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Tuesday, October 13, 2015

The Daily Drift

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Finally, a day we can 'celebrate' Republicans... !
Today is -International Day of Failure
 
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California Will Automatically Register Millions Of Voters

Ignoring Science Leads To The Crumbling Of Society

Ignoring Science Leads To The Crumbling Of Society, Says Viral Pro-Science Video (VIDEO)Did you know the bailout of the big banks cost as much as funding NASA for 50 years?

How Hillary and Bernie will take on the Wall Street bankers

Robert Reich speaks to Conan O'Brien (Screencap)
In a world where the giant Wall Street banks didn’t have huge political power, these measures might be enough.

Bernie Sanders Drops A Reality Bomb On Chuck Todd And Meet The Press

sanders-meet-the-press
Bernie Sanders shook up the boring Sunday show pro-Republican status quo by bringing liberalism and truth to Meet The Press.
Transcript via Meet The Press:
CHUCK TODD: You know, you’ve always been hesitant to contrast yourself with Secretary Clinton. But you have, you make certain subtle differences by saying on some of these issues, where she now agrees with you, you welcome her over and you emphasize you’ve had these positions for a long time. Why should that matter? Why should that matter to a voter that you’ve held this position for a much longer say on TPP–

BERNIE SANDERS: Good question.
CHUCK TODD: –than Secretary Clinton?
BERNIE SANDERS: Yeah, okay. I’ll tell you why it should matter. And let me be very clear. I mean, I happen to respect and like Hillary Clinton, so I don’t get into personal attacks, you know that. But are there differences of opinion that should be discussed? Of course, there are. That’s what that election is about.
To answer your question, what it’s about is at a time when so few have so much and when the big money interests have so much political power, the real most important question is, who is prepared to mobilize the American people to stand up to these very powerful and wealthy special interests? Whose track record for the last 25 years has been to say to Wall Street, “You know what? We are going to have to break up the large financial institution.”

CHUCK TODD: Well, that’s a trust issue. You’re basically saying, “You know what? I’ve been there so you can trust that I’ll never leave that fight.” With somebody else who gets there late, you think it’s perhaps a trust issue.
BERNIE SANDERS: No, I mean, Keystone Pipeline, all right? I believe that climate change is the great global crisis that we face, environmental crisis. From day one, I opposed the Keystone Pipeline because I believe that if you’re serious about climate change, you don’t encourage the excavation and transportation of very dirty oil. That was my view from day one. TPP.
I believe that our trade policies going way back when. I voted against NAFTA, CAFTA, PNT, all with China. I think they have been a disaster for the American worker. A lot of corporations that shut down here move abroad. So people will have to contrast my consistency and my willingness to stand up to Wall Street and corporations, big corporations, with the secretary.

The media loves to wrap every story about Hillary Clinton as a matter of trust. It’s the corporate media’s go-to storyline when discussing the Clintons, but trust implies that Hillary Clinton is a bad person with suspect motives.
The interview itself featured Sanders delivering a dose of liberal views to the conservative Sunday show platform. Sanders talked about TPP and Keystone in ways that get virtually no attention in the mainstream media. Let’s face it, the only time Wall Street greed is discussed in the mainstream press is when Bernie Sanders is mentioning it.
The left does not get media attention to a degree that is proportional to their numbers. In the Sunday shows ever want to be relevant again, they need to feature the left, because their wingnut bias is out of touch with reality.

Trump Is Pushing An Obama Lie That Will Destroy The Republican Cabal

donald trump face the nationTrump told an Obama lie on CBS’s Face The Nation that will lead to the destruction of the Republican cabal if members of Congress follow his advice.
Transcript via Face The Nation:
DICKERSON: John Boehner, after he announced that he was resigning, said that there were false prophets in the Republican cabal.
And I’m quoting. He said: “These false prophets are whipping people into a frenzy believing they can accomplish things that they know are never going to happen.”
He’s kind of talking about you.
TRUMP: I don’t think so. But, first of all, I know. I like him on a personal basis. But I do think they should be tougher.
But here’s the problem. When he says false prophets, you cannot win when you have a group of 25 or 30 percent on this side, and you have a group of 70 percent on this side saying, we’re never going along with the 30 percenters who want more. That’s what is happening.
And every time I watch it, I say, it’s so sad, because if they were really unified and they took that 30 percent stance, assuming they wanted to really make changes and do it right, and cut the budget, cut the deficit, do things that they should be doing, if they took that group, and if everybody was unified, Obama would fold.

