The Progressive Unvarnished Facts About the Planned Parenthood Issue

Here's what you will never know about PPFA if Republicans are your only source of information.

As reported, the Republican Senate threw the attempted defunding of Planned Parenthood Federation of America (PPFA) against the wall last Monday, and it didn’t stick. Pounding their bibles and relying on purely misleading and highly edited junk videos, lunatic fringe anti-abortion agitators, their elected congressional sycophants and whatever billionaires responsible for funding the series of sneak-videos, came up on the short end of a test vote to pull around $500 million from PPFA clinics throughout the nation, and by extension, the world. The final tally was 53-46 in favor of derailing Democratic stalling; 60 votes were required.

The most valuable resource that unearths the truth of the matter is to be found here at FactCheck.org’s highly researched revelations of the so-called PPFA misdeeds. The supposedly most damning video under the FactCheck heading of “Unspinning the Planned Parenthood video” is exposed as a sham. The site demonstrates with irrefutable clarity, that the manufactured clinic discussions are rife with innuendo, half-truths and outright misrepresentations. It’s digital dung!

Here’s what you will never know about PPFA if Republicans are your only source of information. By the organization’s own statistical measure, PPFA has been around over 97 years. It’s the go-to national source for poorer women and a growing number of men. The majority of those served qualify under federal poverty guidelines. That is to say that PPFA takes care of more poor people than any other similar organization. 80% of patients meet or succeed 150% of federal poverty level.

Nearly 3 million women and men visit one of PPFA’s 700 clinics annually. Support partners see another 725,000 mostly needy in 10 developing countries. In the United States, male clientele has increased by 83% between 2002-2012. Over 50 million people visit the PPFA Website per year.

Services do indeed include abortion, in addition to birth control (including the morning after pill), general health care, HIV testing, LGBT services, men’s health care, pregnancy testing and services, STD testing, treatment and vaccines and women’s health care.

A service not generally included is federally funded abortions. ThinkProgress points out that Federal sources tap into Title X money and Medicaid. Medicaid can only fund emergency procedures in the case of rape, incest and a threat to the mother’s life. As for Title X, if the organization is involved in family planning, no fed dollars. That’s it, and has been for almost 40 years!!! The Department of Health and Human Services verifies the process.

Arizona moron Jon Kyl claimed on the Senate floor a few years ago, that “well over 90 percent of what Planned Parenthood does” is providing abortion services. Even after that absurd number was shot down by Factcheck, he came back with a retort that was almost as ridiculous: “This remark was not intended to be a factual statement but rather to illustrate that Planned Parenthood, an organization that receives millions in taxpayer dollars, does subsidize abortions.”

So, how many abortions are actually performed in-clinic by PPFA, including the abortion “pill?” It depends on who responds to that question. PPFA says roughly 3% and nobody has disproved that percentage; The actual number of abortions included in the PPFA annual report for fiscal year, 2014 was 327,653, roughly the same as the prior fiscal year. The percentage funded by the feds would be comparatively miniscule. PPFA received 41% of its revenue from the feds according to the Washington Post. The dollar total was $528.4 million. Roughly $600 million comes from other sources to round out the budget.

Where do potential voters stand on the issue? A recent Gallup Poll might give an early hint given we’re still about a year-and-a -half shy of the presidential election. The issue is a big deal to 19% of those polled. Republicans characterize themselves as anti-choice by a 69-27 margin, Democrats reverse to pro-choice, 67-28 and Independents split the difference; 46% pro-choice and 45% anti-choice.

Here are some non-hypocritical numbers to consider. Three in ten American women will have had an abortion by age 45. Republican estimates stand at 50 million abortions since Roe V. Wade in ’73. All other factors, notwithstanding, women are having abortions. Nearly every woman has used contraception in her child-bearing lifetime. The most ineffective is the so-called rhythm method. One out of four times, it doesn’t work in the first year. Most other contraceptives have a 1 out of 15 failure rate. The number of women that have used contraception exceeds 99%. So, for every evangelical purporting to follow every syllable of the good book, a sizable percentage of them are lying. Every statistic you wish to examine indicates that responsible and continuous use of contraceptives would have a profound impact on the number of abortions.

How wearisome it is to believe almost nothing out of the mouths of Republicans. And we have to listen to 17 of them for at least the early months of the upcoming race for that cabal’s pretender nominee.

New Rule Requires Companies To Reveal What Their CEOs Are Earning

BOOM! 

Income inequality is about to be shown for what it truly is… CEOs can no longer hide behind a veil of secrecy.

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The Truth Be Told

Violent Extremists Are Trying To Wage Guerrilla War Against U.S. Over Jade Helm Exercises

A few violent conspiracy nuts seem determined to wage a quixotic war on America.…

Shots were fired for the second consecutive day last Wednesday, outside Camp Shelby Joint Forces Training Center in Southern Mississippi, where Jade Helm 15 training exercises were allegedly being conducted by National Guard and U.S. troops. Authorities believe the suspect is a white male who fired the shots from a red or maroon pickup truck.

