Liberals Bernie Sanders and Al Franken Win As Comcast Drops Time Warner Bid

The liberal senators who stood up in opposition to the Comcast-Time Warner merger scored a major victory as Comcast has pulled out of the planned deal.

Sen. Sanders (I-VT) reacted to the news by saying, “The report that Comcast is backing away from its bid to take over Time Warner Cable is good news for American consumers. The level of media consolidation in America already is unacceptable and it would have been extremely dangerous for one company to control 57 percent of the broadband Internet market, 30 percent of the cable market and dominate 19 of the 20 largest U.S metropolitan areas.”

Sen. Franken (D-MN) said, “I’ve been opposed to this deal since it was first announced, and I’m glad that over the last 15 months, more and more people have come to see it the way I do. This transaction would create a telecom behemoth that would lead to higher prices, fewer choices, and even worse service. We need more competition in this space, not less. If reports of the collapse of the deal are true, it would be a huge victory for American consumers.”

Sen. Franken was correct. Getting Comcast to drop their monopolistic Time Warner deal is a great win for consumers, but it was the pressure generated by Senate liberals that turned up the heat on the deal. The power of the liberal movement in this country was flexed in the outrage generated by the potential creation of the largest cable company in the country. Outside of the extreme concentration of wealth at the top, and the staggering disparity in income inequality, the death of the free market is a one of the biggest problems facing the U.S. economy.

The objections of the FCC and the Department of Justice caused Comcast to pull the plug, but it was liberal outrage that started and fueled the fire. Liberals killed a huge deal for two of the biggest corporations in the country.

This is a good day for the left, and a moment that cements that it is the liberal movement in this country who are the real defenders of consumers and free market competition.

Republicans Are Toast In 2016 If Supreme Court Rules Against Obamacare Subsidies

Congressional Republicans are starting to see the writing on the wall. If the Supreme Court rules against ACA subsidies, they could face a massive voter backlash in 2016.

The Hill reported:

Congressional Republicans are locked in a debate about whether to temporarily keep in place the ObamaCare subsidies that are at risk of being struck down at the Supreme Court.

….

The stakes are high, as a ruling against the healthcare law could strip federal aid from an estimated 7.5 million people ahead of the 2016 elections, with red states hit particularly hard.

….

A new proposal put forward this week by Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), who is up for reelection in 2016, would allow people to keep their ObamaCare plans and subsidies until 2017, when the party hopes a Republican president will able to enact more sweeping changes from the White House.

In other words, there is a segment within the Republican Party who realized that getting rid of the ACA subsidies could mean a big backlash from millions of red state voters who depend on the subsidies for affordable health insurance.

Faced with the prospect of facing a likely Democratic nominee with more red state appeal that President Obama, Republicans should be worried.

Senate Republicans from states that vote Democratic in presidential elections, but have Republican governors who did not set up their own exchanges, should be terrified.

Ironically, the same Republican effort at the state level to resist participating in Obamacare could come back to haunt Republicans in 2016.

With satisfaction with Obamacare skyrocketing, the Supreme Court could put Democrats on a path to victory in 2016 if they give Republicans what they have long claimed to want.

The same hatred of the ACA that has fueled their campaigns for years is also sowing the seeds for Republican defeat and destruction.

Republican Nightmares Come True As Customer Satisfaction With Obamacare Skyrockets

Republican nightmares have become reality as a new survey revealed that customer satisfaction with Obamacare has skyrocketed to the where it is now more popular than all other insurance options.

According to a new J.D Power survey, customer satisfaction has jumped 55 points in the last year:

Satisfaction with the Health Insurance Marketplace exchange enrollment process among new enrollees has significantly increased from 2014, and health plans obtained through the Marketplace exchange generate levels of member satisfaction equal to or higher than plans not obtained through the Marketplace exchange, according to the J.D. Power 2015 Health Insurance Marketplace Exchange Shopper and Re-Enrollment (HIX) StudySM released today.

….

According to the study, enrollment satisfaction among new enrollees has increased by a significant 55 points to 670 (on a 1,000-point scale) from 615 in 2014, when all enrollees were new to the Marketplace. Satisfaction with enrollment among new enrollees is driven by the variety of information available. Among members who re-enrolled, satisfaction with the enrollment processis 731, higher than new enrollees. Satisfaction with the re-enrollment process is higher among those who auto re-enrolled (744) than among those who did not (724).

….

“Marketplace shoppers are very cost-sensitive,” said Rick Johnson, senior director of the healthcare practice at J.D. Power. “Unlike many traditional health plan members, who are often tied to a single employer benefit offering, Marketplace members have an option to switch plans annually, allowing them to shop for either the most affordable or the most valuable plan. Plan providers need to demonstrate the value of their plan by clearly communicating coverage and benefits. Additionally, auto re-enrollment is a great way to both ease the re-enrollment process and increase member retention.”

