WHY IS EBOLA THE THREAT THAT IT IS?

REPUBLICANS CUT HALF OF BUDGET FOR HEALTH EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS

There has been no lack of conservatives freaking out on Bullshit Mountain [Fox News] to discuss the arrival of the deadly Ebola virus in America, and they have had a fair measure of success frightening a surprisingly large segment of their viewership.

MADDOW PART ONE




MADDOW PART TWO

Republicans and their conservative cabal have even combined their ISIL fear-mongering tactics with their immigration fear-mongering to distract Americans going into an important midterm election. Except for the medical researchers and infectious disease scientists from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and National Institute of Health (NIH), there has been precious little information from real medical professionals of any repute that could relieve the rising fear and anxiety among the population that knows little about the virus, or what precautions they need, if any, to protect themselves and their families.

Although experts claim there is little reason for panic of a devastating outbreak of the deadly virus in America, a recent Harvard poll revealed that 39% of American adults are worried about a large-scale outbreak and over 25% are mortified that an immediate family member will be stricken with the infectious virus and die. What America needs at times like this is a trusted public health expert and medical professional to educate the public about the risk of contracting Ebola and reassure them that there is little to worry about and what steps to take to stay safe and Ebola-free.

Last November 14th, the President nominated Dr. Vivek H. Murthy, an extremely qualified candidate to replace ‘acting’ Surgeon General Dr. Regina Benjamin. It took three months, but the Senate finally got around to holding a confirmation hearing for Dr. Murthy’s appointment. However, the National Rifle Association exerted its very substantial legislative prerogative and blocked Murthy’s confirmation because he does not recognize that the NRA is “fourth and all-powerful branch of the federal government” and called for sane gun restrictions to prevent more Americans from dying unnecessarily from the gun violence epidemic. It is exactly what a real medical professional, and highly-qualified potential Surgeon General of the United States is supposed to do - help prevent a deadly epidemic from spreading to save American lives.


It is a sad state of affairs when Republicans and their puppet masters - the NRA, are able to wield such powerful influence that they will not vote to confirm Dr. Murthy. Ebola is not an epidemic in America and a trusted Surgeon General would ease the fear and anxiety among the growing number of Americans worried they or their families will contract and succumb to the virus. However, because the qualified Surgeon General candidate believes easing the proliferation of guns driving the real American epidemic killing over a hundred Americans daily and injuring even more, the National Rifle Association, Republicans, and a few gun-shy Democrats will not allow his confirmation.

With the blockage of Dr. Vivek H. Murthy - along with a republcian lead congress reducing federal dollars to PHEP [Public Health Emergency Preparedness Cooperative Agreement Funding] by half since 2006 [See above Gantt Chart] its no wonder why America is not prepared for a Ebola outbreak.

Naturally, like all things tea bagger, if Obama wasn't busy covering up Benghazi conspiracies by playing golf, we would be more prepared for Ebola.

Conservatives are our own worst enemy. This story is a prime example readers of why we should always - "remember to spay or neuter your Republicans".






NFTOS
Editor-In-Chief
Roger West

HOLY HANDCUFFS BATMAN!

NYPD "COURTESY, PROFESSIONALISM, RESPECT"? 

NEW YORK POLICE DEPARTMENT LAW SUIT SETTLEMENTS REACH 100 MILLION FOR SIX CONSECUTIVE YEARS.

Mudruck filed a FOI request to the NYPD for information concerning cases they had closed since 2009. It's a big PDF containing more than 10,000 settlements, ranging from $1–$11,500,000. Gawker explains:

Those numbers are in line with the findings of a 2010 AP investigation, which discovered nearly $1 billion in NYPD payouts over the previous decade. In 2012, Bloomberg News found the City of New York planned to spend $735 million on settling lawsuits, police and otherwise, almost six times what Los Angeles pays per capita.

Those Bloomberg numbers can be found here.

The cost of claims is forecast to rise to $815 million by 2016, more than the city pays to run the Parks and Recreation Department, according to budget documents. Among the incidents triggering payments are malpractice in public hospitals, police beatings, improper arrests, collisions with fire trucks and potholes causing accidents. [...}
New York spent $664 million on claims in the fiscal year that ended June 30, 2011, the most recent year for which data are available, according to the Law Department. Claims alleging personal injury accounted for $565 million, including $119 million for police misconduct and civil-rights violations.

Recent examples of Police enforcement around the United States. Without listing them all you can read about some of The Big Apple's recent highlights of law and order here and here and here.

There's video and imagery for all of those cases and many others. It makes it hard not to settle for millions and millions of dollars. What's extraordinary about racism and the privileged class' dislike of the lower strata of society is that, even using the most cynical logic, it just doesn't make good economic sense. It's bad business for everyone.

Is this the cost for doing "police business"? Why is this story not front page news across the country? And police wonder why they have a bad reputation and are considered not better than the deviants they arrest? SMH!

portions of this blog are Cross posted from daily kos

NFTOS
Editor-In-Chief

Roger West

WHY ARE HEALTHCARE FACILITIES NOT READY FOR EBOLA?

A health care worker in Dallas has been diagnosed with Ebola - the first case of the deadly virus has been transmitted on U.S. soil. The news has renewed questions over whether Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital, the facility that recently treated the first case of Ebola diagnosed in the United States, is doing enough to stem the spread of the disease.

The worker — who has not been identified by name — was one of the hospital employees who helped treat Thomas E. Duncan, the Liberian man who recently died of Ebola after traveling to Dallas. Federal health experts have been tracking all of the Americans with whom Duncan may have come into contact while he was contagious.

According to hospital officials, the infected individual helped treat Duncan during his second trip to the emergency room, when he was seriously ill. “That health care worker is a heroic person who provided care to Mr. Duncan,” Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkin said at a news conference on Sunday morning.

The infected worker was reportedly wearing full protective gear around Duncan, so it’s not yet clear how the virus was transmitted. But, according to federal officials, the hospital failed to follow at least part of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s protocol for containing Ebola. The agency has released a set of detailed guidelines for health care facilities to ensure that the virus is not transmitted further.