No injuries where reported, and since the shooter is still at large, no motive has been identified. However, the back to back shooting incidents in Mississippi are bound to fuel speculation that the troops were fired upon in retaliation against the Jade Helm 15 training exercises.

In late July, the FBI uncovered a plot by three North Carolina men to use lethal force to ambush U.S. troops. The three men, Walter Eugene Litteral, 50, Christopher James Barker, 42, and Christopher Todd Campbell, 30, believed that Jade Helm 15 was a secret operation to impose martial law. The trio was stockpiling weapons and formulating plans to ambush and kill government forces.

Conspiracy propagandists, like Infowars’ Alex Jones have issued dire warnings about Operation Jade Helm, giving extremists plenty of intellectual ammunition to nurture their delusional fantasies. Unfortunately, elected politicians like Texas moron Greg Abbott have also stoked fears, by giving conspiracy theories more credence then they merit.

In light of the North Carolina arrests and the Mississippi shootings, the Jade Helm conspiracy theorists should not be simply dismissed as annoying crack pots. Instead, these paranoid fanatics who are stockpiling weapons and preparing to fight the U.S. government over their unwarranted fears, represent a clear and present danger to members of the U.S. military and the National Guard.

The self-styled “patriots” who are eager to initiate violence under the false assumption that they are fending off martial law, are too few in number to pull off anything close to the armed citizen insurrection they believe themselves to be a part of. However, they are numerous enough, so that if they aren’t stopped, somebody is going to be needlessly killed.

Elected politicians and media personalities have a responsibility not to continue to feed the paranoia of extremist zealots who will put American troops in harm’s way. Violent extremists and conspiracy nuts should not be labeled patriots, especially since they seem determined to wage a quixotic war on America.

President Obama Observes That Republican Cabal And Iranian Extremists Are United In Hating Iran Deal

President Obama took Republicans to the woodshed over their hatred of the Iran deal, noting that they have much in common with extremist Iranians who chant “Death to America.”

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Democrats Outsmart McConnell With Resolution Supporting Pope Francis On Climate Change

A group of liberal Senate Democrats turned the tables on McConnell by introducing a resolution supporting Pope Francis’ views on climate change and calling on the Senate to immediately act.

Senator Al Franken (D-MN) introduced the resolution along with Senators Patrick Leahy (D-VT), Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Tom Udall (D-NM), Jeff Merkley (D-OR), and Tammy Baldwin (D-WI.).

The Senators wrote, “The Senate stands with Pope Francis and the scientific consensus that human activity is the primary driver of climate change; present climate trends are unsustainable; and immediate action must be taken to significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions in order to limit the deleterious effects of human-induced climate change.”

The resolution was a very clever move by Senate Democrats to highlight the climate change denial of McConnell and other Senate Republicans. Because of the Pope’s liberal positions on a number of economic and environmental issues, his upcoming address before a joint session of Congress could be very uncomfortable for Republicans.

Democrats have painted McConnell and the Republicans into a corner. If their resolution comes up for a vote, Republicans will have to choose between the Koch brothers and the Pope. Republicans could be put in a position where they would have to take a vote that would highlight their extremism by humiliating the Pope in front of the entire world.

It is always easier to be in the congressional minority than in the majority, but Senate Democrats have taken using their power to the level of an art form. Democrats are doing the opposite of McConnell’s minority say no to everything strategy of gridlock leadership. Democrats are maximizing their power and using their unity and collective strength to hit Republicans hardest when it matters the most.

Who is it going to be Republicans? Will it be the Kochs or the Pope?

Kochs And ALEC Make War Against Americans And Pope Francis Public

The mainstream media is finally reporting that the Koch's legislative arm ALEC is moving into the open to prevent action on climate change…

Republicans love wars, and over the past decade it appears it does not matter one iota who they are at war with; just so they get to wreak death and destruction on human beings. Oh it is true they love little more than waging war against muslims on behalf of their ‘most favored’ nation, Israel, but because they are “the structurally violent segment of society,” they also love waging war on Americans. Part and parcel of the Republican war on Americans is borne of their demented devotion to the Koch brothers and their dirty fossil fuel industry, but now the Kochs have abandoned working behind the scenes and are openly expanding their war against the people and the Pope.

The final straw was the official adoption of President Obama’s Clean Power Plan this week that incited the enemies of clean air, the economy, the Pope, and the people prepared their substantial forces to prevent America from reducing the amount of carbon it produces to stem the devastation of anthropogenic climate change. The war became official when at long last, mainstream media reported that the Koch brothers’ legislative arm, the American Legal Exchange Council (ALEC) and Americans for Prosperity openly vowed to “stop the CPP’s implementation” at all costs.

The Washington Post reported that the Kochs’ and their fossil fuel industry underlings intend on launching a rash of initiatives at the state and local level to stop the CPP implementation in Congress, the courts, and state legislatures and country governments. At the local level, the Koch brothers directed their legislative arm ALEC to convene a special task force comprised of fossil-fuel interests and electricity producers. The Koch task force rapidly “approved model legislation to be sent to state and local governments around the nation giving them ‘special authority’ to ‘expedite approval of resources to challenge the EPA’s Clean Power Plan.”

