Cruz Channels Goldberg, Says 'Liberal Fascism' Targets christians

He's playing for a really small segment of primary voters.

Cruz is a moron

7 Reasons Why Kansas Is One Of The Worst Wingnut Shitholes

This isn’t Kansas anymore, Toto.

Sam Brownback is making Kansas an unrecognizable Libertarian mess.

Kansas Governor Sam Brownback is taking GOP ideals to the extreme, and with a GOP heavy state legislature, there is no one there to reason with him and tell him just how bad his ideals are for the big picture. After severely bankrupting his state by running a trickle down “experiment” with taxes, he’s now gone crazy slashing education, investment in infrastructure, arts, social programs and making laws that affect women, the poor and the population in general negatively.
Gov. Brownback himself refers to his policies as experimental, but as the data keeps rolling in, he’s going to have to face the music that perhaps he’s proven his own hypothesis wrong and that Libertarian leadership just doesn’t work in the grand scheme of things.

7 reasons why Kansas is a wingnut-controlled hellscape:

Michigan Review

7. Doing away with concealed carry permits: As if gun crime in the U.S. wasn’t bad enough, Gov. Brownback just did away with concealed gun permits and training requirements. I’m sure the police force in the state is just absolutely appreciative of this new law.
In 2007, before Gov. Brownback took office, Kansas quietly overturned a ban on guns in bars, letting businesses decide for themselves if they will allow guns. Now, regardless of bar policy, gun owners can bring their guns with them wherever they go. Go home Kansas, you’re drunk!
The Brady Campaign to End Gun Violence Kansas chapter spokesperson, Loren Stanton said:

There is no way that taking away training can make guns safer.

6. Welfare shaming: Recently, new language was added to Kansas’ Temporary Assistance to Needy Families to add further limitations to where cash assistance can be used. Kansas residents receive up to $497 for a family of four per month— we’re not talking big spending bucks here. Among places where TANF is now banned were cruise ships, bail bond companies, casinos, lingerie stores, tattoo parlors, for the purchase of tobacco and liquor, and swimming pools, movie theaters, theme parks or arcades. ATM withdraws are now limited to $25 per day.
Kansas Watchdog found that less than three percent of TANF funds are spent on activities outside of the purview for assistance, which you can see why this was so incredibly necessary to shame all assistance recipients over (sarcasm). Many recipients feel like the Kansas government changed the law to shame all people on TANF, because it gives the impression that it was such a problem in this state that the law had to be changed, when it was a really, insignificant issue. The poor are often subject to unfair stereotypes and this was no exception.
But as Chris Hayes pointed out on MSNBC, it’s also ironic that farmers who receive millions of dollars in subsidies from the government don’t have these equal limitations. When state Senator Michael O’Donnell was asked in an interview with Hayes why farmers don’t have the same kind of restrictions where their government dollars are spent, O’Donnell responded that they are more responsible with their money. Yet, 97 percent of TANF recipients are responsible spenders too. Isn’t that strange?
5. Drug testing TANF recipients: While many believe this is a good practice to keep those on drugs off assistance, drug testing poor people is known to yield incredibly poor results. It ends up costing the state thousands to sometimes sums of millions of dollars to catch such a small minority of people because as it turns out, poor people can’t actually afford drugs. It also punishes children of drug users because once a person produces a positive test, they aren’t eligible for assistance for at least five years.
The only positive outcome of this law signed by Gov. Brownback in 2013 is that if a person does test positive for drugs, Kansas state is willing to send them to a drug treatment program for a year — but that treatment also comes with a price.

Think Progress

4. Cuts to education: After running his state into the ground by cutting income taxes for rich people (facing a $600 million deficit), Gov. Brownback assured Kansans that he wouldn’t cut from education. And then he turned around and cut $54 million from public school funding and is projected to cut more. Some schools in small towns even had to close their doors, and with every education cut comes the laying off of teachers and faculty. Kansas is already on the middle-low end of student spending, but recent data isn’t available to see exactly how these cuts have affected student spending. Brownback is also making ambitious changes to school funding, with SB7, which opponents say favors block grants that give schools more flexibility on student spending but will deeply cut operational funding.
And with these cuts, the GOP gets exactly what they really need — a generation of people too stupid to know how terrible conservative ideals are.
3. Unemployment: After the 2009 recession, unemployment was high nationwide. In order to jump start the economy, Brownback had two options: invest in education or cut taxes for the rich — of which he chose the latter. Trickle-down theory suggests that if you cut taxes for those at the top who are responsible for job creation, more jobs will be created because it allows company owners to expand. The idea is also that it will attract business in from out-of-state. In 2011, Brownback cut income taxes for top earners and businesses in the state, yet job recovery has moved at a snails pace. If trickle-down theory worked, job recovery should have been almost immediate, instead until 2014, Kansas’ unemployment rate lagged behind the national average for 21 consecutive months. Currently, Kansas has a 4.2 percent unemployment rate, but in the larger cities like Wichita and Kansas City, they are still sitting at well over 6 percent, which is well above the national average.
2. Abolishing second trimester abortions: Kansas is under fire after passing a law which bans a specific kind of procedure that is often performed in the second trimester of pregnancy. The procedure that was banned was a method of dismantling the fetus to make it easier to remove and vacuum it out of the uterus once the woman’s cervix is dilated with medication. Very few abortions take place in this time frame, but it’s also important to women to have this option available in cases of severe disabilities in the child, which aren’t discovered until later in the second trimester. There also were no rape or incest exceptions added to the bill. Another important detail is that some women don’t even know they’re pregnant for a few months, and can now easily miss their time frame to have a legal abortion in this state, which may lead to more coat hanger abortions.
It’s also important to note, that Brownback has been defunding Planned Parenthood statewide, so while Conservatives may want less abortions, by making low cost birth control harder to obtain, they’re making matters worse.

