Wisconsin and Minnesota: A One-Sided Political Competition

by Steve Benen

Wisconsin and Minnesota have long made fascinating bookends. As longtime readers may recall, the two neighboring states have similar sizes, similar populations, similar demographics, and even similar climates. But they don’t necessarily have similar politics, at least not lately.

In the 2010 elections, the Badger State elected Scott Walker (R) governor and gave control of the legislature to Republicans, while the Gopher State made Mark Dayton (D) governor and elected a Democratic legislature. The former got to work targeting collective bargaining and approving tax cuts, while the latter raised taxes on the wealthy and boosted in-state investments.

Nearly five years later, one of these two states is doing quite well. Policy.mic had an interesting report this week.

Since 2011, Minnesota has been doing quite well for itself. The state has created more than 170,000 jobs, according to the Huffington Post. Its unemployment rate stands at 3.6% – the fifth-lowest in the country, and far below the nationwide rate of 5.7% – and the state government boasts a budget surplus of $1 billion. Forbes considers Minnesota one of the top 10 in the country for business.

As Patrick Caldwell recently explained very well, Minnesota’s gains come on the heels of tax increases on Minnesota’s top 2% and higher corporate taxes, both of which state Republicans said would crush Minnesota’s economy. As for their neighbors to the east:

By a number of measures, Wisconsin hasn’t fared as well as Minnesota. As the Milwaukee Sentinel Journal reports, Wisconsin’s job growth has been among the worst in the region, and income growth is one of the worst in the country. It has a higher unemployment rate than Minnesota. And the budget is in bad shape.

Back in January, the editorial board of LaCrosse Tribune wrote, “The governors of Wisconsin and Minnesota each presented their versions of new year’s resolutions in various media interviews last week….Which approach is better? As we enter the new year, Minnesota is clearly winning by a long shot.”

Political scientist Lawrence Jacobs published a related comparison a while back, which drew a similar conclusion: “The lesson from the upper Midwest is that rigid anti-tax dogma fails to deliver a convincing optimistic vision that widens economic opportunity and security. The excesses of liberalism may lurk, but Minnesota is building a modern progressivism that plows a hopeful path.”

Comparisons between states can be inherently tricky, but that’s what makes the Minnesota/Wisconsin test so interesting – two similar, neighboring states, trying very different approaches at the exact same time, facing identical national conditions.

I’d imagine most Republicans might find the results hard to explain.

A Petition Has Been Launched To Prosecute and Expel John Boehner From Congress

This week a MoveOn.org petition began circulating for the purpose of prosecuting John A. Boehner for willfully breaking a federal law …

Over the course of the past six years many Americans have felt frustrated that Republicans have deliberately worked against the best interests of the American people with impunity. What makes the frustration all the more unbearable is that most people feel there is nothing they can possibly do for redress to hold Republicans accountable for what, in many cases, are blatant violations of federal laws. In a great deal of the cases, a major share of the blame falls on the impotent Department of Justice that is either terrified of investigating what is often seditious and blatant Republican malfeasance, or looks the other way to avoid the appearance of partisan political retribution. Whatever the reason for failing to do its due diligence, it often falls on the people to take matters into their own hands and start a petition.

This week, a MoveOn.org petition began circulating for the purpose of prosecuting Speaker of the House John A. Boehner for willfully breaking a federal law when he knowingly violated the 216 year-old Logan Act. The petition demands that Boehner, “by law must now be tried by Congress, and forced to resign.” However, according to 18 U.S.C. § 953 (Logan Act), by violating the “Logan Act” (Private correspondence with foreign governments) Boehner can be punished “under federal law with imprisonment of up to three years. Any act of prosecuting and convicting the Speaker must be initiated by a Justice Department United States Attorney; at best Congress can conduct its own investigation for ethics violations and expel Boehner, or he can resign. The Koch brothers or Benjamin Netanyahu will never allow that to happen, but by all means please sign the petition and relieve that crushing feeling of frustration.

The petition accurately claims that by “directly commencing and carrying on correspondence with an officer of a foreign government (Netanyahu) with intent to influence or defeat the measures of the United States,” Boehner broke a federal law. It also is correct that Boehner attempted to deal in foreign policy to usurp the powers of the presidency of the United States thus violating the “separation of powers” in the U.S. Constitution. But the only prosecutable crime is “corresponding with an agent of a foreign government with the intent to influence or defeat the measures of the United States” according to the Logan Act. The petition is to be “to be delivered to The United States House of Representatives, The United States Senate, and President Barack Obama.”

Now, one certainly understands why the petition is not “to be delivered” to the Department of Justice or a United States Attorney; it would be tantamount to flushing it away in a toilet. The Department of Justice just does not investigate or prosecute willful violations of federal laws when Republicans or any of their variant malcontents are involved. As the President has already stated, his administration would rather focus on looking ahead to a hopeful future than backwards; or war criminals George W. Bush and Dick Cheney et al and admitted torturers would already be in federal prisons.

