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Where Is The Shame That The World Sees Americans As Racist And Extremists?

Everything bad about America that the rest of the world sees increasing, and Americans feel, is purely Republican and it is truly pathetic…

One can hardly dispute the fact that after World War II and into the late 1970s, America was the envy of the world. In fact, Republican demigod Ronald Reagan used a biblical phrase, “shining city on a hill” to describe America’s appeal to the rest of the world; before he unleashed extremist Hell on the nation. It is ironic Reagan is forever linked to that phrase because it was his junta’s policies and his political cabal that transformed America into what it is today; a mean spirited and violent haven for the greedy rich, the religious, and the hate-filled wingnut movement.

Everything bad about America that the rest of the world sees increasing, and Americans feel, is purely Republican and it is truly pathetic that instead of despair and shame for creating what this country has become, the wingnuts and the religio-wingnuts thrive on what the world knows is bad about America; it is a racist, violent and religious extremist nation that wingnuts consider exceptional.

Most people have one relative they keep their distance from to avoid being humiliated, but it is impossible for Americans to distance themselves from, or avoid, this country’s national embarrassment any longer. Republicans will not go away and they are getting louder, more hateful, more extreme, more racist, and more violent as their base cheers wildly and the world watches in stunned amazement. It is a sad commentary that every day there is a new, and more extreme, source of embarrassment for a so-called exceptional nation, and it is a wonder that any civilized person would ever want to come to a country full of hateful, greedy, and religious racists.

Last month after a Confederate racist gunned down nine African Americans in their place of worship, the world that already knew America was devolving into a religio-wingnut Hell-hole spoke out that Americans should be ashamed at the conditions in their country. For example, the people in communist China compared the United States to lawless Somalia and cited racism as fueling the level and frequency of violence. Claire Taylor of Gun Free South Africa said, “The USA is completely out of step with the rest of the world” in promoting the proliferation of guns in an angry, racist, and religiously extreme population. And a Mexico City newspaper, La Jornada, wrote that “the U.S. has become a structurally violent state where force is frequently used domestically and internationally to resolve differences. Such a phenomenon reflects the feeling of extensive sectors about the supposed legitimacy of violent methods;” such as Republicans rejecting diplomacy for war with Iran on Israel’s behalf.

In Britain, a month after the Charleston massacre, a leading newspaper headline read, “Still A Racist Nation: American Bigotry On Full Display.” The story documented the Ku Klux Klan and white supremacists protesting to preserved their cherished symbol of racism, the Confederate battle flag. One of the racists, an imperial wizard in the Trinity White Knights KKK chapter, boasted that he drove hundreds of miles from Kentucky – or as he put it, “Klantucky,” to defend white supremacy, and he echoed a sentiment popular among America’s bigots and evangelical extremists; “They’re taking our heritage from us. They’re taking the freedom out of America.”

What America’s main stream media did not report, but the world’s media did, was that while law enforcement looked on, more than 50 racists brandished Confederate flags and hurled racial epithets at minority onlookers. Some KKK members had planned to “hold a good old fashioned African American cult burning” wearing their Klan uniforms to demonstrate how angry they are at losing their freedoms. All the while, the racists enjoy ardent support from like-minded bigots from other KKK factions across the country, the white supremacist National Socialist Movement (NSM), and 'christian' fundamentalists. 'christian' fundamentalists (evangelicals) are inexorably tied to the Ku Klux Klan and the NSM by their bible-driven hatred of gays, people of color, the poor, and non-evangelicals.

All of this extremism and hatred began permeating main stream Republican politics when Barack Obama was first elected in 2008 and is now the purview of its leaders. That is what President Obama finally had to admit, during an official visit to Africa no less, after evangelical hero Mike Huckabee compared the U.N. P5+1 nuclear deal to the President “marching Israelis to the oven doors.” President Obama can make jokes about Republicans, but he knows that not only is Republican extremism not the least bit funny, they and their base are why there is very little to be proud of in America. There is no doubt that the only reason Republican leaders and politicians around the country have embraced extremism openly is because they represent extremists whether it is the 2nd Amendment crowd, the white supremacy movement, the theocratic crusade or the greedy perpetual war advocates.

The President was likely embarrassed to tell Ethiopians a joke about a U.S. senator and pretender candidate, Paul, taking a chainsaw to the I.R.S. tax code, the Republican chairman of the Senate Environment and Public works committee throwing a snowball in the Senate chambers to prove climate change is a hoax, or that indicted Republican pretender candidate Rick Perry wants even more guns in movie theaters after another mass shooting in a movie theater; there is nothing more extreme than a bunch of ‘wanna-be’ good guys opening fire in a dark, crowded theater. The President knows the civilized world believes America is off-the-rails extreme, but he also has to know that joking about it is not going to change the world’s opinion of this country. It is true that the majority of people from around the world comprehend that some Americans are not greedy, racist bigots, or religious extremists, but they are also very well aware that conservatives and Republicans are leading a dangerous and hate-filled movement that cannot exist without being at war against everyone who is not religious, not hateful, not greedy and not racist; both domestically and internationally.

