Politics – Page 1027 – Politics Plus

Open Thread–8/8/2015

Posted by TomCat at 12:13 pm Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Aug 082015

I’m still recovering from the barf bath I had to take, while covering the Criminal Clowns. The forecast has already changed for the next few days. While 80°s weather is not a heat wave, it’s not the more comfortable 70°s weather I was expecting. I want to catch up on rest this weekend, because Tuesday is a volunteer day in prison.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 3:01 (average 5:48). To do it, click here. How did you do?

Short Takes:

From J Street (Iran Deal Facts): Media Coverage

Opponents are pouring millions into television and print ads attacking the agreement. Right-wing media have blasted the deal with extreme vitriol, doing everything they can to drown out the facts. But J Street is leading the fight to make sure that the voices of responsible journalists, leaders, and experts that support the deal are being heard loud and clear.

J Street is the organization for American Jews that represents their real interests and not the interests of the Republican Supply-side pseudo-Christian war mongers that control AIPAC. They have two more excellent video clips on the page. Click Through.

From The New Yorker: The billionaire Donald Trump shocked the American people Thursday night by proving to be considerably more heinous than they had previously thought, an instant poll taken after the debate shows.

According to the poll, viewers who went into tonight’s debate thinking that Trump was one of the most horrible people that they had ever seen were still totally unprepared for the depths of awfulness he displayed during the televised contest.

When presented with the descriptors “loathsome,” “appalling,” and “monstrous,” viewers who witnessed Trump’s interaction with Fox News’s Megyn Kelly said that none of those words did justice to how odious Trump was.

OK, Andy, if you say so. But isn’t saying that Hairball is more heinous than previously thought a lot like saying that the Pope is more Catholic than previously thought?

From Daily Kos: John Kasich sure has a convenient memory. Asked about how he’d respond to Hillary Clinton’s presumptive attacks, Kasich mentioned his father was a mailman (drink!), then digressed to talking about balanced budgets:

I was the chairman of the budget committee and the lead architect the last time it happened in Washington, and when we did it, we had great economic growth, we cut taxes, and we had a big surplus.

Oh yeah, mofo? You know what else led to that balanced budget in the late 1990s? Bill Clinton’s tax hikes in 1993, which Republicans absolutely howled would destroy this country. Of course they were wrong, and they helped usher in an unprecedented era of growth and prosperity.

John "KKK" Kasich doesn’t like the kind of prosperity that benefits the 99%, and for him to try to take credit for Clinton’s budget surplus is an absurd Republican lie.

Cartoon:

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The Criminal Clowns Debate

Posted by TomCat at 12:35 pm Editorial, Politics

Aug 072015

0807CCdebate

Before I begin, I want you to know that I made a supreme sacrifice. I had purchased a dozen PIGnocchio brand, big mouth, extra-wide, extra-chunky barf bags for the occasion, and they were insufficient to the task. I knew these Republicans were vile, but who would have thought that they could motivate me to produce barf in excess of my own body weight. Only the debate itself was a bigger mess. Humor aside, I did watch the spectacle, took notes, and have a report for you.

There were actually two debates. To be truthful, I overslept and missed a few minutes of the bottom group, but it became immediately apparent to me that the Republican Reichsministry of Propaganda, Faux Noise, was intentionally trying to crucify this group, based on camera angles, audio and video quality, and insults from the moderators. I’m not the only one who thought so. Rachel Maddow did too.

In the main debate there were no winners. Here are my notes:

Donald “Hairball” Trump:
He refused to promise to support the Republican nominee and not to run as a third party candidature. On immigration, he proposed a wall and said border patrol officers were his proof that the Mexican government is sending criminals here. He would repeal and replace the ACA with insurance company deregulation. He said he is pro life and would defund Planned Parenthood. He admitted to misogynist tweets. He called Obama incompetent. He said the Iran deal is a disgrace.

Jeb “Strike Three” Bush:
On undocumented immigrants, he supported a path to legal status, but not citizenship. He stated that ISIS [his brother’s creation], would not exist if Obama had not abandoned Iraq [on his brother’s timetable]. He favored state control of education and vouchers. He promised 4% growth by getting rid of Obamacare and cutting taxes. He supported defunding Planned Parenthood. He denied calling Hairball a buffoon.