The results of this survey shatter the Republican myth that the people who have Obamacare plans hate them. The survey also devastated the Republican idea that Obamacare has made health care more expensive. Most importantly, this survey increased the pressure on Republicans to come with an Obamacare replacement plan that will be as cheap or cheaper for consumers than the plans that are offered on the health insurance exchanges.

Instead of wanted rid of Obamacare, people who have purchased plans are very satisfied. The high level of customer satisfaction means that Republicans will be facing 27 million outraged voters of they every get rid of the health insurance exchanges. These results could also impact the upcoming Supreme Court ruling on the constitutionality of Obamacare subsidies. The swing votes on the court might be reluctant to take away subsidies from a system that has demonstrated its popularity with consumers.

The reason Republicans worked so hard to kill the ACA before it was implemented was their fear that once consumers got a taste of Obamacare, they would never want to let it go. The worst Republican nightmare has always been that Obamacare becomes popular, and the American people would demand more health care.

Obamacare is more dangerous than a government program. The ACA has introduced the idea that every American should have access to affordable health care. Republicans could be setting themselves up for a serious thumping at the ballot box if they continue to insist on repealing Obamacare.

Today’s Phony Hillary ‘Scandal': Clinton Foundation Misfiled Tax Returns, Outrage To Follow

This is the biggest made up Hillary scandal since yesterday! Look for a brand new made up scandal tomorrow!

Read more 

Fox News Sabotages Its Own Propaganda With Poll Showing Democrats Happy With Hillary Clinton

Fox News has been undone by facts again as a new Fox News poll debunked the network’s myth that Democrats are unhappy with Hillary Clinton.

Fox News broke down the data that destroyed their hopes for Democratic disunity:

In the quest for the Democratic nomination, former Sec. of State Hillary Clinton remains on top with 62 percent support among self-identified Democratic primary voters. She’s the only declared candidate on the Democratic side. Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren (12 percent) and Vice President Joe Biden (9 percent) lag far behind.

Despite far fewer options, Democratic primary voters (71 percent) are a tad bit more likely than their GOP counterparts (67 percent) to say they are satisfied with their 2016 choices.

The Bush dynasty is seen as a negative while the Clinton dynasty is a positive. By a 58-34 percent margin, voters say being related to previous presidents is a disadvantage for Jeb Bush, yet by a 52-39 percent margin they think it’s an advantage for Hillary Clinton.

The Republican Party and their main media outlet (Fox News) have been pushing the fantasy that Democrats are dissatisfied with Hillary Clinton as their main option. The right has been desperately trying to turn their twenty plus Republican presidential candidates into lemonade by touting their “deep bench,” and “options.” The reality is that Democratic Party has a major advantage because they are unified around their candidate while Republicans are getting set to engage in a geographic turf war in the hope that one candidate will emerge that can effectively challenge former Sec. Clinton.

Fox News has been featuring Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) lately in a transparently blatant attempt to create division within the Democratic primary. The plan has failed as Sen. Sanders has turned the tables on Fox by discussing his agenda while dominating their attempts to get him to attack Clinton.

The conservative cable news network has managed to shoot itself in the foot with a poll that disproves the myth that they are trying to convince their viewers is true. Facts have proven once again that they are the biggest enemy of Fox News.

It’s Getting Hard to Tell Where Sovereign Citizens End and Republicans Begin

Both Republicans and so-called sovereign citizens are citizens and subject to federal authority. If not, we should rethink deportation laws…

It is probably safe to say at this point that no enemy, foreign or domestic, hates the United States Constitution as passionately as the Republican Party. If they are not pretending it is somehow biblically based – despite zero mentions of God, the Bible, or the Ten Commandments – they are violating the First Amendment or the No Religious Test Clause (Article 6, paragraph 3), or half-a-dozen or more amendments.

Just as the Bible has apparently become one long anti-gay diatribe, the Constitution, to their eyes, has become the sum of the Second and the Tenth Amendments, and nothing much beyond that. And it scarce needs be mentioned that they have turned government of the people, by the people, and for the people, into government of, by, and for the corporations.

So it should come as no surprise that they regularly argue (and even try to back it up with legislation) that federal laws are meaningless (remember that Montana bill a couple of years ago that would have allowed FBI agents to be arrested for making arrests? Or Missouri Republicans who wanted to nullify federal gun laws and arrest federal agents?).

This is a strange species of patriotism being advanced by the GOP, you have to admit.

As the federal government has become demonized, Neo-Confederate secessionists have found the Republican Party amenable to their own goals, and now Larry Pratt of the Gun Owners of America has essentially crawled into bed with the sovereign citizen movement the other day – the people who reject ALL U.S. laws under the fiction that they themselves are not citizens.

Pratt appeared on VCY America’s Crosstalk Tuesday and fielded a call from a Wisconsin sovereign citizen who said, “I just wondered if somebody of your stature would stand up and scream from the rooftops that these 60 million codes and regulations don’t apply to us, only to U.S. citizens.”

Oh, those old laws don’t matter anyway, Pratt said:

Well, I think you can make the same point with another argument, that the body of, the corpus of law and regulations you’re pointing to, almost none of it comes under the Constitution. It gives powers to the federal government that were not given to the federal government in the Constitution. They should be stricken.

