March 1, 2015

G.O.P. Race Starts in Lavish Haunts of Rich Donors

By NICHOLAS CONFESSORE and JONATHAN MARTIN FEB. 28, 2015

Instead of the corn dogs and pork chops on a stick ritually served up on the hustings of Iowa, the latest stop on the donor trail featured meals of diver scallops and chocolate mousse. The setting was the Breakers, a sprawling Italian Renaissance-inspired hotel here, where the cheapest available rooms fetched $800 a night.

Long before the season of baby-kissing and caucus-going begins in early primary states, a no less decisive series of contests is playing out among the potential 2016 contenders along a trail that traces the cold-weather destinations of the wealthy and private-jet-equipped. In one resort town after another — Rancho Mirage, Calif.; Sea Island, Ga.; Las Vegas — the candidates are making their cases to exclusive gatherings of donors whose wealth, fully unleashed by the Supreme Court’s 2010 Citizens United decision, has granted them the kind of influence and convening power once held by urban political bosses and party chairmen.

Even a single deep-pocketed donor can now summon virtually the entire field of candidates. No fewer than 11 Republican White House hopefuls will fly to Iowa this week to attend the Iowa Agriculture Summit organized by Bruce Rastetter, a businessman and prominent “super PAC” donor. Each will submit to questions from Mr. Rastetter, who said he wanted the candidates to educate themselves on agriculture policy.

“I get it that it’s helpful that I’ve given nationally and been helpful in Iowa to different candidates,” said Mr. Rastetter, whose business interests range from meat processing to ethanol production, and who is not yet backing anyone for president. “They know I’m going to be a fair arbiter in this,” he added. “We’re going to have a good discussion around these issues.”

more
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/01/us/politics/gop-race-starts-in-lavish-haunts-of-rich-donors.html?partner=rss&emc=rss&_r=0

February 28, 2015

Former O'Reilly Producer Tells The AP: Hyperbole & Exaggeration Are "Baked Into" O'Reilly's Persona

Speaking to the Associated Press, a former Fox News O'Reilly producer highlighted Bill O'Reilly's tendency to twist the truth, saying that hyperbole and exaggeration are "baked into" O'Reilly's persona and job description.

Bill O'Reilly has been embroiled in controversy after Mother Jones and Media Matters exposed numerous fabrications in O'Reilly's accounts of reporting on the Falklands War, the El Salvadoran Civil War, and the death of a figure in the investigation into JFK's assassination.

From the Associated Press on February 27:

The only way O'Reilly can be seriously damaged is if more allegations about his statements come forward from sources other than partisan organizations, said Joe Muto, a former O'Reilly producer fired by Fox after he began writing an anonymous blog as the "Fox mole."

"Ultimately, he'll survive this because he's not held -- by his bosses, or the public, or himself -- to the same standards of truth-telling as Brian Williams is," Muto said. "People expect a certain degree of hyperbole and exaggeration from O'Reilly. It's baked into the job description. It's part of his persona."

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http://mediamatters.org/blog/2015/02/27/former-oreilly-producer-tells-the-associated-pr/202707

February 28, 2015

CORRECTION: Walker Unfairly Attacked On College Rape

Read it here:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10141025165

February 28, 2015

GOPer (Rep. Devin Nunes) Slams 'Phony Conservatives' Who Tried To Defund DHS

Rep. Devin Nunes (R-CA) is not happy with the Republicans who defied House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) and refused to vote for a bill on Friday that did not address President Obama's executive actions on immigration and would have funded the Department of Homeland Security for three weeks.

"I prefer to be in the arena voting than trying to placate a small group of phony conservative Members who have no credible policy proposals and no political strategy to stop Obama's lawlessness," Nunes told National Journal in an interview published Saturday. "While conservative leaders are trying to move the ball up the field, these other Members sit in exotic places like basements of Mexican restaurants and upper levels of House office buildings, seemingly unaware that they can't advance conservatism by playing fantasy football with their voting cards."

Rep. Steve Womack (R-AR) also lamented to National Journal that the House Republican conference could not agree on the bill, putting Boehner in a tough spot.

"This has got to have an affect on him, personally, just psychologically. To have to go to the mat on these issues. He ran for it, he knows what the job entails, but we certainly made it pretty difficult on him when we seem to fight so much among ourselves," he said. "I hate it that our conference has so many issues, so many factions among itself, that we can't get our team together and all be singing off the same sheet of music."

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http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/devin-nunes-phony-conservatives

February 28, 2015

U.S. Seeks to Deport Bosnians Over War Crimes

Source: New York Times



Immigration officials are moving to deport at least 150 Bosnians living in the United States who they say took part in war crimes in the former Yugoslavia in the 1990s.



Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/01/world/us-seeks-to-deport-bosnians-over-war-crimes.html?emc=edit_na_20150228

February 28, 2015

Fox News doctor: ‘Crack babies’ come from women ‘smoking this whole marijuana business’

Fox News Medical A-Team member Dr. David Samadi asserted over the weekend that “crack babies” were caused by women “smoking this whole marijuana business.”

On the Saturday edition of Fox & Friends, host Clayton Morris reported that a recent study published in Scientific Reports found that marijuana was less dangerous than any other common recreational drug, including alcohol and cigarettes.

“I think it’s a very dangerous study,” Samadi argued. “People need to be very careful about not getting the wrong message from this study. They’re using a lethal dose as a comparison. For example, they’re putting pot against or weed against cocaine or alcohol. We know you need less amount of alcohol to die. So, they’re using death to see what’s dangerous and what’s not.”

“They’re extrapolating a lot of these animal studies and surveys that doesn’t make a lot of sense and coming with this whole thing that pot is safer,” the doctor insisted. “Absolutely not. It’s a huge fraud.” Samadi warned that marijuana could cause memory loss, mood changes and psychosis. “It actually causes heart attacks,” he added. “It increases your heart rate. And on and on.”

more
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2015/02/fox-news-doctor-crack-babies-come-from-women-smoking-this-whole-marijuana-business/

February 28, 2015

Dana Loesch leads religion pity party at CPAC: ‘It’s time to make Christians a protected class’

Columnist Cal Thomas, radio host Dana Loesch, and Family Research Council president Tony Perkins took part in a CPAC panel on religious freedom Saturday, and they pronounced that times were dire for followers of Jesus Christ.

“I feel like it’s time to make Christians a protected class,” Dana Loesch said, as the discussion reached a fevered pitch of self-pity. Thomas chimed in that “our commander in chief” — who is Jesus, not President Obama — instructed his followers that they would experience persecution.


Then Thomas and Loesch admitted that it just wouldn’t be worth being a Christian if you couldn’t feel persecuted. “And since we have the victim competition in the United States,” Loesch added, “I think we win.”

Here, watch them climb up on those crosses for yourself…

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http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2015/02/dana-loesch-leads-religion-pity-party-at-cpac-its-time-to-make-christians-a-protected-class/

February 28, 2015

GOP Rep. (Peter King) Bashes ‘Self-Righteous, Delusional Wing Of The Party’

Rep. Peter King (R-NY) on Friday blasted his Republican colleagues for refusing to pass a clean bill to fund the Department of Homeland Security.

"This madness has to end soon. We can’t keep doing this," he told MSNBC. After House Republicans failed to pass a bill funding DHS for three weeks, Democrats helped House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) pass a bill funding the department for one week.

King blamed Republicans' refusal to pass a clean bill on the "wing within our party who is obsessed with the president’s executive order."

"We should not put American lives at risk to win an immigration battle with the president," King said. "I’ve had it with this self-righteous, delusional wing of the party."

The congressman said that he also opposes President Obama's executive actions on immigration, but that he believes funding DHS is more important. "Many of these people are elected from parts of the country that live in an echo chamber," he lamented. "All they hear is everything is anti-Obama." (Emphasis added -- Don)

Source of article + video
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/peter-king-republicans-dhs

February 27, 2015

Alabama Gov. Defied His Own Pastor In Reaction To Gay Marriage Ruling

When Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley (R) declined to fight a federal court ruling that brought gay marriage to Alabama this month, he did so against the urgings of his own pastor, AL.com reported Thursday.

In a Feb. 8 sermon surfaced by Christian News Network on Monday, Rev. Gil McKee of First Baptist Church - Tuscaloosa recounted trying to sway the governor during a 30-minute phone conversation.

"Governor, I don't care if all 49 other states go for this same-sex marriage business," McKee said he recalled telling the governor. "Let's be different in the state of Alabama. Let's do what we know is the right thing to do."

McKee said he urged the governor to take advantage of widespread disapproval of gay marriage in Alabama. "We're still living in a very conservative state," he said.

more + video
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/robert-bentley-pastor-gil-mckee

February 27, 2015

Cosby Attempts to Dismiss Sex Cases

Source: TDB/Washington Times

On Friday, comedian and actor Bill Cosby filed a motion in a District Court in western Massachusetts to dismiss three defamation cases brought against him by Tamara Green, Therese Serignese, and Linda Traitz. The three were among more than 30 women who came forward with accusations that Cosby had sexually assaulted them in the 1970s, and claim Cosby’s team publicly branded them liars after they came forward. While many of the women say they were drugged before the comedian forced himself on them, Cosby has stayed mostly silent on the matter, denying all accusations.

Read it at The Washington Times

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Read more: http://www.thedailybeast.com/cheats/2015/02/27/cosby-attempts-to-dismiss-sex-suit.html