Scott “Fartfuhrer” Walker:
He demanded banning abortion with no exception to save the life of the mother. He supported no amnesty of any kind for undocumented immigrants. Hew promised to attack ISIS. He said failed to meet his economic promised because had aimed high. He would introduce tougher sanctions against Iran and have our international partners do the same. On racial disparity, he would provide better training to law enforcement on the use of force.

Marco “Deport Them All” Rubio:
He supported a wall to keep undocumented immigrants out and no amnesty of any kind. He supports state control of education. He would help small businesses by lowering taxes, repealing Obamacare, and repealing Dodd Frank. He supports “personhood”.

Mike “Upchuck Huck” Huckabee:
He supported “personhood”. He supported state control of education. He would save social security and the economy with the FAIR Tax. He would cancel the Iran agreement. He would not allow transgender people in the military.

Ben “Uncle Token” Carson:
He said we should keep harsh interrogation methods [torture] secret. He suggested a tithe tax. He said Hillary counts on useful idiots.

Rand “Idiot, Son of Idiot, Named after Idiot” Paul:
He attacked Hairball. He said NSA should spy on terrorists only. He supports allowing discrimination against gay people. He said he would cut foreign aid.

Ted “Uranus Inspector” Cruz:
He said he would repeal all of Obama’s executive orders, defund sanctuary cities and allow no amnesty if any kind for undocumented immigrants. He would destroy ISIS by calling it “Radical Islamic Terrorism”. He would stand-up against Russia and China for committing cyber war.

Chris “PIGnocchio” Christie:
He supports no amnesty of any kind for undocumented immigrants. He supports NSA spying al all Americans. He would raise the retirement age. He would restore the military to cold war levels.

John “KKK” Kasich:
He supports the wall to keep undocumented immigrants out. He would defeat Hillary by promising to balance the budget. He opposed same sex marriage, but he accepts the courts ruling and would love his own gay child.

All promised obeisance to Republican Supply-Side Jesus (the opposite of the real Jesus).

On the 50th anniversary of the Voting Rights Act, it was not even mentioned.

0807MegynKelly In my opinion, there was no winner. However the debate may have a serious impact on the rest of the campaign season. Faux Noise employs a bunch of blondes, who usually display lots of leg and cleavage to keep Bubba Bagger titillated just enough to keep his TV tuned to Faux Noise. Without the blondes Bubba would surely turn to NASCAR, Better Outhouses and Gardens, or Ga Ga for Guns. Well, one of the Faux Noise blondes, Megyn Kelly, attacked Hairball over his misogynist tweets, and he responded by threatening her. OOPS! I have seen this woman in action enough times to know that she has a vicious streak a mile wide, so I would be very surprised if Hairball does not occupy the top of her feces list for a long time. Now if the rest of Faux Noise goes along with her and tries to sabotage Hairball, he could be in trouble, as a Republican.

In conclusion, the very best thing about the Criminal Clowns Debate is this. It’s over.

Open Thread–8/7/2015

Posted by TomCat at 12:31 pm Open Thread, Personal, Plus, Politics

Aug 072015

I’m feeling thoroughly tired out after watching the Cavalcade of Criminal Clowns on Faux Noise. Today will be hot, 85°, but it will be followed by several days in the 70°s. I can’t wait!

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 3:40 (average 5:06). To do it, click here. How did you do?

Short Takes:

From The New Yorker: Psychologists at the University of Minnesota have issued a research study recommending that people suffering from low self-esteem watch Thursday night’s nationally televised Republican debate.

The recommendation came after the psychologists spent weeks showing research subjects video clips of the debate’s potential participants and observed striking improvements in the subjects’ overall morale and sense of worth.

“We interviewed the volunteers before we exposed them to the Republican candidates and afterward,” said psychologist Davis Logsdon. “The spike in their self-esteem was off the charts.”

Of the candidates who most improved the research subjects’ sense of self, Kentucky Senator Rand Paul, Texas Senator Ted Cruz, and former Florida Governor Jeb Bush were found to be consistently helpful, but the most marked increase in self-esteem levels came after the subjects were exposed to Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker.

According to the data, people who viewed Walker for approximately three minutes reported feeling better “right away” about their intelligence, knowledge, and prospects for obtaining high-status employment that they had previously considered well beyond their reach.

LOL Andy! Aren’t you overstating the clowns’ worth?

From Daily Kos: She has a way with words, she does. Sort of like presidential candidate Senator Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) gets to the point without apology and holds nothing back. It was no different when she spoke on Monday before Congress – the day Republicans put up a vote (again) to defund Planned Parenthood. In her first sentence she asks the GOP if they fell on their heads and woke up in another century. (Oh, to be true.)