An interesting assertion coming from a representative of the party most often violating the Constitution with its legislation. But the striking thing is that while this man self-identified as a sovereign citizen, he could easily be mistaken for a Republican.

Pratt even said the federal movement and the court should not be involving themselves in the marriage equality question (funny how Republicans think differently when the government and courts agree with them), saying, it’s “not something for the federal government or the federal judiciary to be sticking their nose into.”

The United States Constitution says differently.

I realize Republicans hate history – our own history in particular – but there is defending the status quo, and then there is thinking you can go back in time to a status quo that hasn’t been a status quo for a couple hundred years. The terms “clown-car” and “crazy bus,” like the Constitution itself, exist for a reason.

It is funny that while closing his eyes to the underpinnings of our shared reality, Larry Pratt should claim that liberals do not live in a fact-based world. After all, Larry Pratt is the guy who said people should use their guns to keep Obama from being a tyrant, and that Obama should be impeached because of “Pagan” gun safety laws.

Pratt, who accuses other people of not living in a fact-based world, is perfectly described by the Southern Poverty Law Center:

Larry Pratt stands at the intersection of guns and Jesus, lobbying for absolutely unrestricted distribution of firearms while advocating a theocratic society based upon Old Testament civil and religious laws. A pivotal figure in the rise of right-wing militia, or “Patriot,” groups, he spoke at the notorious 1992 “Gathering of Christian Men” in Estes Park, Colo., where 160 neo-Nazis, Klan members, anti-Semitic Christian Identity adherents and others arguably laid the groundwork for the militia movement that would explode in 1994. He believes that white Christians must arm themselves for self-protection in the inevitable social implosions and riots that are soon to come.

David Corn wrote at Mother Jones the other day that guns are “an issue of primal importance to the Republican voting base.” It’s a shame they don’t feel the same way about facts.

And here’s the thing: laws are laws. If you don’t like them, you don’t get to ignore them. You work to change them. That’s what the courts are for (unless you are the Kochs, and then you just buy Congress), and the Supreme Court spends its time, as the Constitution says it should, puzzling these arcane matters out – and obviously, not always getting it right (Citizens United, anyone?).

What all this brouhaha amounts to for people like Pratt is that any law he doesn’t approve of is unlawful. He can claim the Supreme Court should not be “sticking its nose into” marriage equality, but as this is a First Amendment issue, the Fourteenth Amendment says otherwise.

If the Civil War had not taken place, we might not have the Fourteenth Amendment. But it did, and we do. Laws that once might have applied only to the federal government now apply to the states as well.

By the same token, if the Articles of Confederation had worked, we would not have the Constitution. But they didn’t, and we do. We cannot go back and undo the Civil War, and we can’t go back to the Articles of Confederation. Time only flows one direction.

The good news is, they say time heals all wounds. Even open sores like Larry Pratt. Take heart from that.

Meanwhile, of course, both Republicans and these so-called sovereign citizens are citizens and therefore subject to federal authority. If they are not, maybe we should rethink deportation laws. Obviously, we have plenty of people willing to abide by the laws in order to become citizens of this great country.

They’re literally lining up at the door – and unlike sovereign citizens, paying taxes – for a chance to be the citizen Pratt and his sovereign citizen friend, refuses to be.

Audit Reveals Millions Of Dollars Wasted To Deport Immigrants

by Esther Yu-Hsi Lee

The Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency spent $41.1 million more than it needed to deport immigrants from the United States, a new audit by the Department of Homeland Security Inspector General's office found. The findings were based on 5,699 domestic and international missions between October 2010 and March 2014, where the majority of charter planes weren't filled with the maximum number of passengers.
The report found that 5,699 of the 7,445 ICE Air missions operated under capacity, with ICE spending $116 million on planes filled with less than 80 percent of the aircraft's passenger capacity. Domestic missions, like transporting detainees from one ICE facility to another, accounted for 52 percent of all charter flights. Those missions cost more than $231 million.
Flying deportees to Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras, accounted for nearly half of all international missions. The cost to deport immigrants to just those three countries cost $96 million. Including charter and commercial flights and payroll and benefits, the total ICE Air operation cost came in at $598,232,543. The total cost "may include travel expenses for employees as well as detainees," the report noted.
The report also found that ICE missed opportunities to improve efficiency, such as not documenting the reason that a detainee would miss the flight, or making redundant multiple transfers for some detainees. ICE Air moved six detainees multiple times between the same cities: One detainee was flown twice between El Paso, Texas, and Phoenix, Arizona, before eventually getting deported to Honduras. Another detainee was put on five different domestic flights before being flown to his ultimate destination in El Salvador.

