US Politics Thread |OT| THE DARKEST TIMELINE

[benjipwns]

Academia has spoken: http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/in-the-loop/wp/2015/02/05/scholars-rank-kerry-dead-last-in-terms-of-effectiveness/

[Kara]

AN IMPENETRABLE WALL

Even the SED couldn't do that Donald.

[benjipwns]

John C. Calhoun is the taco who compromised on "Fifty-four Forty or Fight!"

Daniel Webster had an alright term and then a shitty term where he focused on enforcing the Fugitive Slave Act as Secretary of State.

We talk about rotation and the same dopes getting into power these days, but it's mostly all underlings, it's kinda crazy how many dopes in the 19th century rotated among all the cabinet posts/Presidency/Senate constantly. Henry Clay being a prominent example. James Buchanan.

Elliot Richardson is the modern day king. Under Secretary of State, Secretary of HEW, Secretary of Defense, Attorney General, Ambassador to the UK, Secretary of Commerce. People tried to setup him for a Presidential run many times, he ran for the Senate for what became John Kerry's seat. Spiro Agnew always thought that Richardson had pushed the prosecution that drove him out so Richardson could become the Vice President and then force Nixon's resignation to become President.

Spiro Agnew was great. I wonder why there was little about him in that Buchanan book.

[Human Snorenado]

Probably because Spiro Agnew is an anagram for "grow a penis"

This Trump shit has got me all , brehs

Watching the end times, it feels like. FEELS GOOD.

[Great Rumbler]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-could-damage-the-republican-image-party-leaders-worry/2015/07/08/2ec75b4c-25ab-11e5-b72c-2b7d516e1e0e_story.html

NOBODY PUTS TRUMP IN A CORNER

[benjipwns]

One interesting thing (lol ya rite) about Spiro Agnew is that he now has this reputation as a conservative firebrand type, but he was actually one of the more "liberal" governors of his era, the main exception being he came down hard on the riots in Baltimore and he hated the media. He originally beat his Democratic opponent in 1966 by focusing on enacting more punishing anti-discrimination housing laws among other civil rights improvements, which the Democrat opposed, so Agnew swept the black vote.

During the riots he invited a large contingent of "black leaders" of Baltimore to a meeting with him on remedies, and most walked out because this is the speech he dropped:

Hard on the heels of tragedy come the assignment of blame and the excuses. I did not invite you here for either purpose. I did not ask you here to recount previous deprivations, or to hear me enumerate prior attempts to correct them. I did not request your presence to bid for peace with the public dollar.

Look around you and you may notice that every one here is a leader—and that each leader present has worked his way to the top. If you'll observe, the ready-mix, instantaneous type of leader is not present. The circuit-riding, Hanoi-visiting type of leader is missing from this assembly. The caterwauling, riot-inciting, burn-America-down type of leader is conspicuous by his absence. That is no accident, ladies and gentlemen, it is just good planning. And in the vernacular of today—"that's what it's all about, baby. "

Some weeks ago, a reckless stranger to this City, carrying the credentials of a well-known civil rights organization, characterized the Baltimore Police as "enemies of the black man." Some of you here, to your eternal credit, quickly condemned this demagogic proclamation. You condemned it because you recognized immediately that it was an attempt to undermine lawful authority—the authority under which you were elected and under which you hold your leadership position. You spoke out against it because you knew it was false and was uttered to attract attention and inflame.

When you, who courageously slapped hard at irresponsibility, acted, you did more for civil rights than you realize. But when white leaders openly complimented you for your objective, courageous action, you immediately encountered a storm of censure from parts of the Negro community. The criticism was born of a perverted concept of race loyalty and inflamed by the type of leader who, as I earlier mentioned, is not here today.

And you ran. You met in secret with that demagogue and others like him—and you agreed, according to published reports that have not been denied, that you would not openly criticize any black spokesman, regardless of the content of his remarks. You were beguiled by the rationalizations of unity; you were intimidated by veiled threats; you were stung by insinuations that you were Mr. Charlie's boy, by epithets like "Uncle Tom."

God knows I cannot fault you who spoke out for breaking and running in the face of what appeared to be overwhelming opinion in the Negro community. But actually it was only the opinion of those who depend upon chaos and turmoil for leadership—those who deliberately were not invited today. It was the opinion of a few, distorted and magnified by the silence of most of you here today.

Now, parts of many of our cities lie in ruins. You need not leave these City limits to verify the destruction and the resulting hardship to our citizens. And you know whom the fires burned out just as you know who lit the fires. They were not lit in honor of your great fallen leader. Nor were they lit from an overwhelming sense of frustration and despair. Those fires were kindled at the suggestion and with the instruction of the advocates of violence. It was no accident that one such advocate appeared at eight separate fires before the fire chief could get there.

