Wednesday, November 25, 2015
Tuesday, November 24, 2015
The Daily Drift
Welcome to Today's Edition of The Truth Be Told.
The Truth Be Told is read in 205 countries around the world.
Republicans - Ain't christians ... !
Don't forget to visit our sister blog Carolina Naturally
Some of our readers today have been in:
The Americas
Argentina - Brazil - Canada - Costa Rica - Mexico - Nicaragua - Puerto Rico
United States - Venezuela
Europe
Austria
- Belgium - Bulgaria - England - France - Germany - Hungary - Ireland -
Italy - Latvia Luxembourg - Netherlands - Norway - Poland - Portugal -
Romania - Russia - San Marino
Scotland - Serbia - Slovenia - Spain - Turkey - Ukraine - Wales
Asia
Burma - Cambodia - China - India - Indonesia - Korea - Malaysia - Mauritius - Pakistan
Singapore - Sri Lanka - Thailand
Africa
Djibouti - Somalia - South Africa
The Pacific
Australia - French Polynesia - Philippines
Blood-Red Louisiana Just Voted To Expand Medicaid For A Quarter-Million People
The residents of Louisiana just did something HUGE.
Obama Shreds Cowardly Wingnut Pretender Candidates For Fearing 4 Year Old Orphan Refugees
The President said:
And so although, on its face, the House legislation simply says, well, we can just certify — and this is not along the lines of some of the more radical proposals that we were hearing earlier in the week from some presidential candidates — the fact of the matter is, is that if it gums up the work so much, then effectively you don’t end up seeing any refugees admitted. If you layer it with more and more bureaucracy, that doesn’t actually make us safer because it doesn’t do a better job of screening but simply makes it almost impossible to process individuals who are coming in, then you’re effectively ending the refugee program for people who desperately need it.
And when I referred to a betrayal of our values, I was being very specific about some of the commentary that was made that would suggest, for example, that we might let Christians in but not Muslims; that we — somehow we’re so fearful that a four-year-old orphan might be let in. And those of you who joined me to the refugee center yesterday and you saw those kids, that’s who we’re talking about. If you are a parent and you saw those kids, and you thought about what they had gone through, the notion that we couldn’t find a home for them anywhere in the United States of America, that is contrary to our values.
And the good news is, is that the overwhelming majority of the people who know that we are screening and all the precautions that are already taken — if they saw those kids, they’d say, yeah, we need to do right by those children.
Unlike the Republican candidates, President Obama is living in reality. Just as the Republican cabal tried to deny people health care by spreading inaccurate fears about the Affordable Care Act, the party’s presidential candidates are trying to win an election with a fact-less fear campaign against child refugees from Syria.
Obama is having none of it, and the President called out the cowardice of the men who want to next occupy the Oval Office. If Republicans continue to try to exploit the politics of fear, President Obama will reveal the true colors of his opposition.
While 4-year-old refugees make Republicans cower in fear, President Obama is bombing and killing terrorists on a daily basis.
The difference between the Republican pretenders and the true leadership of Obama has never been clearer.
Pew Shows Muslims Hate ISIL – So Hannity Claims Pew Shows They Love ISIL
Pew says Muslims have "overwhelmingly expressed negative views of
ISIL" so Hannity says the poll shows "significant levels of support"…
Unfortunately for their narrative, we’re well past 2008, unemployment is down, not up, and countless Muslims have spoken out against terrorism and overwhelmingly oppose the Islamic State.
That doesn’t stop Hannity from completely inverting the results of a Pew Research Poll to claim that the opposite is true where the Islamic State is concerned.
This lie came despite the title of the poll: “In nations with significant Muslim populations, much disdain for ISIL.”
How do you miss that?
In fact, as Media Matters for America revealed, the poll found that Muslim views of ISIL are “overwhelmingly negative.”
HANNITY: How about we look at the poll numbers they put out, and let’s talk about whether or not this could be true, because it reveals significant levels of support for ISIL within the Muslim world. They went to 11 representative nation-states — excuse me, let me finish my question — and up to 14 percent of the population has a favorable view of ISIS, and upwards of 62 percent can’t decide. They don’t know whether they have a favorable opinion. Don’t you find those numbers chilling?A good reason to keep those refugees out, isn’t it? Except that it’s a lie.
