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Wednesday, August 5, 2015

The Daily Drift

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Bernie Sanders Says His Truth Bombs Are Forcing Hillary Clinton To Deal With Reality

bernie sanders univison
During an interview with Jorge Ramos, Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders said that his campaign has forced Hillary Clinton to deal with reality.
Transcript via Univision:
Jorge Ramos: Are you putting her to the left? Are you exposing her weaknesses? In other words, that you’re better on TV, better on the campaign trail, getting more money from small donors.

Bernie Sanders: Well, it’s not a question of pushing her to the left. We are speaking to the needs of the American people. What the American people know is the rich are getting much richer and almost everybody else is getting poor. We know that youth unemployment is just horrendously high. A study came out recently, Hispanic youth unemployment, 36 percent; African-American youth unemployment, for kids who graduate high school, 51 percent. People understand that we need to create jobs. We got a program to do that.

JR: But are you exposing her weaknesses?
BS: I think by telling the truth we are forcing her and other candidates to respond to that reality. I’ve come out for a $15 minimum wage. Because I don’t think people can survive on $7.25 an hour or $9 an hour. I think she’s moving in that direction too.
Beneath the claims that he can beat Hillary Clinton, Sen. Sanders has been very open about the goals of his campaign. One of the goals that he stated before he launched his campaign was that he wanted to make sure that liberal and progressive voices had a seat at the table during the Democratic primary. Sanders also wants to have a serious discussion about the issues that impact the lives of everyday Americans. He has also stated the goal of building a movement of millions to take back the electoral system from the Koch brothers and other oligarchic billionaires.
So far, Bernie Sanders has been successful at almost every level. His goal may not have been to push Hillary Clinton to the left, but that is what his campaign is accomplishing. By forcing the Clinton campaign to compete for Democratic voters, the Sanders campaign has forced them to define their positions sooner than they may have liked. The Sanders campaign is helping Hillary Clinton become a stronger candidate while sparking a discussion on economic issues that have been ignored for decades.
Senator Sanders is shaking up the political landscape because he is authentic, and he is telling the truth. The focus is on the issues, and Bernie Sanders has fundamentally transformed the 2016 Democratic primary through his blunt message of economic truth.

Bernie Sanders Gets Major Environmental Endorsement

Bernie-Sanders-point
The campaign of Bernie Sanders scored a major coup Saturday, earning the first endorsement of any candidate by a national environmental group, Friends of the Earth.
Granted, the field is limited to Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton, given that no living Republican candidate will ever earn the endorsement of any environmental group, local, state, or national. But with the narrowing gap between Clinton and Sanders, this endorsement is no small thing.
Donald Trump, of course, currently the leading Republican candidate, announced back in January of 2014 that “This very expensive GLOBAL WARMING bullshit has got to stop. Our planet is freezing, record low temps,and our GW scientists are stuck in ice.”
Now, with 2014 behind us, the studies are in, and according to NOAA, 2014 was the warmest year on record:





“NOAA's State Of The Climate report says four datasets confirm 2014 was warmest year pic.twitter.com/ABlCxHUEt3http://ow.ly/Qmp3K 
 
The Sanders campaign released a statement from Concord, New Hampshire:
“I am very honored to receive the endorsement of one of the great environmental organizations not only in America but in the world,” Sanders said at the news conference at a park here along the banks of the Merrimack River.
The endorsement was announced by Michael Herz, a former chairman and current Friends of the Earth board member. Erich Pica, the president of Friends of the Earth Action, said in a statement that the endorsement means his group’s 2 million activists will promote Sanders’ bid to become the Democratic Party nominee for president.
“He has proven himself a bold and fearless voice for the planet,” Pica said of Sanders in a prepared statement. “Sen. Sanders’ bold ideas and real solutions to addressing climate change, inequality and promoting a transformative economy that prioritizes public health and the environment over corporate profits, have earned him an enthusiastic endorsement from Friends of the Earth Action.”
In the audience at the news conference was Jerry Curran, the chairman of the New Hampshire chapter of the Sierra Club. Another leading environmentalist and best-selling author, Bill McKibben, took part in the May 26 kickoff of Sanders’ presidential campaign at a Lake Champlain shoreline park in Burlington, Vermont.
In accepting the Friends of the Earth endorsement, Sanders focused on the most serious environmental issue confronting the planet: global warming. “We need to transform our energy system away from fossil fuel and into sustainable energy,” Sanders said.
The endorsement capped a week during which Sanders welcomed former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s support for solar power and energy efficiency, but questioned her refusal to take a stand on construction of the Keystone XL oil pipeline and drilling for oil in the Arctic Ocean.
“If you’re concerned about climate change, say no to the Keystone XL pipeline,” Sanders said at the news conference. He said the pipeline would ship some of the dirtiest oil on the planet from Canada’s tar sands region across the United States to refineries in Texas.
Sanders’ clear stand on the pipeline was among the factors Friends of the Earth cited in its endorsement.
Sanders said he would tax emissions from burning oil and coal to discourage the use of fossil fuels responsible for climate change. He has proposed eliminating $135 billion in tax breaks for fossil fuel companies which turn enormous profits. He introduced legislation Congress passed to create an energy efficiency block grant program. His measure was folded into a broader energy bill that Congress passed in 2007. He later secured $3.2 billion for the initiative to reduce greenhouse gas emissions that cause global warming. And his 10 Million Solar Roofs Act would make solar power more affordable and make it simpler for homeowners and businesses to get local permits.
The environment gets far too little attention. Republicans don’t care about it. Ann Coulter, for example, echoing what many Republicans seem to believe, says immigration is the important issue, not the fact that sea levels are rising along with global temperatures, year after year.
It is important that going forward, both Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders address this important issue, because it is the only issue being talked about in this campaign cycle that affects every living person on this planet. And without a habitable planet, all other issues, no matter how dear to your heart, become non-issues.

