August 3, 2015

Wiseacre Activist Tricks Scott Walker Into Posing With $900 Million Check From Koch Brothers

By Ben Mathis-Lilley

Shenanigans! Making fun of Republicans for being Koch brothers lackeys is kind of old news at this point as political comedy, but this guy gets a lot of credit for creativity and because $900 million is a funny number:

Sabrina Siddiqui
?@SabrinaSiddiqui

Scott Walker agreed to take a pic w/this guy whose sign said "Walker 4 president," but then he flipped it around...

($900 million is also how much the Kochs plan to spend on the 2016 campaign.)

Sabrina Siddiqui, the Guardian reporter who sent out the image above, says that the young wisenheimer pictured is affiliated with the 350 climate-change activism group. Kids these days—they really do love a good ecologically conscious prank that calls the principles of our campaign-finance system into question!

###

http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_slatest/2015/08/03/scott_walker_koch_bros_check_picture_climate_activist_pulls_ruse.html?

August 3, 2015

Joe Biden is Looking Into a Presidential Run (or at Least his Aides are Talking)

By Daniel Politi

Vice President Joe Biden may be getting ready to run for president. Or maybe not. At the very least, long-standing Clinton-hater Maureen Dowd has pushed political observers to start speculating again. The New York Times columnist pulled at the heartstrings in her column this weekend, saying Biden’s son Beau Biden told his dad to run shortly before his death in May. Now several news outlets, including both the New York Times and the Associated Press, published articles speculating about whether the vice-president was getting ready to try to become the oldest president ever elected to a first term.

Biden’s staff has been reaching out to Democratic leaders and donors to hold “hushed phone calls and quiet lunches” weighing a potential run, reports the Times. Many say the vice-president is being pushed by the memory of his 46-year-old son wanting him to run. “He was so close to Beau and it was so heartbreaking that, frankly, I thought initially he wouldn’t have the heart,” the supporter, Michael Thornton, a Boston lawyer, tells the Times. “But I’ve had indications that maybe he does want to — and ‘that’s what Beau would have wanted me to do.’”

Dowd wrote in her column that Beau “tried to make his father promise to run, arguing that the White House should not revert to the Clintons and that the country would be better off with Biden values.” Biden’s other son, Hunter, also apparently told him to run, saying, “Dad, it’s who you are.”

Insiders insist there’s more to that statement than Dowd being her usual Clinton-bashing self. After all, she’s hardly the first to raise the possibility recently. On Thursday, Fox News’ Ed Henry reported Clinton aides were getting increasingly nervous about a potential Biden candidacy. The increased chatter, some Democrats say, reflects the growing concern about recent polls showing Clinton’s support among independents declining. Plus, the way Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders has been attracting large crowds is being described as “evidence of a hunger within the party for an alternative to Clinton’s candidacy,” notes the Associated Press. So far though, “Biden has done little to lay the groundwork for a possible challenge to Hillary Clinton and the rest of the Democratic field,” points out CNN.

If Biden does decide to join the race, it would be a difficult battle considering Clinton has already raised nearly $50 million and much of the party is excited about the possibility of electing the first woman president. Aides say they expect Biden to make a final decision by September.

Speaking to ABC News, Sanders said on Sunday that while he’s “very fond” of Biden "the American people... want to go beyond conventional establishment politics."

###

http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_slatest/2015/08/02/joe_biden_reportedly_looking_into_a_presidential_run.html?

August 3, 2015

The GOP crack-up continues: The raging civil war over the disgusting “cuckservative” slur

Combining racism and misogyny, the insult lets Donald Trump backers claim other Republicans aren’t real men

JOAN WALSH

I had a hard time taking this seriously, but the disgusting term “cuckservative” really is taking hold on the right. I’ll be honest: I learned about it a couple of weeks ago from the mild-mannered, clean-cut conservative writer Matt Lewis, but I thought he was making too much of it. It seemed like trying to shame one’s critics based on the behavior of the worst asshole in a comments thread. I didn’t bite.

Then “cuckservative” started showing up in my Twitter mentions last week, after I suggested Donald Trump supporters might not be the brightest bulbs. As I clicked around, I came to a shocking conclusion: I’ve been uncharacteristically downplaying the amount of racism and misogyny powering the right today. The spread of the epithet “cuckservative” is a sign that the crudest psycho-sexual insecurity animates the far right.

“Cuckservative,” you see, is short for a cuckolded conservative. It’s not about a Republican whose wife is cheating on him, but one whose country is being taken away from him, and who’s too cowardly to do anything about it.