There has been some controversy over the care that Duncan received at Texas Health Presbyterian. First of all, it’s concerning that he was sent home after his first visit to the ER; the fact that he had a high fever and had recently traveled from Western Africa should have alerted officials to the potential Ebola risk.

According to the Associated Press, the hospital has repeatedly changed its story about what exactly medical professionals knew about Duncan’s health. Newly released documents show that some of the hospital staff may have recognized the Ebola threat when he was first admitted, but that didn’t translate to swifter action. The state health department is now considering a probe into the hospital to make sure it’s following health and safety laws, and the CDC is going to send additional staff to Texas.

Joined by the Rev. Jesse Jackson, Duncan’s family has repeatedly criticized the hospital, saying he was given substandard care because he was not a white American. They point out that Duncan was the only person treated for Ebola in the U.S. who wasn’t taken to Nebraska Medical Center, which has a high-tech quarantine unit, or given experimental drugs that may help combat the virus. Duncan’s nephew has told reporters that said his uncle’s care was “either incompetence or negligence,” and he finds it “conspicuous” that all the white Ebola patients in the U.S. have survived while “the one black man died.”

More broadly, there has been some concern that panic over the global Ebola epidemic — which has claimed more than 4,000 lives in Western Africa — is leading to an uptick in xenophobia and racism. Pundits’ increasingly insistent calls to close the U.S. borders to protect against Ebola-infected travelers is furthering a narrative of “otherness.” Some African travelers arriving back to the U.S. and Europe say that medical staff is now refusing to care for them in routine doctor’s appointments out of fear of contracting Ebola, even if they’re not showing any symptoms.

When it comes to Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital, officials promise they’re continuing to “review and evaluate” the decisions around Duncan’s treatment. The hospital has also isolated the health care worker who is showing signs of Ebola infection and is working to track down the other people who may have come into contact with them. Officials say they’re still confident they know how to contain the virus.

“Contingency plans were put into place, and the hospital will discuss the way that the health care worker followed those contingency plans, which will make our jobs in monitoring and containment much easier in this case than in the last one,” Jenkin said. “While this was obviously bad news, it is not news that should bring about panic.”

In response to growing concern about travelers bringing Ebola into the United States, airport officials began enhanced screenings on Saturday. Still, experts maintain that the best way to respond to Ebola is to address the outbreak’s epicenter in Western Africa, where embattled countries are still struggling to get the health care resources they need to treat the virus.

One thing is for sure, and its very rarely republican plans are ever a success, but the republican lead sequestration, its strangulation of government operations, has reached optimal success.








NFTOS
STAFF WRITER

BLACK KIDS MORE LIKELY TO BE KILLED BY POLICE THAN WHITE KIDS

Who knew?

There’s a lot we don’t know about how many people have actually been killed at police hands in the United States, thanks to woefully inadequate transparency and federal record-keeping. But there’s one thing we do now know: Among those we do know were shot by police, black teens were 21 times more likely to be shot dead than their white counterparts.

“The 1,217 deadly police shootings from 2010 to 2012 captured in the federal data show that blacks, age 15 to 19, were killed at a rate of 31.17 per million, while just 1.47 per million white males in that age range died at the hands of police,” a new ProPublica report explains, noting that if whites were killed at the same ratio there would have been another 185 white deaths, just during that three-year period, just of those in that narrow age range.

To arrive at this statistic, ProPublica analyzed the list of 12,000 police shooting deaths that were self-reported by agencies to the Federal Bureau of Investigation between 1980 and 2012. Because this data is self-reported and departments are not required to submit information, this data likely significantly ucounteractsthe number of shootings. Florida departments, for example, haven’t submitted data since 1997 and New York City hasn't submitted data since 2007. And the FBI asks only for “justifiable homicide ”figures, meaning in those instances where the shootings are most overtly viewed as unjustified or the litigation is ongoing, departments are less likely to report.

Still, assessing available data may provide the best insight we have into how grave racial disparities in police violence are, particularly when it comes to young black men, who were stopped by NYPD officers in 2011 more times than the total number of young black men in New York City. Unsurprisingly, past analyses have also found disproportionate violence against blacks, including a 2007 investigation by Color lines and the Chicago Reporter in 10 major cities. An NAACP report of Oakland, California, found that 37 of 45 police-involved shootings were of blacks, while zero were of whites. “Although weapons were not found in 40 percent of cases, the NAACP found, no officers were charged," Mother.

Studies of human and police behavior suggest that racial bias is baked into policing, particularly because individuals mis-perceive the threat posed by African Americans. Nonetheless, a 2012 poll after the George Zimmerman verdict found that that the gap between whites and blacks who think the justice system is biased was greater than ever.

portions of blog from thinkprogress

NFTOS

Editor-In-Chief

Roger West

HOLY PSYCHO BABBLE BIBLE BULLSHIT BATMAN!

ISLAM VS CHRISTIANITY

Now, I am no big fan of Cenk Uygur by any stretch of the imagination, even though we are from the same town in N.J. But I do respect the man for being out front of the camera blasting away at not so useful idiots. It takes a big man [or woman] to bitch about your convictions to family and friends, it takes a bigger man to take it to either the internet or cable air waves where your audience is many.

In the below video, Uygur discusses radical religion, literal terminology of religion, and provides a "guess what religion" this is. Watch the below video and see if you can tell who Uygur is speaking of....that is before he discloses which book, the Qur'an or Bible.

ISLAM OR CHRISTIANITY, JESUS OR MUHAMMAD, QUR'AN OR BIBLE?

It should be noted that Uygur was born and raised as a Sunni Muslim and is now a self proclaimed agnostic.

I have found since blogging, that very few if any Christians, have they truly read the bible from front to cover. Like most things in American Christianity - radical bible thumping Americans, its pick and choose religion, apply what's good for you, shit can the rest, much like the US constitution.

