Bill Maher on running for office: Americans would ‘probably elect a pedophile before an atheist’

Americans would ‘probably elect a pedophile before an atheist’

President Obama Tears Boehner And McConnell A New One At Highway Bill Signing

While he signed the three-month transportation funding bill, President Obama delivered a stern lecture to Congress in general and John Boehner and Mitch McConnell specifically about their total inability to govern.

The President said:

Well, I am about to sign a three-month extension of our highway funding, and that’s a good thing because if this wasn’t in front of me and ready for signature we would end up having projects all across the country be frozen after midnight.

On the other hand, we have now made it a habit where instead of five-year funding plans for transportation instead of long-term approaches, instead we operate as if we’re hand to mouth three months at a time, which freezes a lot of construction, which makes people uncertain, which leads to businesses not being willing to hire because they don’t have any long-term certainty. It’s a bad way for the U.S. government to do business.

….

We can’t have bridges collapsing and potholes not being filled because Congress can’t come up with an adequate plan to fund our infrastructure budget for more than three or five or six months at a time.

….

So I want to make sure that before I sign this Congress gets a clear message, and that is we should not be leaving all the business of the U.S. government until the last minute.

That little lecture was directed at two people whose names the President did not mention. Obama was talking about the dysfunction between Boehner and McConnell. The Senate did their job. They negotiated a bipartisan multi-year agreement on transportation funding that House Republicans immediately refused to pass.

Republicans promised the American people that the governing from crisis to crisis behavior would stop if they were given control of both the House and Senate. Well, Republicans control Congress, and the dysfunction and chaos have grown worse.

President Obama has been forced into the role of the national parent who has to scold and reprimand Republicans who refuse to carry out their basic duties. The spoiled Republican children are taking millions of dollars in salary and benefits from the taxpayers while providing little in return.

The drama over the highway bill is nothing compared to the potential government shutdown that is looming after Congress returns from its August break. As the stakes get higher, it is expected that President Obama’s language will get even tougher as Boehner and McConnell appear to have no idea how to make this Congress work.

President Obama Calls Out The Republican Lies On Medicare

President Obama is pushing back against the Republican lies about Medicare while celebrating the fiftieth anniversary of Medicare and Medicaid.

The President said:

This week, there was a big birthday you might have missed. Medicare and Medicaid turned 50 years old. And that’s something worth celebrating.

If one of the best measures of a country is how it treats its more vulnerable citizens – seniors, the poor, the sick – then America has a lot to be proud of. Think about it. Before Social Security, too many seniors lived in poverty. Before Medicare, only half had some form of health insurance. Before Medicaid, parents often had no help covering the cost of care for a child with a disability.

But as Americans, we declared that our citizens deserve a basic measure of security and dignity. And today, the poverty rate for seniors is less than half of what it was fifty years ago. Every American over 65 has access to affordable health care. And today, we’re finally finishing the job – since I signed the Affordable Care Act into law, the uninsured rate for all Americans has fallen by about one-third.

These promises we made as a nation have saved millions of our own people from poverty and hardship, allowing us new freedom, new independence, and the chance to live longer, better lives. That’s something to be proud of. It’s heroic. These endeavors – these American endeavors – they didn’t just make us a better country. They reaffirmed that we are a great country.

And a great country keeps the promises it makes. Today, we’re often told that Medicare and Medicaid are in crisis. But that’s usually a political excuse to cut their funding, privatize them, or phase them out entirely – all of which would undermine their core guarantee. The truth is, these programs aren’t in crisis. Nor have they kept us from cutting our deficits by two-thirds since I took office. What is true is that every month, another 250,000 Americans turn 65 years old, and become eligible for Medicare. And we all deserve a health care system that delivers efficient, high-quality care. So to keep these programs strong, we’ll have to make smart changes over time, just like we always have.

Today, we’re actually proving that’s possible. The Affordable Care Act has already helped secure Medicare’s funding for another 13 years. The Affordable Care Act has saved more than nine million folks on Medicare 15 billion dollars on their prescription medicine. It has expanded Medicaid to help cover 12.8 million more Americans, and to help more seniors live independently. And we’re moving our health care system toward models that reward the quality of the care you receive, not the quantity of care you receive. That means healthier Americans and a healthier federal budget.