Go Liz! Friends, can you believe that Republicans are actually claiming that the Republican War on Women does not exist?!!?

From NY Times: Jon Stewart, From Parody to Politics

He will be so missed. I will have more on his exit when time permits.

Cartoon:

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Obama Justifies Iran Policy!

Posted by TomCat at 10:36 am Politics

Aug 062015

Recently, Barack Obama has given some thoroughly impressive speeches, and in my view, he has clearly outdone himself once again in his defense of his Iran Policy at American University. I found myself so impressed that I consider the speech a “must watch” event for Americans who want to know how to overcome seditious Republican attempts to destroy the world’s efforts to deny Iran nuclear arms, so Republicans can deny success to Obama.

President Obama took on critics of the nuclear deal between Iran and six world powers in an aggressive speech on Wednesday, saying they were the same people who created the “drumbeat of war” and played on public fears to push the United States into the Iraq war more than a decade ago.

“Let’s not mince words: The choice we face is ultimately between diplomacy and some sort of war — maybe not tomorrow, maybe not three months from now, but soon,” Mr. Obama told about 200 people in a speech at American University. “How can we in good conscience justify war before we’ve tested a diplomatic agreement that achieves our objectives?”

Mr. Obama, opening a new, more overtly political phase of his public campaign for the accord, portrayed the coming vote in Congress to approve or reject the deal as the most consequential foreign policy decision for lawmakers since Congress voted in 2003 to authorize the invasion of Iraq. He implored them to “shut out the noise” and back the deal… [emphasis added]

Inserted from <NY Times>

Photo credit: Hopes and Dreams

Here’s the complete video.

For the transcript, click here.

The video is almost an hour in length, but in it, Obama demolished every possible argument against the international policy. That’s why I said, it’s “must watch” for those who want peace, as opposed to the Republican path to war.

Open Thread–8/6/2015

Posted by TomCat at 10:35 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Aug 062015

It’s another moderately cool day, with a forecast high of 80°. Since I’m extra tired after yesterday, and I plan to subject myself to TEAbuggery torture this evening, I’m hoping to catch up on sleep during the day.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 5:13 (average 6:44). To do it click here. How did you do?

Short Takes:

From Daily Kos:

Dick Dale, the "King of the Surf Guitar", is still on the road, playing nearly every night. Is he doing it for the love of music? Not exactly. The 78-year-old guitar legend has twice suffered rectal cancer, had parts of his stomach and intestines removed, lives with renal failure, diabetes, a damaged vertebrae and to top it all off, his wife is suffering from multiple sclerosis. And that’s why he’s still on the road. From the Pittsburgh City Paper:

“I have to raise $3,000 every month to pay for the medical supplies I need to stay alive, and that’s on top of the insurance that I pay for,” Dale explains. “The hospital says change your patch once a week. No! If you don’t change that patch two times a day, the fecal matter eats through your flesh and causes the nerves to rot and they turn black, and the pain is so excruciating that you can’t let anything touch it. That has happened to me because I was following the orders of the hospital.”

“Sure, I’d love to stay home and build ships in a bottle and spend time with my wife in Hawaii, but I have to perform to save my life,” he says. “I’ve been living like this for the past 15 years, but I’m still here and opening my eyes each morning.”

I found some video of him.

What an incredible guy. But shouldn’t he be able to have the medical supplies he needs covered? Republicans would take away what coverage he does have.

From NY Times: Hillary Rodham Clinton has very noticeably and intensely trained her sights on a single rival candidate for president: Jeb Bush.

On Friday, she lambasted Mr. Bush, a former Florida governor, as he waited in the wings at a National Urban League conference in Miami, twisting his campaign slogan into a critique of his stands on the Affordable Care Act and raising the minimum wage. On Tuesday night in Denver, she called him “out of touch” for questioning, earlier that day, how much government should spend on women’s health — a quick insert into a speech in which Mrs. Clinton had already planned to hit Mr. Bush on immigration.

For Mrs. Clinton, going after Mr. Bush with such gusto offers a debate about policy instead of simply answering persistent questions about her email practices and her family’s foundation, which have helped to precipitate a dip in her approval ratings.

And attacking Mr. Bush before black leaders, on immigration and on women’s health, can only help fire up Mrs. Clinton’s core supporters.

I think Hillary is smart to focus on Strike Three. The Republican Reich tends to follow the money, and most Republican money is following him.

