![Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) addresses the Senate on Dec. 1, 2015. [C-SPAN]](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_vqa7C-n6VO6mx7JmIUCvcAYQ9p2a-h9DjHfgMCPYjOGblWMckYS5uHcaYKD8LrHDqxGgjVH9Op02rrBI_QytOIyT3M3BZwgsBxJZJLZ5GFxvXslBXczCBBzQPp42mlMrLVsB4O2NQFYijJbERb04lUJG0P0SnIbg=s0-d)
!['Young Turks' host Ana Kasparian on Dec. 1, 2015. [YouTube]](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_tn6sna0TLheg00UuoA1WZmVn4VUkVOrPqJgwuO7E_Kp1WbpqmQ0gJi3xhfjb62k9ad41likisY-6V5InCnMg0qzrLZ90t5U1ZDghLFJgwOKonUnGD5MwpgMMeYFRfXOpML_RePwXwyEnFQ2v53a2aarwKMbKvf=s0-d)
After months of verbal assault against
Planned Parenthood and against women more broadly, Republican 'christianists' have gotten what they were asking for—bloodshed.
Sunday, December 6, 2015
Saturday, December 5, 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 - You ARE NOT Invited ... !
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It Is Time To Officially Label the Republican Cabal A Hate Group
The SPLC says hate groups "have beliefs or practices that attack or
malign an entire class of people,..for their immutable
characteristics."…
Stochastic terrorism is defined as using of mass communications to stir up random lone individuals to carry out desired violent terrorist acts that are statistically predictable, but individually unpredictable. Translation; Republicans know that with enough incitement, no small number of their supporters will commit an act of terror, they are just not sure who will do the killing. By now, only evangelical fanatics and Republicans are unaware that the reason America is now a structurally violent society is because evangelical fanatics and Republicans spend the majority of their time inciting “random lone individuals to carry out desired violent terrorist acts” against Americans. And as the past few years have demonstrated, they are always the Americans the Republican cabal and religio-wingnuts regard as “undesirables.”
Although Republicans, and all of their wingnut iterations, have always singled out one group or another as undesirables as the focus of their hate, since the election of Barack Obama they have greatly expanded their “undesirable” list. It is important to note that according to the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), “official hate groups are those that have beliefs or practices that attack or malign an entire class of people, typically for their immutable characteristics.”
Using that definition, it is more than safe to say that the Republican cabal and its various cohorts are officially a hate group. And, instead of attacking one entire class of people, they have focused on every segment of the population save the very rich and the very religious, if the very religious are evangelical fanatics. It does not matter if it is the poor, women, the LGBT community, liberals, atheists, immigrants, Muslims, veterans, Hispanic or African Americans, Republicans have used the media to incite rage and hate against them all.
Republicans claim the source of the problem is secularism, liberals, President Obama, humanistic activists, women, immigrants and minorities who make themselves the target of hate and violence just by existing in “white 'christian' America.” Over the past few months, at least, Republicans have abandoned their typical dog whistles for blatant calls to action, and offer tacit approval when their followers commit acts of violence and terror against other Americans.
Trump is certainly not alone in inciting terror. A day before the wingnut hater stormed the Colorado Springs Planned Parenthood and murdered three innocent Americans, evangelical freak-of-nature and Cuban-Canadian immigrant Cruz boasted that he had won the unwavering endorsement of an evangelical fanatic that called for the execution of women’s healthcare providers. The man Cruz gloated over was Newman who wrote that it is every 'christian’s' “responsibility rightly involves executing abortionists for their crimes;” the crime of performing a legal medical procedure. Newman also harshly criticized the conviction of Paul Hill for murdering a Florida abortion doctor arguing that “there was no justice because the court prevented him from presenting the legal defense of justifiable defensive action.”
Cruz has also won the ringing endorsement of evangelical zealots calling for the government to begin, forthwith, executing homosexuals according to old testament dictates. The justification, like Republican haters calling for abortion providers’ murders, for calling for executing LGBT people is the religio-wingnuts’ delusion that the 'christian' bible, and not the U.S. Constitution, is the law of the land and Republicans have spent no small amount of time incrementally making that false belief a reality; it is why they are not demanding their followers dial back their religion-inspired hate.