Expedite approval of resources is typical ALEC-speak for legislation giving Republicans unchallenged authority to transfer taxpayer dollars allotted for education, transportation, and healthcare into a giant legal fund to challenge, and block, CPP implementation in the courts; all to keep those same taxpayers breathing foul air and suffering harsher droughts, more intense, larger wildfires, and more severe weather events. Americans should never making the mistake of thinking the Kochs are at war solely with the Obama Administration or the Environmental Protection Agency although they are prime targets; this war is fundamentally against the American people who will be around long after the Obama Administration is termed out. However, the people should not feel they are being singled out by the Kochs; the oil magnates have also publicly opened up a battle front against Pope Francis over his audacity of hope that world governments will address climate change.

Within a day or so of the Pope’s encyclical on the environment, Laudato Si’, the Koch brothers unleashed their oil industry funded punditry and belief tanks to attack the Papal pronouncement. It is noteworthy that everything in the Papal statement was not only relevant to serving the people, and founded solely on empirical scientific data, it was completely consistent with “catholics concern for helping the poor” and that “environmental stewardship is an important part of the catholic delusion.” According to various Koch surrogates, the Pope’s encyclical contradicting all catholic principles and like his regard for the poor of the world, concern about climate change makes him a “bad catholic.” In great part, the Koch’s industry shrieking heads are advancing the idea that Pope Francis is a bad catholic because by calling for action on climate, the Pope is deliberately causing harm on the world’s poor and he is intent on increasing their numbers and sending them deeper into poverty; especially in America. The Koch’s plan of attack is portraying the Pope, climate scientists, and President Obama as working in concert to increase poverty in America as part of a “fanatical agenda and regressive form of taxation.”

For example, although the poorest people in the world are most affected by climate change, a Cato Institute op-ed said the Pope calling for action on climate change will “cause so much harm to so many, especially the poor and downtrodden.” The Heritage Foundation’s Steve Moore wrote that “The embrace of governmental action that underlies many of the Pope’s statements would not lift up the poor, but condemn them to more poverty and less freedom. Consider the climate change fanatics’ agenda.” In the Koch and Exxon-funded Committee For A Constructive Tomorrow (CFACT), an industry agitator asserted that “climate-related restrictions harm poor families far more than climate change will.” It is not that the Kochs, wingnuts, or the fossil fuel industry has ever cared about the poor anywhere, but it is beyond refute that the poor suffer the brunt of climate change’s effects which is precisely why the Pope is taking action.

In a recent United Nations report it clearly stated, and gave empirical evidence, that climate change “risks disproportionately affect the world’s poor.” The World Health Organization reported that the impacts of climate change are already “exacerbating poverty in developing countries,” and that in countries with gross income inequality like America, poor households will be “particularly affected due to increasing food prices.” Americans should not underestimate just how much food prices are going to rise due to drought conditions, especially in California, and should consider that there is no life-sustaining benefit from pouring more carbon into the atmosphere. It is something that President Obama and Pope Francis certainly consider in advocating for action on climate change; even if the President’s Clean Power Plan is not nearly as robust as it could, and should be; but any action is better than none and that is why the Kochs have publicly unleashed ALEC, Americans for Prosperity, and Republicans to wage an all-out war on the Pope and the People.

For the first time it appears that mainstream media is finally reporting that the Koch brothers’ legislative arm ALEC is moving into the open to prevent any action on climate change. Now all that remains is for the Koch-Republican Congress to publicly denounce the Pope like the Kochs’ oil industry and accuse him of being a “bad catholic” and deliberately creating more poverty and misery for the poor of the world. In a clever move, Senate Democrats are giving Republicans a chance to condemn the Pope with a resolution supporting the Papal encyclical on the environment. It will not win the war, or even a battle, but it will clearly delineate the combatants in the war against Americans and there is little doubt that Republicans will publicly align with the Kochs. And why wouldn’t they? It is war, it serves the Koch brothers, it will harm Americans, and if they can demean and defeat the vicar of christ for advocating for the poor, then it will be a very good Republican war.

The Real Problem With The Republican Cabal

Media infrastructure can be a double-edged sword.

Bernie Sanders Is Surging While The Media Fixates On Trump And The Republican Cabal

While Trump's surge is gaining more media attention, Sanders is more likely to remain politically relevant in the Spring of 2016.…

A string of recent polls has shown Trump continuing to gain support, and he has surged to the front of the crowded Republican pretender field. While Trump’s gains have been impressive, he is still only commanding between one-fifth and one-fourth of the Republican cabal vote in most polls. In a 17 candidate field that is sufficient to put him out in front, but it doesn’t necessarily make him the inevitable nominee, as many Republican voters still have reservations about Trump.

While the press has been fixated on Trump’s rise in the Republican race, less attention has been directed towards Sanders’ surge in the Democratic race. According to an NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll, Sanders has gained 26 percentage points on Hillary Clinton in the past month. That is a remarkable gain in 30 days, although it should be noted that Sanders still trails 59-25 in that contest, compared to 75-15, a month ago.