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The richest 0.01 percent of Americans gave 42 percent of political donations in 2012

by Stephen WolfForget the top one percent, the top 0.01 percent of Americans gave nearly 42 percent of all political donation dollars in the 2012 election cycle. Just over 30,000 individuals contributed nearly half of all money. It is no coincidence that this proportion has increased steadily as economic inequality has increased. In 1990 when I was born, the figure was just under 13 percent. If we expanded the scope to the full one percent, you can be damn sure they gave the overwhelming majority of dollars in recent years.
Candidates devote 80 percent of their time to begging rich people for money. Any extremist Republican can get a billionaire sugar daddy. The world's eighth richest man can summon the entire Republican primary field to kiss his ring. Millionaires are now complaining about being ignored in favor of billionaires. The average member of Congress is a millionaire.
It should come as no surprise that policymakers look after the ultra-wealthy instead of the rest of us. This trend of increasing economic and political inequality shows no sign of abating. Inequality is incompatible with democracy and it has created a plutocracy. Republicans like Marco Rubio are even proposing abolishing capital gains taxes in an all-out assault on those who actually earn their income.
Government of the rich, by the rich, for the rich, brought to you by the Supreme Court.

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***

Editor's Note: When we were born the percentage was even lower than the 13% cited by the article's author. Of course our kids were born in the late 60s so that makes a difference.

Republican Wannabes Go To Vegas To Audition For Single Largest Campaign Donor In U.S. History

Moron Sheldon Adelson and his wife spent nearly $150 million on the 2012 election.

Walker Goes To Minnesota, Gets Burned, Blames Democrats

Scott Walker and reality really aren't on speaking terms

Walker Gets Burned

Jindal Will Destroy Louisiana's Economy While Pandering To Religio-Wingnuts

Bobby Jindal desperately wants relevance in the 2016 beauty contest.

Jindal Will Destroy Louisiana

How The Regressives Keeps You Stupid

Bobby Jindal’s Budget Slashes College Funding By 82 Percent

At least 20 universities, including LSU, took one look at the budget and started drawing up plans for bankruptcy.

Read more

Oklahoma Republicans Vote To Outlaw Fracking Bans As Earthquakes In The State Spike

Oklahoma Republicans Are Morons

NC Republican Compares Women To Real Estate As House Votes To Triple Wait For Abortions

North Carolina Republican Jacqueline Schaffer successfully urged her colleagues to pass the nation's longest waiting period for abortion last Thursday, arguing that woman should have a cooling off period just like real estate transactions.

 NC Republican Is An Idiot

Rand Paul Will Not Comment On Son's Second Alcohol Incident

William Hilton Paul, 22, son of Rand, has another drunken incident. Somehow, this event was kept quiet for 3 days.

Rand Paul Mum On Son's Alcohol Abuse

Brady Campaign Against Gun Violence Presents Republicans With ‘NRA Lapdog’ Awards

The Brady Campaign Against Gun Violence epically trolled numerous Republican lawmakers (and one Democrat) by presenting them with the very prestigious NRA...

‘NRA Lapdog’ Awards

Arpaio spying on the wife of the Judge that his hearing his case

Joe Arpaio reveals: Attorney hired a detective to snoop on a federal judge's wife

Police Beat Up Defendant — And A Lawyer — Outside Of A Courtroom

Police Beat Up Defendant — And A Lawyer — Outside Of A Courtroom

The Daily Drift

Hey, wingnuts, yeah we're talking to you ...!  

 

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Republicans hate him because he worked to educate and preserve 
- two things that they just cannot abide ... !

Today is - Audubon Day
 

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Climate Change Alert: 2015 Shapes Up To Be Hottest Year Ever

While 56 percent of Republicans in Congress deny climate change exists, 2015 shapes up to be the hottest year on record.

Read more 

Gallup Poll Shows Conclusively Who Climate Change Deniers Are, And It’s EXACTLY Who You Thought

These folks think of climate change as something akin to the way atheists think of the Lord’s second coming — it’s never going to happen.

Read more

Hillary Clinton Obliterates The Latest Republican Benghazi Stunt With A Single Letter

In a letter, former Sec. Clinton’s attorney David Kendall took all the air out the Republican hopes to drag the Benghazi Committee into the 2016 election, and destroyed their latest conspiracy before it got going.

Kendall wrote to Benghazi Select Committee Chairman Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-OK) that Clinton wants to testify before the committee without delay:

In November, I informed your staff of Secretary Clinton’s willingness to testify before the Select Committee on Benghazi. In the succeeding months, she has reiterated her willingness, and I do so again on her behalf. There is no reason to delay her appearance, or have her testify in a private interview.

….

While Secretary Clinton has testified before committees in both the House and the Senate about the tragic events in Benghazi, she has made clear that she will voluntarily testify publicly again before the Select Committee and, at that time, is happy to continue to answer any questions the Select Committee may have about her email use.

Earlier in the day, Speaker of the House John Boehner claimed that the Benghazi investigation was going to stretch into 2016 because Hillary Clinton and President Obama are refusing to turn over “the facts.”

The truth is that House Republicans are trying to delay Clinton’s testimony in order to use it as an issue during the 2016 presidential election.

