Another Bombshell Rocks Republicans As Dennis Hastert Indictment Linked To Sexual Abuse

It’s not just sex, but sexual abuse. Sexual abuse perpetrated on an unidentified male.

This is what one of the Republicans who trolled President Bill Clinton over his own tawdry and inappropriate (but consensual) sex scandal is now accused of violating the law to cover up. And by accused, I mean indicted.

Republican Dennis Hastert was indicted Thursday for allegedly violating federal banking laws by attempting to conceal $1.7 million in “hush money” to a male from his past.

According to two federal law enforcement officials speaking to Los Angeles Times Friday morning, that hush money was to cover up for “misconduct” committed when Hastert was a teacher and coach:

One of the officials, who would not speak publicly about the federal charges in Chicago, said “Individual A,” as the person is described in Thursday’s federal indictment, was a man and that the alleged misconduct was unrelated to Hastert’s tenure in Congress. The actions date to Hastert’s time as a Yorkville, Ill., high school wrestling coach and teacher, the official said.

Asked why Hastert was making the payments, the official said it was to conceal Hastert’s past relationship with the male. “It was sex,” the source said. The other official confirmed that the misconduct involved sexual abuse.

Hastert was to pay individual “A” $3.5 million to compensate for and conceal what the indictment refers to as “prior misconduct”. The Illinois Republican was once a high school teacher and wrestling coach in Yorkville, Illinois.

According to two sources who spoke to Buzzfeed, U.S. Attorney Zachary T. Fardon agreed to withhold the details of the “prior misconduct”.

Additionally, Buzzfeed reported that investigators considered adding a second victim to the indictment:

A source familiar with the investigation told BuzzFeed News that U.S. Attorney Zachary Fardon considered but did not pursue additional charges against former Speaker Dennis Hastert, which would have included a reference to an Individual B, one of potentially several alleged victims of “prior misdeeds.”

Political strategist Joe DiSano observed, “Should be noted that all 3 GOP speakers (Gingrich, Livingston, Hastert) who went after Clinton had their own sex scandal.”

But it’s kind of worse, because a sex scandal is not sexual abuse.

In this case, if the official who spoke to the Los Angeles Times is correct, Hastert forced undesired sexual behavior upon these individuals. I am keeping my fingers crossed that these individuals were not underage or his students at the time, but no matter what the details, we once again this week have a gross sexual violation of a human being in the news, and the Duggars aren’t even canceled yet.

Sources say it was a student.

Fox News Spent Under 2 Minutes On Josh Duggar And Still Managed To Defend Him

Really? “Heartbreaking?” As usual, Fox News has its priorities up the wingnuts' collective  tookus.

Read more

Defenders Of Josh Duggar Reach New Low: ‘Abuse Is The New Racism’

A home schooling advocate is jumping to Josh Duggar’s defense, and it makes you wonder how many kids have been abused under his watch.

Read more

How Dangerous 'christian' Cults Create The Josh Duggars Of The World

The revelation that Josh Duggar is a child molester who sexually assaulted his sisters and another victim, one of whom couldn’t have been more than...

Creating The Josh Duggars Of The World

The Daily Drift

Editor's Note: We are back to our regularly scheduled postings.

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

 

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

 
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Teddy

What Happened To The First Children Being Off-Limits?

Wingnuts’ Renew Attacks On Malia 

No other president has had his children attacked so relentlessly more than President Obama. It’s amazing how graceful they continue to be in spite of it.

Read more 

Fact Checkers Bust Wingnuts For Their False Claim About Hillary Clinton’s Speaking Fees

Last Thursday the fact-checkers at PolitiFact busted wingnuts like Glenn Beck for their “mostly false” claim that 2016 Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton makes more money in speaking fees than the average CEO does in a year. This, they determined, “ignores critical facts.”

Conservative pundits are calling out Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton for reeling in hefty speaking fees when she left the State Department, saying the big checks belie her message of addressing income inequality as she runs for the White House.

“Let’s remember one thing about this woman of the people,” conservative radio host Glenn Beck said on his May 13 show. “She knows a few things about making money. She makes more per hour at a speaking gig than the average CEO does in a year. Let me say that again: She makes more at a speaking gig in an hour than the average CEO does in a year. But let’s have her lecture us about those out of control CEO salaries.”