But there’s no reason for him to ever fold, because he knows that a big proportion, a vast majority of the Republicans are on his side.
The lie that Trump is pushing is that if Republican shut down the government or refuse to raise the debt ceiling, President Obama will cave, but history makes it clear that this President doesn’t cave to Republican demands.
In 2013, Republicans shut down the government, and Obama didn’t cave. In 2014, Republicans demanded spending cuts in exchange for raising the debt ceiling. Obama said no, and Republicans caved and gave him a one-year clean increase in the debt limit. Going as far back as 2011, President Obama has beaten Republicans on government shutdowns and raising the debt ceiling.
Trump is selling the Republican myth of “weak Obama” to wingnut voters. The problem is that the real Obama is tough as nails and continues to stare down Republicans and make them blink.
Trump is telling Republicans to refuse to raise the debt ceiling and to shut down the government. This is the worst possible strategy that Republicans could follow. It will lead to their party’s destruction. Trump is pushing a lie about President Obama that makes Republicans feel good. The problem is that the lie is also the root of why Republicans continue to be defeated by the President at every turn.
Trump continues to lead the Republican primary, and if the cabal follows his advice, it will burn itself to the ground.

Marx, Muslims, Nazis and the ‘missing link'

When you listen to Ben Carson speak, you hear a soft, measured voice marked by an upward lilt that bookends his sentences, almost like he’s pleading for your understanding—or for you to remain calm.

Jindal Gets Humiliated By ABC Host Who Has To Inform Him That ISIL Doesn’t Have Planes

via Bob Cesca at The Daily BanterBobby Jindal was totally humiliated on national television by ABC host, Martha Raddatz, who called out the Louisiana moron for talking out of his ass...

The Republican Cabal's Implosion ...

... The Party’s Over And Everyone Who’s Not Hallucinating Knows
Featured image credit: Flckr under Creative Commons License 2.0. Some changes were made
Goodbye Republicans. We wish we could say, “It’s been nice knowing you,” but that would be a lie.

The NRA’s Desperation Grows As Obama Is Winning the PR War on Gun Laws

President Obama is talking about why we need gun safety measures and reasonable, responsible gun laws on a daily basis lately. People are listening …
obama-rifle
With a nation reeling from grief and daily tragedy brought on by ridiculously irresponsible and changing gun safety regulations across the country, people are clamoring for change. President Obama is talking about why we need gun safety measures and reasonable, responsible gun laws on a daily basis lately. People are listening.
The NRA can’t afford to allow people and certainly not our representatives to even have that discussion. So they’re doubling down on the lies about the boogeyman Obama coming for everyone’s guns.
To wit:
NRA @NRA
Yes, Obama really does want to confiscate legally owned firearms… https://www.nraila.org/articles/20151009/president-obama-shows-his-true-gun-control-agenda #2A

A taste of the pathetic and desperate lies the NRA Institute for Legislative Action is peddling:
Clearly, the president is infuriated with Congress and the American people for failing to adopt his gun control agenda, but what is he actually promoting by way of solutions? His recent speeches have been long on vitriol, but short on specifics.

What Obama is really proposing, despite some platitudes to the contrary, is the end of private firearm ownership for self-defense – which is essentially what happened in Australia and the U.K.
Vitriol? Obama is vitriolic? This can only work on someone who doesn’t listen to his speeches or is already biased beyond help. The President might be a lot of things, but vitriolic is not one of them. Not even once has he actually come across that way, even when it was justified.
They are actually claiming Obama is calling for an end to private firearm ownership. LOL.
Of course, that claim bears no relationship to the truth. Here’s a list of the actions the President has called for. Wouldn’t such intentions have been clear in his executive actions? Instead, we have things that any reasonable person who is not a felon wanting a gun would agree to. They do not infringe on responsible gun owners (I am a gun owner, FYI).
Things like:
Closing a Loophole to Keep Some of the Most Dangerous Guns Out of the Wrong Hands
Keeping Surplus Military Weapons Off Our Streets
Yeah, almost an end to private gun ownership! But not. But just in case anyone is trembling in fear that mean old President Obama is going to knock on their door and demand their gun, here’s his entire plan for keeping our communities safer by reducing gun violence.
It’s not just mass shootings, either. Every day there are murders in our country via guns. Everytown found that background check laws make women safer, “Controlling for population, there are 46 percent fewer intimate partner gun homicides of women in states that require background checks for private handgun sales than in states that do not.”
If a party were really “pro-life” they’d certainly be for background check laws in order to protect women, since an average of three women per day are murdered in this country by an intimate or ex intimate partner.
What about law enforcement? They are put into the line of fire by these irresponsible laws as well. Everytown reports, “The NRA has fought to prevent Congress from providing any funding for research on gun violence; it has blocked law enforcement from being able to share analyses of crime gun trace data; and it has tried to pass laws prohibiting doctors and military leaders from talking to patients and service members about responsible gun ownership and suicide prevention.”
What to do when there are two school shootings on a single day and gun violence is clearly out of control, but you represent the manufacturers of guns? Double down on fear-mongering. Anything to troll the dialogue so that citizens can’t have a real conversation about the need for reasonable gun control measures – a thing that most NRA members actually also want. FYI.
But of course, the NRA doesn’t actually represent its members anymore.