[…]
HANNITY: I am looking at these numbers, between 63 million and 287 million ISIL supporters in just 11 countries.
What Pew actually said was this:
According to newly released data that the Pew Research Center collected in 11 countries with significant Muslim populations, people from Nigeria to Jordan to Indonesia overwhelmingly expressed negative views of ISIL.
One exception was Pakistan, where a majority offered no definite opinion of ISIL. The nationally representative surveys were conducted as part of the Pew Research Center’s annual global poll in April and May this year.
In no country surveyed did more than 15% of the population show favorable attitudes toward Islamic State. And in those countries with mixed religious and ethnic populations, negative views of ISIL cut across these lines.
Any of us who have tried know that it is a pointless exercise to trot out facts when debating with a conservative but it is a particularly egregious sin when you not only ignore the facts, but turn them on their head and claim they say the opposite of what they show. But then when all the numbers show increasing temperatures, Republican climate deniers claim temperatures are actually lower then they used to be, and cigarette smoking is actually good for you!
I could call for Hannity to apologize, but that would be to assume he has a conscience. And I won’t make that assumption. Not of Hannity. Not of any Republican today.
Top U.S. Psychiatrists Confirm Trump’s Narcissistic Personality Disorder
Trump Implodes While Talking About Terrorism And Sets Up Democrats To Win In 2016
Transcript via ABC’s This Week:
STEPHANOPOULOS: You’ve also talked about you want to keep the terror watchlist, but under current law individuals on the terror watchlist and the no-fly list have been allowed to buy guns and explosives. Are you OK with that?
TRUMP: We have to have a watchlist, and if that watchlist has somebody that’s — you know, we have — you know, we have the laws right now. We have the laws already on the books as far as Second Amendment for guns, and as you know I’m a big, big, really big proponent of the Second Amendment.
STEPHANOPOULOS: But why should someone on the watch list…
TRUMP: — out of hundreds of people (INAUDIBLE)…
STEPHANOPOULOS: — be able to have a gun?
TRUMP: No, no. You — if people are on a watch list or people are sick, you have already — this is already covered in the legislation that we already have, George. It’s already fully covered.
STEPHANOPOULOS: Well, but under current law…
TRUMP: But we have…
STEPHANOPOULOS: — people on the watch list…
TRUMP: — if we have an enemy at stake…
STEPHANOPOULOS: — are allowed to buy guns.
TRUMP: Listen, George, if we have an enemy of state, I don’t want to give him anything. I want to have him in jail, that’s what I want. I want to have him in jail.
But if those people in Paris had guns in that room, it would have been a shootout and very few people would have been hurt by comparison to the number that were hurt.
STEPHANOPOULOS: But yesterday…
TRUMP: I’ll tell you who would have been hurt, the bad guys would…
STEPHANOPOULOS: But yes or no?
TRUMP: — because they were the only ones that had the guns.
STEPHANOPOULOS: Mr. Trump, yes or no, should someone on the terror watch list be allowed to buy a gun?
TRUMP: If somebody is on a watch list and an enemy of state and we know it’s an enemy of state, I would keep them away, absolutely.
George Stephanopoulos exposed Trump as having no actual policies. The Trump campaign is the combination of a series of talking points that can be heard daily on Fox News, and the feelings of the candidates. Notice that Trump expressed a strong feeling that “enemies of the state” should not have access to guns, but he proposed no policies that would keep guns away from potential foreign and domestic terrorists.
Trump can’t give a straight answer to questions because he doesn’t know anything, and when he is pressed to go beyond his feelings, the result is empty combative tough talk.
What Trump advocated during the interview was a database for Muslims, torture, spying on religious buildings, and not doing anything to stop criminals from getting guns.
Trump is talking about returning to the failed policies of the shrub years. He talks like an outsider, but Trump is advocating the same and more extreme policies than the shrub junta used.
The Republican front-runner is handing the 2016 election to Democrats on a silver platter. There is not a single state that President Obama won in 2012 that Trump could flip in 2016. Trump would get fewer Republican votes in a general election than Romney or McCain because as the country is moving left, he is catering to the wingnut lunatic fringe.
The best thing to happen to Democratic hopes of keeping the White House and retaking the House and Senate is that Trump continues to lead in the Republican polls.
As Trump’s interview on ABC’s This Week demonstrated, the billionaire is know-nothing who is unfit for the White House.
