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Sunday, December 6, 2015

The World Can’t Afford Trump: Narcissist-in-Chief

The world has many conflict hotspots, but a narcissist like Trump would make them about himself, rather than what's good for America…
trump-loves-himselfMove over American Exceptionalism, and make way, if Trump attains the White House, for Trump Exceptionalism. Make no mistake, Trump’s presidential hopes are Trump hopes. Make America Great is Trump-speak for Make Trump Important. Because as the image says, Trump likes himself some himself.
In other words, the problem for America is that the Republican front runner is a textbook narcissist, at least according to psychologists. This is probably not a surprise even to laymen, but Vanity Fair asked some professionals to weigh in with their opinion (perhaps because Vanity Fair believes Trump could really be elected president) and what we’re hearing in response is “Textbook narcissistic personality disorder,” and “Remarkably narcissistic,” and “He’s so classic that I’m archiving video clips of him to use in workshops because there’s no better example of his characteristics…he’s like a dream come true.”
Or a nightmare:
That mental-health professionals are even willing to talk about Trump in the first place may attest to their deep concern about a Trump presidency. As Dr. Robert Klitzman, a professor of psychiatry and the director of the master’s of bioethics program at Columbia University, pointed out, the American Psychiatric Association declares it unethical for psychiatrists to comment on an individual’s mental state without examining him personally and having the patient’s consent to make such comments. This so-called Goldwater rule arose after the publication of a 1964 Fact magazine article in which psychiatrists were polled about Senator Barry Goldwater’s fitness to be president. Senator Goldwater brought a $2 million suit against the magazine and its publisher; the Supreme Court awarded him $1 in compensatory damages and $75,000 in punitive damages.
Scary stuff. And think about what it would mean to America to have the Trump Cult of Personality in the White House. Look at all the hotspots around the globe.
Source: www.iiss.org
For Trump, these would not be about American interests, what’s best for us and for our allies, but about being one of the winners.
There’s Iraq and Syria and Israel and the Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank, there is Iran and Russia and the Baltic States and Russia and the Ukraine and Russia in Syria and Russia and Turkey. As the International Institute for Strategic Studies tweeted,
IISS News @IISS_org
Russia has violated every major European security agreement from UN charter to 1990 charter of Paris: @IlvesToomas
Then there is the South China Sea with China versus just about everybody:
Map of hypothetical scenario of China-Japan Conflict, showing conflict zones (A); sea exclusion zones (B); and air restriction zones (C ). Military bases are represented by total population within 50km Cambridge Centre for Risk Studies - See more at: http://www.cam.ac.uk/research/discussion/planning-for-war-a-guide-for-businesses#sthash.TrTU6xKH.dpuf
Map of hypothetical scenario of China-Japan Conflict, showing conflict zones (A); sea exclusion zones (B); and air restriction zones (C ). Military bases are represented by total population within 50km Cambridge Center for Risk Studies – See more at: http://www.cam.ac.uk/research/discussion/planning-for-war-a-guide-for-businesses#sthash.TrTU6xKH.dpuf
Don’t forget Korea, and Afghanistan, and India and Pakistan, tension over natural resources in the Arctic, not to mention African hotspots like Nigeria. The world is a mess. (a complete list of ongoing conflicts can be found here – as of November 26, “27 Countries and 191 between militias-guerrillas, separatist groups and anarchic groups involved”).
So yeah. We need a stable president to confront this mess, not a president who is a man who can’t handle facts at the expense of his own ego. The world is not black and white, either/or, or good vs. evil. Reality has nuance that escapes most Republicans, but Trump sees the world as defined by “winners” and “losers.” Huffington Post talked to Joseph Burgo, psychologist and author of The Narcissist You Know, who said,
“Narcissists like Trump… are constantly driven to prove themselves among the ‘winners’ of the world, often by triumphing over or denigrating other people as comparative ‘losers.’ If you examine Trump’s language in his public statements as well as in the debates, you will hear him proclaim his winner status again and again while sneering at his detractors as losers.”
Vanity Fair approached Licensed clinical social worker Wendy Terrie Behary, the author of Disarming the Narcissist: Surviving and Thriving with the Self-Absorbed, and she said,
“Narcissists are not necessarily liars, but they are notoriously uncomfortable with the truth. The truth means the potential to feel ashamed. If all they have to show the world as a source of feeling acceptable is their success and performance, be it in business or sports or celebrity, then the risk of people seeing them fail or squander their success is so difficult to their self-esteem that they feel ashamed. We call it the narcissistic injury. They’re uncomfortable with their own limitations. It’s not that they’re cut out to lie, it’s just that they can’t handle what’s real.”
So imagine Trump in any of these scenarios mentioned above. He couldn’t confront a media lightweight like Kelly without losing it, or even that antithesis of a journalist Todd. But let’s assume for a moment that he could find his testicles long enough to face down Putin. It’s a recipe for disaster. We need common sense and a realistic appraisal of the situation and we’ll have instead two guys comparing the lengths of their “penii.”
Or look at Trump confronting China over its economic policy, which he has entirely wrong (perhaps an explanation for his four corporate bankruptcies) or over its military reach into the South China Sea against Vietnam, the Philippines, or even its ongoing taunting of a re-arming Japan. The United States has interests in this area. Is Trump going to turn this into another case of Trump has to win because Trump is a winner? Or is he going to engage in sober diplomacy? You tell me.
If psychologists are worried enough to speak up, we should heed their fears. We should all be worried. The world is no place for Donald Trump with a nuclear briefcase. The place for Trump is reality TV where he can ruin only a few lives at a time, the lives of people who have agreed to have their lives ruined by this narcissist. The entire world should not be at his mercy. It’s great the Republican establishment opposes him, but they created him and they’re opposing him for all the wrong reasons.
As Vanity Fair’s Henry Alford put it, “the need to protect or exalt the self is at odds with the job requirements of a president.” Obama understand this. Sure, presidents have a care for their legacy. But Obama understands his duty is to the nation and to the American people. Trump see’s his only duty as being to himself. And if he got into the White House, there is nowhere in this world any of us could hide from his fragile ego.