The set up is an attempt to confuse voters by conflating a candidate’s financial position with their policy position.

This conflation is only helpful to Republicans, whose policies are economically harmful to the 98%. Whereas the Democratic platform is full of policies that fight for the working and middle class.

But you know how Republicans are about surface. If they can just put the right face on ripping you off, they are sure you will buy it. Mitt Romney was not that face. Their bad. They’re going to do it better this time. And that starts by smearing Hillary Clinton with Mitt’s smug privilege by pretending that having money is what made Mitt so egregious. (Hint: It was not. See noblesse oblige. It was probably his contempt for those who were not rich.)

So this whole claim is specious and full of wrong turns. It’s based on a faulty premise. But it is also “mostly false”.

Looking at CEOs of large companies, Beck’s claim completely falls apart.

The data that puts Beck’s claim in the best light, from BLS, is incomplete. It doesn’t include stock options, bonuses and other benefits that typically make up an executive’s compensation package. Nor does it account for CEOs of small and medium-sized business who have ownership stakes. At the same time, it includes people classified as chief executives in the public sector, as well as in Puerto Rico — groups that drag the average salary down.

Beck’s statement contains an element of truth but ignores critical facts that would give a different impression. We rate it Mostly False.

So no, Hillary Clinton does not make more per hour from speaking fees than an average CEO does in a year.

This is a claim that no honest Republican or conservative would make because they are all about making money. They tell the public over and over again not to be jealous of the “success” of the CEOs the public is bailing out with hard-earned, paycheck to paycheck taxpayer money. They tell everyone to aspire to be rich. They pretend they are all about the American Dream of building yourself up from nothing when really, their policies are all about protecting the dynasties of the top 2%.

So it’s odd that Hillary Clinton actually grew up in a middle-class family, with no mommy or daddy in politics, and — like the American Dream — got herself to a great college (Wellesley College) where she worked hard enough to go on to get her law degree from Yale. Along the way, she met a man from Arkansas who was really charming and smart. Eventually, she followed him back to his home state, where they worked hard — like the American dream — until they bought a home and started a family, Ms. Clinton working at a local law firm. And then this man became the Governor of Arkansas, and one day the President of the United States! Which meant that this hard-working girl from middle-class Illinois ended up the First Lady of the United States.

After that, she became a Senator and after that, she was the Secretary of State.

Now she is running for President. In between, she is often paid well to give speeches because as you can see from my brief paraphrasing of her biography, she actually knows things about things. And someone is paying her to talk about it.

In the meantime, this woman has a political platform and policies that are all about the middle and working class. Now, sure, many don’t know this because the media won’t stop talking about a conspiracy artist’s book about her, and now today we are back at Hillary’s hair (do not pass Go). But these are her policies. They are a matter of fact and they are no surprise. She has been championing these policies her entire political career, and in fact during her husband’s political career.

Naturally, since this is the one topic that will actually impact most voters, it is the one topic that is hotly avoided by the media. But Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton are both determined to use this election cycle to actually talk about issues. They want to do this for a reason. That reason is why Republicans do not want to do it and why they distract with personal attacks like this one.

MOSTLY FALSE. Try again.

Bernie Sanders On The TPP: There’s Nothing Progressive About It

“The minimum wage in Vietnam is 56 cents an hour. Workers there cannot form independent unions. What does this trade agreement have to say about that? Not a goddamned thing”.

Read more

Now Bernie Sanders Is Hitler ...

... Wingnuts Claim Fight Against Inequality Leads To ‘Concentration Camps’

Wingnut hack  blinks, writes first “Bernie Sanders is just like Hitler” column of the election.