Obama Explains Why A Congress Still Investigating Benghazi Refuses to Pass Gun Laws

President Obama
When you ask yourself why we have a Congress that will conduct a several years long investigation into a made-up conspiracy theory but refuses to even entertain the idea of responsible gun ownership laws, the answer is clear. Nonvoters.
This issue has the President more than irritated. Think of what we could have done, he told a crowd Saturday night at a DNC event in Los Angeles.
The President talked about going to Oregon to visit with the families of the people who’d been shot at the community college. “And it seems like I have to do this every two months or so,” Obama said. “And while I was there, there were actually two more shootings at two other schools, one in Arizona, one in Texas — while I was visiting the families of these victims.”
Noting that some people protested him on behalf of their understanding of their Second Amendment rights, Obama continued, “But I came away feeling just as strongly as I did the day it happened when I went to that podium in the White House to say, this is a choice we make. This is not a natural disaster. This is not inevitable. This doesn’t happen in other countries.”
“We’re not more violent than other developed countries in the world; it’s just that when we commit violence we’re more deadly. It’s a decision that we make. And it’s not just mass shootings, but it’s the same decision that leads us to have, in neighborhoods all across this country — in big cities, and sometimes in smaller ones — young people shot every day on the streets,” the President said.
Obama pointed out, “It’s easier to buy a gun than buy a book.”
How did we get here?
“My favorite statistic in 2012 was that among people who don’t vote I beat Mitt Romney by 25 percent,” President Obama said to laughter. “Now, I did fine. I ended up getting over 50 percent in two consecutive elections, which hasn’t been done since Mr. Eisenhower.”
“But think about it — 40 percent — more than 40 percent of people still didn’t vote. And if they had, I would have had a Congress that would have cooperated with me… and we would have been making so much more progress,” Obama said. “But they didn’t. They didn’t participate because they had listened to the cynics who told them that nothing changes and nothing is going to work.”
Cynicism and complacency, he told the audience, is what we are fighting the most.
President Obama said we’ve made a lot of progress but we have a Congress that’s broken so we can’t get a lot of work done. He condemned money in politics for part of this, “And part of the reason it’s broken is because money has come to dominate too much of the political agenda in Washington, that lobbyists have too much influence.” But another part is those ideologues who are willing “burn down the house” unless they get “100 percent of what they want”. (Waving hello to the Tea Party and House of Representatives.)
The bottom line is that if more people who supported President Obama had voted in 2012 (and 2014), we might very well have passed or at least debated gun safety measures. Instead, we have a Congress wasting money on the ongoing political investigations into a made-up conspiracy about Benghazi, which have proven to be illegal.

Republican Whistleblower Was Fired For Refusing to Target Clinton Benghazi Investigation

