WHATS IN A PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE?

In his show-ending New Rules Friday night, Bill Maher revealed the secret to presidential campaign success: run as soon as you can, because the longer you wait, the more baggage you have, and the more sick and tired people are of you. Maher said this is why President Obama won in 2008, because he was a “blank canvas” upon which people could project their hopes and dreams.

Why? Because parties that nominate the “older guy who’s waited his turn,” like Al Gore or Mitt Romney, they lose, because there’s no “romance” or “mystery.” Or in the case of John McCain, “a pulse.”

Maher brought up Hillary Clinton‘s baggage, though mostly to mock how Republicans are making Monicagate a big deal, as if Hillary was “in on it.” He also took a few swipes at Chris Christie, who was a shining and well-respected candidate in 2012, but is now “350 pounds of toast.”

Maher concluded, “Politicians are like suede jackets. There are cheap ones and expensive ones, but once they get rain on them, they all look like shit.”

Watch the video below, via HBO:

NFTOS

Editor-In-Chief

Roger West

VIRGINIA MOVES INTO 21ST CENTURY.......MAYBE

Ruling by U.S. District Judge Arenda Wright Allen sets the stage for a possible Supreme Court showdown, though cases from Utah and Oklahoma also are headed that way.

So at least theoretically, Virginia is for lovers - and marriage:

A federal judge in Virginia has struck down the state's prohibition on same-sex marriage, joining a growing list of state and federal courts that have granted gay and lesbian couples the right to marry following two landmark Supreme Court rulings in June.

U.S. District Court Judge Arenda Wright Allen's ruling had been expected since the case was heard in her Norfolk courtroom last week. Also as expected, she blocked it from taking immediate effect until appeals are heard. As a result, gay marriages in Virginia cannot begin yet.

"Gay and lesbian individuals share the same capacity as heterosexual individuals to form, preserve and celebrate loving, intimate and lasting relationships," Wright Allen said. "Such relationships are created through the exercise of sacred, personal choices — choices, like the choices made by every other citizen, that must be free from unwarranted government interference."

Her decision follows similar rulings in Oklahoma and Utah, even more conservative states, where federal judges recently struck down gay marriage bans. Those cases are scheduled to be heard a week apart by a federal appeals court panel in April; the Virginia case now joins them in a race toward the Supreme Court.

And in recent days, Nevada state officials decided they could no longer defend the state's same-sex marriage ban, and a judge in Kentucky ruled that the state must recognize gay marriages from other states.





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Editor-In-Chief

Roger West

"Good Thing' James Holmes Had 100-Round Magazine

BANGING MY HEAD

A Republican state senator in Colorado stunned the father of one of the victims of the Aurora theater shooting when he claimed that it was "a good thing" that James Holmes had a 100-round magazine.





During a Wednesday hearing about overturning the state's ban on magazines larger than 15 rounds, Democratic state Sen. Irene Aguilar pointed out that Holmes would have never been able to legally buy the arsenal he used to slaughter 12 people and injure 70 others.

“My understanding is that James Holmes bought his 100-round capacity magazine legally,” Aguilar told Republican state Sen. Bernie Herpin. “So in fact, this law would have stopped James Holmes from purchasing a 100-round magazine." 

“I was wondering if you agree with me," she asked. 

“Perhaps, James Holmes would not have been able to purchase a 100-round magazine,” Herpin admitted. 

“As it turned out, that was maybe a good thing that he had a 100-round magazine, because it jammed," he added. "If he had four, five, six 15-round magazines, there’s no telling how much damage he could have done until a good guy with a gun showed up.”

Of the 76 shell casings found by investigators after the shooting, 65 were fired from Holmes' .223 caliber assault-style rifle with the 100 round magazine.

Tom Sullivan's was also at the Capitol on Tuesday to oppose repealing the high capacity magazine ban because his son, Alex, was one of the victims of the theater shooting.

“I’ve had a lot of thoughts since July 20, 2012, but never once did I think anyone was better off because the shooter brought a hundred round drum into that theater,” Sullivan insisted. “Alex never had a chance. He was watching a movie one second and the next he was dead. The fact is, if the shooter had to change his magazine that would have been a chance for Alex to survive.”

“The lack of empathy and compassion is shocking,” Sullivan later told KDVR. “Not just to me and my family, but to all of the families who have lost loved ones to gun violence and to all the people of Colorado."

Sullivan observed that it was almost unthinkable that voters had decided to replace former Senate President John Morse with Herpin in a recall election over the new gun control laws.

But with public support beginning to once again swing back in favor of the gun control measures, Democrats suggested that the issue was backfiring on Republicans.

“Thanks for giving us back your seat,” one Democratic staffer was heard saying at the hearing on Wednesday. Herpin is up for re-election in November.

These gun nuts - The guy with the small magazine is always a well trained Olympic level shooter who can switch magazines in a blink of an eye; The guy with a large capacity drum is a buffoon ready to shoot himself when his gun slips out of his hand; and there is always a John McClane good guy who can persevere regardless of injuries who will always show up if we just make sure we don't screw him up by making him register his gun.

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Roger West

NIKKI HALEY AMPS UP STUPID

South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley signed a law Tuesday to allow those with concealed carry permits to bring their guns into bars and other establishments that serve alcohol. But that was just the tip of the iceberg for Haley. As she signed the bill, she said she’d like to see another Senate proposal passed to eliminate the permit requirement entirely and allow open carry in the state.

“Criminals are dangerous, and I think that every resident should be allowed to protect themselves from criminals,” she reasoned.

Permit requirements are typically separate from laws that govern who can buy and possess guns in the state. In South Carolina, as in most states, the permitting requirement actually makes it harder for those with criminal backgrounds to be the ones toting the guns. While some crimes — violent felonies — bar individuals from buying or possessing a gun in the first place, a larger list of crimes bars individuals from carrying those guns outside their homes. What’s more, those who seek a permit are required to undergo firearms training. And permits must be re-issued every few years, allowing the state an opportunity to check for new crimes committed after an individual initially purchased a gun. Ending the permit requirement would eliminate both firearms training and the more probing, follow-up background checks that now exist.

South Carolina current prohibits open carry of guns, and sponsors say the bill would remove that limitation also.