Trump is telegenic empty shell of a candidate who is an expert at using the media and generate publicity.
![Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump in an excerpt from an interview with '60 Minutes.' [CBS News]](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_t1NRBNjlmCe3KYH-42hdsCd1-yJGFx4JnEHZMKxo_TXgpsvSo6txAvTDpUUxk-Q8YSzxHYzYZupBSGLBJf6A8tYVFPKwpOAe-OEpTf3hxvociWBkYOHSnan3aYVallJAIwM2od7Xru-PsxFGmPvCw-nq023g=s0-d)
Black Man Attacked At Rally Deserved It, ‘Maybe He Should Have Been Roughed Up’
Trump says that the black man his supporters beat up at a
rally had it coming because he was “obnoxious.” I think the word he was
looking for was “uppity.”
Fox News' Annual Hysteria Over Dark, Invading Forces
Not interested in having a serious debate about how or when to
accept mostly Muslim refugees in the wake of the Paris terrorist
massacre, Fox is sponsoring a lunatic fringe wingnut hate brigade that not only
targets refugees, but President Obama, too.
Monday, November 23, 2015
The Daily Drift
Welcome to Today's Edition of The Truth Be Told.
The Truth Be Told is read in 205 countries around the world.
Republicans - Karma is coming for you ... !
Don't forget to visit our sister blog Carolina Naturally
Some of our readers today have been in:
The Americas
Argentina - Brazil - Canada - Costa Rica - Dominican Republic - Mexico - Nicaragua
Puerto Rico - United States - Venezuela
Europe
Austria - Bulgaria - Denmark - England - France - Greece - Hungary - Ireland - Italy
Latvia - Luxembourg - Netherlands - Norway - Poland - Portugal - Romania - Russia
San Marino - Scotland - Serbia - Slovakia - Slovenia - Spain - Switzerland - Ukraine - Wales
Asia
Cambodia - China - India - Indonesia - Iran - Korea - Malaysia - Maldives - Mauritius - Thailand
Africa
Algeria - Djibouti - Nigeria - Somalia - South Africa - Zambia
The Pacific
Australia - French Polynesia
Dear World: I Would Like to Apologize for the Republican Cabal
by Allen Clifton
The Iraq War is a prime example. Because of the shrub’s
incompetence, much of the Middle East has been destabilized which has
led to hundreds of thousands of deaths (including over 4,400 American
soldiers) and the largest terrorist uprising we’ve ever seen.
Even when it comes to climate change, instead of being the global leader, setting the example on green energy that other nations would certainly follow, we’re stuck arguing with idiots who bring snowballs to Congress to “prove” that climate change isn’t real.
As thousands of Syrian refugees desperately seek a place to go, the United States should be leading the charge to reach out and help these folks find a place to escape almost certain death. Instead, Republicans are too busy playing petty partisan politics, fear-mongering for the sake of exploiting hatred for votes.
It’s sickening.
Instead of being a nation pushing the idea that terrorists are the enemy – not all Muslims – we have one leading Republican pretender candidate suggesting that we should track Muslims in a database much like the Nazis did to Jewish people, while another leading candidate compared refugees to “rabid dogs.” To say nothing about the others who only want to grant access to 'christian' refugees – a move that only ends up helping Islamic radicals.
The United States is supposed to be a beacon of hope and acceptance; instead, we have tens of millions of Republicans driven by irrational paranoia and fear. These are people who claim to love America, while seemingly hating the majority of Americans.
The United States is not what Republicans are trying to turn it into. We’re not a nation where any religious litmus test must be passed; where one religion is meant to rule over others; where discrimination is legal; or where hate and intolerance are widely accepted “values.”
We’re not ignorant fools like Trump, Carson, Cruz, or Huckabee. We’re not people who embrace stupidity while attacking education. People who view diversity as some sort of “attack” on our “American values.” At least we’re not supposed to be, but that’s clearly the type of country Republicans are trying to create.
As a progressive, I promise that myself and many others like me will continue to speak out against the idiocy many Republicans seem so proud to display. We’ll continue to stand against racism, sexism, discrimination, injustice and the ongoing desire by many within the Republican cabal to turn the United States into a “white religio-wingnut 'christian' theocracy” built upon inexcusable bigotry that’s in complete contrast to what this nation stands for.
