Political Truth.
Whether you like it or not.

Thursday, October 15, 2015

The Daily Drift

Welcome to the Thursday Edition of The Truth Be Told.
Hey, wingnuts, yeah we're talking to you ...!  
 
The Truth Be Told is read in 205 countries around the world.

Republicans are grouches ... !
Today is - National Grouch Day
 
Don't forget to visit our sister blog Carolina Naturally
Some of our readers today have been in:
The Americas
Argentina - Bolivia - Brazil - Canada - Ecuador - Mexico - Nicaragua - Puerto Rico - United States
Europe
Belgium - Bosnia/Herzegovina - Bulgaria - Cyprus - England - France - Germany - Hungary 
Ireland - Italy - Latvia - Lithuania - Poland - Portugal - Netherlands - Norway - Romania 
Russia - Scotland - Serbia - Slovenia - Spain - Ukraine - Wales
Asia
India - Iran - Mauritius - Sri Lanka
Africa
Algeria - Zambia
The Pacific
Australia

CNN Focus Group Says Bernie Sanders Won The First Democratic Debate

sanders-democratic-debate
A majority of the CNN focus group who watched the first Democratic debate said that Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) won the debate over former Sec. of State Hillary Clinton.
The Sanders campaign summed up the focus group reaction as
On CNN, which sponsored the debate, a majority in a post-debate focus group said Sanders was the victor. The Vermont senator was the most popular candidate among a group of young registered Democrats in a Fusion focus group. “Bernie was on fire the whole night,” according to a 24-year-old named Chauncey, who told Fusion he went into the debate undecided. And on Fox News, pollster Frank Luntz talked to Democratic voters in Florida who called him “strong” and “straightforward” and “powerful.”

In terms of speaking time, Sen. Sanders and former Sec. Clinton got the lion’s share of the time with Clinton speaking for 30:26, and Sanders speaking for 26:42.
It was clear that Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders dominated the first Democratic, and both candidates did very well. Picking a winner comes down to preference. Sanders was the candidate with the more forceful argument, but Clinton looked and sounded like an experienced presidential candidate who is ready to be president.
Both candidates had a great debate because the two campaigns had different goals. Clinton’s goals were to ease any unrest about her emails and look presidential, which she did. Sen. Sanders needed to introduce himself to a national Democratic audience and make the argument for a political revolution, which he also did.
With two big personalities like Clinton and Sanders, there was little room for the other candidates on the stage. Martin O’Malley tried to elbow his way in, but at best he is the third candidate in what is a two person race. If Vice President Biden wasn’t sure about running, the stage looked very crowded already, and the first Democratic debate did nothing to ease doubts that there would be no room in the primary for a last-second campaign from Biden.
Bernie Sanders was a clear winner, and this victory should translate into even more funds, and perhaps a bump in the polls. No matter who you think won, the overall message is that Democrats are in good shape heading into 2016.

Bernie Sanders Exceeds Obama's Historic 2008 Run in Crowds, Donors and Polling


Sanders Destroys NoLabels Talking Points On Social Safety Net

Sanders Destroys NoLabels Talking Points On Social Safety Net
Bernie Sanders spoke to the NoLabels conference by video, and completely undid Christie's lies about Social Security and Medicare.

President Obama Smacks Down Steve Kroft's Wingnut Talking Points

President Obama Smacks Down Steve Kroft's Right-Wing Talking Points

Obama Turns Trump Into A Pathetic Crybaby By Explaining Why He Won’t Win

president obama donald trump 60 minutes
President Obama reduced Trump to a pathetic puddle by explaining in less than a minute why Trump won’t win the 2016 election.
Transcript via CBS’s 60 Minutes:
Steve Kroft: What do you think of Trump?
President Barack Obama: Well, I think that he is a great publicity-seeker and at a time when the Republican cabal hasn’t really figured out what it’s for, as opposed to what it’s against. I think that he is tapped into something that exists in the Republican cabal that’s real. I think there is genuine anti-immigrant sentiment in the large portion of at least Republican primary voters. I don’t think it’s uniform. He knows how to get attention. He is, you know, the classic reality TV character and, at this early stage, it’s not surprising that he’s gotten a lot of attention.
Steve Kroft: You think he’s running out of steam? I mean, you think he’s going to disappear?

President Barack Obama: You know, I’ll leave it up to the pundits to make that determination. I don’t think he’ll end up being president of the United States.
Trump responded on Fox and Friends, “Well, I watched his performance last night, and I thought it was terrible. I thought it was sad because there’s nothing positive….I thought it was a little bit sad because there’s much negativity. It’s just very negative.”
The lack of energy from Trump during the Fox and Friends interview was obvious. It is interesting that Trump is whining about negativity when his whole campaign is based on emphasizing the negative. Trump’s negativity towards immigrants is what is driving his campaign momentum, and his negativity is what Republican primary voters find appealing about his candidacy.
President Obama was correct. Trump’s narrow and negative vision of the country won’t win a general election. Trump may be able to win the Republican nomination with such talk, but the Republican frontrunner is increasing becoming a whining crybaby rich boy.
A few comments from President Obama reduced Trump to an unenergetic puddle of despair.
Trump’s tough talk is quickly evolving into constant complaining.

