BADGER AND BULLY

In a badgering and bullying performance that would have made House of Un-American activities interrogator Roy Cohn proud, a Republican congressman from Ohio interrupted the head of Planned Parenthood 19 times in five short minutes in a hearing on Tuesday.

Appearing at the GOP-led witchhunt — coordinated between virulent anti-abortion extremists and hard right conservatives — Planned Parenthood President Cecile Richards repeatedly came under attack from the Republican-dominated committee.





Richards was invited to appear to answer questions about the highly-edited Planned Parenthood videos created by the anti-choice activists to force lawmakers to shut off funding to the healthcare providers that mainly serves low income women.

When Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan had his opportunity to perform for the cameras, he wasted no time going after Richards and bullying her over a statement she made immediately following the release of the first edited video.

Referring to Richards’ statement where she said, “This is unacceptable, and I personally apologize for the staff member’s [ Dr. Deborah Nucatola] tone and statements,” Jordan demanded to know which statements she was apologizing for.

“Ms. Richards, if the videos were selectively edited, heavily edited, if this was entrapment, if this was all untrue, why’d you apologize?” Jordan began.

Five seconds into Richards’ explanation, Jordan made the first of 19 interruptions he would make over the next five minutes, continually raising his voice and talking over the healthcare executive.

“That she, in my judgment, had a clinical discussion …” Richards said, before being interrupted by Jordan.

“Which statements were you apologizing for?” Jordan asked. 

“It was really the situation she was in,” Richards said. 

“That raises an important question — so is what you said in your video untrue? You weren’t really apologizing for the statements made? You can’t say, ‘I’m apologizing for statements in one video,’ and then not tell us what those statements were,” Jordan said.

Richards repeatedly explained that she meant that Nucatola’s comments were “inappropriate in a clinical setting,” with congressman badgering her in an ugly way, demanding she recall comments made by Nucatola that were not true — a claim Richards has never made.

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She Has An “Almost Psychopathic Denial of Reality’

Yale professor Jeffrey A. Sonnenfeld laid into GOP presidential candidate Carly Fiorina on Monday, questioning her fitness to run the country based on her pattern of fabricating facts.

At question is Fiorina’s claim during her break-out primary debate performance this month that undercover videos from the Center for Medical Progress depicted a fully-formed fetus being picked apart by Planned Parenthood workers while its heart was beating and legs were kicking.

The clip does not exist, yet Fiorina has refused to acknowledge this.

Sonnenfeld attacked her for fabricating this and for her claims that she led Hewlett Packard through difficult times which she blamed for the company’s poor performance during her tenure.

VIDEO COURTESY OF MSNBC

“I feel like the proverbial mosquito in the nudist colony, I hardly know where to strike first,” Sonnenfeld said about claims by Fiorina that she was a good CEO of Hewlett Packard. “There’s so much wrong with this, but the thing that comes through clearest is this — if we weren’t on TV I’d say almost psychopathic denial of reality. As you saw even the creators of that hoax Planned Parenthood critique, even they say this is not the footage that she says it is.”
 

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FIORINA A HUGE PROPONENT OF ‘NEVER LET FACTS GET IN THE WAY OF GOOD STORY”

One day after being ambushed by condom-throwing Planned Parenthood supporters, Republican presidential hopeful and former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina defended the recent remarks she made about Planned Parenthood on Meet The Press. At the last Republican presidential debate, Fiorina described a video from an anti-abortion group, Center for Medical Progress, that showed “a fully formed fetus on the table, its heart beating, its legs kicking, while someone says we have to keep it alive to harvest its brain.”

The video Fiorina refers to is of a former tissue procurement technician describing an experience where she was working in the pathology lab and saw a fetus with its heart still beating. The woman interviewed said the brain was going to be procured from the fetus. However, the footage used alongside her commentary was stock footage of a fetus with its legs moving, not actual footage of what she witnessed, leading critics to point out that Fiorina mischaracterized the footage that was being shown. The supervisor the woman mentions in the tape also did not say the fetus was kept alive to harvest its brain.

Todd said to Fiorina, “Well, the footage you describe at best is a reenactment … The people that made the videos admit it’s stock footage. Yet, you went right along and said, ‘It’s Planned Parenthood.'”

Fiorina answered:

Chuck, Chuck, Chuck, Chuck, Chuck. Do you think this is not happening? Does Hillary Clinton think this is not happening? So sad that you missed the opportunity to ask Mrs. Clinton why she said, ‘Late-term abortions were only performed for medical purposes.’ That is patently false. This is happening in America today. And taxpayers are paying for it. That is a fact. It is a reality. And no one can run away from it.

There is evidence that people are more supportive of later abortions once they understand the reality of why women are getting them. The majority of South Carolina voters polled by Planned Parenthood Health Systems did not support 20-week abortion bans once they were better informed about why patients seek abortions at this stage, which are rare, such as discovering fetal anomalies.

When Todd pressed her further, Fiorina tried to change the subject by saying the Washington Post’s assertion that she misrepresented her secretarial work wasn’t credible. Todd then asked whether Fiorina thinks any of the work Planned Parenthood uses is “for good.” She said evaded the question, which was likely about Planned Parenthood’s non-abortion care, such as cancer screenings:

I’m sure it is. I’m sure it is. But you know what I find amazing? The hypocrisy of Democrats who stand up and oppose every time taxpayer funding for, say, pregnancy centers, that are also very much focused on women’s health, but no, Democrats don’t want taxpayer funding for pregnancy centers. I just visited one in South Carolina. They are all privately funded. This is hypocrisy on Democrats’ part. This is about a political slush fund. It is about the character of our nation. And yes, we should stand up and fight on this issue.

Fiorina may be referring to crisis pregnancy centers, which advocate that pregnant women do not get abortions, and are often not licensed, may provide misinformation, use scare tactics, and don’t provide the range of medical services that Planned Parenthood and various women’s health clinics do.

