US Politics Thread |OT| THE DARKEST TIMELINE

[kingkitty]

Bernie Sanders is fired up and ready to go.

Also:

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[I'm a Puppy!]

The filthy socialist in me will vote for Bernie Sanders, but I have no idea why he thinks he can survive the primary against Hillary.
But there's a good chance that I'll be voting for him unless Warren runs. She runs and all bets are off.

[benjipwns]

Fleeing Hillary: Top Dem money man departs because Clinton hasn’t answered ethics questions

A top Democratic moneyman recruited by Hillary Rodham Clinton’s presidential campaign has put fundraising activities on hold, saying he can’t do it with a clear conscience because the former secretary of state has too many unanswered questions swirling around her.

New York businessman Jon Cooper, who Team Clinton enlisted for its elite corps of early fundraisers known as “HillStarters,” said that he decided not to tap his donor network for Mrs. Clinton because she hasn’t provided enough answers about foreign donations to the Clinton Foundation while she ran the State Department, her exclusive use of private email for official business as America’s top diplomat and her commitment to liberal priorities.

“I’m officially on the fence,” said Mr. Cooper, a bundler for President Obama’s campaigns who is active in Democratic politics in New York, which Mrs. Clinton represented in the U.S. Senate and where she has set up her campaign headquarters.

Mr. Cooper said he was writing a fundraising email to the roughly 10,000 people in his network when he realized that his heart wasn’t in it.

“I was sitting there trying to draft the email, and I just couldn’t do it,” he told The Washington Times.

Mr. Cooper, who is openly gay and married to longtime partner Robert Cooper, said he was disappointed with how long it took Mrs. Clinton to support gay marriage as a constitutional right plus her reluctance to back a liberal economic agenda, including raising the federal minimum wage.

But his concerns about Mrs. Clinton only deepened with revelations about potential conflicts of interest from the Clinton Foundation pocketing donations from foreign entities with business pending before the State Department and her use of a private email in office that may have violated federal open records laws.

“It’s just the drip, drip, drip that is a little concerning, and I just wish that there would have been a more forceful response from the Clinton campaign to some of this,” he said.

He hasn’t ruled out eventually supporting Mrs. Clinton, especially if, as expected, she wins the Democratic presidential nomination. And the Clinton campaign likely will still benefit from a powerful fundraising operation, despite Mr. Cooper’s early absence from the effort.

But Mr. Cooper’s misgivings, and his willingness to make them public, underscores a growing angst in the upper echelon of the Democratic Party about the Clinton campaign.

“I’m not saying there are any inherent weakness[es] in Hillary as a candidate, but there are some valid questions that are being raised by good people, and I think we need to have better answers to some of these questions,” said Mr. Cooper.

[benjipwns]

Republican Congress getting it done.

[Kara]

percent of total employed lol

[benjipwns]

percent of unliberated labor

[Phoenix Dark]

http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2015/04/61-times-kristol-reminded-of-hitler-churchill.html

[Great Rumbler]

Texas Republican Gov. Greg Abbott on Tuesday asked the State Guard to monitor a U.S. military training exercise dubbed "Jade Helm 15" amid Internet-fueled suspicions that the war simulation is really a hostile military takeover.

 

[benjipwns]

http://townhall.com/columnists/toddstarnes/2015/04/28/we-will-not-obey-christian-leaders-threaten-civil-disobedience-if-supreme-court-legalizes-gay-marriage-n1991740/page/full

“We will not obey.”

That’s the blunt warning a group of prominent religious leaders is sending to the Supreme Court of the United States as they consider same-sex marriage.

“We respectfully warn the Supreme Court not to cross that line,” read a document titled, Pledge in Solidarity to Defend Marriage. “We stand united together in defense of marriage. Make no mistake about our resolve.”

“While there are many things we can endure, redefining marriage is so fundamental to the natural order and the common good that this is the line we must draw and one we cannot and will not cross,” the pledge states.

The signees are a who’s who of religious leaders including former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, former U.S. Senator Rick Santorum, National Religious Broadcasters president Jerry Johnson, Pastor John Hagee, and Franklin Graham, president and CEO of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association and Samaritan’s Purse.

The pledge was crafted by Rick Scarborough, the president of Vision America Action; James Dobson, the founder of Family Talk Radio; and Mat Staver, the founder of Liberty Counsel.

“We’re sending a warning to the Supreme Court and frankly any court that crosses the line on the issue of marriage,” Staver told me.

