There are two sides to the issue of how police in America treat black
people. There’s the truth, which is that a black man is 22 times more
likely...
Friday, July 31, 2015
Spike Lee Imposter Puts Police Brutality Into Perspective With A Single Brilliant Tweet
There are two sides to the issue of how police in America treat black
people. There’s the truth, which is that a black man is 22 times more
likely...
Not All Police Are Evil
Viral Pictures Of A Cop And A Homeless Man Will Make Your Day
How this officer treats a homeless man proves that while there is a
definite issue with tough-guy syndrome in our police forces, sometimes a
good person just wants to serve.
McConnell Crushed As Senate Democrats Block Amendment To Repeal Obamacare
Senate Democrats have blocked an amendment to repeal Obamacare that Mitch McConnell attached to the transportation bill.
The final vote was 49-43, which was 11 votes short of 60 needed for passage.
The McConnell amendment was overshadowed by the
looming procedural move that was going to be pulled by Cruz
and Lee to try to use the nuclear option to repeal Obamacare with
51 votes. Senate Republicans like Hatch argued against the move
that Cruz and Lee tried to pull by claiming that if they were
successful, Senate leaders would lose control of the calendar and
agenda. In other words, if Cruz and Lee were successful, the Senate
would become the House.
The McConnell amendment was a show vote that was
designed to appease those Senate Republicans who outraged over the vote
to save the Ex-Im Bank. The procedural move by Cruz and Lee to try to
repeal Obamacare with 51 votes is unlikely to be successful.
The only thing that McConnell has accomplished
today is to bring the raging civil war within the Senate Majority out
into the open.
The Republican pretender candidates in the Senate
all voted for the repeal of the ACA, but McConnell’s amendment to
repeal the ACA was dead before the first vote was cast. Democrats are
never going to support anything that repeals Obamacare.
The point is that Republicans are determined to take
away affordable healthcare from millions of Americans. They don’t care
how well the law works, or how many people that it helps. Republicans
are going to take away access to health insurance to millions.
McConnell has been defeated again and is taking steps by the day to
become as bad of a leader as Boehner.
Trump Humiliates Himself With Claim He Is Going Make The Bad Immigrants Leave
Donald Trump humiliated himself on CNN by claiming
that if he is appointed pretender, he is going to make the “bad”
immigrants leave the US.
Transcript via CNN:
TAPPER: I do want to talk about immigration and illegal immigration, an issue that you have talked about a lot. You were at the border the other day. Assuming a Pretender Trump is able to stop the flow of illegal immigration through building a wall or some parts of a wall, what do you think should be done with the estimated 11 million undocumented workers and their families already here?
TAPPER: I do want to talk about immigration and illegal immigration, an issue that you have talked about a lot. You were at the border the other day. Assuming a Pretender Trump is able to stop the flow of illegal immigration through building a wall or some parts of a wall, what do you think should be done with the estimated 11 million undocumented workers and their families already here?
Would you be open-minded about a path to citizenship? Is that a nonstarter with you? Where are you on that issue?
TRUMP: OK, fine.
First of all — and you said it — you have to stop
it. You have to stop it fast. And we can do that. We can do that with
combinations of walls and Border Patrol, who are phenomenal people. I
met many of them when I was in Laredo, when — when I was at the border.
And we can stop that — and fencing.
But we can stop it with both construction and with
physical. I mean, we can do a great job of that. OK? I’m totally
convinced. And it won’t cost the kind of money — in fact, we will save
money, because people that are coming in here that shouldn’t be coming
in here illegally, it will actually save money by doing it, and doing it
properly.
Once that’s done, we have a situation that is going
to be done immediately, before that’s done. We’re going to get the bad
ones out. We have some really bad dudes right here in this country, and
we’re getting them out, and we’re sending them back to where they came
from. And I don’t mean Mexico. I mean, it’s — they come from all over.
They’re not coming just from — they’re coming from all over.
….
TAPPER: Right.
