kpete
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New Report Highlights Koch Brothers' Role In Hurricane Katrina Damage
New Report Highlights Koch Brothers' Role In Hurricane Katrina DamageGroups backed by the conservative billionaires helped to worsen the impact of the storm and hinder the recovery process.
http://realkochfacts.americanbridge.org/app/uploads/sites/13/2015/08/Koch-Katrina-Report.pdf
WASHINGTON -- A new report from the Democratic opposition research group American Bridge's Bridge Project describes the way Charles and David Koch, the influential conservative billionaires, put their vast resources into actions that exacerbated the impact of Hurricane Katrina and stalled the Gulf Coast’s recovery.
The report, released Thursday, highlights the Koch brothers' influence on the region before and after the storm, including constructing and operating pipelines that destroyed wetlands south of New Orleans and attempting to obstruct legislation that would have aided the recovery.
The report describes a federal class-action lawsuit claiming that Koch Pipeline Company and other major oil companies were “partly responsible for the destruction of 1 million acres of marshlands and also for millions more acres of dying marshland.” The destruction of the marshlands eliminated New Orleans' "natural protection against hurricane winds and storm surges,” according to the lawsuit. The case was later dismissed because a judge deemed it “ambitious.”
MORE:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/koch-brothers-hurricane-katrina_55df762ae4b0aec9f352a94b
Nat'l Journal: Trump Preaching to Shrinking White Electorate Creates Problems for GOP
Trump Preaching to Shrinking White Electorate Creates Problems for GOP
His anti-immigrant rhetoric and visceral stance on citizenship rights are forcing Republicans into opposing corners.
BY RONALD BROWNSTEIN
...........
The Republican electoral coalition now relies on preponderant majorities from the groups most unsettled by demographic and cultural change: older, noncollege, and rural whites. There are no longer enough of those voters to guarantee Republicans a national majority; that's why Democrats have won the popular vote in five of the past six presidential elections. Yet, as Trump's rise shows, many of those voters militantly oppose the policies (like immigration reform) that might help the party expand its coalition.
.........
more:
http://www.nationaljournal.com/next-america/newsdesk/trump-preaching-to-white-electorate-creates-gop-problems-20150826
TRUMKA: It's time we call a spade a spade: The truth about Republicans' hateful, racist rhetoric.
THU AUG 27, 2015 AT 10:12 AM PDT
I’m Just Going to Say It: Hateful. Racist.
Richard Trumka
It's time we call a spade a spade: The truth about Republicans' hateful, racist rhetoric.
In recent weeks, there has been a lot of political debate among the Republican presidential candidates about immigrants and aspiring citizens in our country.
And frankly, it has become ugly and dangerous.
Please take a minute to hear my thoughts below.
In Solidarity,
Rich.
Oh My!
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2015/08/27/1415942/-I-m-Just-Going-to-Say-It-Hateful-Racist
Undercover Planned Parenthood Videos Were ALTERED, Analysis Finds
The reviewers looked at both shorter, edited videos that are about eight minutes to 15 minutes long and what Mr. Daleiden said were full-length recordings, some more than two hours long, that he released simultaneously.
A transcription service was hired to transcribe the videos, without being told that Planned Parenthood was the client, to compare with transcripts publicized by the anti-abortion group. That comparison, the analysis said, showed “substantive omissions” from the group’s version. Mr. Simpson was assisted in the analysis by several others including a video forensics expert, Grant Fredericks, and a television producer, Scott Goldie.
According to the investigation, the reviewers could not determine “the extent to which C.M.P.s undisclosed edits and cuts distort the meaning of the encounters the videos purport to document.”
But, it said, “the manipulation of the videos does mean they have no evidentiary value in a legal context and cannot be relied upon for any official inquiries” unless C.M.P. provides investigators with its original material, and that material is independently authenticated as unaltered.
For example, Mr. Fredericks said recordings in Houston and Denver were each missing about 30 minutes of video, judging from time stamps and frame counters on the recordings.
MORE!!!
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/28/us/abortion-planned-parenthood-videos.html
Cartoon: God-Man! (with minor character God-Girl)
?1440541178
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2015/08/27/1415486/-Cartoon-God-Man-with-minor-character-God-Girl
Charles M Blow: "The media is being trolled on a massive scale & we look naive & silly"
Enough Is Enough.....
I will cover Trump as he addresses issues with specific policy prescriptions and details, like answers to the question Ramos asked.
Until then, this man is not worthy of the attention he’s garnering. We in the media have to own our part in this. We can’t say he’s not serious and then cover him in a way that actually demonstrates that we are not serious.
Is he an easy target for righteous criticism? Of course he is. But is he aware that criticism from the mainstream media is invaluable among certain segments of the political right? Of course he is. Is he also aware that he’s getting more free publicity for being outrageous than he would ever be willing to buy? Of course he is.
The media is being trolled on a massive scale and we look naïve and silly to have fallen for it, even if he draws readers and viewers. When people refer to the press as the fourth estate, it shouldn’t be confused with a Trump property.
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/27/opinion/enough-is-enough.html?_r=0
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