Until 2007, Vermont was the only state that had a law eliminating permit requirements. But in the past few years, model legislation known as the “Constitutional Carry Act” has been introduced in many states, and become law in Wyoming, Arizona, and Alaska. Arkansas also passed a “Constitutional Carry Act” that seems to dispense with the permitting requirement, although it is still distributing permits.

South Carolina is one of the deadliest states for gun violence. The state sees a gun death every 14 hours. Police officers and women victims of domestic violence are particularly likely to be killed by a gun in the state.

The “Constitutional Carry” bill was introduced by State Sen. Lee Bright, who is running for U.S. Senate. Even with Haley’s support, the South Carolina bill faces significant opposition from state legislators and is unlikely to survive the Senate this time around, according to the State.

What's next Nikki, do away with police departments? Congratulations Nikki Haley, you are today's asshat of the day.

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Editor-In-Chief

Roger West

WHO KNEW? REPORT SHOWS MILITARY AIDE WOULD NOT HAVE CHANGED OUTCOME OF BENGHAZI

In a new report released on Tuesday, the House Armed Services Committee concludes that there was no way for the U.S. military to have responded in time to the 2012 terrorist attack in Benghazi, Libya to save the four Americans killed that night. In doing so, the report debunks entirely a right-wing myth that says the White House ordered the military not to intervene.

For months after the attack that resulted in the death of U.S. Ambassador to Libya J. Christopher Stevens, conservative media was awash in reports that on the night of the assault the Obama administration at some point ordered the military not to take action that would have saved lives. This supposed “stand down order” led to a bevy of right-wing conspiracies about why the President and his administration had let the Americans die.

“Who told the SEALs to stand down?” Rep. Steve King asked in Nov. 2012, in just one of many interviews with Republicans referring to the response to Benghazi as “worse than Watergate.”

As Media Matters reports, Fox News cited reports of a stand-down order no fewer than 85 times during prime-time segments as of June 2013. As the new report — which the Republican majority of the committee authored –makes very clear in its findings, however, no such order ever existed. “There was no ‘stand down’ order issued to U.S. military personnel in Tripoli who sought to join the fight in Benghazi,” the report says, noting that the military was not positioned to respond to the attack.

“Given the military’s preparations on September 11, 2012, majority members have not yet discerned any response alternatives that could have likely changed the outcome of the Benghazi attack,” the report concludes.

This tracks with the repeated insistence from the White House and Pentagon over the months that everything possible had been done once the military assets in the region had mobilized. Then-Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta, in the first Senate hearing on the military response, told panel members that it’s impossible to prepare for every possible contingency when planning, accusing the panel of believing the military was akin to a “911 service.”

While Senate Republicans chided Panetta at the time, it seems Republicans on the HASC now agree with the secretary’s assessment. “Majority members believe the regional and global force posture assumed by the military on September 11, 2012 limited the response,” the report continues. “Majority members recognize, of course, that it is impossible for the Department of Defense to have adequate forces prepared to respond immediately to every conceivable global contingency. Ensuring that preparations exist for some likely possibilities is not to be confused with the ability to anticipate all prospective circumstances, especially in highly volatile regions.”

The night of the attack, the United States had few military assets within the region, the report reads, requiring the transport of soldiers from U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM) stationed in Germany to Libya, a trip that took several hours. Once there, the majority of the reinforcements were given the order to remain in Tripoli to prevent a possible attack on the U.S. Embassy itself, a distinct possibility in the eyes of the Pentagon. The Pentagon also confirmed to the HASC that there were no AC-130 gunships or armed drones within the region that night, another topic of speculation from right-wing media outlets.

The Democrats on the panel asked their Republican colleagues if they could finally move on from Bengahzi. “This report, produced by House Armed Services Committee Republicans, should finally bring an end to the politicization of the heinous attacks on brave Americans in Benghazi,” HASC Ranking Member Rep. Adam Smith and Rep. Niki Tsongas, the HASC Oversight and Investigations subcommittee’s ranking member, said in a statement. “It is time to move forward, take the real conclusions we have arrived at and establish how to best protect our citizens around the globe. It is our hope that today’s report, which was authored by Republicans, finally brings this attempt to manufactured scandal to an end.”

Cross-posted from thinkprogress

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STAFF WRITER

CARBON POLLUTION INCREASE? IF TED CRUZ HAS HIS WAY

Sen. Ted Cruz announced Monday that he plans to introduce an omnibus energy bill that will focus on scaling down regulation and scaling up production in the oil and gas industry.

Cruz, speaking at the Heritage Action for America’s Conservative Policy Summit in D.C., said he was introducing the American Energy Renaissance Act to stop the federal government from preventing America’s “energy renaissance” — the ability to access underground natural gas and oil stores that Cruz said is “providential blessing” for the country. The announcement heralds a change of focus for Cruz, who has devoted much of his attention over the last few months to Obamacare and gun rights.

“The energy revolution didn't come from the U.S. Department of Energy,” Cruz said during his speech Monday. “It didn't come from a grant program picking, ‘this is how were going to transform energy.’ It came from entrepreneurs.”

Here’s what Cruz said the American Energy Renaissance Act will do, if it’s passed:

Prevent the federal government from regulating fracking. Fracking is excluded from many federal environmental laws, leaving it up to the states to develop their own regulations on the practice. Cruz’s bill would prevent the federal government from ever imposing regulations on fracking, which has been linked to earthquakes (including in Texas) and has been found to produce billions of gallons of toxic waste-water.

Approve Keystone XL. Cruz said that Keystone XL should be a no-brainer for all of America, even the “Birkenstock-wearing, tree-hugging Greenpeace activist,” because it will reduce our dependency on oil shipped across the ocean and therefore reduce the threat of oil spills (Cruz didn't mention the risk of spills from Keystone XL, which won’t come equipped with the latest spill-detecting technology). The southern leg of the Keystone XL pipeline runs through Texas. 

Force Congress to vote on EPA regulations. Cruz said forcing Congress to vote on EPA regulations that “kill jobs” would help end President Obama’s War on Coal. EPA regulators don’t need to be held accountable to citizens when making these regulations, Cruz said members of congress do, and they likely won’t vote for environmental regulations if people in their home state are worried about those regulations killing jobs. In reality, the 30-year decline in coal jobs in Appalachia in particular is due more to increased automation of mining and competition from cheaper coal out West than to power plant regulations.