Week 16 of pregnancy

1. Tax reform: Economists call Brownback’s tax reform an economic nightmare. I’ve mentioned several times that Gov. Brownback cut income taxes that led to the dire state of affairs in his state. More specifically, in 2011 Brownback made good on a campaign promise to almost eliminate income taxes in his state. His solution for the lost revenue would be to increase the sales tax, but increasing the sales tax shifts the tax burden from the rich onto the poor. His tax plan also didn’t account for the major loss in revenue and he didn’t have a plan to cover the spending the state is accountable for. Today Brownback is facing a projected $600 million deficit.
And as far as libertarian ideals go, it really was the perfect plan — bankrupting the state so he can cut back on social programs without taking a ton of flack for doing so, and that’s exactly how it played out. Important to note, the Democrats favorite boogeymen, the Koch brothers, are based in Wichita and were huge supporters of Brownback’s campaign, so you can imagine how big their role is in this “experiment.” Now Brownback is trying to figure out a way to save face and save his state, but his hands are tied by the promises he has made. He tells Kansans that reform takes time but it will pay off, and that he wants to stay the course and needs their patience, but his constituents were becoming disgruntled before his last re-election.
The good news is, is that whenever liberals need a perfect example of just how big of a failure supply-side economics is in practice, they only have to point to Kansas.

Here’s to you, Kansas!

While much of the data from the new policies in Kansas haven’t been developed and analyzed, it’s still fairly accurate to say Kansas is on a path to utter failure.
The rich continue to get the breaks in this state and their large subsidies remain unrestricted. The poor Kansans are subject to humiliation, their children under-educated, and their income taxed in unfair proportions compared to the wealthy. They are demonized and mocked while the state does little to invest in education, infrastructure and healthcare that supplies good jobs to families and invests in the communities.
And to the libertarian/conservative dream, more women will be saddled with children and will become slaves to the economy — working for less wages at demanding jobs so their employer can save a buck just so they can put food on the table. And god forbid they need TANF, because they will be put through the rigmarole that is government assistance. All so they can endure the rich exclaiming, “How dare you take your child to the movie theater on my dime!”
But eventually it will negatively affect the wealthy, because as the poor and middle class families pinch their pennies the “job creators” will start to feel the strain as each year yields less and less revenue for their businesses.
All the while, Kansans will watch their state fall apart and have to endure Brownback’s mackerel gaze while he brays, “Stay the path! Be patient! Success is around the corner,” but there is no success around the corner, at least not success any sane society wants. Pregnant teenagers, an influx of unwanted, neglected children in the system, gun homicides, a generation of children who can’t compete with others outside of their state, and an increasing prison population due to the lack of opportunities.
The Koch’s paid good money for this experiment. And the Koch’s want what they paid for — an Ayn Rand Libertarian state forcing social conservatism on the population, while the rich get richer and the poor are left to fend for themselves.

The Koch Brothers Try To Fool The American People With An Evil PR Campaign

What is missing from the long list of Koch demands to abolish virtually the entire government is exactly how it will help Americans. …

It has been just about a year since Charles Koch wrote a ‘woe is me’ op-ed to combat the bad publicity resulting from Senators Harry Reid and Bernie Sanders battering the Koch brothers for assaulting Americans in their quest for power and influence over government. Now that more Americans are aware that the Kochs own Republicans and bought them control of Congress, and that their goal is deconstructing the federal government, the Kochs are launching a huge multi-media publicity campaign to change their image and convince Americans the Kochs are their friends and benefactors. The primary message the Kochs intend to push is that they are not out to increase their own wealth, but to help Americans and create a better society.