In the past, Fiorina has avoided questions about overturning Roe v. Wade. In 2010, she said, “Many, many voters are going to conclude while that [abortion] is a very important issue, it is frankly a decided issue. The law is clear in the state of California, where there is a constitutional guarantee to the right to an abortion. So why are we talking about a theoretical issue?”

Recently, however, she changed her position and said the decision should be overturned. Fiorina’s stance on abortion has been highly scrutinized after the debate, and has gained attention from pro-choice activists and the media, which is looking into her associations with abortion groups and previous remarks she’s made on the issue. BuzzFeed recently reported that a charity Fiorina chairs, Good360, “donated $18,022 in goods” to the Abortion Access Network of Arizona.

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ILLEGAL GUN HUGGER SHOOTS HIS PACKAGE AND THEN BLAMES BLACK MAN

A South Dakota man is currently in custody after telling police officers he was shot in the penis by a “black guy” when he actually shot himself while attempting to purchase a gun illegally, reports the Argus Leader.

Convicted felon Donald Anthony Watson, 43, was admitted to a local emergency room late at night on Sept. 6 for a gunshot wound to his penis, and told local law enforcement that he had been shot during a botched robbery.

According to the arrest report, Watson said he was shot by “a black guy (who) tried to rob” him while he was taking out the trash at his apartment.

Investigators who went to Watson’s apartment said there was no evidence of a shooting outside, but neighbors told them they heard screaming coming from his apartment earlier in the evening.

After obtaining a search warrant, officer entered his home and found blood, bullet fragments, and an empty gun case.

Pressed by police, Watson admitted that he made the story up and was looking at a handgun he was thinking about buying and placed it in his pocket where it went off, with the bullet hitting his genitals.

Watson — who refused to tell police where the gun disappeared to — has been charged with possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, possession of a firearm by a drug offender, and two counts of false reports to law enforcement.

What gun problem? Congrats Donald Anthony Watson, you are this weeks dumbass of the week!

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Roger West

WHEN GOP INSTANT HEROES TURN INTO DIPSHITS

Last nights episode of HBO's Real Time - New Rules segment- slammed Republican role models gone awry.

“Republicans have to stop being surprised when their instant heroes turn out to be embarrassments,” Maher said. “They’re so anxious to buddy-up to the forgotten good people that when a Kim Davis or a ‘Joe the Plumber’ or a Cliven Bundy come along, they rush to say ‘Now here’s a real American’ when they should be saying ‘What’s up with this asshole?'”

Maher then specifically turned his attention to Kentucky county clerk Kim Davis, the woman who has refused to comply with federal law and issue same-sex marriage licenses.

“Kim Davis turned out to be everything conservatives hate,” said Maher. “She gave birth to two children out of wedlock and she’s been married four times. According to her, the answer to ‘What would Jesus do?’ is ‘everybody.'”

Maher then recounted Cliven Bundy’s racist statements and George Zimmerman’s ongoing encounters with law enforcement, before setting his sights on Josh Duggar.

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Roger West

FIORINA USED TAX INCENTIVES INTENDED FOR RESEARCH AND EMPLOYEE HIRING TO BUY BACK STOCKS…….

Fiorina skirts law again:

Prior to being fired herself, former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina used tax incentives from the federal government, intended to increase research and development and employee hiring, to buy back stock before firing thousands of HP workers.

According to The Daily Beast, Fiorina — whose troubled tenure at HP has come under more scrutiny as she moves up in the polls for the GOP presidential nomination — was not the only high-ranking executive to take advantage of a corporate “tax holiday” and work it to her own advantage.

In 2004 Congress passed the American Jobs Creation Act of 2004 — after high pressure lobbying from Hewlett-Packard among others — that included an incentive for companies to repatriate profits stashed overseas with the understanding the money would be invested in job-creating research and development.

Instead, under Fiorina’s stewardship, HP took $4 billion of the $4.3 billion in tax breaks and funneled the money into a stock buyback program that enriched shareholders including herself. The move was done despite the fact that the act specifically prohibited the stock manipulation.

Instead of hiring more workers, HP laid off 14,500 workers due to plummeting share prices following Fiorina’s disastrous decision to purchase Compaq that caused profits to plummet.

The following year, Fiorina was fired by the HP after an acrimonious fight, but still managed to depart with a $21 million severance package.

This is not the only time Fiorina has been accused of skirting the law.

During her tenure, HP was accused of selling products into Iran despite an embargo. HP explained that the sales were made by a foreign subsidiary which was not bound by the U.S. government sanctions. Fiorina claimed no knowledge of the $120 million sale.

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Roger West

TRUMP ATTACKS PHARMA BRO

COLUMBIA, SC — Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has no idea what he would do to combat rising drug prices, but he does know how to launch a vicious personal attack.

In a press conference in Columbia, South Carolina on Wednesday, Trump sharply criticized the former hedge fund manager who has become known as the “Pharma bro,” saying the man is a “disgrace” and a “spoiled brat.”

“This young guy raised the price to a level that’s absolutely ridiculous and he looks like a spoiled brat doing it,” said Trump. “You want to know the truth? He looks like a spoiled brat. And he’s a hedge fund guy — as you know, the only one who I’m raising taxes for. They’re going to be paying up. But I thought it was a disgusting thing what he did.”

The CEO of Turing Pharmaceuticals, Martin Shkreli, has attracted attention since he hiked by 5,000 percent the price of Daraprim, a drug used to treat severe infections in AIDS patients and infants. He has since backed down as a result of the outrage, saying there were “mistakes made” and that he would lower the cost.

While an extreme example, the Pharma bro’s action highlights the bigger issue of rising pharmaceutical drug prices in the United States — an issue other presidential candidates have recently addressed. Trump, however, was unable to propose a solution.