The ranking Democratic member of the Benghazi Select Committee, Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-MD) put his finger on the real reason why Republicans want former Sec. Clinton to testify behind closed doors, “Secretary Clinton agreed to testify months ago—in public and under oath—so the Select Committee’s claim that it has no choice but to subject her to a private staff interview is inaccurate. Rather than drag out this political charade into 2016 and selectively leak portions of a closed-door interview, the Committee should schedule the public hearing, make her records public, and re-focus its efforts on the attacks in Benghazi.”

Clinton wants to testify in public because she has nothing to hide. By calling Boehner and Gowdy’s bluff, she is painting Republicans into a corner. The House Republicans are trying to imply that she is guilty of wrongdoing by creating the false perception that Clinton is unwilling to testify. Sec. Clinton and her team are masterfully exposing the partisan motivations behind the latest Benghazi investigation.

Hillary Clinton laid to waste the latest Republican attack on her before it ever got started. The message to Republicans is that Hillary Clinton isn’t going to engage in their games, and if they want to dabble in conspiracies, the former Sec. of State is ready to make them pay.

Smoke 'n' Mirrors

Quick Hits

Republicans move to extend Patriot Act provision that allows NSA to collect phone data

Venice beach passes topless sunbathing proposal: 'This is an equality issue'

The most accurate atomic clock ever built won't lose or gain a second for 15 billion years

Michigan woman jailed after McDonald's shooting over bacon-less burger

Islamic school in Australia bans girls from running over virginity fears

20 cash-starved public colleges drafting bankruptcy plans thanks to Bobby Jindal’s budget

Obama urges Iran to play positive role in Yemen

'Bookkeeper of Auschwitz' describes 'orderly' death camp at German trial

US Navy conducts first drone in-flight refueling

Hillary Clinton and Marco Rubio are early frontrunners in 2016 election poll

China warns: North Korea's nuclear arsenal is expanding

Senate committee backs bill giving White House 'fast track' powers over trade deal

Joe Arpaio tells federal judge he had 'subordinates' apply court order to stop racial profiling

According To Fox News, Americans Wouldn’t Join ISIL If Obama Was More Like Reagan

Meanwhile in Fantasy-Land:

Crazy Dr. Ablow and his cracked team of experts...

The Stupid - It Burns!

Republicans wouldn't know what Socialism is, even if it bit them in the ass

by Steve Benen

Former New York Gov. George Pataki (R) probably wouldn’t be a competitive national candidate, but he nevertheless seems to be moving forward with his plans for a presidential campaign. Late last week, he even released an ad teasing a likely announcement.

In the spot, which is airing in New Hampshire, the Republican says he’s had enough of “Obama-style socialism.” He didn’t appear to be kidding.

The comment came to mind yesterday reading Dave Weigel’s latest report on Ted Cruz (R-Texas), who seems annoyed by scuttlebutt about Republicans nominating a governor, not a senator, for their 2016 ticket.

After Texas Senator Ted Cruz addressed the First in the Nation summit in Nashua, New Hampshire, on Saturday, he headed to a basement conference room for a conversation with young Republicans…. When one audience member asked Cruz what executive experience he could bring to the job, Cruz lambasted the “greybeards” in Washington for coming up with the “senator versus governor” framework in the first place.

“Obama is not a disaster because he was a senator,” said Cruz. “Obama is a disaster because he’s an unmitigated socialist, what he believes is profoundly dangerous, and he’s undermined the Constitution and the role of America in the world.”

Let’s put aside the question of whether or not President Obama’s successful tenure constitutes a “disaster,” and instead focus on that other part.

They keep using that word, “socialism,” but I don’t think it means what they think it means.

Look, there’s no reason for “socialism” to serve as a synonym for “stuff Republicans don’t like.” It’s an actual word with a fairly specific meaning, involving public ownership of the means of production.

And it in no way reflects the Obama era. After corporate profits reached all-time highs, the stock markets reached all-time highs, and the sharp drop in the unemployment rate was based almost entirely on private-sector job growth, I thought to myself, “Well, at least they’ll stop calling Obama a ‘socialist.’” But here we are anyway, hearing the same nonsense.

Have we considered the possibility that Republicans literally don’t know what “socialism” means? Isn’t it plausible that knee-jerk partisans have relied so heavily on the word for so long that they simply have lost track of its definition?

Cruz complained last year, “Right now, the top 1 percent in this country … earn a higher share of our national income than any time since 1928.” I’m curious: does the far-right senator believe those are economic conditions created by “an unmitigated socialist”? Or does Cruz believe the president is just really ineffective in implementing his socialist vision?

Boehner Attempts to Undermine the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau

Republicans are more than willing to waste money to help the rich and corporations, but money spent protecting the rest of us is "wasteful"…

Because the preamble of the United States Constitution speaks of “We the people,” rather than “We the corporations,” Boehner does not quite reach that proper, patriotic tone when he says, “No more regulation without representation.”

