The Daily Drift

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

 

The Truth Be Told is read in 203 countries around the world.

 
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Today is - Barbershop Quartet Day
 

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America Is A Liberal Nation

More Americans Support Democrats

Pew Research dug deep into the long term trends on party affiliation and found that more demographic groups lean Democratic than Republican, and more Americans lean towards supporting Democrats.

Pew found that Republicans are just who they are often thought to be. Mormons (+48) and Evangelical Christians (+46) were the heaviest skewing Republican groups followed by white Southerns (+21), white men with some or no college education (+21), white voters (+9), and voters age 69-86 (+4).

The demographic groups that tilt Democratic include Blacks (+69), Asians (+42), religiously unaffiliated (+36), postgraduate women (+35), Jewish (+30), Hispanics (+30), millennials (+16).

According to Pew, more Americans lean Democratic than Republican:

ost of those who identify as independents lean toward a party. And in many respects, partisan leaners have attitudes that are similar to those of partisans – they just prefer not to identify with a party. (See this appendix to our 2014 polarization report for an explainer on partisan “leaners.”)

The balance of leaned partisan affiliation has changed little in recent years: 48% identify with the Democratic Party or lean Democratic, while 39% identify as Republicans or lean toward the GOP. Democrats have led in leaned party identification among the public for most of the past two decades.

One of the reasons why Republicans have lost five of the last six popular votes in presidential elections is that more Americans lean towards supporting the Democratic Party. The media and Republicans like to perpetuate the myth that America is a conservative nation, but the reality is that America is a lot more liberal than conservatives care to admit.

Pew examined data from 1992-2014, and the result confirms that the Democratic Party is more diverse than the GOP. The key demographics for Republicans are centered around evangelicals, Mormons, whites, Southerners, men, and older Americans. This group is more likely to care about beliefs and social issues over economics and pocketbook politics.

With Democrats emphasizing middle-class economics and populist ideas, it is not surprising that they hold a built-in advantage with much of the national electorate. One of the byproducts of the Republican overseen Great Recession is that the country has moved left. Voters oppose the Republican agenda of trickle-down economics and tax cuts for the wealthy.

America is moving left, and if Republicans don’t come with it, they are going to a regional party that gets left behind.

White House Announces Plan To Tackle The Health Threats Of Climate Change

The announcement includes a wide range of new public and private-sector initiatives and projects on climate change and health.

How Congress Is Putting Our Food Supply At Risk

The FDA recently asked Congress to allocate $109.5 million for the upcoming year -- half of what will help the agency meet its food safety modernization goals -- but it remains to be seen if a Republican-controlled legislature will fulfill the request.