Although it made the world news, in America there was hardly any mention of the Confederate flag-waving protests against President Obama the person, not his policies, over the past two weeks. In fact, there were two rather large incidents where Confederate flag-waving white supremacist groups waited for the President in Oklahoma and Tennessee to send him, other Americans, and the world a message that a significant portion of the population is driven by racist hate and think Obama has “taken their freedoms out of America;” precisely what their Republican leaders have preached ad nauseum over the past six years.

It is telling, and abominable, that more Americans think they live in an exceptional nation because it is inherently greedy, racist, religious to the extreme, and avoids peace like it is plague. While the rest of the world marvels that the richest nation on Earth, the so-called “shining city on a hill,” refuses to provide healthcare for all its citizens, will not repair its crumbling infrastructure, criminalizes homelessness, fights against clean air and water, legislates according to religion, and allows the richest 1 percent to keep the rest of the nation living in poverty, Republicans and their base still claim America is exceptional and will be better yet if they have complete control of government.

There are some Americans who understand that everything the Republican cabal, and wingnut movement in general, represents and fights to perpetuate is not only humiliating and shameful, it is contrary to what a civilized society should aspire to. The rest of the world sees America as a prime example of institutionalized racism, religious fanaticism, oligarchical greed, and “structural violence.” Regardless how bad, or extreme it gets, Republicans and their base complain that their heritage and freedoms are being taken away. As an industry colleague in India noted this weekend that it is a bad, bad sign that due to recent events America is now regarded as a dangerous and extremist nation and the people and politicians are not ashamed.

Obama’s Clean Power Plan Will Actually Lower Your Energy Bill

The prescription: less coal, curb natural gas growth, and focus aggressively on renewables and energy efficiency.

Rachel Maddow Has The Highest Rated Non Fox News Show On Cable News

MSNBC may be canceling their liberal shows, but one show that won’t be going anywhere belongs to Rachel Maddow, who had the highest ratings of any non-Fox News show in July.

According to TVNewser, “CNBC’s Shark Tank is the ninth highest-rated program among the key demo, finishing ahead of all other non-FNC content. MSNBC’s The Rachel Maddow Show finishes No. 15 as the highest-rated non-FNC program among total viewers. Maddow is also MSNBC’s highest-rated show in the demo, finishing at No. 19. Nancy Grace is HLN’s top show in both viewers and the key demo. Varney & Company leads Fox Business Network in both categories.”

After the cancelation of Ed Schultz’s show, there has been a lot of concern among liberals that MSNBC would dump all of their liberal hosts including Rachel Maddow. The ratings demonstrate that Maddow is the one ratings draw on the network. MSNBC executives have consistently taken the wrong lesson from Maddow’s success.

Instead of trying to find smart hosts who have charisma and put the news first, the network has tried to copy Maddow’s format by labeling her a wonk. Rachel Maddow is a policy wonk, but she is also very entertaining. Maddow never gets too deep into policy, and keeps things moving on her show.

The reason Chris Hayes has not been successful at 8 PM is that he isn’t entertaining, and his show tends to drag. MSNBC will end up dumping most of their “nerd” shows, which will only help Rachel Maddow stand out more.

It is well known that MSNBC considers only two programs safe. The network loves Joe Scarborough for some odd reason, and Maddow remains the face of MSNBC. NBC considers Maddow too “partisan” to be promoted to Meet The Press or any of the broadcast network shows, but her ratings demonstrate that even when she is buried by a horrible lead in, demand is still high among liberals for the kind of program that Rachel Maddow delivers on MSNBC.

NBC News Is Discussing A Potential Keith Olbermann Return To MSNBC

MSNBC needs a boost in primetime. Keith Olbermann is out of a job after his contract expired at ESPN. It is being reported that NBC News President Andrew Lack might be interested in bringing Olbermann back to MSNBC.

An article in The Wrap on the changes that NBC News President Andrew Lack is making contained an interesting nugget:

Aside from Turness, Lack might be indirectly trying to resurrect another career-in MSNBC primetime. Although there has been no confirmation of direct talks between Keith Olbermann and Lack about a possible return, it’s not out of the question.

“Phil isn’t talking to him, but someone else might be,” the insider told TheWrap, pointing out that like in many tense negotiations, a middleman not directly part of NBC News-MSNBC’s chain of command could be putting out feelers to Olbermann.

The bad blood between Griffin and Olbermann, which dates back to his messy exit in 2011, might still cast clouds over a possible return. But it’s certainly not be a deal breaker.
“Phil might say over my dead body, but Andy doesn’t have those issues,” the insider said.

An Olbermann return would require that MSNBC boss Phil Griffin be shown the door. Frankly, it is impossible to see Olbermann ever returning to the network if Griffin is still around, but there are roughly a thousand reasons for Griffin to be fired. The chief among them being the fact that he has managed to take a profitable and growing cable network and turn it into a raging tire fire.