Democrats Are Too Strong So Hypocrite Mitch McConnell May Gut The Filibuster

After Democrats have been dominating the Senate, McConnell is hypocritically exploring ways to gut the filibuster.
The Hill reported:
mitch-mcconnellMcConnell (R-Ky.) is opening the door to changing the filibuster in response to growing pressure from Republicans angered that Democrats have blocked legislation from reaching the White House.
McConnell has appointed a special task force to explore changes to the filibuster rule and other procedural hurdles — including whether to eliminate filibusters on motions to proceed to legislation. That’s a tactic the minority often uses to shut down a bill before amendments can be considered.
McConnell doesn’t want to kill the filibuster, but he is under pressure from his own Republicans to change the rules. The reason for this is that Senate Democrats have been too good at their jobs. A key part of the Republican argument for 2016 is going to be that they need a Republican pretender to advance their agenda. Republicans wanted to make President Obama look like an obstructionist by forcing him to veto lots of legislation.
The problem is that Senate Democrats have been blocking the Republican passed legislation from ever reaching the President’s desk. Thus, making McConnell and the Republicans look incompetent and not capable of governing.
The reality is that McConnell and the Republicans are in danger of losing their Senate majority next year, and time is running out on them.
Mitch McConnell lasted less than a year under some of the same conditions that Harry Reid struggled with during the majority of the Obama presidency. McConnell obstructed anything and everything while he was in the minority. Reid and the Democrats have not behaved the same way, but McConnell has been unprepared and outmaneuvered on every major piece of legislation.
Now that the shoe is on the other foot, McConnell is turning yellow and trying to change the rules.
McConnell couldn’t handle the heat, so he is trying to close down the Democratic kitchen.

Republicans Are Running Out of Talented Con Men to Sell Their Garbage Agenda

Despite growing Republican cabal worries, Carson vows to keep saying horrible things

Ben Carson (NBC News)
Republican presidential candidate Ben Carson says he will not be silenced or corrected by critics who disapprove of his recent statements or quibblers who claim that he has been factually inaccurate.

Graham: We Can't Fix The VA Until We Cut Your Social Security

Gowdy Melts Down: Blasts CNN, Calls Ex-Staffer A Liar

Rep. Trey Gowdy Melts Down: Blasts CNN, Calls Ex-Staffer A Liar

House 'Freedom' Caucus Document: Hey, Let's Blow Shit Up!

Cenk Uygur slams Coulter

'Young Turks' host Cenk Uygur debates conservative author Ann Coulter in Los Angeles on Oct. 9, 2015.
Cenk Uygur slams Coulter’s ‘incredibly simplistic’ anti-immigrant ‘peasant culture’ rants

Tennessee Bill Would Prohibit Public Schools From Teaching About Islam

Republican lunatic fringe extremists allow most successful parks program to die

One of the most successful conservation programs in modern history—the Land and Water Conservation Fund—died Thursday when the Republican House refused to extend it, giving the Koch brothers a win.Despite broad bipartisan support, and despite a deadline that was no surprise to anyone, Congress failed to take action to reauthorize it. That means that offshore oil and gas producers will no longer be paying into the chest that funds the program—and now that the funding connection has been broken, reinstating it will be very difficult, especially given the tone of this Congress. Instead, lawmakers will be dickering over how to divvy up former LWCF appropriations, which will now be going into the gneral treasury.
Earlier this summer, dozens of representatives on both sides of the aisle had signed a letter in support of the perpetually underfunded program, which has conserved more than seven million acres so far. LWCF purchases wildlife habitat, buys private inholdings within wildernesses and national parks, preserves cultural heritage sites, provides public access for fishing and hunting, and pays for urban parks, playgrounds and ballfields. (The Center for Western Priorities created an interactive map showing how LWCF has made national parks whole by paying to buy inholdings from private landowners.) And if put to a straight-up vote, reauthorization would pass both the House and Senate with bipartisan majorities.
But action on LWCF was derailed by far-right opposition, led by Rep. Rob Bishop, R-Utah, House Natural Resources chairman, reflecting the anti-public-land and anti-federal sentiments afoot in some quarters of the West. Bishop is floating his own reforms to the program, which include redirecting most of the money to state and local projects (in the 1970s, Congress removed a requirement that states get 60 percent of LWCF funding).
Here's just some of what this program has accomplished since being created in 1964—all without any taxpayer money. It "pumped almost $17 billion into federal, state, and local parks. It has protected more than 500 million acres of land, ranging from neighborhood playgrounds to dramatic basalt cliffs in the Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area. The program also paid for almost two-thirds of the Appalachian Trail." It funded nearly 90 percent of the Flight 93 National Memorial in Stoystown, Pennsylvania. Again, without any taxpayer funding being spent. The fund is payed for by revenues paid by oil and gas companies drilling offshore in waters owned by the American people.
Bishop calls those who fought to preserve the LWCF (including Republicans Sen. Steve Daines and Rep. Ryan Zink of Montana) "special interests that seek to hijack LWCF to continue to expand the federal estate and divert even more monies away from localities." Make no mistake, this is part of furthering the Koch agenda to end the creation of new national parks and to undermine public ownership of any land that might, just might, have extractable resources under it.
Secretary of Interior Sally Jewell offered this statement.
After 50 years of resounding success in enriching America's great outdoors, the Land and Water Conservation Fund needlessly faces an uncertain future. I am extremely disappointed that, despite overwhelming bipartisan support, Congress has allowed this innovative and effective program to expire. As a result, America's national parks are now at a higher risk of private development within their borders, we will have fewer tools to protect access to hunting and fishing spots, and local parks and open space projects in all 50 states may face delays or cancellation in the year ahead.

