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Monday, September 14, 2015

The Daily Drift

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With No Fucks Left To Give, Obama Gets Ready To Throw Wall Street CEOs In Jail

With No F*cks Left To Give, Obama Gets Ready To Throw Wall Street CEOs In Jail After years of allowing CEOs, and other crooked executives of Wall Street firms, to steal trillions of dollars and get away with it, Obama’s Justice...

Murkowski Becomes First Republican To Co-Sponsor Democrat Voting Rights Act Bill

Don't forget to turn out the lights ...

Republicans Have Spent 2015 Working For Foreigners, the Kochs, and Religious Extremists

The Republican misled Congress has not laid any taxes to provide for anything, much less for the general welfare of the people,…
mcconnell-boehner
There must be an agreement among wingnuts, particularly Republican and teabagger lunatics, that they will never do their appointed jobs. Throughout President Obama’s tenure, particularly starting in 2011, Republicans complained they could never accomplish their jobs or fulfill their duties until they controlled both houses of Congress that would allow them to dominate the President into submission. In fact, until the Koch brothers bought Republicans control of the Senate, the Republican cabal regularly blamed their deliberate obstruction on Democrats in the Senate who refused to do the religio-wingnuts' and Koch brothers’ bidding. After they stole control of the entire Congress, Republicans boasted to Americans that finally, they would get straight to work and be champions for the people and beat President Obama into granting their every wish. However, with a strong majority in the House and Senate, Republicans began 2015 working exclusively for four very special interests and have accomplished absolutely nothing for the people by design, or delivered anything for their special interests although it was not for a lack of trying.
It is curious that although every Republican in Congress takes an oath of office to support the Constitution, not one of them adheres to the primary job description that document very plainly informs is the only reason they serve. Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution says, “The Congress shall have power to lay and collect taxes, duties, imposts and excises, to pay the debts and provide for the common defense and general welfare of the United States.” Later in the same section it says that members of Congress shall “make all laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into execution the foregoing powers, and all other powers vested by this Constitution in the government of the United States.”
Now, nowhere in Section 8 does it say that Congress shall work for the Koch brothers and their dirty fossil fuel industry, a foreign corporation, a fanatical religion, or a foreign head of state; and yet Republicans have spent the whole of 2015 serving those four special interests exclusively. The Republican misled Congress has not laid any taxes to provide for anything, much less for the general welfare of the people, and they have not made any laws to provide for the people’s general welfare. They have however, as their first action on taking control of the Legislative Branch in January 2015, served the religious right by attacking women’s reproductive rights.
According to McConnell, attacking American women’s reproductive health was crucial because “there’s no reason our constituents should be kept from having their voices heard on this (religious) issue in the Senate. I look forward to the Senate passing similar (religious) legislation to the House in this Congress.” True to his pledge to religious extremists, the newly empowered congressional Republicans introduced no less than five separate bills restricting women’s reproductive rights within the first couple of days of the new legislative session. It is worth reiterating that there is nothing in the U.S. Constitution tasking members of Congress with “making laws for 'christian' fanatics;” particularly when those laws have absolutely nothing to do with “paying the debts and providing for the common defense and general welfare” of the people.
The next special interest(s) Republicans served instead of the general welfare of the people was a foreign corporation. It did not take Republican very long at all to pass inherently unconstitutional legislation that sought to supersede the Executive Branch’s authority by attempting to grant a State Department construction permit to a foreign corporation even though the Department is part of the Executive branch. The foreigners leading TransCanada tasked congressional Republicans to approve building a pipeline carrying dangerous toxins to the Gulf of Mexico, and with complete disregard for the American people Republicans complied; the head of the Executive Branch, President Obama, did not.
By now any semi-conscious American is aware that the Keystone XL pipeline offers nothing for the general welfare of the people and poses an existential threat to the environment. The foreign pipeline will profit the oil industry, a foreign corporation, Boehner and the Koch brothers, but it does nothing for the people. There is nothing in Article 1, Section 8 tasking members of Congress with the duty to pass unconstitutional legislation to provide profits for a foreign corporation. Republicans love foreigners, and working diligently for the general welfare of foreign profits is nearly as important to Republicans as working for a foreigner crusading for Americans to fight and die in another Middle East war.
Republicans spent, and are still spending, an obscene amount of taxpayer time and money serving the interests of Israel and its warmonger leader Netanyahu. Republicans even invited the foreigner to address a joint session of Congress to lobby for support to thwart an international agreement with Iran to prevent war. Instead of spending any time passing legislation to provide for the general welfare of the people, a group of Republicans sent a message to America’s so-called “enemies” pledging that as members of the United States Congress they intended to do exactly as the foreigner Netanyahu ordered; pass legislation stopping the United Nation’s P5+1 agreement to start a war with Iran. As with the other special interests Republicans serve, there is nothing in the Constitution defining Congress’ duty as working for a foreign government in opposition of the United States of America. There is, however, plenty in the U.S. Code defining what Republicans did as sedition; but Republicans are predominately white and above the law.
Although the Koch brothers stand to profit handsomely if Republicans had succeeded in their congressional service to the foreigners in Canada and Israel, their real reward is the Republican war against environmental regulations and attempts to combat anthropogenic climate change. Although Republicans certainly did not campaign in the midterms on eliminating environmental protections ensuring Americans have clean air and water, it has been as important a task to them as serving foreigners and religious extremists. The only beneficiaries of Republican attacks on environmental regulations are the Koch brothers, and like serving the foreigners and the religious, there is nothing in the Constitution about Congress working to provide greater profits for two wealthy oil magnates.
The apropos question every American should be asking Republicans, especially those seeking the party’s presidential nomination is; exactly what have Republicans done for the general welfare of the people since the Koch brothers bought them control of Congress? Surely attacking women’s reproductive rights is not going to grow the economy, create jobs, or provide clean air and water for the people, any more than working diligently for a foreign corporation and foreign head of state’s war efforts. However, Republicans have done nothing else whatsoever since they took control of the Legislative branch and it is an epic mystery why Americans are not outraged and taking to the streets. It is also curious that when Republicans are not working for foreigners, the Kochs, and the religio-wingnuts, they are working against the best interests, and general welfare of the American people and the people are not taking to the streets seeking retribution.
If Americans were not so stupid and complacent, one might think they would stop and think about how Republicans attacking women’s reproductive rights, working for foreigners, and doing the bidding of billionaires is in any way, shape, or form laying and collecting taxes to pay debts and provide for the common defense and general welfare of the American people. That is the job the U.S. Constitution says members of Congress are supposed to be doing and yet Republicans have remained laser-focused and dedicated to working solely for foreigners, the Kochs and religious extremists. It is yet another ongoing sign that regardless of who controls the Legislative branch of government, if Republicans cannot adequately serve the interests of their foreign, wealthy, and religious masters they will obstruct honest efforts to provide for the general welfare of the American people; because Republicans hate the American people as much as they love their foreigners, the Koch brothers, and religious extremists.