MSNBC is a mess, and Phil Griffin is the reason the network is in such bad shape. Griffin and his team have made a series of horrible decisions that have pushed MSNBC’s audience away. A reunion of the Olbermann/Maddow block would push MSNBC ahead of CNN in the ratings. MSNBC viewers would quickly forgive the network for replacing Ed Schultz with Chuck Todd at 5 PM if the network brought back Keith Olbermann at 8 PM.

There are not many top notch broadcasters who could come in and fix MSNBC primetime. Olbermann would be a quick fix for two of the biggest problems at the network. MSNBC needs to undo the Chris Hayes disaster and find another star to pair with Maddow. Olbermann would solve both of these problems.

The odds that Olbermann returns as long as the current leadership regime is in place at MSNBC are long, but the fact that NBC News would consider it suggests that the door is open for the return of the biggest star in MSNBC history.

The ONLY Republican 'Jobs' Program

Bernie Sanders Confirms That His Campaign’s Goal Is To Take Down The Kochs

Thousands of House parties will be held in all fifty states last Wednesday as Senator Bernie Sanders told supporters that the most important goal of his presidential campaign is the creation of a movement to take down the billionaires and give government back to the people.

In statement, Sanders confirmed that the top goal of his campaign is to create a political movement, “This campaign is not simply about electing me, I hope we accomplish that, but that isn’t the most important thing. The most important thing is building a political movement in which millions of people who have given up on the political process, including a lot of young people, get involved.”

Bernie Sanders wants to win, but he also has his eyes on an even bigger prize. Sanders wants to shake up American politics by taking power away from the billionaires and corporations.

According to the Sanders campaign, the night’s house parties were largest single grassroots organizing event ever attempted this early in a campaign, “Grassroots organizing on this scale this early in a campaign has never before been undertaken by a presidential campaign. In his first run for the White House, Barack Obama hosted 4,000 online house parties in June of 2008, just a few months before Election Day.”

People are viewing the race for the Democratic nomination as strictly Sanders versus Clinton are looking at it too narrowly. It is possible for both Sanders and Clinton to be successful in 2016. Clinton could get what she wants by becoming the Democratic nominee, and Sanders looks to be well on the way to achieving his goal of building a politics changing populist movement that is designed to take down the Kochs and other oligarchs.

Both candidates want to be president, but Bernie Sanders also wants to empower people to fight back. Sanders could lose the contest for the Democratic nomination but still emerge as a powerful force in American politics.

2016 could end up being a win for Democrats of stripes, and the oligarchs should be very worried about what Bernie Sanders is building in states all across the country.

Bernie Sanders Leads All Republican Candidates

In a no surprise to anyone with a functioning brain, a new poll shows that Bernie Sanders is beating all the Republican pretenders.

Bernie Sanders Rips Senate Republicans For Trying To Defund Planned Parenthood

Senator Bernie Sanders tore into Senate Republicans for harming the health of 2.7 million women with a bill that would defund Planned Parenthood.

In a statement, Sanders said:

The attempt by Senate Republicans to cut off support for Planned Parenthood is an attack on women’s health. Stripping funding for Planned Parenthood would punish the 2.7 million Americans, especially low-income women, who rely on its clinics for affordable, quality health care services including cancer prevention, STI and HIV testing and general primary health care services.

The current attempt to discredit Planned Parenthood is part of a long-term smear campaign by people who want to deny women in this country the right to control their own bodies.

Let’s be clear: Federal funding for Planned Parenthood does not pay for abortions. The vast majority of government funding that Planned Parenthood receives is through Medicaid reimbursements. Cutting that funding will be devastating to the health needs of millions of women who desperately need the quality services Planned Parenthood provides.

The videos that are the basis for the latest attack on the rights of women were heavily and obviously edited, but none of that matters to Senate Republicans who are always looking for a way to pander to an extreme segment of their extremist supporters.

The reality that Planned Parenthood provides vital health services to millions of women. What Senate Republicans are attempting to do with this legislation would literally kill women by denying them access to basic care. Abortions represent only 3% of all services provided by Planned Parenthood, and no federal money is used to pay for abortion services.

Mitch McConnell has scheduled a vote on the legislation to defund Planned Parenthood for next week, but the American people need to speak out against this shameful, deeply partisan, and deceptive attack on women before the Republicans take their show vote on a piece of legislation that will never become law while President Obama is in office.

Enjoy the August break, because Republicans are going to make the rest of the year awful

by Joan McCarter

It's just gonna be all kumbaya this fall.

You think having Republicans in charge of both the House and Senate has been bad up until now, just waiting until this fall. It will be, as Politico says, the "fall from hell."

[L]awmakers have teed up a hellish final few months of 2015, as a series of high-stakes deadlines looms on everything from keeping the government open to doling out money for roads and then, for good measure, raising the federal government’s borrowing limit. It promises to be a major test of the Republican cabal's ability to govern as the Republican cabal prepares to ask voters to continue one-party control of Congress. The crush was largely brought on by lawmakers themselves—the breakdown of the appropriations process this spring and failure to deal with highway funding have only added to the backlog of thorny, must-solve issues on Congress' plate when it returns from its summer in September.
The legislative laundry list comes amid an ugly intra-cabal Republican feud between leaders of the House and Senate and their right flanks that have made passing bills in their own chamber treacherous, let alone getting them through the entire Congress.
The Senate's internal politics have slowed floor action down to a crawl—not an encouraging development in the face of crucial deadlines. In the House, lunatic fringe wingnuts have threatened the leadership's entire agenda.

