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Wednesday, July 22, 2015

The Daily Drift

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Obama Has Succeeded And The Republican Cabal Is Committing Brand Suicide

by Rosanna Marcel 
We can all agree that President Obama has had a fabulous few months. Gay marriage is now legal in all 50 states. Relations with Cuba are finally changing for the better. The numbers are improving. Six years of cool, steady patience is finally being rewarded. And to the victor goes the spoils. He is finally allowing himself to be what we already knew he was. A badass.Watch him handle a reporter in this video.
President Obama has taken most of the slams and accusations throughout the years with grace and dignity. He has let it roll off his back and shook his head. Often he gives the customary chuckle that We on the left know and love. What else can he do when someone treats him with such disrespect? He is forever under the microscope. Each minor misstep becomes ammunition. This video is but one of many examples of their outrageous behavior.
 “YOU LIE”
~ Asshat Joe Wilson
But times, they are a changin’. The last few weeks has brought out the man many of us voted for in the first place. And I couldn’t be happier.  I know why he has held his tongue. He was setting things into place. He had the structure built, it just needed time to grow. He also knew that as the first Black/White President that the scrutiny would be far worse for him than it has been for everyone else. Have you ever tried to do a job with someone over your shoulder telling you how bad you are going to mess up? I bet that was damn near suffocating at times. Finally, President Obama has come out swinging in last few months and showing that he is done with their silliness.
And so are we. Every time I am confronted by a teabagger crazies I just give it right back! If President Obama can deal it back, so can I. Who are they to call me a Libtard? Or Feminazi? Most of them have not even read a voting record. Some of their leaders cannot name three branches of Government. Some of them are still worried about prayer curtains that Obama ‘somehow’ planted way back in the Reagan days. The rest of us have moved on to climate change and foreign relations. Real problems. I'll let them keep up with Jade Helm and the invasion of a state that is already in the Union. *face palm*
Please be warned though, some of them are really off the deep end. If confronted by one of those, just mutter something about how great Reagan was great and slowly back away. Tell them you are late for a meeting at the NRA and you gotta go. Pick your battles, change minds with facts when you can and learn to back away when its useless.

Two Very Good Reasons

Community Moneybomb Explodes And Raises $62,000 For Bernie Sanders In 24 Hours

Bernie Sanders Portland, Maine
A community-based grassroots group that is supporting Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders raised at least $62,000 in 24 hours.
The group Grassroots for Sanders is an online community of 65,000 people that was originally founded on Reddit.
Before the moneybomb was launched, Aidan King, the founder of the Grassroots for Sanders movement, said, “We will be giving $15 dollars on July 15th to promote a 15-dollar minimum wage. We hoped to get enough people participating to make a real difference, and I’m very proud of what we’ve accomplished today.”
Grassroots for Sanders exceeded expectations. Initial estimates are that they raised $62,000 in 24 hours. The average size of the donation was $20. Many people were donating through other methods, so it is possible that the final fundraising total will approach $75,000.
The fundraising for the Sanders campaign comes from individuals. The Senator from Vermont does not have super PAC or big corporate donors. The Sanders campaign is being funded by ordinary Americans. Senator Sanders is building a movement to fight back against the big banks, corporations, and billionaires. Sanders has seen huge crowds turn out for him in red states and blue states alike.
The idea that ordinary Americans would come together to donate whatever they can afford to support a presidential candidate is what our representative democracy is supposed to be about. Unlike other candidates, especially those on the Republican side, Bernie Sanders isn’t waiting for a billionaire to write him a check.
Sanders is representing the agenda of small donors all across the country with a message of opportunity and economic populism that runs counter to the Citizens United infused Koch driven campaigns that dominate the political landscape.
Bernie Sanders is a throwback. He is a candidate who is being powered by the people. Whether one supports Sanders or not, this is what political campaigns are supposed to look like.
The presidential campaign of Senator Bernie Sanders is good for the Democratic Party and even better for the nation’s democracy.

Bernie Sanders Sets A New Record As 11,000 Show Up For Rally In Red State Arizona

Bernie Sanders drew the biggest crowd of the 2016 campaign as 11,000 supporters came out to hear him in red state Arizona.
According to the Sanders campaign:
A crowd of more than 11,000 people, according to Phoenix Convention Center officials, jammed a sprawling exhibit hall to see the senator from Vermont.
sanders-phoenix“This is the largest turnout…” Sanders said before the roar of the audience drowned out the rest of the sentence with cheers.
“Somebody told me Arizona is a conservative state. Somebody told me the people here are giving up on the political process. That’s not what I see here tonight.” Sanders told the audience in Arizona, a state that has voted for Republican presidential nominees in all but one of the past 10 national elections.
….
“Progressives will never win unless we plant a flag in these states. The Democratic Party cannot abdicate and surrender half the states in the country.”

