September 4, 2015

Kim Davis follows the footsteps of George Wallace

By Renée Graham SEPTEMBER 03, 2015

Kim Davis is in jail for contempt of court for refusing to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples, but make no mistake: this uncivil civil servant isn’t a religious freedom fighter. She’s a homophobe, pure and simple.

“The court cannot condone the willful disobedience of its lawfully issued order,” said Judge David L. Bunning of Federal District Court. “If you give people the opportunity to choose which orders they follow, that’s what potentially causes problems.” Davis, county clerk for Rowan County, Kentucky, will be released when she complies with the law and issues marriage licenses to same-sex couples.

Now Davis will play the martyr, tossed behind bars for putting the laws of God above those of mere mortals. Even after the Supreme Court ruled against her, Davis spent the week telling gay men and lesbians that in rejecting their request for a marriage license, she was acting “under God’s authority.”

Can God sue for defamation of character?

Wrong and strong, Davis’s actions are reminiscent of Alabama Governor George Wallace’s infamous “Stand in the Schoolhouse Door.” In 1963, Wallace, who had declared “Segregation now, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever,” literally stood in a doorway at the University of Alabama to block two black students from entering the school, despite federal laws. Of course, this was nothing more than a political show for the cameras and segregationists. After jabbering on about states’ rights — as shallow an argument as it had been a century earlier during the Civil War — Wallace eventually stepped away, a small man pushed aside by the resolve of a nation struggling to be just.

more
http://www.bostonglobe.com/opinion/2015/09/03/renee-graham-kim-davis-follows-footsteps-george-wallace/4Hqsf6bhQoXMwhjLu0cMLO/story.html?p1=Article_Trending_Most_Viewed

September 4, 2015

Voters must demand political realism on Iran

By Scot Lehigh GLOBE COLUMNIST SEPTEMBER 03, 2015

SO THE Iran deal is a done deal. The question now is, will the Republican Party’s would-be presidents react responsibly once the vote takes place?

Almost all of them blasted the agreement when it was announced. Sadly, that’s only to be expected in this hyper-partisan era. But now that the pact has enough Senate support that it can’t be blocked, will they be rhetorically realistic or bind themselves to mast in opposition?

Given that it’s an executive agreement, a future president could terminate it, of course. And we’ll no doubt hear some of the candidates pledge to do just that, and then seek a tougher deal.

But consider: If the United States was to abandon an agreement that Iran was abiding by, we would be breaking ranks with the international coalition this country led, in pursuit of an unobtainable stronger deal. That’s a hugely untenable position. As our negotiating partners have made clear, they would not go along with such an effort.

So despite all the previous campaign trail statements, a responsible, reasonable Republican candidate would do well to adopt this posture: Although I originally opposed the agreement, given that the political fight is over except for the counting, I would wait to see if Iran acts in good faith before renouncing the pact.

full article
http://www.bostonglobe.com/opinion/editorials/2015/09/03/voters-must-demand-political-realism-iran/OABGAuOjHq4YJ8REzQ9NIJ/story.html?

September 4, 2015

Republicans Just Shot Themselves In The Foot By Forcing Trump To Sign Loyalty Pledge

By: Jason Easley
Thursday, September, 3rd, 2015, 12:15 pm

Republicans are setting themselves up for defeat in November 2016 by taking ownership of Donald Trump with their so-called “loyalty pledge.” Politico got the scoop from a Trump insider on the reasoning behind Trump’s decision to sign the no third party run pledge:

“The rationale is that they have treated him fairly,” the associate said, echoing the criterion Trump has long given for taking a party pledge. “He’s willing to sign it to avert any problems with is state filings – South Carolina asked for a pledge to support the nominee if you’re on the ballot.

“He’s been treated fairly, like any candidate. … And it takes away a line of attack for debates.”