Today, these programs are so fundamental to our way of life that it’s easy to forget how hard people fought against them at the time. When FDR created Social Security, critics called it socialism. When JFK and LBJ worked to create Medicare, the cynics said it would take away our freedom. But ultimately, we came to see these programs for what they truly are – a promise that if we work hard, and play by the rules, we’ll be rewarded with a basic measure of dignity, security, and the freedom to live our lives as we want.

It’s a promise that previous generations made to us, and a promise that our generation has to keep.

As usual, the President didn’t mention anyone by name but it was clear who he was talking about. Jeb Bush has made phasing out the beloved program that help the poor, seniors, and the disabled a key piece of his campaign. Republicans routinely misinform in an attempt to provide justification for their ideological goal of destroying Medicare/Medicaid.

Republicans are still claiming that Obamacare is destroying Medicare when the reality is that the ACA has added to Medicare funding. As we move into campaign season, the Republican lies about the stability and future of Medicare will return to the surface. The truth is that the Republican goal has been, is, and will continue to be to get rid of Medicare.

Obama nailed it. Republicans are wrong about the ACA, Medicare, and Social Security. The President is standing tall and not letting the right’s ideological fallacies go unchallenged.

White House Promises Obama Will Veto Republican Bill To Defund Planned Parenthood

President Obama is standing by Planned Parenthood as the White House confirmed that he will veto the Republican bill to defund the organization.

According to The Hill:

The White House on Friday threatened a veto on any bill that defunds Planned Parenthood.

A budget measure that strips funding from the organization “is certainly something that would draw a presidential veto,” press secretary Josh Earnest said.

“We have routinely opposed the inclusion of ideologically driven riders” in budget bills, Earnest added.

This veto threat is larger than most because Ted Cruz and House Republicans are threatening to shut down the government if Planned Parenthood is not defunded. Cruz is set to deploy the same tactics that he used in 2013 to shut down the government when he attempted to defund Obamacare.

The 2013 shutdown was a complete disaster, and House and Senate Republicans will be under the same kind of pressure to shut down the government over Planned Parenthood. The Obama veto threat is the first shot in what could be an ugly showdown in September. This White House is opposed to ideological add-ons in budget bills. That means that when Cruz and his House wingnut allies pressure Boehner and McConnell into adding a provision that defunds Planned Parenthood to the budget bills, Republicans will be putting the wheels in motion for a government shutdown.

Republicans in Congress have been trying this same failed stunt for years. Republicans always convince themselves that they have found the golden ticket to make Obama blink, but the President has stood his ground and not batted an eye. In the end, Republicans always cave under the pressure of the crisis that they created bring down the President.

Nothing has changed. Republicans are going to fail again because the White House has made it clear that President Obama is not going to be intimidated.

Obama Draws Bright Red Line In The Sand Over Planned Parenthood, Dares Republicans To Cross It

This is what a president who stands up for women’s rights looks like.
Read more

Hillary Clinton Just Obliterated Jeb In Front Of Jeb

This. Was. Epic.
Read more

Republicans Tell Their Own Media: You’re Destroying Our Chance To 'Govern' With Your Idiocy

Republicans are concerned with what Liberals have been saying for years: the wingnut media’s push to extremism is harming the Republican cabal’s ability to 'govern'.

Read full story

Fox News Says Don’t Worry if Times’ Clinton Email Story Wrong, Keep Talking About it

Judith Miller says don't worry about facts, we need more coverage. This is Fox-speak for "We've got nothing, so let's keep talking about it"…

A classic Fox News response to the botched, re-botched and botched again New York Times Hillary Clinton email story:

On Fox News’ Happening Now, Judith Miller said we need more coverage of the Clinton emails “Whether or not The Times got certain facts about the story wrong.” This is Fox-speak for “We’ve got nothing, so let’s keep talking about it.”

They don’t have to prove a thing. They just have to keep doubt alive, just as they’ve tried to do with global warming, and before that, smoking. Throw enough dirt, and some will stick. And after all, where they’ve invented one lie, they can invent another, and keep inventing them.

Watch courtesy of Media Matters for America:

Sure, some of what the Times said was wrong, claims Miller, but, she says,

What we’re missing here is the bigger picture, and that is that Hillary Clinton, whether or not the Times got certain facts about the story wrong, has huge potential legal and certainly political problems because of her handling of the email, and if I were Hillary Clinton’s press secretary, I would want to divert attention too to what The New York Times did or didn’t do and how fast it did it. Look, we already know she had 60,000 emails, only 30,000 of which were turned over to the State Department. The other 30,000 she destroyed. We know there was at least five emails which contained classified information. We don’t know how many more did. We don’t know when that information was classified. We also know there was that mysterious disappearance of two months of emails just around the Benghazi attack. I mean, there are so many issues here and problems.