From Alternet: What follows is a list of some of the biggest clichés and lies from the top 10 Republican contenders.

Bush: The cliché that Jeb Bush promotes is that he’s the "moderate" in the GOP field, but that is also his biggest lie. Just this week, he revealed how immoderate he is on women’s reproductive rights and health, saying the federal government is spending too much for gynecological-related medical services, which includes abortion. And Bush also keeps pedaling the line that he opposes ground troops to fight ISIS, but would send in more special forces and trainers—as if those soldiers have never been the harbinger of deploying more troops when war plans don’t work.

Carson: The cliché that Ben Carson keeps reciting is that Obamacare is one of the worst things federal government has ever forced on Americans. That’s always been a bizarre right-wing complaint, especially as Obamacare is built on the conservative embrace of the private health insurance industry. It’s also factually wrong, as evidenced by the 15-plus million people who have signed up for it. The optics of a retired African-American surgeon whcking [sic] Obama looks good on Fox News, but that’s just another ruse.

Rubio: The cliché that Marco Rubio keeps repeating is that he is a fresh face bringing new ideas and energy to the GOP, just as John F. Kennedy did for Democrats in 1960s. The big lie is that Rubio is a new Latino champion who breaks from past GOP policies. Even though his grandfather was undocumented immigrant, Rubio has walked away from earlier immigration reforms and embraced the party’s most draconian stances. He now opposes amnesty, the Dream Act, wants bigger border walls, and wants to require English proficiency for green cards.

I shared three of the Republican Cavalcade of Criminal Clowns. Click through for the other seven.

Cartoon:

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The Cavalcade of Criminal Clowns

Posted by TomCat at 1:06 pm Politics

Aug 052015

Tomorrow evening, the Republican Reichsministry of propaganda, Faux Noise, will be subjecting the nation to what they call a debate, but is really a Cavalcade of Criminal Clowns. I intend to watch, so please keep me in your good wishes and prayers that I might survive the ordeal. The field is now divided between the Cavalcade Clowns and the excluded, banned from the stage, and effectively out of the race at the whim of Faux Noise.

Gov. John Kasich of Ohio is in and former Gov. Rick Perry of Texas is out of Fox News’s Republican debate on Thursday night in Cleveland, officials with the network said Tuesday, resolving the mystery of which lower-polling candidates would make the cut for the first debate of the 2016 presidential contest.

The network announced the 10 candidates who will have a podium spot for the main forum, which is expected to draw wide national viewership and give an invaluable platform to the candidates involved. The remaining seven will be part of an earlier forum airing at 5 p.m. that day.

Fox News’s “decision desk,” which does its election night calls, sifted through five national polls, including the network’s own survey released late Monday, to select the top 10 candidates for the debate based on the polling.

The others included in the lineup are Donald J. Trump, former Gov. Jeb Bush of Florida, Gov. Scott Walker of Wisconsin, Senator Marco Rubio of Florida, Senator Ted Cruz of Texas, Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky, Ben Carson, former Gov. Mike Huckabee of Arkansas and Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey…

Inserted from <NY Times>

However, Faux Noise has so little integrity, that they cheated on their own rules. Rachel Maddow covered the story with this video.

I agree with her completely that the Republican party is off the rails. At this stage in the race, national polls are meaningless. Since seventeen are too many criminal clowns for one debate stage, the fair way to manage it would be to divide the field in half and hold two debates. If they say they can’t, because there are an odd number of clowns, they could put half of Chris Christie, aka PIGnocchio, in each debate.

Either the Republican Party leaders have decided that they wanted to cut down the field, are using Faux Noise as a political assassin, and are hiding their own complicity in this fraud, or the Republican Party leaders have lost their ability to influence events, leaving the party to be run by Rupert Murdoch and the Koch Brothers. Either way, that’s a disaster for decent Republicans.

Please remember that, when I refer to Republicans in my writing, I am referring the party leadership, the politicians, the pundits, and the rabid base. I fully realize there are many decent rank and file Republicans, who are Republican by tradition, and who have not paid too much attention to what their party has become. If you are one of them, I urge you to leave the Republican Party. They no longer represent you.

The Cavalcade of Criminal Clowns have one thing in common. If any one of them becomes President, they will destroy this nation.