TRUMP: At to get rid of the — the bad ones are going
to get out. Then, from that point on, we’re going to look very, very
strongly at what we do. And I’m going to formulate a plan that I think
people are going to be happy with. But we’re going to look very, very
strongly at what we do.
TAPPER: OK, but you’re not — but you’re not going to rule in or rule out…
TRUMP: I’m going to get rid of the bad ones fast.
TAPPER: OK.
TRUMP: And I’m going to send them back. And we’re
not going to be putting them in prisons here, and pay for them for the
next 40 years.
TAPPER: Right. But there are obviously…
TRUMP: We’re going to send them back where they could from.
TAPPER: There obviously will be — will
remain, after you get rid of the bad ones, millions and millions of
undocumented workers who are not bad ones.
Trump’s whole plan is to make the “bad” immigrants
leave. What he didn’t make clear was how he is going to tell the “good”
immigrants from the “bad” ones.
Given Trump’s previous comments, he believes that
all immigrants are bad, so that means that everyone is going to have to
leave. By the end of the interview, Trump had CNN’s Jake Tapper speaking
like six-year-old, with talk of good and bad immigrants.
Trump is popular with Republican voters
because he speaks their simple language of good and bad. Trump’s rise is
proof that the Republican cabal is devolving and getting dumber with
each pretender election cycle.
Trump has no real policies. He is full of racism, bigotry, and empty tough talk. The crazier he gets, the popular he becomes.
Trump keeps falling on his face, but Republican voters love him even more.
Michigan Citizens Strike Back At Rick Snyder’s Corporate Wealth Transfer
Of course the mainstream media has not reported on events in
Michigan because the last thing corporate media wants is to give
Americans across the country the truth that they have the power to stop the Republicans…
It is hardly a secret that Republicans exist solely
for the benefit of the rich, corporations, and the religious. It is
particularly evident in Republican-misled states where Republican
governors and legislatures are stealing everything from the people, and
state governments, and giving the booty to corporations and the rich.
Now, it appears that finally one state’s population has had enough of
Republicans’ ‘reverse Robin Hood‘ economic policies and are
sidestepping the Republican governor and legislature by appealing
directly to the people for redress, and much-needed funding for
infrastructure repairs. Of course the mainstream media has not reported
on events in Michigan because the last thing corporate media wants is to
give Americans across the country the idea that they have power to put a
stop to Republicans transferring wealth to corporations and the rich at
the expense of the poor, elderly, students, middle class, and
infrastructure.
Anyone keeping track of corporate-puppet Rick
Snyder’s wealth transfer in Michigan understands that the state is being
ravaged to increase wealth for corporations. A group of Michigan
residents is not only aware that their state is in the grips of
corporations, they have watched their roads, bridges, and highways
crumble around them while the Governor complains there is no money for
transportation repairs due to revenue shortfalls resulting from tax cuts
for corporations. Since the idiot Snyder or the Republican legislature
refuse to take any actions to address the decrepit state of Michigan’s
roads, a group of Michigan citizens is circumventing the governor and
state legislature and going straight to the people. The “citizen-initiated ballot initiative” is a referendum to raise corporate taxes from 6-percent to 11-percent to raise close to $1 billion to repair the fourth worst roads
in the entire nation. The citizens are acutely aware that even if the
Republican legislature miraculously pass legislation rescinding even a
part of the “massive tax giveaways” to Snyder’s corporate
friends, the governor would never sign the legislation; he may even
appoint an ’emergency manager’ to disband the legislature if they even
thought of taking away the gifts to corporations.
The crux of the problem, typical of Republican-misled states across the nation, was best explained by Tom Lutz of “Citizens For Fair Taxes.” Lutz said, “They (Snyder and Republicans) promised
us that giving away billions of dollars in tax cuts to corporations and
CEOs would lead to more and better work for Michiganders, but the only
thing they did was make life harder on Michigan’s middle class and
working people. They raised taxes on seniors and retirees. They raised
property taxes on working families and the middle class, and they even
raised taxes on poor families with children. But none of that money went
to capital or key funding for infrastructure. It was simply given to
corporations who took it as profit. This ballot proposal will bring
fairness back to families who have paid more than their fair share.”