Miller says the question is why the media did not “get on this story sooner. Why did it take until The New York Times’ original story about the existence of a private server in her private home to prompt others to begin to look at this issue.”

Hillary Clinton is lining up Republican pretender candidates and knocking them down like dominoes. At this rate, she will have all 16 down even before the first debates. Fox News, like the Republican cabal, is frantically looking for ways to stop her. Expect more Benghazi, expect more emails and more emails + Benghazi and anything else they can invent to throw at her.

What is funny is that The New York Times can call out the campaign being engineered against Planned Parenthood without noticing their own deceptive campaign against Hillary Clinton. As The Atlantic‘s Norm Ornstein so succinctly put it, The New York Times‘ handling of Clinton email story is “a direct challenge to its fundamental credibility.”

We could say a lot more about Fox News, but they never had any credibility to begin with.

House Republican Says President Obama’s Iran Deal ‘Makes Hitler Look Like A Minor Player’

A House Republican said that the Iran deal makes President Obama more evil than Hitler and weaker than Neville Chamberlain.

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Not To Be Outdone ...

Trump Exposes Koch Republicans As Glaring Fascists

Republicans have tapped into the religious and wingnut negative reaction to 21st Century modernity, or social progress as it is called…

It is a sad situation that, for the most part, Americans are completely ignorant of two terms used pejoratively to describe the opposing sides of the American political spectrum. It is true that most Americans understand that Republicans are wingnuts and inherently terrified of, and violently resistant to change to maintain the power structure favoring the privileged few, and that Democrats are liberals and promote progress to advance the general welfare of all Americans.

Political pundits often go a bit farther and use “big confusing” words like “fascists” and “socialists” to describe each political extreme, but very few Americans comprehend those words’ meanings. In their most basic sense, socialism is when government owns and operates all businesses, financial institutions and property with no input of private individuals, and fascism is when corporations own, operate, and control all facets of a nation’s government without any input from the people.

Wingnuts are infatuated with criticizing everything unrelated to corporatism and extremism as “socialism” because it resonates with their base’s inherent stupidity and horror due to having no idea what socialism entails. If wingnuts understood what socialism is, they would understand that the United States military is the only socialistic entity in America. Conversely, the left often criticizes wingnuts and the policies championed by Republicans as being fascist. Unlike the ‘socialist’ label, fascist is an apt description of Republican tactics and policies and an ideology that their clueless base ardently supports and falls victim to.

Regardless of what any American thinks of Trump, he has performed a valuable service to America if for no other reason than highlighting, in grand fashion, his own fascist inclination that drives the Republican cabal’s policies, practices, and allegiance to the rich and corporations. More than just his policies, Trump is unafraid to publicly practice fascist tactics and is having a great measure of success due to the past six years of Republicans’ conditioning their base.

It is no coincidence that the fascist zeal of today’s Republican cabal and its racist, religious extremist base, is precisely the same as the fervent fascism of the early and mid-20th century; and Trump has exposed the Republican cabal as a fascist movement. In a recent article worth reading, Jeffrey Tucker argued brilliantly that Trump is as much a fascist as Mussolini and Hitler for inciting wingnuts “with race baiting, traditionalism, and ‘ugly American’ strongman tough talk; typically Republican.

It is true that Trump is not saying anything Republicans and their base do not ardently believe and support; he is just unafraid to say it loudly and it informs his growing popularity among conservative. As Tucker explains, Trump’s success is founded on saying exactly what wingnuts believe and desperately want a wingnut 'hero' to say. Tucker argues that “Trump has tapped into it, absorbing unto his own political ambitions every conceivable wingnut resentment; race, class, sex, religion, and economics. And he promises a new order of things under his mighty hand.” It is what every Republican candidate for pretender promises, except Trump is unafraid to say it in any venue.