While it won’t be easy, I do believe ultimately that we will win. As long as the resolve amongst progressives and liberals stays strong, and they show up to vote (which is key), there’s nothing keeping us from saving this country – and in many ways much of the world – from the dangerous ideologies that drive the Republican cabal.
But in the meantime, let me apologize to everyone for the Republican cabal and their stupidity. As a progressive, I am absolutely ashamed that these folks represent part of my country.
I’m going to do everything I can to make sure that the entire world doesn’t have to endure another Republican in the White House. The last thing any of us should want, be it in the United States or abroad, is a repeat of what we all had to endure during the shrub junta.
10 Ridiculous Republican Facts That Are So Absurd They Seem Like They’re Made Up
by Allen Clifton
But the truth is, while Trump’s name might be one of the most talked about, this level of lunacy is found all throughout the Republican cabal.
So I thought I’d list 10 indisputable facts about the Republican cabal that are so incredibly absurd, they sound made up.
1. Rubio and Cruz – the children of Cuban immigrants – have gone at one another publicly while trying to prove who’s the most anti-immigrant.
2. Carson, neurosurgeon and leading Republican cabal pretender candidate, thinks evolution is satanic; has spread anti-vaccine myths; believes the Earth was created in six days; and thinks the pyramids were biblical grain storage. Yes, Republicans managed to find a brain surgeon who doesn’t believe in science.
3. Trump, Gingrich, Limbaugh and Kim Davis all oppose same-sex marriage, claiming to be supporters of the “sanctity of marriage.” Fun fact: Between these four individuals, they’ve accumulated a grand total of 14 marriages and multiple adulterous affairs.
4. Many wingnuts have spoken highly of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s “strength” and bravado against terrorism, often in an attempt to bash or mock the “weakness” of President Obama. Meanwhile, Putin has strong ties to the Iranian government which supports Hezbollah – a terrorist organization which, along with Iran, would like to see Israel destroyed. The same Israel that Republicans have claimed “Obama has turned his back on.”
5. Jeb once criticized President Obama’s plan to combat ISIL… for being too intelligent.
6. Around 75 percent of everything Trump says seems to be a lie – yet he’s managed to become the Republican cabal pretender front-runner and has even seen his lead increase again in some recent polls.
7. Despite the fact that a Republican pretender hasn’t balanced the budget since the 1950’s, Republicans continue to claim they’re the cabal for “fiscal responsibility.”
8. While Republicans fear-monger against accepting Syrian refugees, the United States has taken over 80k Iraqi refugees since 2007 who come from the actual country where ISIL formed – none of whom, to the public’s knowledge, have committed any act of terrorism.
9. President Obama sent a draft to congressional Republicans asking for the authorization to do more in Syria to combat ISIL – and they refused to give him that power. Now these same Republicans are complaining that he hasn’t done enough to combat ISIL.
10. Republicans don’t blame the shrub for ISIL, or the 9/11 attack, despite the fact that the rise of the terrorist organization is a direct result of his botching of the Iraq War and he was given intelligence prior to the largest terrorist attack in our nation’s history yet did nothing; meanwhile, many Republicans have blamed President Obama for the terrorist attack… in France.
Alright folks, there you have it.
Ten ridiculous Republican facts that are so completely absurd, they sound like they can’t be real.
Go ahead, fact-check me.
Only you have to use legitimate news and fact sources and not Fox News when you fact-check.
Wingnuts Stole Farmer’s Sanders Signs, So He Plowed Bernie’s Name Into His Field
“I’d like to see them steal this one.”
Read more
Read more
![A photograph of Charles Darwin by Herbert Rose Barraud taken in 1881. [Wikipedia Commons]](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_vFv5p4oGyE-y0GDLwZQ7r6yD7dJChNYNPddVHvMpYWVELO5uzB6ZZ6C9nu35cobrUmiQhTWnGZ6BXem1BroWRuO3-rO1QmbNa6JddJ8KKEBov1g-Ek2x4TPW3RifoGdz_pdLU9pSJ7RHjdOG5GZfuo0lxyvXj7CexuweAH4pMz8y8wSRLKhniqHBxup11ORrnzmKTCfMfiZ7W9=s0-d)
Vitter Lost - Louisiana Won
... And Louisiana DID NOT Choose Him.