“It’s terrible,” he said when what he would do to combat rising drug prices. “But particularly there’s something about that one — the way he raised it and to that extent. And then he sat back smug, like he was hot stuff. That guy is nothing. He is zero. He is nothing.”

When pressed on what he would do to address the issue, he again avoided the question. “Probably at some point the public is going to get him to reduce it somewhat,” he said. “But I think what he did was a disgrace. I’m sure you feel the same way.”

The Darapim price hike is not uncommon — Judith Aberg, a spokesperson for the HIV Medicine Association, told USA Today that every week she learns about another drug that has increased in price because of a change in marketing or the distributor. Recent studies have found that more Americans are cutting back in other areas because they’re having a hard time paying for their prescriptions.

Democratic presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders have both recently released plans to take on the rapidly increasing prices of pharmaceutical drugs. Clinton tweeted about the pharma bro on Monday and then announced on Tuesday her plan to cap out-of-pocket drug costs and decrease the monopoly marketing period for biologics, among other measures. Sanders linked to the recent news about Daraprim on his campaign website alongside a link to his plan to lower drug costs. And earlier this month, Sanders introduced a bill that would allow patients to import cheaper drugs from Canada.

Trump has been criticized for his inability to answer questions on actual issues. He has released a small number of policy papers including a recent one on guns which is indistinguishable from the National Rifle Association’s agenda. In a town hall with Sen. Tim Scott Wednesday night, he promised the audience that he’ll soon be releasing a tax plan that is “very long on policy.”

He also is not known for his fair business practices — he has run a scam university without a license and, despite his disdain for undocumented immigrants, hired many of them to build his newest hotel. He has also made millions of dollars by extolling a marketing company that has faced regulatory investigations in three countries for running a pyramid scheme and for deceptive trade practices.

[cross-posted from thinkprogress]

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TRUMP AND HIS FOLLOWERS PROVE THAT TROGLODYTES STILL ROAM THE EARTH

For several months, Donald Trump has campaigned for president by largely ignoring traditional notions of decency. Thursday night, however, Trump and his ignorant followers attained a new low.

At a Trump campaign rally in Rochester, New Hampshire a man in a “Trump” shirt took the microphone and said, “We have a problem in this country. It’s called Muslims.”

“We know our current President is one,” he added. “You know he’s not even an American.” 

“We need this question,” Trump replied, smiling.

Then things turned even darker, as the man discussed his beliefs that Muslims were in training camps plotting to kill.

“That’s my question. When can we get rid of ‘em?” the man said.

Trump was unfazed at the casual suggestion of cultural genocide. “We are going to be looking at a lot of different things. A lot of people saying that,” Trump said.





Notably, Trump did not correct or object to the man’s false characterization of Obama as a Muslim.

Trump also did not dispute the man’s contention that Obama was not an American. Trump has been one of the most prominent “birthers,” insisting that Obama’s birth certificate from Hawaii was faked.

In 2008, a woman at a John McCain event insisted that Obama was “an Arab.” “No ma’am,” McCain replied. “He’s a decent, family man, citizen that I just happen to have disagreements with on fundamental issues.”

Trump currently leads the GOP field by 10 points.

The man directing the question to Trump, congrats asshat, you are today’s most stupid person of the week. Enjoy numbnutz!

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Roger West

HUCKABEE OFFERS UP EXPLAINATION WHY KIM DAVIS CAN DISCRIMINATE

Extreme right wing nut job Mike Huckabee has been the most vocal supporter of Kim Davis, the Kentucky county clerk jailed for refusing to issue same-sex marriages licenses. He has said he would go to jail on her behalf and has used her situation to argue for strengthening “religious liberty.” But during Wednesday night’s GOP debate, he proved he doesn’t actually understand the meaning of religious freedom.

In response to a question about Davis during the debate, Huckabee argued that she should be allowed to exercise her religious beliefs and discriminate against same-sex couples because the United States has allowed others, including prisoners, to exercise their own religious beliefs.

“We made accommodation to the Fort Hood shooter to let him grow a beard,” Huckabee said. “We made accommodations to the detainees at Gitmo — I’ve been to Gitmo and I’ve seen the accommodations that we have to the Muslim detainees who killed Americans. You’re telling me that you cannot make an accommodation for an elected Democrat county clerk from Rowan County, Kentucky?”

He continued, alleging the only difference is the “criminalization of her faith.”





The First Amendment guarantees Americans the freedom to practice their religions, but does not guarantee someone the right to discriminate and deny other people their rights because of his or her religion.

Davis was released from jail last week and returned to work — she has said she will not interfere with her deputies as they issue same-sex marriage licences.

Huckabee made a similar false comparison in an op-ed he published in Fox News in which he argued that Davis should be allowed out on bail because “many of the America’s most evil and notorious serial killers, murderers, rapists, mafia bosses and presidential assassins were actually let out on bail.” He went on to list Al Capone, Ted Bundy, and Jack Kevorkian, among others, without acknowledging that none of them were held in contempt of court like Davis.

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Roger West

MAHER CONFRONTS MSNBC WITH ITS INCESSANT NON-STOP COVERAGE OF DONALD TRUMP LOVING DONALD TRUMP

Bill Maher made an appearance last night on MSNBC's Hardball with Chris Matthews, and when the topic of Trump being given so much coverage came up, Maher let them have it: On MSNBC, Bill Maher Calls Out MSNBC’s Coverage of Trump’s ‘Rambling Brainfarts’:




Maher also blasted Matthews for their continual scandal mongering over Hillary Clinton's emails and said she can't win for losing when it comes to yielding to the demands of the Republicans, and the media for that matter.