Republican Benghazi woes mount as it is reported that Republicans fired their own investigator in part because he refused to target Clinton …
hillary clinton dnc summer meeting
Rep. Elijah E. Cummings, Ranking Member of the House Select Committee on Benghazi, issued the following statement in response to a New York Times report that a Republican investigator was fired in part because he would not go along with Republican plans to target Secretary Clinton:
These are extremely serious whistleblower charges by one of Chairman Gowdy’s own handpicked investigators who reports that he was fired in part for not going along with the Republican leadership’s plan to use the Select Committee to target Hillary Clinton, and they show – from the inside – that Kevin McCarthy’s stark admission was true: Republicans have been abusing millions of taxpayer dollars for the illegitimate purpose of damaging Hillary Clinton’s bid for president.
The New York Times reports that,
A former investigator for the Republicans on the House Select Committee on Benghazi plans to file a complaint in federal court next month alleging that he was fired unlawfully in part because his superiors opposed his efforts to conduct a comprehensive investigation into the 2012 attack on the American diplomatic mission in the Libyan city rather than focus primarily on the role of the State Department and former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton.
The investigator in question, Bradley F. Podliska, is a major in the Air Force Reserve, and he claims in part that his firing was due to the refusal of Repulbicans to take his reserve commitment seriously when he was sent to Germany for 39 days.
He began working for the Benghazi committee in September 2014. He is no slouch. The Times details that he is “a lifelong Republican, holds a doctorate in political science from Texas A&M University.” According to the committee, he was “terminated for cause…in part, because he himself manifested improper partiality and animus in his investigative work.”
Of course we can expect Republicans to do their utmost to discredit Podliska. Their investigation is crumbling around them following the admission by Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) that the entire purpose of the investigation was to discredit Hillary Clinton in an effort to block her way to the presidency.
Of course, this only adds to Republican woes:
Dr. Joseph Kaye @jhkayejr
@HouseBenghazi Will u be refunding the taxpayers for this political campaign? Or just illegally firing more active-duty #veterans? #Podliska
The only press Republicans are getting lately is bad press. As Media Matters’ Eric Boehlert tweeted,
Eric Boehlert @EricBoehlert
we're past the point of GOP jaw-dropping, but military reservist on Benghazi com't frozen out/fired after.....reporting for military service
Colonel Morris Davis, Guantanamo chief prosecutor from 2005-07, tweeted what has to be the last word in this new development: “So McCarthy’s mistake was telling the truth.”

Republican Whistleblower Confirms Benghazi Investigation Is Illegally Targeting Clinton

hillary-clinton-gowdy
A Republican, who formerly served as an investigator for the House Select Committee on Benghazi, confirmed that his republican cabal bosses are conducting an illegal investigation for partisan political purposes that is targeting Hillary Clinton
The New York Times reported:
A former investigator for the Republicans on the House Select Committee on Benghazi plans to file a complaint in federal court next month alleging that he was fired unlawfully in part because his superiors opposed his efforts to conduct a comprehensive investigation into the 2012 attack on the American diplomatic mission in the Libyan city rather than focus primarily on the role of the State Department and former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton.
….
Despite the change in focus, Major Podliska continued to work on his examination of the response in Washington to the attack, only to meet escalating resistance from his superiors, according to his complaint. In his view, they felt he was not focusing enough on Mrs. Clinton’s alleged mistakes, a criticism he considered odd given that his findings were far from favorable to her.
What Major Podliska described is an illegal use of taxpayer funds to conduct a partisan political investigation into the likely 2016 Democratic nominee.
The resolution that authorized the Select Committee does not give Republicans the power to investigate Hillary Clinton’s email server. The Select Committee is authorized to examine, “internal and public executive branch communications about the attacks on United States facilities in Benghazi, Libya, on September 11, 2012.”
The Select Committee is not authorized to investigate Hillary Clinton or her use of a private email server. By redirecting the investigation to focus on Clinton, House wingnuts are illegally misusing taxpayer funds for partisan political purposes.
The ranking member of the Select Committee, Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-MD) said in a statement, “These are extremely serious whistleblower charges by one of Chairwimp Gowdy’s own handpicked investigators who reports that he was fired in part for not going along with the Republican leadership’s plan to use the Select Committee to target Hillary Clinton, and they show—from the inside—that Kevin McCarthy’s stark admission was true: Republicans have been abusing millions of taxpayer dollars for the illegitimate purpose of damaging Hillary Clinton’s bid for president.”
Benghazi Select Committee member, Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) called for the committee to be shut down, “Even before Kevin McCarthy’s comments laid bare the true intent of the committee, it’s been clear that Secretary Clinton has been the true target of this investigation, and the Republican whistleblower who has come forward only provides further evidence of what has been long evident. It’s time to shut down the Benghazi Select Committee. Only by ending this expensive and politicized investigation can we begin to undo the damage already done through this unprecedented use of Congress’s power for nakedly political purposes.”
It is time for an investigation into the House Select Committee on Benghazi. Even committee chairwimp Gowdy’s own former investigator is exposing the partisan intent of the investigation.
House Republicans have abused their power, and they must be held accountable for their corruption.