And did so in a resounding way ...
Cruz: If Elected, I Would Jail ‘Communist’ Obama & Murder Iran’s Supreme Leader
Cruz (R-TX) has officially declared himself to be a threat to our national security and to the pursuit of peace across the world. The firebrand pretender candidate and teabagger darling is known for saying disturbingly ignorant things, but this time he has barreled right over the line of decency and reason. This morning, with the taste of Boehner’s metaphorical blood still fresh in his mouth, jackal Cruz addressed the Value Voters Summit, energized by his victory over the last semblance of moderation that the House still had.
He decided to open by making a joke about President Obama, who is apparently “the world’s most powerful communist”, and then swung right into calling for the President’s arrest: “If they can project a rainbow on the White House, maybe they can put bars on the windows!” His speech went downhill from there.
In a breathtaking show of dangerous extremism and astounding disrespect for the our nation, our president, and the international community, Cruz announced that on his first day as President, he would “rip to shreds” the Iranian nuclear peace deal and threatened to kill Iran’s leaders. “If the ayatollah [Sayyid Ali Khamenei] doesn’t understand that, we may have to help introduce him to the 72 virgins” (Referring to the misconception that virgins await Islamic martyrs in heaven). The enormity of those statement is simply astounding and enormously offensive. This man, who is apparently running to be the leader of the free world, finds it acceptable to make casual death threats toward world leaders and speaks frivolously about starting major international wars.
What is perhaps even more terrifying is the response from the crowd, which was several standing ovations. There is quite possibly nobody more unqualified to be in government than Cruz. While he dances on the grave of Boehner and ties on his legislative kamikaze bandanna, it is important for us to take stock of just what an ambitious lunatic he really is. This is no way for an elected official to behave, no matter how crude and malleable your support base is. Cruz has proven he has no intention of governing as a Senator; he’s given no indication that he would do any better as President. Statements like these have absolutely no place in the realm of rational and reasonable politics, and Cruz does not deserve a place in our national discourse.
Candidate Trump - Good For America
by John DeProspo
Muslim terrorists have long pushed the narrative that they are at war with the west in a “clash of civilizations.” It’s the death match they so long for between Islam and the infidels of western society. For most of post 9-11 America, this notion has been rejected by a majority of Americans. But, as we have seen since the Paris attacks, this idea of a “clash of civilizations” is gaining wide acceptance among a fearful American populace. A large segment of Americans now believe all Muslims are terrorists, or all terrorists are Muslim, and that we are indeed at war with the Muslim faith.
While this narrative is patently false, it is being shamefully hyped by many of the Republican pretender candidates, most notably Donald Trump. The frontrunner for the Republican nomination has irresponsibly called for warrant-less searches of mosques and tracking Muslim Americans in a database or giving them “a special form of identification that noted their religion.”
Once again, as Trump’s rhetoric has become more repulsive, he has seen a spike in his poll numbers. In a recent NBC/SurveyMonkey online poll following the Paris attacks, Trump’s support is at 28%, Carson 18% (down eight points from the previous survey), Cruz 18%, Rubio 11% and Bush at 4%.
What Trump’s ascendancy as the leading Republican candidate has done is put our country in a clash of its own; a clash of identity and direction; a fight for the soul of the country. And this is a good thing!
We, as Americans, need this fight. Whether it’s Trump or one of the other Republican fear-mongers, the results of the upcoming presidential election will show the country who we are as a nation and inform the world if we are the America they have long respected and admired.
While the Republican establishment will do all it can to derail a Trump nomination, it may be too late. Having Trump as the Republican standard bearer would be the best thing for our country. It could very well signal the death of the Republican cabal or the start of a dark future for the land of the free.
Every election is billed as the most important election we will ever face. This time around, it may actually be that.
Against NRA Opposition Senator Feinstein Pushes To End Gun Sales To Suspected Terrorists
Senator Feinstein is leading an effort to bar gun sales to people on
the Terrorist Watchlist, but the NRA is fighting her efforts.…
Under current federal law, affiliation with a known terrorist organization doesn’t bar an individual from purchasing or possessing firearms or explosives. While restricting rights based on suspicion of terrorist activity is a delicate matter, Feinstein made her point rather bluntly, by stating:
I think this is a no-brainer. If you’re too dangerous to board a plane, you’re too dangerous to buy a gun.Members on the Terrorist Watchlist are banned from boarding commercial flights, but between 2004 and 2014 individuals on the list made at least 2,043 legal gun purchases in the United States.