Why We Should Be Worried for America That Trump Is So Popular

Republicans Completely Fucked As Trump Surges In Polls After Mocking Disabled Reporter

Even after mocking an unfriendly reporter’s physical disability and then demanding an apology from the person he mocked, Trump should, by...

To defeat ISIL ‘you have to take out their families’

Donald Trump appears at a fundraiser held onboard the USS Iowa. [MSNBC]Trump: To defeat ISIL ‘you have to take out their families’

Human Rights Campaign LAMPOONS Trump’s Infamous Trucker Hat With Own Version

Human Rights Campaign LAMPOONS Trump’s Infamous Trucker Hat With Own Version (IMAGE)
This is HILARIOUS!
Read more 

What Trump Just Said About Abortion Will Infuriate The Wingnuts

What Donald Trump Just Said About Abortion Will Infuriate The Right (VIDEO)
This is going to disappoint a lot of wingnuts.

‘Adolph Hitler, when he first rose to power, was elected’

Sally Kohn speaks to CNN's Ashleigh Banfield (screen grab)
CNN goes there on Trump’s campaign: ‘Adolph Hitler, when he first rose to power, was elected’

Trump Says MTV Video Proves NJ Muslims Were Celebrating 9/11 — MTV Laughs At Him

Trump Says MTV Video Proves NJ Muslims Were Celebrating 9/11 — MTV Laughs At Him (VIDEO)
Trump’s claim that an MTV video proves his claim of thousands of celebrating New Jersey Muslims was embarrassingly debunked… by MTV

Bolling's Idiotic Defense Of Trump's Dancing Muslims Story

Trump Campaign Manager Blames 'Reporters' For False 9/11 Story

Cruz Says Felons Are Democrats But Pals Around With A Felon

Ted Cruz Says Felons Are Democrats But Pals Around With A Felon Not only is Cruz holding a Corona beer in his hand to toast non-lamented dead wingnut media hack Breitbart, but the man standing on his right is a convicted felon named Ali Akbar. 

Kansas House Wingnut Doofus Steps Down For NRA Job, Because Of Course ...