Republicans Betray Vets and The Troops By Promising To Pay China First

Republicans are directing the Treasury Department to prioritize payments to Chinese bondholders over Americans …
john boehner won't rule out DHS shutdownHouse Republicans are pushing the “Default Prevention Act“, which of course does not prevent default but actually prioritizes who gets paid and who does not.
Or, as some experts put it, “default by another name”. That’s right, Republicans are pushing for default, but only for some people. Republicans are using this misnamed bill to direct the Treasury Department to prioritize payments.
Guess who is at risk of not getting paid? Come on. You know the answer already.
That’s right. Veterans, our troops, seniors, school lunch programs… Real Americans.
Guess who gets paid? Chinese bondholders.
Here’s a breakdown of how this might play out, per the Ways and Means Democrats:
Who might not get paid under the Republican plan:
American troops in harm’s way
Retired and disabled veterans
Doctors and hospitals that treat Medicare patients
American small businesses who provided goods and services
School lunch programs
Universities doing medical research
College students who earned Pell Grants
Taxpayers due refunds from the IRS
Other Americans due payment or benefits from the federal government
Other federal trust funds holding Treasury bonds (Medicare trust funds, FDIC, highway and airport trust funds, the Federal Housing Administration, etc.)
Who would get paid under the Republican plan:
Treasury bond holders from China, Japan, Iran, Iraq, and the Cayman Islands Banks, mutual funds, and hedge funds
Social Security Trust Fund (Social Security would be allowed to continue spending contributions American workers have made to its Trust Funds)
Other “private bondholders” (insurance companies, some pension funds, individual investors)
Democrats are hesitant to make charges in absolutes, but the fact of the matter is that any group not specifically protected is vulnerable. Republicans could have written a bill of exclusion but instead they wrote this bill that only specifies who will get paid. They could ostensibly pass more legislation later, but right now, their priority is to pay China.
Republicans are very proud of this, calling it a “long-standing” Republican study coven (rsc) initiative. Chairwimp Bill Flores (R-Texas) claims, “By removing the threat of default, Congress will be able to tackle the problems at the root of Washington’s out-of-control spending more aggressively.”
That makes no sense. It’s a lot of buzzwords tossed together but the math doesn’t work. You control spending by not buying things you aren’t going to pay for, not by refusing to pay your credit card bill. What this is is another attempt to use previously agreed to debt as a way of enacting a Republican agenda. This is at its heart, a profoundly anti-conservative attitude. This is the attitude of frat boys running up daddy’s credit card and then balking at working to pay any of it off. But Republicans haven’t been fiscally conservative for a long time now.
Of course, things don’t actually work this way. Republicans keep trying this “prioritizing” payment as a backdoor way to cut funding for programs they don’t agree with and to prioritize the things they do, without having to go through messy and tough to get elected on public debate.
The lunatic fringe wingnut think tank the American Enterprise Institute tried to explain this to Republicans in years past when they refused to raise the debt ceiling, which is another way of saying they refused to pay our bills. Again. To do so, the think-tank quoted Tony Fratto, former Treasury Department assistant secretary and senior shrub White House flunkie, “The idea that Treasury *could* prioritize – even if desired – is fanciful & misunderstands federal financing requirements.”
Oh. So this is all about defaulting.
This is all going down in the Ways and Means Committee, where they are doing a mark up of this legislation today. This is where a lot of bad deals get pushed through and the public is unaware of it.
Ranking Member Sander M. Levin (D-MI) charged in an opening statement (remarks as prepared) that it puts China and other foreign bondholders ahead of our own citizens and will seriously damage our economy:
Even if such prioritization were possible, it would put China and other foreign bondholders before our own citizens at a time when they can least afford it. Some of those potentially impacted by default would be military service members – including those currently deployed; doctors and hospitals that wouldn’t receive Medicare payments; and hardworking Americans who wouldn’t get payments for school lunches, veterans’ benefits, or student loans.