The looting and rioting which has engulfed our City during the past several days did not occur by chance. It is no mere coincidence that a national disciple of violence, Mr. Stokely Carmichael, was observed meeting with local black power advocates and known criminals In Baltimore on April 3, 1968—three days before the Baltimore riots began.

It is deplorable and a sign of sickness in our society that the lunatic fringes of the black and white communities speak with wide publicity while we, the moderates, remain continuously mute. I cannot believe that the only alternative to white racism is black racism. Somewhere the objectives of the civil rights movement have been obscured in a surge of emotional oversimplification. Somewhere the goal of equal opportunity has been replaced by the goal of instantaneous economic equality. This country does not guarantee that every man will be successful but only that he will have an equal opportunity to achieve success. I readily admit that this equal opportunity has not always been present for Negroes—that it is still not totally present for Negroes. But I say that we have come a long way. And I say that the road we have trodden is built with the sweat of the Roy Wilkinses and the Whitney Youngs—with the spiritual leadership of Dr. Martin Luther King—and not with violence.

Tell me one constructive achievement that has flowed from the madness of the twin priests of violence, Stokely Carmichael and Rap Brown. They do not build—they demolish. They are agents of destruction and they will surely destroy us if we do not repudiate them and their philosophies—along with the white racists such as Joseph Carroll and Connie Lynch—the American Nazi Party, the John Birchers, and their fellow travelers.

The bitterness of past and present days has been brewed by words like these:

We have to retaliate for the deaths of our leaders. The execution for those deaths will not be in the court rooms. They're going to be in the streets of the United States of America.... Black people know that they have to get guns.—Stokely Carmichael: Washington, D. C., April 5, 1968

And:

To hell with the laws of the United States.... Your brothers in the ghettos are going to wake up with matches... if a white man tries to walk over you, kill him... one match and you can retaliate. Burn, baby, burn... We're going to tear the cities up....—Stokely Carmichael: Miles College, April 4, 1967

And:

Get yourselves some guns. The honky is your enemy. The brothers are now calling Detroit destroyed. You did a good job here. [This City's riot will] look like a picnic [after black people unite] to take their due. —Rap Brown: Detroit, August 27, 1967

And:

Black people are being forced to become both judge and jury. We must arm ourselves with rifles, shotguns, pistols, bow and arrows (with poison arrows), BB guns (with poison BBs), gas, rags, bottles and knives. The only way to get justice in this evil land is to kill the white devil before he kills you.—Willard Dixon in a publication, "The Black Dispatch, a voice of the Black Ghetto. "

What possible hope is there for peace in our community if these apostles of anarchy are allowed to spew hatred unchallenged?  If we are to learn from bitter experience, if we are to progress in the battle for equal opportunity, we must plan together and execute those plans together. To do this we must be able to communicate. We cannot communicate and progress if the lunatic fringes are included in the problem-solving team. 

I publicly repudiate, condemn, and reject all white racists. I call upon you to publicly repudiate, condemn and reject all black racists. This, so far, you have not been willing to do. I call upon you as Americans to speak out now against the treason and hate of Stokely Carmichael and Rap Brown. If our nation is not to move toward two separate societies—one white and one black—you have an obligation, too.

I submit to you that these men and others like them represent a malignancy out of control; that they will lead us to a devastating racial civil war. I submit to you that there can be no winner from such a conflict and that the heaviest losers will be the Negro citizens of America.

It is not too late to return to the true target of the crusade for equality. The target is the elimination of all prejudice against Negroes in America and the provision of an equal opportunity to reach the top. That target will be realized when every man is judged on his own individual merit and only on his merit. Divisiveness and the doctrine of apartheid are impenetrable barriers between us and that target. With your help they can be torn down I am sure that these remarks come as somewhat of a surprise to you; that you expected nebulous promises and rationalizations and possibly a light endorsement of the Kerner report. This I could not do.

Some hard things needed to be said. The desperate need to confront the problem squarely justified the political risk in saying them. I need your help, but your help would be of little value if you did not know and subscribe to the objectives for which I seek it. We can do much together—little apart. Blind militancy must be converted into constructive purpose. This cannot occur so long as you or I condone or cling to racism, black or white. We do not deserve the mantle of leadership unless we are prepared to wear it proudly and, if need be, defiantly.

Above all, I believe you represent the views of the overwhelming majority of Maryland's Negro citizens—responsible, hard-working, decent people who are as horrified by the events of the past days as you or I. These are the people who will be unjustly victimized by a hardening of attitudes in the responsible, decent white community—white people who clearly repudiated racism in the 1966 election—white people who could normally be expected to endorse the 1967 open housing legislation on referendum this November.