Everything about Trump’s style, the blatant race baiting, xenophobia, and confrontational nationalism is not unique to Trump by any means; he is simply the most blatant and vocal about it. Republicans, on the other hand, reserve their fascist tactics for private fundraisers, town hall speeches, and special interests’ conference meetings. The only reason Trump is leading in some Republican cabal polls is because he says what the base believes. For example, the wingnut base is furious that immigrants are in “their country,” are violently angry that homosexuals are destroying 'christian’s tradition' of marriage, and that America not at war is a sign of weakness. In fact, in the same way that fascism reacted to modernity in the early 20th century, wingnuts are reacting angrily to social progress of the new century.

Today’s Republican cabal, like its base of support, is twisted sick with dangerously unwavering and dogmatic traditionalism, religious extremism, and blatant intolerance of anything they define as “other.” In fact, except for the people twice electing an African American man as President, Republicans and their wingnut base are reacting violently to the “social progress” the nation has experienced over the past twenty years. Like the early 20th Century fascists’ violently reacted to modernity and people’s flirtation with democratic values, Republicans have tapped into the religious and wingnut negative reaction to America’s 21st Century modernity, or as it is called “social progress” and tolerance.

As any American who has been conscious over the past six years can attest, Republicans preach, promote, and practice intolerance, xenophobia, passion over reason, racial and religious purity, and nationalism, and they openly crusade against democratic values. An example is Republicans’ dangerous and successful denial of climate change and science that originates with “the corrupt alliance of anti-intellectual traditionalism, religious fundamentalism, and corporate influence; the ultimate expression of fascism pushed and paid for by the Koch brothers.

For a prescient comparison between today’s Republican cabal and 20th Century fascism, it is worth considering Benito Mussolini’s ghostwriter and “philosopher of fascism,” Giovanni Gentile’s definition of fascism. Gentile writes that, “Fascism should more appropriately be called corporatism because it is a merger of state and corporate power.” If that one statement does not accurately describe the Republican cabal, and all its iterations, then the Sun rises in the West. It is nearing the point that although large corporations do not yet have ultimate control and power over government, Republicans have brought the nation precariously close to government by corporation and achieved their fascist goals by closely following 20th Century fascist tactics of spewing hateful and religious intolerant ideology based on “traditional values;” values they claim the left have destroyed.

Those traditional values of guns, dog, and racial purity predominate the official Republican cabal platform that corporate interests fund to 'elect' wingnuts to serve those corporate interests; not the people. There is a reason the Republican establishment, or the Koch brothers, have not yet brought their considerable power to bear on Trump to end to his campaign; he is conditioning the base for a “kinder gentler” Republican fascist to appeal to more mainstream voters. It is why fascists like Walker, Paul, and Jeb are being labeled “moderate” when they are just as vicious, just as fascist, and just as much a Koch-Republican as Trump.

 Trump is a predatory businessman who, like Koch Republicans, wants to run America like his personal corporation. He, like Koch Republicans, fully understands that the voters, including the Republican base, would not be amenable to living under a government run by a corporation, so he appeals to the base’s intolerance, xenophobia, passion over reason, racial and religious purity, nationalism and the idea that America’s 236 year-old liberal democracy is why wingnuts are losing their precious traditions. Most Americans likely have no real idea what fascism is, but if they listen to Trump and peruse wingnuts’ agenda, they will realize that officially, Koch Republicans are fascists.

Iowa State Fair Gives Trump The Finger Over A Proposal To Flaunt His Wealth

This is Trump trying to show off his wealth for the good people of Iowa, and look like he cares about children while doing so. Good luck with that, sir.

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Ann Coulter: Trump Should Pick Me To Head Homeland Security

As Donald Trump continues to lead the Republican pretender field, it’s becoming clear that his junta would be full of airheads and extremists...

Ann Coulter is a Douche

A Staggering Number Of People Were Killed By Police In July

In addition to police incidents, another major problem drew national attention in July: deaths behind bars.

Fox News Loses It After Comic Shows Superman Defending Protesters From Violent Cops

Fox News now gets offended even when fictional characters stand up for victims of police brutality.

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As Pretender, Mike Huckabee Wouldn’t Rule Out Using Federal Troops To Stop Abortion

Pretender Huckabee would be absolutely terrifying for women’s rights.

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HIV+ Pastor Sentenced 15 Years For Sexually Abusing Young Boy For A Decade

“Pastor” Ted also reportedly hooked the boy on drugs as a means of manipulation. Could there be other victims, as well?