According to Citizens for Fair Taxes, what is happening
in Michigan is exactly what is happening in every other red state and
would be the case nationally if Republicans controlled all three
branches of government. Snyder and Republicans handed corporations over
$2 billion in tax cuts being paid for with tax hikes worth $1.6 billion
on poor and middle class families and senior citizens. Fair Tax Fix
reports that the Snyder-Republican corporate tax giveaway is the “single biggest shift in money from poor, middle class, and senior individuals to corporations in Michigan history.”
Of course, the trickle down pledge that handing over billions to
corporations would create a job bonanza never came to fruition because
it was never intended to do anything but transfer wealth.
In its 2014 Comprehensive Annual Financial Report,
the state revealed that while corporations “barely contributed $400
million to state coffers,” poor and middle class families and seniors
watched their taxes “skyrocket 25% that sent $8 billion” to the state
treasury to fund corporate tax cuts. The result of the wealth transfer
through “monstrous corporate tax cuts” has not created jobs or helped
Michigan workers; but they were never meant to. In fact, according to
study and report
by the Pew Charitable Trusts, the Michigan median income dropped an
astounding 21.6% to only $48,273 last year compared to $61,551 before
Snyder and Republicans began transferring income from regular households
to wealthy corporations. It is noteworthy that there is a nearly
identical correlation between the 25% tax hike on regular Michigan
residents and the nearly 22% decline in their income.
As the ballot initiative’s organizers noted, this
direct approach circumventing the Republican legislature and corporate
governor “may well be the only way to fight back against failed and harmful Republican policies and laws.” The group intends on expanding ballot initiative scope to create an independent commission to “fairly redraw”
gerrymandered Republican districts and reinstate a fair graduated
income tax. It is a clever means of combatting an aggressive Republican
legislature and governor that continues stealthily inserting nasty
appropriations “into every law they pass to prevent citizens from taking action” or having a voice in democracy.
Remember, Snyder has already instituted an
“emergency manager” law that abolishes city council, mayoral, and school
district” authority and given one Snyder appointee dictatorial power,
but the Republicans have not completely wiped out democratic
representation through abolishing the referendum process; the last
semblance of democracy and likely the people’s last, and only,
opportunity to rein in Snyder’s fascist takeover of Michigan. This
populist move is about so much more than improving Michigan’s pathetic
roads, or the transfer of wealth from the people directly to
corporations and it should be a model for other sad, poor, and
beleaguered Americans living in Republican-controlled states suffering
the gross wealth transfer to the rich and corporations.
The Trump Paradox
He Can Win A Crowded Primary, But He’s Doomed In A Two-Way Race
Despite his early success in a multi-candidate race, Trump
lacks the breadth of support needed to win a general election.…
That Trump is a polarizing figure should come as no
surprise. However, the juxtaposition of him widening his lead in the Republican cabal
primary, at the same time that most American voters have an unfavorable
opinion of him, may seem paradoxical.
A recent YouGuv poll
finds that Trump has surged to a double digit lead in the Republican
field with 28 percent support, to 14 percent support for his nearest
competitor, Jeb. Trump enjoys this
commanding lead in the Republican primaries, even though along with blowhard Chris Christie, he is one of the most disliked
candidates with Republican voters. A full 42 percent of Republican voters have a negative opinion of Trump, compared to 53 percent who view him positively.
While those numbers aren’t terrible, they are quite a bit less favorable than Wisconsin's moron Walker’s 57-18 favorable spread
or that idiot, Rubio’s 63-17 favorable rating. Trump isn’t as
well-liked by Republican cabal voters as those men, but he is still beating them
soundly in the Republican field.