Sanders, unlike Trump, is not leading his party’s primary. However, his polling gains are actually occurring at a faster pace than Trump’s advances, and he is commanding about the same level of support within his party as Trump is, though in a much smaller field of candidates.

Trump’s momentum is largely confined to inside the Republican primary electorate. His surge has not translated into general election viability. A recent Quinnipiac University poll found that in a national race, Sanders would beat Trump 45-37 percent. Hillary Clinton would defeat Trump by an even greater 48-36 margin.

Trump’s increase in polling support has often been called a “surge”, whereas Bernie’s momentum has sometimes been coined the “Bernie bubble” rather than the “Sanders surge” as if to imply that the bubble is not sustainable and will eventually pop.

Yet a deeper look at both candidates suggests that Trump’s momentum may be less sustainable than Sanders’ momentum is. Beneath Trump’s “surge” in popularity he supports decidedly negative popularity ratings with voters in general, and barely breaks even among Republican voters.

Political analyst Nate Silver noted in late July, that in terms of favorable/unfavorable ratings, Trump ranks as only the 13th most well-liked Republican cabal candidate by Republicans. Silver derisively referred to Trump as the “Nickelback” of Republican cabal candidates, comparing the pretender candidate to a widely loathed rock band that has a small cadre of passionately devoted followers.

By contrast, Sanders is well-liked within his own party, and not disliked by the general public in the way that Trump is. In this way, Sanders has room to grow, while Trump is likely to hit a ceiling of support, before he eventually “jumps the shark” and becomes an also ran. The one thing limiting Sanders’ potential rise is that he, unlike Trump, faces a formidable opponent in his own party. While Hillary Clinton’s favorable numbers have declined some among the national pool of voters, she remains popular with Democratic voters.

Given Trump’s marginal favorable to unfavorable ratings, both within and outside his party’s base, his “surge” may be ephemeral. Sanders, by contrast, has more sustainable polling numbers that could portend continued momentum into the months ahead. Neither candidate should be viewed as the favorite to win their party’s nomination. However, while Trump’s surge is gaining most of the media attention, Sanders is the more likely of the two men to remain politically relevant in the Spring of 2016.

Three More Polls Show Trump Crushing The Rest Of The Republican Cabal Field

Two national polls released on Tuesday and a New Hampshire poll released on Monday, show Trump is crushing the rest of the Republican pretender field in the race for the Republican cabal nomination. A Bloomberg Politics national poll found Trump way ahead with 21 percent support to just 10 percent for his nearest competitor, Jeb. A CBS national poll released on Tuesday also showed Trump with a huge lead. In that poll, Trump garnered 24 percent support. Jeb was in second place with 13 percent support.

The two national polls came a day after a WMUR poll found that Trump has also taken a commanding lead in New Hampshire, the nation’s first primary state. Trump led the New Hampshire poll with 24 percent. He was followed by Jeb at 12 percent, and Wisconsin moron Walker at 11 percent support.

The New Hampshire poll also found that Trump has been growing more and more popular with Republican voters in the Granite State over time. In February, just 19 percent of likely Republican voters in the state had a favorable opinion of Trump, compared to 69 percent who viewed him unfavorably. The latest poll shows Trump’s popularity has improved dramatically with Republican cabal voters. While 40 percent still have an unfavorable opinion of Trump, 51 percent view him favorably.

While a substantial number of Republican voters appear uneasy about a Trump candidacy, there can be no denying that he has become the undisputed leader in the Republican race. His nearest contenders, Jeb and Walker have fallen way behind. The other 14 Republican candidates are even further back.

As the Republican cabal candidates took to the stage on Thursday, all eyes were on Trump. Jeb and Walker tried to  engage him, and hoped that Trump simply made an unforced error that they could capitalize upon. The problem for Trump’s antagonists is that so far, every outlandish thing Trump has said has boosted, rather than damaged his standing with Republican voters.

Trump’s Republican opponents continue to hope that the bombastic billionaire is peaking too soon and that his poll numbers will eventually fall. While there are some historical precedents suggesting that Trump could come crashing back down to earth, there is no reason to think such a crash is inevitable. In order for Trump to fade, Republican voters will have to grow tired of his constant demagoguery. Jeb  is counting on that.

However, given the mood and temperament of today’s Republican voters, expecting them to cast aside anger and outrage for comparative sanity is patently unrealistic. Trump is running away from the field, because he is saying what Republican voters want to hear. The other Republican caabal candidates who ignore that truth, will do so at their own peril.

Hey Trump! It’s Not Nice To Baselessly Attack Immigrants Using Their Own Language

Donald Trump apparently doesn’t understand that using Spanish to insult Latinos is just tacky.

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Republican cabal debate crowd boos Donald Trump when he won’t pledge against third-party run

Republican cabal debate crowd boos Donald Trump when he won’t pledge against third-party run

“I cannot say I have to respect the person that — if it’s not me — the person that wins,” he told host Bret Bauer.

Maine Supreme Court upholds 65 new laws after teabagger governor misses deadline for vetoes

Maine Supreme Court upholds 65 new laws after teabagger governor misses deadline for vetoes

Maine’s top court ruled on Thursday that the state’s combative Republican governor, Paul LePage, had missed a deadline in July to veto 65 bills he had intended to block, and that those bills were now law.