It was reported on Thursday that the Kochs are launching an “aggressive new defense” of Koch Industries with particular emphasis on educating Americans that their political ambitions in paying Republicans to eliminate the government is not driven by a desire for more profits, but is “rooted in the Kochs’ decades-long quest to increase well-being in society.” Any American familiar with the Kochs would question exactly how dismantling the government is helping Americans, but that is Charles Koch’s assertion as well as disabusing any detractors of the idea that the brothers’ political ambitions have anything to do with increasing their wealth.

As the public face of the Koch empire, Charles Koch said he was surprised that anyone might think he and his brother’s political ambitions were about making more money. In a sense, one can argue that the Kochs do not need any more money and that what they really want is unlimited power and control; but that power and control is to eliminate the government they believe gets in the way of unlimited wealth. In that sense Koch is a liar as much as his claim that he and his brother’s drive to eliminate government is to “help American society” no matter how the Kochs frame their motivation.

What is stunning is that Koch had the temerity to express righteous indignation that anyone would accuse the brothers of using Republicans to amass more wealth.  Charles Koch actually said, “We are doing all of this to make more money? I mean, that is so ludicrous. I don’t know how they can say that with a straight face.” It is easy because the brothers’ assault on all manner of regulations is, by their own admission, to stop government overreach they claim prevents businesses from taking unrestricted profits. Any American with even scant knowledge of the Kochs wonders how he can say with a straight face that he and his brother are not out for more money, or that their impetus to eliminate the government is to benefit American society.

Still, Koch lied and said “We oppose as many or more things that would benefit us than would hurt us.” As an example, Koch bemoaned the potential losses at Koch refineries if the Keystone XL pipeline is constructed; a pipeline the Kochs spent millions on gaining Republican control of Congress to skirt the Executive Branch’s authority over the application process. Further, if as Koch claimed the pipeline will hurt Koch Industries and cause the company losses, then why did they acquire over 1.2  million acres of tar fields in Canada, or contract for Koch refineries to process at least 30% of all tar sand slated for the Gulf Coast and exported on foreign market? Obviously they did not invest in the tar sand fields to “help American society,” but to profit from a project that provides nothing whatsoever for America or the American people.

Koch is a liar, and like his Republican subjects he is also a blatant hypocrite. For example, he claims to oppose the Export-Import Bank because it provides subsidies to aid American manufacturing companies; something the Kochs condemn as nasty government-provided “corporate welfare.” All the while, Koch Industries has been the recipient of well over 100 million dollars in corporate welfare and special tax breaks, and that does not include their profits from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The biggest Koch lie of all is Charles’ assertion that the brothers are spending hundreds-of-millions of dollars to buy Republicans who pledge to eliminate government to “help American society.” There is nothing the Koch brothers, their legislative arms the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) and State Policy Network (SPN), or political activists the Heritage Foundation, Americans for Prosperity, or Cato Institute have supported or opposed that helps American society or the people. In fact, every government agency, department, and program the brothers have been paying Republicans to abolish, defund, or restrict are those that serve  and protect the American people and actually make society better.

There is a very, very long list of government agencies and programs the Koch brothers want abolished or eliminated that exist solely to help, protect, and sustain the people; many going back to the New Deal. For example, the Kochs have made no secret they want Medicare and Medicaid abolished as much as they want rules governing the private health insurance industry terminated; including deregulating the medical industry. They have also demanded for thirty years that Social Security be eliminated in its entirety because they claim it is a fraudulent and oppressive program that does nothing whatsoever to help elderly Americans. In fact, the Kochs are so opposed to helping any Americans that they demand an end to all government programs that provide services for children, aid to the poor and disabled Americans. To keep working Americans poor and toiling in unsafe working conditions, the Kochs demand the abolishment of the minimum wage and the Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA).

In spite of it being required in the U.S. Constitution, the brothers want Republicans to abolish the United States Postal Service, and in lieu of achieving that Republicans passed legislation that created the means to bankrupt the Post Office with the sole intent of transferring all package delivery to privateers. While they are abolishing parts of the Constitution, the Kochs demand, and  Republicans have recently proposed, terminating all taxation including abolishing outright the Internal Revenue Service. While the Kochs wait for the IRS and taxation to be abolished, they want Republicans to immediately stop all criminal and civil laws against tax evasion. Obviously they want all state and federal campaign finance laws eliminated as well as what they call the “despotic Federal Election Commission” abolished to afford them free rein to steal and buy elections.

The most dangerous thing for the Kochs is a well-educated populace and to ensure their motivation and attempts at wiping out government will never be discovered, they demand the abolishment of not only compulsory education, but education itself they claim is government indoctrination of children. Two current Republican candidates for the GOP nomination for president propose abolishing the Department of Education to impress the Kochs, and several Republican governors devoted to the Kochs are busy either eliminating funding for schools or using public funding for private religious education. As typical libertarians, the Kochs insist that education is a choice for those who can afford it; it is just another of their twisted idea of helping American society.