The last phrase from the Trump insider is critical. By signing the pledge, Trump will take away the main line of attack that Republicans could have used to stop him. The best for the Republican Party to stop Trump would have been to unify around the idea that he isn’t a “real Republican.”

Candidates could have mounted a campaign to expose all of the Trump positions that Republican voters object to while playing up his refusal to commit to the GOP, but this is the dysfunctional Republican circus where the inmates are running the asylum so what happened was that voters embraced Trump, the other Republican candidates are afraid to confront him, so the party cooked up a silly “loyalty pledge” that isn’t worth the paper that it is printed on.

Donald Trump is getting exactly what he wants. He’ll get more free media attention as the television networks will flock to the heavily choreographed Trump signing of the loyalty pledge. Republicans are losing the biggest weapon to stop him, and it is possible that Trump may defy the pledge and run third party anyway if he is denied the Republican nomination.

more
http://www.politicususa.com/2015/09/03/republicans-shot-foot-forcing-trump-sign-party-pledge.html

September 4, 2015

Democrats Are Pouring It On As Top Foreign Affairs Dem Releases Must Read Support for Iran Deal

By: Sarah Jones
Thursday, September, 3rd, 2015, 10:58 am

Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi is piling up the pledges of support for the Iran Deal in the House. She didn’t even take a breath after the Senate locked in the 34th vote which gives Democrats the ability to sustain a Presidential veto should it become necessary. Pelsoi doesn’t work like that. She is a careful, thorough, and dedicated champion for causes and policies in which she has great faith. So the pledges keep rolling in from the House.

Thursday morning, Representative Brian Higgins (D-NY) issued his pledge of support, writing, “This agreement will do more than any plausible alternative to accomplish America’s objective of blocking Iran’s pathway to a bomb in a way that we can verify. For this reason I will vote to support the JCPOA when the question comes before the House.”

As a member of the Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on the Middle East and North Africa and the Ranking Member of the Homeland Security Subcommittee on Counterterrorism and Intelligence, his statement is particularly nuanced and insightful. It’s really something everyone should read in order to understand the tradeoffs of the deal and to judge the criticism from an informed position.

-snip-

“Ten years ago the United States led a global effort to place economic sanctions on Iran in response to its pursuit of a nuclear weapon. These sanctions devastated Iran’s economy and forced it to the negotiating table. But they did little, if anything, to slow Iran’s nuclear program. Today Iran is a nuclear-threshold state, with a “breakout time” (how long it would take for Iran to build a nuclear bomb if it decided to) of just two to three months.

full article
http://www.politicususa.com/2015/09/03/pelosi-piles-support-higgins-pledges-iran-deal-support-read-statement.html

September 4, 2015

In Case You Hadn’t Noticed Yet, The Koch Brothers Are Losing The Republican Primary

By: Keith Brekhus
Thursday, September, 3rd, 2015, 7:18 pm

A Monmouth University poll released on September 3rd, confirms that Donald Trump is running away with the GOP race, and that retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson is currently in second place. While it is easy to recognize that this mean Republican voters are falling in love with fringe candidates whose political views are bordering on comically absurd, it also reveals another emerging truth of the 2016 campaign. The billionaire Koch brothers are losing the Republican primaries, and losing badly.

Consider this. In the Monmouth survey, Self-funding billionaire Donald Trump polled 30 percent. Ben Carson, who is heavily reliant on small dollar donors, polled 18 percent. None of the Koch brothers’ favorite candidates could manage better than single digits.

In early August, the Koch brothers invited five candidates — Jeb Bush, Scott Walker, Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio and Carly Fiorina — to a special confab in a luxury California hotel. There the candidates were given the opportunity to make their case in front of the Kochs and other billionaires, and to grovel for their financial support.

Those five candidates are polling just 28 percent total, if you add them all together to create one Koch puppet “super candidate”. Trump alone beats Bush, Walker, Cruz, Rubio and Fiorina combined!