Read more 

Republican: Iranian Ayatollah Might Be More Trustworthy than President Obama

by Allen Clifton

I’ve sometimes joked that President Obama’s success has literally made the Republican party lose its mind. While there’s always a partisan friction between Democrats and Republicans, I’ve never seen such absurdity from a political party as I have when it comes to the GOP and some of the nonsense they say about this president.
It’s almost as if they’ve pushed their propaganda for so long that they’ve actually started to believe their own lies.
Take for instance comments made by Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) who basically insinuated that he trusts the Iranian Ayatollah more so than he does President Obama.
“Now, a President who was awarded the 2013 Politifact Lie of the Year, if you like your healthcare plan you can keep it, period. If you like your doctor you can keep it, period,” Johnson said. “They lied boldfaced to the American public repeatedly with Obamacare.”
“I don’t know, I hate to admit it, but in terms of this framework, do I trust President Obama, or do I trust the Ayatollah? In terms of what the framework actually says? I’m not so sure I’m trusting President Obama on this,” he continued.
Wow.
So, now we’re at a point where Republicans are going to start insinuating that President Obama is so “diabolical” that he might be more dishonest than the Ayatollah of Iran?
This is getting flat-out ridiculous.
As if it wasn’t bad enough that Republicans invited Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to speak behind the president’s back or sent a letter to Iranian officials blatantly trying to undermine his authority – now they’re honestly trying to insinuate that this president is so untrustworthy that a key leader of a nation they’ve fear-mongered about for years is someone they might trust more than our own president?
Ever since he was first elected, Republicans have shown President Obama and his administration absolutely zero respect.
Even at some of the lowest points in the Bush administration (and there were many), Democrats still never acted this way. Because while there’s always petty partisan friction between the two sides, since 2008, Republicans have bordered on basically being anti-American. That’s what these kinds of comments sound like to me. That Republicans hate and loathe this president, someone who was overwhelmingly elected by the American people per our Constitution, so much so that they’re actually showing more respect to foreign leaders – including the Ayatollah of Iran.
This is the sort of nonsense I’m talking about when I say I just can’t take these people seriously anymore. These kinds of comments aren’t being made by rational adults, they’re made by individuals who are either insane or so full of their own b.s. that they’ll basically say or do anything to slander this president.
Because we’ve literally reached a point where Republican propaganda against President Obama has gotten so absurd that not only do they show more respect toward Prime Minister Netanyahu, but at least some of them might even view the Ayatollah of Iran in higher regard than our president.
And that’s absolute lunacy.

Sorry, Jeb, The Republican Cabal Can’t ‘Embrace Science’ And Climate Denial At The Same Time

Jeb Bush says of climate change, "I don’t think the science is clear what percentage is man-made and what percentage is natural. It’s convoluted." Actually, it’s pretty easy to understand scientists’ best estimate of what fraction of recent warming is man-made — all of it.

Republican Hastert Indicted On Federal Charges

Dennis Hastert has been a naughty boy.

Hastert Indicted On Federal Charges

Ammosexual Calls For Texas Lawmakers To Be Hung After Open Carry Bill Is Delayed

The left is often criticized for our objection to open carry bills across the country. Ammosexuals accuse us of trampling all over their Second Amendment...

Ignorant Ammosexual

Teens Are Leaving Religion In Droves ...

It is no secret to anyone who bothers to turn on a television news show or use Google that the current incarnation of the Republican Cabal is hellbent on turning America...

... And That Spells Big Trouble For The Republican Cabal

 

Creationist Claims Proof Dinos And Humans Co-Existed; Scientists Fire Up Facepalming Machine

Creationist Ken Ham claims he finally found proof that dinosaurs lived with Adam and Eve. This ought to be good.

Read more

Oops: Creationist digs up 60 million year old fossil in basement ...

Nernberg works for a local excavation company and came across a school of fish fossilized in sandstone while he was digging a basement in a new development.

... but still says Earth is 6,000 years old

Gun nut arrested for pointing pistol at peaceful Muslim couple she considered ‘suspicious’

Around 11:00 PM last Friday, Majida and Adly Abumayaleh drove several miles from their house in Maple Grove to pick up their teenage son from a party in a residential neighborhood. Before they were able to get out of the car, a woman approached the couple’s vehicle, demanded they roll down their windows, and became violent.

Gun nut arrested

Boulder cops declare ‘rock stacking’ a jailable offense to stop local artist who spent 7 years creating sculptures

 

Michael Grab, a Boulder artist who goes by the name Gravity Glue, said that police threatened to ticket or jail him for creating stacked river rock sculptures.

‘Rock stacking’ a jailable offense?