Fun times! But they're really not giving you the full picture, so let's just talk some specifics, here. The House has completely failed in the appropriations process because Boehner decided it was a good idea to resurrect the Confederate flag in national parks. His leadership team has completely bungled their dealings with the Republican cabal problem children, resulting in yet another (toothless) bid to oust Boehner. Over on the Senate side, McConnell led his chamber and his cabal into total chaos by refusing to acknowledge strong opposition to the 'Patrio't Act in his own conference and in the House. He screwed that one up so badly that the program he was trying to save—bulk, indiscriminate cell phone data collection—expired on his watch. And he just wasted about two weeks of the Senate's time—flirting with another deadline disaster—by thinking he could bully his conference and the House into passing his version of a highway bill, ignoring the work the House had already done. The only saving grace McConnell has in his conference is that he's made an enemy out of Cruz, and everyone hates Cruz so much they'll take sides with McConnell.
When Congress comes back after Labor Day, they'll have just 12 working days before the end of the fiscal year to avert a government shutdown—a shutdown Cruz and his band of nihilists in the House would be more than happy to make happen. So you know what's going to happen. "Leadership" won't be able to do anything but lurch from one short-term funding bill to the next, while all the Republican senators running for president crawl all over one another to score points against each other. Rinse and repeat until at least January 2017.

White House Vows That Obama Will Veto Any Republican Attacks On Climate Change Rule

The White House is promising that any Republican attacks on the president’s new climate change rule will be met with a swift and firm Obama veto.

Politico reported:

“We will not back down. We will finalize a stronger rule,” White House chief of staff Denis McDonough told an event hosted by The New Republic and the liberal Center for American Progress. “We’ll veto ideological riders to stop this plan or undercut our bedrock environmental laws. And we’ll move forward on behalf of the American people with the vision set forward by the president.”

Republicans are determined to protect polluters. Mitch McConnell has gone so far as to warn foreign nations that Republicans in Congress are intent on undermining any climate change deal that President Obama makes with foreign countries, “Even if the job-killing and illegal Clean Power Plan were fully implemented, the United States could not meet the targets laid out in this proposed new plan. Our international partners should proceed with caution before entering into a binding, unattainable deal.”

The White House is willing to veto any piece of legislation the undermines the EPA’s new rule regarding coal power plants. House Republicans have tried to undermine the rule through various legislative efforts, but it is clear that any efforts to ransom away the new rule are going to be met with a firm presidential veto.

President Obama has stopped the Republican agenda at every turn. The myth that the president is not willing to stand up for liberal values has been shattered as Obama has not given Boehner and McConnell an inch on their agenda. This president is committed to combating climate change. Boehner and McConnell can try every trick in the book, but they are going to be stopped cold by President Obama and his veto pen.

Rush Limbaugh’s Carefully Constructed World of Lies Comes Crashing Down

When you start with a false premise, and add more false premises to the first, well...Limbaugh thinks Republicans have turned into Democrats…

At the best of times, the Republican cabal has seemed dissociated from our shared reality, unmoored from the currents of our day to day existence on this planet. They have fallen into the looking glass and lost their way, intent on a world that never is and shall never be.

Rush Limbaugh epitomizes the Republican loss of being as “the top media voice for political wingnuts,” according to Wing Nut Daily. I don’t know if he is the top media voice, but how do you grade degrees of appalling? I’m willing, for the sake of argument, to accept WND’s judgment on this. After all, if anybody ought to know appalling, it is WND.

What is weird is that Limbaugh said Monday there is something weird going on, that the republican cabal has somehow become liberal:

We are all inundated by each other, every day, with e-mails, phone calls, texts, what have you, of utter incredulity over what’s happened to the Republican cabal. It’s just too weird, folks, there just isn’t any serious opposition to anything that the Democrat Party wants.

Riiiiight….

Nope. No opposition at all.

It is clear that Limbaugh is addressing some bizarre reality on a world none of the rest of us can see, a sort of inner, inner layer to the Fox News bubble.

“They’re not even going through the motions. They’re not even voicing phony opposition to Obama in order to placate the base. They’re actively targeting their own base. This is just too weird!”

It would be weird. If it were true. But Limbaugh insists the Planned Parenthood video, in its entirety a hoax, is true: “There’s nothing that was taken out of context here.”

He insists what Huckabee said about Obama leading jews to the oven door is true, even though jews say it is not and are horrified by the suggestion.

He said Trump never said what he clearly said about McCain, what you can hear Trump saying about McCain every single time you watch the video.

Limbaugh is not the first to try to cope with the paradoxes of the wingnut multi-verse. We all remember Glenn Beck asking, “Why isn’t anyone talking about this?” when something popped into his head – usually something he invented.