My greatest fear is this polarization of attitudes as an aftermath of violence. Next I fear that we cannot endure continuous tension over the next months—that our community cannot live in constant fear that any irrational provocation may cause racial war.

Together we must work first to prevent polarization and second to reduce tension. I will need your vision and your voice. Now as never before your articulate, responsible leadership is needed. I am prepared to do whatever I can to aid the innocent victims of last weekend's rampage, to alleviate clear abuses and to enlarge opportunity within the inner city.  We must do this—as I said in my report to the people last Sunday night—"not out of fear of reprisal but out of certain faith that it is right."

So let us begin to rebuild now—to rebuild our City and to rebuild the image of Baltimore. Let us work together—not as black and white—but as responsible citizens of Maryland who uphold the law; as concerned citizens who are united in their dedication to eliminate prejudice and poverty or any conditions which create hopelessness and despair. Let us promptly and publicly renounce any who counsel or condone violence. Let us acknowledge that we have a real stake in our society. Let us proudly acclaim our patriotism and our recognition that no other nation in the world offers such opportunity.

The fiction that Negroes lack any opportunity in this country is dispelled by the status of those of you in this room.  As Thomas Jefferson said, nearly two centuries ago, "With all the imperfections of our present government, it is without comparison the best existing, or that ever did exist."

That's what propelled him to national and conservative fame and Nixon's ticket.

[Mandark]

My dad actually campaigned for Agnew for governor, because of George Mahoney's segregationist platform.  Talk about the lesser of two evils.

[benjipwns]

[Great Rumbler]

Totally false reporting on my call with @Reince Priebus. He called me, ten minutes, said I hit a “nerve", doing well, end!

[Brehvolution]

http://teensleuth.com/blog/?p=31077

[benjipwns]

http://www.politico.com/story/2015/07/martin-omalley-offers-attack-on-wall-street-119885.html

Former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley on Thursday unveiled a sharp attack on Wall Street, looking to gain ground on a surging Sen. Bernie Sanders and to increase pressure on Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton.

O’Malley’s campaign said the former governor would send “an open letter to the Too Big To Fail Wall Street mega-banks telling them how — as President — he will pursue every avenue to put in place real structural and accountability reforms that will rein in their reckless behavior.” O’Malley also released what the campaign billed as “a comprehensive policy plan” that would “bring real enforcement to Wall Street and implement critical reforms to limit taxpayer exposure to Too Big To Fail banks.”

https://twitter.com/Phil_Mattingly/status/619132669973151745

The first footnote in @MartinOMalley's Wall Street white paper actually sources to a satirical news story/site

http://dailycurrant.com/2014/09/26/eric-holder-takes-77-million-job-with-jpmorgan-chase/

[Kara]

[Samson Manhug]

Why are baby boomers so bad at detecting satire online? We're there not any millenials on his staff fact checking this stuff? It's dumbfounding.

[Phoenix Dark]

I'm pretty sure some 23 year old greenlit that shit, bro.

[Samson Manhug]

Young Bernie Sanders or Steve Contra?

[Great Rumbler]

[benjipwns]

[ZephyrFate]

Holy fuck do I want Bernie Sanders as President real bad. 

[HyperZoneWasAwesome]

Holy fuck do I want Bernie Sanders as President real bad. 

I can't figure out if the best thing about it would be Bernie's progressive policies possibly becoming reality, or the conservative pundit class about face on Obama and how "He wasn't so bad, not like this schmuck we've got now."

Everyone calling B-Rock a dangerous socialist now would have their friggin hearts explode once President Sanders sics the justice department and the IRS on the Wall Street class.

[benjipwns]

the conservative pundit class about face on Obama and how "He wasn't so bad, not like this schmuck we've got now."

This will probably happen regardless: http://thedailyshow.cc.com/videos/0p8epr/republicans-miss-bill-clinton

[ZephyrFate]

Holy fuck do I want Bernie Sanders as President real bad. 

I can't figure out if the best thing about it would be Bernie's progressive policies possibly becoming reality, or the conservative pundit class about face on Obama and how "He wasn't so bad, not like this schmuck we've got now."

Everyone calling B-Rock a dangerous socialist now would have their friggin hearts explode once President Sanders sics the justice department and the IRS on the Wall Street class.

The conservative tears would become a flood. We couldn't possibly drink them all.

[benjipwns]

http://thefederalist.com/2015/07/08/bernie-sanders-is-the-future-of-the-democratic-party/

Bernie Sanders Is The Future Of The Democratic Party
Maybe Bernie-mania! will finally lift the stigma of 'socialism' so we can have an honest debate.