Increase drilling on public lands and Native American lands, and allow states to lease energy development on federal lands. Cruz said that Native Americans are being kept in poverty because of federal regulations that make drilling permits on Native American land difficult to obtain. He also said states could “do a better job” than the federal government at deciding how to use the oil and gas resources on federal land. A 2013 poll of Western states, however, found that Westerners opposed turning authority of federal public lands over to the states.

Increase offshore exploration. Despite environmental concerns, offshore drilling may experience an increase even without Cruz’s bill — the U.S. Department of Energy expects offshore oil production from the lower 48 states to grow 18 percent from its 2011 level by 2020. 

End the ban on crude oil exports and reduce regulatory barriers to exporting coal. The call to end the U.S.’s crude oil export ban has been echoed by other lawmakers, including Sen. Lisa Murkowski, but most environmental activists oppose ending the ban, saying exported oil and gas will only increase carbon emissions and could even increase the price of gas.

Cruz, has said there “remains considerable uncertainty” about what is causing climate change, also told the Heritage audience Monday that he was surprised it was so cold in D.C. “Al Gore told us this wouldn't happen,” he said.

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STAFF WRITER

DMX WILL NOT GET THE CHANCE TO BEAT THE SHIT OUT OF ZIMMERMAN

On February 4, fake-fight promoter Damon Feldman announced that he’d brokered a boxing match that was even more splashy and controversial than the pairings he’s brokered in the past. The plan was to have the rapper DMX fight George Zimmerman, the former Florida neighborhood watch captain who last year was acquitted in the shooting death of teenager Trayvon Martin under the state’s so-called Stand Your Ground law. The stunt was met with widespread horror. And today, Feldman announced that he was calling it off.

Feldman tweeted:

The George Zimmerman fight is canceled I'm sorry for anyone I hurt with this but this was a very big opportunity thank you
— Damon Feldman (@hollywoodbox11) February 8, 2014

It’s a statement as telling as the original plan for the fight, which likely would have been staged because of the small probability that Feldman could have found a state or tribal jurisdiction to approve it.

Feldman, who’d initially suggested that the possibility of visiting violence on George Zimmerman would have been some sort of twisted justice, didn’t acknowledge that he’d come to understand just how wrong that idea was. Instead, he said he was sorry if he hurt anybody, “but this was a very big opportunity,” one he felt he apparently had no choice but to take.

It’s remarkable that Feldman’s capable of appealing to capitalism to suggest that he was justified in exploiting a grotesque national tragedy, as if the prospect of certain levels of profit exert a moral pull we’re somehow obliged to answer. But Feldman’s business has always been about pain, one way or the other, and particularly about the spectacle of seeing pain inflicted on unpopular celebrities, like former baseball player Jose Canseco or television personality Danny Bonaduce. This time, though, he was meting out pain outside the ring, and to people who hadn’t consented to lace up their gloves and risk a hit. I’m glad he had at least the small measure of good sense to understand just how ugly that sort of fight might have been.

In an update, Feldman has since deleted his tweets canceling the fight, and now says he’ll make a final decision Tuesday.

Nothing I would like more than to see this punk getting the fuck beat out of him, only wish it was I whom was beating him senseless.

NFTOS

Editor-In-Chief

Roger West

SEX AND THE BITTY

Old people get money for treatments and such, far more than children do, so Bill Maher had just one question for them: “why are they the angriest people politically?” Maher got a bit too graphic in talking about the various ways these old folks are getting it on to make the point that the government pays for them to at least “go out with a bang.”

Maher said the reason more tax dollars go to grandma is “because she votes and young people don’t.” And that’s how you end up with millions of dollars in taxpayer money spent on penis pumps. And as Maher put it, old folks are “fucking like rabbits” and now STDs in seniors have tripled because “70 is the new 69, and the old folks home is the new freshman dorm.”

And so that’s how Maher got around to the big question: “why are they the angriest people politically?” He said, “You’re getting all the money and half the pussy!” And, on top of that, “you’re lucky enough to be in a country that will keep you hard until you’re stiff.”


Watch the video below, via HBO:

NFTOS

Editor-In-Chief

Roger West

TERROR ON BULLSHIT MOUNTAIN

The residents of Bullshit Mountain, aka Fox News anchors, are in a full-on frenzy over the recent CBO report about the impact of Obamacare on the economy. According to them, the report says that Americans are going to lose around 2 million full-time jobs.

According to the CBO, however, the report by the CBO says nothing of the sort. “This isn’t employers cutting jobs,” clarified New Jersey congressman Bill Pascrell in a meeting with CBO director Douglas Elmendorf. “It’s newly empowered workers choosing to go a different path.”

“So the three main talking points against Obamacare are, according to the CBO, not true,” summarizes Stewart.

But pundits at Fox continue to yell that the increased access to healthcare de-incentive's people to work.

“You know, like Social Security incentive's Americans to not die at their job!” cried an exasperated Stewart.

“And you won’t believe what these lazy poor, who've been sitting around biding their time at their two jobs, just waiting for the day they could ride the Uncle Sugar Train to Medicaid Town are going to do with their new-found windfall,” he continued, mocking Fox.

What it all comes down to, of course, is that “apparently on Bullshit Mountain, corporations aren’t just people. They’re better people than you.”

BULLSHIT MOUNTAIN VIDEO COURTESY OF COMEDY CENTRAL PART 1

The Daily Show
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BULLSHIT MOUNTAIN VIDEO COURTESY OF COMEDY CENTRAL PART 2

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Editor-In-Chief

Roger West

AOL DID WHAT?

AOL Chairman and CEO Tim Armstrong blamed the babies of two employees for increasing the company’s benefit costs on Thursday, explaining in a conference call that AOL had to pay millions out in medical bills and alter its entire benefits package. The remarks came just hours after the company announced changes to its 401(k) plans and complained that Obamacare has increased costs by $7.1 million.

“We had two AOL-ers that had distressed babies that were born that we paid a million dollars each to make sure those babies were OK in general,” Armstrong said. “And those are the things that add up into our benefits cost. So when we had the final decision about what benefits to cut because of the increased healthcare costs, we made the decision, and I made the decision, to basically change the 401(k) plan.” Under the new program, AOL employees will not be able to collect any matching funds toward their retirement savings from the company for any given year if they leave before Dec. 31 of that year.

Health care experts were questioned why a large self-insured company with more than 5,000 employees could not absorb the additional health care costs associated with the pregnancies. Large employers typically purchase reinsurance, which could cover a substantial share of big claims and ensure stability in cases of larger-than expected medical payouts.