The Kochs demand that any department, program, or agency created to actually protect Americans and help society be abolished including the Federal Aviation Administration, the Food and Drug Administration, Consumer Protection Agency, Consumer Product Safety Commission, Environmental Protection Agency, Department of Transportation, and Department of Energy. In typical libertarian fashion, the Kochs demand immediate privatization of all roads, highways, bridges, and waterways to profit a corporate operator; likely a subsidiary of Koch Industries.

What is missing from the long list of Koch demands to abolish virtually the entire government is exactly how it will help Americans. It is a question the Kochs will not answer and one that mainstream media covering the impending media blitz promoting the Kochs as America’s benefactors will never ask. And why should they? The media, all media, will be the recipients of a substantial influx of Koch money touting the blessing to Americans as a result of Charles and David Koch’s intent to spend just short of a billion dollars to buy the government and promptly dismantle; all to make more money and destroy American society no matter what the liar Charles Koch says.

The IRS Is Investigating The Koch Brothers’ Illegal Tax-Deductions Denying Climate Change

The Kochs will have an even greater reason to hate the Internal Revenue Service because due to a devious, and illegal, Koch plot to affect legislation neutering…

There are myriad reasons why someone has intense hostility towards, and aversion to, a person or thing that typically derives from fear, anger, or a sense of personal injury. The particular “thing” that conservatives, particularly the Republican-libertarian conservatives, loathe more than America’s most dangerous enemies is the government and its various agencies; especially those tasked with enforcing laws and regulations. The two men who wield ultimate control over the conservative movement and own the Republican Congress, Charles and David Koch, certainly hate the government, but they have particular antipathy for two agencies they believe are “despotic” and illegal simply because they exist and are not under Koch brother control.

The Koch brothers have made no secret that they want the Internal Revenue Service and the Environmental Protection Agency eliminated from existence and have spared no expense to thwart the activities of the EPA. Now they will have an even greater reason to hate the Internal Revenue Service because due to a devious, and illegal, Koch plot to affect legislation neutering enforcement power of the Environmental Protection Agency, the Internal Revenue Service is beginning an investigation into an illegal Koch tax deduction. The illegal tax write-off is for payment to a scientist for phony reports “absolving the fossil fuel industry of any responsibility for anthropogenic climate change.”

The IRS has received several complaints from the environmental group Greenpeace demanding it investigate the secret relationship between the Koch brothers and a well-known climate denying scientist with questionable scientific credentials, The so-called “scientist,” Dr. Willie Soon, received over $1,6 million to create phony reports claiming climate change is not only non-existent, but that if it does exist there is no relationship to carbon emissions related to fossil fuels.

The particular issue of interest to the IRS is that the Koch brothers illegally wrote off as a tax deduction the payment to Soon for reports created specifically to affect legislation in Congress and state legislatures; a clear violation of the law. Earlier this year, the New York Times exposed the “special secret relationship” between Soon and the Kochs, ExxonMobil, and a large Southern coal-fired utility that included deliberately false scientific data Republicans regularly use to deny the existence and effects of global climate change claims made by 98% of the world’s real climate scientists.

Apparently there is nothing illegal about Soon’s well-known false ‘studies,’ or that as a so-called ‘expert’ he is renowned for “obscuring” empirical data about climate change he promised were “deliverables” to the Koch brothers. In fact, it has also been no secret that Soon has been on the payroll of “major polluters” for a long time. However, the damning revelation discovered by Greenpeace that attracted the attention of the IRS is that the Charles G. Koch Foundation, a “tax exempt charity,” was paying for Soon’s phony studies as part of the Koch’s lobbying efforts against renewable energy and climate change solutions. What that means is that the Kochs were able to write off payments to Soon on their taxes that violates Internal Revenue Service rules prohibiting “tax-exempt charities” like the Charles G. Koch Foundation from influencing legislation; any legislation.

Last week, the IRS responded to a letter from Greenpeace that pointed out this illegal lobbying by the Koch brothers. The IRS letter encouraged Greenpeace to submit additional information to the IRS Dallas office and confirmed they were reviewing Greenpeace’s complaint. The complaint contained details of Soon’s interactions and correspondence with the Koch brothers including seriously damning evidence that Soon was paid handsomely by the Charles G. Koch Foundation to specifically create papers denying the existence of climate change.