Bernie Sanders Brands Republicans Political Cowards As He Unveils Two New Pro-Voter Bills

At a rally to mark the 50th anniversary of the Voting Rights Act, Senator Bernie Sanders called out the “political cowards” in the Republican cabal who are trying to take away the right to vote from millions of Americans. Sanders also unveiled two new pro-voting pieces of legislation.

Via the office of Senator Sanders:
The court ruling that gutted the enforcement provision in the voting rights law “unleashed a torrent of state legislation which is disenfranchising voters all over the country,” Sanders said at the event hosted by the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and the Drum Major Institute.

He branded as “political cowards” state lawmakers who exploited the court ruling to enact laws designed to suppress voter participation. “If we believe in a vibrant democracy, we want to have the highest voter turnout in the world.”

One of the two bills Sanders formally introduced yesterday would require states to automatically register all eligible individuals to vote when they turn 18 years old. The legislation is supported by the Brennan Center for Justice, Dēmos, Common Cause, the Communications Workers of America and other organizations.

The other bill would establish Election Day as a national holiday. “We should be doing everything possible to make it easier for people to participate in the political process. Election Day should be a national holiday so that everyone has the time and opportunity to vote. While this would not be a cure-all, it would indicate a national commitment to create a vibrant democracy.”

Republicans are political cowards who can’t win with their ideas, so they try to win by rigging the electorate in their favor. Election Day should be a national holiday, and same-day voter registration should be available in every state.

It has been repeatedly proven that voter fraud is not a problem. The pretense of voter fraud has been used by Republicans to target voters who are most likely to support Democrats. The reality is that Democrats don’t have to cheat to win elections. They already hold positions that are popular with the majority on most issues.

Instead of changing their positions, Republicans are trying to cheat their way back to the White House. Someday when Democrats control both Congress and the White House, they should renew the Voting Rights Act and make Election Day a national holiday.

Until that time comes, Democrats and their allies like Senator Sanders, have to continue to fight the good fight to make sure that voters are not silenced and marginalized.

A mathematician may have uncovered widespread election fraud, and Kansas is trying to silence her

by Jon Green

Kansas loves them some voter fraud hysteria. From going to the Supreme Court to try and make doubly-sure that non-citizens can’t vote in their elections to setting up a voter fraud website where citizens can report every kind of voter fraud except the kinds that have actually happened in the state, Kansas is on the forefront of voter fraud readiness and protection.
Except, perhaps, when it comes to the machines they use to record their votes.
According to the Wichita Eagle, Wichita State mathematician Beth Clarkson has found irregularities in election returns from Sedgwick County, along with other counties throughout the United States, but has faced stiff opposition from the state in trying to confirm whether the irregularities are fraud or other, less-nefarious anomalies.
Analyzing election returns at a precinct level, Clarkson found that candidate support was correlated, to a statistically significant degree, with the size of the precinct. In Republican primaries, the bias has been toward the establishment candidates over teabaggers. In general elections, it has favored Republican candidates over Democrats, even when the demographics of the precincts in question suggested that the opposite should have been true.
Clarkson’s interest in election returns was piqued by a 2012 paper released by analysts Francois Choquette and James Johnson showing the same pattern of election returns, which favor establishment Republican candidates in primaries and general elections. The irregularities are isolated to precincts that use “Central Tabulator” voting machines — machines that have previously been shown to be vulnerable to hacking. The effects are significant and widespread: According to their analysis, Mitt Romney could have received over a million extra votes in the 2012 Republican primary, mostly coming at the expense of Rick Santorum and Newt Gingrich. President Obama also ceded significant votes to John McCain due to this irregularity, as well.
You can read the paper in full here.

While Clarkson has found the same statistical irregularity in a number of localities, her efforts to confirm whether they amount to fraud have been centered on Sedgwick County, Kansas, due to the locality’s use of Real Time Voting Machine Paper Tapes, which provide a paper trail that other localities don’t have. However, her efforts to verify Sedgwick County’s election returns have been repeatedly shut down.
She first requested a recount of the 2013 election, but the timeframe in which a recount could have been requested had passed. She then requested the machines’ computer records from the Sedgwick County registrar, which told her to kindly shove off and sue Secretary of State Kris Kobach if she wanted the records so badly.
When Clarkson initially filed her lawsuit requesting the paper records from the voting machines, her suit was denied because a judge ruled that the paper records constituted ballots, shielding them from the state’s open records law. This ruling is suspect at best, given that the paper records do not have voters’ names assigned to them; they only record when and how a ballot was cast for recount purposes.
She then sought a court order giving her access to a sample of voting records in order to check voting machines’ error rates. This order was ignored by the Secretary of State’s office, despite their being legally required to respond to her within 30 days. The office later said that they didn’t realize they had received her request.
Given Kansas’s professed diehard commitment to combating election fraud, one would think that they would be all for analysis into whether the integrity of their elections have been compromised. Apparently you’d be wrong.