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Roger West

FERGUSON REPORT IN

On Monday, the 16-member Ferguson Commission created by Governor Jay Nixon released its report about how race and economic inequality exacerbate problems within St. Louis’ criminal justice system — and how to go about fixing it. Citing previous findings from the Department of Justice reports about racist policing, the use of excessive force, and the broken court system in Ferguson and St. Louis County, the Ferguson Commission outlined 189 specific policy solutions for lawmakers to consider in the near future.

But the commission’s report goes far beyond the policing and court issues that first inspired the investigation, painting a much broader vision to improve not only the criminal justice system but schools, public health, and poverty.

Counting police reform among its signature priorities, the commission details crucial steps to ensure “justice for all” in Missouri. It calls on police departments to direct their officers to use minimal force when protecting public and officer safety. It also suggests that the Attorney General take on use of force cases as a special prosecutor, and that a database of excessive force cases be created for public consumption.

With regard to the region’s high incarceration rate, the commission calls on courts to prohibit incarceration for minor offenses and make nonviolent offenses civil, as opposed to criminal, violations. It recommends the establishment of justice centers, where people who cannot pay off their violations can participate in community service projects instead. Moreover, the commission concludes that judges and prosecutors should not be involved in court proceedings when there is a conflict of interest.

While the report outlines policies in direct response to DOJ findings, it also delves deeper into the systemic disparities in education, public health, and economic opportunities that create problems for black and brown communities and increase the likelihood of interacting with law enforcement.

A key tenet of the policy outline, for example, is investment in a holistic childhood development model that includes comprehensive education reform. All schools, it says, should have in-house health centers that provides mental and reproductive health resources, as well as trauma services. State and local officials should also be at the forefront of ending childhood hunger, by connecting kids in need of free and reduced meals with food providers during school breaks and making Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) enrollment easier for families.

For adults, economic opportunity is imperative. The commission points to the need for a higher minimum wage, and recommends the creation of financial empowerment centers that offer “community development banking, multi-generational financial education, and convenient financial services with reasonable interest rates.” Collaboration between educational institutions and potential employers can also improve job-readiness and access, in addition to specialized job training programs.

Although the new policy guide addresses Missouri, specifically, it follows a similar set of national policy proposals released by Black Lives Matter (BLM) in August, shortly after Hillary Clinton implored BLM activists to develop a concrete policy proposals.

“There has to be some positive vision and plan that you can move people toward,” she replied, after she was confronted by BLM representatives about police brutality and mass incarceration. Explaining that former civil rights movements had action plans, she told them that making specific policy asks is the way to make change. “The people behind that consciousness-raising and advocacy, they had a plan ready to go.”

Weeks later, proponents of law enforcement reform and racial justice launched Campaign Zero, a comprehensive guide for federal, state, and local officials to follow.

While less focused on economic and health factors that contribute to discriminatory — and deadly — policing that the Ferguson Commission put forward, the campaign narrows in on national law enforcement issues that the Ferguson team overlooked, such as broken-windows policing and police union contracts that make accountability near-impossible to achieve. For instance, Campaign Zero offers specific changes to policing tactics, such as stopping people who look like they are acting nervous or people who match a generic description of a suspect, which disproportionately entrap people of color in the criminal justice system. It also calls on the removal of officer contract provisions that prevent civilians from questioning officers and leaves the power to discipline officers to police chiefs.

In addition to the Ferguson Commission report and Campaign Zero, presidential hopefuls Bernie Sanders and Martin O’Malley released their own criminal justice solutions in the last two months, including the enactment of ban-the-box laws, scrapping for-profit prisons, and the establishment of a national use of force standard.

[Crossp-posted from thinkprogress]

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LAWYER SAYS KIM DAVIS IS LIKE ABE LINCOLN

Matt Staver — a lawyer from theocratic law firm The Liberty Counsel — said on Sunday that his client, Kentucky County Clerk Kim Davis, is like President Abraham Lincoln because of her stand against marriage equality for all Americans.

Staver made the remarks in an appearance on C-SPAN after which a caller said that Davis should do her job or step down.

“Well, she is doing her job quite well,” Staver said. “By the end of this year, she will have saved the taxpayers in Rowan County $1.5 million in her first year as the elected official since 2014, so that’s quite substantial, to be able to do that.”

“Secondly,” he went on, “if we told Abraham Lincoln, ‘Abraham Lincoln, you should just go along with the Dred Scott decision. After all, it is what the racist Chief Justice Taney wrote and it’s the law of the land.’ And yet, Lincoln advocated something different than that and unfortunately because of that Dred Scott decision we had to fight a Civil War. It was a terrible time in our history.”

In the U.S. Supreme Court case Dred Scott v. Sanford, the court ruled that blacks could not be U.S. citizens, whether slaves or free. As such, they could not sue U.S. citizens in federal court in order to obtain their freedom.

The case is held by many to be an embarrassing error by the highest court in the land, with some historians calling it “unquestionably, our court’s worst decision ever.”

Staver and other Davis supporters assert that the Supreme Court’s decision legalizing same-sex marriage on a national level in June is similarly misguided.



Dred Scott was overturned by the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1866 and the ratification of the 14th Amendment of the Constitution, which says that any person born in the U.S. or its territories is automatically an American citizen.

“Talking about someone like Kim Davis,” Staver said Sunday, “she is just simply saying she wants to do her job, she does it well. Just give her a reasonable accommodation.”

Staver has made previous statements comparing Davis to Martin Luther King Jr., Rosa Parks and Jews living in Nazi Germany during the Holocaust.

“This is the Rosa Parks on the bus. If they tell you to go to the back of the bus because your skin color doesn’t match what they want, don’t go to the back of the bus. This is the time for peaceful resistance, and this is the time to stand with people who are engaged in peaceful resistance,” said Staver in an interview on Christian radio.

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Roger West

DRESSING LIKE THE SCARECROW GARNERS MAHER'S ATTENTION

VIDEO COURTESY OF HBO

Bill Maher Friday night took a shot at the husband of Kentucky county clerk Kim Davis for showing up for her nationally televised release from jail wearing overalls and a battered straw hat with a green visor.