My analogy with regards to religion is as such - that its like a penis, its ok to have one, its ok to be proud of your religion, just don't flaunt it in public.

Don't get me wrong, and as I have said over 4 years of blogging, radicalism, whether it be the zealous ammosexual NRA gun hugger, your Southern bible belt thumping Baptist, your local radical tea bagger enthusiasts, or ISIS - they are all to be considered a danger to human beings as a whole.

With both radical religions coming to the forefront, are these religions, in their truest radical "literal' form, are they really any different from each other?

Interpretations are a problem with anything, whether it be religion, constitutions, or laws - they will always have a bad outcome when they are distorted.......not as the writer intended.

NFTOS
Editor-In-Chief

Roger West

CLOSE THE GAP

Sarah Silverman as only she can, addresses the issue of the wage gap between men and women.

Caution Adult Content

NFTOS

Editor-In-Chief

Roger West

DUNCAN HUNTER IS NO ORDINARY IDIOT

DUNCAN HUNTER - LIAR, FEAR MONGER AND TODAY'S WORST PERSON IN THE WORLD

Republican Rep. Duncan Hunter (Tin foil hat society member and dipshit extraordinaire) made a pretty extraordinary claim on Fox News this week, telling a national television audience on Tuesday night that 10 Islamic State militants were caught entering the United States through the Mexican border. The far-right congressman was categorical: Hunter said in no uncertain terms that this has already happened, but “there’s nobody talking about it.”

The California Republican added that he knows this is true “because I’ve asked the Border Patrol.”

Right-wing media outlets were predictably excited by the baseless claims – National Review, citing Hunter’s comments, asked, “Could the administration really successfully cover up something as big as this?” – but there’s a small problem. Neither Hunter nor his allies have any verifiable evidence to bolster the allegations. I mean that quite literally – there’s nothing from Border Patrol, nothing from other members of Congress or relevant committees, nothing from the Mexican government, and nothing from the Department of Homeland Security.


Video Courtesy of MSNBC




On the contrary, DHS described the claim as “categorically false” and Secretary Jeh Johnson suggested Hunter has no idea what he’s talking about.

And that leaves the far-right congressman with a choice: Hunter can scale back his explosive claims or he can stick to his guns. Take a wild guess which course the Republican prefers.

Hunter spokesman Joe Kasper said the congressman stands by his comments. “A high level source informed the congressman – it was also said that DHS is actively discouraging any talk of IS on the border,” Kasper said.

“The congressman was conveying what he knows – and what he was told,” he said. Hunter has no proof, but he has a source he won’t identify, who gave him information that literally no one else can verify, about an important claim unsupported by facts.

Wait, it gets even better.

Kasper emailed me yesterday, encouraging me to check out a blog post from a right-wing legal group called Judicial Watch, which also claims to have secret information about ISIS terrorists arrested in Texas. There’s no independent evidence to support this, either, though Hunter’s office apparently takes it quite seriously.

In a follow-up email to The Rachel Maddow Show, the congressman’s aide added that the 10 ISIS terrorists Hunter referenced on the air should probably be referred to as “foreign nationals” with “associations” to the terrorist group. The congressman’s office did not feel the need to share this information with federal law enforcement, the aide added, because Hunter’s source is already in law enforcement and there’s “no need to inform the person that is informing us.”

While this continues to play out, we’ll be curious to learn how Duncan Hunter made the decision to share this incredibly important information with the American public. Under normal circumstances, if a member of Congress obtained secret information that literally no one else has about terrorists entering the United States, one would assume the lawmaker would hold a press conference, issue some kind of press statement, and/or announce an upcoming congressional hearing on the revelations.

Hunter, however, shared this alarming information towards the end of an interview on Fox News. As of this morning, the congressman has posted nothing about the claims on his website – he issued a press release on Tuesday, but it had nothing to do with terrorism – and Hunter has scheduled no press conferences to discuss his important allegations.

Cross posted from the Maddow Blog

Mr. Hunter should be held accountable for his bullshit - maybe since Sean Hannity says water-boarding is not torture, maybe we water-board Duncan to get the truth out of him.

Duncan Hunter, you are today's dual award winner - you are both today's asshat of the day, and today's worst person in the world. Congratulations numb-nutz!

NFTOS

Editor-In-Chief

Roger West

EBOLAPALOOZA

COLBERT POINTING TO CNN EBOLA HYSTERIA

Comics alike simply cannot resist the Monday Ebola segment from CNN’s “Legal View” with Ashleigh Banfield.

On his titular program last night, Stephen Colbert was no different - when he grabbed CNN's gaffe and rolled with it:

“Folks, you can smell the fear thanks to heroes like CNN, who have asked the question, ‘Ebola: The ISIS of biological agents?’” riffed the host. “Oh yeah, oh yeah, it is — without a doubt. Scientists have long compared diseases to murderous madmen. That’s why epidemiologists call tuberculosis ‘Lung Hitler.’

PART I Video Courtesy of Comedy Central

The Colbert Report
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The slamming of CNN is to a great extent justified. Consider the speculation that flowed from Banfield during the segment: “All ISIS would need to do is send a few of its suicide killers into an Ebola-affected zone and then get them on some mass transit somewhere where they would need to be to effect the most damage,” she said, summing up the argument for chaos.


PART II Video Courtesy of Comedy Central

The Colbert Report
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To quell Banfield's amped up Ebola charge, the CNN segment did infuse some sanity, when they allotted the views of Dr. Amar Safdar, an associate professor at New York University’s Langone Medical Center. Safder who said:

"It’s not an easily communicable disease. It’s not SARS. It’s not MERS. It’s certainly not influenza, and it is not the swine flu and the bird flu that we have encountered. So patients who develop this infection and become sick with this, by the time they get to a point where it is easily transmissible, they are very ill, so they are not taking buses and subways and exposing other people…So the infection, the way it’s transmitted, is quite different than what you would expect that infection that can be easily facilitated and transmitted to masses out there.”