“The rise of Bernie Sanders is proving awkward for the Democratic Party,” contends Politico in a recent piece about the surprisingly popular socialist presidential candidate.

Well, maybe it’s not that surprising. And it’s probably not that awkward. Politico could have just as easily declared: The rise of Bernie Sanders is a completely predictable outcome of the Democratic Party’s trajectory. Or, maybe, the rise of Bernie Sanders portends a socialistic future for the Democratic Party.

After all, while the press had fun detailing every rightward lurch of the conservative movement, not only has the “socialist surge” been a restive force within Democratic Party politics during the Obama Age, it’s been making tremendous policy progress.

Although we rarely frame politics in these terms, as a philosophical matter, we’ve often been engaged in a debate that pits the theories of eighteenth-century liberalism—the kind that brought us the constitution and limited government—against ideas first embraced in nineteenth-century Marxism. Is there any doubt the Left’s grassroots is driven by the latter, whether it’s intuitively or on purpose? Just think about the emotional core (often confused as an intellectual position), the rhetoric, and the focus that propels most ideas liberal toss around about inequality, plutocracy, “democracy” and role of government in our lives.

...

Sanders correctly points out that his positions on higher minimum wage, pay equity, and other state interference in markets enjoy high approval rating with most voters. “It is not a radical agenda,” he says. “In virtually every instance, what I’m saying is supported by a significant majority of the American people.”

This is almost true.

What is wholly true is that big majorities within the Democratic Party support these policies and they would probably go a lot further if they could. Hillary is lucky there isn’t a more compelling and charismatic candidate making a more comprehensive socialistic case to Americans as there was the last time around. The difference between her adopted position and his real one is scope.

That’s not to say Democrats are unadulterated socialists, sitting around and studying communist theorists in their spare time, any more than small-government conservatives are opposed to every state-run program. But today, many prefer policies that would be referred to as socialist anywhere else in the world. And the stigma attached to the word is slowly, and fittingly, disintegrating.

...

So the awkwardness surrounding Sanders’ candidacy—one that is supposed to make Hillary seem more reasonable—is that he is running with almost indistinguishable philosophical positions from the front-runner.

...

Now, of course, Sanders will not win the Democratic Party nomination. I’m skeptical he’s even as popular as polls claim. Still, he’s moved to the ideological center of the Democratic Party without changing at all. So will his ideas. Democrats will not pull back once they get their $10 minimum wage. They will not be content once universal pre-K is passed. They will not be satiated after the next round of unilateral Environmental Protection Agency intrusions into the energy markets are instituted. And liberals will not never concede that health care is now working so we won’t need any more government involvement.

Liberals may not believe in controlling the means of production, but many do believe in tightening controls enough through regulatory regimes and laws that they can dictate the outcome in markets they do care about. When the downturn hit us, Americans witnessed an unprecedented array of interventions, producing the weakest recovery in history. When oil prices spiked, and the populist rage against energy companies was reaching a crescendo, a Rasmussen poll found that a plurality of Democrats (37 percent) supported outright nationalization of the oil companies. When the health-care debate was at its most overwrought, a New York Times/CBS News poll found a majority supporting a government-run insurance company.

Today, almost every major liberal interst group supports some sort of enhanced collectivism. The notion that we have inherent rights—without even mentioning economic freedom—are laughed at by Left as if it were some sort of antiquated or alien concoction. Even positions that could be argued on grounds of individual freedom, like gay marriage, are now deteriorating into acts of coercion.

Over at Commentary, Noah Rothman points out the double standard in the media’s coverage of Todd Akin and Bernie Sanders. He’s right. The contradictory coverage is, no doubt, in part due to some in the media finding Sanders’ economic philosophy far more palatable than Akin’s offensive pseudoscientific mumbo jumbo. But it has to be said that Akin’s comments were much farther out of the mainstream on the Right than Sanders’ positions are on the Left. And the efforts to remedy the supposed moral imperfections of capitalism through force has led to more pain and suffering than anything Akin could ever say. Sanders might be treated as an outlier. But really, it’s more likely he’s the future.

[benjipwns]

Just one Mandark, please, just one, I promise:

mustang6984  JEFFREY CROSBY • 2 hours ago
LOL!!! No...I don't live in anger mode. That is the 2nd time you have tried to lay that on me. I do hope you don't try to make a living out of profiling...because if you do...you are going to be fired soon!

They do polls because that is what news reporters do. Doesn't mean they have any value, or are even CLOSE to being correct. If you believe for one minute that they ARE correct...then you are terribly naive.

And if I am correct (and I am rarely incorrect) Billary being like Obama...will assure us that she is NEVER POTUS.
Actually...I have said it before (in '07-'08) and I am still saying it...Billary will NOT be the nominee of th4e Donkey Party. In fact, after January 20 , 2017...she will NEVER again see the inside of the White House unless she is on a tourist visit. She won't live long enough to see 2024. Her health isn't all that great.