The Congress, Securities and Exchange Commission, Federal Elections Commission, and Department of Justice have had several opportunities to prosecute John Boehner, but he is above the law. He was viewed, and admitted to, handing out tobacco industry bribes on the floor of the House for favorable votes in 1996, and was given a pass because he claimed he was just complying with a tobacco corporation’s orders. Apparently, as long as Boehner was just following a tobacco corporation’s orders to hand out bribes, Congress or the Justice Department took a ‘hands off’ approach to clearly unethical conduct.

In 2010 according to his financial disclosure,  Boehner purchased stock in seven Canadian tar sand companies prior to becoming Speaker of the House, and promptly began lying about the ‘hundreds-of-thousands” of American jobs with the KeystoneXL pipeline construction. His lies were in spite of TransCanada’s own prospectus touting no more than 2,400 temporary jobs and 35 permanent positions before he began his push to increase his portfolio worth by inflating share prices. A petition was started, and two outside environmental groups sent damning documents to the Security Exchange Commission that began mulling an investigation into Boehner’s apparent share price manipulation. However, because a foreign corporation (TransCanada), the Koch brothers, and a foreign nation’s leader (Canadian Prime Minister Harper) wanted the pipeline pushed, Boehner complied and was given another pass.

Now, Boehner committed another clear violation; this time of a federal law, and another petition is making the rounds in hopes that the Koch Congress will take action? They have no authority in matters of prosecuting federal laws and if any American thinks for a second that the Department of Justice will take action they are just glaringly ignorant; hopeful, but ignorant. Republicans will not allow it and dog-only-knows Netanyahu will bring his considerable clout to bear on the Justice Department. A Justice Department, by the way, that cannot even prosecute a white racist cop for gunning down an unarmed African American teen because apparently murder is not a prosecutable civil rights violation.

In fact, this particular Department of Justice cannot prosecute any white conservatives regardless of the seditious intent or stated attempt to start a “second revolution” against the United States government. It is coming up on a year since a white racist rancher summoned equally white racist and heavily armed militias to aim loaded firearms at agents of the federal government executing two federal court orders with impunity and immunity from prosecution. Likely because conservative media and several high-ranking Republican politicians proclaimed the sedition was patriotic; like a sitting president’s administration authorizing the torture of captive prisoners.

In another case of injustice, in a federal court agreement last year, the Internal Revenue Service was ordered to begin investigating and prosecuting evangelical churches for violating their 501(c) tax exempt status. Nothing has happened in spite of over 5,000 evangelical preachers sending videotaped evidence of their illegal campaigning for Republicans from the pulpit daring the IRS to enforce the law. Being a religious right lawbreaker is just as profitable as being a seditious rancher or Republican Speaker of the House of Representatives.

By all means; sign the MoveOn.org petition demanding that Speaker of the House John A. Boehner face prosecution in federal court and expulsion from Congress. Like his other unethical congressional acts and corrupt violations of federal laws, there is no doubt he violated the 216 year-old Logan Act by inviting a foreigner to “influence and defeat a measure of the United States.”

However, know first that the only satisfaction any signer will ever get is while they are filling in those little boxes typical of any online petition. Because no matter how many signatures the petition garners, Speaker of the House John A Boehner is going to face the same justice and consequences as the racist white cop who gunned down an unarmed African American teen; none whatsoever. After all, this is America and there is no equity in the justice system; particularly for a criminal who is a repeat offender named is John Boehner.

A Nonpartisan Ethics Organization Just Named the Worst Governor in America

The Contest Wasn’t Even Close

The nonpartisan Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) has declared Wisconsin's Scott Walker the “Worst Governor in America.”

Even though he had fierce competition from fellow Republicans Tom Corbett and Susana Martinez, this is a choice CREW had no trouble making:

In the past he’s employed illegal tactics and abused his power to round up votes, but Scott Walker (R-WI) didn’t have to break a sweat to win this contest. For racking up a record that has veered from unethical conduct to staggering incompetence, CREW’s voters awarded Gov. Walker the title of Worst Governor in America.

Gov. Walker had made his name in 2011 by ramming through unprecedented restrictions on the collective bargaining of public workers, but that’s just the tip of the iceberg:

Gov. Walker also presided over illegal activity and wasteful spending at a public-private partnership that he and the state legislature created to promote economic development.  Additionally, a long-running investigation into Walker’s tenure as Milwaukee County executive and his 2010 gubernatorial campaign resulted in criminal charges against several of his aides.  CREW cited these scandals and others in naming Walker to the second edition of its Worst Governors in America report.

“Scandal and embarrassment seem to follow Gov. Walker wherever he goes,” said CREW Executive Director Melanie Sloan. “Given his inability to competently handle the most basic responsibilities of his office and willingness to overstep his authority to help his donors, it’s no wonder CREW’s voters recognized him as a singularly terrible American governor.”