‘Breathtaking in its stupidity'

‘Breathtaking in its stupidity': Wisconsin Republican bill would allow high school dropouts to teach high school

Fake Groping

 

Hawaii cops fake being groped to accuse massage parlor workers of sexual assault

Republicans: A Special Kind of Stupid

Arkansas DHS keeps giving 'christian' wingnuts a pass on child abuse

“(He) can’t hide behind being a 'christian', being a Republican … I’m both of those, and what do people think when you say, ‘Oh, I’m a 'christian'’ all the time? It has to stop.”

It's not just the Duggars

Can We Talk About The Fact That One Of Josh Duggar’s Victims Was 5-Years-Old MAX?

Can we please talk about the fact that one of the children Josh Duggar molested was 5-years-old at most?

Read more

The Daily Drift

Editor's Note: We will be lecturing at a seminar on Tuesday June 2nd, so we will be taking what other's have termed a 'Blogcation' for that day with no posts for the day but will return to our regular posting on Wednesday June 3rd.

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

 

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

 
 More real than any Republican... !

Today is - Oscar the Grouch Day

 

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Argentina - Brazil - Canada - Colombia - Czech Republic - Honduras - Nicaragua - Panama - Peru   Puerto Rico - Trinidad/Tobago - United States - Venezuela

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Belarus - Belgium - Bosnia/Herzegovina - Bulgaria - England - France - Germany - Greece - Hungary   Iceland - Ireland - Italy - Latvia - Netherlands - Norway - Russia - Scotland - Slovakia - Spain  Switzerland - Ukraine - Wales

Asia

Burma - China - India - Indonesia - Israel - Japan - Korea - Kyrgyzstan - Malaysia - Pakistan - Singapore Sri Lanka - Taiwan - Thailand - Vietnam

Africa

Morocco - Somalia - Tunisia - Zambia

The Pacific

Australia - New Zealand - Philippines

Obama Takes Bold Executive Action To Protect America’s Drinking Water From Corporate Polluters

President Obama and his administration have announced bold new executive actions that have left Republicans fuming by protecting 33% of the nation’s clean drinking water supply.

In a statement, President Obama said:
For more than 40 years, American families and businesses across the country have counted on the Clean Water Act to protect the streams and wetlands we rely on for our way of life – from recreation to public health to a growing economy. In recent years, however, court decisions have led to uncertainty and a need for clarification. One in three Americans now gets drinking water from streams lacking clear protection, and businesses and industries that depend on clean water face uncertainty and delay, which costs our economy every day. Too many of our waters have been left vulnerable to pollution. That’s why I called on the Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to clear up the confusion and uphold our basic duty to protect these vital resources.

Today, after extensive input from the American public, they’re doing just that – finalizing the Clean Water Rule to restore protection for the streams and wetlands that form the foundation of our nation’s water resources, without getting in the way of farming, ranching, or forestry. This rule will provide the clarity and certainty businesses and industry need about which waters are protected by the Clean Water Act, and it will ensure polluters who knowingly threaten our waters can be held accountable. My Administration has made historic commitments to clean water, from restoring iconic watersheds like the Chesapeake Bay and the Great Lakes to preserving more than a thousand miles of rivers and other waters for future generations. With today’s rule, we take another step towards protecting the waters that belong to all of us.

Republicans are already losing their minds and calling the new administration rule a land grab. Speaker of the House John Boehner said, “The administration’s decree to unilaterally expand federal authority is a raw and tyrannical power grab that will crush jobs. House Members of both parties have joined more than 30 governors and government leaders to reject EPA’s disastrous WOTUS rule. These leaders know firsthand that the rule is being shoved down the throats of hardworking people with no input, and places landowners, small businesses, farmers, and manufacturers on the road to a regulatory and economic hell.”

Boehner’s statement is just one example of the outcry from Congressional Republicans. Republicans are trying to hide the issue. The new rule does not give the federal government possession of any land or waterways. What the new rule does do is give these waterways federal protections from corporate polluters.

EPA head Gina McCarthy debunked the Republican claims of a land grab, “It does not interfere with private property rights or address land use. It does not regulate any ditches unless they function as tributaries. It does not apply to groundwater or shallow subsurface water, copper tile drains or change policy on irrigation or water transfer.”