After mocking a Florida man for being arrested for masturbating in a Burger King, and pointing out to Native American tribes that rain dances don’t work (“Rain dances don’t fucking work, people. My front lawn is now made of dirt.“) Maher turned — once again — to Kim Davis, the anti-gay county clerk who chose to go to jail rather then allow her office to give out marriage licenses to same-sex couples.

Specifically, Maher drew attention to the widely ridiculed picture of Davis and her husband Joe posing with former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee.

“New rule: Someone has to tell Kim Davis’ husband who showed up for her big release event looking like this,” Maher said , pausing for viewers to take the photo in,” That when people already think you’re brainless, it doesn't help to dress up like the scarecrow.”

A DISGUSTING TREND IS EMERGING

The New York City Police Department on Friday released a security camera video showing ex-tennis star James Blake being tackled, thrown to the ground and handcuffed by an undercover officer in a now infamous case of mistaken identity.

The incident occurred as Blake, formerly the world’s fourth-ranked player, was calmly standing by the entrance of a midtown Manhattan hotel, waiting for a car to take him to the U.S. Open.

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NEVER FORGET!

To my fallen brethren, may you rest in everlasting peace!

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Blogger-In-Chief

Roger West

WHEN IT COMES TO CONSREVATIVES - CHERRY PICKING MAN’S LAW AND GOD’S LAW - ITS THE RULE AND NOT THE EXCEPTION

Wing-Nut Mike Huckabee argued on Wednesday that the 1857 Supreme Court ruling which declared that blacks did not have a right to be citizens was “still the law of the land” even though the 14th Amendment overturned it.

During an interview with radio host Michael Medved that was obtained by BuzzFeed, the former Arkansas governor complained that he had been “drilled by TV hosts” after claiming that Rowan County Clerk Kim Davis did not have an obligation to issue same-sex marriage licenses because the Supreme Court’s recent decision on marriage equality was not “the law of the land” until lawmakers codified it with legislation.

“Because that’s their phrase, ‘it’s the law of the land,'” Huckabee explained.

“Michael, the Dred Scott decision of 1857 still remains to this day the law of the land which says that black people aren’t fully human. Does anybody still follow the Dred Scott Supreme Court decision?”

Medved reminded the candidate that the 13th Amendment had overturned slavery. And as BuzzFeed’s Christopher Massie noted, the 14th Amendment overturned the Dred Scott decision by establishing birthright citizenship.



Huckabee insisted that a constitutional amendment would not be required to overturn the same-sex marriage ruling because it was not valid in the first place.

“I don’t think that’s necessary,” the former governor opined. “Because, in the case of this decision, it goes back to what Jefferson said that if a decision is rendered that is not borne out by the will of the people either through their elected people and gone through the process, if you just say, it’s the law of the land because the court decided, then Jefferson said, ‘You now have surrendered to judicial tyranny.’”

“The Supreme Court in the same-sex marriage decision made a law and they made it up out of thin air,” he added. “Therefore, until Congress decides to codify that and give it a statute it’s really not an operative law and that’s why what Kim Davis did was operate under not only the Kentucky Constitution which was the law under which she was elected but she’s operating under the fact that there’s no statute in her state nor at the federal level that authorizes her.”

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Roger West

CAN THIS MAN POSSIBLY BE THE MOST STUPID TO EVER LIVE?

Louie Gohmert, who is possibly the most stupid person to ever hold an office in U.S. government -awkwardly invoked the Old Testament in order to condemn Planned Parenthood during a House Judiciary Committee meeting on Wednesday.

“[I] was reading about a woman that came complaining to the Prophet. She was in a city that was under siege. And she complained that another woman had talked her into a deal where the first time, they would boil her little baby and eat the child,” he said. “And then after that, they would boil the second woman’s child and eat that child. Well, let’s face it: this hearing we’ve heard over and over, ‘If it’s to save lives, it’s OK.’ I could not believe how reprehensible that was, how immoral.”

The Tea Party lawmaker was apparently referring to 2 Kings 6:29, which states that “So we boiled my son, and did eat him: and I said unto her on the next day, Give thy son, that we may eat him: and she hath hid her son.”




The meeting was called following the release of a series of videos by an anti-abortion group, the Center for Medical Progress (CMP) claiming that it showed Planned Parenthood officials saying they made a profit off of fetal tissue donations. The agency was not represented in the list of identified speakers during the hearing.

Gohmert did not mention that the CMP videos were quickly debunked following their release. He also neglected to mention that both the federal Health and Human Services Department and investigators in five states have determined that Planned Parenthood did not violate any regulations in separate investigations.

Congrats Louie, you are today’s most stupid human of the week. Enjoy numbnuts!

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Blogger-In-Chief

Roger West

HYPOCRITICAL OATHER KIM DAVIES RELEASED WITH CONDITIONS

U.S. District Judge David Bunning issued an order Tuesday afternoon releasing Rowan County Clerk Kim Davis from jail in Kentucky. She had been held in contempt for defying Bunning’s order requiring her to do her job of issuing marriage certificates.

During proceedings on Thursday, Davis was offered to avoid jail if she allowed her deputies to issue the marriage licenses. She refused, and on Friday they began issuing them. The release order requires that Davis “shall not interfere in any way, directly or indirectly, with the efforts of her deputy clerks to issue marriage licenses to all legally eligible couples.” If she refuses — as she seemed to promise to do last week — she would again be held in contempt.

The lawyers for the deputies issuing licenses were also ordered to file a “Status Report” every 14 days to confirm their compliance with the order. They are forbidden from following Davis’ “no marriage licenses” policy should she try to enforce it again.