WASHINGTON, DC – Boehner (R-OH)  applauded House passage of H.R. 1195, the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection Advisory Boards Act, which would establish a small business committee to advise regulators throughout the rule-making process:

“One reason small businesses are still struggling is that they don’t have a seat at the table where regulators are making the decisions. This bipartisan plan ends regulation without representation and gives small business owners a real say in the process. We shouldn’t just be listening to the people who create most of the new jobs in America; we should be empowering them to help develop rules that will protect investment and innovation. I’m sure I’m just one of many current and former small business owners pleased we have acted today to hold the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau accountable.”

Did you catch that last part? The CFPB makes businesses accountable by protecting consumers. Boehner wants to reverse how this works, and make those who protect consumers held accountable to businesses.

Which defeats the purpose. Republicans called the CFPB “unnecessary government overreach” and Boehner appears to think he’s found an underhanded way to defang federal protection of consumers like you and me. The claim to be helping small businesses is just subterfuge.

H.R. 1195, otherwise known as the “Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection Advisory Boards Act,” is sponsored by Republican Robert Pittenger, Representative for North Carolina’s 9th congressional district, and introduced on March 2, 2015.

It is, its description tells us, a bill “To amend the Consumer Financial Protection Act of 2010 to establish advisory boards, and for other purposes.” The details and rationale of the bill are described here.

In essence, the bill establishes a “Small Business Advisory Board” which “will ensure small businesses have the opportunity to provide input to the CFPB regarding their concerns.” This is the part Boehner is pushing. There is more – the ominous “other purposes” – but we will get to that in a moment.

Of course, The Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010 (Dodd-Frank Act) established the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), whose mission it is to “make markets for consumer financial products and services work for Americans — whether they are applying for a mortgage, choosing among credit cards, or using any number of other consumer financial products.”

The CFPB’s core functions are:

• Write rules, supervise companies, and enforce federal consumer financial protection laws
• Restrict unfair, deceptive, or abusive acts or practices
• Take consumer complaints
• Promote financial education
• Research consumer behavior
• Monitor financial markets for new risks to consumers
• Enforce laws that outlaw discrimination and other unfair treatment in consumer finance

You might notice the CFPB protects consumers from businesses and corporations, big or small. Because, as the Romans wisely said, “Let the buyer beware.” And the Romans would know. They didn’t have a CFPB.

We can point out on the one hand that it defeats the purpose if the businesses consumers are being protected from get to pick and choose their own regulations. This is not at all a promising trend for consumers.

Republicans call HR 1195 “bipartisan,” but the bill has 15 Republican co-sponsors to only four Democrats. The vote yesterday was 235 yes versus 183 no. Only four Democrats voted for the bill, which tells you just how bipartisan it really is (see who voted for and against here).

And in fact, as Nancy Pelosi has pointed out, H.R. 1195 is just “the latest House GOP attempt to undermine the CFPB which protects hard-working American consumers.” No surprise given the long history of Republican opposition to the CFPB in the first place and its attacks on it since.

Far from simply adding a voice for small businesses, an important aspect of the bill (an amendment by Jeb Hensarling (R-Texas), is that it cuts the CFPB’s funding by placing a ceiling on its budget.

One of the bill’s Democratic co-sponsors, Rep. Denny Heck (D-WA), urged opposition to the bill, saying Republicans “put the torch to it.”

The same Republicans who are willing to throw away billions through government shut-downs, repeated investigations of Benghazi, suing the president, repealing Obamacare, and pointless other invented scandals, attack what they call the “CFPB’s bloated, wasteful spending.”

For all their claims to be champions of the middle class, that is what the Republicans think of spending money when the money is actually helping Americans like us.

This spending ceiling is something the administration naturally says it opposes. Not only does the CFPB not need additional committees, but, says the White House,

“…the Administration strongly opposes H.R. 1195 as amended by House passage last week of the rule for consideration of the bill, which would reduce the cap on the total amount of funding that could be requested by the Director for the CFPB for FYs 2020 and 2025… These reductions to the caps could result in, among other things, undermining critical protections for families from abusive and predatory financial products. If the President were presented with H.R. 1195 as currently amended, his senior advisors would recommend that he veto the bill.”

So Obama’s advisors have said they will recommend he veto the bill.

Now he will get his chance.

Delusional Lindsey Graham Has No Chance Of Ever Being Pretender

There is nothing as offensive to most people as an egotist that continuously attempts to enhance or exaggerate their own importance, power, or reputation, and it often is the result of some innocent remark or act of another person. There is no person in America as self-aggrandizing as Senator Lindsey Graham whose self-imposed image as a brilliant foreign policy and international relations genius informs him he can be president. Of course, Graham’s only solution for dealing with the world is fear-mongering Americans into believing that pre-emptive wars and American boots on the ground is what makes America a world leader. Graham has been an avid supporter of George W. Bush’s invasion and occupy foreign policy that embroiled America in two protracted and unnecessary wars of aggression to kill Muslims. Conversely, Graham has been a very vocal critic of President Obama’s successful diplomacy that has kept America out of several wars Graham’s warmongering cohorts promoted relentlessly; particularly against the Islamic Republic of Iran.