Republican cabal officials sue Florida

Laws against gerrymandering are ‘thought policing’ our ‘partisan thoughts’

Two Republican officials have filed a lawsuit against the state of Florida claiming that their First Amendment right to “partisan thought” was being violated by laws designed to prevent gerrymandering.

Republican Cabal Celebrates 50th Anniversary Of The Voting Rights Act With Coded Call For More Voter Suppression

Voting Rights Act marks 50th anniversary amid wingnut suppression tactics

Republicans have done more to undermine the Voting Rights Act in the last three years then all of the slings and arrows hurled at the law by the Jim Crow South.

Texas’ Voter ID Law Found To Violate The Voting Rights Act

A major setback to Republican obstructionism.
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Republican Candidates Want Guns Everywhere, Except Where They Are

Such hypocrites.
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Family Member And Chief Of Rand Paul’s Biggest Super PAC Indicted After Bribe

Bribing elected officials is never a good idea.
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Three Rand Paul Staffers Indicted on Corruption Charges

On the eve of the first Republican pretender debate, a federal grand jury indicted three aides to Paul ...

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‘Beyond Even Westboro': Texas’ Shocking Cruelty to a Dead Gay Man and His Dying Husband

The state of Texas is doing everything it can to cling to a pre-Obergefell world. The lengths wingnuts in …

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Pennsylvania Attorney General Charged For Leaking Grand Jury Secrets

Leaking Grand Jury Secrets

Kentucky Clerk Sues Governor For Making Her Do Her Job And Issue Same-Sex Marriage Licenses

If Rowan County Clerk Kim Davis loses the suits against her for not issuing same-sex marriage licenses, she wants to blame the guy who told her to issue them.

Cop Justifies Repeated Shooting Of Unarmed Black Man With The ‘Zombie’ Defense

The return of the "supernatural" police victim.

Fox & Friends doesn’t think gender bias in academia is for real — six professors set them straight

Fox & Friends doesn’t think gender bias in academia is for real

Contrary to what FOX News and some of our academic colleagues think, the battle against sexism in our fields has not been won, let alone reversed in favor of women.

Iowa Man Mocks Homophobic Republican By Trying To Marry His Lawn Mower

This makes Republicans look SO stupid!
Read more 

Ann Coulter Just Accused The Entire Latino Community Of Child Rape

Coulter has said many disgusting things, but this is beneath contempt.
Read more 

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Australia walks away from Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal talks

The world’s biggest regional trade deal – Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) – is still within reach despite Australia walking away empty-handed from the latest talks, the federal government says.

The trade minister, Andrew Robb, confirmed that a conclusion was not be reached on the $200bn deal during the latest round of negotiations in Hawaii.
“Australia had made some excellent progress but unfortunately some difficult issues were not resolved,” he said on Saturday.
Robb has laid the blame for the failure to come to an agreement with the “big four” economies of the US, Canada, Japan and Mexico. “The sad thing is, 98% is concluded,” he said.
“While we didn’t quite get there, we are definitely on the cusp.”
Concerns around automotives, data protection of biologics, dairy and sugar remain sticking points, but they are not impossible to resolve, Robb said.
“From my reading, the issues are not intractable and there remains a real determination to conclude the TPP among all parties.”
Farmers were disappointed by the outcome but said it was important to get a good deal. National Farmers Federation deputy chief Tony Mahar told Sky News: “We really hope that we can get a successful agreement for farmers within the next few months.”
Robb faces a tussle at home over the deal, with Nationals MPs demanding a decent deal for sugar farmers. Half a dozen federal Nationals indicated they would cross the floor when the agreement comes before the parliament if only a token result is achieved.
The US allows sugar imports based on a quota system, with Australian cane farmers now allowed to send about 100,000 tonnes there a year. The farmers would like to raise this to more than 500,000 tonnes but the Americans are holding out.
The agreement involves 12 nations including the US, New Zealand, Japan and Canada, and covers about 40% of the global economy. Talks are expected to resume in November.
Failure to seal the agreement will be a setback for the US president, Barack Obama, given the trade pact’s stance as the economic arm of the administration’s pivot to Asia and an opportunity to balance out China’s influence in the region.
The talks, which drew about 650 negotiators, 150 journalists and hundreds of stakeholders to the Hawaiian island of Maui, had been billed as the last chance to get a deal in time to pass the US Congress this year, before 2016 presidential elections muddy the waters.
The deal seeks to meld bilateral questions of market access for exports with one-size-fits-all standards on issues ranging from workers’ rights to environmental protection and dispute settlement between governments and foreign investors.
Negotiators from the 12 TPP members had worked through the night and officials said great strides were made in many contentious areas.

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Jon Stewart Delivers the Final Death Blow to Fox News — and the Koch Brothers

Heroes

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I work at the US Senate ...

I shouldn’t have to dance at strip clubs to feed my son

I’m a single mother and I struggle to support my son on the $10.33 an hour I make at one of the most exclusive clubs in America – the US Senate. I’m a cashier employed by the British-owned contractor that runs the cafeterias in the Senate office buildings. But even though I serve some of the wealthiest and most powerful people in the world, I can’t afford to buy my son school supplies or clothes.