Heck, Republicans even want to pass legislation on the lie they made up about Planned Parenthood.

After almost seven years of Republican-imposed gridlock, shut-down, and nullification, this is Limbaugh’s analysis of the state of the Republican cabal:

But just the establishment in Washington, you can’t distinguish the difference between Republicans and Democrats there. They are all aligned. They are glued together. But the difference now is, the Republican cabal doesn’t even go through the motions of trying to convince its voters that they’re opposed to the Obama agenda.

No, Rush is not living in our universe, and he is not alone.

The long night of the Republican cabal is upon them, the consequences of going on two decades of binge drinking their own Kool Aid. The necessity that what they wish to be true, BE true.

The entire foundation of their constructed reality, its underpinnings, are fantasy. It follows that everything which proceeds from these fantasies must also be fantasies. But because all this must, according to their ideology, be true, they are left befuddled and dismayed.

One of these false assumptions is that the House could ever repeal the Affordable Care Act, as though it were just another bill up for a vote and not the law of the land. Twice upheld by the Supreme Court, no less. Another is immigration. Yet another, Iran. On all three, Republicans have found themselves stymied by a reality that refuses to cooperate with their preconceptions:

I mean, they’ve had all these phony votes. For example, repeal Obamacare votes,” he explained. “They’re not even going through the motions of that ’cause they know that people see through it and that they don’t mean it. They’re not even trying. I don’t care what the issue is. The big three: Amnesty, Obamacare, Iran. Nothing! Zilch! No opposition to anything. Now, can anybody say that immigration, as being policed or not policed by Obama is helping America? Can anybody? They don’t even try to make the case that’s happening. I mean, even the amnesty supporters do not do it on the basis that it’s good for America.

Never mind that studies show immigration makes the United States stronger. That there is no evidence that the flood of immigrants are like a wave of barbarians crashing against the frontiers of the new Roman Empire. His despair is evident:

They do it on the basis that it’s ‘fair; for the immigrants. They do it on the basis of social justice and fairness motivations and reasons. But they don’t do it it’s improving the country. The Iran deal. Does anybody think this is actually good for the United States? Yet there’s no opposition to it, no serious opposition.

Can anybody say that Obamacare is making health care better? Can anybody say that anything that Obama is doing is? Nobody even makes the case, other than Obama with some words now and then … that the country’s better off than it has been. They have to lie about employment numbers, they have to make things up. There’s not even any fake opposition to Obama.

Cognitive dissonance requires that Limbaugh find some other explanation for the unacceptable. In his mind, therefore, “It’s because the Republican cabal wants to finally get rid of the wingnuts, get rid of its base.”

Oh dear. The water has gotten deep, but that is only because Rush is laying first down in the very thin veneer of what passes for rational thinking in the Republican cabal.

And McConnell and Boehner? Why, “They have turned to mush.”

There is a void in Republican leadership then, and Trump has filled it. Limbaugh’s conclusion followed from his premise, and would seem sound were it not that the premise was a flight of fantasy:

Admit it, folks. What has you bamboozled, what has you frustrated is you don’t see any opposition to any of it at a level of power that could do something about stopping it. There’s plenty of opposition in your neighborhood, plenty of opposition in your town, plenty of opposition in your family, plenty of opposition in your friends, but there’s none where it counts.

He’s right at last. There has been a whole lotta bamboozling going on and wingnuts have willingly submitted to it, and in fact, crave more. Joining our shared reality at this late date won’t fix their shattered fantasies at this point. Only more lies will serve.

And so Rush Limbaugh’s long nightmare will continue.

Federal Appeals Court Dealt McConnell And the Kochs A Bad Day

The Appellate Court ruled that the ban on federal campaign contributions by individuals who contract with the government is constitutional.

In America’s extremely divisive political atmosphere, one that informs there are really two separate Americas, it is remarkable indeed that Americans on both sides of the political spectrum agree on at least one very important issue. One segment of the population pants for, and avidly supports, theocratic government, widespread poverty, white racial purity, and perpetual war against everyone, and yet curiously, even the inhumane religious bigot voting bloc (Republicans) that retain power due to corporate money believes there is just too much money, especially corporate money, in politics. For Republican politicians though, and their funding machine the Koch brothers, there can never be enough money to buy control of state and federal government.

Subsequently, after at least two Supreme Court Justices commingled, conspired, and colluded with the Koch brothers and an entity (Citizens United) over how to get more corporate money in politics, the High Court ruled for the Koch brothers, Citizens United, and McConnell. The now-infamous Citizens United ruling fundamentally put control of America’s government up for sale to the highest bidder and no human being in America, except maybe the Koch brothers, was happier than McConnell.