Trump may be benefiting from deep support even
though he lacks depth of support. Not many voters like him, but the
voters that do like him seem to like him better than anybody else in the
race. That sort of deep support is powerful in a multi-candidate field
where a candidate who can secure as little as 20-30 percent of the vote
can win. However, it creates problems in a two-way race, where victory
requires amassing support from half the electorate.
Trump’s current success in the crowded Republican
race masks his weakness in a two-way contest. His commanding lead is
largely a function of the size of the Republican cabal field, rather than a testament
to his political strength.
A Gallup Poll released Friday July 24, 2015,
found that 56 percent of American adults had an unfavorable opinion of
Trump, compared to just 32 percent who viewed him favorably. Those kind
of numbers are politically fatal in a two-way general election match-up.
As long as Trump continues to hold a lead in the Republican cabal field, he will
create the illusion of being a formidable political candidate. However,
despite his early success in a multi-candidate race, he lacks the
breadth of support to win a general election.
Trump’s “fifteen minutes of fame” may go into overtime, if they haven’t
already, but ultimately he doesn’t have the numbers needed to win a
presidential election. The question isn’t “if” his campaign will
eventually flame out, but rather “when” it will.
U.S. Marshals Raid Lawless Racist Wingnut Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s Office
U.S. Marshals raided racist wingnut Joe Arpaio’s Maricopa County
Sheriff’s Office on Friday, in search of evidence that the department
was unlawfully withholding from a U.S. District Judge. Judge G. Murray
Snow ordered the raid, after it became apparent that the Sheriff’s
Department was not cooperating with a February order, that had asked
Arpaio to turn over identification cards, hard drives and other
documents.
A court-appointed monitor alleged that Arpaio’s
Department had withheld hundreds of documents and dozens of hard drives
in clear violation of the judge’s orders, prompting the judge’s decision
to order the raid.
Arpaio’s defense attorney, John Masterson, attempted to argue that the undisclosed evidence was irrelevant but an irritated Judge Snow retorted:
I’ll tell you this. They may not be relevant, but they may also be very relevant.
Defending his decision to order the raid, the judge added:
Somebody has to be held responsible sometime. … And it’s going to be now.
The raid is the latest twist in a seven year old
lawsuit against Arpaio’s Department for racial profiling against Latino
motorists. Arpaio has stonewalled repeatedly by withholding evidence and
by directing his staff not to cooperate with investigators or with
court orders.
The case took an especially bizarre turn in May 2014
when a former Maricopa County Deputy Sheriff committed suicide after a
series of standoffs with law enforcement officials. In the ex- deputy’s
home, authorities
found illegal drugs as well as hundreds of drivers’ licenses, ID cards,
passports, and wallets that were apparently confiscated illegally.
Sheriff
Joe Arpaio is supposed to uphold the law, but he has consistently shown
contempt for the law when he asked to obey it himself. His
unwillingness to obey legal orders from a judge prompted U.S. Marshals
to raid the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Department on Friday. Sheriff
Joe’s days of flouting the law are at an end.
Supposedly dog’s own cabal, the 2016 Republican cabal Still Doesn’t Care What jesus Said
By the time children step foot in school again this fall, it will have been two years since Pope Francis cautioned that the Cult had become “obsessed” with abortion, gay marriage and contraception.
“It is not necessary to talk about these issues all the time.”
Indeed, it is not. jesus never mentioned any of them. Not once.
He did, however, talk about the poor, and about the evils of the rich,
and how the rich will not enter the kingdom of dog. He
told his followers to turn the other cheek, to love and to forgive.
Pope Francis went on to say that, “The dogmatic and
moral teachings of the cult are not all equivalent. The cult’s
pastoral brainwashing cannot be obsessed with the transmission of a
disjointed multitude of doctrines to be imposed insistently.”
We have to find a new balance, otherwise even the moral edifice of the church is likely to fall like a house of cards, losing the freshness and fragrance of the gospel.