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What’s Wrong With Politics: The Ted Cruz Edition

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Texas's Cruz is an idiot

A $15 minimum wage for fast food workers would raise the price of a Big Mac by 17 cents

A $15 minimum wage for fast food workers would raise the price of a Big Mac by 17 cents

A common argument against raising the minimum wage, debunked.

The Daily Drift

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

 

The Truth Be Told is read in 205 countries around the world.

Watermelon for everybody, except Republicans  ... !

Today is - Watermelon Day

 

Don't forget to visit our sister blog Carolina Naturally

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Why Jimmy Carter Thinks The United States Isn’t A Real Democracy Anymore

A startling diagnosis from our 39th President.

New Poll Says Democrats’ Best Chance To Beat Jeb Is… Joe Biden?

Joe Biden, if he were to run, has some significant advantages over both Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders.

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Bernie Won’t Run As Third Party Candidate

 

Bernie Sanders is definitely not going to run as in independent if he doesn’t get the Democratic nomination.

Bernie Sanders says the 1 percent have screwed-up brains — and science proves he’s right

Bernie Sanders says the 1 percent have screwed-up brains — and science proves he’s right

The extremely rich have “psychiatric issues” and it affects day-to-day Americans, populist presidential candidate Bernie Sanders (I-VT) said recently. Research shows that he’s on to something.

Let Me Explain Why Trump is an Absolute Genius

by Allen Clifton

I’m not going to lie, the more I study Trump the Republican pretender candidate, the more I think he just might be an absolute genius. Now don’t get me wrong, I still think he’s a vile human being, but as a Republican pretender candidate he might just be brilliant.
Let’s start out with how this all came to be. For years Trump built a solid following among conservatives as an anti-Obama birther who bashed the president any chance he got. Not only that, but he dedicated quite a lot of his time to attacking Hillary Clinton as well. And to wingnut voters, if you show unrelenting disdain toward those two, they’ll pretty much worship you. Hell, he managed to get himself a weekly feature on Fox News’ Fox & Friends where he was promoted (for free) on America’s most-watched wingnut entertainment channel.
But when it comes to understanding the mind of wingnut voters, make no mistake about it – Trump gets it. He knows that it doesn’t matter if what he’s saying is true, just as long as it’s what conservatives want to hear. Which is why when he called most Mexican immigrants criminals and rapists, he didn’t hesitate and he sure as heck didn’t back down. Why would he? That’s what most wingnuts wanted to hear. In fact, had he walked back his comments it would have only hurt him in the polls.
After that came his controversial comment about John McCain’s war record. Now, even I was a bit unsure how this might play out for him. Then he pulled out another “genius’ move by shifting the conversation away from what he said about McCain to the ongoing issues facing our veterans and our VA system. As we all know, that’s a go-to issue Republicans like to harp on – even if they never do anything about it. However, there’s also the reality that most conservatives don’t like McCain anyway. They ran him through the mud in 2000 during the Republican cabal pretender primary and couldn’t have cared much less about him in 2008 when he was trounced by President Obama. So, while Trump’s remarks were off-putting for some who fiercely defend veterans, the fact he shifted some of that focus to our government’s continued incompetence with providing for our veterans, and how McCain has been a part of problem, was a fairly intelligent political maneuver. Somehow he managed to mock a war hero – and still went up in the polls.
Then there’s the fact that it’s almost impossible to really attack him for anything. He’s proven time after time that if one of these other Republican candidates comes after him, he has no problem saying whatever he has to say to come out looking stronger and more “in charge” than they do. He really doesn’t care what anyone thinks of him, and he doesn’t have any sort of political career to protect like many of these other candidates do. He’s rich, 69 years old and really has nothing to lose. Even if his campaign fails, he’s still going to be a billionaire. Aside from all of that, he’s also put the Republican cabal in a no-win situation. The rnc sure as hell doesn’t want him to be their candidate. But at the same time, they can’t just go after him to tear him down because if they really tick him off he can run as a third-party candidate and ruin any hope they might have at stealing the presidency in 2016.

Wingnut And Self-Proclaimed Prophet Says dog Told Him ‘Trump Shall Become My Trumpet’

You just can’t make this stuff up.
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Fundamentalist Public School Hater To Oversee Public Education In State Of Alabama

There can only be one reason for Alabama’s decision here.
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Government Shutdown 2015?