While Other Candidates Tap Millionaires, Sanders Campaign Is Fueled By Small Donations

Bernie Sanders' campaign is a grassroots movement, while most of the other campaigns are backed by millionaires and billionaires.…

The 1 Percent Are Spending Millions To Buy This Election, No Voting Required

Report: The 1 Percent Are Spending Millions To Buy This Election, No Voting Required
This is really scary.
Read more 

Remember When Louis Black Talked About Trump? It Was Hilarious And Dead On

Remember When Louis Black Talked About Donald Trump? It Was Hilarious And Dead On (VIDEO)Louis Black endorsed Donald Trump in 2012, sort of. He says he would be a ‘President who’s not afraid of telling the truth…about being a lying asshole.’

Trump Becomes The Face Of The Republican Cabal As He Surges To Huge Lead In Iowa

Trump's 16 point lead in the Republican cabal field in Iowa, has made him the de facto face of the Republican cabal.…

Trump Would Be The Republican Cabal Nominee if Vote Were Held Today

Trump's play to misery, that "We are really far down" and "We are in big trouble" have found resonance among the Republican base…

Two Kinds

IRS Surrenders To The Koch Brothers’ Dark Money, Gives Up On Regulating PACs

by Shannon Argueta
Any hope that the I.R.S. would crack down on “dark money” donors who have created tax exempt nonprofit groups for political purposes before the 2016 election is gone. The commissioner of the Internal Revenue Service, John Koskinen, told a House committee meeting on Thursday that there were no plans in the works for new regulations before the upcoming elections.
Donors use these tax-exempt organizations because there is no accountability and little paper trail that reveals who is donating to them; the perfect way to funnel money to causes without leaving any fingerprints. Koskinen later gave reporters an unbelievable explanation as to why the I.R.S. was not going to do its job and change the tax code:
“I don’t want people thinking we are trying to get these regs done so we can influence the election.”
His announcement comes on the heels of another decision earlier this year in which the commissioner said he would allow the political organizations who have disguised themselves as nonprofit “social welfare” groups to keep their tax exempt status as long as they only spend up to 49 percent of their revenue on political activity.
The IRS has been under attack from the Republican cabal ever since they began investigating just where the teabagger covens came from, and where the war-chests that toppled mainstream Republicans from their seats and began rapidly radicalizing American politics. The Republican cabal erupted in self-righteous fury, accusing the IRS of bias and that wingnut ‘nonprofits’ were being unfairly targeted by the I.R.S. Even though it was quickly discovered the left-leaning groups were given the same scrutiny that teabagger covens were given, but that didn’t stop the hysterical cries of victimization and government overreach that fulfilled their purpose- to draw attention away from the puppet masters- the Koch Brothers. Since then, the Republican cabal has been steadily cutting away funding from the I.R.S, hindering them from fulfilling their most basic functions..
Now, they are backing down from the Kochs and their dirty dollars once again. It is absolutely infuriating that Koskinen is not going to crack down on these cabals, especially when you find out just how much money they are illegally spending on political activities. According to the Center for Responsive Politics (OpenSecrets.org) these nonprofit organizations exploded after the Supreme Court’s Citizens United ruling in 2010. In 2006, spending from these dark money fueled nonprofits was just under $5.2 million in 2006, but in 2012, just two years after the SCOTUS ruling, it was over $300 million. This next cycle, they are planning to shell out a jaw-dropping $900 million to tilt the odds in their favor.
This is horrendous news for the fate of our elections. Not only do we have the I.R.S. not taking any action to punish illegal activities, but we have the Federal Election Commission completely unable to enact any kind of reform because of the Republicans on the board. With both the I.R.S. and F.E.C. paralyzed by Republican cabal obstructionism, big money has been given a free pass to take over our elections, potentially  drowning out the rest of America. This is why it is so important that a Democrat wins the upcoming election; after four more years, the damage to our democracy might be irreversible.