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After paying all my bills and providing for the needs of my son, I’m $600 in the hole every month. On top of the low wages, I get a lay-off notice every time the US Senate goes on recess, which means that I don’t get a paycheck for 8-10 weeks a year.
When I realized that I couldn’t survive on what I was making at the Senate, I made a difficult decision. Faced with eviction notices and unpaid bills, I decided to dance at a strip club a few nights a week to earn extra money. It was the only job I could find that let me work a flexible schedule and earn a living wage.
I don’t want to be a stripper: it can be demeaning to dance for men who show no respect for women. I only do it out of necessity, because I have to support my son. He gets As and Bs on his report card and my shelves are full of his football trophies. My son makes me proud and I want to give him everything that my mother couldn’t give me. The wages I make at my day job just don’t leave me much choice.
During the day, I make sure that senators and their staffs get their coffee quickly and efficiently as they run from meeting to meeting or to the Senate floor to cast votes – and I’ve served the nine current and former US senators who are running to become the next president of the United States. But while my customers give speeches in Iowa and New Hampshire promising to deliver the American Dream to hard-working people, they aren’t lifting a finger to help the workers like me who serve them every day; not everyone has another job, but it’s almost impossible to support even a small family without one.
I only want what every mother wants: to provide my child with a life that’s better than my own. My childhood was emotionally, physically and sexually abusive; my mother was addicted to crack cocaine and, not only did she do drugs in front of me, she neglected to feed or bathe me for days. I soon realized she loved drugs and the fast life more than me. When I turned 12, the authorities intervened and almost sent me into the foster-care system.
Luckily, my grandparents stepped in and allowed me to live with them. But a couple of years later, they moved away and left me with my aunt. She didn’t have patience for another child under her roof, so she kicked me out. I was 14 years old and forced to survive on the streets of Washington DC.
I eventually met a man who said he loved me and would help me out. He was a pimp. He was physically and sexually abusive and forced me into prostitution. I only managed to escape from his control when I was 17. I told myself that if I ever became a mother I would do everything in my power to make sure my child would not have to suffer like I did.
The birth of my son was a turning point in my life. I found a full-time job at the US Senate, and I was so proud to be able to work in such an important place. During that time, I went back to school and I got my GED. I thought that I was doing great, but it didn’t take long for me to learn that even a job in the Senate wasn’t enough to give me and my son a shot at a better life.
As all the current and former senators running for the White House prepare to hit the campaign trail during the August recess, I hope they remember the people they are leaving behind without a paycheck. And when they sit down with the primary voters and listen to their problems, I hope they’ll be thinking about my story too – and the tough decisions the workers who serve them every day have to make for the people they love.

Foe of Limits on Political Spending Likens Big Donors to Owners, Making Opponents' Point

This is exactly right, of course, but not really the message the Center for Competitive Politics is paid to communicate.

Fascism

The biggest lie in the federal budget is that all spending is the same

by Ezra Klein

Here's the problem: the federal budget makes no distinction between money the government spends and money it invests.
But there is a difference. A dollar spent on Social Security is a dollar that the federal government no longer has. That's different from a dollar spent building, say, a federal courthouse, where the government trades a dollar worth of currency for a dollar worth of courthouse. These kinds of spending are not the same, and the government shouldn't treat them as if they are.

TREATING INVESTMENT AND SPENDING AS IDENTICAL CAN LEAD TO SOME REALLY DUMB DECISIONS

Treating investment and spending as identical can lead to some really dumb decisions. If the government cuts spending on Social Security by $10 billion then it really has saved $10 billion.
But if the government cuts spending on infrastructure repairs by $10 billion then it looks like it's saved $10 billion, but really it's just pushed $10 billion worth of infrastructure repairs into the future — and because the bridges may crumble and the water pipes might break, deferring that $10 billion in spending might mean the government has to spend $20 billion instead.
Enter a capital budget: the idea that the federal budget should treat capital investments differently than other kinds of spending.
This isn't some crazed concept dreamed up by FDR nostalgics. It's how most businesses run their budgets, too. They keep an eye on annual cash flow, which is basically what the federal budget tracks now, but they're interested in more than that: they're interested in future profits and losses, and so they try, as best they can, to break out the investments that are meant to generate those future profits and stem those future losses.
The hard part there is they also estimate how much value their capital assets are losing each year, and they treat that, correctly, like a hit to the company's value. You don't lose money when you initially buy a machine for your company — after all, that was simply an exchange of money for machine, and the machine was presumably worth the money you paid for it. You lose money when the machine stops working, because then you don't have the money or the machine.
So, to use the government as an example, capital budgeting would make clear that if our roads are degrading to the tune of $20 billion a year, then we need to be spending $20 billion a year on repairs just to stay even. Spending nothing means losing $20 billion in value, not holding even.

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Republicans Hate President's Historic Iran Speech - Which Means It's A Success

Republicans Hate President's Historic Iran Speech -- Which Means It's A Success

"This deal is not just the best choice among alternatives," he said. "This is the strongest non-proliferation agreement ever negotiated."