Two years later, here we are with the Republican cabal and religio-wingnuts focused as much on abortion, gay marriage, and
contraception, as ever before. We are forced to continually re-fight
the same battles as children starve, as people go homeless, and as
corporations brutalize not only workers, but the environment.
Cruz’s campaign site features a “Life, Marriage, and Family” page, proclaiming,
Without life, there is no liberty. And ensuring every child is born into a home with a loving family provides the best chance for that child to achieve anything. That is why Cruz has been on the front lines defending life and standing up for marriage when it has come under assault from activist judges.
There is nothing about ensuring those children are
fed. In fact, nowhere on his campaign site will you find anything about jesus’ condemnation of the rich and exaltation of the poor. Just a bunch
of stuff jesus didn’t find particularly important.
Wisconsin's moron Walker, another
pretender hopeful, just signed 20-week abortion band into law, which
bans abortions after 20 weeks except for when the mother’s life is in
danger. There are no exceptions for “severe fetal anomalies or for victims of rape and incest.”
jesus never talked about these things. Not once. jesus never called for strange men to probe women’s vaginas. Walker and his Republican legislature could have come up with a law
protecting the poor from the rich. jesus talked about that. The Pope talks about that.
But Wisconsin Republicans would rather focus on their pet bigotries than on following jesus.
Lindsey Graham of South Carolina says on “Secure our Values”
page of his 2016 campaign site that he wants to
“ensure that America remains a shining city on a hill.” This means,
apparently, that “America was built upon the fundamental notions that
life and liberty are sacred and inalienable rights.”
Unless you are a woman, of course. Or gay. Or want
to be safe from people exercising their Second Amendment rights at your
expense. And really, it’s kind of funny when you consider the fact that living in a Red State is harmful to your health. Maybe there ought to be signs at the border, like on packs of cigarettes.
Graham insists that,
There is no part of society more vulnerable and in need of our protection than the unborn. The inalienable right to life of every innocent human being is an essential element of a civil society.
Nothing about the children after they are born of
course. After that, children don’t need protection, apparently. And no
mention of the poor, or their inability to take care of their children.
Nothing about the rich people who oppress them.
You know, stuff jesus talked about.
There are now sixteen Republican candidates. You will find pretty much the same pablum* (that’s an intellectual term for, as vocabulary.com helpfully puts it, “a big load of hooey”) coming out of all their mouths. Even Trump, who is not particularly religious, supports a 20-week abortion ban, apparently, because everybody else does.
Not one single one of them is talking about anything jesus talked about. None of them is talking about forgiveness, or
loving their enemies, or turning the other cheek, or caring for the poor
or condemning the rich.
In other words, the cabal of shoving jesus down all
our throats doesn’t really care much at all about jesus, let alone
sanctifying life, but rather about sanctifying their own bigotries with
the veil of religion. jesus may not have liked gentiles much (he called
them “dogs” and “swine”) but he liked women. He liked children. He liked
the poor.
And despised the rich, who were going to be last under his father’s new regime.
With the Republican cabal being the cabal of the rich, it’s no wonder that message gets lost. There is less excuse for the rest.
Pope Francis says,
because it is true (“So therefore, none of you can become
my disciple if you do not give up all your possessions”), however
uncomfortable the thought makes you, that you must give up all your
wealth to follow him, not just give to charity and take your tax
deductions.
In Pope Francis’ words:
'christian' poverty is that I give to the poor what is mine, not just what is left over, but even that which I need for myself, because I know that he enriches me.
This is not communism, says the Pope. It’s jesus.
And he is right.
This doesn’t get talked about. It’s awkward, after
all. How many 'christians' are willing to give up everything? And how will
they follow him? jesus isn’t wandering around the Midwest as he
wandered around Galilee. He’s dead. Been dead for 2,000 years.
But that’s what he said. He didn’t say “stop
abortion,” or “stop gays from getting married,” or “don’t use
contraception,” if you want to follow me. He never said any of that.