After the Colorado Springs massacre, baptist huckster Huckabee said unnecessary deaths are bad, but he couched that remark by claiming Planned Parenthood is responsible for unnecessary fetal deaths. For the thousandth time, the 'christian' bible’s dog said that until a fetus exits the womb and ‘breathes air’ it is NOT a living being. But telling the truth according to the book the religio-wingnuts claim gives them dog-authority to murder abortion providers is as much an abomination to evangelicals as practicing jesus’ teachings.
The list of demographics that Republicans hate, and have whipped their base to frenzied rage to take action against, is exhaustive. Republicans have used fear and hatred to target the poor regardless of race, minorities, environmentalists, immigrants, liberals, women, scientists, gays, non-christians, workers and anyone who does not support the religio-wingnut and corporate agenda. Unfortunately, the Republicans’ “stochastic terrorism” is not only responsible for transforming America into a nation resembling sectarian Iraq, they have Americans’ blood on their hands and instead of dialing back their incitement, they are on the verge of turning their supporters on the rest of the country.
There are some pundits, and Republicans for that matter, who claim they are not responsible for the so-called “lone wolves” committing murder, mayhem, and acts of terror. However, whether officially, or just in passing, the national Republican cabal refuses to condemn fear and hate mongering that has led to terrorism against American citizens and it is why the Republican cabal is without a doubt a certifiable hate group and now is the time for the SPLC to make it official.
President Obama Expresses Confidence That Democrats Will Keep The White House In 2016
Transcript via The White House:
Q Thank you, Mr. President. Do you believe that Turkey is doing enough to strengthen its northwest border with Syria? How is it that a NATO country with as large a military as Turkey has, has not sealed its border? And is that something that you raised today with President Erdogan?
PRESIDENT OBAMA: Just with respect to my successor, let me, first of all, say that I’m anticipating a Democrat succeeding me. (Laughter.) I’m confident in the wisdom of the American people on that front.
But even if somebody from a different party succeeded me, one of the things that you find is when you’re in this job, you think about it differently than when you’re just running for the job. And what you realize is what I mentioned earlier, that American leadership involves not just playing to a narrow constituency back home, but you now are, in fact, at the center of what happens around the world, and that your credibility and America’s ability to influence events depends on taking seriously what other countries care about.
Now, the fact of the matter is there’s a reason why you have the largest gathering of world leaders probably in human history here in Paris. Everybody else is taking climate change really seriously. They think it’s a really big problem. It spans political parties. You travel around Europe, and you talk to leaders of governments and the opposition, and they are arguing about a whole bunch of things — one thing they’re not arguing about is whether the science of climate change is real and whether or not we have to do something about it.
So whoever is the next President of the United States, if they come in and they suggest somehow that that global consensus — not just 99.5 percent of scientists and experts, but 99 percent of world leaders — think this is really important, I think the President of the United States is going to need to think this is really important. And that’s why it’s important for us to not project what’s being said on a campaign trail, but to do what’s right, and make the case.
The reality is that there is only one presidential candidate who comprehends the enormity of the job of being president, and that is Hillary Clinton. President Obama was correct about the rest of the candidates in both parties. He seemed to be speaking from a bit of personal experience. The leap from governor or senator to president is gigantic. The leap from never holding public office to the White House is a disaster waiting to happen.
The next president will need to deal with global challenges. He or she will have to work with other countries and governments. When one looks at both the candidates and electoral map demographics, Democrats have a clear advantage. There isn’t a single candidate in the Republican field who looks capable of flipping enough of the states that Obama won to give Republicans the White House.
Democratic voters understand that the gains of the last eight years are on the line next year. While Republicans squabble among themselves, Democrats are unified and working towards the common goals of keeping the White House and taking back the Congress. There is a lack of complacency among Democrats, and President Obama’s strong political leadership in the fourth quarter of his presidency is on one of the main reasons why Democrats are ready for 2016.