If Republicans proceed on this course, it will be the third time they have done serious damage to our economy by threatening to default. When the Republicans brought us to the brink of default four years ago, the stock market plunged and S&P downgraded our credit rating for the first time ever. In 2013, Republican default threats and the government shutdown cost us 120,000 jobs and slowed GDP growth just as the economic recovery was taking hold.
The GAO estimated that the 2013 impasse cost the U.S. around $70 million due to an increase in the cost of borrowing. It also increased the borrowing costs for businesses and for individuals with home mortgages, car loans, and other debt. GAO also noted that it cost us credibility – for the first time in our history, investors concluded that short-term Treasury bonds might be too risky to buy, because of the risk of default.
Republicans defaulting on debt has become the norm in their continued run away from fiscal conservatism and responsibility, but this is a low blow that they need to own.
Not only is this not how things work, but the notion that Republicans are pushing to prioritize Chinese bondholders before our veterans, seniors, and children is something they should own publicly, maybe while they’re waving those flags and pretending they support the troops.

Jindal Says His State’s Struggling Budget Is A Model For The Country

More nonsense from Fantasyland

Walker Vows to Become Relevant Again

Yexojb5tmyelpkvzyzer I'm not sure I've seen any better example of the Trump Effect. Walker is reacting to the collapse of his campaign with a desperate and somewhat ridiculous new slogan aimed at out-Trumping Trump. His campaign has been test-driving in the phrase for the last few days but in a speech last Thursday morning Walker officially vowed to "wreak havoc" on Washington on his first day in office. In other words, he's just going to start breaking things, anything. Because he's more hardcore than Donald Trump. "It's time to wreak havoc on the status quo in Washington," says Walker. Here's the story.
***
Now, that would be an achievement since he was never relevant in the first place.

And I Quote

Media Bias Confirmed As Analysis Shows Trump Gets 4 Times More Attention Than Bernie Sanders

sanders-trumpThe media has its own 2016 agenda that involves giving Trump more attention than any other candidate an analysis by Nate Silver revealed that Trump received nearly four times more press coverage than Bernie Sanders.
According to Nate Silver at FiveThirtyEight, “Sanders hasn’t been ignored by the press, which wants a horse race between Sanders (or Biden, or anyone!!!) and Clinton. Still, Sanders’s media coverage has been paltry compared with Trump’s. According to Yahoo News, Trump has received about 35,000 media “hits” in the past month, compared with about 9,000 for Sanders. For comparison, Clinton has had 18,000 hits over the same period, and Jeb has had 14,000.”
Trump got nearly twice as much coverage of Clinton, and it is a safe bet that the media stories were overwhelmingly negative and focused on her emails. The point of Silver’s piece was that the media needs to stop comparing Trump and Bernie Sanders because there is no comparison between the two.
Senator Sanders is a legitimate candidate who has real positions on the issues while Trump is a media driven hype machine whose agenda comes down to non-white people are bad, and the fact that Trump is both white and rich, so he is great. The reason why Republicans are eating up Trump’s schtick is because they think America is not great under President Obama, and they believe that if they vote for somebody who says their great, America will be great again, which will mean that by extension, they also will be great.
The media saw the ratings that Trump drew for the Fox News debate and assumed that Trump equals hits and ratings, so the coverage became all Trump all of the time. The reality is that Fox News drew a huge rating because the novelty of Trump’s first pretender debate combined with the fact that the debate was on the in-house Republican network of Fox News equaled a can’t lose combination.
It isn’t your imagination. Bernie Sanders is accomplishing something incredible that is being largely uncovered by the media. The media has two obsessions. They are obsessed with Trump and Hillary Clinton’s emails. Both are empty pursuits that are leading to voters being under-informed while the real issues facing this country are ignored.