She will NOT be the nominee. Her own party leadership does NOT want her around. They torpedoed her in '08...and they have already torpedoed her this year. Remember...it was her own party that released info on the mail server...and the "donations" to her "family charitable trust". That did not come from the other side...it ALL came form her side.
She has accomplished NOTHING as a senator...8 years of flapping her gums, but authored NO legislation of any meaning.
As SoS she was such an utter failure that we not have ISIS, Putin on a tear, and Syria embroiled in a nearly 4 year civil war. She was one of if not THE worst SoS in the history of the country!
And being First "Lady" is not a qualification to be POTUS. (and according to Marines and Secret Service...the term "Lady"...was not the description used for her with a straight face...as she is far from being one.

She has NEVER been responsible for a payroll, never written a budget and has NO concept of team work (ask her former staff from her last run at the White House, or her SoS staff.

She is unqualified.

[Barry Egan]

yep, that sure was a post on the internet alright.

[benjipwns]

You're a post on the internet!

[Kara]

Donkey Party sounds like a bachelor party, not a disparaging nickname.

And if being responsible for a payroll is a presidential qualification I can't wait for ADP to run against Paychex in a presidential election that demonstrates the absurd horizon of legal personhood.

[Phoenix Dark]

Dunno if I can carry Michigan for you in 2024 Glen, given the gentrification of Detroit+rightwing towns growing as young people flee.

[team filler]

why does he do all these in the lobby

[ZephyrFate]

Technically I was in charge of a payroll when I managed a store in 2007.

Glen Shinobi/Phoenix Dark 2024!

So in 2032, we'll have the nation's first sexually confused President?

[benjipwns]

You think Walrus can make it through a full term, especially two, without leaving a massive paper trail to some hit on a sports figure, etc.?

[benjipwns]

Today's Benji's Shitty Political Digest
http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/07/11/us-usa-election-idUSKCN0PL0DA20150711

Donald Trump, who became the center of attention in the race for the 2016 Republican U.S. presidential nomination with his denunciation of illegal immigrants from Mexico, has vaulted into a virtual dead heat with Jeb Bush atop the field, a Reuters-Ipsos poll released on Saturday showed.

Trump, a billionaire real estate developer, had the support of 15.8 percent of respondents in the online poll of self-identified Republicans compared to 16.1 percent for Bush, a former Florida governor.

They were followed by New Jersey Governor Chris Christie at 9.5 percent, Kentucky Senator Rand Paul at 8.1 percent, surgeon and author Ben Carson at 7.2 percent and Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker at 5.8 percent.

However, given a choice of three candidates - Bush, Trump or Florida Senator Marco Rubio - Bush had a comfortable lead at 42 percent among the respondents in the Reuters-Ipsos Republican poll, compared to 28.4 percent for Trump and 20 percent for Rubio.

Anthony Weiner has a question for Bernie Sanders...

Sanders has been drawing crowds of thousands at his rallies and is quickly becoming the main primary rival of Democratic frontrunner Hillary Clinton. I totally get Bernie Mania. However, I’m deeply conflicted about it.

My wife works for Hillary so there’s that. But I’m also torn because I don’t really understand what he is doing.

I served with Bernie and he is my kind of politician — a progressive guy with some New York City attitude. It’s hard not to love Bernie Sanders. The Brooklyn accent perfected at Madison High School and Brooklyn College and the rumpled mad scientist look are perfect compliments to his colorful and unyielding presentations.

Still, I have one major question for Bernie. What exactly does he think he’s doing in a Democratic presidential primary? Why is he asking for the nomination of a party he always avoided joining?

Independent Bernie Sanders seemed to like this question. He probably got it a lot. He would tell me that I shouldn’t confuse the fact that our voting records generally matched with party agreement. He was a proud socialist and thought the institutional Democratic Party was too cautious and lacking imagination. As much as I prodded, I would never get him to think about joining the Democrats for a moment.

In fact, Bernie always got me fired up to make the fighting wing of the Democratic Party feistier. So much so, that I loved it when my less clever right wing opponents would decry Obamacare as “socialism”. Bernie and I would remind these blockheads that giving people tax credits to buy a product from a giant corporation is hardly socialist.

There’s no question Bernie’s leftist agitating is filling a void in this primary process. The Democratic Party has a strong primal scream element right now. It expresses itself in frustration that the high expectations of change that came with President Obama have not been met. It howls at the failure of candidates who hew to the middle of the road and it feels the need to counter the batshit crazy it sees dominating the debate on the other side of the aisle.