Issa Goes On Fox To Endorse Rubio

Florida Supreme Court approves overhaul of gerrymandered congressional maps

Florida Supreme Court approves overhaul of gerrymandered congressional maps

Missing Dumbya (Or When A Cracked Skull Is Preferable To Paralysis)

Politix Update: Missing Dubya (Or When A Cracked Skull Is Preferable To Paralysis)I've said it before and it bears repeating again: Fox News is a gift that keeps on giving . . . to the Democratic Party.

Saturday, December 5, 2015

The Daily Drift

Welcome to Today's Edition of The Truth Be Told.
Hey, wingnuts, yeah we're talking to you ...!  
 
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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."… republicans-hate-america
Throughout the overly long and ridiculously drawn out two-year presidential campaign for the 2016 general election, the one defining universal trait among Republicans is their habit of spreading hate against Americans. Republicans know their base, and they are well aware that it is filled with low-intellect religious Americans who are generally well-armed and actively looking for someone, or some innocent group, to attack. It is true that Republicans are not calling on their supporters to kill other Americans in the media, but their use of vitriol and lies is accomplishing that goal all the same.
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.
For example, after two men beat a homeless Hispanic man half-to-death, instead of a harsh condemnation Trump tacitly approved by saying his “followers are passionate and just want America to be great again.” Trump followed that abominable approval with praise for his followers for beating and kicking a BlackLivesMatter protester in Alabama. Trump said, “He should have been roughed up. It was disgusting what he was doing.” What the man was doing was exercising his 1st Amendment right while being black; in many Republican minds that constitutionally-protected right “was disgusting” simply because the American citizen exercising it was not white.
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

President Obama speaks at a press conference in Paris
President Obama responded to a question about his successor keeping any climate change agreements by expressing 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?

And then, to put a finer point on the climate change question, can leaders gathered here believe that the United States will keep its commitments, even after you’ve left office, if a Republican succeeds you in the White House?
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.

President Obama Knows Exactly Who’s Going To Be The Next President

President Obama Knows Exactly Who’s Going To Be The Next President (VIDEO)
Hopefully he’s right.
Read more 

Bernie Sanders Storms The Senate Floor And Drops A Megaton Reality Bomb On Republicans

Bernie Sanders Senate Budget
Sen. Bernie Sanders took to the Senate floor and shattered Mitch McConnell’s Obamacare repeal delusion by dropping a fact bomb on the Republican cabal.
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

senate-democrats
Al Franken and Senate liberals are holding Republican feet to the fire with a bill that would give seniors, veterans, and the disabled a raise by eliminating a tax deduction for CEO pay.
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.
….

And this bill proposes to pay for the one-time increase in Social Security benefits in the same spirit – rebalancing our tax code by ending a tax deduction for CEO pay that doesn’t make sense and just allows corporations to avoid paying their fair share in taxes.
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

Republicans have been caught yet again playing politics with much-needed funds for survivors of the 9/11 attacks ...

9/11 terror attacks were part of dog’s plan for the universe

Senator Marco Rubio speaking at the 2012 CPAC in Washington, D.C. (Gage Skidmore/Flickr)Rubio: 9/11 terror attacks were part of dog’s plan for the universe

Democrats Outsmart Republicans And Urge Them To Stop Letting Terrorists Legally Buy Guns

It’s come to this.
pelosi-ryanDemocrats 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.
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.
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.
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.

Quick Hits

Analyst puts odds of government shutdown over refugees at 50-50
Republicans aim to roll back regulations on reducing greenhouse gas emissions
Believing Trump will inevitably fail is just wishful thinking
Ingraham: 'Obama could play Ray Charles' but it's 'nothing to do with skin color'
Cruz: 'There is no doubt' Planned Parenthood was 'selling baby parts'

Bernie Sanders returns from surgery to smack down wingnut ‘witch hunt’ on Planned Parenthood

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) addresses the Senate on Dec. 1, 2015. [C-SPAN]
Bernie Sanders returns from surgery to smack down wingnut ‘witch hunt’ on Planned Parenthood

Republican Excuse Falls Apart As Clerk Admits Error In Planned Parenthood Shooter’s Registration

Robert L. Dear / Mug ShotThe 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.
The Planned Parenthood attack isn’t the exception. It is the new normal.
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

Hillary Clinton and Ted CruzThe 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.
….