When Republicans claim that this rule is harming the economy, what they really mean is that these changes aren’t going to allow agribusiness and corporations to destroy the clean water supply for 33% of the country. Republicans are literally advocating for one-third of the country to potentially lose access to clean drinking water.

The action by President Obama and his administration was a bold, forward-thinking step that was designed to protect a key portion of the nation’s clean water supply.

Sorry Republicans, Obama isn’t coming for your land, but he is trying to make sure that you and your children have access to safe and clean drinking water.

Obama Justice Department Being Pushed To Investigate Jeb Bush For Illegal Fundraising

Calls are growing from watchdog groups for President Obama’s Justice Department to launch a federal investigation into what appears to be illegal fundraising by Jeb Bush.

In a letter to the Justice Department, the group Democracy21 argues that Jeb Bush is a presidential candidate, and that his fundraising scheme is a clear violation of the law, “The fact of his candidacy is so apparent, and so overt, that Bush himself has found it hard to maintain what is really the ongoing charade of his purported non-candidacy….Bush’s proclamations that he is not a candidate are contradicted by the facts and by the applicable law. In all pertinent respects, Bush has been engaging in activities as an active candidate at least since January 2015. He has been traveling extensively to early primary states since January 2015, and has been speaking and organizing in those states.”

The letter to Attorney General Loretta Lynch continues, “Bush has also been heavily involved in fundraising for the Right to Rise Super PAC, which is raising funds solely for the purpose of making expenditures to further Bush’s presidential campaign. An individual becomes a “candidate” if the individual raises “funds in excess of what could reasonably be expected to be used for exploratory activities or undertakes activities designed to amass campaign funds that would be spent after he or she becomes a candidate….” 11 C.F.R. § 100.72(b). By these standards, Bush is a “candidate.” The fact that he has refrained from formally announcing his candidacy is not determinative. If Bush is raising and spending money as a candidate, he is a candidate under the law, whether or not he declares himself to be one.”

Democracy 21 President Fred Wertheimer said, “There are powerful grounds to conclude that the political charade being perpetrated on the American people by former Governor Jeb Bush and his associated individual-candidate Super PAC is illegal. The same is true for other presidential campaigns and their associated Super PACs and we also plan to ask the Justice Department to investigate those as well. The Bush scheme, however, appears to be the most blatant and brazen effort to date to circumvent and evade the candidate contribution limits enacted to prevent corruption and the appearance of corruption….The Justice Department has the authority and the responsibility to prevent the 2016 presidential candidates from engaging in the most massive violations of the campaign finance laws in the nation’s history. The Justice Department needs to act to protect the integrity of the presidency and our democracy.”

The Bush scheme, which Scott Walker and other Republican presidential candidates are using variations of, was illegal from the beginning, but the illegality became obvious when Bush slipped up and admitted that he was running for president.

Bush is trying to use Citizens United to illegally fundraise his way to the White House. Democrats are familiar with the Bush family history of cheating in elections, but Jeb Bush is flaunting his abuse of the law. It is important that people speak out on this issue before Election Day, and not let Bush get away with illegal activities.
If you would like to make your voice heard, please sign our petition calling on Attorney General Lynch to launch a federal investigation into Jeb Bush.

Supreme Court Agrees To Hear Case That Could Undermine One Person One Vote

The U.S. Supreme Court agreed to hear a case that could fundamentally alter the way districts are drawn in the United States. If the court rules in favor of the plaintiffs, it could also undermine the bedrock American principle of “one person, one vote”.

The case brought forward by Texas plaintiffs Sue Evenwel and Edward Pfenninger, argues that Texas Senate Districts dilute the plaintiffs’ voting power, because a higher proportion of residents is eligible to vote in their districts than in other districts in the state. The two plaintiffs are represented by the right-wing group Project on Fair Representation, which also brought the suit against the Voting Rights Act to the Supreme Court.

Under current law, federal and state districts are drawn based on the principle that each district should have equal or nearly equal populations. The challenge brought before the Supreme Court would alter that formula, instead redrawing district’s based on eligible voter population, rather than total population. If the court accepts the plaintiff’s arguments, it will clear the way for redrawing districts, to further dilute the political power of already disenfranchised groups like children, prisoners, and undocumented immigrants.