On Sunday last, Graham stated categorically that because President Obama finally relented and agreed to sign legislation giving Congress a say in reviewing the nuclear negotiations with Iran that he “doesn’t think there’s a snowball’s chance in Hell that this framework will get approved by Congress.” Graham went so far as to reveal that he knows the minds of both Republicans and Democrats in Congress because “no Republican or Democrat is going to allow that to become final.” That is why the President should have forced the House and Senate to override his veto of legislation giving Congress a say in the negotiations; not because Congress will actually affect the outcome of the P5+1 deal with Iran, but because it would have shut Republicans like Graham’s bloviating for the time being.

It is worthwhile to remind Republicans that as Iran’s Foreign Minister Zarif already noted, Republicans cannot stop the deal with Iran. Zarif said “the current negotiation with P5+1 [Britain, China, France, Germany Russia and the United States] will result in a Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action. It is not a bilateral agreement between Iran and the US, but one concluded with five other countries including all permanent members of the United Nations Security Council, and endorsed by a Security Council resolution.” It is also not a treaty the Senate has authority to reject.

Now, if all-knowing Lindsey Graham is the pre-eminent foreign and international policy expert he portrays himself to be, he would comprehend that the United States Congress has no say in whether the deal ‘has a snowball’s chance in Hell’ of being approved. Besides Graham’s god delusion that he knows exactly what is in the minds and intentions of all Republicans and Democrats, he said that he, and only he, is qualified to handle Middle East foreign policy.

What Graham actually said was that no-one, not Barack Obama, not Hillary Clinton, or any Republican is better prepared to deal with nations in the Middle East, particularly Iran, than Lindsey Graham. He said “I’ve been more right than wrong on foreign policy,” and that “the Lindsey Graham worldview and view of foreign policy will always beat Barack Obama’s view of foreign policy and Hillary Clinton’s view of foreign policy.” He also said because America has not invaded the substantial number of countries he wants to invade, and there are many, “the world is literally falling apart.”

The truth of the matter is that since he has been in the Senate as a self-proclaimed foreign policy genius and advocate for several wars against several nations, Graham has been wrong at every turn. In fact as foreign policy warmongers go, Graham makes crazy “bomb everybody” warmonger John McCain look like Mahatma Gandhi advocating for world peace and harmony among nations.

Graham is notorious for trying to scare Americans into supporting perpetual American wars of aggression against every nation on Earth except the country where his true allegiance lies, Israel. In fact, next to Israeli warmonger Benjamin Netanyahu, there is likely no greater warmonger than Lindsey Graham. The man’s self-aggrandizing opinion of himself as the wisest foreign policy genius on Earth is only second to Netanyahu; the foreigner Graham emulates in pushing for American wars against Muslim nations throughout the Middle East. Graham, by his own assignation has crowned himself America’s preeminent spokesman on national security and international relations issues even though he is always wrong; but that is not how Graham sees it according to his statement on national television last Sunday.

Graham’s only foreign policy prescription for America can be summed up as true leadership means having the resolve to use force as a first choice, and that there is no diplomacy without bombs and Americans sent in harm’s way. In Graham’s view, not waging preemptive war is ineffective, a sign of weakness and indecision, and squanders the ability to strike fear in the hearts of the world’s population. Graham said the only way to prevent the “world from literally blowing up” is more American wars. Graham subscribes to Netanyahu’s appraisal that “we live in the most dangerous times imaginable.” Apparently Graham is unaware of World War II, the Cuban Missile Crisis, the Cold War, or any other eras or events he was alive to remember.

Lindsey Graham has been wrong about everything in the Middle East from the duration of the Iraq War he claimed would be over in a year, to the “existential threat to America” from a non-nuclear Iran. Interestingly, in 2013 he put his foot in his mouth and slandered the nation he loves above all others, Israel, and said “The last place in the world you want nuclear weapons is the Mideast. Why? People over there are crazy.” The only place in the Mideast that has any kind of nuclear arsenal is Israel; something a renowned foreign policy and international relations wonk certainly should know. But that is Graham’s dysfunction; he is no more of a foreign policy expert or knows any more  about international relations than a rock.

Graham claims he is 91% sure he is going to make a run for the White House and is basing his qualifications on his ability to warn Americans about the scary and dangerous world because America is not waging wars on several fronts in several nations at once. Lindsey Graham is never going to be president, is never going to win the Republican nomination, and Republicans and Israeli-Democrats are never going to thwart the P5+1 deal with Iran because they are not members of the United Nations Security Council; period. They are delusional bloviates whose foreign policy acumen amounts to trying to frighten Americans who, after two unnecessary Middle East wars, have figured out that Republican warmongers are the only existential threat in the world.

Christie Gave Top Fundraiser Hidden Millions From State Pension

From the "Public Enemies" Department:

So that's where the money went!

Hidden Millions 

Georgia City Council Flirts With Theocracy By Flying christian Flag On Government Buildings

A Georgia town is flirting with theocracy after the city council voted twice against the advice of the city attorney to fly a Christian flag on government buildings.