Maybe Banfield is with the wrong cable news group. It would appear to this blogger that her fear tactics are better suited for Faux News.

NFTOS
Editor-In-Chief

Roger West

CDC "THE COALITION FOR DECEPTION AND COERSION"

CDC "THE COALITION FOR DECEPTION AND COERCION"

Stephen Colbert took to the airwaves last night to mock Fox News's relentless scare tactics about Ebola.

Video Courtesy of Comedy Central

The Colbert Report
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As only Colbert can, he eviscerates the ignorance that is Fox News, and as per the norm, Fox News avoids the scientific facts and goes full monty with their mantra of serial misinformation.

I certainly hope that this Faux News Ebola "scare" is over soon before some kid dresses up as an Ebola patient on Halloween, trick-or-treating, and makes the mistake of ringing [conservative right wing nutjob] Kincannon's doorbell - and is "humanely executed!"

And they say there are no "death panels" in the U.S.

Fox News, Todd Kincannon, Betsy McCaughey and "judge" Jeannie Pirro - you are today's asshats of the day. Congrats fear mongers.

NFTOS

Editor-In-Chief

Roger West

SCOTUS Punts Appeals From Five States, Clearing Way For Same-Sex Marriage

KU KLUX KOURT PUNTS ON SAME SEX MARRIAGE RULING

BREAKING:

This rejection lets three federal appeals decisions take effect, legalizing same-sex marriage in Utah, Oklahoma, Virginia, Wisconsin and Indiana.

The U.S. Supreme Court rejected calls for a nationwide ruling on same-sex marriage, a rebuff that lets gays marry in as many as 11 new states and leaves legal uncertainty elsewhere.

The denial today of seven pending appeals defied predictions. Advocates on both sides had urged the justices to resolve the issue following a wave of lower court rulings that the Constitution guarantees same-sex marriage rights.

The rejection lets three federal appeals decisions take effect, legalizing same-sex marriage in Utah, Oklahoma, Virginia, Wisconsin and Indiana. Six other states -- Colorado, Wyoming, Kansas, West Virginia, North Carolina and South Carolina -- will likely follow because they fall under the jurisdiction of those appellate courts.

Those additions will bring the number of gay-marriage states to 30, plus the District of Columbia.

As a practical matter, however, this decision, to not to hear these cases is an earthquake for gay rights. The United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, which covers Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, North Carolina and South Carolina, refused to issue a stay halting its order favoring marriage equality. Although the Supreme Court later stepped in with its own stay order, that order provides that the Supreme Court’s stay will “terminate automatically” if the Supreme Court denies review of the case. Now that the justices have done so, there should be no further legal barriers preventing marriages from beginning in those five states — although it is possible that there may be some delay before marriages may begin due to procedural steps that need to be taken by the judiciary.

One thing that should be noted is that there are still marriage equality cases pending before conservative circuits that could rule against equality. Nevertheless, the fact that marriages are likely to begin very shortly in the states currently subject to court orders will make it very difficult for the Supreme Court to reverse course — and retroactively invalidate those marriages — in a subsequent opinion.

RELATED: Virginia same sex marriages to begin later today

NFTOS

Editor-In-Chief

Roger West

AFFLECK Vs MAHER

MICHAEL STEELE, BEN AFFLECK TAKE ON BILL MAHER

In a testy ten-minute exchange on “Real Time” with television host Bill Maher and author Sam Harris, Hollywood actor Ben Affleck slammed the host for commenting that Islam is the only religion that acts like the “mafia.” Along with journalist Nicholas Kristof, Affleck argued that ascribing an entire religion based on the actions of the terrorist group Islamic State, was “gross” and “racist,” while Maher and Harris shot back that criticizing Islam “gets conflated with bigotry towards Muslims as people,” a ploy that others have used to build on anti-Muslim sentiment in the country.

During the exchange with Kristof and RNC Chairman Michael Steele, Affleck took the lead to slam Maher and Harris for defending their generalization of Islam. Harris stated, “We have been sold this meme of Islamophobia, where every criticism of the doctrine of Islam gets conflated with bigotry towards Muslims as people.” Affleck asked, “Are you the person who understands the officially codified doctrine of Islam?”

To Maher’s idea of generalizing Islam, Affleck said, “It’s gross, it’s racist,” while Kristof added that the view of Muslims is “incomplete,” referring to the example of Malala Yousafzai, a teenager shot by fundamentalists, who is part of the larger peaceful Muslim movement. Harris panned both Affleck and Kristof’s responses saying that Islam is “the motherload of bad ideas” and that fundamentalists are not just the “fringe group” of practicing Muslims.

Still later in the exchange, Maher said, “It’s the only religion that acts like the mafia that will fucking kill you, if you say the wrong thing, paint the wrong picture or write the wrong book” to which Affleck shot back, “What is your solution? To condemn Islam? To do what? We've killed more Muslims than they've killed us by an awful lot.”


AFFLECK Vs MAHER

NFTOS
Editor-In-Chief

Roger West

"WHO DO YOU HAVE TO BLOW TO GET THROWN OUT OF CONGRESS"?

REPUBLICAN DOUCHE BAGS - MICHEAL GRIMM, MARK SANFORD, JOE GARCIA, SCOTT DESJARLAIS

In his editorial New Rules, Bill Maher shines a spotlight on some of the most “scandal-plagued lowlifes” in Congress and why it’s so easy for them to get reelected.

BORN AGAIN BOOTY CALL

Video Courtesy of HBO

NFTOS

Editor-In-Chief

Roger West

FERGUSON MISSOURI HAS A LARGE INCREASE IN VOTER REGISTRATION

Voter registration jumped 30 percent in Ferguson, Missouri between August 9 — the day unarmed teenager Michael Brown was fatally shot by Officer Darren Warren — and September 30. As protests and clashes with police continue, the town’s residents want to see more race representation in their local government in the near future.