Bernie Sanders Storms The Senate Floor And Drops A Megaton Reality Bomb On Republicans
On the Senate floor, Sen. Sanders said:
I think everybody here in the Senate understands this, the bill we are debating today is a complete waste of time. This is just another reason why the American people have so little respect for the Congress.
There are major crises facing our country and the Republican leadership once again is attempting to repeal Obamacare. I kind of lost track about how many times this effort has been made. I think in the House it was over fifty. I don’t know how many it is here in the Senate.
So let me break the news to my Republican colleagues, although I am sure that they already got the news. And that is Obama is not going to sign a bill repealing Obamacare. I think that is not likely to happen, and what we are doing today is just a waste of time.
The last thing we need is a budget reconciliation bill that throws 17 million Americans off of health insurance and denies nearly 3 million women the health care they need by defunding Planned Parenthood.
The reason why the American people are angry and the reason why the Congress is so unpopular is that the Congress is not addressing the real problems that are impacting their lives each and every day. At a time when the rich are getting richer, poverty is increasing, and the middle class has been in a 40-year decline, we need a budget that improves the lives of all Americans, not just the people on the top.
Sanders delivered the blunt truth to the Grand Old Reality Challenged Cabal. Their reconciliation bill/wish list of taking away health care from seventeen million people while defunding Planned Parenthood is never going to happen. Period. It isn’t going to happen. President Obama will never sign the bill, and Republicans will never have the votes needed to override his veto.
Bernie Sanders took to the Senate floor just a day after having hernia surgery and spoke the complete truth. The American people have nothing but contempt for the Republican run Congress because they keep pulling idiotic stunts like trying to repeal Obamacare and defund Planned Parenthood.
There are real problems in the United States that Republicans continue to ignore to chase their favorite delusion that they can force President Obama to repeal the ACA.
Sanders dropped a reality bomb on Senate Republicans and fearlessly spoke the truth to a Senate majority that refuses to live in reality.
Senate Liberals Roar With Bill To Give Seniors, The Disabled, And Veterans A Raise
In a speech on the Senate floor, Sen. Franken said:
we’re just one month away from the New Year. 2016 will bring a lot of new things, but one thing it will not bring is a cost-of-living increase for seniors, veterans, and people with disabilities. Despite the fact that the costs of health care, prescription drugs, and housing are increasing, the size of a Social Security check won’t go up one cent on January 1 – unless Congress acts.
That’s why my colleagues and I have introduced the Senior and Veterans Emergency Benefits Act – or SAVE Benefits Act. The SAVE Benefits Act gives a one-time payment to seniors and veterans receiving their earned benefits so they can better meet their basic living expenses.
….
CEOs and big businesses will still do just fine under this bill. At the same time, the SAVE Benefits Act will provide critical assistance to Americans struggling to meet their expenses. In fact, this increase in benefits will lift about 8,000 Minnesotans out of poverty, and thousands more in every state.
Ultimately, the debate over this bill comes down to priorities. What’s more important? Protecting high pay for the wealthiest Americans or ensuring that seniors, veterans, and people with disabilities have the income security that they need to pay for health care, prescription drugs, and housing?
The group of liberal senators who are sponsoring the bill includes Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.), Patty Murray (D-Wash.), Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.), Bill Nelson (D-Fla.), Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.), Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), Bob Casey (D-Pa.), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), Al Franken (D-Minn.), Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), Mazie K. Hirono (D-Hawai’i), Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.), and Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.).
Republicans are going to reject this bill and show that protecting CEOs and big business is more important to them than the 70 million Americans who would be helped by this cost of living increase.
It is important to note that the liberals aren’t pushing for a permanent increase. They are only seeking a one-time payment to seniors, veterans, and the disabled. There will be more campaign ads than a person can count airing next year, but the best way to measure the intentions of an incumbent is to look at their actions when they are not up for reelection.
The Republican majority in the Senate has acted in ways that are anti-seniors, anti-persons with disabilities, and anti-veterans. The Republican Senate majority talks a good game, but when the rubber hits the road, they always choose the interests of their corporate and billionaire backers.