“The Affordable Care Act is simply a convenient whipping boy for any decision an employer makes to cut benefits,” Tim Jost, a law professor at Washington and Lee, said. “Assuming AOL had reasonably generous coverage like most large employers, it should not have experienced any significant changes in its benefit structure for 2014. Perhaps it had to pick up a few more employees that had not been covered before or reduce premiums for a few employees, but it is hard to see $7.1 million here.”

Meanwhile, the company is also hurting from poor business decisions. As the Washington Post reports, its quarterly earnings “were hurt by $13.2 million in costs associated with layoffs, including at Patch, the struggling local news venture recently sold to investment firm Hale Global. The Patch unit, championed by Armstrong, has lost an estimated $200 million.”

AOL’s total revenue beat expectations and increased $679 million in the fourth quarter. In 2012, Armstrong earned 12.1 million.

What I find most surprising in all this s that AOL still exists.

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Editor-In-Chief

Roger West

CLAY AIKEN RUNS FOR CONGRESS AND FACING ANTI GAY RHETOTIC

CLAY AIKEN

Clay Aiken, who has had a successful performance career since his appearance on American Idol in 2003, announced Wednesday that he is running for Congress against North Carolina Tea Party incumbent Rep. Renee Ellmers . Though he faces two other Democratic contenders in the primary, Ellmers is already attacking his candidacy, including some anti-gay insinuations:

“It speaks volumes to the state of the N.C. Democratic Party that the primary is shaping up to be a choice between the failed Perdue Administration’s Keith Crisco, a lawyer who doesn’t even live in the district, an activist who’s own party rejected her in the last democrat primary – and Aiken, a performer whose political views more closely resemble those of San Francisco than Sanford,” Ellmers spokeswoman Jessica Wood wrote in an email. “Renee best represents the values of the voters in the 2nd District and remains focused on fighting for their families.”

Dan Gurley, former executive director of the North Carolina Republican party, criticized the statement, calling Wood’s comments on behalf of Ellmers “offensive and childish” and rebuking her as “un-creative and “small minded.”

Aiken is openly gay and has a partner and young son, but doesn’t expect it will be an issue for his campaign. It’s also unclear what “political views” Ellmers is referring to, since Aiken has yet to lay out his political positions.

Ellmers has a consistently anti-gay record. She opposed North Carolina’s constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage because it also banned civil unions, but she still opposes same-sex marriage. She has supported bills to limit the religious freedom of military chaplains to officiate same-sex marriages and endorsed efforts to defend the Defense of Marriage Act. The Human Rights Campaign has given Ellmers a score of zero for not supporting a single piece of pro-LGBT legislation.

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STAFF WRITER

LUNATIC TO RUN FOR OFFICE

DIPSHIT RWNJ VICTORIA JACKSON

Victoria Jackson, who played such notable recurring SNL characters as “Jenny Baker,” a Christian girl who appears on “Church Chat” and “Nancy Maloney,” a nightclub singer for The Jungle Room, has announced she will run for a seat on a county commission outside of Nashville, Tenn.

Jackson, who calls herself a tea party conservative, filed as an Independent because she said she’s “very disappointed with the Republican Party.”

The former comedienne has recently appeared as a conservative commentator on various cable news shows. This past July, during an appearance on Fox’s The O’Reilly Factor, Jackson predicted that she’s “gonna die soon, because the first thing they do is they kill the Christians or persecute them or jail them.”

“I just can’t do it anymore; they just don’t have the values of our founding fathers anymore,” Jackson told The Tennessean of her decision to go against the GOP. “I am sure there are a few Republicans who do. I want less federal government involvement, lower taxes, smaller government, more public involvement, a balanced budget and fiscal responsibility.

In a recent interview with New York magazine, SNL producer Lorne Michaels discussed the unusual number of conservatives to come out of that show over the years, from someone like Jackson to others like Jon Lovitz and Dennis Miller. “Well, let’s put Victoria in a separate category,” Michaels said. “When she arrived here, she was married to a fire-eater. Then she married an old boyfriend who was a cop. She was always deeply Christian.”

Of course, Jackson does have some precedent when it comes to Saturday Night Live actors moving on to successful political careers, though on the other side of the aisle. Before he was Senator Al Franken (D-MN), the comedian was writing for SNL and playing characters like “Stuart Smalley” on screen.

In fact, Jackson actually appeared in a PSA against Franken during his 2008 campaign. Watch the video below, via The Young Turks:



This dipshit - the tin foil hat society deserves this shining gem of intellectual prowess.

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Editor-In-Chief

Roger West

ABORTION DOWN AS WOMEN USE BIRTH CONTROL

Between 2008 and 2011, the national abortion rate declined by 13 percent, according to a new report from the Guttmacher Institute that will be published in a forthcoming issue of the Perspectives on Sexual and Reproductive Health journal. That puts 2011′s abortion rate at 16.9 abortions per every 1,000 women of reproductive age, the lowest rate recorded since Roe v. Wade legalized the procedure in 1973.

The anti-choice community celebrated the news, claiming that an increasing number of women are choosing to carry their pregnancies to term. “This is a post-sonogram generation,” Charmaine Yoest, the president of the conservative Americans United for Life group that helps push state-level abortion restrictions, told the Washington Post. “There is increased awareness throughout our culture of the moral weight of the unborn baby. And that’s a good thing.”

“It shows that women are rejecting the idea of abortion as the answer to an unexpected pregnancy,” Carol Tobias, the president of the National Right to Life Committee, agreed.

In fact, that perspective doesn't actually align with the research in this area. Previous studies have found that sonograms don’t actually change women’s minds about having an abortion. And the Guttmacher’s new report concludes that the abortion rate isn't declining because fewer women are choosing abortion in favor of giving birth to a child; rather, it’s because fewer women are getting pregnant in the first place.

“The decline in abortions coincided with a steep national drop in overall pregnancy and birth rates,” Rachel Jones, the lead author of Guttmacher’s study, explained in a statement accompanying the new report. “Contraceptive use improved during this period, as more women and couples were using highly effective, long-acting reversible contraceptive methods, such as the IUD. Moreover, the recent recession led many women and couples to want to avoid or delay pregnancy and childbearing.”