The crowd that Sanders drew was nearly three times bigger than the audience for Donald Trump last weekend. Trump is claiming that 10,000-20,000 were at his event. In reality, local officials confirmed that the doors were closed when attendance reached 4,169.
Tens of thousands are turning out to see Bernie Sanders because they believe in his message of fighting back against the billionaires. Sanders was correct. Democrats must campaign nationally. There is an audience in every state for the message of taking our government back from the billionaires.
Bernie Sanders is taking the fight to Republicans on their own red state turf, and tens of thousands are joining him as the populist fever is spreading nationwide.
***
Editor's Note: Each event has been larger than the last for Sanders- Our nation is letting the Pols know what Reality is with their support for Bernie ... now whether the Pols can understand this is another question, we all know a certain segment of Pols will not - then cannot grasp Reality even as it kicks them in the face.

Mad As Hell Bernie Sanders Publicly Shames The War-Mongering Republican Cabal

by Rosanna Marcel
Bernie is once again laying down the heat and it’s directly on the Republican Cabal’s head. In a quote posted on Bernie Sanders FB page he doesn’t mince words. Senator Sanders has this scathing rebuke for the Republicans,
“I think it’s absurd that Republicans are talking about a military option in Iran right now. I’m the former chairman of the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee. I’ve talked to too many Veterans who come back without arms and legs or with PTSD to be talking about another never-ending war in the Middle East.”
Those harsh words are exactly what needs to be said to the war-mongering Republicans. We have had enough of them being irresponsible with our children’s lives. You want war, then go yourself! The Right never wanted to pay for the last two wars! With thousands of VA claims stacked to the ceiling and more coming in, HOW can they have the audacity to even breathe the word WAR. Money. Greed. Fear. That’s HOW. Well, Senator Bernie said it best,
“If you can’t afford to take care of your veterans, then don’t go to war.”
I used to think the Republican Cabal leaders where misguided. I thought to myself they were good deep down, but they just don’t understand things. I was wrong. With their constant call for more war, more destruction, more prisons I now know they are shameless. What kind of future do these “leaders” think they are building?
No, I’m really asking. Less school, dirty air and water, never-ending wars, no minimum wage, longer hours, no health care, no work to our crumbling infrastructure…I could go on for another few pages. Where the fuck do they think they are going to live when they burn the world!?
I say we Bern them first.

Good Question

Self-Proclaimed Champion of Veterans Jeb Bush, Supported Switfboating John Kerry

Jeb-Bush-frown
Jeb Bush said in response to Donald Trump’s attack on John McCain that all veterans are deserving of respect:
Enough with the slanderous attacks. @SenJohnMcCain and all our veterans - particularly POWs have earned our respect and admiration.
As Atlanta Journal-Constitution columnist Jay Bookman then pointedly asked, “Yeah. Just like the respect that John Kerry got in ’04?”
in 2005 @JebBush sent swift boat vets letter thanking them for smearing John Kerry war record http://oliverwillis.com/2015/07/18/don
It turns out that in 2005, Jeb thought one veteran in particular should be attacked. He even thanked other veterans for swiftboating John Kerry, whom Republican conspiracy theorist Jerome Corsi, who has never served his country, decided to accuse of cowardice in order to keep him out of the White House:
Here is the letter proving Jeb Bush thinks veterans are fair game for slander:
Jeb-Bush-Swift-Boat-Letter.0
So Jeb, who at least (unlike Trump – or his brother) had not escaped service by deferment but who graduated late enough that he was simply never called up, feels it is wrong to attack a Republican veteran, John McCain, but perfectly permissible to attack a Democratic veteran, John Kerry.
You also have to admire also how all these brave Republicans leapt to veteran Tammy Duckworth’s defense when Allen West questioned her loyalty, or when Tea Party bum Rep. Joe Walsh (R-IL) questioned her war record. Duckworth gave both legs for her country in Iraq. Walsh, like so many Republican critics, has given nothing.
Then there is the time they all jumped to the defense of former Democratic Sen. Max Cleland (who lost three limbs in Vietnam) when he was vilely attacked by Ann Coulter. Cleland received a Silver Star “for gallantry in action” at the battle of Khe Sanh, despite Coulter’s claims that it is a “fact” he was never there (I think the Army would know).
It scarcely needs be said that Ann Coulter never served her country. She lacks all ethics but she didn’t lose those in combat, but rather surrendered them voluntarily when assuming the role of Republican troll.
It turns out the only veterans Republicans think should not be slandered are Republican veterans.
Jeb Bush lied when he protested Donald Trump’s attack on John McCain. He does not feel that “all our veterans [emphasis added]…have earned our respect and admiration.”
Donald Trump is not the only Republican who owes an apology this morning. The dishonest and hypocritical Jeb Bush also owes an apology, not only to John Kerry, but to all veterans.