Wingnut Extremists Tie Government Funding To Planned Parenthood Defunding Bill

Republicans want to shut the government down… AGAIN.
Read more 

Wingnut Shutdown Of Export-Import Bank Already Threatens Jobs

Wingnuts are using this Export-Import Bank issue to look like populist champions fighting against "corporate welfare" on behalf of the taxpayer. Don't believe it. This is part of a bigger attack.

Obituary slams Maine’s teabagger governor for killing heroin-addicted woman’s best treatment option

Maine’s teabagger governor kills heroin-addicted woman’s best treatment option

The obituary notice, which was written by ex-husband Brent Singer, is among a growing number of death notices that directly address addiction as both a warning and to lend support to other families struggling with the loss of a loved one to heroin.

Mike Huckabee Thinks We Should Buy Women 38Ds If They Allow Transgender People In The Military

I’m getting to know way more about Huckabee’s fantasy life than I ever wanted to know.

Read more 

Fox News Hack To Women: Let Your Man Bang You, Then Serve Him Beer And Food To Thank Him

In the latest call by Fox News for women to be subservient slaves to men, hack Andrea Tantaros said that women should just submit to sex whenever a man wants it and then serve him beer and food to thank him.

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In One Paragraph, This Nun Shuts Down Every ‘Anti-Choice’ Republican Ever

Republicans should be afraid of this woman.
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Fox News Reports That There Were NO Violations In Indiana Planned Parenthood

We all knew this, but even Fox News is contradicting their own shrieking points.

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Gohmert Wants To Throw Same-Sex Couples Onto An Island For An ‘Experiment’

When it comes to making well thought-out arguments about anything, Gohmert always  fails.

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Steve King Says We Can All Marry Our Lawnmowers Now That Gay Marriage Is Legal

A bit of a stretch….

Read full story 

Cop Charged With Elder Abuse After Slamming 69-Year-Old’s Head Into Cement

This cop didn’t know he was on “candid camera” when he grabbed this man and forced him to the ground, then later lied about what happened.

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These Graphic Scenes Of Police Violence Against Blacks Have Made People Hate Cops

Video is finally making police believe what black Americans have been saying for years: that a routine encounter with police could cost us our lives.

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San Jose Cop Stalks Family, Holds Them At Gunpoint For Being Black

This is something white people will never have to worry about.
Read more

The Daily Drift

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The Truth Be Told is read in 205 countries around the world.

Parents keep your kids away from Republicans they're a danger to them ... !

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Where Is The Shame That The World Sees Americans As Racist And Extremists?

Everything bad about America that the rest of the world sees increasing, and Americans feel, is purely Republican and it is truly pathetic…

One can hardly dispute the fact that after World War II and into the late 1970s, America was the envy of the world. In fact, Republican demigod Ronald Reagan used a biblical phrase, “shining city on a hill” to describe America’s appeal to the rest of the world; before he unleashed extremist Hell on the nation. It is ironic Reagan is forever linked to that phrase because it was his junta’s policies and his political cabal that transformed America into what it is today; a mean spirited and violent haven for the greedy rich, the religious, and the hate-filled wingnut movement.

Everything bad about America that the rest of the world sees increasing, and Americans feel, is purely Republican and it is truly pathetic that instead of despair and shame for creating what this country has become, the wingnuts and the religio-wingnuts thrive on what the world knows is bad about America; it is a racist, violent and religious extremist nation that wingnuts consider exceptional.

Most people have one relative they keep their distance from to avoid being humiliated, but it is impossible for Americans to distance themselves from, or avoid, this country’s national embarrassment any longer. Republicans will not go away and they are getting louder, more hateful, more extreme, more racist, and more violent as their base cheers wildly and the world watches in stunned amazement. It is a sad commentary that every day there is a new, and more extreme, source of embarrassment for a so-called exceptional nation, and it is a wonder that any civilized person would ever want to come to a country full of hateful, greedy, and religious racists.

Last month after a Confederate racist gunned down nine African Americans in their place of worship, the world that already knew America was devolving into a religio-wingnut Hell-hole spoke out that Americans should be ashamed at the conditions in their country. For example, the people in communist China compared the United States to lawless Somalia and cited racism as fueling the level and frequency of violence. Claire Taylor of Gun Free South Africa said, “The USA is completely out of step with the rest of the world” in promoting the proliferation of guns in an angry, racist, and religiously extreme population. And a Mexico City newspaper, La Jornada, wrote that “the U.S. has become a structurally violent state where force is frequently used domestically and internationally to resolve differences. Such a phenomenon reflects the feeling of extensive sectors about the supposed legitimacy of violent methods;” such as Republicans rejecting diplomacy for war with Iran on Israel’s behalf.