He said that once same-sex marriage is elevated to the level of protected status – it will transform the face of society and will result in the “beginning of the end of Western Civilization.”

“I’m calling for people to not recognize the legitimacy of that ruling because it’s not grounded in the Rule of Law,” he told me. “They need to resist that ruling in every way possible. In a peaceful way – they need to resist it as much as Martin Luther King, Jr. resisted unjust laws in his time.”

Scarborough said the pledge was meant to be forthright and clear.

“We’re facing a real Constitutional crisis if the Supreme Court rules adversely from our perspective on same-sex marriage,” he told me. For me there’s no option. I’m going to choose to serve the Lord. And I think that thousands of other pastors will take that position and hundreds of thousands – if not millions of Christians.”

[jakefromstatefarm]

because as we all know, western civilization was built on the principle "Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve"

[Kara]

because as we all know, western civilization was built on the principle "Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve"

When the truth doesn't serve your needs, Koine new meanings for words.

[I'm a Puppy!]

I can see the right wing "culture war"engines starting up already. Can't run on issues, run on fear.
And I hope they do it too. Because they don't realize, they're in the minority on this one.

[Brehvolution]

“We’re facing a real Constitutional crisis if the Supreme Court rules adversely from our perspective on same-sex marriage,” he told me.

It's not about you. It's about your attitude.

[Human Snorenado]

Quick, someone ask the Morning Joe idiots how they feel about the Bridgegate investigation and their BFF Chris Christie now

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/david-wildstein-revenge-bridgegate-plea

[Phoenix Dark]

I guess Wildstein finally figured out Christie won't be elected president and can't pardon him.

[doctavius bonbon]

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[ToxicAdam]

Tbh I'm voting for the ACA's survival and up to 4 Supreme Court seats more than I am for Hilldawg.

American politics, right here. They find your wedge issue, scare you into voting a certain way, then ignore you once elected.

[Mandark]

American politics, right here. They find your wedge issue, scare you into voting a certain way, then ignore you once elected.

Other people are going to care about different shit from you.  Doesn't make them worse than you.   

[Brehvolution]

A lot of crow being eaten today with bridgegate and police indictments. 

[Kara]

They don't actually care about whether or not a police state exists, just that if it does it serves their aims.

See also: liberals whining about surveillance in illiberal states when pretty much the only way you can communicate without worrying about the NSA reading it is to use one-time pads that only exist on paper.

[Joe Molotov]

They don't actually care about whether or not a police state exists, just that if it does it serves their aims.

See also: liberals whining about surveillance in illiberal states when pretty much the only way you can communicate without worrying about the NSA reading it is to use one-time pads that only exist on paper.

Surveillance drones tho 

[benjipwns]

They don't actually care about whether or not a police state exists, just that if it does it serves their aims.

See also: liberals whining about surveillance in illiberal states when pretty much the only way you can communicate without worrying about the NSA reading it is to use one-time pads that only exist on paper.

Republicans did it first, therefore it's okay. Everything Republicans do is great. Vote for the real thing, not the rip-off!

[Phoenix Dark]

I can't wait until your gaf ban is over.

[Kara]

They don't actually care about whether or not a police state exists, just that if it does it serves their aims.

See also: liberals whining about surveillance in illiberal states when pretty much the only way you can communicate without worrying about the NSA reading it is to use one-time pads that only exist on paper.

Surveillance drones tho 

Please, you put the one-time pad in a lead canister and then you leave it at the dead drop. 

[benjipwns]

Sanders raised $1.5 million in his first 24 hours, so he might actually hit double digits in the polls: http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-politics/wp/2015/05/01/bernie-sanders-raises-1-5-million-in-24-hours-says-his-campaign/

Found this a bit amusing: http://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/240797-pa-announces-back-up-plan-if-court-cripples-obamacare

Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf (D) on Friday outlined a contingency plan for his state in case the Supreme Court guts ObamaCare.

Wolf’s plan calls for Pennsylvania to set up its own insurance marketplace if the court rules against the Obama administration in the case King v. Burwell. The case could revoke subsidies that help 7.5 million people afford healthcare coverage, but only in the roughly three-dozen states relying on the federal marketplace.

If Pennsylvania sets up its own marketplace, as 13 other states have, subsidies there would continue to flow.

“In order to protect 382,000 Pennsylvanians from potentially losing subsidies that help them afford health care coverage, I have written to the federal government outlining a contingency plan to set up a state-based marketplace to ensure no one loses their health coverage,” Wolf said in a statement.