Democrats and a few Republicans, including New York Rep. Peter King and former president George W. Bush tried to pass legislation closing off suspected terrorists’ legal access to guns, but they were blocked by NRA-friendly congressional Republicans at every turn.
Predictably, the NRA has voiced their opposition to Feinstein’s proposal. NRA spokeswoman Jennifer Baker stated:
It is appalling that anti-gun politicians are exploiting the Paris terrorist attacks to push their gun-control agenda and distract from President Obama’s failed foreign policy.In the wake of 129 people getting murdered by terrorists, the idea of making it more difficult for suspected terrorists to arm themselves probably won’t seem “appalling” to most Americans.
What may come across as appalling is the NRA’s dogmatic insistence that guns continue to be made readily available to almost anyone who wants to have one. The NRA and their Republican stooges in congress are so indoctrinated into the gun cult, that they won’t even approve of legislation designed to keep guns out of the the hands of suspected terrorists.
ISIL Says Anonymous Are Idiots But Anonymous Shows Who the Real Idiots Are
“Anonymous from all over the world will hunt you down. You should know that we will find you and we will not let you go.”
In response Monday, the Islamic State released a statement of its own, resorting to the always effective tactic of name-calling:
“The #Anonymous hackers threatened in a new video release that they will carry out a major hack operation on the Islamic state (idiots).”
Oh dear. I’m sure that hurt. It was, in fact, the cause of great hilarity.
We can agree or not agree that our leaders have failed us. What is certainly correct is that governments by their very nature have limited options. Political will is the fuel that drives military operations. Before both world wars, the United States lacked the political will to get involved until certain conditions were met.
Al Qaeda discovered that America does have the political will to do what must be done in response to terrorist attacks, as the shrub junta chased them running with their tails between their legs from Afghanistan in 2001. The Invasion of Iraq in 2003 was far less successful. Nonetheless, the United States sustained a decade-long effort to defeat its enemies in the Middle East, including enemies it had created in the process.
That will, as a result of the cost of that long war, has eroded America’s ability to respond as it once might have. President Obama is constrained by this reality. Anonymous is not.
While Russians and Americans and Iraqis and Kurds and other local groups pound the Islamic State both on the ground and from the air (something of which Anonymous does not approve), Anonymous has gone for their soft underbelly in an effective cyberwar.
ISIL called Anonymous “idiots” but it is Anonymous, by shutting down over 5,500 Twitter accounts belonging to Islamic State members in the first 24 hours, Anonymous showed who the true idiots are. The Islamic State had sent advice to its members on how to avoid being hacked, but this was just more cause for humor among the hacktivist group:
So ineffective were these measures that on Wednesday, Anonymous announced in another video that the count was now at 20,000 accounts. Their masked spokesman announced “this is only the beginning” and that there is no longer “any safe place online”:
Hello citizens of the world, we are anonymous.They closed with their signature warning:
It is time to realize social media is a solid platform for ISIS’s communication as well as neutering there ideas of terror amoung youth, but at the same time social media has proven that it is an advanced weapon. We must all work together and use social media to eliminate the accounts belonging to terrorists. More than 20,000 Twitter Accounts belonging to ISIS were just taken down by Anonymous. You can find a list of all the Twitter Accounts in the description. This is only the beginning.
ISIS; we will hunt you, Take down your sites, Accounts, Emails, and expose you…From now on, no safe place for you online…You will be treated like a virus, and we are the cure.
We are anonymous.
We are legion.
We do not forgive.
We do not forget.
ISIS…it is too late to Expect Us.
If the Islamic State wanted attention, they have gotten it. It seems very unlikely they will enjoy the result.
Rick Perry Loses, Ordered To Stand Trial For Felony Abuse Of Power
From the Archives:
Things are not looking so good for presidential hopeful, former Texas Governor Rick Perry.
U.S. News and World Report is reporting that the 3rd Court of Appeals today threw out one of the charges against him but ruled he still has to answer for the abuse-of-power accusations against him.