Davis is being released just as a rally in her support, featuring Mike Huckabee and Ted Cruz and numerous anti-LGBT organizations, is set to commence outside the correctional facility where she’s been held since Thursday. The Republican presidential candidates had planned to visit her in jail, but she was released before they had the chance.

It should be noted that Davis' release from jail might not last very long. Her lawyers have indicated that she will, in fact, halt the issuing of marriage licenses in direct violation of the order.

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Blogger-In-Chief

Roger West

WING-NUT HUCKABEE IF ELECTED WOULD DEFY COURT AS WELL

Wing-Nut Mike Huckabee said on Sunday that U.S. citizens only have to follow court orders if judges get “it right,” and that he would follow his conscience as president even if it meant the type of jail time Kentucky county clerk Kim Davis is serving.

Speaking with host George Stephanopolous, the GOP presidential candidate claimed court orders only become binding upon citizens when state or federal legislatures take the ruling and codify it into law.

Huckabee — who has hitched his fading star of a campaign to the fortunes of Kim Davis, the Kentucky county clerk who is currently sitting in jail for contempt after refusing marriage licenses to same-sex couples — explained that there is no specific law Davis should have been following.

“George, can you cite for me what statute Kim Davis would be required follow in order to issue a same-sex marriage license in Kentucky when her state specifically says, by 75 percent of the voters, that marriage means one man, one woman?” Huckabee asked. “Can you cite the statute at the federal or state level that she’s supposed to follow? Even the very form that she fills out specifically lists a male and a female. Does she have the authority just to scratch that out and create her own?”

“Doesn’t she have to the duty to obey a legal order from the court?” Stephanopolous pressed.

“Well, you obey it if it’s right. So I go back to my question. Is slavery the law of the land?” Huckabee attempted as way of an explanation. “Should it have been the law of the land because Dred Scott said so? Was that a correct decision? Should the courts have been irrevocably followed on that? Should Lincoln have been put in jail? Because he ignored it.”

Turning to presidents following their conscience, Stephanopolous played a clip of President John F. Kennedy in 1960 stating: “When if the time should ever come and I do not concede any conflict to be remotely possible, when my office would require me to either violate my conscience or violate the national interest, then I would resign the office.”



“Would you make that same statement in your candidacy for president?” the host asked Huckabee.

“I can’t see any circumstance in which I would be required to violate my conscience and — and the law,” Huckabee conceded before adding, “And if so, I think maybe there is a point at which you say either I’ll resign or put me in jail.”

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DIPSHIT PALIN WANTS TO BE TRUMPS ENERGY SECRETARY

THIS IDIOT WANTS TO BE TRUMPS ENERGY SECRETARY

Snowbillie Sarah Palin says that if Donald Trump becomes president of the United States, she wants to be his Secretary of Energy.

As Palin was speaking with CNN’s Jake Tapper on Sunday, the conversation shifted to a discussion of businessman and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, who recently said that he would “love” to have her in his cabinet if he won the White House. When asked which position she would want in a hypothetical Trump administration, Palin was quick to answer: Energy Secretary.

“I think a lot about the Department of Energy, because energy is my baby: oil and gas and minerals, those things that God has dumped on this part of the Earth for mankind’s use instead of us relying on unfriendly foreign nations,” she said, using a conservative theological argument to justify wanton use of fossil fuels — an argument that has been debunked by none other than Pope Francis.

Palin went on to explain that her theoretical tenure as Energy Secretary would be short, primarily because she would immediately disband the entire department.

“If I were head of [the Department of Energy], I’d get rid of it,” she said. “And I’d let the states start having more control over the lands that are within their boundaries and the people who are affected by the developments within their states. If I were in charge of that, it would be a short-term job, but it would be really great to have someone who knows energy and is pro-responsible development to be in charge.”

Palin isn’t alone in her desire to disband the Department of Energy, a crucial component of the federal government established by President Jimmy Carter that oversees, among other things, the safety and security of America’s nuclear weapons. Several Republicans have called for its abolishment in the past, and current Republican presidential candidate Rick Perry has said in the past that he wanted to close it down, although he famously forgot the name of it during a debate in 2012.

Every time this idiots opens her mouth - she is a mockery to everything human. God help us all if this dipshit ever holds a Presidential cabinet office.

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Blogger-In-Chief

Roger West

WHITE CHIC WHO GOT BLACK MANS SPERM IN ERROR LOSES IN COURT

An Ohio judge has tossed a lawsuit filed by a white woman against a sperm bank that accidentally provided her with the sperm of a black man after she and her partner specifically requested sperm from a Caucasian man with blue eyes so their baby would look like them.

According to the Washington Post, Jennifer Cramblett filed suit against Midwest Sperm Bank in 2014 when her mixed-race daughter Payton was 2-years-old, saying the clerical error had caused her and her partner, Amanda Zinkon, “stress, pain, suffering and medical expenses.”

Stating that she loves her daughter, Cramblett asserted in her suit that her daughter would grow up feeling like an “outcast,” and that she and her partner have “limited cultural competency” around African-Americans.

“Getting a young daughter’s hair cut is not particularly stressful for most mothers, but to Jennifer it is not a routine matter, because Payton has hair typical of an African American girl,” the lawsuit reads. “To get a decent cut, Jennifer must travel to a black neighborhood, far from where she lives, where she is obviously different in appearance, and not overtly welcome.”

“Jennifer’s stress and anxiety intensify when she envisions Payton entering an all-white school,” the lawsuit continued. “Ironically, Jennifer and Amanda moved to Uniontown from racially diverse Akron, because the schools were better and to be closer to family.”

Cramblett also asserted that her own “unconsciously insensitive” family members might have trouble accepting her daughter, now 3-years-old.

DuPage County judge Ronald Sutter threw out couple’s lawsuit, agreeing with attorneys for the sperm bank who argued that “breach of warranty” and “wrongful birth” claims lacked legal merit in the case. The judge advised that the couple could refile under a negligence claim.