Our party needs a kick in the butt. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Massachusetts), Paul Krugman, and Jon Stewart are currently the standard bearers for that sentiment.

But Bernie Sanders? I just don’t know.

After a career of steadfastly insisting that the Democratic party was not his home, now he wants to not only be a member of the party but its standard bearer? What changed?

Is Bernie’s newfound party affiliation just a practical decision to run in a party that can win rather than risk being a Nader-esque spoiler on a third party line in November? That’s a fair calculation, but doesn’t it wipe away Bernie’s three decades of standing as a principled Socialist?

Many times over the course of his career Bernie has repeated the line that his independence made him more able to speak truth. He argued forcefully that being a Socialist was his identity and not function of political expediency. Well, duh, nobody chooses to be a Socialist to smooth their political path. Yet, as 2016 approaches, here he is filing papers all over the country presumably declaring himself a member of the Democratic Party.

Bernie is right about a lot of things. He is right that a Medicare for All health care program is a simpler, cheaper and more American solution to our health care needs than a jury rigged system that is better under Obamacare but still has too many gaps. And his battle cry on behalf of working Americans is almost as good as Hillary Clinton’s.

In spite of all this, if Bernie wants to lead this party, he needs to explain what he's doing here in the first place.

[Kara]

No Diablos, but Trump is giving me horrible deja vu of the Arnold running in the recall election variety.

[Phoenix Dark]

All Trump is doing is making sure the eventual GOP nominee does worse or as bad as Romney did with Hispanics (and thus loses the election).

I'm starting to wonder whether the GOP will ensure candidates have to release financial statements in order to enter the debates. Perhaps that could ensure he doesn't participate.

[Barry Egan]

I'm starting to wonder whether the GOP will ensure candidates have to release financial statements in order to enter the debates. Perhaps that could ensure he doesn't participate.

Fox News is already doing this.  Trump, however, has stated multiple times that he will file the information on time and is actively in contact with Fox in order to make sure he jumps through every necessary hoop.  Back to the drawing board.

[Barry Egan]

Scott Walker's campaign made a thing.

[Phoenix Dark]

Grats on the campaign job Benji.

[benjipwns]

http://www.bloomberg.com/politics/articles/2015-07-13/santorum-jumps-to-right-of-cruz-walker-on-same-sex-marriage-constitutional-amendment

Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum said Monday he wants a constitutional amendment that defines marriage as between a man and a woman in all 50 states, less than three weeks after the Supreme Court legalized same-sex marriage nationwide.

“I believe we need a national standard for marriage. I don't think we can have a standard from one state to another on what marriage is,” Santorum told reporters at a breakfast in Washington hosted by the Christian Science Monitor, adding that he wants “to define marriage the way it was defined for 4,000 years of human history.”

The remarks put Santorum to the right of rivals such as Texas Senator Ted Cruz and Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker, who are pushing a different kind of constitutional amendment that would allow states to decide whether to allow or ban same-sex marriage, rather than an amendment that would set a national standard.

“I think that's a mistake,” Santorum said of their positions. “I argued that 10 years ago when others wanted to do that 10 years ago. You can't have a hodgepodge of marriage...it just creates too much confusion out there on a variety of different levels.”

http://www.politico.com/story/2015/07/donald-trump-mexican-drug-lord-escape-joaquin-el-chapo-guzman-120012.html

Taking to Twitter on Sunday, Donald Trump used the escape of notorious drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman this weekend to criticize Mexico, the Media and fellow candidates for president.

The mogul/reality TV host turned candidate for president, wrote: “Mexico’s biggest drug lord escapes from jail. Unbelievable corruption and USA is paying the price. I told you so!”

He continued his posts through the day: “Now that the Mexican drug lord escaped from prison, everyone is saying that most of the cocaine etc. coming into the U.S. comes over border!”

“…..but that’s what I’ve been saying. Very unfair treatment by the media!”

The escape of Guzman through a prison shower area has caused a massive manhunt in Mexico and provided Trump with another chance to criticize Hillary Clinton and Jeb Bush.

“Can you envision Jeb Bush or Hillary Clinton negotiating with ‘El Chapo’, the Mexican drug lord who escaped from prison? ….”

“…Trump, however, would kick his ass!” he tweeted.

[Joe Molotov]

In a way, all of us have an El Chapo to face.

[CatsCatsCats]

Best bit of referential humor on the bore this year, Joe da god

[benjipwns]

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2015/jul/12/jim-webb-confronts-leftists-not-my-democratic-part/

Former Virginia Sen. Jim Webb, who is waging a long-shot bid for president, acknowledged Sunday that he is out of step with his own Democratic Party but vowed that he will connect with working-class Americans.