Koch Republicans Advance Plan To Eliminate America’s National Parks

Now that the Kochs own Congress and were able to install a willing anti-government Republican as Chairman of the House Natural Resources committee, they were thrilled to learn ...
koch_toxic_empire
It is hardly a secret that Republicans wholly-support and agree with their masters, the Koch brothers, that every sector of government has to be eliminated. In fact, Republicans so hate the government, that they deliberately find extremely successful, wildly popular, and revenue neutral programs to either underfund to prove government cannot work, or just do what comes naturally and destroy them with extreme prejudice.
There is a Koch brother mindset that Republicans willingly embrace that the United States government has no legal right to own land, and that the National Parks system and wilderness areas are abominations to the fossil fuel, mining, and logging industries’ profits. Without success in forcing the federal government to cede its ownership and protection of the American people’s National Parks, wilderness areas, and cultural heritage sites to the Koch brothers, Republicans did the next best thing and defunded the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF).
Now that the Kochs own Congress and were able to install a willing anti-government Republican as Chairman of the House Natural Resources committee, they were thrilled to learn they succeeded in killing the LWCF in yet another step toward turning over government to corporate control. It is irrefutable that the LWCF is one of the most successful conservation programs in America’s history with no cost to taxpayers, and it is why it was crucial for the Koch brothers to score a win for themselves and jeopardize America’s national parks.
The Koch’s victory was in spite of alleged broad bipartisan support to keep the LWCF in operation, but since they own the entire Congress, the Kochs’ anti-government acolytes refused to reauthorize the program effectively killing it. What that means for the offshore oil and gas production fees funding LWCF is that Koch Republicans will shift LWCF funding into their favorite special interests such as partisan political campaigns against Hillary Clinton, subsidies for the fossil fuel industry, tax cuts for the rich and corporations, and of course the military industrial complex and Israel.
As head of the Natural Resources Committee, the Mormon Bishop marshaled support from other Koch sycophants on the far right who believe that the federal government is criminal in thinking it can own or preserve federal land for the American people. Bishop, like his Mormon cohort Cliven Bundy, is very anti-federal government and contends that like federally-owned land and national parks, any money collected from oil and gas producers belongs to his state to do with as it pleases. This in spite of Congress eliminating a bizarre requirement in 1970 that funding from offshore drilling goes to state projects that Republicans typically hand directly to the wealthy and corporations in the form of greater tax cuts.
What is somewhat surprising is that earlier this summer, dozens of representatives on both sides of the aisle signed on to a letter calling for more support for the perpetually underfunded program that has already conserved more than seven million acres for the American people to enjoy. LWCF purchases wildlife habitat, buys private inholdings within wildernesses and national parks, preserves cultural heritage sites, provides public access for fishing and hunting, and pays for urban parks, playgrounds and ball fields in communities across America. All of those benefits are anathema to Koch extremists running Congress, and it is noteworthy that if funding LWCF into perpetuity was allowed “a straight-up vote, reauthorization would pass both the House and Senate with large bipartisan majorities.” Reauthorizing LWCF will never be put up for a vote because the Kochs will not allow it.
Since its creation in 1964, the LWCF has accomplished, without using even one penny of taxpayer money, “pumping almost $17 billion into federal, state, and local parks, protected more than 500 million acres of land, paid for almost two-thirds of the Appalachian Trail.” LWCF also funded over 90 percent of the Flight 93 National Memorial in Pennsylvania without using one penny of taxpayer money. LWCF is wholly-funded by revenues from gas and oil companies’ fees for drilling offshore in water owned by the American people; another atrocity according to Republicans and the Koch brothers.