...

Pennsylvania does not envision setting up a marketplace that it runs completely by itself. Instead, it says “Pennsylvania will assume responsibility for running the Marketplace, but will leverage the Federally Facilitated Marketplace’s (FFM’s) existing infrastructure to provide certain services.”

The state says it will work closely with the federal government to figure out which responsibilities would be on the state level and which would be federal.

So...why doesn't it try to setup a state marketplace irregardless of King?

[benjipwns]

PD, or one of our lurkers, post this in PoliGAF for me 

[Kara]

WTF at the ISIS cameo out of nowhere.

spoiler (click to show/hide)

This place.

[close]

[benjipwns]

That was seriously the best foreign policy segment of a campaign video, was like a sudden 10 second supercut of a Call of Battlefield trailer.

[brob]

http://www.samharris.org/blog/item/the-limits-of-discourse

 

[Phoenix Dark]

Republicans have a majority in the state house and senate in PA so I'd imagine Wolf might run into trouble setting up an exchange. Creating a site and everything else is also expensive.

[Joe Molotov]

 

[jakefromstatefarm]

http://www.samharris.org/blog/item/the-limits-of-discourse

 

It is time for us to admit that not all cultures are at the same stage of moral development

use Whig history to pathologize enemies of the state brehs.

American exceptionalism exists because our ideology is just more evolved or something

[Kara]

Nu atheism, for when you want to remain in the 1800s but you don't want to do the whole bowing and scraping thing.

[Joe Molotov]

DUE TO THE FACT THAT CLOSED WALMARTS STRETCH ACROSS MUCH OF THE SOUTHERN U.S., SPEAKS TO HOW WIDESPREAD THE FOLLOWING ATTACKS ARE GOING TO BE IN THIS ISIS VERSION OF THE TET OFFENSIVE.

[Joe Molotov]

#staywoke

[Phoenix Dark]

appease crazy people brehs

And apparently no one is calling him out

[Joe Molotov]

http://www.cnn.com/2015/05/03/us/mohammed-drawing-contest-shooting/index.html

...

[Kara]

How did Geert Wilders get an entry visa.

[benjipwns]

http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/give-em-hell-bernie-20150429

Bernie wasn't quite so famous at the time and the editor scratched his head. "Bernie Sanders," he said. "That's the one who cares, right?"

"Right, that's the guy," I said.

...

His chief opponents in the race to the White House, meanwhile, derive their power primarily from corporate and financial interests. That doesn't make them bad people or even bad candidates necessarily, but it's a fact that the Beltway-media cognoscenti who decide these things make access to money the primary factor in determining whether or not a presidential aspirant is "viable" or "credible." Here's how the Wall Street Journal put it in their story about Sanders (emphasis mine):

It is unclear how much money Mr. Sanders expects to raise, or what he thinks he needs to run a credible race. Mr. Sanders raised about $7 million for his last re-election in Vermont, a small state. Sums needed to run nationally are far larger.

The Washington/national press has trained all of us to worry about these questions of financing on behalf of candidates even at such an early stage of a race as this.

In this manner we're conditioned to believe that the candidate who has the early assent of a handful of executives on Wall Street and in Hollywood and Silicon Valley is the "serious" politician, while the one who is merely the favorite of large numbers of human beings is an irritating novelty act whose only possible goal could be to cut into the numbers of the real players.

...

Sanders on the other hand has no constituency among the monied crowd. "Billionaires do not flock to my campaign," he quipped. So what his race is about is the reverse of the usual process: he'll be marketing the interests of regular people to the gatekeeping Washington press, in the hope that they will give his ideas a fair shot.

It's a little-known fact, but we reporters could successfully sell Sanders or Elizabeth Warren or any other populist candidate as a serious contender for the White House if we wanted to. Hell, we told Americans it was okay to vote for George Bush, a man who moves his lips when he reads.

But the lapdog mentality is deeply ingrained and most Beltway scribes prefer to wait for a signal from above before they agree to take anyone not sitting atop a mountain of cash seriously.

THE PARTY MUST SPEAK WITH ONE UNIFIED VOICE
HE'S NOT EVEN IN THE PARTY
LIE BACK AND THINK OF HILLARY

[benjipwns]

KOCH'S EXPOSED:

Allan Dyen-Shapiro • 3 days ago
I tried to share this article on Facebook. After several others had commented, I noted that Facebook would no longer allow comments, because it was "blocked content." Facebook deleted the entire post. When I tried to re-post just the link, Facebook blocked this. Is this sabotage of Sanders' social media presence (or of Taibbi) or is Facebook just being incompetent? I'd suggest looking into this.