Earlier this month, the media was relatively silent about a ruling in Washington that was likely the second worst day of McConnell’s 35-year political life. Nearly a year ago at a ‘secret’ Koch brother strategy meeting for billionaires buying shares in the Koch venture to control of the United States government, McConnell complained mercilessly that he was forced to vote on foolish things like minimum wage and unemployment insurance, and to get retribution against Democrats and satisfy the Koch brothers he pledged to “go after” and abolish most of the federal government, if not “all of it.” Of course Mitch thanked the Koch brothers for their support because without it McConnell and Republicans could not complete the task at hand. McConnell also shared an intimate, poignant moment regarding a personal tragedy he said was the “worst day of his 35-year political life; the day the shrub signed the McCain-Feingold campaign finance legislation into law.”

Now, if that was the worst day of his political life, a unanimous (11-0) ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington must be a close second. The Appellate Court ruled that the ban on federal campaign contributions by individuals who contract with the government is constitutional. The takeaway from the ruling, besides putting a damper on McConnell’s political life, is that regardless the push by the Koch-Republicans and two horrendous rulings by Koch acolytes on the Supreme Court, 11 appellate judges firmly believe there is too much money in politics and that more “can be a very bad thing.” McConnell believes otherwise despite polling after polling revealing that an overwhelming 85 percent of Americans believe that political campaign financing needs at the very least “fundamental changes,” or better yet “a complete overhaul.” However, Republicans have an innate following the will of the people, or the Constitution for that matter, and in that spirit McConnell and Republicans are conniving to gut more from campaign finance laws to expedite the Koch brothers’ purchase and control of state and federal government.

After the 1974 Watergate scandal, Congress passed a law establishing limits on how much money people could give and how much politicians could spend on their campaigns; it also “mandated” disclosure to ensure that regular citizens could “follow the money.” The High Court eviscerated 1974 law immediately by eliminating campaign spending limits in Buckley v. Valeo; that ruling started the “fundraising arms race” the wealthy are winning and to ensure total victory, the Koch Supreme Court wiped out the rest of Buckley, and Citizens United and McCutcheon v. FEC allowed corporations to spend unlimited money directly and voided individual aggregate contribution limits; all in the name of “freedom of speech.” Apparently, the High Court’s Koch surrogates ruled according to the phrase “money talks,” and since the Kochs and corporations have lots of money, they get lots of “free speech” to buy government.

Despite the Koch Court wiping out campaign finance regulations, there was one particular rule that Mitch McConnell was unable to eliminate last year. McConnell waited until the eleventh hour of a must pass spending bill to insert a provision that “relaxed” campaign finance coordination between candidates and political parties. Having failed to enact a provision that would consolidate power within party committees that raise money for House and Senate candidates, McConnell snuck the same “campaign finance reform” in the completely unrelated fiscal 2016 Financial Services spending bill due by this Friday. McConnell, and the Koch brothers, lust to enact into law, abolish more campaign finance regulations before the 2016 general election season fully gets underway. Apparently the Kochs, who are rumored to have pledged upwards of a billion dollars to buy all three branches of government, want all campaign finance regulations abolished to buy the government in 2016 and end their costly crusade to own America. With an owned and operated acolyte like McConnell, who also wants campaign finance rules eliminated, the Kochs are closing in on their vision of America without campaign finance regulations to hasten achieving their bigger goal of abolishing the Federal Elections Commission along with free and fair elections. It is exactly what a fascist dictator would do and a means for the Koch brothers to repay Republican McConnell with the greatest day of his 35-year political life.

Although the Appellate Court’s ruling will be appealed to the Supreme Court for the Koch brothers to overturn with extreme “free speech” prejudice, it was encouraging that eleven federal judges unanimously decided that there can be too much money in politics. However, that hopefulness has to be tempered with despair that the ruling did not, in any conceivable way, threaten Citizens United or the Kochs’ progress in buying government. It just temporarily kept in place the ban on federal campaign contributions “by individuals” who contract with the government; there is no ban on companies, corporations, the Koch brothers, oil industry, Wall Street, and defense industry, or Republicans would cease to exist as a political power and Mitch McConnell would know what “the worst day of his political life” really feels like.

Birds of a feather

Koch Brothers Summon Four Republican Wannabes

Walker, Rubio, Jeb and Cruz have been invited to audition for the Koch Brothers.

Bush, Cruz, Rubio and Walker Attend Koch Brothers’ Summit To Grovel For Their Support

Five of the Republican candidates for pretender will be heading to a luxury hotel in Southern California from August 1st to August 3rd, to present their case for support, to the Koch brothers and other billionaire Republican cabal donors. Jeb, Rubio, Walker and Cruz will all be attending the event. Former Hewlett Packard CEO Carly Fiorina, will also be there, although she is currently not polling in the top ten among Republican cabal pretederl hopefuls.

The Republican cabal hopefuls will be attending the Freedom Partners Chamber of Commerce (a Koch umbrella group) event, in the hopes of courting mega-donors like David and Charles Koch, casino magnate Sheldon Adelson, and hedge fund billionaire Paul Singer.

The Freedom Partners held a previous event in January of 2015, where the donors were impressed by Rubio’s performance, but turned off by Paul’s speech as well as his attire. Paul wore a blazer, blue jeans and cowboy boots, which apparently was too casual for the stuffy billionaires’ club.