Currently, Scott Walker is under fire on multiple fronts. In June, Wisconsin was ranked 49th out of 50 in job creation by the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia. Over the past few weeks, dozens have been arrested in the Wisconsin state capitol for the simple act of singing, under new protest restrictions Walker’s administration put in place. Just yesterday, Walker shocked many of his former political allies by suggesting expanding his union-busting Act 10 to include police officers and firefighters as well.

All this, and Scott Walker is not-so-secretly laying the groundwork for a presidential run.

Read the full report.

Bad News Republicans, Voters Aren’t Going To Care About Hillary Clinton’s Emails

Experts and scholars are giving Republicans some very bad news. Voters are unlikely to give a damn about Hillary Clinton’s emails in 2016.

The problem that Republicans have is that the “scandal” that they are trying to gin up can’t be easily explained. The Clinton emails are following the same path as Benghazi and the IRS scandal. Most people aren’t paying attention, and the “scandal” can’t be easily explained in a 30 second ad.

As Brendan Nyhan, an assistant professor of government at Dartmouth, wrote:

The actual public response to the controversy is likely to be a combination of apathy and partisanship. Few Americans are paying attention to any aspect of the campaign at this point. Those who do notice will most likely divide largely along partisan lines, with Democrats interpreting her actions more charitably, especially once they see Republicans attacking Mrs. Clinton on the issue.

Any significant political costs are also likely to be fleeting because the revelations came so early in the campaign cycle. It is hard to believe that a lack of transparency in Mrs. Clinton’s use of email will have a significant effect on a general election that will be held some 20 months from now. As the political scientist John Sides wrote on Twitter, “In October 2016, no persuadable voter will be thinking about Hillary Clinton’s email account.” It’s equally implausible that this revelation will draw a second top-tier candidate into the race for the Democratic nomination given the advantages Mrs. Clinton retains over possible rivals like Joe Biden and Elizabeth Warren.

The Clinton email “scandal” is a byproduct of a bored mainstream press who need something to cover on the Democratic side of the 2016 election. There is no real story here. Every political figure uses private email. Scott Walker has his own email scandal in Wisconsin. Jeb Bush received 3 million emails as governor of Florida, 500,000 of them on a private account. Of the 3 million emails that he received, he has only released 250,000. Chris Christie has numerous scandals unfolding in New Jersey and private emails play a role in all of them.

The reason the Republican candidates have been so quiet about the Clinton emails is that they all have their own skeletons in their inbox closets.

Former Sec. Clinton took the steam out of any potential Republican congressional investigation by calling for all of her emails to be released:

Hillary Clinton        ✔ @HillaryClinton Follow

I want the public to see my email. I asked State to release them. 

They said they will review them for release as soon as possible.

When voters go into the voting booth on Election Day in 2016, history tells us that they aren’t going to care about Hillary Clinton’s email accounts.

The media jumped on this story because the Democrats have no primary contest to speak of, and the Republican candidates combined have about as much charisma as a cold bowl of oatmeal. The press is looking to drum up a little business, and desperate Republicans are trying to latch on to anything to stop Clinton. It all adds up to a story that the Beltway chattering class will natter on about, but it will mean nothing to voters in 2016.

The NRA Mocks Gabby Giffords Getting Shot

Really?!

Not cool.

Read full story

The corruption runs long and deep ...

POLITICO accidentally points out how insanely conservative the GOP is

On Tuesday, the House passed a clean Department of Homeland Security funding bill, avoiding a looming departmental shutdown while leaving President Obama’s executive actions ...

Oops

Faced with a crisis, Brownback reconsiders ‘Obamacare’

by Steve Benen

Plenty of Republican governors, including a few White House hopefuls, are facing alarming budget shortfalls right now, but no one’s in worse shape than Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback (R). The far-right former senator imposed an “experiment” on his state, and it’s failed spectacularly.

Massive tax breaks Kansas couldn’t afford have led to debt downgrades, weak growth, and state finances in shambles. Making matters worse, confronted with weak statewide job growth and a deepening budget shortfall, a judicial panel recently ruled that Kansas has been “inadequately funding K-12 education.” Brownback, not surprisingly, can’t afford the fix.

How dire have things gotten for the beleaguered Republican governor? The Lawrence Journal-World in Kansas reports that Brownback is starting to reconsider his contempt for the Affordable Care Act (via Daniel Strauss).

Gov. Sam Brownback suggested Wednesday that he might consider proposals to expand Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act, provided the Legislature can identify a way to pay for it.

“I’ve been pushing that anything we do on Medicaid expansion has to be 100-percent paid for,” Brownback said during impromptu remarks to the Kansas Association of Insurance Agents, who met at the Statehouse on Wednesday…. Brownback’s comments, which came in response to a question from one of the insurance agents, stood in stark contrast to his remarks on the campaign trail last year when he said he strongly opposed the federal health care law, also known as Obamacare, and criticized his Democratic opponent Paul Davis for supporting it.