It’s also important to note that a drop in abortions shouldn't necessarily be considered a positive thing, depending on the circumstances. As states have imposed an increasing number of harsh state-level restrictions on the procedure, many women — especially economically disadvantaged individuals and communities of color — have struggled to exercise their right to choose. Many of those women end up giving birth not because they didn’t want an abortion, but because they simply could not access one. For instance, harsh anti-abortion laws in Texas are projected to result in 22,000 women losing access to safe and legal abortion this year alone.

The Guttmacher Institute, which tracks state-level attacks on abortion, is well aware of this reality. Since the bulk of the wave of new abortion restrictions were enacted after 2011, the group’s most recent report didn't find a clear connection between harsh state laws and declining abortion rates. But, according to the researchers, “this does not mean these laws are not problematic.”

“Increased regulation of abortion contributes to the stigmatization of abortion and of the women who obtain one, and can create a climate of fear and hostility even in states where such regulations are not imposed,” the study’s authors conclude. “Because state legislatures continued to debate and enact more restrictive abortion measures throughout 2011, 2012 and 2013, future research will need to examine whether and to what extent these laws affect abortion incidence and access to services.”

Other aspects of reproductive health care have shifted since 2011, too. Obamacare’s contraceptive coverage officially took effect, which has helped expand U.S. women’s access to affordable birth control. But Planned Parenthood’s Cecile Richards was quick to note that this birth control provision has also been under attack, something that could jeopardize the current downward trend in unintended pregnancy rates.

“This report comes just as some politicians and corporations are trying to make it harder for women to get birth control by chipping away at the historic benefit in the Affordable Care Act that requires insurance plans to cover birth control without a co-pay,” Richards said in a statement, referring to several legal challenges against Obamacare that are currently up before the Supreme Court.

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GOVERNOR KRISPY KREME COMES OUT SWINGING

After being silent on the latest revelation by Christie's long time friend David Wildstein, the governor's office blasted out an email response attacking his former friend and the NY Times.

Governor Christie came out smoking mad against his former friend and the NY Times Saturday afternoon after the Times ran a story on the Friday before the Super Bowl alleging that there is evidence proving the governor knew about the lane closing scandal in Fort Lee while it was happening.

His office sent out a furious email denouncing Wildstein and the Grey Lady.

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, after a low-key initial response to Friday’s explosive allegations about his involvement in a bridge-closing scandal, mounted an aggressive defense late Saturday afternoon, attacking The New York Times and a former political ally in an email to friends and allies obtained by POLITICO. 

“Bottom line — David Wildstein will do and say anything to save David Wildstein,” the email from the governor’s office says, referring to the former appointee who reignited the controversy. 

A letter from Wildstein’s lawyer, Alan L. Zegas of Chatham, N.J., asserted Friday that “evidence exists … tying Mr. Christie to having knowledge of the lane closures, during the period when the lanes were closed, contrary to what the Governor stated publicly in a two-hour press conference.” 

The subject line of the 700-word email from the governor’s office is: “5 Things You Should Know About The Bombshell That’s Not A Bombshell.” It offers a harshly negative portrayal of Wildstein’s character and judgment. 

The Christie camp begins by criticizing The Times for its initial characterization of the Wildstein letter: “A media firestorm was set off by sloppy reporting from the New York Times and their suggestion that there was actually ‘evidence’ when it was a letter alleging that ‘evidence exists.’ 

Chris Christie tried to lower the boom on his old friend by using the tried and true political character assassination technique, but that's almost laughable at this point. 

“In David Wildstein’s past, people and newspaper accounts have described him as ‘tumultuous’ and someone who ‘made moves that were not productive,’” the email continues. 

“David Wildstein has been publicly asking for immunity since the beginning, been held in contempt by the New Jersey legislature for refusing to testify, failed to provide this so-called ‘evidence’ when he was first subpoenaed by the NJ Legislature and is looking for the Port Authority to pay his legal bills.”

The email dips far back into Wildstein’s past to buttress its portrayal of him, even alleging that “he was publicly accused by his high school social studies teacher of deceptive behavior.”

If David Wildstein was such a bad guy - then why did Gov. Christie appoint him to a high position in the Port Authority at all? Doesn't his failings also indict Christie for being an incompetent boss if what he says is true?

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Editor-In-Chief

Roger West

PERVERTS WITH PRINCIPLES PARTY

New Rules episode 305.

Bill Maher last night made a great point last night, which was, that if two adults are consensually bumping uglies, who's freaking business is it? Yours?

Maher rails against the liberal to get a life - mind your own sandbox. From slut shaming to ruining people's lives - its not the business of the left or anyone for that fact to purposely meddle into the private sex lives of Eliot Spitzer.





If we spent more time tending to our own farm instead of others............

NFTOS

Editor-In-Chief

Roger West

DAVID WILDSTEIN STARTS SINGING - SAYS CHRISTIE KNEW

A former top aide to New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie says that the governor was aware of the lane closings on the George Washington Bridge and claimed that “he had the evidence to prove it,” the New York Times reports. Christie has repeatedly denied having any knowledge of his administration’s involvement in the closures before incriminating emails surfaced in early January.

Former Port Authority official David Wildstein — the former director of interstate capital projects — said in a letter released by his lawyer that the Christie administration ordered the closure of the traffic lanes and said “evidence exists as well tying Mr. Christie to having knowledge of the lane closures, during the period when the lanes were closed, contrary to what the governor stated publicly in a two-hour press conference” three weeks ago.

“Mr. Wildstein contests the accuracy of various statements that the governor made about him and he can prove the inaccuracy of some,” the letter added. The letter is sent from the law offices of Alan L. Zegas to the general counsel at the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey challenging the Authority’s decision not to pay the former official’s legal bills.

The bridge controversy blew up after documents revealed that Christie aides orchestrated the September lane closures as an act of apparent retribution against the Democratic mayor of Fort Lee who refused to endorse the governor’s re-election bid. The documents also showed that Wildstein and several other Christie staffers were aware that the traffic closures were causing massive delays in Fort Lee and impeding public safety but kept the lanes closed for three additional days.

Wildstein, who attended high school with Christie, resigned last year in light of the scandal and has until now taken the Fifth and refused to answer questions at a state Assembly committee hearing investigating the matter. He is currently seeking a plea deal. Christie, meanwhile, has insisted that he barely knows Wildstein.