The Kentucky moron has not committed to attending the August gathering, leaving the groveling opportunities for fellow Republican idiots Cruz and Rubio, as well as Walker and Jeb. The Koch brothers have pledged to spend an obscene 889 million dollars during the 2016 election cycle, so Republican cabal candidates are falling all over themselves trying to demonstrate their fealty to the Kochs and other wealthy mega-donors.

Notably, the Kochs did not extend invitations to populist demagogue Trump, or to religious fundamentalists Huckabee and Santorum. The billionaire puppet masters probably fear that Trump is too hard to control. Huckabee and Santorum are perceived as being too invested in divisive social issues to focus the proper attention on aggressively promoting the Kochs’ economic agenda.

How each candidate plans to appeal to the billionaires in attendance remains to be seen. However, for the millions of Americans who aren’t super wealthy, the very fact that many of the leading Republicans candidates are spending so much effort courting billionaires, should be reason enough for concern.

Fox News employees in ‘total confusion’ as their Republican cabal 'debate' rapidly approaches

Fox News employees in ‘total confusion’ as their Republican cabal 'debate' rapidly approaches

The unprecedented role that the lunatic fringe TV network is playing in the candidate selection process has some at the channel reeling and accusing upper management of approaching the debate with no real plan.

Watch Trump Supporters Prove They’re Just As Clueless As You Thought They’d Be

Who could possibly support Trump? These people – and they are about as bad as you imagined.

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New Hampshire Morons Explain The Appeal Of Trump

Morons Explain The Appeal Of Trump

"A Bloomberg Politics focus group of Donald Trump supporters in the Granite State helps illuminate the billionaire's rise in the polls."

Emails Reveal Walker’s Key Role In Government Secrecy Scheme

Newly surfaced emails prove that the Wisconsin governor’s office played a significant role in a failed attempt to gut the state’s government transparency laws.

Walker’s Key Role In Government Secrecy Scheme

Gohmert Has Way Too Much Time On His Hands

It takes a special kind of stupid to 'reason' this way.

Maine's Republican Moron Openly Declares His Hatred For Half Of His State’s Citizens

It’s time for Maine's moron Paul LePage to resign in disgrace. Because it is clear that he doesn’t care about all of his constituents.

 Maine's Republican Teabagger Moron

Commonplace

Oklahoma Republican cabal women’s coven attacks welfare with image of a black man being lynched

Oklahoma Republican cabal women’s coven attacks welfare with image of a black man being lynched

Another Oklahoma Republican group posted an offensive comparison about welfare recipients on its official Facebook page.

Oklahoma Supreme Court refuses to re-hear ten commandments case, monument must be removed

Oklahoma Supreme Court refuses to re-hear en ommandments case, monument must be removed

Displaying the ten commandments on public grounds in Oklahoma is unconstitutional. Again.

American Dentist Who Killed The Beloved Cecil The Lion Was A Mitt Romney Donor

Walter Palmer, the dentist who killed the beloved Zimbabwe lion named Cecil donated to the pretender campaign of Mitt Romney.

According to The Hill:

The Minnesota dentist who authorities say killed a beloved Zimbabwe lion named Cecil donated to Mitt Romney’s 2012 pretender campaign.

Federal Elections Commission (FEC) forms show Walter James Palmer, a dentist in Eden Prairie, Minn., donated $5,000 to the Romney campaign in 2012.

Palmer also donated $250 to Jim Ramstad (R-Minn.) in 1990 and $250 to Ramstad in 1992.
Local news reports have identified Palmer as a dentist in the Minneapolis outer suburb of Bloomington who resides in Eden Prairie, another Twin Cities suburb.

Palmer is at the center of an international storm after the death of Cecil the lion, who was well-known at Hwange National Park in Zimbabwe.

The 'hunter' claimed that he had no idea who the lion was, “I had no idea that the lion I took was a known, local favorite, was collared and part of a study until the end of the hunt. I relied on the expertise of my local professional guides to ensure a legal hunt. I deeply regret that my pursuit of an activity I love and practice responsibly and legally resulted in the taking of this lion.”

It is not surprising that Palmer is a Republican, and in typical Republican fashion is throwing others under the bus to save himself. Walter Palmer should face prosecution for his actions. Luring an animal out of a national park so that he can feel like a big man speaks volumes about Palmer.

Convicted Felon Who Killed “Cecil” the Lion Mirrors Republican Cruelty Toward Americans

Republican policies and practices towards wild beasts are not unlike their barbarism and cruelty targeting women, people of color, and others…

The news that it was an American with money who illegally killed and beheaded a ‘beloved, studied, and protected” wild African lion, although sickening, was not surprising and typically American and Republican. The man’s assertion that because he paid $50-plus thousand to kill the lion and behead it, his abominable actions were “legal and properly handled and conducted” could have come from the mouth of any Republican. However, like any and every Republican, the Minnesota dentist, Walter James Palmer, is a dirty filthy liar and his felony record for illegally killing wildlife in America means he is repeat offender; albeit in a foreign country.