Approximately 3,300 citizens in the town of 21,000 registered to vote after Brown’s death, totaling two-thirds of new voters in St. Louis County. Currently, 5 of 6 Ferguson council members are white, but roughly 70 percent of the city’s population is black. And Ferguson’s mayor is white Republican James Knowles.

Recent voter registration is due, in large part, to community efforts to boost civic engagement. Organizations like the NAACP and League of Women Voters, in addition to sororities and fraternities, are actively involved in registering the city’s residents. Other community members are handing out registration cards for voters to mail them in.

But some are not pleased with the surge of registered voters. In August, Matt Wills, the executive director of Missouri’s Republican Party, denounced protesters’ voter registration efforts, saying, “If that’s not fanning the political flames, I don’t know what is. I think it’s not only disgusting but completely inappropriate…Injecting race into this conversation and into this tragedy, not only is not helpful, but it doesn't help a continued conversation of justice and peace.”

Nevertheless, residents are bracing for elections on November 4. The most important race for voters is between Republican State Representative Rick Stream and Democrat County Councilman Steve Stenger, who are both vying for the St. Louis County’s executive position. Elections next April are also on new voters’ minds, with 3 open seats on Ferguson’s city council.

Despite a black majority, black voter turnout in Ferguson was significantly lower than white voter turnout in 2013. Only 6 percent of eligible black voters participated in municipal elections. In contrast, 17 percent of eligible white voters took to the polls. This trend persists in part because Ferguson’s white residents are older, and older voters generally outnumber younger voters come Election Day, according to a Pew Research Center study.

Ferguson’s black residents also tend to rent homes, and voter participation strongly correlates with home ownership. The current political landscape also reflects a national pattern in which white leaders govern cities with black majorities.

But in light of Brown’s death, and a history of racial tension between white and black citizens, election day turnout will likely see a significant demographic shift.

NFTOS
STAFF WRITER

THE SHODDYGUARD

The Daily Shows Jon Stewart, as only he can, analyses the Secret Service. Good stuff, watch below.

VIDEO COURTESY OF COMEDY CENTRAL

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NFTOS

Editor-In-Chief

Roger West

"GATECRASHERS" SYSTEMIC FAILURES WITHIN THE SECRET SERVICE

UPDATE BREAKING: 15:30 10/1/14 Secret Service Director Julia Pierson Resigns.

Last night Rachel Maddow dissected the systemic problems within the elite units of the Secret Service.

Video Courtesy of MSNBC




Facing blistering criticism from Congress, Secret Service Director Julia Pierson acknowledged on Tuesday the agency fell short in executing its plan to protect the White House when a man with a knife entered the mansion and ran through half the ground floor before being subdued.

Despite the extraordinary lapses in the Sept. 19 incident, Julia Pierson asserted: “The president is safe today.”

Hours later, reports emerged of yet another failure in Secret Service protocol, this time in President Barack Obama’s presence.

On Sept. 16, an armed federal contractor rode on an elevator with Obama and his security detail while the president was visiting the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, the Washington Examiner reported. The Washington Post reported similar details and added that the man had three convictions for assault and battery. The office of Republican Rep. Jason Chaffetz of Utah, who has helped lead Congress’ investigation, said a whistleblower had provided him the same details.

The gun was discovered only because the contractor was questioned after he persisted in taking video of Obama on the elevator, the reports said. The contractor was fired immediately by his employers.

A Secret Service official confirmed the incident reported by the newspapers but declined to comment further, citing an ongoing investigation of the event.

Was Obama informed? It was unclear. But Pierson, under questioning at the hearing, said she is the one who briefs Obama on threats to his personal security and that she had briefed him only once this year, “for the Sept. 19 incident.”

At the Capitol, Democratic and Republican lawmakers alike expressed the view that the Sept. 19 breach of White House security had blemished the storied agency, and several pressed for an independent inquiry into what went wrong. They were not assuaged by Pierson’s vow that “I’ll make sure that it does not happen again” or by the agency’s own investigation.

“I wish to God you protected the White House like you protected your reputation here today,” Democratic Rep. Stephen Lynch of Massachusetts told Pierson at a public hearing that was followed by a classified, closed-door briefing. Rep. Chaffetz said afterward: “The more I learn, the more it scares me.”

It's time for Ms. Pierson to resign, and its time to put some six sigma efforts into why Secret Service processes are failing.

NFTOS

Editor-In-Chief

Roger West

"Fox News Viewers Are So Stupid That They Have No Idea How Stupid They Are"

John Cleese on Fox News Viewer Stupidity




This is precisely why it is a total waste of time to argue with faux news trolls on the internet. They haven't the capacity to realize that they are net trolls.

Having read Kurt Vonnegut in college, I am reminded of a quote of his: "The big trouble with dumb Bastards, is that they are too dumb to realize that there is such a thing as being smart"

Readers, I cannot recommend these 60 seconds highly enough!

NFTOS

Editor-In-Chief

Roger West

"WHY DOESN'T THE STATE OF NORTH CAROLINA WANT PEOPLE TO VOTE"?

Voting rights advocates in North Carolina caught a lucky break on Thursday, where it was revealed that the panel of three judges who would consider that state’s comprehensive voter suppression law included one Clinton appointee, Judge Diana Gribbon Motz, and two Obama appointees, Judges James Wynn and Henry Floyd. Last month, a George W. Bush appointee to a federal trial bench in North Carolina allowed the law to go into effect during the 2014 election, the panel of three judges from the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit are now considering whether to affirm or reverse that decision. They heard oral arguments in the case on Thursday.

Several provisions are at issue in this case that all make it more difficult for residents of North Carolina to cast a vote. One provision cuts a week of early voting days. Another restricts voter registration drives. A third implements a strict voter ID law, although that provision does not take effect until 2016, so it would be reasonable for the court to decide not to suspend it during the 2014 election.

One provision that received a great deal of attention from the judges during Thursday’s oral arguments in this case is a change to the state law that causes ballots to be tossed out if a voter shows up in the wrong precinct. For the last decade, voters who showed up at the wrong precinct would still have their votes counted in races that were not specific to that precinct, so long as they voted in the correct county. The new law prohibits these ballots from being counted at all. According to the Associated Press, that means thousands of ballots will be thrown out each election year.