If the court rules in favor of the plaintiffs, it will undermine “representational equality” which ensures that each elected representative in a body governs roughly the same number of people. It would also throw redistricting into chaos, as Census population data would be replaced by a hodgepodge of competing formulas used to estimate the voter eligible population in each district.

The court agreed to hear the case even though it has not been tested in the lower courts, which would typically rule on a case before it reaches the Supreme Court. The intended effect of the change would be to dilute the political power of Latinos, children, and voters in urban areas while disproportionately empowering older, rural and whiter voters.

While it remains uncertain how the Supreme Court will rule on the case, their decision to hear the case already confirms a  familiar pattern with the Roberts’ Court. When it comes to election law, the only guiding principle that governs the decisions of the conservative justices on the Robert’s Court, is will the change benefit Republicans? If the answer is yes, then that is how the court will likely rule.

Republicans Freak Out Over The Return Of Hillary Clinton’s Southern Drawl

First the media snarked on 2016 Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton’s twang in South Carolina, and within minutes the Drudge had its whine published.

They write, “Hillary Rodham Clinton, who was born in Illinois and represented New York in the U.S. Senate, has brought back her Southern accent for her speech today in South Carolina.”

Watch Hillary Clinton’s South Carolina speech here:

Republicans don’t want to share the south, their only region, with a Democrat, so naturally if they hear a twang coming from anyone but their party, they get upset. This is, after all, all they have thanks to their success with the race-based Southern Strategy.

But they know that the former Secretary of State lived in the southern state of Arkansas with her husband, former President Bill Clinton, for a long time. They owned a house there before they moved into the governor’s mansion, where she was First Lady of the southern state. She worked with a southern law firm for many years.

Maybe the media has never lived in the south. Because you know what happens to many people when they live in the south? They pick up the accent. It happened to me. It doesn’t grip all of your speech, but you slow down and you drawl a bit and sometimes you have a ‘Y’all”. It’s called assimilation. It happens no matter where you are – it can even happen on a short overseas vacation.

Sure, it’s politically expedient to talk like the people around you, and no doubt any politician who has spent time in the South would play on that when they are there. Just like a politician in the Midwest will talk about work ethic and family with the flatter accent of the region. But unlike when failed 2012 Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney tried this repeatedly, Hillary Clinton actually has a reason to have a drawl.

Hillary Clinton is married to a native Southerner and she lived in the south for years as his partner and wife. She comes by her ‘Y’alls” the hard way. Sorry, Republicans — you might not get to own the South this time around. Good luck picking up the rest of the country on a tax the poor, pro-molestation, anti-equal rights for all platform.

This Presidential Candidate Wants Everyone To Be Able To Take A Vacation

Bernie Sanders is the first person to call for guaranteed vacation while seeking the presidency.

Why Justice Ginsburg Can Officiate All The Legal Same-Sex Weddings She Wants

Why Justice Ginsburg Can Officiate All The Legal Same-Sex Weddings She Wants

Bill Nye Drives Wingnuts Into A Rage By Linking Texas Floods To Climate Change

A seemingly innocuous Twitter post from scientist Bill Nye linking historic flooding in Texas to climate change sent wingnuts into a frenzy.

Bill Nye Drives Wingnuts Into A Rage By Telling The Truth

If You’ve Wondered Why So Many Republicans Deny Climate Change, Science Has Your Answer

If You’ve Wondered Why So Many Republicans Deny Climate Change, Science Has Your Answer

The 5 Most Ridiculous Things Wingnut Whack Jobs Buy Out of ‘NRA Magazine’

Depending on what kind of magazines you read, you probably see lots of things advertised. From prescription drugs to age-defying face creams, vitamins...

Ridiculous Wingnut Whack Jobs

Wingnuts Troll The Spelling Bee

Online trolls gripe that immigrant kids aren't 'American' enough for National Spelling Bee

***
OK, come on you insipid mealy-mouthed troglodytes it's a freaking spelling bee.
Give it a rest.

Rand Paul Blames Republican Chickenhawks For The Rise Of ISIL

Rand Paul bashes Republican chickenhawks like John McCain and Lindsey for being wrong for the last twenty years on foreign policy issues.