Open Thread–8/5/2015

Posted by TomCat at 1:05 pm Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Aug 052015

Today’s forecast high is a glorious 75°. TC is doing a kitty happy dance! I’m waiting for the nurse from Providence to arrive for my annual health care evaluation. (She came and now I’m waiting again.) Store to Door will be delivering groceries, so I have a busy day on tap.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took m3 3:01 (average 5:18). To do it click here. How did you do?

Short Takes:

From Upworthy: So how do you respond when someone says, "If gay marriage, why not polygamy?"

Bubba Bagger need not worry about polygamy. He can’t even spell it. On the other, I’m not sure. Bubba says “BA-A-A-A-A-A.”

From Daily Kos: Well the roosters are coming home to roost. For those of you who were waiting for an event to turn on this man physically, it has. From the NJ Ledger.

Christie booed mercilessly — twice — at the Haskell

OCEANPORT — It was one long happy celebration at Monmouth Park for the great American Pharoah’s latest victory. At least, that is, until Gov. Chris Christie stepped into the Winner’s Circle to present the trophy.

And then, the record crowd of 60,983 booed.

Long.

Loud.

Sustained.

Any day PIGnocchio gets booed is a good day for sanity.

From The New Yorker: Late in the afternoon on Tuesday, Fox News Channel issued what it called a definitive list of the top ten narcissists in America.

The ten narcissists, winnowed down from a longer list of seventeen, will be presented to the nation in a special prime-time broadcast Thursday night.

Almost immediately after Fox released the list there was an outcry over its choices, as the seven narcissists who were omitted complained that they were easily as egotistical and self-absorbed as those who made the cut.

Andy should add that Faux Noise’s top ten narcissists are also America’s bottom ten sphincters.

Cartoon:

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Some say GHW was the good Bush. There are no good Bushes descended from Prescott.

Planned Parenthood Was Not in Danger

Posted by TomCat at 11:44 am Politics

Aug 042015

To many, it appeared that Planned Parenthood was in danger of losing their federal funding, due to a Bill sponsored by Joni “Pig Nuts” Ernst (R-IA) and Rand “Idiot, Son of idiot, Named after Idiot” Paul (R-KY). It seemed that hundreds of organizations churned out emails that Planned Parenthood was doomed, unless we made a contribution to the sender. In actuality Planned Parenthood was not in any danger at all.

A Republican effort to strip Planned Parenthood of its federal funding came up short in the Senate Monday, with a Democratic filibuster leaving the bill from Sens. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) and Rand Paul (R-Ky.) seven votes shy of the 60 needed for passage. But the failure of the measure, which aimed to take away more than $500 million in federal funding from the organization, is likely just a prelude to a fiercer debate to come.

Republican presidential candidates such as Paul and Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) are threatening another government shutdown if federal money for the reproductive health and abortion service provider is not eliminated. Cruz told Politico that Ernst’s bill was nothing more than a "show vote," and that when it comes to the real fight, he is willing to do whatever it takes to defund Planned Parenthood.

The recent conservative attacks on Planned Parenthood follow the July 14 release of two heavily edited video clips in which Planned Parenthood officials appear to be negotiating the sale of aborted fetuses. The videos, part of a conservative campaign against Planned Parenthood, were produced by a little-known anti-abortion activist named David Daleiden, whose group, the Center for Medical Progress, is associated with the anti-abortion organization Live Action. The video was circulated by Groundswell, a conservative strategy group, which Mother Jones’ David Corn reported on back in 2013. Groundswell includes such players as Ginni Thomas, the wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, and conservative journalists and commentators from outlets like Breitbart News, which broke the news of the first sting video…

Inserted from <Mother Jones>

If Republicans had been serious about passing this bill they would have tucked it into a must pass budget item originating in the House, forcing Democrats to obtain 60 votes to remove it. Instead, they brought it to the floor knowing that Democrats would block cloture. Only Donnelly (DINO-IN) and Manchin (DINO-WV) goose stepped with the Republican Reich, May both suffer saguaro suppositories! The final vote was 53 – 46.

The only Reason the Republicans did this is to have a dog and pony show that they could take home to display to their rabid base voters. We can be sure they will try to keep this issue alive because they can use it as a distraction from the many subjects they wish to avoid on the campaign trail. Nevertheless we need to know how to counter their lies. The videos, on which they are basing this attack have been thoroughly debunked already. Furthermore, several of the Republicans, who are screaming their outrage now, voted to fund research using fetal tissue in the past.

Finally, never forget that Republicans have their own comprehensive plan covering women’s rights:

barefoot

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