To be sure, the governor isn’t officially on board, at least not yet. But Brownback was willing to say yesterday, “I haven’t said we’ll take it. I haven’t said we wouldn’t.” In this case, “it” is Medicaid expansion through the ACA.

And as you’d probably guess, the Kansas Republican has never said anything close to this before.

In a way, this is an important test of Brownback’s fealty to his own ineffective ideology. He’s committed to his failed economic plan and he’s equally committed to opposing the Affordable Care Act. In this case, however, caving to reality on one front (the ACA) would directly help alleviate his principal problem (the massive budget shortfall the governor caused).

So, what’s it going to be, gov? “Obamacare” can help you out of a jam, help thousands of Kansas families, boost state hospitals, and close your budget gap. Do you really hate the president that much that you’d spite yourself on principle?

Postscript: A far-right group in neighboring Missouri welcomed Brownback for an event yesterday. The organization, called Grow Missouri, tweeted before the event, “Honored to have (Brownback) in Jefferson City today talking to (lawmakers) about his tax policies and how we can adopt them.”

Why anyone would want to duplicate Brownback’s failures on purpose remains something of a mystery.

Alabama Republican Bill Allows Discrimination Against Any Couple Who Isn’t White, Christian, And Heterosexual

“This affects all married individuals, not just those that are LGBT.”

Read more 

Antonin Scalia’s unintentional humor

by Steve Benen

During oral arguments this morning in the King v. Burwell case, Justice Antonin Scalia heard Solicitor General Don Verrilli warn of dire consequences if the Supreme Court strips millions of families of their health care insurance subsides. The Republican jurist just didn’t believe the consequences would be ignored by the people’s representatives.

It led to an unintentionally amusing exchange:

SCALIA: What about Congress? You really think Congress is just going to sit there while all of these disastrous consequences ensue? I mean, how often have we come out with a decision such as the ­­ you know, the bankruptcy court decision? Congress adjusts, enacts a statute that takes care of the problem. It happens all the time. Why is that not going to happen here?

VERRILLI: Well, this Congress?

The room, not surprisingly, erupted in laughter. Congratulations, Congress, you’ve literally sunk to the level of a punch line.

But more to the point, Scalia wasn’t kidding. “I don’t care what Congress you’re talking about,” he added. “If the consequences are as disastrous as you say, so many million people ­­ without insurance and whatnot – yes, I think this Congress would act.”

On a purely theoretical level, this is not ridiculous. Major new laws have routinely needed minor technical fixes for generations, and many of these corrections are intended to bring clarity to ambiguous phrases. Under normal circumstances, the King v. Burwell case wouldn’t even exist because Congress would have clarified the ACA structure years ago.

And, again in theory, if the Supreme Court were to decide in this case that the statute needs clarification, a sane, mature, responsible legislative branch would simply add a few words to the ACA law and ensure that consumers receive the same insurance subsidies they’re receiving now.

But that’s all the more reason to understand exactly why Scalia is wrong.

Obviously, this Congress is many things, but no one can characterize the institution as sane, mature, and responsible with a straight face. Lawmakers can just barely keep the government’s lights on, and a year and a half ago, they failed to even do that.

But even putting this aside, Scalia isn’t paying close enough attention to current events. Congress’ Republican majority has said in no uncertain terms that it will, to use Scalia’s phrase, “sit there while all of these disastrous consequences ensue” and ignore Democratic pleas for a simple fix. Leading GOP lawmakers have committed to this course over and over and over again.

Not to put too fine a point on this, but Scalia believes House Republicans would “act” to rescue the Affordable Care Act despite the fact that GOP lawmakers have voted at least 56 times to repeal all or part of the reform law. To ignore these details is to stick one’s head in the sand.

The problem isn’t just that Congress is a dysfunctional mess on a historic scale, though it is; the problem is that Congress’ majority wants to watch the American health care system burn. They’re just waiting for the Supreme Court to light the match.

Republican Logic ....

OK, so, it does not exist*

*You would have better luck finding Bigfoot and The Loch Ness Monster dancing with Unicorns under a rainbow in a field of gold-dust surrounding a Leprechaun's pot-o-gold than finding Republican logic.

This Republican Gave a Child to a Child Rapist who Raped Her

In Arkansas you can just give your adopted child to another family whenever you want, no questions asked. 

But, ohhh are we asking questions.

One year after Arkansas state Rep. Justin Harris adopted two girls from an abusive family, he “rehomed” them to a teacher at the Harris-owned preschool called, “Growing dog’s Kingdom Preschool.”  I guess he was sick of the girls or something, he did decide to keep his three biological sons, however. This is the same guy who was sad when the House Education Committee voted down a bill he’d introduced to ban schools from punishing children for religious expression–like to protect the children from atheist teachers who put them in detention for saying “bless you” after a sneeze.