“I am outraged and deeply saddened to learn that not only was I misled by a member of my staff, but this completely inappropriate and unsanctioned conduct was made without my knowledge,” he said during a Jan. 9 press conference. “…This behavior is not representative of me or my administration in any way, and people will be held responsible for their actions.”

Stay tuned and pop the popcorn, as we'll keep you apprised of this late breaking news.

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Editor-In-Chief

Roger West

PREMIUM GRADE - A GRASS FED FREE RANGE BULLSHIT

After he summed up the State of the Union and subsequent GOP responses last night, Jon Stewart moved on to the backlash President Barack Obama’s speech has received from Republicans who are accusing him of giving up on bipartisanship. For Stewart, those claims are “total bullshit.”

Stewart translated Obama’s promise to use executive orders to bypass Congress as, “With all due respect, fuck all y’all.” But the way that Republicans responded to Obama with “hurt feeling” is what he found most outrageous. “The only problem with their ‘we just want to work with him’ is that it’s total bullshit,” Stewart declared. “Premium, grade-A, grass fed, free range bullshit, collected and packaged by hand from the polished anuses of award-winning Texas longhorns that have been bred for peristaltic perfection so that each individual dookie meets the exacting standards of the American Bullshit Association.”

And we wasn’t done after that. Stewart proceeded to use tweets from a GOP congressman calling Obama a “socialist dictator” as just one example of how absurd it is that Republicans are claiming they want to work with the president. After showing a clip of Rep. Paul Ryan threatening a “big problem” with Obama, Stewart said, “No, you’re not going to have a big problem, because you already had a big fucking problem.”

By the end of the segment, Stewart turned to one Republican member of Congress who showed his true colors when he thought the “cameras weren’t on”: Rep. Michael Grimm, who threatened to throw a NY1 reporter off a balcony following the State of the Union.

“You know what’s almost more upsetting than knowing that Republicans from day one planned to sabotage the administration in every way that they knew how? Or that the guy threatening to hurl a NY1 reporter off a balcony is not a thug in a Batman film, but someone we elected to Congress? Or that the public persona these folks display is so radically different from how they behave otherwise?” Stewart asked. “It’s that he went after a NY1 reporter.”


GRADE A GRASS FED BULLSHIT

The Daily Show
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CLASS........ITS ALL IN WHO YOU INVITE

Last night at the SOTU [State of The Union] address, one party choose to invite a hero, one choose to invite a do-rag wearing hillbilly.

First the hillbilly




And now the hero - where the President choose to bring a soldier, who on his tenth tour of duty, just about died.

So no big blog today, just my heart felt thank you to Army Ranger Sergeant First Class Cory Remsburg - Sir, thank for your unconditional commitment to serving our country. You heroism is matched by none!

Army Ranger Sergeant First Class Cory Remsburg Hero Ovation

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Editor-In-Chief

Roger West

MADDOW TELLS THE DUKES BROTHERS FROM TRADING PLACES, " ITS OUR COUNTRY TOO"

Rachel Maddow muddles around in the Koch network enough to prove her claims the Kochs demanded she disavow, then reminds them that they don't own us. Yet she not only rebuts the claim the Koch brothers had nothing to do with drug testing in Florida -- an allegation they demanded she retract on the air -- but also reminds them that they have the right to spend as much as they want on politics and she has the right to report it.

Rachel's retort was sparked by Politico's in-awe article of the upcoming annual meeting of billionaires and donors in Palm Springs:

The shift is best illustrated in the expansion of three pieces of the Koch political network expected to be showcased or represented at the three-day meeting in Palm Springs, whose evolving roles were described to POLITICO by several sources.
Center for Shared Services: a nonprofit recruiter and administrative support team for other Koch-backed groups, which provides assistance with everything from scouting office space to accounting to furniture and security.

Freedom Partners: a nonprofit hub that doled out $236 million in 2012 to an array of conservative nonprofits that is now expanding its own operation so that it can fulfill many of the functions of past grantees.

Aegis Strategic: a political consulting firm started last year by Koch-allied operatives who will recruit, train and support candidates who espouse free-market philosophies like those beloved by the Kochs, and will also work with nonprofit groups in the Koch network, like Freedom Partners, with which it has a contract to provide policy analysis.

MADDOW Video courtesy of MSNBC





This is classic Koch behavior. Control is the name of the game. In their business dealings, they own their own hedge fund firm, their own accounting firm, and more. Their non-profits have been moving toward a more centralized structure where key organizations (usually disguised as LLCs or trade organizations) revolve around a funding hub, a services hub and a policy hub. It takes some work to link one to the next to the next with this structure, because it's rare to see direct funding.

Despite all the millions they poured into 2012, their success rate was dismal. Part of the reason was flawed candidates, but part of the reason was also flawed policy ideas. These billionaires reckon that if they just keep pushing and pushing and pushing the same bad policy, we'll all throw our hands in the air and surrender.

Hardly. It's our country too, and we have a right to participate in it even if we're not invited to the Billionaire Boys Club meeting in Palm Springs. So you go right ahead, billionaires, and plot your takeover of the government. We'll be right behind you shining the light on it.

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STAFF WRITER

THE MENTALITY OF THE TURTLE

Despite agreeing to a budget this month, it seems Congressional Republicans are not yet done holding the economic fate of the country hostage in order to pass aspects of its agenda. In an appearance on Fox News Sunday, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell told host Chris Wallace that it would be “irresponsible” for Republicans not to try to add amendments to a bill raising the debt ceiling, which they may need to pass as early late February. Failure to pass a debt ceiling increase would be catastrophic for the economy, forcing the country to default on its obligations:

WALLACE: So are you saying right here, “We are going to attach something to the debt ceiling”? And if so, what? 

MCCONNELL: What I’m saying is we ought to attach something significant for the country to [President Obama's] request to increase the debt ceiling. That’s been the pattern for 50 years, going back to the Eisenhower administration. I think it’s the responsible thing to do for the country. 

We’re never going to default — the Speaker and I have made that clear. We’ve never done that. But, it’s irresponsible not to use the discussion — the request of the President to raise the debt ceiling — to try to accomplish something for the country.

THE TURTLE





Asked for a “good example” of what Republicans could demand in exchange for raising the debt ceiling, McConnell cited the Keystone XL pipeline because it would “create jobs.” In truth, though the project would create nearly 4,000 temporary construction jobs, it would ultimately only create 35 permanent jobs, resulting in “negligible socioeconomic impacts." Upgrading existing pipelines instead would both create more jobs and help protect the country’s drinking water supply from contamination from leaks.