Cheney’s Halliburton Suing The Cancer-Stricken Iraq War Vets They Poisoned

Halliburton, the colossal oil field services company that was formerly run by Black Prince of Darkness, Dick Cheney, was one of the biggest profiteers off of the atrocious bloodshed during the War in Iraq. Cheney arranged for his former company and its subsidiaries to get massive government contracts, and used American servicemen to guard the sites. The toxic nature of oil work has resulted in the poisoning of untold numbers of our soldiers and Iraqis alike without their knowledge, even though the company was certainly aware of it.In 2012, a federal court in Portland, OR, awarded $85 million in damages to twelve Oregon National Guardsmen who had been exposed and fallen ill from the cancer-causing toxin sodium dichromate at the Qarmat Ali water treatment plant, Iraq, a site operated by the Halliburton subsidiary KBR. The 9th Circuit Court threw out the judgement on appeal, ruling that they had to sue the company in their own state of Texas.
The case against KBR is being filed again in Houston, but KBR has retaliated by suing the veterans for $850,000 in legal fees from the first case, in a retaliatory and deeply immoral attempt to punish the veterans and silence their efforts to bring the company to justice.
By burying these veterans in litigation and possibly crushing debt if the court sides with KBR again, they will have poisoned US veterans, on the US government’s dime, and have gotten away with it. It is absolutely reprehensible. The ghosts of Iraq still haunt our soldiers and our conscience, eight years later. Corporate privilege in our nation extends much far too far if shocking travesties like this are allowed to occur in our nation. Cheney, Halliburton, and KBR have done enough damage and stolen enough money to our nation as it is. We can’t let them do this to our vets again.

Wingnut Says Liberals Hate 'christians', ‘As Much As The Nazis Hated The jews

Image via video screen captureHe also has an interesting theory about weather patterns.
And, if you’re going to listen to anyone about such matters – it should be this guy.

The Law is catching up to the Texas Republican's Corruption

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton indicted by grand jury on fraud charges: reports

Florida police laundered millions in drug money overseas and enjoyed lavish lifestyle

Handcuffs on cash (Shuttershock)
An investigative report by the Miami Herald reveals that two local Florida police agencies engaged in a slick money laundering scheme ripped from a Hollywood movie.

South Carolina Cop Never Reported Killing 19-Year-Old

Featured image credit: video screen capture, Fox Carolina
There better be an investigation into this.
Read more

A Thousand Points of Hate ...

Couple Plans Massive Series of Anti–Gay Marriage Billboards
by Samantha Cowan
Some highway billboards are the same wherever you go across this great land of ours: McDonald’s, Target, Walmart. Others are more regional (where is the line at which Carl’s Jr. becomes Hardee’s, anyway?). Some are particular to states, and those road-tripping through Oklahoma will likely see billboards directing them to visit online adult toy shops and to alert law enforcement about any methamphetamine use they come across. And in one small part of the state—the town of Durant, in the southeast corner—visitors and residents may now feast their eyes upon a message against marriage equality.
The plea comes from Betty and Richard Odgaard, an Iowa couple who say they recently closed their wedding business rather than perform same-sex marriages. Iowa legalized same-sex marriage in 2009, but the Odgaards and their Görtz Haus Gallery came under fire in 2013 when they refused to assist two men with their upcoming nuptials, citing their 'christian' delusions, The Blaze spews. A small payout from the lawsuit, followed by boycotts and a decline in their accompanying flower and restaurant businesses, led the couple to close their doors at the end of July.
After their wedding business was shuttered, the couple established a nonprofit called dog’s original design cult. They plan to place up to 1,000 anti–gay marriage billboards around the country. dog’s original design cult is listed as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, which means it doesn’t have to pay taxes on the money people send in.
The Odgaards have previously warned that people of similar delusion will be unable to run their own businesses as they see fit due to anti-discrimination laws. Their website notes that their billboards “give a voice to the ‘silent minority’ ” who mistakenly think marriage should be between a man and a woman. Although polling figures showed that 61 percent of Americans supported marriage equality even before the Supreme Court ruling, the billboards—funded entirely by donations—indicate that intolerance is alive and well.
Advertising homophobia on massive street signs is nothing new, and counter billboard campaigns are ready to help.
“dog Loves Gays” also shouts from the mouth of highway signs. These billboards feature an image of a smiling old man under a rainbow. Last month, the group behind the project erected its third billboard in Dearborn Heights, Michigan—in the same location where an antigay billboard previously stood. Oklahoma might be next, as dog Loves Gays lists it among potential locations for its next sign.

Finding "Evidence"

The White House Gets Fox News To STFU Over Biased Planned Parenthood Coverage

Erick Erickson Threatens 'Violence In The Polling Booths' If The Republican Cabal Doesn't Shutdown Govt Over Planned Parenthood

From the "What a Dick" Department:
Erick Erickson Threatens 'Violence In The Polling Booths' If GOP Doesn't Shutdown Govt Over Planned Parenthood Erick Erickson is demanding the Republican cabal to shut down the government over the Planned Parenthood videos or they will face harsh retribution.

Nice Try, Republicans!

Nice Try, Republicans! Smear Videos Helped RAISE Money For Planned Parenthood After wingnuts released a series of four highly controversial videos attacking women’s health organization Planned Parenthood for making profits...