CLICK HERE TO DEMAND REP. JUSTIN HARRIS RESIGN FROM OFFICE.

In September 2013 Harris and his wife didn’t take to the little girls they had adopted from foster care, because they “rehomed” the girls to Eric Cameron Francis and his wife before Francis became a teacher at the preschool. In April 2014 the six-year-old girl was raped by her preschool teacher, Francis. Something Rep. Harris said he was “devastated and sickened” by. But Harris failed to mention that he gave this rapist his adopted daughter to look after.

And because in the adoptive world “rehoming” is legal in Arkansas, the Harrises face no responsibility for the girl’s abuse. Morally…politically…that’s another story and hopefully there can be enough of an uprising around this to impact the Harris family.

Thankfully, the two little girls were given to yet another family who appear to actually be humane and they’re planning on adopting the girls and keep them.

A search of the Arkansas Crime Information Center didn’t turn up any previous offenses.

Would that this were the only criticism of Harris. Uh-uh.

Harris fashions himself one of those small government Republicans. The pre-school he and his wife run? Yeah, according to Max Brantley of The Arkansas Times (via The Blue Hog Report), the school has about 150 kids and a budget of $900,000 and all but 6 percent of that budget is covered by state and federal dollars directed towards needy children. The money covers the Harrises’ salary and benefits as well as the mortgage payments.

The kids who attend the Harrises’ school aren’t required to provide proof of citizenship, according to Brantley. Yet, Harris once proposed a bill that would require people to provide proof of citizenship to receive state services, including education at public universities.

In addition to the other things you may want to call Harris, you can also call him a hypocrite of the highest order.

The Republican Who Helped Uganda Create ‘Kill The Gays’ Law Will Be Tried For Crimes Against Humanity

by Jameson Parker 

Most of us go our entire lives without ever standing trial for crimes against humanity. Then again, most of us aren’t notorious bigot Scott Lively, whose life work seems to be to ask the question: “How can I make gay people miserable across the world?”
In the United States Lively’s homophobic messages are largely ignored, and in recent years he has had to endure various setbacks at the state and federal level as equality makes historic gains. Undeterred, Lively has sought out foreign lands where his particular brand of ruthless anti-gay ideas are more accepted. In Uganda, he found a home away from home. During a Christian “workshop” in the African nation he managed to become one of the principal architects behind some of the most retrograde anti-gay legislation on the planet.
Officially titled the “Anti-Homosexuality Act” and more commonly known as the “Kill the Gays” bill, Lively’s vision was nothing less than a roadmap for the total persecution and eradication of homosexuals from Uganda. In Lively’s original design, anyone caught engaging in homosexuality would be executed. A newer bill softened that stance slightly after worldwide condemnation – in the latest version, homosexuals would only be sentenced to life in prison.
Unfortunately for Lively, orchestrating genocide in another country is kind of frowned upon, and in 2012 a lawsuit was filed against Lively in federal court in Massachusetts for crimes against humanity. This week, the First Circuit Court of Appeals denied Lively’s final request to have it dismissed because, well, the whole genocide thing.
During his lengthy appeals process, one would think that Lively would lay low and avoid saying anything that suggests he isn’t at all sorry for helping Uganda try to kill its gay population. Instead, Lively has continued to double down on his efforts to spread as much homophobia as possible. It’s gotten so bad that the watchdog group Human Rights Campaign dedicated September to chronicle the various ways Lively and his anti-gay ministry were “exporters of hate.”

Scott Lively is the head of Abiding Truths Ministry in Springfield, Massachusetts and is known around the world for his notorious work successfully advocating for anti-LGBT laws in Uganda that could send LGBT people to prison for life. In fact, Lively has traveled the world over presenting himself as an expert on LGBT issues, urging lawmakers to crack down on LGBT rights and the right of free expression.
In 2007, Lively wrote in “Letter to the Russian People,” “Homosexuality is a personality disorder that involves various often dangerous sexual addictions and aggressive anti-social impulses.”

And this week, while he awaited his fate at his crimes against humanity trial, Lively told Trunews that homosexuality should be considered “more offensive” than mass killings, because gay people caused the Great Flood that wiped out the human race (technically, God did, and technically there is no evidence of that actually occurring, but who’s counting?).

“Homosexuality is not just another sin,” he said according to Right Wing Watch, “it is the sin that defines rebellion against God, the outer edge of rebellion against God and it is the harbinger of God’s wrath, that’s why the Scripture gives the warning, ‘as in the days of Noah.’”

In a way it makes sense that Lively would be adamant that homosexuality was worse than mass murder, considering that the mass murder of gay people is what he stands accused of trying to achieve.
Lively currently lives in Springfield, Massachusetts, and hopefully soon will have a permanent residency behind bars.