It is not that the Pope wants to ignore those three things, though nobody is likely to forget his explosive and controversial, “Who am I to judge?”
remark. He is not a Free Thinker. Some have even questioned how much of
a moderate he really is, despite the wingnuts' cries of “Marxist!”
Regardless of where he really stands, the Pope has
said that abortion, gay marriage, and contraception have to be seen in a
larger context:
I see the cult as a field hospital after battle. It is useless to ask a seriously injured person if he has high cholesterol and about the level of his blood sugars. You have to heal his wounds. Then we can talk about everything else.
Wouldn’t that be something? To talk about something else…
Thursday, July 30, 2015
The Daily Drift
The Truth Be Told is read in 204 countries around the world.
Republicans - No cheesecake for you ... !
Today is - Cheescake Day
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Republicans Are An International Joke
Republicans have become such a joke that President
Obama got laughs by mentioning his birth certificate at a state dinner
in Kenya.
The President said:
Part of what makes this a special evening for me is the presence of my family members who are here. My grandmother, Mama Sarah, who told me I had to come back to Kenya. And when she says you should do something, generally you have to do it. I’ve told this story before — the first time that I visited Kogelo, Auma and I and my brothers were there. Mama Sarah speaks Swahili and Luo, and I speak neither –and so Auma was serving as a translator. And I think about a half a day had passed before suddenly she turns to Auma and says something. And Auma starts laughing, and I say, what did she say? She says, he goes to Harvard; if he’s so smart, how come he can’t talk to his grandmother? Which was a good point.
My siblings are here, aunts, uncles. And so, tonight, I welcome all of them to a somewhat unusual Obama family reunion. I suspect that some of my critics back home are suggesting that I’m back here to look for my birth certificate. That is not the case.
Republicans want to run the country again, but the
fact is that they are being guided by an extremist fringe that is a
joke. The Republican cabal’s inability to get rid of Trump and his racism is proof of
who is in control of the cabal.
The
Republicans are not being taken seriously around the world. Obama has
turned the dumb wingnut doubts about his birth certificate into a
punchline, and the entire globe is laughing at the racist Republican
fools.
President Obama Lauds Wall Street Reform Accomplishments, Stands Firm Against Republican Cabal
While Republicans launch an all out war over the Wall Street Reform Act, President Obama is standing firm against them.
Bernie Sanders Is The Only Candidate With A Positive Approval Rating In Iowa And New Hampshire
Two new NBC News-Marist polls of Iowa and New
Hampshire found that Bernie Sanders is the only presidential candidate
in either party who has a positive approval rating in each state.
Here are the net approval ratings for the top candidates in Iowa:
Sanders +3 (30 percent/27 percent)
Rubio -1 (31 percent/32 percent)
Walker -1 (30 percent/31 percent)
Bush -12 (34 percent/46 percent)
Clinton -19 (37/56 percent)
Trump -28 (32 percent/60 percent)
Here are the net approval ratings for the top candidates in New Hampshire:
Sanders +12 (41 percent/29 percent)
Bush -5 (40 percent/45 percent)
Walker -6 (28 percent/34 percent)
Rubio -6 (28 percent/34 percent)
Clinton -20 (37 percent/57 percent)
Trump -40 (27 percent/67 percent)
Beyond election results, what this poll demonstrates
is that Bernie Sanders has a well of personal popularity that resonates
beyond the 2016 election. Sanders is building a movement that will last
beyond any presidential campaign.
The fact that none of the top candidates beyond
Sanders has a positive personal approval rating speaks volumes about the
current negative political environment among the electorate. None of
the Republicans is the kind of popularity magnet that can carry them to
the White House.
Bernie
Sanders is the one positive messenger of the 2016 campaign. Approval
ratings will change as the campaign moves forward, but Sen. Sanders has
built a level of popularity that no other current 2016 candidate can
match.
Bernie Sanders Crushes Chuck Todd For Being A Media Hack
When Chuck Todd tried to accuse Bernie Sanders of being “pro-NRA,”
and “dismissive” to race relations, the Senator let him have it. 
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