Worst of all for the Kochs, the winner of the post-confab wealthy donor straw poll, Scott Walker, is faring the poorest of the five Koch friendly candidates, mustering an anemic 3 percent national support in the latest Monmouth poll.

more
http://www.politicususa.com/2015/09/03/case-noticed-yet-koch-brothers-losing-republican-primary.html

September 4, 2015

Bernie Sanders Blasts The GOP With Reality: It Wasn’t Immigrants Who Caused The Great Recession

By: Jason Easley
Thursday, September, 3rd, 2015, 5:00 pm

While being interviewed by the Des Moines Register editorial board, Sen. Bernie Sanders slapped Republicans the reality of their failed policies while calling out their racist attacks on immigrants.

-snip-

While speaking to the Des Moines Register editorial board, Sen. Sanders said:

In the year 2015, candidates for President Of The United States should not be making racist remarks about people who come from Latin America or from Mexico. I would have hoped that we have gone beyond that. I would also hope that we would not be engaging in demagoguery against undocumented people in this country.

If tomorrow, every person who in this country who is undocumented left this country, your agricultural system would likely collapse as well as many other aspects of our economy.

So for a start, it was not undocumented people in this country whose greed and recklessness on Wall Street drove us into the greatest economic downturn since the Great Depression.

It wasn’t undocumented people in this country who got us into a war in Iraq that we never should have gotten into.

It wasn’t undocumented people in this country who gave huge tax breaks to billionaires and are fighting to cut Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. And I think they’re being used as a punching bag, and I resent that.

We can have differences of opinion on how we proceed in terms of immigration and treating undocumented people, but let’s not demagogue the issue. Let’s have the courage to stand up to the people who really have power in this country. The Wall Street people and the corporate America people, and not just beat on people who are without legal status.

-snip-

Full article + video:
http://www.politicususa.com/2015/09/03/bernie-sanders-blasts-gop-reality-immigrants-caused-great-recession.html

September 4, 2015

The Economist: Why Trump Is Dangerous

The Economist: “First, as a billionaire, he will not run out of money to finance his campaign. Second, he faces so many Republican opponents that he could grab the nomination with only a modest plurality of the vote. The smart money still says that Republicans will eventually unite behind a mainstream candidate, as they always have in the past. But the world cannot take this for granted. Demagogues in other countries sometimes win elections, and there is no compelling reason why America should always be immune.”

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http://politicalwire.com/2015/09/03/why-trump-is-dangerous/

September 4, 2015

How Netanyahu Lost the Iran Deal

Washington Post: “Many say AIPAC’s efforts were doomed to fail in the aftermath of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s combative speech to Congress in March — an appearance brokered by Israel’s ambassador to the U.S. along with House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) without White House consultation.”

“Several Democratic lawmakers pointed to Netanyahu’s speech to Congress as poisoning the political environment surrounding the Iran deal debate even before an agreement was reached. Netanyahu spoke to AIPAC’s annual conference the night before his congressional address, arguing vehemently against the Iran negotiations. Several Democratic members boycotted the speech, arguing Netanyahu’s appearance was inappropriate as Israel was preparing for national elections.”

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http://politicalwire.com/2015/09/03/how-netanyahu-lost-the-iran-deal/

September 4, 2015

Jorge Ramos puts O’Reilly in his place:“You're not the right person to lecture me on advocacy....

Jorge Ramos puts Bill O’Reilly in his place: “You’re not the right person to lecture me on advocacy and journalism”

"You're not a news man anymore," O'Reilly said of Ramos, "you're an advocate now"

SCOTT ERIC KAUFMAN

-snip-

O’Reilly began by warning his viewers that they were about to experience something that would “horrify” them — “getting to know” more about Ramos. So he asked why Ramos opposed building a wall along the United States’ southern border, when not having one is theoretically responsible for Francisco Sanchez, Kate Steinle’s alleged murderer, from entering the country.