The black-maned lion Palmer lured, killed, and beheaded in early July is not the first African lion he killed, so his assertion that he “had no idea that the lion I took was collared and part of a study until the end of the hunt” is patently false. Palmer said “I deeply regret that my pursuit of an activity I love and practice responsibly and legally resulted in the taking of this lion.” One seriously wonders what kind of human being pays tens-of-thousands of dollars and travels halfway around the world to slay a wild animal he had no interest in except as a trophy. He certainly did not spend that kind of money, time, and travel expense because he was hungry; he is just barbaric to love hunting down and killing an animal for sheer sport.

Everything Palmer says is a lie; including that he has an ounce of “deep regret.” The only regret he has is that he was caught. According to African wildlife expert, Dex Kotze, it is impossible that Palmer and his hunting team did not know it was a noted protected lion. Kotze said, “I mean a black mane lion like that you can see from afar;” especially since Palmer was hunting with a bow. He continued that “You are definitely going to identify that this is a collared lion and it is Cecil. Because all the conservationists and wildlife industry in that area would have been very familiar with that lion.”

The founder of the research unit at Oxford responsible for monitoring and studying the lion, Professor David MacDonald, said that “Cecil was lured across the border by freshly slaughtered animal bait into a neighboring hunting concession area, and when he was shot by a bow hunter outside the park he was shot illegally. That is unforgivable and a terrible tragedy for lion conservation.”

Palmer is no stranger to illegally hunting and killing wild animals, or lying that he was innocent in pursuing “an activity I love and practice responsibly and legally.” In 2008 Palmer pleaded guilty to lying to U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service about a black bear he killed in Wisconsin. Palmer shot and killed the bear outside of the authorized hunting zone in 2006 and then lied to officials telling them he “killed the bear legally and responsibly” because it is something he loves doing. Walker was fined nearly $3,000 and given one year probation that obviously had no deterrent value or effect.

It was little surprise to learn that the coward who illegally killed the protected lion contributed to Republicans, or has a felony record in Wisconsin for illegally killing a black bear in 2006. Republicans have about the same appreciation for wildlife, particularly endangered and protected wildlife, as they do for most Americans. Interestingly, there is a direct correlation between Republican disregard and cruelty toward wild animals and their cruelty towards millions and millions of Americans.

Several academic studies have found a clear link between animal cruelty and violence against humans, and the link is so well-documented and firmly established that criminal profilers routinely use animal cruelty reports in assessing the possible threat criminals pose to family members, co-workers, and society. No matter how supportive of “sports hunting” some people may be, the idea of killing purely for the sake of killing and a trophy, is the ultimate expression of animal cruelty; particularly when an animal is mortally wounded and suffers so some “sporting man” can decapitate it and mount the head on a wall.

Republicans do not hunt down and kill Americans, particularly poor Americans, but their cruel policies, practices, and attitude towards wild beasts are not unlike their barbarism and cruelty targeting women, people of color, children, the disabled, and the elderly. Throughout the Western United States animal rights activists and conservationists are fighting ferociously to prevent the cruel slaughter of wildlife and the loss of habitat for myriad endangered and protected animals, that is tantamount to Democrats combating Republicans to stop their cruel attacks on Americans that are homeless, children, the poor, or the elderly. In fact, over the past six years Republicans have made sport out of, and became predatory in, seeking new and more abusive means to inflict pain and suffering on American citizens; including luring them with lies to support policies that are contrary to their own best interests, and in many cases survival.

If this pathetic human being who said he just loves killing wild animals for sheer sport and trophy, is a real sports man as he and his ilk are apt to boast, there is a way he can prove it to himself and the world. Palmer could have stripped naked, abandoned his weapons, stalked the lion on its turf, and then fought the wild beast to the death; that would be fair and sporting. The same goes for any so-called sportsman that loves killing for enjoyment and a trophy; including “sport fishing” where true ‘sport’ would be the “sporting man” putting the same sized hook in his lip as the fish to see who prevails and how much the person really loves “the sport” when it is a fair contest.

For many human beings, the wanton killing of wild animals is appalling, even when it is for sustenance and survival among indigenous people. An important reason why there are vegans and vegetarians in the population is because even the thought of killing animals raised for food is considered cruel. However, it is difficult to imagine there are many people who think killing wild animals, and beheading them for a wall trophy, is anything less than barbaric and cruel. But one wonders if that is even true because there are millions of Americans who recoil against animal cruelty, or slaughtering wild life for sport, and yet still avidly support Republicans because they practice cruelty against Americans; “an activity they love.”

‘Just Ban Minorities'

Wingnuts React To Los Angeles’ High Capacity Magazine Ban 

Fox News’ readers responded to news that Los Angeles passed a high-capacity firearms ban by worrying about “the blacks.”

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Wheaton College Throws A Temper Tantrum

Wheaton College drops student health insurance over objection to objection requirement

Wheaton would rather its students not have health insurance than lodge official objections to birth control.

Alabama Seeks To Deny Woman Abortion By Stripping Her Parental Rights, Appointing Lawyer For Fetus

"The case has certainly moved to this new dimension, but welcome to Alabama."