Republican Suggests Wolves Could Help Get Rid Of Homeless People

Don Young (R-Alaska) suggested Thursday that the solution to homelessness is wolves.
Young made the comment during a House Natural Resources Committee hearing during an exchange with Interior Secretary Sally Jewell. He was arguing that gray wolves should be taken off the endangered species list, criticizing the National Park Service and his congressional colleagues who seek to protect the animals.
“How many of you have got wolves in your district? None. None. Not one," Young said, calling the gray wolf "a predator." 

Get Rid Of Homeless People

McConnell Is Now Telling States To Ignore Obama’s Carbon Emission Rules

The majority leader is continuing his crusade against the Obama administration's regulatory plan to fight climate change.

Cities Are Quietly Reviving A Jim Crow-Era Trick To Suppress Latino Votes

A tactic used to suppress African American votes is now being turned on the growing Latino population.

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Senate Democrats Block Republican Attempt To Override Obama’s Veto of Keystone XL Bill

Senate Democrats have successfully blocked the Republican attempt to override President Obama’s veto of Keystone XL.

Sixty-seven votes were required to override the veto, and Republicans came up several votes short. The final vote was 62-37. The senators who voted to uphold President Obama’s veto included, Sens. Al Franken (D-MN), Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), and Bernie Sanders (I-VT). Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid also voted no. The same group of Democrats who helped pass Keystone XL also voted to override the president’s veto.

Before the vote, Senate Majority Leader McConnell (R-KY) tried to sell his gift to Big Oil as a middle-class issue, “I’m urging every Democrat who still believes their party should be about workers, not these deep-pocketed special interests and extremists, to join us. Vote for cloture. Vote to override. Keystone’s bipartisan coalition in the Senate is only a few votes shy of from the two-thirds majority we’d need to override this partisan veto and bring Keystone’s jobs here to America. And it’s not too late stop your party from venturing down a path even further afield from the interests of American workers and the Middle Class.”

The Keystone XL bill was never a jobs bill. It was never about energy independence. The Keystone XL bill was a gift to a foreign oil company that would have allowed them to ship oil that was destined for sale on the open market through the United States.

The failure to override the president’s veto represents another failure for the Republican congressional majority. McConnell spent nearly a month in passing Keystone XL, and he is right back to where he started from. Keystone XL is no closer to be approved, and Republicans wasted valuable time on an issue that has never caught on with the American people.

McConnell’s failure to override President Obama’s veto is proof that the power in the Senate is with the Democrats. Keystone XL was supposed to be the issue that divided Democrats and allowed Republicans to get something done. In reality, Republicans are accomplishing nothing while Democrats continue to stand strong.

Bernie Sanders Applauds Senate Democrats For Sustaining Obama’s Keystone XL Veto

Senator Bernie Sanders applauded the Senate today for sending the message that United States is listening to the scientific community on climate change by sustaining President Obama’s veto of Keystone XL.

In a statement, Senator Sanders (I-VT) said:

I applaud President Obama for vetoing the Keystone XL legislation and the Senate for sustaining that veto.

The Senate and President Obama have sent an important message that the United States finally is listening to the scientific community and recognizing that global warming poses a real threat to our planet.

At a time when we should be doing everything we can to promote the development of clean sources of energy, it would have been crazy to let a Canadian oil company ship some of the dirtiest oil on the planet across the United States.

Climate change is real, it is caused by human activity and it is already causing devastating problems. Our job now is to aggressively transform our energy system away from fossil fuels and toward energy efficiency and sustainable energy.

Senator Sanders was correct. The push for Keystone XL defied all logic and common sense. Rejecting Keystone XL is the first step in creating a policy that will lead to real energy independence. Having the opportunity to buy oil from another country is not a strategy for energy independence. The message is clear. Republicans aren’t going to be allowed to get away with ignoring science so that the oil industry can profit.

Bernie Sanders has led the charge to sustain President Obama’s veto. The Keystone XL bill was a waste of time. There was no chance that the president was going to sign the bill into law, or that Republicans would ever be able to muster enough Democratic support to override President Obama’s veto. Senate Republicans spent a month passing a bill that would never become law.

Keystone XL is bad energy policy. It is an even worse jobs bill, and the country is better off because Democrats and Independents like Bernie Sanders sustained President Obama’s veto.

Google Exploring A Big Change Guaranteed To Make Republicans Lose Their Minds

It’s also sure to enrage birthers, climate change deniers, anti-vaxxers and all others littering the Internet with misinformation.

Google is working on a new way of ranking web pages. Republicans, notorious for spreading lies to further their political agenda, are sure to hate Google’s new search. It ranks web pages based on facts. That’s right, it ranks web pages higher on the search engine result page based on how truthful they are!