Senate Democrats are holding the Republicans accountable, and offering them a chance to back up their talk with action. On Election Day 2016, voters will remember when Republicans chose billionaires and corporations over seniors, the disabled, and veterans and the price will be their jobs.
The Republicans Just Spit In The Faces Of 9/11 Survivors — Again
Democrats Outsmart Republicans And Urge Them To Stop Letting Terrorists Legally Buy Guns
It’s come to this.
Democrats in the House are now demanding Republicans to reconsider and
allow a vote on the bipartisan “King-Lofgren Denying Firearms and
Explosives to Dangerous Terrorists Act” so that… you know… people on the
terror watch list won’t be able to easily and legally buy guns. We have already sold 2,000 guns to known terrorists due to this loophole that Republicans won’t even put up for a vote to close.The office of Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) issued a statement today calling on Republicans to join Democrats in calling for a vote on the bill:
Congress’s first responsibility is to protect and defend the American people. The horrifying terror attacks in Paris give searing urgency to that responsibility.The bill was sponsored by Republican Pete King of New York on Feb 25, 2015, and it has since languished in the cluttered corner of House bills never to see the light of day, aka, it was referred to committee.
However, Republicans refuse to close the outrageous loophole that allows suspects on the terrorist watchlist to buy guns. In fact, since 2004, more than 2,000 suspects on the FBI’s Terrorist Watchlist have successfully purchased weapons in the United States. More than 90 percent of all suspected terrorists who attempted to purchase guns in the last 11 years walked away with the weapon they wanted.
Today, with Democrats’ Previous Question, Republicans will have a choice: join Democrats in calling for a vote on H.R. 1076, the bipartisan King-Lofgren Denying Firearms and Explosives to Dangerous Terrorists Act, or continue to allow suspected terrorists to buy deadly weapons.
Congress must close this exceedingly dangerous loophole. It is time for House Republicans to join Democrats to pass this critical, commonsense legislation.
What does it do that is so egregious Republicans won’t even bring it up for a vote? Oh, terrible things- I mean, first President Obama comes for their guns in person and then– no, wait. Sorry. That’s the Republican/NRA conspiracy belief about what any reasonable gun safety laws would do.
In reality, the act is intended to “increase public safety by permitting the Attorney General to deny the transfer of a firearm or the issuance of firearms or explosives licenses to a known or suspected dangerous terrorist.”
The only logical conclusion is that Republicans feel they are mostly terrorists who would be denied guns if this were passed. In which case, they should probably not be in Congress making laws.
An earlier version of this bill was introduced in 2007.
The public supports reasonable gun safety laws but Republicans see denying terrorists access to guns as a restriction on Republicans’ second amendment rights. A notion which, again, is worth exploring.
Republican Excuse Falls Apart As Clerk Admits Error In Planned Parenthood Shooter’s Registration
The Planned Parenthood shooter wasn’t a transgender leftist activist
as Republicans claimed. It turns out that a clerical error on his voter
registration card is responsible for the shooter being labeled a female.According to The Gazette:
Ryan Parsell, El Paso County’s chief deputy clerk and recorder, said his office incorrectly recorded Dear’s gender in October 2014, leading to the issuance of both a driver’s license and voter’s registration card erroneously identifying him as a woman.
“The Clerk and Recorder’s Office processes over 500,000 transactions a year,” Parsell said. “Mistakes are going to be made, and it is a reminder to us of the important job that we do to see that a mistake made by us has had national implications.”
Sorry, Republicans but the domestic terrorist who carried out the Planned Parenthood attack seems to share your views. It turns out that the right-wing story about Robert L. Dear being a transgender leftist activist was another fantasy cooked up by conservative media to shield the right from any indirect responsibility they have for their false attacks on Planned Parenthood inspiring a murder.
Republicans are suggesting that Dear is a crazy person whose actions are an isolated incident, but the studies show that attacks by right-wing extremists are more common in the US than attacks from international terrorists.