Imagine for a second you’re Hillary Clinton. You’re trying to think, ‘How do I run?’ Well, you can’t run on the economy because we have the lowest percentage of Americans working any year since 1977. You can’t run on Obamacare because millions of people have lost their jobs, lost their health care, lost their doctors, seen their premiums skyrocket. You certainly can’t run on foreign policy because every country you touched as secretary of state is a disaster.
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.

Ana Kasparian tears into anti-choice wingnuts ...

'Young Turks' host Ana Kasparian on Dec. 1, 2015. [YouTube]
Ana Kasparian tears into anti-choice wingnuts: They only use the issue ‘for political fucking gain’

Here’s how lunatic fringe religio-wingnut 'christians' incited stochastic terrorism at a Colorado Springs Planned Parenthood

After months of verbal assault against Planned Parenthood and against women more broadly, Republican 'christianists' have gotten what they were asking for—bloodshed.

Colorado wingnut: Planned Parenthood is the ‘real culprit’ in the shooting

"The true instigator of this violence and all violence at any Planned Parenthood facility is Planned Parenthood themselves. Violence begets violence. So Planned Parenthood: YOU STOP THE VIOLENCE INSIDE YOUR WALLS."

Lunatic Fringe Religio-Wingnut 'Christian' Extremist Instructs Sycophants To Make Planned Parenthood Doctors ‘Afraid For Their Lives’

Christian Extremist Instructs 1.8 Million Followers To Make Planned Parenthood Doctors ‘Afraid For Their Lives’ (VIDEO)
The American Taliban, fully supported by the Republican cabal.
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Watch O’Reilly Accidentally Admit His Violent Rhetoric Got An Abortion Doctor Killed

Watch Bill O’Reilly Accidentally Admit His Violent Rhetoric Got An Abortion Doctor Killed (VIDEO)
Oops.
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Kelly Attacks 'Liberal Media' For 'Biased' Planned Parenthood Coverage

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

The Democratic National Committee pounced on Cruz’s comments on contraception, advising him to “quit mansplaining women’s health and listen to women who know how ridiculous his statements are.”

Trump Issues His Most Bullshit Demand Yet Ahead Of CNN Debate

Donald Trump Issues His Most Bullsh*t Demand Yet Ahead Of CNN Debate (VIDEO)
He really has outdone himself this time.
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Fox’s Doofus (Ahem, Doocy) Defends Trump, Claims He Remembers Muslims Celebrating On 9/11, Too

Fox’s Doocy Defends Trump, Claims He Remembers Muslims Celebrating On 9/11, Too Fox hack Doocy came to Trump’s aid today by slyly suggesting – without actually saying – that Muslims had cheered on 9/11 in New Jersey, as Trump has claimed.

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

He seems nice
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?...

Sorry, Wingnuts, But Denying the Gender Wage Gap Is 'Truly Delusional'


Walker’s Xmas Present To Wisconsin: Bankrupting The State’s Food Banks

Scott Walker’s Christmas Present To Wisconsin: Bankrupting The State’s Food BanksWalker’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.

Xmas Tree, O'Xmas Tree: A New Record For DC Cynicism?

Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree: A New Record For DC Cynicism?Every year, corporate lobbyists look for must-pass budget bills to attach riders to that help pad their companies' profits with specially designed tax loopholes or subsidies. These insider deals would make any normal ethical person blush, but they are part and parcel of a DC culture which has grown steadily more corrupt over the last 35 decades. In token of the season, here's this year's American Family Voices version of O'Xmas Tree: An Ode to this appalling practice 

The Statue of Liberty's design was inspired by an Arab woman

Cue wingnut hissy fit in 3 - 2 - 1 ...
Statue of Liberty's design was inspired by an Arab woman

The Supreme Court’s Set To Hear One Of The Biggest Race Cases In Years


The Supreme Court’s Set To Hear One Of The Biggest Race Cases In Years. It Has No Business Doing So.