Since 2011 — motivated in part by the growing influence of the Tea Party — Republicans have viewed the debt ceiling as what McConnell called “a hostage worth ransoming.” It was because of that very brinkmanship that Standard & Poor’s lowered the country’s credit rating, which cost taxpayers $19 billion and lost the country over a million jobs.

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BAN FLAGS ALLOW GUNS

What is the bigger risk inside a state capitol building: openly carrying an American flag or an assault rifle? In Virginia, visitors to the state legislature cannot bring American flags and signs affixed to sticks, because capitol security considers sticks a public threat. Firearms, however, are allowed.

A group of gun violence prevention activists discovered this when they arrived on Monday to attend a Martin Luther King, Jr. Day event. According to Virginia Capitol Police, the groups were informed beforehand of the restriction barring sticks at permitted rallies, because they can be used as weapons. Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America’s Gena Reeder said they were aware of the rules, but “certainly not in our wildest imagination thought that could apply to the American flag.”

While the moms tore out the dowels of their flags, capitol grounds visitors with firearms were ushered through the entrance. That day, Virginia Citizens Defense League and other gun rights groups organized a “Guns Save Lives” day. The Richmond Times-Dispatch reported that about half of the crowd was armed, packing weapons that ranged from handguns to assault rifles.

The anti-gun violence activists couldn’t reconcile this conflicting message in their heads, Reeder explained. “We are sending a message that you cannot hand carry an American flag into a state capitol, but you can bring a loaded weapon,” Reeder said. “Are guns becoming more patriotic than an American flag?

The same weekend, gun violence prevention activists faced a similar situation in the Washington state capitol. Moms Demand Action’s Washington Chapter Leader Kate Beck said the group arrived to lobby the capitol for gun violence action, only to find out all signs with sticks could not be carried inside. However, Washington state allows firearms on its capitol campus.

Virginia is not the only state that allows guns in its legislative buildings. Texas faced an awkward situation last year when police confiscated tampons from the gallery in the midst of a debate on abortion restrictions, while allowing others to walk in with firearms. In Kentucky, another state with open carry inside public buildings, a lawmaker accidentally fired a handgun in her capitol office. Kentucky state Rep. Leslie Combs shrugged off the incident. “I’m a gun owner,” she said. “It happens.”

Maybe if we affixed the flag to the gun?

cross posted from thinkprogress

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Editor-In-Chief

Roger West

Subpoenas Go Out For Christie Campaign And GOP State Committee Over Bridgeghazi

SAMPLE FEDERAL SUBPOENA

The U.S. Attorney for New Jersey has issued a subpoena for documents to both the Christie for Governor reelection campaign and the New Jersey Republican State Committee, an attorney for both organizations confirmed today.

According to attorney Mark Sheridan, the subpoenas request documents from the two organizations in relation to the investigation into lane diversions at the George Washington Bridge in September.

Both organizations are represented by the law firm of Patton Boggs, which has offices in Newark. In a statement to NJ.com, Sheridan said the following:

"The Christie for Governor re-election campaign and the New Jersey Republican State Committee received subpoenas for documents from the U.S. Attorney's office, in addition to the subpoena the campaign previously received from the state legislative committee. All three subpoenas focus on the closure of lanes on the George Washington Bridge. The campaign and the state party intend to cooperate with the U.S. Attorney's office and the state legislative committee and will respond to the subpoenas accordingly.''

Calls to both the Christie reelection campaign and the state GOP committee for comment were not immediately returned.

The U.S. Attorney's subpoenas follow a round of 20 issued last week by the Assembly committee conducting its own investigation into the lane diversion scandal, which has quickly morphed into a nightmare for the governor.

Email records released earlier this month show a member of his administration was involved in the lane closures, from the beginning. While the Port Authority officials responsible for the controversy claimed the lane diversions were part of a traffic study, the email traffic hints it was done as a form of political retribution.

The governor is now facing potential federal involvement on two fronts. Last night, NBC reported FBI agents were questioning Hoboken employees in connection with claims from Mayor Dawn Zimmer that the administration threatened to choke off Hurricane Sandy relief if she failed to support a development project favored by the governor.

Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno, who Zimmer said issued the threat, has vehemently denied the accusation, but last night agents questioned two of Zimmer's closes advisors.

Meanwhile, the investigation by the Assembly committee is expected to merge Monday with the probe underway by a Senate committee. Response to the subpoenas issued in that investigation are due in early February.

To date, no evidence has surfaced that connects Christie himself to the lane closures, however, the scandal already has claimed the jobs of Port Authority officials Bill Baroni and David Wildstein as well as Christie administration Deputy Cheif of Staff Bridget Kelly, the staffer who was implicated by an email she sent in August apparently ordering the lane diversions.

"Time for some traffic problems in Fort Lee," she emailed a month before the lanes were diverted, to which Wildstein replied, "Got it."

The administration also cut ties with Christie's two-time campaign manager, Bill Stepien, who Christie said he had lost faith in after reading emails between Stepien and Wildstein showing Stepien discussing the media reaction to the lane closures with Wildstein.

Article form NJ.com

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Editor-In-Chief

Roger West

PANTS SHITTER TED NUGENT: "Obama Is A Subhuman Mongrel And Deserves Just Due Punishment For Treason"

THE PANTS SHITTER DEFECATES AGAIN

THE PANTS SHITTER

Conservative rocker Ted Nugent - the "patriot" who shit his pants to get out of military service - said that he wouldn't rest until President Barack Obama -- who he called a "subhuman mongrel" -- and of the all "liberal Democrats" had gotten the "just due punishment" that they deserved for treason.

In an interview with Guns.com last week, Nugent said that him winning the presidency in 2016 would be "the perfect ballet of freedom."

Nugent, who is a National Rifle Association (NRA) board member and a spokesperson for the Outdoor Channel, opined that he would be the best candidate because "our politicians check their scrotums at the door. Even Hillary. But Obviously, she has spare scrotum's."

He went on to apologize to members of the military for allowing "a commander in chief who is the enemy" to take over the country.