“The party has moved way far to the left. And that’s not my Democratic Party,” Mr. Webb said on “Fox News Sunday.” “We need to bring working people back into the formula.”

He said that he would be a voice for poor and working-class Americans who had been forgotten by the Democratic and Republican parties.

He invited Fox News to cover a medial clinic for people without medial insurance next weekend at a fairgrounds in remote southwest Virginia.

“They’re going to take care of about 6,000, at least, if historical records hold, people with no medical care,” said Mr. Webb. “They’ll pull 3,000 teeth. And these are people forgotten by both parties. And I think they need a voice.

[Phoenix Dark]

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/jeffrey-lord-ana-navarro-latino

[benjipwns]

Navarro tried to explain the distinction, saying she was “an American who was born in Nicaragua and was naturalized under Ronald Reagan’s amnesty.”

So which is it lady? Are you a Latino or an American?!?

Lieberals get tripped up in the contradictions of their talking points so easily.

[Joe Molotov]

Once you've been washed in the Blood of Reagan, there is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in The Gipper.

[benjipwns]

[Joe Molotov]

Is this leaked footage of the Republican Debates teaser trailer?

[benjipwns]

Kara, http://sandersisnotasocialist.com/

Unfortunately I could not find anything from BA regarding Sanders' Presidential Run. I did however find this letter to the editor of Revolution:

Bob Avakian has devoted much scientific study and analysis to understanding what sections of the people potentially can actually become “a backbone and driving force role” in the struggle for revolution—that is, basic youth and basic masses more broadly, particularly those concentrated in the inner cities—many of whom are not strictly speaking part of the proletarian class. This is not based on a superficial or mechanical analysis of the “most oppressed,” but is based on analyzing and synthesizing the changing dynamics of this society over decades.

In this connection, a crucial contradiction of the revolution which we need to be working on, which BA has identified, is the need to “be actively working on bridging this tremendous chasm between that scientifically established and grounded recognition of this real revolutionary potential, on the one hand, and, on the other hand, where the masses of these youth are at now and where they’re being pulled by the dynamics of the system.” It is beyond the scope of this letter to go more deeply into this, but this is both examined scientifically and approaches to working on this contradiction are spoken to in various articles.2
Further, very much related to this, at the same time that we are working on “bridging this chasm,” another major contradiction is that any revolution will quickly face the challenge that the forces of repression will seek to isolate, surround, and crush this most “solid base of support” for such a revolution.

BA has pointed out “that there will be a gap, a significant gap, between the most bedrock base for this revolutionary movement and other strata of the people, if that is allowed to be turned into a profound, unsurpassable gulf, and only that hard-core section of the population is moving in the direction of involvement in and active support for this struggle, then this struggle is on the way to defeat. This is something that has to be thought about and acted upon not only when the conditions do undergo a qualitative change, and there is an all-out struggle for power—but long before that, in terms of how political and ideological and organizational work is carried out.” (emphasis mine)3

Again all of this needs to be approached with a living scientific approach and method, but the essential challenge posed here is how to build a movement which would not allow the forces of repression to isolate, marginalize, surround, and possibly ultimately crush this bedrock force for revolution—and thus, likely the revolution itself (either before a revolutionary situation develops or once such a struggle for power has commenced).

In this context it is important to study what BA points towards as a crucial strategic approach to this problem: “Now, at the same time, we have to also look at this in the broader context of what we’ve described as the ‘two maximizings’ (revolutionary work among the basic masses, and revolutionary work among the middle strata, and the dialectical inter-relation of all this) as a key part of our overall approach to building the movement for revolution.”4

With this in mind, we need to take stock of and scientifically understand, and then further build on some recent significant transformations in the objective situation in relation to “the two maximizings.” Here I am speaking to the fact that people of various strata, and especially youth and students of different nationalities have, as part of taking to the streets in protest and outrage, been raising the banner of “Black Lives Matter” and “Latino Lives Matter.” This has had tremendous impact in relation to basic masses not feeling isolated and alone, and thinking that what happens to them and more importantly, what they do to resist, does not matter to others in the society; and for broader strata this represented an important development where people are now confronting the reality of what life is like for those at the “bottom of society” and coming to grips with the role of the police as enforcers of oppression and repression. Also very significant is that many from broader strata, including youth and students, have been taking a moral and political stand, willing to put a lot on the line. (We need a lot more of this. There is a great need for these types of stands and actions to grow and spread, both in terms of making a larger social impact on the society, but also in terms of the breadth of those taking such a stand. (Where were major artists, actors, and sports figures stepping out and making an honest stand in all of this? A tweet here and there will not change the world.))