Judge Wynn, the only member of the panel who lives in North Carolina, appeared baffled by this provision. Explaining that he lives very close to a precinct that is not his assigned polling place, he asked the state to justify why his vote should be thrown out if he did not travel to a precinct that is further away from his home. At one point, his questions grew quite pointed — “Why does the state of North Carolina not want people to vote?” Wynn asked. At another point, he described a hypothetical grandmother who has always voted at the same place. Why not “let her just vote in that precinct?” he wondered?

An attorney defending the North Carolina law spent a great deal of his time at the podium arguing that it would be too disruptive for a court to suspend parts of North Carolina’s election law this close to the November elections. As a legal matter, this is a strong argument. In a 2006 case called Purcell v. Gonzalez, the justices reinstated a voter ID law that had been halted by a lower court. They explained that “court orders affecting elections, especially conflicting orders, can themselves result in voter confusion and consequent incentive to remain away from the polls. As an election draws closer, that risk will increase.”

Yet the judges seemed skeptical of this argument as well, questioning what evidence the state could show that voters would actually be confused. When an attorney argued that restoring lost voting rights could be logistically challenging for the state, Judge Floyd asked whether “an administrative burden [can] trump a constitutional right?”

The argument that judges should heed Purcell‘s warning and be cautious about changing voting law close to an election also did not convince a much more conservative panel considering another voter suppression law in Wisconsin. Earlier this month, a panel of three Republican judges reinstated a voter ID in a single page order issued the same day that they heard oral arguments in the case. At the time, election law expert Rick Hasen criticized this order as a “very bad idea,” in part because of the reasons stated in Purcell. There are already yearly signs that Hasen was correct.

The Wisconsin case is already making its way to the Supreme Court, and the North Carolina case is likely to wind up there as well, especially if the Fourth Circuit rules against the state’s law. Should both cases come before the justices, that means that they will be confronted with one case where a court changed a state’s election law in a way that Democrats generally approve of, and another case where a court changed the state’s election law in a way that Republicans generally approve of. Both of these changes, moreover, would be made close to an election.

If the conservative Roberts Court really meant what it said in Purcell, then it is likely to allow the North Carolina law to go into effect while suspending the Wisconsin law. Should it allow both laws to take effect, however, that would raise serious concerns about whether the justices are willing to apply the same rule to every case, regardless of whether the rule benefits Democrats or Republicans.

Cross posted from thinkprogress

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STAFF WRITER

DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE REIGNS IN FERGUSON POLICE

A Department of Justice letter sent to the Police Chief Tom Jackson of Ferguson, Missouri on Friday instructed all officers to stop wearing “I Am Darren Wilson” bracelets. Another letter issued on Tuesday ordered members of the police department to wear readable name plates, after officers were seen wearing unidentifiable tags or none at all.

Protests have not stopped in Ferguson since officer Darren Wilson shot and killed 18-year-old Michael Brown, who was unarmed, in August. And in response to civil unrest, which gained steam again after Brown’s memorial was burned to the ground on Tuesday, and the use of the slogan “I Am Mike Brown,” officers were photographed wearing the bracelets supporting the officer who killed him.

The DOJ letter sent to Jackson explained that the bracelets contributed to an “us versus them” mentality and “upset and agitated” others.

In a separate letter, the DOJ also said that officers must stop violating name tag protocol by obscuring or altogether not wearing their name tags. The practice, DOJ said, “conveys a message to community members that, through anonymity, officers may seek to act with impunity.”

Ferguson police previously drew national attention for the militarization of officers, which made the town look like a war scene and resulted in the arrest and attempted censorship of journalists on the ground. And clashes between police and protestors haven’t stopped.

Although Jackson gave Brown’s parents a video apology and joined protesters in the streets this week, Darren Wilson still hasn’t been charged, raising questions about the justice system and politics in the town. Ferguson has a history of racial tension, and research shows that justice is hard to come by for victims of police brutality. For example, a Supreme Court ruling gives police legal deference to determine “reasonable” force. But protesters say civil unrest will continue until the officer is held accountable.


RELATED:

FERGUSON OFFICER SHOT

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Roger West

FELLATE SHOW

In typical Bill Maher fashion - last nights show not being any different, Maher tells it like it is.

Bill Maher may agree with liberals on many things, but one thing he is not tolerant of is - constantly-outraged liberals staying silent on Islamic atrocities.

Maher said it’s ridiculous for President Obama to claim ISIS isn’t Islamic, because looking at the actual beliefs of ISIS and many Muslims around the world shows that much of Islam “has too much in common with ISIS.”

Maher tore into liberal ideas of multiculturalism and non-judgment when it comes to whether certain belief systems are better. Maher said of course “liberal Western culture” is better than horrid theocracies where people’s rights are threatened every single day.

LIBERAL WESTERN CULTURE




Whether you like him or not - or agree with him or not - the bottom line is pretty clear, homo sapien priorities are screwed up.

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Roger West

ERIC BOLLING GETS BLASTED BY JON STEWART

ERIC BOLLING SUFFERS FROM FOOT-IN-MOUTH DISEASE....YET AGAIN

Jon Stewart verbally bitch slapped Fox News’ Eric Bolling on Thursday for his hypocritical complaint that President Barack Obama was disrespecting U.S. troops with his “latte salute.”

“Fuck you and all your false patriotism,” Stewart said. “When [George W.] Bush took us to war, any criticism was shouted down as treasonous. But a president you don’t like has the country poised on the same precipice [and] no transgression — no matter how immaterial and ridiculous — is too small to cite as evidence that this president isn’t as American as you are.”

The proof, Stewart argued, was that Bolling groused about Obama during the same episode in which he referred to a female combat pilot from the United Arab Emirates as “boobs on the ground.”




For the conservative flag-pin wearing fake patriots, just another day in the life of "Black President".