"I have obviously failed to galvanize and prod, if not shame enough Americans to be ever vigilant not to let a Chicago communist-raised, communist-educated, communist-nurtured subhuman mongrel like the ACORN community organizer gangster Barack Hussein Obama to weasel his way into the top office of authority in the United States of America," Nugent continued. "I think America will be America again when Barack Obama, [Attorney General] Eric Holder, Hillary Clinton, [Sen.] Dick Durbin, [former New York City Mayor] Michael Bloomberg and all of the liberal Democrats are in jail facing the just due punishment that their treasonous acts are clearly apparent."

The Motor City Blowhard added that his rhetoric was less "inflammatory" than the so-called scandal over the 2011 terrorist attacks at the U.S. consulate in Benghazi.

"What difference does that make?" he asked. "Not to a chimpanzee or Hillary Clinton, I guess it doesn't matter."

When a repulsive nasty draft dodging pants shitting child molester invokes treason........it's rich readers, its rich.

NFTOS
Editor-In-Chief

Roger West

Former Governor Bob McDonnell And Wife Federally Indicted

BOB AND MAUREEN MCDONNELL - CROOKS AND LIARS

From my local TV station WTKR

Former Governor Bob McDonnell and his wife Maureen have been charged with illegally accepting lavish gifts, luxury vacations and large loans from a wealthy businessman who wanted special treatment from state government. Authorities say McDonnell and his wife received gifts from dietary supplement executive Jonnie R. Williams Sr. on many occasions.

In exchange, the McDonnell's allegedly worked to lend the prestige of the governorship to Williams’ struggling company, Star Scientific.

McDonnell acknowledged he received the gifts from Williams but claims he did nothing wrong.

Click here to read the entire indictment.

Investigators say McDonnell lied. The indictment charges the McDonnell’s with 14 counts and claims that they accepted more than $135,000 in loans and gifts from Williams and also lied on loan applications and other documents.

Also in the indictment are emails from Maureen McDonnell that show she believed she could have Williams buy her a designer dress for the inauguration.

According to the indictment, a McDonnell staffer referred to only as “J.E.” said that would not be proper. McDonnell then became angry with “J.E.” and sent the following email:

Both Bob McDonnell and Maureen McDonnell have been charged with one count of conspiracy to commit honest-services wire fraud, three counts of honest-services wire fraud, one count of conspiracy to obtain property under color of official right, six counts of obtaining property under color of official right, and one count of making false statements to a federal credit union.

Bob McDonnell is also charged with an additional count of making a false statement to a financial institution, and Maureen McDonnell is charged with one count of obstruction of an official proceeding.

Their initial appearance and arraignment will be held this Friday in Richmond.

McDonnell released the following statement on Tuesday afternoon regarding the indictment:

“My fellow Virginians, earlier today federal prosecutors notified my attorneys that they have filed criminal charges against me and my wife Maureen, alleging that we violated federal law by accepting gifts and loans from Jonnie Williams, the former CEO of Star Scientific. I deeply regret accepting legal gifts and loans from Mr. Williams, all of which have been repaid with interest, and I have apologized for my poor judgment for which I take full responsibility. However, I repeat emphatically that I did nothing illegal for Mr. Williams in exchange for what I believed was his personal generosity and friendship. I never promised – and Mr. Williams and his company never received – any government benefit of any kind from me or my Administration. We did not violate the law, and I will use every available resource and advocate I have for as long as it takes to fight these false allegations, and to prevail against this unjust overreach of the federal government.”

Stay tuned as we have covered this story every step of the way since MSNBC Rachel Maddow broke the story.

NFTOS

Editor-In-Chief

Roger West

SARAH PALIN IS NOW A MLK EXPERT

PALIN ON MLK



Some things never change -- and then, some things only get worse.

Sarah Palin is a very twisted piece of work:

Sarah Palin 

Happy MLK, Jr. Day! 

"I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character." – Martin Luther King, Jr. 

Mr. President, in honor of Martin Luther King, Jr. and all who commit to ending any racial divide, no more playing the race card.

Sarah Palin actually uses words from MLK's famous "I have A Dream" speech to make as ignorant and phony a claim as she can on this most important day. And get this, over 12,000 people liked her comment, too. There are some truly disturbed people out there in Conservativeland.

Cross posted from Crooks and Liars





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STAFF WRITER

BLACKMAIL IN HOBOKEN NJ? SAY IT ISN'T SO GOVERNOR!

BLACKMAIL NOW IN CHRISTIE'S BAG OF TRICKS?

Move over, Bridgegate. The Christie administration is now accused of using blackmail in Hoboken, telling Mayor Dawn Zimmer that she would not get Sandy aid for her town unless she approved a real estate project pushed by the Christie administration.

Zimmer, appearing on MSNBC this morning, said that Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno and Department of Community Affairs Commissioner Rich Constable each made the threat in person, explicitly linking Sandy aid for Hoboken, which was 80 percent under water after the storm, to her approval of a real estate project pushed by the Rockefeller Group, a New York firm represented by David Samson, a Christie intimate who is chairman of the Port Authority.

Is it true? Michael Drewniak, the governor's acerbic spokesman, scoffed at the idea. But then again, that's what Drewniak does. When he was first asked about Bridgegate, he called that accusation crazy. A spokesman for Constable denied it, but Constable himself assumed his usual position under the covers with no comment.

Zimmer says she's ready to take a lie detector test and challenged Guadagno and Constable to do the same. She showed TV-host Steve Kornacki diary entries expressing her shock and disappointment at the time, and multiple emails from Christie's crew pushing for approval of the project.

This one is beyond ugly. Because in the end, Zimmer did get shorted. Hoboken got $342,000, a pittance for a town that was 80 percent under water after the October 2012 storm. She had requested $127 million.

This is a credible charge. Zimmer is describing the same kind of thuggish behavior from the Christie administration that we saw during Bridgegate.

But this one cuts deeper. Leaving people stranded in horrid traffic for four days is bad enough. But denying aid to victims of Sandy as a means of leverage against an elected official is simply revolting. And surely illegal.

Time for U.S. Attorney Paul Fishman to jump on this. And the Legislature should ramp up an investigation as well.

In the meantime, what about it, Ms. Guadagno? If you are telling the truth, why don't you belly up and take that lie detector test? And how about you, Mr. Constable?

Did governor Kripsy Kreme hold super-storm Sandy relief funds hostage? If so, this by far trumps the "Bridge Over River Hubris" scandal.

Like all things tea bagger, I am sure Darrell Issa, and Lindsey Graham will somehow be able to tie all this to Obama and Benghazi.

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Editor-In-Chief

Roger West