I think some of the dynamic here was captured powerfully and poetically by a letter from “a former prisoner who is now an emancipator of humanity”:5

As someone who has never stepped foot in a university classroom and only caught glimpses of what life is like outside ghettos and prisons, I can tell you that when you’re cast off and counted as nothing, you often see yourself as the least able to change anything. But when you rise up against the conditions that you didn’t choose but were born into, and you see people stand with you, who come from sections of society that you learned to assume could never give a fuck, then that defeatism begins to break down and the possibility of getting rid of all this shit begins to come to life.

This advance in the “two maximizings” really is something of a revolutionary new thing, an important beginning strategic advance in building a movement for revolution, something we need to consciously “jump on,” further developing and strengthening this dynamic, both in relation to the struggle to stop genocidal persecution, mass incarceration, police brutality, and murder of Black and Brown people, and as part preparing for and laying the basis for a material force in society which can meet and defeat the strategic approach taken by the forces of repression to defeat the revolution by isolating and then crushing the bedrock force and backbone of such a revolution.

All of this must be further understood in the context of what BA has referred to as the “multi-layered, multi-colored map” in referring to the complexities involved in bringing forward a revolutionary people—this is something which is beyond the scope of this letter, but which again needs to be understood and “worked on.”6

[HyperZoneWasAwesome]

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2015/jul/12/jim-webb-confronts-leftists-not-my-democratic-part/

Former Virginia Sen. Jim Webb, who is waging a long-shot bid for president, acknowledged Sunday that he is out of step with his own Democratic Party but vowed that he will connect with working-class Americans.

“The party has moved way far to the left. And that’s not my Democratic Party,” Mr. Webb said on “Fox News Sunday.” “We need to bring working people back into the formula.”

He said that he would be a voice for poor and working-class Americans who had been forgotten by the Democratic and Republican parties.

He invited Fox News to cover a medial clinic for people without medial insurance next weekend at a fairgrounds in remote southwest Virginia.

“They’re going to take care of about 6,000, at least, if historical records hold, people with no medical care,” said Mr. Webb. “They’ll pull 3,000 teeth. And these are people forgotten by both parties. And I think they need a voice.

somehow I think those clinics do a lot less businesses in states that have fully embraced the ACA. But those guys might be too far to the left.

[Kara]

I couldn't fall asleep last night but by the second paragraph of that letter I was out like a light.

Then I read it the next morning. #meirl

[benjipwns]

[Joe Molotov]

If you're bitten by a Nuclear Iran, what would you turn into?

[Steve Contra]

If you're bitten by a Nuclear Iran, what would you turn into?

Garshasp The Monster Slayer

[Phoenix Dark]

"It's perfect! And when liberals complain we can just say that a democrat used the ad first!"

[Great Rumbler]

Poor people compared to wild animals. A good post!

[Kara]

makes u think...




about revsoc

[Joe Molotov]

At a local athetist muslim college, adjuct professor Marine Todd was teaching a class on Democracy  101, but students all agreed that Obama's Socialism was awesome and better than Democracy because it let them get all the free abortions they wanted. Marine Todd told them that if they thought Socialism was so good, then they wouldn't mind if he graded their papers based on Saul Alinsky's Rules for Radicals. The students and the ACLU agreed. When the results of their first test came back, they all got F's because they were fucking distinguished mentally-challenged and Socialism is gayer than John Maynard Keynes. Thus ends today's lesson in irony.

[benjipwns]

Then BA burst into the room and sprayed synthesis all over everybody's faces.

[studyguy]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/centralamericaandthecaribbean/mexico/11736854/El-Chapo-Guzman-vows-to-make-Donald-Trump-swallow-his-words.html

Joaquin "El Chapo" (Shorty) Guzman, the fugitive Mexican drug lord, appeared on Monday night to be taunting authorities and threatening US presidential hopeful Donald Trump while on the run.

Guzman and his supporters wasted no time lambasting Mexican president Enrique Pena Nieto as a "coward" but reserved particular ire for Mr Trump, who has accused Mexico of sending rapists and criminals to America.

A post riddled with obscenities on a Twitter account, reportedly run by the drug lord's son Ivan, said the billionaire businessman would be made to "swallow his words".

Circus show never ends.

[Steve Contra]

http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2015/07/donald-trump-campaign-ad-nazi-soldiers

[helios]

https://twitter.com/RepTomMarino/status/621021305333268480

Rep. Tom MarinoVerified account
‏@RepTomMarino
@MEPFuller but the #IranDeal is like giving up Charizard, Blastoise and Machamp for Chansey.

[brawndolicious]

I think Republicans are just really tired of not doing anything (on their agenda) for 8 years. That's the only reason I can see why Trump is in the lead of the polls, say what you want about his beliefs and competency, he sure will do something ostentatious if he gets elected.