There is nothing more priceless than the draft dodging college drop out society that is Faux News - complaining about anything military. The answer to the question "Can people really be this stupid?" is always a yes when you are speaking about Faux News employees.

Eric Bolling, you are today's worst person of the world.

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Roger West

MARSHA BLACKBURN, NO ORDINARY IDIOT

TENN CONGRESSWOMAN MARSHA BLACKBURN, THE LIGHTS ARE ON BUT NO ONE IS HOME

Step aside Sarah Palin, move over Michelle Bachman, there is a not so new idiot in town - amongst the ranks of the Tin Foil Hat Society, that is seeking top billing of queen idiot of the Galactically Stupid!

Now enters Tennessee congresswoman Marsha Blackburn [(R),Tea Bagger] . Once you get passed the annoying chalk screeching southern drawl - once you get passed the minutia of this GOP talking head - once Blackburn is queried aggressively on military tactics, you find that while waving your hand in front of the window that is Marsha Blackburn - That Blackburn is a shill that perfectly personifies stupidity and a blind allegiance to the Koch whores.

Blackburn, in typical tea bagger fashion, when pressed hard on an issue, deflects and never gives you a straight answer.

BANFIELD VS BLACKBURN





It's hard to believe, that any American in today's world, would they actually go to the polls to cast a vote for someone who is so obviously uninformed and pre-programmed as this bullshit artist - but sadly it happens millions of times each election cycle.

It looks like we're truly screwed if this sort of thing can happen on such a regular basis.


MORE MARSHA BLACKBURN

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Blackburn is a by product of the Koch whores [David and Charles]. Blackburn's response to CNN's Banfield's pressing query is typical Blackburn, Southern aristocrat with equal parts of condescension and incredulity with the intent to - "when you can't dazzle with brilliance, baffle with bullshit".

Marsha Blackburn has been emitting high quality stupid for some time. Blackburn is yet another elected congressperson who is totally incapable - inept of showing any leadership skill sets whatsoever - or having a cognizant thought process of her own.

Republicans are outraged that CNN and Banfield could attack their "Southern Belle" with such tough direct questions regarding such real matters as troops on the ground fighting their wars. To all the outraged tea baggers, CNN deeply regrets this sudden and unforeseen outbreak of journalism and assures the public that this shall never happen again. [Snark]

A tip for Ms. Blackburn, when you are clueless on such matters, that it is "better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak out and remove all doubt".

Marsha Blackburn, you are the worlds tool of the day. Congratulations!

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Roger West

Americans For Shared Prosperity Sinks To New Low

AS IF THIS WASN'T ENOUGH.....NOW WE HAVE CREEPY DATING AD

First it was creepy Republican Uncle Sam probing vagina's, now it's creepy American's for Shared Prosperity dating Profile ad.





TPM's Sahil Kapur asked if this is the weirdest, creepiest ad of the 2014 election cycle and my response is "Yes." I don't know who these Republicans think they're appealing to with this sexist, condescending piece of garbage, but it's flooding the airways on my local channels. I found it extremely insulting and that's about the nicest thing you can say about it.

Here's more from the TPM article:

A new outside ad aimed at boosting Republican candidates in the midterm elections is gaining attention — and raising eyebrows. 

The 60-second spot, "Dating Profile," was released by the group Americans for Shared Prosperity, which is run by Republican millionaire and California winery owner John Jordan, according to Politico. He wants to fight back against the Democrats' "war on women" rhetoric. 

The ad features a woman who says she no longer cares for Barack Obama after she "fell in love" with him in 2008 and stuck by him in 2012 when "our relationship was in trouble." She becomes angry, and says, "I know I'm stuck with Barack for two more years, but I'm not stuck with his friends." 

One of her gripes about Obama? "He thinks the only thing I care about is free birth control. But he won't even let me keep my own doctor."

When conservatives are not "legitimately raping" women, they try to breed them, when they fail there, they patronize them. GOP, full of white pasty old men who live five centuries behind the times.

Not sure about you readers, but I can't wait to see how these idiots woo the black, Hispanic and gay vote.

Americans for Shared Prosperity, you are today's worst people in the world!

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Roger West

"LIKE PUSHING A MILLION POUNDS OF IDIOTS UP A MOUNTAIN"

CLIMATE DENIER, TIN FOIL HAT SOCIETY MEMBER PAUL "LYING" RYAN"

Jon Stewart last night blasted three "Republican" congressmen on Monday for being climate change deniers sitting on the House Committee on Science, Space and Technology. Kind of like an oxymoron this is - conservatives on science and intelligence committees.

Stewart showed footage of three Tin Foil Hat Society Members - Larry Buschon (R-IN), Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA) and Steve Stockman (R-TX) each thinking they could counter White House scientific advisor John Holdren’s evidence during a hearing last week, only to get shut down.

Holdren, Stewart said, had the Sisyphean task of “pushing a million pounds of idiot up a mountain,” including one exchange where Holdren told Buschon to “look at the scientific literature” regarding climate change.

In response, Buschon scoffed at reading findings from “climatologists whose career depends on the climate changing,” saying, “I could read that, but I don’t believe it.”

Instead of reading the Journal of Applied Meteorology and Climatology, Stewart said, Buschon was relying on the opinions of YouTube commenter's like “Obummerlies1776″ for his opinions on climate change, and scoffing at people who study the phenomenon for a living.







To all the Tin Foil Hat Society Members - NEWSFLASH: In the future, our descendants will not be as mad at us about the National Debt nearly as much as Global Warming and Fukushima.

Science and Climate Change deniers, you are all today's asshat of the day! 

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Editor-In-Chief

Roger West

ALASKAN REPORTER GOES OUT IN A "BLAZE" OF GLORY

Charlo Greene told her boss what many of us would to tell our boss, "fuck it, I quit"





YouTube latest sensation Charlo Greene, a reporter for CBS affiliate KTVA-TV in Anchorage, Alaska, quit her job live on air Sunday night after announcing that she owned a medical marijuana business.