In Britain, a month after the Charleston massacre, a leading newspaper headline read, “Still A Racist Nation: American Bigotry On Full Display.” The story documented the Ku Klux Klan and white supremacists protesting to preserved their cherished symbol of racism, the Confederate battle flag. One of the racists, an imperial wizard in the Trinity White Knights KKK chapter, boasted that he drove hundreds of miles from Kentucky – or as he put it, “Klantucky,” to defend white supremacy, and he echoed a sentiment popular among America’s bigots and evangelical extremists; “They’re taking our heritage from us. They’re taking the freedom out of America.”

What America’s main stream media did not report, but the world’s media did, was that while law enforcement looked on, more than 50 racists brandished Confederate flags and hurled racial epithets at minority onlookers. Some KKK members had planned to “hold a good old fashioned African American cult burning” wearing their Klan uniforms to demonstrate how angry they are at losing their freedoms. All the while, the racists enjoy ardent support from like-minded bigots from other KKK factions across the country, the white supremacist National Socialist Movement (NSM), and 'christian' fundamentalists. 'christian' fundamentalists (evangelicals) are inexorably tied to the Ku Klux Klan and the NSM by their bible-driven hatred of gays, people of color, the poor, and non-evangelicals.

All of this extremism and hatred began permeating main stream Republican politics when Barack Obama was first elected in 2008 and is now the purview of its leaders. That is what President Obama finally had to admit, during an official visit to Africa no less, after evangelical hero Mike Huckabee compared the U.N. P5+1 nuclear deal to the President “marching Israelis to the oven doors.” President Obama can make jokes about Republicans, but he knows that not only is Republican extremism not the least bit funny, they and their base are why there is very little to be proud of in America. There is no doubt that the only reason Republican leaders and politicians around the country have embraced extremism openly is because they represent extremists whether it is the 2nd Amendment crowd, the white supremacy movement, the theocratic crusade or the greedy perpetual war advocates.

The President was likely embarrassed to tell Ethiopians a joke about a U.S. senator and pretender candidate, Paul, taking a chainsaw to the I.R.S. tax code, the Republican chairman of the Senate Environment and Public works committee throwing a snowball in the Senate chambers to prove climate change is a hoax, or that indicted Republican pretender candidate Rick Perry wants even more guns in movie theaters after another mass shooting in a movie theater; there is nothing more extreme than a bunch of ‘wanna-be’ good guys opening fire in a dark, crowded theater. The President knows the civilized world believes America is off-the-rails extreme, but he also has to know that joking about it is not going to change the world’s opinion of this country. It is true that the majority of people from around the world comprehend that some Americans are not greedy, racist bigots, or religious extremists, but they are also very well aware that conservatives and Republicans are leading a dangerous and hate-filled movement that cannot exist without being at war against everyone who is not religious, not hateful, not greedy and not racist; both domestically and internationally.

Although it made the world news, in America there was hardly any mention of the Confederate flag-waving protests against President Obama the person, not his policies, over the past two weeks. In fact, there were two rather large incidents where Confederate flag-waving white supremacist groups waited for the President in Oklahoma and Tennessee to send him, other Americans, and the world a message that a significant portion of the population is driven by racist hate and think Obama has “taken their freedoms out of America;” precisely what their Republican leaders have preached ad nauseum over the past six years.

It is telling, and abominable, that more Americans think they live in an exceptional nation because it is inherently greedy, racist, religious to the extreme, and avoids peace like it is plague. While the rest of the world marvels that the richest nation on Earth, the so-called “shining city on a hill,” refuses to provide healthcare for all its citizens, will not repair its crumbling infrastructure, criminalizes homelessness, fights against clean air and water, legislates according to religion, and allows the richest 1 percent to keep the rest of the nation living in poverty, Republicans and their base still claim America is exceptional and will be better yet if they have complete control of government.