The Mormon doing the Koch brothers’ bidding, Utah Representative Rob Bishop, said that any legislator, including any Republican, who fought to preserve the LWCF for the American people are “special interest traitors seeking to hijack LWCF to continue to expand the federal land holdings and divert even more monies away from localities.” Bishop is a typical lying Mormon; LWCF money could not possibly be “diverted” from localities because it was never theirs to begin with. Further, when Bishop cites “localities” he means areas that the Kochs want under the purview of the fossil fuel, mining, and logging industries. Bishop’s crusade is, without any possible doubt, furthering the Koch brother agenda to put an end to the government owning land, creating or maintaining the National Park system, and particularly to eliminate public use of government land they think just might have what Bishop contends are “extractable resources under it.”
There is a movement to reauthorize LWCF forever being pushed by Representatives Raúl Grijalva (D-AZ) and Mike Fitzpatrick (R-PN) who co-sponsored a permanent reauthorization bill. Grijalva said on introducing the legislation,
Drawing out the uncertainty over the program’s funding every few years serves no one, especially when our constituents so strongly believe in the LWCF’s mission and value to the country. We should make it permanent, avoid prolonged budget battles and get back to the business of protecting our natural spaces. Anything less is a disservice to the legacy of Teddy Roosevelt and the generations of Americans who gave us the many beautiful American landscapes we enjoy today.”
He also had some harsh words for Koch extremists who killed LWCF. He said,
“You can see just how extreme some House Republicans really are when a popular conservation program with a spotless, fifty-year history of bipartisan reauthorization expires thanks to their partisan games. They can’t pass a highway bill, they can’t fund the government, they’re still struggling with a defense bill, and now they insist that LWCF funding has to stop.”
The Secretary of Interior, Sally Jewell, fairly summed up why allowing the Koch brothers to declare victory at killing a very successful and popular program is just another Republican atrocity and why letting the Kochs buy Congress is a truly unmitigated disaster. Jewell said,
After 50 years of resounding success in enriching America’s great outdoors, the Land and Water Conservation Fund needlessly faces an uncertain future. I am extremely disappointed that, despite overwhelming bipartisan support, Congress has allowed this innovative and effective program to expire. As a result, America’s national parks are now at a higher risk of corporate development within their borders, we will have fewer tools to protect access to hunting and fishing spots, and local parks and open space projects in all 50 states face cancellation.”
Americans should not expect LWCF to be reauthorized despite broad bipartisan support, or its popularity with over 200 million Americans who visit and recreate on federal land and national parks every year, because the Kochs will not allow it and Democrats are powerless to drive legislation of any kind.
Remember, after Republicans wiped out unemployment benefit extensions, voting rights, renewable energy and workplace protections and Democrats pledged to fix the problems, nothing happened because they do not set the legislative agenda; the Koch Republicans do. Since the Kochs ordered Republicans to kill LWCF there is nothing Democrats, or reasonable Republicans, can do because thanks to the Koch brothers and voter apathy, the Republican cabal has majority power in both houses and Americans have no power to protect their National Parks or wilderness areas; the Koch brothers have directed Republicans to ensure that sad, sick fact of life remains in perpetuity.

Koch Brothers In Another Episode Of 'Why We Can't Have Nice Things'

Koch Brothers In Another Episode Of 'Why We Can't Have Nice Things'

Wingnut Creep Stalks Chelsea Clinton At Her Book Signing

Right-Wing Creep Trolls Chelsea Clinton At Her Book Signing

Gay-Hating Wingnuts Must Stop Using Google, Drinking Coke, And Having Abortions

They're everywhere!Every week, there’s some new company making the queer-hatin’ folks of our U.S. American society real mad in their bathing suit regions, for making nice-nice with the gays. Usually we hear about it from the One Million Moms, that motley crew that consists of ONE MILLION VERY POWERFUL LADIES this one asshole Never-Nude called Monica Cole, whose husband apparently allows her to do nothing all day besides scour the internet and the TV Guide for anything that slightly titillates her ...

Bristol Palin Shocked To Learn She Is A Idiot

Portrait of the idiot in her natural surroundings.
Commenters, we need to ask you a question, and we PROMISE we will not get mad. Has somebody out there been doing some rogue, face-to-face guerrilla truthing? Because somebody marched right into the medical office where Bristol Palin works when she’s not showing off her baby bump for money at abstinence conferences or poorly dancing on reality television, and said, RIGHT TO HER FACE, that she is A Idiot. And she was stunned! Why would this mean lady say such a true thing, right to ...