Republican Policies Are Literally Contradicting Their Entire Ideology

by Allen Clifton

Sometimes I do wish I could live in the mind of a conservative for a day or two just so that I could try to understand what it’s like to actually believe the nonsense pushed by the Republican party. Outside of my general disagreement with just about everything they stand for, it amazes me just how often the policies Republicans support often make other things they oppose much worse.
Take for instance abortion. Without a doubt, the leading cause of most abortions are unplanned pregnancies. So, logic would then dictate that if someone opposed abortion, they should be someone who’s a big supporter of measures that would prevent them, right? Things such as access to contraceptives and sex education for teenagers.
But not if you’re a typical conservative. Not only do they oppose abortions, but they also typically oppose easier access to contraceptives and sex education for teens - two things that would drastically reduce the number of unplanned pregnancies, which are the main reason why women have abortions.
It makes absolutely no sense.
Then there’s the welfare situation in this country. Millions of Americans are working full-time jobs, but still rely on government programs to help them provide for their families. A big reason for this is because our minimum wage is entirely too low. So, logic would then dictate that if we raised the minimum wage, that would help move millions of Americans off government programs as their income increased.
Naturally, since Republicans love being absolute hypocrites, they oppose raising the minimum wage and social programs that help the poor. They’re literally fighting against measures to help people get off government programs - while condemning those who are reliant upon them because they earn such a low wage at their job.
Then there’s always gun violence. For decades the NRA has done just about everything it possibly could to ensure that obtaining a gun and ammunition was as easy as humanly possible. By doing so, they’ve successfully managed to saturate our society with over 300 million guns. Pretty soon there are going to be more guns than humans in this country.
Well, being that guns have been so easily obtainable, it goes without saying that “bad guys” have had little trouble getting their hands on them – which is a big reason why the U.S. leads the modern world in gun violence.
So, because the NRA (and the GOP) have feverishly fought for decades to make guns as easy to obtain as possible – leading to the U.S. being plagued with rampant gun violence – Republicans now claim that the best way to combat that violence is with, you guessed it, more guns.
Ladies and gentlemen, that’s what you call a party selling out to big gun and ammunition manufacturers that have literally convinced millions of people that the only way to solve the problem they helped create (gun violence) is with more of the same things that caused the problem to begin with.
Then there’s always their love of tax cuts and supposed hate of our national debt. Let me break this down a bit. In the 80′s, under Ronald Reagan’s leadership, we massively cut taxes – which then led to our national debt nearly tripling. Then there was George W. Bush who came in and passed more tax cuts, promising they would eliminate our national debt within a decade – but instead they added nearly $5 trillion to it.
Being that tax cuts have never proven to create jobs, just more debt, Republicans literally support economic policies that drastically decrease the revenue this country takes in (which always leads to an increase in our national debt), while claiming to be the party that represents fiscal responsibility. Meanwhile, the GOP hasn’t had a president from their party balance the budget since Dwight D. Eisenhower in the 50′s.
Only in the delusional minds of Republicans can you believe that you’re the party for fiscal responsibility, yet every Republican president for the last half century has left office with a larger national debt than before they went in.
I’ll go ahead and stop there. While there are clearly more examples, these are just a few showing where policies Republicans support actually make other things they supposedly oppose much, much worse.
It would almost be comical if it wasn’t so frustratingly (and tragically) hypocritical.

The Big Chill

by Robert Reich.

It's bad enough big money is buying off politicians. It's also buying off nonprofits that used to be sources of investigation, information, and social change, from criticizing big money. Other sources of funding are drying up. Research grants are waning. Funds for social services of churches and community groups are growing scarce. Legislatures are cutting back university funding. Appropriations for public television, the arts, museums, and libraries are being slashed. So what are non-profits to do? "There's really no choice," a university dean told me. "We've got to go where the money is." And more than at any time since the Gilded Age of the late 19th century, the money is now in the pockets of big corporations and the super wealthy. So the presidents of universities, congregations, and think tanks, other nonprofits are now kissing wealthy posteriors as never before. But that money often comes with strings.

How Big Money Is Buying Off Criticism of Big Money

Reflections In Reality

Larry Wilmore Slams Kansas And Missouri Republicans For Attacking The Poor

Republicans in Kansas and Missouri are waging a cruel war against poor people, and Larry Wilmore refused to let them get away with it.

Read full story

Walmart's Small Wage Increase Not Enough for Employees, Taxpayers

Walmart would need to raise its base pay to $15 an hour to properly compensate its workers and relieve America's taxpayers from picking up part of its payroll tab. Can Walmart afford it? The Walton family saw their fortune increase by $21 billion last year alone. For about half that amount they could give every one of Walmart's 1.3 million U.S. employees a $5-an-hour raise.

Not Enough

Quit putting ‘goddamn’ wingnut ads on for free

Chris Matthews explodes at MSNBC: Quit putting ‘goddamn’ wingnut ads on for free

Rand’s rollout violates copyright and touts “eductation” policy, among other SNAFUs

Apparently, his staff needs a 21st Century eductation on how to operate online. 

Rand violates copyright among other SNAFUs

Rand Paul clashes with another woman news anchor for daring to ask him a real question

Rand Paul clashes with another woman news anchor for daring to ask him a real question

Rand Paul Would Bomb Iran, Protect Your Dick Pics From The NSA

Paul's candidacy is really a battle between the libertarians and the neocons, with Paul flipping back and forth between them.