Republican Chickenhawks Caused The Rise Of ISIL

Rand Paul Tries To Fool Students Into Thinking He's A Democrat

Labeling yourself a treehugger isn't going to fool them, Rand.

Rand Paul Isn't Fooling Anybody

Ted Cruz Demands Federal Money For Texas Floods After Blocking Hurricane Sandy Relief

Ted Cruz (R-TX), who called federal disaster relief for Hurricane Sandy victims wasteful is now hypocritically demanding that the federal government fulfill its obligation and provide disaster relief to Texas.

During a press conference on the deadly flooding in Texas, Cruz said, “The federal government’s role, once the Governor declares a disaster area and makes a request, I am confident that the Texas congressional delegation, Cornyn and I, and the members of Congress both Republicans and Democrats will stand united as Texans in support of the federal government fulfilling its statutory obligations, and stepping in to respond to this natural disaster.

Sen. Cruz sang a completely different tune in 2013 when he called federal aid for the victims of Hurricane Sandy wasteful:

Two-thirds of this spending is not remotely “emergency”; the Congressional Budget Office estimates that only 30% of the authorized funds would be spent in the next 20 months, and over a billion dollars will be spent as late as 2021.

This bill is symptomatic of a larger problem in Washington – an addiction to spending money we do not have. The United States Senate should not be in the business of exploiting victims of natural disasters to fund pork projects that further expand our debt.

Cruz’s claim that the Sandy relief bill was wasteful was debunked by PolitiFact, “A big portion of the $17 billion in “immediate” assistance, more than $5 billion, went to replenish FEMA’s disaster relief fund, which may fund relief from future disasters.” PolitiFact also disagrees with some of the math Cruz repeated, “On Jan. 28, it passed H.R. 152, a separate $50.5 billion package. Of that $50.5 billion, $17 billion went toward immediate Sandy aid, while $33.5 billion was for “near- and long-term assistance and mitigation,” according to a Congressional Quarterly analysis.”

The great irony of the whole Sandy bill fiasco was that the pork came from Republicans like Cruz, who demanded to be paid off to support disaster relief. According to Forbes, “However, as it turns out, the pork portions of the Senate bill were not earmarked to benefit Democratic members of the upper chamber of Congress… The answer can be found in a quick review of the states that are set to benefit from the Senate’s extra-special benevolence—states including Alabama, Mississippi, Texas and Louisiana.”

That would be the same group of Texas Republicans who are now demanding federal disaster relief be immediately sent to their state. Hypocrisy and Ted Cruz are longtime companions, but the larger hypocrisy is bound to come from Republicans who will likely speed a disaster relief bill for Texas and Oklahoma through Congress.

Ted Cruz’s position is clear. Disaster relief is only vital when it is for his state. Red state need is the only real need that counts. Sen. Cruz is demanding disaster relief for Texas. If there were any justice, he would be forced to wait just like he made the people impacted by Hurricane Sandy suffer, but since Democrats have compassion for all Americans in need, Texas will be given a luxury that wasn’t offered to the victims of Sandy.

Scott Walker Self-Destructs By Suggesting That Ultrasounds Are Like Selfies

Rob Thomas says he had no trouble coming up with the Quote of the Day for the Wisconsin Cap Times today in a piece titled, “In Case You Missed It: Scott Walker thinks ultrasounds are like a selfie for the womb”.

Trying to justify his 2013 law that forces women to undergo a medically unnecessary and costly ultrasound before they can exercise their constitutionally-protected freedom, Walker said:

“I think about, my sons are 19 and 20, you know, we still have their first ultrasound picture. It’s just a cool thing out there.”

Thomas explained that Walker became an “immediate subject of derision for telling conservative talk show host Dana Loesch that mandatory ultrasounds are a ‘cool thing’ — you know, a hot trend, like selfie sticks or dadbods.”

Who is going to tell the Republican governor and 2016 presidential candidate that the two ultrasound methods are very different? The one they used to get pictures of his sons is not the same as a transvaginal ultrasound. Maybe if he doesn’t know any better, he might want to hush up about it, because he is once again making a fool of himself. Also a note, doctors like to tell you that these are “painless”. And some women say that’s true. Others experience them as invasive and painful. (I wouldn’t recommend it for fun, for example, unlike… say…. a selfie.)