In fact, in his proposals to the Kochs, Soon promised specifically to create work that conceals the cause and existence of climate change for the stated purpose of “informing public policy;” a commonly used euphemism for lobbying legislation. Following through on his pledge, Dr. Soon used the Koch-funded ‘studies‘ while testifying in Kansas against renewable energy legislation to convince state legislators to vote against clean energy standards. The same dubious research was used in Congress to deny “that greenhouse gases are the dominant cause of climate change.” Soon even sent a letter to the Kochs boasting about the usefulness of his  phony research in congressional testimony that he said contributed “very useful progress” toward Charles G. Koch’s “special project.” Soon’s letter also  requested a funding extension to ensure greater progress toward the “Koch project.” Obviously the Koch “special project” is affecting legislation at the state and federal level defeating renewable energy standards and preventing legislation addressing climate change solutions; something that is illegal for a ‘tax exempt charity‘ like Koch’s Foundation.

As Greenpeace pointed out to the Internal Revenue Service,  the Charles G Koch Foundation knew damn well that funding Dr. Soon’s work was as legally a risky move as taking a tax deduction for influencing legislation. In unrelated letters to the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, the Koch Foundation was extremely careful in attempting to stress that the Koch money funding Soon’s phony reports “will not be used to influence legislation.” However, the facts are clear that Soon used the Koch-funded reports in testimony before both the Kansas legislature and the United States Congress specifically to advance the Koch’s fossil fuel interests in affecting legislation on renewable energy standards and putting a halt to climate change solutions; both instances are clear violations of Internal Revenue Service rules prohibiting “non-profit charitable organizations” from using their tax-exempt funds to influence legislation.

The Koch brothers have given substantial amounts of money, over $79 million, to “climate change science denial organizations” since 1979, and it is unclear how many of those substantial millions came from the Koch’s network of so-called “tax-exempt charitable organizations.” The Koch’s are notorious for funneling “dark money” through various organizations, many of them tax-exempt charities, and it is likely the fact that they have been successful in not getting caught that drove their hubris and informed them to use a ‘charity’ with Charles G Koch’s name attached. They obviously did not take into account that an international organization like Greenpeace would ever take the initiative to investigate their internal correspondence and interactions with their highly-paid climate denier Soon.

Now that their illegal malfeasance has been exposed in documentation, the Internal Revenue Service can go forward and give the Koch’s a real reason to hate them even more; stripping them of their tax-exempt status. For its part, Greenpeace deserves the highest praise possible for not only fighting to protect Earth’s environment, but for having the courage to go after America and the environment’s greatest enemy; Charles and David Koch.

Americans believe their health system is the world's best, but they're measuring it wrong

Americans like to think their health-care system is number one. But a 2014 report from the Commonwealth Fund compared it to 10 other developed nations and found it's...number 11.

America spends vastly more than any other nation but, uniquely, leaves tens of millions uninsured. Patient satisfaction is low and the rate of medical errors is high. Infant mortality is worse in the United States than in its competitors, and so is life expectancy. America's reputation for efficiency is also shattered: both American patients and American doctors report spending unusually large amounts of time on paperwork.
[...]

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Cops break woman’s face because ‘she flunked the attitude test’ during drunken arrest

Bad Cops

“I should have never gotten that drunk, but also there are ways to detain someone and not break their face,” Megan Sheehan said.

Cops break woman’s face

Video Catches Cops Laughing, Fist Bumping After Beating And Choking Black Man

More Bad Cops

Bleeding and in need of medical attention, this man was forced to watch cops celebrate his beating.

Read full story

The Daily Drift

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

 

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Today is - There is no special celebration today
 

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It Looks Like Bernie Sanders Is Going To Run For President

It is looking more and more likely that Sen. Bernie Sanders is going to challenge Hillary Clinton and run for the 2016 Democratic nomination.

msnbc reported that Sen. Sanders is leaning towards running for the Democratic nomination in 2016:
Sen. Bernie Sanders is only days away from making a decision on a 2016 run, and leaning towards yes, according to his top strategist.

“I think we’re coming to the critical moment of truth here. He’s now spent enough time traveling around the country talking to people and feels there is genuinely a large audience of people who are with him,” veteran Democratic strategist Tad Devine, who is advising Sanders, told msnbc.

A formal announcement of his candidacy is expected to occur later in May.

It must be noted that a lean is not a yes, and Sen. Sanders could change his mind, but if the answer was going to be no, it would be expected that the trips to early primary states would cease and a flat denial of his candidacy would be issued.

If Sen. Sanders (I-VT) does run, it will be great news for Democrats and liberals on numerous fronts. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) is not running. Former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley has not traction with Democratic voters. Sen. Sanders is largely unknown to many rank and file Democrats, but he is on television often enough that he has more of a base of support than any of the other non-Clinton Democrats who are considering running.

A Sanders campaign means that voters would likely get to see some Democratic primary debates, and the issues that might be debated include income inequality, Wall Street, the need to break up the big banks, trade agreements, Citizens United, and several other issues that do not get attention in the mainstream press but deeply matter to many on the left.