“You’re an enabler, Jorge, you’re enabling guys like Sanchez,” he said.

“You have to concentrate on enforcement, background checks, and at the same time you have to resolve the situation of 11 million people in this country,” Ramos replied.

“Do you believe that Mexican nationals, Guatemalan nationals, Honduran nationals, have a right to come to the United States?” O’Reilly asked.

Ramos responded that if they enter the country legally and find gainful employment, they do have a right to be here. Moreover, he said, they’re necessary “because they’re doing the jobs nobody else wants to do, we are giving them jobs. That’s why they’re coming.”

O’Reilly asked how Ramos could “possibly cover illegal immigration fairly when you’re an activist, when you’re a proponent of allowing them amnesty?” He suggested he “excuse yourself from it, or recuse yourself from it, or become a commentator like me.”

Ramos disputed O’Reilly’s premise, telling the Fox News host that “I don’t think you are the right person to lecture me on advocacy and journalism when you spend most of your program giving opinions and not asking questions, defending Republicans, criticizing Democrats, and, frankly, conducting interviews — soft interviews — with conservatives that you agree with.”

“The difference between you and me is that you’re partisan, I’m independent,” he added.

-snip-

more + video:
http://www.salon.com/2015/09/03/jorge_ramos_puts_bill_oreilly_in_his_place_youre_not_the_right_person_to_lecture_me_on_advocacy_and_journalism/

September 4, 2015

The shocking truth about Donald Trump: He’s actually the least terrifying GOP candidate

His virulent immigration politics are shared by the GOP field. But the places where he differs are illuminating

CONOR LYNCH

With all of the outrageous and downright offensive remarks that have been regurgitated by Donald Trump over the past few months, the most logical forecast made by political analysts was that his campaign would implode, sooner than later, as so many have before. Like the stock market, Trump 2016 seems to be based on a bubble of irrational emotions — in this case fear — and at any moment, that bubble could burst. Today, however, it’s looking more and more like Trump’s lead in the polls is not going to burst anytime soon, and that the man who seems to be the perfect manifestation of a stereotypical American — a loud, obnoxious buffoon — actually has a chance of winning the GOP nomination for president.

This is scary to think about. Not just because of his virulent xenophobia and nationalism, but because of how damaging a President Trump would be to America’s reputation in the world. At the same time, maybe it will take a joke like Trump — who, just a reminder, once released his birth certificate to prove that his father was not an orangutan — to show just how much of a farce American democracy really is. Trump is creating a dangerous new nationalist movement that is absolutely adored by white supremacists and Tea Party conservatives alike. His big personality may be a bridge between the more extremist right wingers who preach intolerance and hate, and the moderate conservatives dedicated to blindly loving their country.

That being said, if we take a look at Trump, beyond all of the controversial remarks from him and his supporters (i.e. “Go back to your country!”) and the despicable attack on immigrants, it becomes quite clear that a president Trump would actually be less dangerous than, say, a president Walker. In fact, just about every other major GOP candidate is probably more threatening to progress than Trump.

This is because Donald Trump isn’t really a part of the GOP. He doesn’t depend on corporate funding and is more concerned with his own ego than the party he is currently running in. While his unfiltered remarks have gotten all of the media’s attention, he has also made certain comments that would have probably been enough to kill any other GOP candidates campaign.

Take, for example, his defense of Planned Parenthood. In the midst of the hit job on the women’s health organization, as every other candidate was jumping on the bandwagon to defund the entire organization, Trump correctly said that the abortion services were a very small part of Planned Parenthood, and that they do undeniably important work for women. Compare this to the supposedly moderate Jeb Bush, who said that the organization is “not actually doing women’s health issues. They’re involved in something way different than that,” which PolitiFact.com fittingly rated “Pants on Fire.”

more
http://www.salon.com/2015/09/03/the_shocking_truth_about_donald_trump_hes_actually_the_least_terrifying_gop_candidate/