A grand jury indicted Perry in 2014 for using his executive power to try to force Travis County’s Rosemary Lehmberg to resign. Perry threatened to veto $7.5 million (2 years) in state funding to Lehmberg’s Public Integrity unit after she’d pled guilty to drunk driving and served 45 days for the offense. A state funded watchdog, the Public Integrity Unit investigates charges of public corruption. When Perry called to demand she resign, she refused; he then vetoed funding for the agency. The grand jury issued two indictments: abuse of official capacity and coercion of a public servant. A guilty sentence on both counts could have put Perry in the slammer for 109 years.
The 3rd Court rejected the coercion of a public servant count on the grounds that it violated the First Amendment but upheld the first count, saying Perry’s actions were unconstitutional. That charge is a first-degree felony and carries a maximum sentence of 99 years.
His attorney, Tony Buzbee, made this statement at a news conference in Houston: “One down, one to go. The court today threw out what we consider to be the greater of the two charges.” According to Buzbee, the abuse of power charge is “hanging by a thread.”
Seeing that the coercion of a public servant charge carried only a 10-year maximum sentence and the abuse of power carries a considerably longer sentence, one has to wonder what Buzbee is talking about and if he even knows what he’s doing.
Director Craig McDonald of the left leaning Texans for Public Justice was quick to point out that the judges who handed down today’s ruling are Republican. He stated they could have thrown out the entire case but instead, their decision “leaves a criminal indictment hanging over Perry’s head.”
The Perry campaign had no comment other than Buzbee’s statement.
by Ann Werner
U.S. News and World Report is reporting that the 3rd Court of Appeals today threw out one of the charges against him but ruled he still has to answer for the abuse-of-power accusations against him.
A grand jury indicted Perry in 2014 for using his executive power to try to force Travis County’s Rosemary Lehmberg to resign. Perry threatened to veto $7.5 million (2 years) in state funding to Lehmberg’s Public Integrity unit after she’d pled guilty to drunk driving and served 45 days for the offense. A state funded watchdog, the Public Integrity Unit investigates charges of public corruption. When Perry called to demand she resign, she refused; he then vetoed funding for the agency. The grand jury issued two indictments: abuse of official capacity and coercion of a public servant. A guilty sentence on both counts could have put Perry in the slammer for 109 years.
The 3rd Court rejected the coercion of a public servant count on the grounds that it violated the First Amendment but upheld the first count, saying Perry’s actions were unconstitutional. That charge is a first-degree felony and carries a maximum sentence of 99 years.
His attorney, Tony Buzbee, made this statement at a news conference in Houston: “One down, one to go. The court today threw out what we consider to be the greater of the two charges.” According to Buzbee, the abuse of power charge is “hanging by a thread.”
Seeing that the coercion of a public servant charge carried only a 10-year maximum sentence and the abuse of power carries a considerably longer sentence, one has to wonder what Buzbee is talking about and if he even knows what he’s doing.
Director Craig McDonald of the left leaning Texans for Public Justice was quick to point out that the judges who handed down today’s ruling are Republican. He stated they could have thrown out the entire case but instead, their decision “leaves a criminal indictment hanging over Perry’s head.”
The Perry campaign had no comment other than Buzbee’s statement.
Sunday, November 22, 2015
The Daily Drift
Welcome to Today's Edition of The Truth Be Told.
The Truth Be Told is read in 205 countries around the world.
Republicans - No stories for You ... !
Don't forget to visit our sister blog Carolina Naturally
Some of our readers today have been in:
The Americas
Argentina - Brazil - Canada - Costa Rica - Dominican Republic - Mexico - Puerto Rico
United States - Venezuela
Europe
Bulgaria - Czech Republic - England - Estonia - France - Germany - Greece - Hungary
Ireland - Italy - Latvia - Netherlands - Norway - Poland - Portugal - Romania - Russia
San Marino - Scotland - Serbia - Switzerland - Ukraine - Wales
Asia
Azerbaijan - Cambodia - China - India - Indonesia - Iran - Korea - Malaysia - Maldives
Pakistan - Saudi Arabia - Thailand
Africa
Algeria - Djibouti - Nigeria
The Pacific
Australia - Philippines
These Infographics Show Why Historians Voted Dumbya The Worst POTUS EVER
The Republicans Are Shredding Obama, But Here Are 11 Times They Said It Was Unpatriotic To Criticize The President
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)