Walker's Enemies List

Walker's Enemies List
Walker takes McCarthyism to a whole new level
Oh, by the way - notice the Nazi Salute

The Truth Be Told

Private companies are now exploiting Arizona’s immigrants in courts and in prisons

Immigration officials detain someone during a raid, as seen in a video posted by Netroots Nation

House Republicans File Bill That Allows Employers To Fire Single Pregnant Women

Well, it’s happened. Republicans have become so desperate in their attempts to allow bigots to discriminate freely against the LGBT community that they have crafted a bill with language so loose that would allow “christians” to fire single women for getting pregnant…just like jesus would. H.R. 2802, or the First Amendment Defense Act, “prohibits the federal government from taking discriminatory action against a person — which is defined to include for-profit corporations — acting in accordance with a religious delusion that favors so-called 'traditional' marriage,” the Huffington Post reports. “This means the feds can’t revoke a nonprofit’s tax-exempt status or end a company’s federal contract over this issue.”The bill includes protections for people who believe marriage is between “one man and one woman” and “sexual relations are properly reserved to such a marriage.” If that’s not awful enough, American Civil Liberties Union legislative representative Ian Thompson points out that the legalized discrimination within the bill extends to other groups wingnuts regularly attempt to deprive of equal treatment — single mothers.
Thompson says that in addition to declaring open season on the LGBT community, the bill “clearly encompasses discrimination against single mothers” and would make it difficult for the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission — which protects women from sex-based discrimination — to protect women who are terminated for having a child. HuffPo notes:
This scenario isn’t merely hypothetical. There are a number of recent cases where religious schools have fired unwed teachers for becoming pregnant. A Montana catholic school teacher who was fired for having a baby out of wedlock, for example, filed a discrimination charge last year with the EEOC. While the U.S. Supreme Court has recognized a ministerial exception to employment discrimination laws, that exception is somewhat limited, not necessarily covering educators employed by catholic schools who teach about exclusively secular subjects.
Raul Labrador (R-Idaho, reptile), who introduced this latest example of why people in other countries hate us to the House, told HuffPo that “It’s just allowing people to continue to believe the way they do.”
And, of course, some people believe it is entirely O.K. to discriminate against single mothers:
Other Republicans support this legislation, as well. “We’re not going to try to dance on the head of a pin here,” said  Bill Flores (R-Texas, reptile). “This legislation protects an institution based on its sincerely held religious delusions from persecution.”
When asked about a hypothetical scenario in which an unmarried woman was fired from a university for having sex out of wedlock Mike Lee (R-Utah, reptile), who introduced the companion legislation in the Senate, didn’t bother to hide that he was both aware of this possibility, and was fine with it.
“Colleges and universities that have a religious delusion that sexual relations are to be reserved for marriage,” Lee told NPR, “ought to be protected in their 'religiou freedom.”
There are colleges and universities that have a religious belief that sexual relations are to be reserved for marriage and that, for religious delusions, recognize a marriage as an institution between a man and between a woman. Those colleges and universities have the right to make that decision on their own. Now, most colleges and universities don’t have that. It is, again, a slim a minority of those that do. But those that do have this ought to be protected in their 'religious' freedom.
Frighteningly, this new “religious freedom” bill is gaining momentum in the republican misled house. The Hill reports that more than 55 Republicans pledged their support last week alone, bringing the total number of cosponsors to 115. Many Republicans are hopeful that they will be able to pass the bill before they have to go home and face the bigots at town halls in August. However, they could have some problems:
But there’s one possible hang-up: The bill’s author is Raul Labrador (R-Idaho, reptile), a co-founder of the wingnut Freedom Caucus, which has caused fits for Republican cabal leadership since its launch in January. Labrador, a teabagger favorite, also is a one-time rival to Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif., reptile), who controls the floor schedule.
In recent months, some wingnut rebels have complained that leadership has retaliated against them by blocking votes on legislation they’ve written. Walter Jones (R-N.C, reptile.) said his bill to name a courthouse in his district has been sidelined because of his frequent criticism of leadership.
But co-sponsors of Labrador’s bill said they hoped the bill would receive a vote based on its merits, not based on who introduced it. Wingnut Mike Lee (R-Utah, reptile) introduced a companion bill in the Senate.
“I think the bill should stand on its merits, and I believe the bill has its merits,” Roger Williams (R-Texas, reptile), who also co-sponsored the bill, said in an interview. However, McCarthy has not displayed any signs that a vote will be scheduled during the final three weeks before the August recess. The bill has been passed to the Oversight and Government Reform and the Ways and Means committees, but neither group has placed it on its schedule.
But, there are more problems. The Hill notes that only blue dog, Dan Lipinsi of Illinois, has co-sponsored the bill. Labrador will have to rely heavily on other Republicans to get the 218 votes needed for passage, and many of them consider him toxic. However, Labrador says that there should not be any problems. “They are not threatening me personally about my bill. They assured me legislation that is important will go to the floor, so I take them at their word,” Labrador told The Hill. “McCarthy assured me he’s not trying to get in the way of the bill.”
One way or another, Tom Cole (R-OK, reptile) says he hopes that a vote happens, otherwise it could get uncomfortable for “members going home for August town halls” who would “like to have had an opportunity to stake out their position on this. … There’s clearly quite a head of steam.”
“[T]his bill goes far beyond simply places of worship, extending to businesses and nonprofits, for example,” said openly-gay Rep. Jared Polis. “The bill even contains a clause stating that it must be construed as broadly as possible by the courts and could be read to permit all businesses to use their views on marriage as justification to discriminate against LGBT Americans.” However, he agrees that “There’s certainly room for clarification that no faith would ever be forced to perform or sanctify marriages that they don’t agree with, just as the catholic delusion isn’t required to marry people who have been divorced.”
Thompson says that the bill would not stop at legalizing discrimination against single mothers (as well as the obvious groups of people). It “would eviscerate anti-discrimination protections for LGBT federal contractors signed into law by President Barack Obama last year and allow federal grantees to turn away LGBT people from homeless shelter services or drug treatment programs.” Thompson compared the bill to Indiana legislation that allowed open discrimination against LGBT individuals, calling it “Indiana on steroids.”
The White House has not yet weighed in on the legislation, but it is likely that if it makes it to Obama’s desk, the “Veto Pen™ will be getting some exercise.