Sen. Sanders has stated from the beginning of this process that he would run if no one else from the left stepped up to challenge Hillary Clinton. No credible challenger has emerged, so it looks like Bernie Sanders is running.

Sanders draws passionate crowds all across the country when he speaks, and he will bring that passion with him to the campaign trail.

Sen. Sanders will have to run a small grassroots campaign. His odds of being the Democratic nominee are slim, but while he wants to win, Sanders’s candidacy will be important because it will allow for a discussion of important issues.

Bernie Sanders will be a welcome addition to the 2016 race.

Democrat Introduces Bill Called The ‘Restrain Steve King From Legislating Act’

This House Democrat just publicly shamed teabagger loon Steve King like no other, and it’s amazing.

Read more

Boehner Says We Finally Have a Senate That is Actually Working

Boehner's reaction to Senate dysfunction is to claim a change of leadership in the Senate has given us a Senate that is actually working.…

Boehner’s Press Office informed us  that, “In an interview on Bloomberg’s With All Due Respect, Speaker Boehner discussed the first 100 days of the new Congress, his recent visit to the Middle East, and more.”

That “more” is a euphemism for a heavy dose of lies. What stands out is the following pronouncement:

Finding common ground for the American people: “I think the fact that we have a change of leadership in the Senate has certainly made a difference. … The fact that the Senate is actually working is helping us. It’s fostered bipartisan, bicameral discussions on cybersecurity, on trade, on the collecting of foreign intelligence, elementary and secondary education reform. There’s a whole host of things where there are bipartisan, bicameral conversations.”

I do not believe a bigger lie has come from John Boehner’s lips unless it is in the repeated claims that the House has actually created jobs.

But “a change of leadership in the Senate has certainly made a difference”?

Really? This begs the question: For Republicans, what does “working” actually mean?

It is a claim, fortunately, that is easy enough to examine.

Mitch McConnell, as Steve Benen wrote at MSNBC, “has taken congressional obstructionism to a level unseen in American history, effectively rewriting the rules of federal governance because it suited his partisan agenda.”

This is the same man who pledged last summer to end Senate dysfunction. It is impossible to say that without laughing. Go ahead and try.

The Senate has been, for the past six years, a theater of the absurd, where all the key roles are held by Republicans. McConnell is the guy, after all, who said of his own opposition to healthcare reform,

“It was absolutely critical that everybody be together because if the proponents of the bill were able to say it was bipartisan, it tended to convey to the public that this is O.K., they must have figured it out.”

You remember how the Republican-controlled Senate, led by Mitch McConnell:

• Finally confirmed Loretta Lynch (and then only 56-43) as the 83rd Attorney General of the United States after a delay of months? As Harry Reid pointed out, she “waited longer to be confirmed than the first 54 Attorneys General combined.”
• Tried to turn an anti-human trafficking bill into an anti-abortion bill, was repeatedly opposed by Senate Democrats, and ultimately failed?
• Passed a top-down, rich-get-richer budget which, as the White House said, “refuses to ask the wealthy to contribute a single dollar to deficit reduction, putting the entire burden on the middle-class, seniors, low-income children and families”?
• Invited a hate-group leader to testify before a Senate subcommittee on religious freedom? Sure, this is only a subcommittee you say, and not the entire Senate, but The Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on State, Foreign Operations and Related Programs, is chaired by none other than presidential hopeful Lindsey Graham, and also boasts Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell;
• Sent a treasonous letter to Iran in an attempt to subvert the president’s foreign policy?
• Tried multiple times to overturn Obama’s immigration Executive Order – and failed?
• After spending six years obstruction Obama as the Senate minority, deciding as the Senate majority that filibusters should be outlawed?
• Blocked a Democratic amendment to actually keep the Keystone XL Pipeline oil in the United States?
• Passed the oil-company enriching, ecology destroying Keystone XL Pipeline but without enough votes to override the promised presidential veto?
• Blamed Obama for the Senate’s inability to function because of years of Republican obstructionism? McConnell is the guy, remember, who said back in August 2010 that the White House had to do what the Republicans want, even if Republicans are only the Senate Minority.
• Finally confirmed Vivek Murthy as Surgeon General after a wait of a year-and-a-half?

There is a reason President Obama has called Mitch McConnell’s Senate leadership embarrassing: it is.

After bragging about obstructing President Obama and deciding up front they will make him a one-term president, and being very public about it to boot, McConnell and his fellow Republicans have decided none of that happened, that we won’t possibly remember any of it, or have film or transcripts, and that it was all Obama’s fault nothing got done, and that filibusters are bad.

If anything, Republicans are worse with recent history than with Early American History.