OK, that’s gross and sexist enough already, but there’s more. It apparently comes from a kind of pornography known as “cuck,” in which a white husband, either in shame or lust, watches his wife be taken by a black man. Lewis explains it this way: “A cuckservative is, therefore, a race traitor.”

This is not merely a new way to shout “RINO.” It’s a call to make the GOP an explicitly racist party, devoted to the defense of whites. It’s no accident it’s taken off in the wake of Donald Trump’s presidential campaign launch/performance art, where he attacked illegal Mexican immigrants as “rapists” and “criminals.”

White nationalist Richard Spencer of the National Policy Institute explained Trump’s appeal to Dave Weigel: “a) he is a tougher, superior man than ‘conservatives’ (which isn’t saying much), and b) he seems to grasp the demographic displacement of European-Americans on a visceral level. We see some hope there.”

more
http://www.salon.com/2015/08/03/the_gop_crack_up_continues_the_raging_civil_war_over_the_disgusting_%E2%80%9Ccuckservative%E2%80%9D_slur/

August 3, 2015

Wing-nut conspiracy theorists have done it again: The truth about the Planned Parenthood hoax reveal

Wing-nut conspiracy theorists have done it again: The truth about the Planned Parenthood hoax revealed

Probes into alleged for-profit organ harvesting have turned up exactly nothing. So why won't the right take a hint?

BOB CESCA

If you’ve been keeping score at home, you’ll have noticed that not one but two states, including a red state with a paleoconservative governor, have in the past several days exonerated Planned Parenthood of any wrongdoing in the so-called secret-video sting that has conservatives calling on Congress to defund the non-profit organization. The appropriate response to this news is, “Of course! Because Planned Parenthood is absolutely not selling fetus parts via some sort of grisly underground marketplace.” For many, especially on the right, no amount of fact-checking will never be enough. But for the sake of the public record, let’s review those exonerating reports again here.

Last week, Massachusetts’ Attorney General Maura Healey became the latest in what’s sure to be a long list of state attorneys general to conclude the same thing. Specifically, Healy concluded,

“Over the past week, my office has conducted a thorough review and found that Planned Parenthood League of Massachusetts’ health care centers are fully compliant with state and federal laws regarding the disposition of fetal tissue. Although donation of fetal tissue is permissible under state and federal law, PPLM does not have a tissue donation program. There is no evidence that PPLM is involved in any way in the buying or selling of tissue. As such, our review is complete.”

Sure, Massachusetts is a leftward-leaning state, but Indiana is very much not. Back on July 16, Gov. Mike Pence, R-Ind., launched an investigation of Planned Parenthood following the release of what was obviously a doctored and misleading video. The probe focused on facilities in Indianapolis, Bloomington and Merrillville, and this past week the Indiana Department of Health reported it was “unable to find any non-compliance with state regulations. Therefore, no deficiencies were cited.”

Because of course.

more
http://www.salon.com/2015/08/03/wing_nut_conspiracy_theorists_have_done_it_again_the_truth_about_the_planned_parenthood_hoax_revealed/

August 3, 2015

1989 Documentary Resurfaces With All Kinds Of Dirt On The Donald

A 25-year-old documentary on Donald Trump that the real estate mogul reportedly tried to quash at the time of its filming now has been revived in light of his presidential bid.

"Trump: What's The Deal?" was bankrolled by businessman Leonard Stern, who owned various New York media properties at the time, including the alternative weekly newspaper The Village Voice. It was conceived by the late producer Ned Schnurman as part of a series called "Famous Americans," according to a 1989 New York Magazine cover story on the project.

"What's The Deal?" ultimately failed to reach an audience for a number of reasons: Trump reportedly tried to derail the project, Stern refused to infuse more cash into its production after a certain point, and no TV stations ever agreed to air it, according to the New York Magazine story. The New York Times reported that in 1991, over Stern's objections, Schnurman did end up screening the 90-minute finished product to an audience of 800 people in Bridgehampton, New York.

The unauthorized documentary since had been kept under wraps until it was posted for free online last week. What's striking about watching "What's The Deal?" today -- and learning its backstory -- is that so much of what kept The Donald in the headlines in the late '80s still rings true going into the 2016 election.

more
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/dc/trump-whats-deal-80s-documentary

August 3, 2015

Scott Walker Still Unsure If Obama Is A Christian: 'I Don't Know'

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R) said he still doesn't know whether Barack Obama is Christian, months after a spokesperson had to clarify that the governor wasn't casting doubt on the President's faith.

The Republican presidential candidate said "I don't know" whether Obama is Christian during a Q&A on Saturday in front of GOP donors hosted by billionaires Charles and David Koch, according to Time.