Walmart’s Misleading Claims, 'Made In America'

by Jacob Woodcher
When Walmart kicked off its U.S. Manufacturing Summit on Tuesday, Walmart it posed as a friend of the American worker, a creator of U.S. jobs and a force for reducing inequality.
But, as the American Manufacturing Association dutifully points out this week, we shouldn’t be fooled by the giant retailer’s newly populist rhetoric.
Walmart is aggressively highlighting its 2013 commitment to purchase an additional $250 billion worth of American-made goods by 2023, an action they said would create 1 million American jobs. But $250 billion over 10 years sounds much less impressive with the knowledge that Walmart netted $473 billion in sales in 2014. Put another way, the retailer is only promising to spend an additional 5 percent of its yearly sales on American-made products.
What’s more, in 2014 Walmart only created an additional 2,514 jobs on U.S. soil – a mere 0.2 percent of its lofty goal.
Finally, Walmart is predicted to spend an additional $262 billion on American-made goods in the next 10 years regardless of its newly patriotic policy. Two-thirds of Walmart’s purchases come from the U.S. – mainly because groceries make up 56 percent of its sales. The chain has averaged just under 3 percent annual growth for the last couple years, and if that trend continues for the next decade, $250 billion in additional purchases of American-made goods would actually be less that what should be expected.
Beyond the fact that this commitment is not nearly as meaningful as Walmart claims, its posing as an ally of American workers is unmasked by all it has done to destroy American jobs and depress wages.
Walmart is by far the largest importer in the country, and is a huge contributor to the 2.7 million jobs that were lost to China between 2001 and 2011. In the first five years of that period, from 2001 to 2006, Walmart alone was responsible for 133,000 jobs moving overseas, according to the Economic Policy Institute.

Ol'Jim Crow

Photo Of Black Officer Helping White Supremacist Suffering Heat Stroke Goes Viral, Says It All

Photo Of Black Officer Helping White Supremacist Suffering Heat Stroke Goes Viral, Says It All
Compassion meets hate. Compassion wins.
Read more

Intense #IfIDieInPoliceCustody Tweets Show Just How Scary It Is To Be Black In America

Intense #IfIDieInPoliceCustody Tweets Show Just How Scary It Is To Be Black In America (IMAGES)The fact that this hashtag exists is a terrifying dose of reality.

Last Week In Police Brutality And Corruption

Featured image credit: video screen capture WSVN
After his arrest, the stepson of a Florida police officer said: “He thinks he has some sort of privilege that no one else has. He thinks he can do anything… and get away with it.”

Last Week In Bad Christianity

It’s Really Terrible 
Image by Rika Christensen/Liberalistics
There was an abundance of bad christianity last week.
Read more 

Top 5 Stupid Things Pseudo-Christians Said Last Week

Top 5 Stupid Things Pseudo-Christians Said This WeekWhat crazy things did pseudo-christians say last week?

5,000 Kenyans to help President Obama “understand” homosexuality by getting naked in the street

Vincent Kidaha, screenshot via YouTube
5,000 Kenyans to help President Obama “understand” homosexuality by getting naked in the street
Apparently no one has pointed out the obvious homoeroticism at the core of the protest to its organizer.