Republicans are being forced to retreat further from reality than ever before. The truth is that they won’t take responsibility for their unintended consequence that killed three innocent people, and they also refuse to tone down their rhetoric because they believe that demonizing Planned Parenthood is their path to victory in 2016.
The Planned Parenthood shooter is a conservative male, and Republicans are responsible for creating the environment that led to his deadly crimes.
Hillary Clinton Blasts Cruz For Revising History To Hide His Real Record
The Hillary Clinton campaign isn’t tolerating Cruz’s lies. The
Clinton camp blasted Cruz for reinventing history in order to hide his
real record.While campaigning Iowa, Cruz said:
Hillary Clinton embraces abortion on demand in all circumstances up until the moment of birth. Partial-birth abortion with taxpayer funding, with no notification for parents in any circumstances — 91% of Americans say that’s nuts. So what do they do, they try to shift it. The war on women wasn’t that; it was contraceptives. Now listen, I have been a conservative my entire life. I have never met anybody, any conservative who wants to ban contraceptives.
….
Last I checked we don’t have a rubber shortage in America. When I was in college we had a machine in the bathroom, you put .50 cents in and voila! So yes, anyone who wants contraceptives can access them, but it’s an utterly made-up nonsense issue.
….
The Clinton campaign responded by unloading on Cruz.
In a statement, Hillary for America spokeswoman Christina Reynolds said, “Cruz’s colorful comments can’t hide his revisionist history on the sustained Republican effort to restrict access to women’s health care. He threatened to shut down the government to defund Planned Parenthood. He tried to roll back protections that prevent women from being fired for using contraception. He claimed that emergency birth control was an ‘abortifacient,’ which is both medically and scientifically incorrect. As Cruz tries to police women’s health care decisions and deny a war on women, Hillary Clinton will fight every day to protect them against this seemingly endless Republican assault.”
Cruz completely invented his own new reality. The facts are that Cruz supports a personhood amendment to the Constitution that would ban birth control. Cruz thinks contraception is the same as abortion induced drugs.
Less than three months ago, Cruz tried to shut down the government over defunding Planned Parenthood.
Cruz has stolen the pages from Trump’s playbook and is now making it up as he goes along. The media never challenges Cruz’s made up “facts,” so it is up to Democrats like Hillary Clinton to set the record straight.
Mitt Romney tried to compulsively lie his way to the presidency in 2012, and that got him routed by President Obama. Republicans have upped the ante and moved from lying to complete detachment from reality in 2016.
If Cruz wants to pick a fight with Hillary Clinton on contraception, he will live to regret it.
Colorado wingnut: Planned Parenthood is the ‘real culprit’ in the shooting
Lunatic Fringe Religio-Wingnut 'Christian' Extremist Instructs Sycophants To Make Planned Parenthood Doctors ‘Afraid For Their Lives’
The American Taliban, fully supported by the Republican cabal.
Read more
Read more
Cruz Picks Lunatic Fringe Religio-Wing Extremist To Lead Virginia Campaign
Fresh off announcing
endorsements from radical anti-choice and anti-gay activists, Cruz
announced his Virginia Leadership Team last week, naming state “Dick” Black as his state campaign co-chair.
Black is one of the most lunatic fringe wingnuts in the state, if no... MORE
Cruz says there is no ‘war on women’ because we don’t have a condom shortage
Trump Issues His Most Bullshit Demand Yet Ahead Of CNN Debate
He really has outdone himself this time.
Read more
Read more
Jeb So Bad At Running For Pretender That Even Herman Cain Is Mocking Him
Against all odds, Jeb has been running a campaign so godawful, so
maladept, so mind-numbingly boring that we almost feel weirdly sorry for
the guy. He's just so pathetic about the whole thing, veering...
Snot-Nosed Wingnatween Does Not Want To Be Your Wingnut Hero No More
We hate to say we told you so, except for nuh uh, we love it. And we so
told you so. This kid, CJ Pearson, he is kind of terrible. How terrible
is he?...
Walker’s Xmas Present To Wisconsin: Bankrupting The State’s Food Banks
Walker’s latest plan to screw the poor involves kicking as many
people off of food stamps as he can – and just in time for the holidays.
