages, income equality, worker protections, social programs, and domestic spending on infrastructure and education have been systematically shut out of the electoral process. Why? Because as Bernie Sanders said in 2006; it is a nightmare for the wealthy and corporations if those people turn out and vote because they dependably vote for Democrats.

Republicans have made no secret they prefer smaller voter turnouts and it goes back to 1991 when Mitch McConnell said that not only is he “not particularly disturbed by lower voter turnout,” he thought it was “healthy if less people participated in the political process.” Recently, more Republicans have openly commented that they think any effort to get more Americans to participate in the voting process is “shocking and underhanded.” In Republican states voter ID laws, restrictions on voter registration efforts, fewer polling places, and outright voter suppression laws have contributed to the low voter turnouts.

Senator Bernie Sanders is no prophet by any means, but his remarks nearly ten years ago about corporations and the rich not wanting all Americans to vote were not only accurate; they were grossly understated as the results of the Pew poll certainly revealed. Of all the surveys and research results portraying America as a second-rate nation have borne out over the past few years, this recent survey is particularly humiliating because this country is alleged to be the world’s leading democracy; a distinction  Republicans and the Kochs have spent six years and no small amount of corporate cash flushing down the oligarch’s toilet.

Support For Sanders With Democrats Grows By 10 Points In Iowa

The latest polling revealed that support for Bernie Sanders has increased by ten points among Democrats in Iowa after the Senator from Vermont officially announced his bid for the Democratic nomination.

According to the most recent Quinnipiac University poll of Iowa, Sen. Sanders has gone from 5% in February to 15% in May. The poll had Sen. Elizabeth Warren at 19% in February, but after she has repeatedly ruled out a run for the nomination, she was not included in the current round of polling.

Logically, it appears that Warren supporters should be a target for the Sanders campaign, but Hillary Clinton was the most popular first and second choice of Iowa Democratic caucus goers. When her first and second choice support was combined, Clinton received 79% support. The first and second favorite support for Sanders was 25%. (Note: percentages add up to more than one hundred.) Clinton’s 2016 is looking like a reversal of her 2008 Iowa caucus experience while Sanders is in a position to be a legitimate second.

Hillary Clinton had a jaw-dropping 83% approval rating with Iowa Democrats. The former Sec. of State’s approval rating with very liberal Democrats was 88%. Sen. Sanders is largely unknown in Iowa. His favorability split was 44%-6%, but 50% of those polled did not know enough about him. Sanders had a favorability rating of 68% among those who considered themselves to be very liberal.

What this polling illustrates is that Hillary Clinton is a historically strong candidate. Not since Dwight D. Eisenhower has a non-incumbent presidential candidate had this much support for his/her campaign. The data also hints that there may be room for only one more legitimate Democratic candidate in the race. At this very early stage, it looks like that candidate will be Sen. Bernie Sanders.

One issue with the Quinnipiac Poll is that Vice President Biden was included in the polling. The numbers will shift after Biden is dropped from the poll. It is safe to assume that some if not most of the Biden support will shift to Hillary Clinton, but there will be an opening there for Sanders to pick up some additional support.

Bernie Sanders has gotten a bigger bounce from announcing his campaign than many expected. Sanders is not a fringe candidate. He will likely be the top challenger to Hillary Clinton in the Democratic field, as the Democratic primary looks like it will feature two strong voices debating the issues in 2016.

Republican Map Shrinking As Hillary Clinton Puts Red State Arizona In Play

A Public Policy Polling (PPP) survey released on May 6th finds Hillary Clinton is competitive in the traditional red state of Arizona. The poll tested Hillary Clinton against nine GOP candidates. In each hypothetical contest, Clinton was competitive, with her range varying from a 3-point lead (44-41) over Texas Governor Rick Perry to a 7-point deficit against New Jersey Governor Chris Christie (46-39).

Given Chris Christie’s poor showing in other recent polls conducted in other states, he seems unlikely to secure the GOP nomination. Clinton is evenly matched against the two most likely Republican candidates, former Florida Governor Jeb Bush and Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker. Clinton trailed Walker in the poll 44-43. She managed a 41-41 tie against Jeb Bush.

A Democratic presidential candidate has not carried Arizona since 1996, when Bill Clinton defeated Bob Dole in the state by a narrow 46.5 to 44.3 percent margin, with Independent Ross Perot picking up 8 percent of the vote. Barack Obama lost the state by over 8 percentage points in both 2008 and 2012.

Arizona’s red tilt makes it a difficult state for Democrats to target, but Hillary Clinton has the potential to put Republicans on the defensive in the Grand Canyon State. If the Clinton campaign can expand the competitive playing field into Arizona, she could conceivably force the GOP to divert resources away from other swing states to shore up their position in the traditionally Republican stronghold.

Whichever Republican becomes the GOP candidate for President, will also have to overcome any damage to the party brand, created by Arizona’s duplicitous Governor Doug Ducey and the states Tea Party flavored legislature. Arizona Republicans have passed a budget that contained savage cuts to education and Medicaid, creating the potential for an anti-GOP backlash up and down the ticket, in a high-turnout presidential election.