House Wingnuts Meltdown And Admit Defeat By Blaming Obama For Benghazi Probe

gop-obama-benghaziWhen two House wingnuts were asked about the Benghazi Select Committee, they melted down and threw up the white flag of defeat by blaming President Obama for their own Benghazi investigation.
Transcript via CNN:
LABRADOR: Let’s be clear what he said. He said the investigation turned political, according to his opinion.
And when he was asked specifically if the investigation was political, he said no. He said, in fact, that the investigation started properly, that they were investigating what happened in Benghazi, and that he felt that it had changed. So, let’s not mix this up, because…
BASH: But, regardless, he’s saying that the reason why he was upset is because it turned political.
LABRADOR: Yes, but…
BASH: No matter, no matter where it started.
LABRADOR: But he just had a disagreement with the people who are doing the investigation.
Remember what Watergate — Watergate started with an investigation about whether the Nixon junta actually had anything to do with the break-in at Watergate. It ended up being about some missing tapes.
BASH: So, you think it’s OK to have turned…
(CROSSTALK) LABRADOR: No, I don’t — I don’t think it…
(CROSSTALK)
BASH: … Hillary Clinton?
LABRADOR: Well, that’s what they found out.
They been asking questions about what Hillary Clinton did. They asked her for her e-mails. She wouldn’t deliver the e-mails. And they didn’t know why they deliver the e-mails. They didn’t know if there was a smoking gun in there or anything. So, they turned their attention to that.
And, in fact, the only reason there’s any politics or we even have an investigation is because the Obama administration and Hillary Clinton decided a few months before an election that they were going to lie about what happened at Benghazi.

Let’s — let’s be clear about that. If they hadn’t told different stories about what happened in Benghazi, we wouldn’t — we wouldn’t even have an investigation.
BASH: Cole, let me just read what the Clinton campaign said in response to this.
A spokesman said: “These are explosive allegations. This Republican whistle-blower’s account from inside the Benghazi Committee may provide the most definitive proof to date that this taxpayer-funded investigation has been a partisan sham from the start.”
You know what? Regardless, it gives them some ammunition.
COLE (R), OKLAHOMA: It does.
But it’s worth noting that, until the last couple of weeks, most of the attacks on this committee have come from the right, because it was seen as being too judicious and not being partisan.
Frankly, I — this is one where you have to look at the committee chairman and look at what he’s done and make a judgment. Gowdy is a person of absolute personal integrity. The fact that he’s not here, and Raul and I are, is a pretty good indication he’s not trying to exploit this for — to advance himself in any way.
This interview was nothing short of a disaster. The two House wingnts could not defend the existence of the Benghazi Special Committee. Labrador compared Benghazi to Watergate, even though the tapes were directly related to the Watergate break-in, whereas Clinton’s use of a private email server had nothing to do with Benghazi.
Cole admitted that Hillary Clinton now has been gifted political ammo to use against the committee, but that shouldn’t matter because Select Committee Chairwimp Gowdy is a good guy who would never abuse his power to advance a political agenda.
At the end of the day, according to these two House wingnuts, the Benghazi investigation is President Obama’s fault. When House wingnuts break out the blame Obama excuse, it means that they have lost. The blame Obama excuse is used when they have nothing else. Blaming President Obama is the House wingnut last ditch Hail Mary that never works.
Republicans have been caught, and blaming Obama is a sure sign of the Republican cabal defeat.

Kurtz Whines That Intelligent People Are 'Over Hyping' Republican Cabal Chaos In The House

Will Wants Ryan To Stay Right Where He Is So He Can Help Cut Taxes And Gut Our Social Safety Nets

I Want You Guys To See Something

I Want You Guys To See SomethingTexas insane lunatic fringe extremist religio-wingnut Gohmert says he’s a baptist deacon and does not imbibe in alcohol. Let me show you why I doubt that. 

Republicans Create 5th Committee To Destroy Planned Parenthood After Last Four Fail

Republicans Create 5th Committee To Destroy Planned Parenthood After Last Four Fail
Endless Planned Parenthood investigations to go along with endless “Repeal Obamacare” votes and endless Benghazi investigations. This amounts to fraud.

Dodgy Koch

Charles Koch To CBS: Dark Money? Me? Nahhhhh.

A Woman Should Be Her Husband’s Sex Slave–Whether She Wants To Or Not

Or So, Michelle Duggar Says
Michelle Duggar: A Woman Should Be Her Husband’s Sex Slave–Whether She Wants To Or NotNot only can you get advice from Michelle Duggar on how to raise a pervert and a scam artist or two, you can also learn to be the perfect submissive wife.