Obama Strongly Urges Democrats To Watch The Republican cabal Debates, And Why You Should

How can Democrats effectively counter Republican garbage if they don’t even know what it is beyond a sound bite?

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Bernie Sanders Shreds republican Cabal Science Deniers While Applauding Obama Climate Change Initiative

Bernie Sanders went where the media won’t while supporting President Obama’s climate change initiative. Sanders bluntly called out the Republican cabal for being owned by the Koch brothers, and the oil companies.

In a statement, Senator Sanders said:

I applaud President Obama for recognizing that climate change is the great planetary crisis facing our country and the world. I support his plan to cut greenhouse gas emissions from coal-fired power plants and to promote more wind and solar power and other sources of renewable energy.

It is time for Republicans in Congress to stop obstructing efforts to transform our energy system away from fossil fuels and toward energy efficiency and renewable energy sources.

I understand that Republicans, including many of those running for president, are dependent on the Koch brothers, oil companies, and other fossil-fuel contributors. Maybe for once they can overcome the needs of their campaign contributors and worry instead about the planet they are leaving their kids and grandchildren and young people all over the world.

That was an effective call out of the real reason Republicans are opposed to doing anything to combat climate change by Senator Sanders. The media won’t go there, and many Democrats are afraid to say it out loud, but the truth is that Republicans oppose any effort to combat climate change because they are owned by the Koch brothers, the oil companies, and the fossil fuel industry.

Congress has become an institution that only serves those who write the biggest checks to fund their campaigns. The actual process of governing operates through a filter of donor whims and needs. The Republican-misled Congress does not respond to desires of the majority because cash comes before constituents.

President Obama is taking bold and historic action to deal with climate change, and he needs the support of every moderate, progressive, and liberal in this country. Senator Sanders is standing with the president. Hillary Clinton has pledged to defend Obama’s plan if she becomes the next president, and now it is up to the American people to fight back against the Koch controlled republican cabal to preserve the planet.

President Obama Obliterates Republican Lies With A Clean Energy Plan Fact Bomb

President Obama is wise to Republican tactics which was why he preemptively destroyed their lies and misinformation about his clean energy plan during his speech.

During his speech announcing his clean power plant plan, President Obama said:
There will be critics of what we’re trying to do. There will be cynics who say it can not be done. Long before the details of this clean energy plan were even decided, the special interests and their allies in Congress were already mobilizing to oppose it with everything they got.

They will claim that this plan will cost you money. Even though this plan the analysis shows long-term will save the average American eighty-five dollars a month on their energy bills.

They’ll claim that we need to slash our investments in clean energy. It’s a waste of money. Even though, they are happy to spend billions of dollars a year in subsidizing oil companies.

They’ll claim this plan will kill jobs. Even though our transition to a cleaner energy economy has the solar industry to just name one example creating jobs ten times faster than the rest of the economy.

They’ll claim this plan is a war on coal to scare up votes. Even as they ignore my plan to actually invest in revitalizing coal country and supporting healthcare and retirement for coal miners and their families and retraining those workers for better-paying jobs and healthier jobs.

Communities across America have been losing coal jobs for decades. I want to work with Congress to help them, not to use them as a political football.

Partisan press releases aren’t going to help those families.

Even more cynical, we’ve got critics of this plan who actually claiming that this will harm minority and low-income communities. Even though climate change hurts those Americans the most, who are the most vulnerable.

Today an African-American child is more than twice as likely to be hospitalized from asthma. A Latino child is forty percent more likely to die from asthma.

So if you care about low-income minority communities start protecting the air that they breathe and stop trying to rob them of their healthcare.

President Obama isn’t waiting for Republicans and their Koch masters to get their attack machine into high gear. The criticisms that are certain to come to the surface have been floating around wingnut media for months. The Koch brothers have been using their vast organizational network to spread misinformation, and wingnut blogs and websites have quickly jumped on board.

The reality is that Republicans are opposed to clean air and human beings having a healthy environment to live in. Obama was correct. There is no “war on coal.” Coal jobs have been declining for decades due in large part to the rise of the natural gas industry.

The tactics that Republicans and their allies are utilizing should seem familiar because this is the same strategy that they have used in their attempts to destroy Obamacare. Republicans want to scare people away from a plan that will help them through a barrage of lies and misinformation.

President Obama is ready to beat them at their own game by derailing the misinformation express before it has a chance to get rolling.

What To Expect From Republicans And The Coal Industry Now That Obama’s Climate Plan Is Final

What To Expect From Republicans And The Coal Industry Now That Obama’s Climate Plan Is Final

Let's see: Lies, Faux Fury, More Lies, Phony Outrage, Still More Lies, Attempts to Destroy Plan, Yet More Lies ...
That about covers it.

Business Leaders And Republican Voters Support Obama’s Climate Plan. What Will Republican cabal Candidates Do?

Several new polls find swing state voters and early state Republican cabal primary voters support the Clean Power Plan. But Republican candidates aren't listening.

Partisan Hack Chuck Todd Is Mad At Trump For Ruining The ‘Strongest’ Republican cabal Field ‘In 36 Years’

What the fuck, Chuck?
Fox News might be a better fit for you.
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