According to the Alaska Dispatch News, Greene did a report on the Alaska Cannabis Club on the 10 p.m. news. At the end of the report, she revealed herself as the owner of the club and said she was quitting her job at the station to devote her time to legalizing marijuana in Alaska.

KTVA 11 apologized for the outburst on its Facebook page:

Dear Viewers,

We sincerely apologize for the inappropriate language used by a KTVA reporter during her live presentation on the air tonight. The employee has been terminated.

Bert Rudman
News Director - KTVA 11 News

After quitting, Greene posted an Indiegogo page to raise $5,000 to go toward campaigning for marijuana legislation. From the page:

I'm Charlo Greene, the president and CEO of the Alaska Cannabis Club — Alaska's only legal medical marijuana resource. I just quit my news reporting job on live TV to announce that I am redirecting all of my energy toward helping to end a failed drug policy that has ruined the lives of far too many Americans. 

Ballot Measure 2, the initiative to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol in Alaska, isn't just about marijuana in the Last Frontier, it's about keeping the ball rolling on NATIONAL legalization. Imagine, if after Colorado and Washington have legalized recreational marijuana and are offering the rest of the world a positive outlook on what ending marijuana prohibition can do, Alaskan voters fail to continue moving our nation in the direction toward freedom and fairness. There's no doubt that will impact every other state, national and international marijuana reform effort. Americans with common sense don't want that.

Help us to keep that from becoming a reality.

Pretty ballsy move considering she probably spent much time in education and money to be a journalist. Rest assure Ms. Greene will never ever be a reporter again, or maybe better yet, the magazine "High Times" may be in the need of a qualified reporter, either way, Ms. Greene deserves a atta girl for standing for her convictions, whether these convictions - to blaze or not - be right or wrong.

NFTOS
Editor-In-Chief

Roger West

MICHAEL BROWN KILLING IS "HIGHLY ENTERTAINING" TO ST. LOUIS POLCE ACADAMY

The deadly police shooting of Michael Brown, an unarmed teenager, in Ferguson prompted nationwide outrage and weeks of protests. But police in the area apparently still have a lot to learn.

The St. Louis County And Municipal Police Academy, which encompasses Ferguson, is offering a “Continuing Education” course in October entitled “OFFICER-INVOLVED SHOOTING — YOU CAN WIN WITH THE MEDIA.” The classis billed as “fast-paced class is jam-packed with the essential strategies and tactics, skills and techniques” and includes a “detailed case study of Ferguson.”

Learning about how to manipulate the media after a police officer shoots someone can be a blast, according to a flier produced by the academy promoting the course.” The training is also highly entertaining,” the flier says, “You will learn a lot, and you’ll have fun doing it!”

The course is recommended for “All upper-echelon law enforcement professionals who ever expect to face media contact will benefit. This includes top-level decision-makers, command staff, supervisors, and subject-matter experts…”

Here is the full flier for the course, which is scheduled for October 24:

Just when you think this sorry assed - despicable police department has reached the lowest point possible... hey, look, a new low.

Ferguson Police Department, you are both today's asshat of the day- and worlds worst people of the day. Congratulations Richard Craniums!

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Editor-In-Chief
Roger West

POLYETHOXYLATED TALLOW AMINE MORE LIKELY TO KILL AMERICANS THAN ISIS

Says Bill Maher.

During Bill's "New Rules" segment, Maher attacked the war hawk conservative for hyping domestic threats from ISIS and “other brown people,” while ignoring other pressing matters at home.

Maher said:

"that he does feel bad about the journalists beheaded by the jihadist group, but cautioned: “When you choose to live among cutthroats, you might get your throat cut.”

“Do Americans living here actually think it’s going to be them next?” he asked. “Get a grip.”

Like him or not, Maher tells it like it is.

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Editor-In-Chief

Roger West

JOHN BOEHNER THINKS..............

.......Unemployed people "just sit around - don't think they have to work".

Priceless, considering that Boehner's congress just came back from vacation, worked eight [8] days and now will have another eight weeks of vacation.

House Speaker John Boehner seemed to echo Mitt Romney’s infamous claim that 47 percent of Americans are “takers” who suck up government benefits during a speech at a conservative Washington D.C. think tank on Thursday. Addressing the American Enterprise Institute, Boehner suggested that President Barack Obama’s economy has lulled many unemployed people into a sense of dependence on government.

“This idea that has been born, maybe out of the economy over the last couple years, that you know, I really don’t have to work. I don’t really want to do this. I think I’d rather just sit around. This is a very sick idea for our country,” he said.

“If you wanted something you worked for it,” Boehner said, adding, “Trust me, I did it all.”

But the unemployed aren't jobless because they’re lazy or receive government benefits. Most face huge obstacles to finding good paying jobs in a slow economic recovery.

Currently, there are more than two job seekers for every job opening in the country and the severity of the recession has created a long-term unemployment problem that has made many job seekers almost unemployable. Research shows that being unemployed for nine months has the same impact on your odds of getting hired as losing four full years of experience from a résumé. As a result, many people who lost their jobs have gone back to school, retired early, or continue to look for work without success.

In fact, millions of unemployed people are having a harder time finding a job since Congressional Republicans allowed the long-term unemployment benefits program to lapse. Research — and real world experience — has found that the program’s job search requirements encourage people to spend more time job hunting and helps cover essentials like internet service for job applications or gas money for interviews.

Boehner’s remarks are similar to comments made by Rep. Paul Ryan in March. During an appearance on a conservative radio show, Ryan claimed:

“We have got this tailspin of culture, in our inner cities in particular, of men not working and just generations of men not even thinking about working or learning the value and the culture of work, and so there is a real culture problem here that has to be dealt with.”

This from a guy who holds the worst record from any congress for doing absolutely nothing - along with the lowest approval rating ever.........Priceless "Faux Tan Man", priceless!

Pot, meet kettle.

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Editor-In-Chief

Roger West