Friday, December 4, 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 cookies for you ... !
Don't forget to visit our sister blog Carolina Naturally
Some of our readers today have been in:
The Americas
Brazil - Canada - Dominican Republic - Mexico - Nicaragua - Paraguay - Puerto Rico - United States
Europe
Austria
- Bosnia/Herzegovina - Bulgaria - England - France - Germany - Greece -
Hungary - Italy Latvia - Netherlands - Norway - Portugal - Poland -
Russia - Scotland - Serbia - Slovakia - Slovenia Spain - Switzerland -
Turkey - Ukraine - Wales
Asia
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The Pacific
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Government Surveillance and the Third Amendment
Let's examine whether a case may be made. The National Security Agency is part of the Department of Defense and therefore of our nation's military. By law, the NSA director must be a commissioned military officer, and per its mission statement, the NSA gathers information for military purposes. That's strong evidence that NSA personnel would qualify as soldiers under the 3rd Amendment.It’s been said many times that the US Constitution guarantees no right to privacy, but a broad interpretation of the Third Amendment might actually include some expectation of privacy. Ars Technica lays out some of the pros and cons of this argument.
And why did the framers prohibit the government lodging soldiers in private homes? Besides a general distaste for standing armies, quartering was costly for homeowners; it was also an annoyance that completely extinguished a family's sense of privacy and made them feel violated. Sound familiar?
Republicans Ramp Up The Koch Crusade And Inquisition Against Science
When NOAA published research using empirical data to refute wingnut
climate-change denial, Smith (R-TX) subpoenaed to the scientists…
If there was ever any doubt whatsoever about exactly who Republicans
work for and represent, or who is directing their time and money-wasting
agenda in the U.S. Congress, an event in Texas reveals what most
Americans already know.If one was unaware of what era this is, they may think it is the 16th Century and congressional Republicans are the high and holy roman catholic cult attacking science and scientists for contradicting god almighty and the 'christian' bible. But this is 21st Century America and instead of “the church” conducting an inquisition and attacking science and scientists, it is the fossil fuel industry using congressional Republicans to impugn and “intimidate” scientists for being scientists contradicting the fossil fuel industry.
At a Texas Public Policy Foundation event this week where the fossil fuel industry gathered to plot their attacks on the climate, the owner and CEO of coal giant Murray Energy thanked the industry’s leading inquisitor for using the U.S. Congress to attack scientists. The recipient of the glowing praise, heartfelt gratitude and effusive congratulations was anti-science Chairman of the House Science Committee Smith (R-TX). The Murray Energy CEO, Robert E. Murray, enthusiastically praised Smith for leading an inquisition into noted and prominent climate scientists and environmental officials tasked with gathering empirical data to help protect Americans’ air and water.
Murray, after “congratulating” Smith for doing the lord’s work in issuing a congressional subpoena to the head of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) head Kathryn Sullivan, issued further orders to Smith. Murray demanded that Smith immediately issue more congressional subpoenas and start investigating the American Meteorology Association (weather forecasters) and the Union of Concerned Scientists; two private nonprofit organizations that serve the scientific community and the American people. According to Murray, the organizations also “need to be investigated” because they have empirical scientific data and mounds of research contradicting the fossil fuel industry’s claim that global climate change is a liberal hoax to rob Americans.
It is noteworthy that the anti-science climate-denying attendees, all donors to the Texas Public Policy Foundation, were “inadvertently” disclosed as billionaires at Koch Industries, ExxonMobil, Chevron, VF-Russia, ConocoPhillips and Murray Energy among many others. The president of the event’s sponsor, Brooke Rollins, explained how and why event was conceived and why it is “critical” to the industry’s assault on scientists, the environment, and Earth’s climate. Rollins said,
Since the anti-science Smith has chaired the House Science Committee, he has led a series of unrelenting fossil fuel-funded attacks on the scientists and scientific consensus around global warming. Smith even wastes taxpayer money by holding congressional hearings for the sole purpose of allowing Koch Republicans to each take a turn at berating NOAA, National Science Foundation (NSF), and National Aeronautic and Space Administration (NASA) scientists involved in providing empirical data necessary for climate policy founded on reality.