The Senate got very little done during those long years of Republican obstruction, and it has gotten less done with McConnell as Majority Leader. Boehner actually thinks he is a good House leader so you can see where he might think McConnell is also a good leader, but the GOP has reached a new low if they think we have a functioning legislative branch. To the extent it is doing anything at all – no, let’s cut to the chase: it’s not doing anything at all.

And this – nothing – is apparently the Republican definition of success. What we pay for is a functioning legislative branch. What we get from Republicans is sleight of hand.

With no respect at all to John Boehner and Mitch McConnell – because they have earned none – I think we can do better, and will, in 2016.

Republican Clinton Cash Scandal Collapses Before The Book Is Even Released

The scandal that Republicans hoped would take down Hillary Clinton has already sputtered and fizzled as the media has largely debunked the book Clinton Cash as strong on allegations, but weak on facts.

The main allegation is that Hillary Clinton was influenced by donations to The Clinton Foundation to use her position as Sec. of State to block the purchase of uranium mine.

Time magazine noted that the allegation first reported in The New York Times was not supported with evidence, “The suggestion of outside influence over U.S. decisionmaking is based on little evidence — the allegations are presented as questions rather than proof. The deal’s approval was the result of an extensive interagency process that required the assent of at least nine different officials and agencies.”

NBC News backed off of the Clinton Cash story too, “Indeed, upon reflection, that Times article doesn’t hold up that well 24 hours after its publication. But if there’s a legitimate criticism of the Clintons here — especially when it comes to the other articles about the Clinton Foundation and Bill’s speaking fees (here and here) — it’s that they were sloppy, bordering on being greedy.”

ABC News, which received an advance copy of the book, blunted called out the lack of facts, “The book offers no proof that Hillary Clinton took any direct action to benefit the groups and interests that were paying her husband.”

The author of the book, Peter Schweizer, worked as a foreign policy adviser to Sarah Palin. He was a fellow at the Koch-funded Hoover Institute, a former speechwriting consultant for George W. Bush, and he has a history of botched hyper-partisan reporting.

The New York Times and Washington Post latched on to Clinton Cash potentially because they were led to believe that a companion book was coming out about Jeb Bush. However, Schweizer’s publisher said that there is no Jeb Bush book coming out.

When boiled down, the Clinton Cash scandal is nothing more than a series of empty allegations. Clinton Cash is equal to the Benghazi scandal and every other conspiracy based witch hunt that Republicans are engaging in.

The book has not been released yet, but instead of blowing up into a major story that will rock the 2016 election, Clinton Cash is poised to join the dusty pile of failed Clinton conspiracies of years past.

Rand Paul has been talking up Clinton Cash as the game changer that would disqualify Hillary Clinton from office, but what the episode demonstrated is how out of touch with reality Republicans are, and how eager some in the mainstream press are to enable the GOP’s delusions.

Shocker: Turns Out Clinton Scandal Author Isn't Publishing A Jeb Bush Book!

Claiming he was going to write a Bush book was one way to sell himself as less of a wingnut hack.

Shocker: There's No Jeb Bush Book!

Republicacn Wannabes Oil Their Taut Bodies for Koch Brothers' Swimsuit Pageant

From the "Public Enemies" Department:

GOP Candidates Oil Their Taut Bodies for Koch Brothers' Swimsuit Pageant

The Truth Hurts

Hateful Bigot Mike Huckabee Totally Fails At Basic Civics In Long, Idiotic, Anti-Gay Rant

He needs a lesson in psychology as well as civics.
Read more 

Walker Tries To Rewrite His Job Creation History

Walker can have his own opinions but he can't have his own facts

Walker Tries To Rewrite History

Bobby Jindal Wants Hollywood Corporate Liberals to Stop Bullying Him

Read More

Koch-backed cabal sending ‘real scientists’ to school Pope Francis about ‘biblical duty’ to pollute

From the "Blind leading the Blind" Department:  

“The Holy Father is being misled by ‘experts’ at the United Nations who have proven unworthy of his trust,” said Joseph Bast, president of the Heartland Institute.

‘Real scientists’ to school Pope Francis about ‘biblical duty’

More Pence Errors

From the "It's not going to help" Department:

Indiana Gov. Mike Pence hires Koch Industries spokesperson as his approval ratings collapse

Republican Drug Smuggler

Republican senator's aide admits to sex-for-drugs scheme: prosecutors

Guns in the Park

From the "Prue Genius" and "What's the worst that can happen" Departments:

Tennessee Gov. Haslam signs bill allowing handguns in parks

Newly Elected Black Mayor Locked Out Of City Hall By Police

This is what police states look like.

Mayor Locked Out Of City Hall By Police

Arpaio Admits to Targeting Latinos, Hiring PI to Investigate Judge’s Wife

Read More

Sex-Trafficking Survivor Couldn’t Go To Police Because They Were Her Abusers, Too

A survivor of human trafficking and sexual abuse, Jessa Dillow-Crisp explains that she couldn’t go to the cops. Because the cops were abusing her, too.