Rand Paul Is A Moron

Critics of Iran nuclear deal 'are being wholly disingenuous'

CIA chief John Brennan: Critics of Iran nuclear deal 'are being wholly disingenuous'

What A Deal

Wingnut hate radio hack Michael Savage thinks only white people fought in World War II

Abortion Opponents Are Quietly Going After One Of The Top Medical Schools In The Country

And it could have big consequences for future doctors.

The CEO Who Took On Indiana's Anti-LGBT Law -- And Won

 

The CEO Who Took On Indiana's Anti-LGBT Law -- And Won

The Backlash Has Already Begun

As Texas considers Indiana-style religious freedom bill, businesses warn of Indiana-style backlash

Anti-Gay Republican Outed As A Drag Queen Named ‘Miss Mona Sinclair

From the "Oldie But Goodie" Department:

by Shannon Barber 

We always say that the biggest homophobes are usually the most likely to be closet homosexuals. Often, that turns out to be true, and comes out in a hilariously embarrassing way (hilarious for us, embarrassing for the outed homophobe). This time, though, the homophobe reached a whole other level.
Meet 34-year-old Steve Wiles, GOP candidate for the North Carolina Senate. He supports Amendment 1, North Carolina’s ban on same-sex marriage. However, there is another side to Mr. Wiles. According Randy Duggins, former owner of the gay bar Club Odyssey, Wiles was a frequent patron of the club in the 1990’s. Further, circa 2001-2002, Wiles began working for the club as the performance booker and show director for drag shows. Wiles emceed the drag shows as a female impersonator named Miss Mona Sinclair, The Raw Story reports. Duggins says, speaking of Wiles to the Winston-Salem Journal:

“He’s Mona Sinclair.”

Wiles, while blundering around to attempt to both deny and justify his past, originally said:

“That’s not me.”

Later, however, Wiles admitted to his former career as a Club Odyssey drag queen while speaking to Business Insider:

“I think that everyone has their own choices to make and I’m fine with everyone making their own. For me, from a religious standpoint, just for my life, for me, it just was not something that I wanted to continue. Of course it was an embarrassment, but you know, you move on. You live life, and you change, and you make yourself what you want yourself to be. And that’s where I am now.”

Here’s the image:

A photo of Mona Sinclair found on Ryot.org

Well, at least he finally admitted it. The thing is, though, he had to know that his past would eventually catch up to him. There are bunches of photos and videos being taken at drag shows. It isn’t exactly the sort of thing one can do in secret. Further, if someone does something like that, then comes out for legislation that hurts the community he was once a part of, he has to expect the whistle to get blown. That is just the way it is, Mr. Wiles, and, in my opinion, you are getting just what you deserve. You are a hypocrite of the highest order, and your time for getting your comeuppance is now.
As for the million dollar question, that is, whether or not Steve Wile is gay? Of course Wiles neither confirms nor denies that, lest something about his sexual past comes out, most likely. He says, in response to the question:

“No, no, I really wont make any comments on that.”

That’s okay, Mr. Wiles – or would you prefer I call you Miss Sinclair? You don’t have to comment on it. Your silence on the matter speaks volumes.  Chances are, you are gay, and it is only a matter of time before the proof of that comes out.
When speaking on his opposition to same- sex marriage, Wiles expresses the same ignorant sentiments that many anti-gay GOPers do:

“I don’t really understand how you can separate the fact that marriage is a religious institution.” 

It isn’t a religious institution, you dunce. It is a contract between the state and two people who wish to bind themselves legally to one another. That has nothing to do with religion. If it were religious, the only place you could get married would be in a church. That is not the case. In fact, the church ceremony doesn’t mean jack in the eyes of the law.
Wiles is currently in the middle of a three way GOP primary in a very conservative NC district. Likely, the fact that he is a drag queen means that he doesn’t have a chance in  hell of winning.

More: The Top 16 Gay 'Anti-Gay' Pols