Reporter Says He Was Fired For Asking If Vitter Still Hires Prostitutes

by Catherine Thompson
Derek Myers told The Advocate newspaper that WVLA fired him because the Vitter's gubernatorial campaign threatened to pull its advertising from the news station after he asked the senator the question. Vitter admitted in 2007 to being a client of the infamous "D.C. Madam."
Myers later explained to Gawker that a coworker, whom he did not identify, told him that he or she overheard WVLA's news director and vice president of news saying that the station's general manager should apologize to Vitter's gubernatorial campaign for Myers' line of questioning. Myers told Gawker the coworker then overheard the top brass allegedly discussing a call that came in from someone on Vitter's campaign about ad spending.
Jim Baronet, WVLA's general manager, told The Advocate that no one from the Vitter campaign contacted the news station about ads and added that company policy prevented him from discussing the reasons for Myers' dismissal. A spokesman for Vitter's gubernatorial campaign, Luke Bolar, similarly told the newspaper that no one from his office contacted WVLA about ads.
The Advocate noted that Myers joined WVLA just three weeks ago after a stint at a Florida TV station. The reporter confronted Vitter about his past prostitution scandal in the parking lot after the senator signed paperwork to qualify for the governor's race, according to the newspaper.
Myers asked Vitter whether he still patronizes prostitutes, according to The Advocate, and added: "Sen. Vitter, don’t you think the people deserve answers?”
Vitter's gubernatorial campaign told a slightly different story. Bolar told Myers in a phone conversation after the confrontation that he'd heard the reporter pushed a campaign staffer, according to the newspaper.
Myers denied Bolar's allegation to both The Advocate and Gawker. The reporter told Gawker that there's video of the incident that shows he didn't assault any campaign staffer, but he said WVLA forbid him from making that video public.

Nebraska wingnut’s son wore dreadlocks disguise to commit violent robbery

According to the Douglas County Attorney’s Office, 18-year-old Avery Osborn disguised himself with a bandanna, hat and dreadlocks when he and two other teenagers tried to commit two or more robberies.

Bill Maher Nails It ... Again

A 92-Year-Old Lady Prank Calls 'Christian' Religio-Wingnut Radio

A 92-Year-Old Lady Prank Calls Christian Conservative Radio (AUDIO)
This is the funniest thing you’ll hear all day.
Read more 

Huckabee: Dred Scott decision ‘is still the law of the land’ regardless of 14th Amendment

And now more lunacy from the lunatic fringe
Mike Huckabee speaks to ABC News (screen grab)Huckabee: Dred Scott decision ‘is still the law of the land’ regardless of 14th Amendment

Anti-Choice Arkansas Wingnut Justin Harris’ 'christian' preschool leaves girl alone in van for four hours

State authorities have launched an investigation into the 'christian' day care center operated by an Arkansas Republican who “re-homed” his foster daughters to a sex abuser.

Sikh Man Attacked

The stupidity of bigots is astounding!


Proposed Bill Would Save Sacred Native American Site From Mining

do not enter

Ted Nugent: Verizon Dropped Sportsman Channel Because Obama Hates America

The Delusion is strong in this one, Obiwan
Earlier this month, Verizon announced that it was dropping The Sportsman Channel from its lineup from its Fios service “due to its low viewership.” But NRA board member and Sportsman Channel fan Ted Nugent knows the real reason for the Verizon lineup change: President Obama and the media... MORE

10 Stories We’ll Probably See on the New Fox-Owned National Geographic

outraged sloth
  1. 12 Monkeys That Are Still Around Even Though Humans Supposedly Evolved from Monkeys
  2. These Gorgeous Photos of Glaciers in Alaska Prove Once and for All That Global Warming Is a Hoax
  3. Killer Bees: Crossing Our Borders and Stealing Jobs from American Bees?
  4. 26 Species That Went Extinct After Obamacare Became Law
  5. Are Spiders Muslim?
  6. Donald Trump Shares His Thoughts on the Sagebrush Grouse: “Just the Greatest Bird. It’s Tremendous.”
  7. Are Local Schools Pushing the Homosexual Whale Agenda on Your Children?
  8. What the Mating Habits of the Blue-Ringed Octopus Can Tell Us About Lowering Capital Gains Tax Rates
  9. The Racist Roots of the #SumatranTigerLivesMatter Movement
  10. Science: Is It Overrated?