While it is too early to gauge whether Arizona will remain competitive by November of next year, Hillary Clinton is in a strong position to put the state in play. If Arizona Republicans continue to mismanage the state budget, Hillary will be poised to capitalize on their failure. She can easily paint her presidential opponent as a Republican who plays for the same team as Arizona ‘s budget slashing Governor Doug Ducey. If she does that successfully, she would be the first Democratic presidential candidate to carry the state, since her husband accomplished the feat in 1996.

Republican Clown Car

Grab The Popcorn – Rick *Don’t Google* Santorum Is Promising To Maybe Enter The Race

I love this guy. Well, I love covering this guy. He’s a never ending source of amusement.

Read more

Scott Walker Channels the shrub At SC Wingnut Summit

Wisconsin's Scott Walker did his best imitation of George W. Bush at this Saturday's South Carolina "Freedom" Summit. 

Wingnut Summit

Propaganda

Nazi Propaganda, oh, excuse us, Republican Propaganda, you can see it's easy mistake to make

This Exposé of NYC Nail Salons Destroys the Republican Worldview Once and for All

In the free-market utopia imagined by the Ayn Rand acolytes in the Republican party, everyone is paid what he or she deserves according to his or her value. There’s no need for government to step in and regulate businesses because the market will punish anyone who engages in unfair or destructive practices.
Then there’s the real world.
A New York Times investigation into working conditions in NYC-area nail salons exposed horrific conditions for the mostly immigrant women who do cheap manicures and pedicures.
They’re paid little to nothing. What meager wages they get from salon owners are often docked for minor infractions. Minimum wage? Overtime? These basic rights most Americans take for granted are as fantastical to salon employees as Narnia.

Most of the women interviewed by the Times were undocumented and spoke little English, meaning they don’t have access to the resources to improve their working conditions or to demand the pay they deserve.
The salon’s customers aren’t going to police the wages of the women doing their nails. The only hope these workers have is that the government steps in and forces salons to pay their workers fair and legal wages.
Republicans, especially the Rand Paul-libertarian wing of the party, would have you believe government regulation of business is a universal evil. They’d like to forget the years before we had child labor laws, weekends, and guaranteed overtime pay.
They’d like you to ignore the woman at the end of your pedicure chair and continue to assume that all business owners do what’s right. They’d like to pretend that workers aren’t often desperate enough to take any work they can get, even if it means working ungodly hours and working in deplorable conditions.
But the real world doesn’t work the way they want. Business owners exploit workers to maximize profit. They always have. They always will. And without regulation and enforcement, that GOP libertarian utopia is a very, very ugly place.

Texas House Eases Airport Laws For Gun Owners, Sponsored By Republican Caught With Gun In Airport

The Texas House seems determined to allow guns in every place imaginable even if it poses a threat to the safety of others.

Texas House Eases Airport Laws For Guns In Airport

Sheldon Adelson’s ties to Chinese crime boss under scrutiny after new testimony

The wingnut casino magnate and key Republican party donor, spent four combative days in a Las Vegas court this week defending his gambling empire from accusations of bribery and ties to organized crime.

Sheldon Adelson and the crime boss

Republican Proposes $300 Million Cut To NASA's Earth Science Budget

We can't have them researching the effects of man-made climate change, after all.

Cutting To NASA's Earth Science Budget

Denial

Student Suspended for Speaking Native American Language

After a 12-year-old Menominee student spoke her Native language during class, she was suspended from playing in that night’s basketball game, and memories of past boarding school atrocities surfaced.
Miranda Washinawatok attends Sacred Heart Catholic Academy in Shawano, Wisconsin. According to Native News Network, the school is more than 60 percent Native American and is about six miles from the Menominee Indian Tribe Reservation.
When Miranda was teaching a classmate to say “posoh” and “ketapanen” on January 19, her teacher scolded her. Native News Network reported her saying “You are not to speak like that! How do I know you’re not saying something bad? How would you like it if I spoke in Polish and you didn’t understand?”
The words Miranda was chastised for translate to “hello” and “I love you” in Menominee.
“Miranda kept saying she was only told by her assistant coach she was being benched because two teachers said she had a bad attitude,” Tanaes Washinawatok, Miranda’s mother, told Native News Network. “I wanted to know what she did to make them say she had a bad attitude.”
There is dispute over who actually did the suspending, but the school has admitted it “failed miserably in its handling of the matter.” Deacon Ray DuBois, the communication director for the Diocese of Green Bay, which operates the school, also told Native News Network that the school does not prohibit the use of any language and that “the number one priority is to help this girl.”
Miranda isn’t a troublemaker. Her mother told Native News that she is mature and respectful. Miranda plays basketball and is the team captain of a volleyball team.
“When it comes to Native language, Miranda should be proud she learned and can speak her Native language,” wrote Levi Rickert in a February 4 post on Native News Network.
Tara McGregor, a commenter at Nativenewsnetwork.com, says “As a teacher you have a responsibility to be culturally aware of your students and encourage diversity. This is a reminder to all of us that this type of oppression still exists. I hope that this example of ignorance is not forgotten, and we continue to move forward while creating a world that fosters children who embrace their heritage.”
Rhonda LeValdo, of the Acoma Pueblo and president of the Native American Journalists Association, wrote a piece for Native Connection stating Indian country's support for Miranda. She says: "All Americans need to know about the boarding schools. They need to know how the language was beaten out of many of our elders, so much that their children never learned the language for that fear of them being hurt. This all happened in this country and so many deny the abuses, but it happened."