There are some Americans who understand that everything the Republican cabal, and wingnut movement in general, represents and fights to perpetuate is not only humiliating and shameful, it is contrary to what a civilized society should aspire to. The rest of the world sees America as a prime example of institutionalized racism, religious fanaticism, oligarchical greed, and “structural violence.” Regardless how bad, or extreme it gets, Republicans and their base complain that their heritage and freedoms are being taken away. As an industry colleague in India noted this weekend that it is a bad, bad sign that due to recent events America is now regarded as a dangerous and extremist nation and the people and politicians are not ashamed.

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Rachel Maddow Has The Highest Rated Non Fox News Show On Cable News

MSNBC may be canceling their liberal shows, but one show that won’t be going anywhere belongs to Rachel Maddow, who had the highest ratings of any non-Fox News show in July.

According to TVNewser, “CNBC’s Shark Tank is the ninth highest-rated program among the key demo, finishing ahead of all other non-FNC content. MSNBC’s The Rachel Maddow Show finishes No. 15 as the highest-rated non-FNC program among total viewers. Maddow is also MSNBC’s highest-rated show in the demo, finishing at No. 19. Nancy Grace is HLN’s top show in both viewers and the key demo. Varney & Company leads Fox Business Network in both categories.”

After the cancelation of Ed Schultz’s show, there has been a lot of concern among liberals that MSNBC would dump all of their liberal hosts including Rachel Maddow. The ratings demonstrate that Maddow is the one ratings draw on the network. MSNBC executives have consistently taken the wrong lesson from Maddow’s success.

Instead of trying to find smart hosts who have charisma and put the news first, the network has tried to copy Maddow’s format by labeling her a wonk. Rachel Maddow is a policy wonk, but she is also very entertaining. Maddow never gets too deep into policy, and keeps things moving on her show.

The reason Chris Hayes has not been successful at 8 PM is that he isn’t entertaining, and his show tends to drag. MSNBC will end up dumping most of their “nerd” shows, which will only help Rachel Maddow stand out more.

It is well known that MSNBC considers only two programs safe. The network loves Joe Scarborough for some odd reason, and Maddow remains the face of MSNBC. NBC considers Maddow too “partisan” to be promoted to Meet The Press or any of the broadcast network shows, but her ratings demonstrate that even when she is buried by a horrible lead in, demand is still high among liberals for the kind of program that Rachel Maddow delivers on MSNBC.

NBC News Is Discussing A Potential Keith Olbermann Return To MSNBC

MSNBC needs a boost in primetime. Keith Olbermann is out of a job after his contract expired at ESPN. It is being reported that NBC News President Andrew Lack might be interested in bringing Olbermann back to MSNBC.

An article in The Wrap on the changes that NBC News President Andrew Lack is making contained an interesting nugget:

Aside from Turness, Lack might be indirectly trying to resurrect another career-in MSNBC primetime. Although there has been no confirmation of direct talks between Keith Olbermann and Lack about a possible return, it’s not out of the question.

“Phil isn’t talking to him, but someone else might be,” the insider told TheWrap, pointing out that like in many tense negotiations, a middleman not directly part of NBC News-MSNBC’s chain of command could be putting out feelers to Olbermann.

The bad blood between Griffin and Olbermann, which dates back to his messy exit in 2011, might still cast clouds over a possible return. But it’s certainly not be a deal breaker.
“Phil might say over my dead body, but Andy doesn’t have those issues,” the insider said.

An Olbermann return would require that MSNBC boss Phil Griffin be shown the door. Frankly, it is impossible to see Olbermann ever returning to the network if Griffin is still around, but there are roughly a thousand reasons for Griffin to be fired. The chief among them being the fact that he has managed to take a profitable and growing cable network and turn it into a raging tire fire.

MSNBC is a mess, and Phil Griffin is the reason the network is in such bad shape. Griffin and his team have made a series of horrible decisions that have pushed MSNBC’s audience away. A reunion of the Olbermann/Maddow block would push MSNBC ahead of CNN in the ratings. MSNBC viewers would quickly forgive the network for replacing Ed Schultz with Chuck Todd at 5 PM if the network brought back Keith Olbermann at 8 PM.

There are not many top notch broadcasters who could come in and fix MSNBC primetime. Olbermann would be a quick fix for two of the biggest problems at the network. MSNBC needs to undo the Chris Hayes disaster and find another star to pair with Maddow. Olbermann would solve both of these problems.

The odds that Olbermann returns as long as the current leadership regime is in place at MSNBC are long, but the fact that NBC News would consider it suggests that the door is open for the return of the biggest star in MSNBC history.

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