“You’re not going to get a different answer than I said before,” Walker added, as quoted by Time. “As someone who is a believer myself, I don’t presume to know someone’s beliefs about whether they follow Christ or not unless I’ve actually talked with him.”

The Wisconsin Republican was first asked about Obama's faith in February, after he attended a private dinner where former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani (R) courted controversy by asserting that the President doesn't love America. A spokeswoman for Walker later told The Washington Post that Walker was making a point about the press' "gotcha" questions, adding "of course the governor thinks the president is a Christian."

###

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/scott-walker-still-unsure-obama-christian

August 3, 2015

RNC set to vote on anti-gay resolutions at summer meeting

In the same week Republican presidential candidates are scheduled to slug it out in their first official debate, the Republican National Committee is set to vote during its summer meeting on resolutions against same-sex marriage and in favor of anti-gay sex education in schools, the Washington Blade has learned.

The Blade obtained text of two proposed anti-gay resolutions and a third relatively pro-gay counter-proposal on the table for discussion during the upcoming meeting in Cleveland, Ohio.

If the RNC were to adopt any of the non-binding resolutions next week, it would be the first official act of the Republican Party on the marriage issue following the historic U.S. Supreme Court decision last month in favor of marriage rights for same-sex couples. The initial vote could take place during the executive committee meetings on Wednesday and Thursday, where a successful vote would lead to consideration at the full committee meeting on Friday.

One resolution, titled “Resolution for Balanced Sex-Ed in Schools,” was introduced by former Michigan State House lawmaker and RNC member Dave Agema. It encourages schools “teaching the homosexual lifestyle in their sexual education class” to “also include the harmful physical aspects of the lifestyle.”

- See more at: http://www.washingtonblade.com/2015/08/01/rnc-set-to-vote-on-anti-gay-resolutions-at-summer-meeting/#sthash.iR8nwoKP.dpuf

August 3, 2015

Marist Won’t Allow Polls to be Used in Debate Selection

“The Marist Institute of Public Opinion has suspended its polling of the GOP primary field in protest of how polls are being used to determine debate participants,” Politico reports.

“The poll, which is done in conjunction with McClatchy, is one of the more well-respected national polls regularly conducted. But Lee Miringoff, the director of the Marist Institute, told McClatchy that they’re suspending their poll for this week because the debate criteria assumes the polls are more precise than they are in reality.”

###

http://politicalwire.com/2015/08/02/marist-wont-allows-polls-to-be-used-in-debate-selection/

August 2, 2015

Chris Christie vows to punch the national teachers union ‘in the face’ because they ‘deserve’ it

Source: RawStory

DAVID EDWARDS
02 AUG 2015 AT 10:27 ET

Republican presidential candidate Chris Christie said over the weekend that the national teachers union deserved a “punch in the face” because it had become the most destructive force in America’s education system.

In an interview that aired on Sunday, CNN’s Jake Tapper reminded the New Jersey governor that he had advised people to punch bullies “in the face” during his first term as governor. “At the national level, who deserves a punch in the face?” Tapper wondered.

“Oh, the national teachers union,” Christie replied without hesitation. “They’re not for education for our children, they’re for greater membership, greater benefits, greater pay for their members.”

“And they are the single most destructive force in public education in America,” he added. “I’ve been saying that since 2009. I’ve got the scars to show it, but I’m never going to stop saying it because they never change their stripes.”

Read more: http://www.rawstory.com/2015/08/chris-christie-vows-to-punch-the-national-teachers-union-in-the-face-because-they-deserve-it/

August 2, 2015

Teen stabbed at Gay Pride march dies as pressure mounts on Israel

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
02 AUG 2015 AT 12:44 ET

A teenager stabbed at a Gay Pride march died of her injuries Sunday as the attack and a firebombing that killed a Palestinian child put pressure on Israel to crack down on Jewish extremists.

Shira Banki, 16, was among six people stabbed at the Jerusalem march on Thursday by a suspect identified as an ultra-Orthodox Jew released from prison only weeks earlier for a similar attack. The five other victims suffered various degrees of injuries

On Friday morning, hours after the march, assailants suspected of being Jewish settlers firebombed a Palestinian family’s home in the West Bank, killing an 18-month-old toddler.

The separate attacks have put a spotlight on Jewish extremists, while the firebombing further inflamed tensions between Israelis and Palestinians, with clashes breaking out in various cities.

more
http://www.rawstory.com/2015/08/teen-stabbed-at-gay-pride-march-dies-as-pressure-mounts-on-israel/