According to the sperm bank, which maintains handwritten records, the couple were supposed to receive sperm from donor No. 380, a white man; instead, they were given sperm from donor No. 330, a black man. The sperm bank apologized in a letter stating “we are so very sorry,” and issued the couple a partial refund.

The original lawsuit asked for at least $50,000 in damages.

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COP LIES ABOUT BEING SHOT AT

Days after Lt. Joe Gliniewicz was shot and killed in Illinois, setting off a widely publicized manhunt, a Massachusetts officer was fired Thursday for lying about being shot at and causing an hours-long manhunt the day before.

Before his termination on Thursday, the unidentified officer, who was on his way to becoming a full-time member of the Massachusetts State Police (MSP), claimed he crashed his car because a white male fired several shots at him in Millis, Massachusetts. Residents of the town were on high alert after the incident, and schools were shut down for safety precautions. But a ballistics report conducted after the alleged shooting concluded the bullets discovered in the officer’s vehicle actually belonged to him. Investigators are also looking into whether or not the officer torched his vehicle as well.

The former officer now faces criminal charges. His motive for lying has not been determined.

The fabricated story comes in the midst of media hysteria over the “war on cops.” In response to a string of officer murders (eight have been killed in 10 days), pundits have argued that “incendiary, anti-police rhetoric” has inspired a wave of cop killings. Fox News has gone so far as to call Black Lives Matter organizers — whose mission is to put an end to violence against black bodies that is largely perpetrated by police — a murder movement and hate group. It has also zeroed in on anti-police acts, such as Arby’s employees’ refusal to serve an officer in Florida.

Police officers have also said they are too concerned about public backlash to fulfill their duties, resulting in the so-called “Ferguson Effect.” The theory, which gains momentum every time an officer is killed, says there is an uptick in violent crime because officers are too weary to do their jobs.

In reality, while officer deaths are tragic and should be cause for concern, the number of police fatalities pales in comparison to the number of people killed by police every year. More than 1,000 people were killed by officers in 2014, compared to 126 officers who were killed in the line of duty. Fifty of them were shot — up from a record-low number of firearm deaths the year before, but still below the decade average. In fact, the number of officers killed by firearms annually has experienced a downward trend since the 1970s, according to the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund.

This year, 83 officers have died in the line of duty — 24 by gunfire. Motives for the killings in the last ten days have yet to be determined, and so far, no one has cited Black Lives Matter as the driving force.

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HUCKABEE SUGGESTS THAT KIM DAVIS AND LINCOLN HAVE THINGS IN COMMOM

KIM DAVIS, THE EPITOME OF TODAY'S CHRISTAIN

Mahatma Gandhi — 'I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ.'

President Abraham Lincoln has something in common with Kim Davis, according to Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee: They both nobly ignored the U.S. Supreme Court.

Davis, the now-infamous Kentucky county clerk, is refusing to issue marriage licenses to a same-sex couples, despite the Supreme Court’s recent ruling giving gay couples the constitutional right to wed. On Thursday, Davis was held in contempt of court for her refusal, and taken into custody. (Huckabee immediately condemned the decision, deeming it a “criminalization of Christianity.”)

Appearing on MSNBC this morning, Huckabee said that’s just like Abraham Lincoln, who was not in favor of the Supreme Court’s 1857 Dred Scott decision which held that African Americans were not full citizens.

“Look, you would have hated Lincoln, because he disregarded the Dred Scott 1857 decision that said black people aren’t fully human,” Huckabee said when host Joe Scarborough questioned him about his support of Davis. “[Lincoln] disregarded [Dred Scott] because he knew it was not operative, that it was not logical.”

Aside from Huckabee’s equation of marriage equality to a decision that held that black people are “so far inferior that they had no rights which the white man was bound to respect,” his comments also indicated his aversion to the Supreme Court in general. Echoing sentiments he’s expressed before, the former Arkansas governor said the high court should not be able to impose that ruling on individual states unless they’ve passed their own legislation echoing the ruling.

“When you say [marriage equality is] the law of the land, can you quote the statute that has been passed by the people’s elected representatives? No,” Huckabee said. “The only law she’s following is the Kentucky law which, by constitutional amendment, defines marriage as between a man and a woman.”

Scarborough, however, wasn’t buying it, noting that Supreme Court rulings supersede state laws. In other words, even though Kentucky’s constitution states that marriage is between a man and a woman - that became null and void when the Supreme Court ruled for federal marriage equality.

“Whether I agree with you or not on states being able to regulate this or not,” Scarborough said, “anything that Kentucky passed becomes irrelevant as soon as the Supreme Court of the U.S. makes a constitutional determination, right?”

“That’s not — no,” Huckabee answered. “That’s not true.”

Mike Huckabee, you are today’s moronic imbecile of the day, congrats!

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Blogger-In-Chief

Roger West

“BLUE KOOL-AID”

Prior to yesterdays trial start of six officers accused in the death of Freddie Gray in Baltimore, outspoken former Baltimore officer and anti-police brutality activist Michael A. Wood, Jr. discussed the need for fundamental changes in American policing.

The officers are facing a slew of charges, including second degree murder and manslaughter in the death of Gray, 25, who died with massive injuries he sustained in a police van in April. His death led to widespread protests and civil unrest which was quelled when the indictments were announced.

Wood, who retired with a medical injury, has since spoken out about his time as an 11-year Baltimore PD officer and his observations about what’s broken in the criminal justice system.

In an interview with the Real News Network, Wood said the very basis of police work is wrong. Police are measured by the number of arrests they make, not by their success in deescalating and resolving situations peacefully.

“So, you have the metric in policing, which is arrest,” he said. “So every officer is judged upon their arrests. So you don’t get credit for deescalating a situation. Say it takes an hour to deescalate a situation but you could have moved on in 5 minutes by making an arrest, well then the easy route is that you’re going to get credit for the arrest… so you may as well do it.”