Not impressed, Thomas noted, “Quite the trendspotter, our governor.”

It’s not all about ultrasounds as the new selfie either. In their lead editorial, they determine the Governor is both “incompetent and irresponsible”. Quite a performance for someone running for president.

Our lead editorial Wednesday didn’t mention Walker’s coolhunter skills in ripping him for being both “incompetent and irresponsible” — incompetent for his performance and irresponsible for skating away from the consequences and not trying to fix his mistakes.

In that editorial, which is a must-read, they divulge the worst news. Forget the scandals swirling around Walker since his time in college, the man is “exceptionally incompetent and he is exceptionally irresponsible.”

That was confirmed in brutal detail last week by two separate stories that explain the mess Walker has made of Wisconsin’s economy.

To be fair to the Republican governor, the reason he’s so busy talking up transvaginal ultrasounds and likening them to selfies is because he can’t afford to talk about anything else. Walker made a mess of Wisconsin’s economy — the thing he ran on — and he’s been fudging the numbers and making up new math ever since. He embarrassed himself repeatedly on the national stage when trying to opine about things like foreign policy.

The man is not fit for prime time, but like his twin in Alaska, doesn’t know it.

So what is a person too arrogant to know that they are being used by the Republican Party and the Koch brothers and it won’t turn out well to do, but discuss shoving an ultrasound wand up women for no reason as if it’s like taking a selfie. Scott Walker has always been Sarah Palin but with more staying power. That is, he hasn’t quit his job midway through. He is, however, just as incompetent and just as foolish and most damaging of all, just as willing to buy his own press.

If Scott Walker were smart, he’d take a look at the woman who just a year or so after running for Vice President was rejected by even Fox News. The Republican Party loves to pick a new, charismatic person who is willing to sell their soul (or doesn’t have one) for the Koch brothers et al. Once this person gets busted as the charlatan they are, the GOP leaves them in the dust to wither away on reality TV.

Compare Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) to Governor Scott Walker. You will never see Ted Cruz get taken by anyone. The man knows how to run the long con to benefit only himself. But Scott Walker is a willing servant to the Kochs, just like Palin was. Today’s star is tomorrow’s trash. And that is why he is talking about ultrasounds and comparing his theft of women’s constitutionally-protected rights to taking a selfie.

Scott Walker justifies his anti-women’s rights stance as being “pro-life”, but defunded Planned Parenthood, which provides the one sure thing to reduce abortions (birth control). Walker has yet to denounce the Duggar family after proudly standing with Josh Duggar in photos. That’s not exactly pro-life, that’s anti-women and children. He might have fooled Wisconsin voters into thinking he was a moderate, but the policies speak for themselves and he won’t get away with it on the national stage.

I’d like to formally invite the Governor to take a “selfie” of the transvaginal kind. You know, just ‘cuz it’s so cool.

Scott Walker Believes Women Should Be Forced To Have 'Cool' Ultrasounds

So they can show that little fuzzy photo of the kid they don't want to everyone?

Women Should Be Forced To Have Ultrasounds

Ten Outrageous Ideas Rick Santorum Actually Believes

Ten Outrageous Ideas Rick Santorum Actually Believes

The Duggar Name Becomes New Word For Hypocrisy And Child Molestation

It was bound to happen sooner or later, but the Duggar name has become a verb that the First Family of lunatic fringe wingnut “christian” hypocrisy will never live down.

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Pedophile State Trooper: Jim Bob Duggar Lied, Said Josh Only Molested One Kid

Remember the tales of  Jim Bob Duggar reporting his son’s crimes to a friend who was a state trooper (and is currently serving 56 years in prison...

Pedophile State Trooper: Jim Bob Duggar Lied, Said Josh Only Molested One Kid

Josh Duggar sued Arkansas in 2007 because they investigated his sexual assaults

Though Springdale police declined to prosecute Josh Duggar for molesting several girls — including some of his sisters — in 2006, the department referred Duggar’s file to the state’s Families in Need of Services agency, a body that monitors criminal cases against juveniles.

Josh Duggar sued Arkansas because they investigated his sexual assaults