Read more

Washington Cop Charged With Collecting Child Porn And Sexting A Minor…While At Work

Ex-cop Don Glunt claims the girl said she was 19 and those child porn photos were for a presentation on fighting sex crimes against children.

Read more 

Kansas kid corrects anti-drug teacher, cops raid his house

The 11-year-old son of medical marijuana advocate Shona Banda spoke out in his Kansas classroom to correct his teacher's misinformation about pot; then the state of Kansas raided his house and took him away from his mother.

After her son spoke out about medical marijuana, he was detained, and police launched a raid on Shona Banda’s home. “Well, they had that drug education class at school that was just conducted by the counselors… They pulled my son out of school at about 1:40 in the afternoon and interrogated him. Police showed up at my house at 3… I let them know that they weren’t allowed in my home without a warrant… I didn’t believe you could get a warrant off of something a child says in school.” Banda continued, “We waited from 3 o’clock until 6 o’clock. They got a warrant at 6 o’clock at night and executed a warrant into my home. My husband and I are separated, and neither parent was contacted by authorities before [our son] was taken and questioned.”
“They subsequently conducted a raid and then called me when the raid was over letting me know that there was a list of items they took on my kitchen table, I was allowed to go home, and [an officer] gave me his word I would not be arrested in person or at work and that charges would be given to me in a postcard in the mail. I have not been charged with anything at this point, but I have a hard time believing that it’s OK for them to interrogate my child without parental consent for hours,” said Banda. A report by The Human Solution International notes that officers found 2 ounces of cannabis and an ounce of cannabis oil during the raid.
Banda then described the actions that the State of Kansas began to take in an effort to take her son from her, “On the 24th, he was taken into custody. That was on a Tuesday. He was taken out of town Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. Friday we had a temporary hearing… and temporary custody was granted to my ex. Now the only reason why temporary custody was granted to my ex is because the judge said something to the effect that the amount of cannabis found in my home was going to possibly be felony charges and it was pointless letting the child return home to his mother.” She believes that the state is trying to take her son away and said, “The state is trying to deem it to where [Shona's ex-husband] is not fit and I’m not fit and they’re trying to take custody of our child.”

Cops Raid Cannabis Oil Activist Because Her Son Discussed Medical Pot Facts at School [

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Obama Strikes Back By Giving Senate Republicans No Credit For Confirming Loretta Lynch

President Obama took a shot a Senate Republicans in his statement about Loretta Lynch’s confirmation by completely ignoring Mitch McConnell and the Republicans who finally voted for her to be the next Attorney General.

The President said:

Today, the Senate finally confirmed Loretta Lynch to be America’s next Attorney General – and America will be better off for it. Loretta has spent her life fighting for the fair and equal justice that is the foundation of our democracy. As head of the Justice Department, she will oversee a vast portfolio of cases, including counterterrorism and voting rights; public corruption and white-collar crime; judicial recommendations and policy reviews – all of which matter to the lives of every American, and shape the story of our country. She will bring to bear her experience as a tough, independent, and well-respected prosecutor on key, bipartisan priorities like criminal justice reform. And she will build on our progress in combatting newer threats like cybercrime. Loretta’s confirmation ensures that we are better positioned to keep our communities safe, keep our nation secure, and ensure that every American experiences justice under the law.

There is no mention of Republicans in the President’s statement. Just a pointed “finally”.

Loretta Lynch made history Thursday as the first female African American Attorney General when she was finally confirmed with a Senate vote of 56-43. Just ten Republicans sided with all of the Senate Democrats in the vote. Just ten, over someone pretty much everyone agrees is a solid choice for Attorney General.

But holding the most basic processes and departments hostage is how Republicans govern in their Age of Opposition, like petulant two-year-olds acting out against parental authority.

Republicans earned this contempt the hard way — playing politics over the basics, once again.

The President’s statement was in line with his belief that Republicans don’t deserve credit for doing their jobs. Mitch McConnell deserves no special mention or praise for doing what he should have done months ago. Sen. McConnell and his political games were the only reason the President had to wait so long for his nominee to be confirmed.

Obama wasn’t going to pretend that the Lynch vote was some bipartisan breakthrough or evidence that the Senate is now “working.” The reality is that the long delay that Republicans caused is proof that the Senate is as broken as it ever was.

The only difference in the Senate is that Democrats have not chosen to obstruct every single bill. The Senate is “working” because Mitch McConnell is no longer using his minority power to block everything.

Republicans don’t get a pat on the head for finally doing the right thing. Obama gave Senate Republicans exactly what they earned. Nothing at all.

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.