Wood said there are no “official” arrest quotas, but officers that don’t make enough arrests are seen as not working hard enough, he said. As a supervisor, Wood expected his officers to make about 10 arrests a month.

“Certainly that’s part of the problem, I was pushing them for arrests,” he said. About 90 percent of what he did as an officer was “go chase drug arrests.”

He was “brainwashed” by the “blue Kool-Aid,” but began to break out of the mindset doing surveillance. That’s when the “us versus them” mentality broke down, because Wood said he was watching the people he was targeting having normal, human lives.

“We planted a tree of criminal justice in this evil soil, so everything we get out of it is going to be bad as well,” he said. “It’s the proverbial fruit of a poisonous tree, because we’re starting from a bad foundation.”

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Blogger-In-Chief
Roger West

KIM DAVIS, KENTUCKY CLERK SUFFERS FROM SABS

KENTUCKY CLERK AND SABS SUFFERER KIM DAVIS

Kim Davis, the Kentucky county clerk who has staged a weeks-long campaign of resistance to marriage equality, came under fire from an unexpected source on Tuesday — the conservative Heritage Foundation.

Davis, who suffers from the hypocritical Christian disease - which allows ignoramuses like Davis to invoke SABS [Selective Application of the Bible Syndrome] while on the job. Davis a three time divorcee; on her fourth marriage, two kids out of wedlock, and once again, refused yesterday to issue marriage licenses to a same-sex couple despite a recent order from the Supreme Court denying her request for a temporary stay enabling her to ignore the Constitution. Just a few hours later, a federal judge ordered her to appear in court this Thursday, where she is likely to be held in contempt.

RELATED: Dan Savage destroys thrice-divorced Kim Davis: ‘This is about someone hypocritically cashing in’

According to Ryan Anderson, Heritage’s most visible anti-gay voice, Davis is indeed wrong to refuse to issue marriage licenses altogether in order to spite same-sex couples who wish to marry. “The citizens of Rowan County have a right to receive in a timely and efficient manner the various government provisions—including licenses—to which they are entitled,” Anderson writes for one of Heritage’s websites.

He adds, in an argument that closely maps criticisms of the Supreme Court’s Hobby Lobby decision, that “saying your religion requires your entire office to stop issuing marriage licenses to everyone . . . cannot be reasonably accommodated without placing undue hardships on the citizens unable to receive their licenses in their county and forced to drive to another.”

Anderson’s solicitude for the Constitution, it should be noted, only goes so far. He devotes much of his piece denouncing Davis to an alternative proposal that permits individual state officials to recuse from issuing licenses to same-sex couples while also “mak[ing] clear that no one can be denied a marriage license.”

This proposal is unconstitutional. As the Supreme Court explained in Obergefell v. Hodges, the Constitution “does not permit the State to bar same-sex couples from marriage on the same terms as accorded to couples of the opposite sex.” So if an opposite-sex couple will be served by whichever clerk happens to be on duty when they arrive seeking a marriage license, a same-sex couple must be allowed to obtain a license on the same terms.

Nevertheless, the fact that this prominent anti-gay luminary believes that Davis has gone off the deep end - is a sign of just how off the reservation this lunatic is.

Kim Davis, you are today’s asshat and worst person of the world. Congrats numbnuts!

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Blogger-In-Chief

Roger West

FEDERAL JUDGE RICHARD LEON DROPS THE BALL

In a significant escalation of the birth control wars, a federal judge held on Monday that employers who object to contraception can refuse to include birth control coverage in their employees’ health plan — even if their objection to birth control has nothing whatsoever to do with religion.

Judge Richard Leon is a George W. Bush appointee with a history of handing down conservative opinions. His opinion in March for Life v. Burwell is no exception. In it, Leon holds that the March for Life Education and Defense Fund, an anti-abortion group which claims to be non-religious, may refuse to comply with federal rules requiring employers to include certain forms of contraception, even though their objections to birth control are entirely secular.

Leon’s reasoning on this issue is, frankly, hard to follow. It is even more difficult to summarize in writing. In essence, however, Leon appears to object to the government’s decision to exempt churches and other inherently religious organizations from the birth control rules without also extending this exemption to secular employers because such a rule discriminates against secular employers.

The problem with this argument is that the Supreme Court has explicitly held that when the government “acts with the proper purpose of lifting a regulation that burdens the exercise of religion” there is “no reason to require that the exemption come packaged with benefits to secular entities.”

In an apparent attempt to work around this Supreme Court decision, Leon digs up two obscure sentences published by the federal government which note that “houses of worship and their integrated auxiliaries that object to contraceptive coverage on religious grounds are more likely than other employers” to employ people who share the same view. From this statement, however, Leon deduces that the government’s real purpose in exempting certain religious employers from the birth control rules was actually to protect “a moral philosophy about the sanctity of life.” It is an extraordinary leap of logic that, even if it did reach a sound conclusion, does not obviously lead to Leon’s ultimate legal conclusion that a religious exemption must come packaged with benefits to secular entities. And yet Leon reaches this conclusion, regardless.

A separate section of Leon’s opinion sides with two March for Life employees who claim that they should be allowed to purchase an employer-provided plan that does not offer birth control coverage because they have religious objection to “participating in a health insurance plan that covers” certain forms of contraception. In a post-Hobby Lobby world, this is not a frivolous claim — although it is far from a slam dunk. In any event, the appropriate remedy if these two plaintiffs ultimately prevail is to grant them — and only them — the right to purchase a plan that does not otherwise comply with federal law.

Leon’s first conclusion that secular employers may exempt themselves from a federal rule they wish not to follow, however, goes far beyond what the Supreme Court said in Hobby Lobby.

[cross-posted from thinkprogress]

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