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Political Ethics: Republican Edition

The Truth Is, Conservatives Hate The United States Of America

by Allen Clifton

As much as I disliked George W. Bush, I never hated the man. Sure, I strongly disagreed with just about everything he did while he was in office, but I never really stooped to the level of blind hatred. In fact, as Americans we should always root for the success of whatever president we have. Because the truth is, to cheer for the failure of a president is essentially rooting for the failure of this country.
But when it comes to President Obama, the vast majority of conservatives absolutely detest him. It’s not partisan disagreement or just a general dislike, it’s blind, unfettered hatred. I truly believe that most of them would rather seen this country burn to the ground before they’d ever hope to see this president succeed.
The truth is, no matter what this president does, they’re going to attack him for it. Even if it’s exactly what they’re saying he should be doing.
Just look at the way in which Republicans and conservatives fall all over themselves trying to praise leaders of other countries, while absolutely bashing and lying about our own.
They consider President Obama an “un-American tyrant” who apparently doesn’t love this country. Meanwhile, I’ve seen Republicans heap gushing praise on the King of Jordan and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The truth is, congressional Republicans show more respect toward Netanyahu than they do our own president.
Hell, I’ve seen Fox News even praise Vladimir Putin’s “strength” as a leader.
But what is it about this country that they love?
They loathe liberals, so there goes over half of our population. Conservative ideologies (especially those in the South) are almost always on the wrong side of history when it comes to the constitutionality of their beliefs. They detest homosexuals, treat women as second-class citizens and have almost no respect for anyone who doesn’t subscribe to their brand of Christianity.
Even when it gets right down to our Constitution, they really don’t “love” it. Outside of the Second Amendment, and the Tenth (because they often claim “states’ rights” whenever they’re trying to violate another one of our amendments), what is it about our Constitution that they “love”? Oh, and the main reason why they adore the Second Amendment so much is because they think guns give them the right to overthrow the government – the government that was created by the Constitution.
Our First Amendment continually prevents them from turning this country into a theocracy. The First Amendment was what gave rise to the civil rights movement. You know, back when Southern conservatives were fighting to keep segregation legal, prevent interracial marriages and oppose the Civil Rights Act of 1964. It was the protection of our First Amendment that gave power to those who marched through the streets of Selma and all over this nation, demanding equal rights for those who had been denied them for far too long. This was all done against the resistance of those who clung to their ignorance and their Bible – just as conservatives continue to do today.
Conservatives are the people we often hear uttering the phrase “traditional American values,” which makes absolutely no sense. This nation has been a nation of progress since its inception - we have but one tradition, and that’s progress. But progress cannot be achieved clinging to yesterday, while resisting tomorrow.
I see conservatives kind of like the Blockbuster video of our society. Once upon a time, Blockbuster (a company that at one time dominated the video rental industry) had the opportunity to buy Netflix for around $50 million. It passed. Today, Netflix is worth nearly $30 billion, whereas Blockbuster filed for bankruptcy back in 2010 and is all but non-existent now. All because Blockbuster refused to adapt and embrace the future, instead choosing to cling to the past.
It’s conservatives who are the ones who often talk about secession and revolts whenever they don’t get their way. It’s never made a whole lot of sense to me for someone to claim they love their country, yet hate the very government the Constitution of this nation created.
But the truth is, conservatives hate this country. They hate its leader, its government, over half the people living here and basically anyone with whom they disagree.
The only thing they really “love” is an idea of what they wished the United States was, but has never been and will never be.

The Entire GOP Field for 2016 is as Tainted as a Bucket of Rotten Meat

We are already well on our way to becoming a 13th century-ish, Islamic State-like apparatus of repression…

If you are looking for a Republican candidate in 2016 who isn’t either bought and paid for by the Kochs, or in thrall to the Religious Right – or both – good luck. Not one of them has your interests at heart. Or for that matter, America.

People for the American Way in a press release yesterday informed us that both Bobby Jindal and Ted Cruz will be not just attending but headlining an event in Iowa next week with the Religious Right’s evil mastermind, David Lane.

And remember the supposedly moderate Jeb Bush, the guy whose attempt to tell Republicans at CPAC that it’s not good to be seen as “anti-everything” triggered a walk-out? (For that matter, remember when Bobby Jindal warned the GOP they have to stop being the party of stupid?)

Well, Tony Perkins from the Family Research Council (FRC) says he managed to sink his hooks into Jeb Bush while at CPAC (apparently after the “anti-everything” attempt), and reported Monday that, “the former Florida leader was very willing to listen” (I bet he is!), “especially on issues like religious liberty and same-sex ‘marriage.’ Although social issues may not be his first priority, I sensed he was genuinely interested in learning how to effectively work those themes into his overall messaging.”

And OneNewsNow suggests God has selected Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker:

Sam Rohrer, president of the American Pastors Network, believes Governor Walker could be a very special candidate. “My personal opinion is it may just be that we’re seeing an individual who God has raised up perhaps for this time,” Rohrer tells OneNewsNow.