Read more

Maybe Greg Abbott Showed Scott Walker His Framed Collection Of Koch Checks

From the "Idiots will be Idiots" Department:

Why is Scott Walker putting Koch support at risk?

Koch checks and the strings attached

Scott Walker Dumped As Koch Candidate After Interview Fiasco

The Koch Brothers are now holding auditions for the GOP Presidential candidate in 2016 after their anointed pick goes rogue.

Read more 

Next ...

Like everything else he's done Walker fucked up with the Kochs

Ray-Ban Wants Nothing To Do Rand Paul — Tells Him To Remove Sunglasses From Campaign Store

The faux-libertarian must think trademark rules don’t apply to him, because, you know, freedom.

Read more

Rand Paul’s son was ‘belligerent’ ...

From the "Like Father, Like Son" Department:

Rand Paul’s son was ‘belligerent’ while being cited for drunk driving: police

Putting Hannity in his place

‘Shame on you': Guest scolds Sean Hannity for asking every Muslim guest about terrorism

Dark Red Oklahoma Angers Big Oil And Gas: Energy Practices Causing State’s Earthquakes

As the nation commemorated Earth Day 2015 this past week with a variety of observances, activities and awareness campaigns, it’s the perfect time to renew calls for bipartisan cooperation to address climate change. And I’m also pleased to report a welcome anomaly among hard-core red states that should set an example for other Republican-misled governments to follow.

On Tuesday, writer Michael Wines of The New York Times published a piece entitled Oklahoma Recognizes Role of Drilling in Earthquakes. The lead, pardon the pun, was rather seismic:

“Abandoning years of official skepticism, Oklahoma’s government on Tuesday embraced a scientific consensus that earthquakes rocking the state are largely caused by the underground disposal of billions of barrels of wastewater from oil and gas wells.”

Although we should not fall all over ourselves commending overdue common sense, the change is significant for two major reasons.

Oklahoma is a Red State – capital “R,” capital “S.” How Red is it? On January 25 of this year, Randy Krehbiel of the Tulsa World wrote, “Republicans will hold 112 of 149 seats in the Legislature that begins a week from Monday, plus every elected statewide office and the entire congressional delegation. And good luck to the Democrat who tries to make the two-party argument.”

With over 75 percent of the state’s lawmakers leaning to the hard right, it is kind of amazing that leadership would adopt a policy position that stands in direct contrast to the national party’s official platform on Natural Resources. Just for fun, here is the section related to Protecting Our Environment verbatim:

“The environment is getting cleaner and healthier. The nation’s air and waterways, as a whole, are much healthier than they were just a few decades ago. Efforts to reduce pollution, encourage recycling, educate the public, and avoid ecological degradation have been a success. To ensure their continued support by the American people, however, we need a dramatic change in the attitude of officials in Washington, a shift from a job-killing punitive mentality to a spirit of cooperation with producers, landowners, and the public. An important factor is full transparency in development of the data and modeling that drive regulations. Legislation to restore the authority of States in environmental protection is essential. We encourage the use of agricultural best management practices among the States to reduce pollution.”

I suppose the GOP forgot to forward this memo to the 97 percent of climate scientists who agree that our planet is not, in fact, “getting cleaner and healthier.” Maybe the total falsehood of the assertion is part of the problem.

In light of the party’s mandate that the federal government illustrate “a spirit of cooperation with producers [Big Energy], landowners [the landed gentry], and the public [afterthought peons],” Oklahoma is committing a real act of partisan treason. With its new position that oil and gas conglomerates are the direct cause of the state’s devastating earthquakes, up to two 3.0 magnitude tremors per day, cue the dissatisfaction of energy interests. After Republican Governor Mary Fallin’s office issued the new guidance this week, Wines writes:

“[The] actions met a mixed response from the oil and gas industry and the Governor’s critics. The Oklahoma Oil and Gas Association disputed the Geological Survey’s conclusions, saying in a statement that further study of the state’s quakes remained necessary.”

Uh huh. However, Democrats are welcoming the new, fact-based approach. Wines observes, “One of the most prominent advocates of stronger action on the earthquake issue, State Representative Cory Williams, a Democrat, said he had been pleasantly surprised by the change in what he called the state’s ‘head in the sand’ approach to the quake problem.

Climate change is one of the issues where it’s always better to act late than never. It remains to be seen if the practices of oil and gas companies can be altered to reverse the ecological damage done in the State of Oklahoma, and party leaders deserve continued rebuke for a failure to impose a moratorium sooner. In fact, they may never get around to imposing it at all. But if words are powerful and can change the constituent conversation (which they can, as it took years of disingenuous proselytizing from Republicans to talk the EPA-creating party of Nixon back into the dark ages), then Oklahoma may have just taken a great leap forward in saving itself.

Popeyes offers job back to manager ...

 

Popeyes offers job back to manager fired after refusing to reimburse cash stolen in armed robbery