Erin Harris  • 3 days ago
Um, well, let's consider Facebook's cozy ties to Goldman Sachs.

W Ryan Smith  • 3 days ago
I had the same issue. I think this is a pretty big deal...

[Mandark]

oh look some comments pretty cool

[VomKriege]

PD, or one of our lurkers, post this in PoliGAF for me 

"Not minimum wage, but maximum wage"

[benjipwns]

oh look some comments pretty cool

Another neoliberal trying to suppress free speech.

[benjipwns]

Over the course of the past few decades, Allen West has had many titles bestowed on him, among them Lt. Colonel, U.S. Representative, “Dad,” and Scourge of the Far Left.

[Great Rumbler]

Why does every conservative book sound like some Star Wars fan-fiction?

Over the course of the past few decades, Jedi Knight Allen West has had many titles bestowed on him, among them Lt. Colonel, Republic Representative, “Dad,” and Scourge of the Dark Side.

[Brehvolution]

Why does every conservative book sound like some Star Wars fan-fiction?

Because it is fan fiction.

[Phoenix Dark]

I'm kind of surprised Allen West isn't running for president, unless the GOP has a "one black guy at a time" clause like The Walking Dead.

maybe he'll run for Rubio's senate seat?

[benjipwns]

unless the GOP has a "one black guy at a time" clause like The Walking Dead.

Why Colin Powell couldn't run in 1996 or 2000, Alan Keyes already beat him to it. And it's first come, first serve which is how Hermain Cain got it last time.

[benjipwns]

Candidate Update

Democrats
Announced*: Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders (Jeff Boss, Robby Wells)
PAC*: Lincoln Chafee, Martin O'Malley, Jim Webb

Republicans
Announced*: Ben Carson, Ted Cruz, Carly Fiorina, Mike Huckabee, Rand Paul, Rick Perry, Marco Rubio (Mark Everson, Jack Fellure)
PAC*: Jeb Bush, Chris Christie, Lindsey Graham, Bobby Jindal, John Kasich, George Pataki, Rick Santorum, Donald Trump, Scott Walker
Withdrew:


Independent
Announced: Terry Jones, Vermin Supreme, Waka Flocka Flame

Green
PAC: Jill Stein

Peace and Freedom
Announced: Roseanne Barr

Transhumanist
Announced: Zoltan Istvan

*Or equivalent

[Joe Molotov]

Voting for Vermin Supreme again.

[Human Snorenado]

The guy from the "Rent is Too Damn High" party should run

[Phoenix Dark]

Why does every conservative book sound like some Star Wars fan-fiction?

https://twitter.com/ScottWalker/status/595277685250732032

[Kara]

Why does every conservative book sound like some Star Wars fan-fiction?

Because they're both written for children.

[Joe Molotov]

Only let your kids read Warhammer and Bob Avakian. #ThinkOfTheChildren

[Kara]

God no, if I let them read 40K they might think phlegmatic was a normal word.

[Kara]

I don't know about y'all, but I think we should grant more surveillance powers to the state.

http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/gunman-in-mohammad-cartoon-attack-in-texas-monitored-for-years/ar-BBjahfy

[Rufus]

I don't know about y'all, but I think we should grant more surveillance powers to the state.

http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/gunman-in-mohammad-cartoon-attack-in-texas-monitored-for-years/ar-BBjahfy

Gotta collect more data that nobody knows wtf to do with.

[Brehvolution]

I don't know about y'all, but I think we should grant more surveillance powers to the state.

http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/gunman-in-mohammad-cartoon-attack-in-texas-monitored-for-years/ar-BBjahfy

Gotta collect more data that nobody knows wtf to do with.

They know what to do with it. Save it to publicly shame and/or threaten litigation should you act against government interests.

[Barry Egan]

Why does every conservative book sound like some Star Wars fan-fiction?

https://twitter.com/ScottWalker/status/595277685250732032

ARE YOU KIDDING ME.

HOLY SHIT.

[Joe Molotov]

Why does every conservative book sound like some Star Wars fan-fiction?

https://twitter.com/ScottWalker/status/595277685250732032

ARE YOU KIDDING ME.

HOLY SHIT.

(Image removed from quote.)