“He has already stood against a great deal of opposition, and God has kept him standing. He has stood for the right issues. He has stood for the rule of law. He’s stood firmly on the side of biblical, moral issues.”

You know, like comparing teachers to terrorist who behead and burn people alive. You can’t get more biblical than that.

In fact, the entire Republican field for 2016 is as tainted as a bucket of rotten meat. There is not a single one among them prepared to defend American democracy or the United States Constitution.

Take a look at PFAW’s press release:

Cruz, Jindal Headline Event with Extremist David Lane

Likely Presidential contenders Ted Cruz and Bobby Jindal will headline the American Renewal Project’s Pastors and Pews event in Iowa next week, according to the Des Moines Register. By leading the event, Cruz and Jindal ally themselves with one of the most inflammatory voices in the Republican Party: David Lane, who founded the American Renewal Project.

“By standing with David Lane, Ted Cruz and Bobby Jindal show their extreme anti-gay allegiances and their blatant disregard for the fundamental American value of embracing religious freedom,” said People For the American Way President Michael Keegan. “We deserve to know why Cruz and Jindal would align themselves with David Lane and this event.”

All members of the Republican National Committee (RNC) have been invited to attend the event. RNC chair Reince Priebus also has previously sung the praises of David Lane, and Priebus ignored calls from PFAW and others to cancel the recent RNC trip to Israel that Lane organized.

PFAW’s Right Wing Watch blog has long documented the bigoted statements of David Lane. Here are some of the key examples:

“Homosexuals praying at the Inauguration” of President Obama in 2013 will provoke God’s wrath in the form of “car bombs in Los Angeles, Washington D.C. and Des Moines, Iowa.” [7/23/13]

“Our long-term strategy must be to place the Bible in Public Schools as the principle [sic] textbook of American education.” [1/29/15]

“America was founded by Christians, as a Christian nation.” [7/17/13]

Republicans who support marriage equality are like politicians who backed slavery in the run-up to the Civil War. [1/29/15]
While “America was a Christian nation” since its founding, now it must choose between being “a Christian nation or a pagan nation.” [7/17/13]

Americans “grovel to the false god of Islam”; “America, a Christian nation in heritage and culture, is being dismantled brick by brick.” [1/29/15]

See more here.

You get the idea these people don’t like America too much, don’t you?

We can probably expect limited media exposure to these events from now on, as a Bobby Jindal speech in Greenville, North Carolina last night, demonstrates. Originally, David Lane’s American Renewal Project, told the media, “News reporters aren’t allowed to attend unless they can agree with the candidate on which quotes to report.”

In other words, he may have said it, but you can’t report it. This is an interesting attempt to retroactively edit the past by an ideology that regularly repurposes the past for its own ends.

This, the local paper, the Greenville News, “declined to do,” they tell us. But “after a version of this story broke online, Twitter lit up and a Jindal aide asked the sponsors to reconsider.”

Social media, at this point, may be Democracy’s last, best hope for survival in this country. But you have to ask yourself, if Jindal wants to be president, why is trying to hide from the media? The Greenville News reports,

The American Renewal Project, Jindal’s host for a dinner at the Embassy Suites hotel, is a California-based, socially conservative organization that says its mission is to return America to its Judeo-Christian roots.

David Lane, its president, told The Greenville News he has little to gain from exposure in the news media. Some reporters, he said, “have agendas” and “don’t even care what the truth is.”

“It’s too bad that’s the way it is, but that’s the way it is,” Lane said.

As for Jindal, reporters can quote him “all they want,” said Shannon Dirmann, an aide to the governor.

This is also interesting – it’s the media that has an agenda, not the guys trying to overthrow American democracy and the Constitution using the Bible and theocracy.

David Lane is right about having little to gain, given exposure of his plans will certainly retard his attempts to destroy the country founded on secular Enlightenment principals.

The 2016 elections will be nothing less than an attempt by Religious conservatives to destroy America and turn it into a 13th century-ish, Islamic State-like apparatus of repression. We have already seen agreement by the Religious Right and the Islamic State on certain theological issues, with the major disagreement between them being what to call God and the set of anti-constitutional religious laws used to hold us all in thrall.

Practically speaking, from where the rest of us stand, it doesn’t matter if we are being repressed by Sharia law or the Law of Moses. Repressed is repressed. I warned you that the 2014 midterms would be a vote between democracy and theocracy. It was, and democracy lost. But in 2016, we are electing not only a congress but a president.

One thing become clear in all this: the enemy isn’t in Iraq and Syria. The enemy is here. And they’re coming for us in 2016.

Reality is ...

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Flip Flopping the Core

by Peter Greene

So CPAC happened, at which various GOP future candidates try to see if they can win a little conservative love. And that means that Common Core had to be trotted out for ceremonial abuse, like a disgraced former party officer in Communist China.

Live by the Sword...