Smith has also proposed Koch-ALEC legislation to create new fossil fuel industry-mandated criteria for all future National Science Foundation studies and duly slashed the budgets of scientists involved in climate research; he has not yet prohibited the words “climate change” from being uttered like other state-level Republicans, but it is likely on the near horizon. Smith has rapidly ramped up his aggressive tactics against science and scientists that garnered high praise from the coal industry’s largest corporation and inspired Smith to get serious about expanding the industry’s crusade and inquisition.
For example, in June, after NOAA scientists published a study in the highly-regarded peer-reviewed journal Science that used scientific research and empirical data to refute the absurd Republican claim that global warming they claim does not exist has “paused,” Smith immediately issued congressional subpoenas to the scientists who participated in the study.
The very serious House subpoenas included NOAA director Kathryn Sullivan demanding, not more scientific data, but all personal “communications between or among all NOAA employees.” It is what Representative Eddie Bernice Johnson(D-TX) charged was just Smith’s way of “furthering a fishing expedition.” Less politically-correct human beings would label Smith’s actions a religious witch hunt or what they truly are; 16th Century Vatican-like inquisitions and attacks on science that targeted the likes of Galileo and Copernicus. In Koch Republicans’ minds, disagreeing with the fossil fuel industry is tantamount to disputing the authority of the holy roman catholic cult and dog almighty himself, and they have congressional authority to do something about it.
Americans not beholden to the Kochs’ fossil fuel industry say Smith’s investigations are deliberate attempts to intimidate scientists whose research may pose a financial hardship to the fossil fuel industry which donates heavily to Republican politicians; including Chairman of the House Science Committee Lamar Smith. As well-regarded scientist and Slate writer Phil Plait notes, Smith’s subpoenas are “politically-motivated strong-arm tactics,” and not remotely related to “an actual attempt at oversight.” Although Plait is highly-respected in the scientific community, and by this author, it is curious he failed to question how on Earth a science-denying moron and fossil fuel industry puppet like Smith could possibly provide any oversight to scientists, but perhaps that is why Phil is a noted and respected science spokesman.
This week, seven leading scientific societies issued a damn tersely-worded letter to the anti-science Smith asserting that, “Scientists should not be subjected to fraud investigations or harassment simply for providing scientific results that some may see as politically controversial.” It is true, of course, scientists should not be investigated or harassed for doing their jobs with due diligence, but this is America controlled by fossil fuel acolytes and driven by a 16th Century religious mindset with congressional subpoena power; power bestowed on them by the Koch brothers’ fossil fuel industry.
It is not difficult to imagine how far back in time Republicans will eventually take America. First it was deluded teabaggers driving to return to the 1950s, and then it was evangelical fanatics lusting to return to old testament theocratic rule. Of late, it is a small vocal group of Republicans intent on tactics devised by Adolf Hitler’s Nazi regime and now it is the Koch-Republicans drawing inspiration from the 16th century roman catholic cult attacking scientists. Besides a push to leave the 21st Century, the only connection between all the wingnut’s attempts to “take their country back” in history is that they are driven by special interests. And it is not the interests of the incredibly stupid people who continue putting Republicans and their fossil fuel masters in power.
Even Jeb’s Brother The Shrub Thinks He’s A Dumb Asshole
From the "Pot and Kettle" Department:
Oh Jeb. Oh Jeb. On a scale of Typical Jeb Facepalm to Sweet Holy
Moses In Heaven What Even The HELL JEB!?, we are not sure where this
ranks. But getting called a catastrophically dumb idiot by the moronic shrub "Most
Dumbest Pretender Ever"...
Trump’s New Ad Attacks Obama For Taking Selfies – Yet He’s Been In Dozens Of Them
Hatch wants to tear down the wall of separation between cult and state
In a biting editorial, written for the Washington Times, Hatch (R-UT)
suggests a novel and literal approach to the First Amendment.
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