Showing posts with label rachel maddow. Show all posts
Showing posts with label rachel maddow. Show all posts

Saturday, March 11, 2017

Flynn Flap a Big Flop for Trump

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So Mike Flynn, Trump's pick for National Security Advisor, was a paid lobbyist for a foreign government and lied about it!

Does this shock anyone at this point? No. Everyone's lying, but they aren't really getting away with it anymore.



From NBC News
Flynn was fired last month after it was determined he misled Vice President Mike Pence about Flynn's conversations with the Russian ambassador to the United States. His security clearance was suspended.
When NBC News spoke to Alptekin in November, he said he had no affiliation with the Turkish government and that his hiring of Flynn's company, the Flynn Intel Group, had nothing to do with the Turkish government.
But documents filed this week by Flynn with the Department of Justice paint a different picture. The documents say Alptekin "introduced officials of the Republic of Turkey to Flynn Intel Group officials at a meeting on September 19, 2016, in New York."

"Happy Friday...so the wheels are coming off a little bit. If the wheels themselves are not yet off, you're starting to hear the sound of lugnuts stripping their threads and pinging across lanes of traffic while the wheels start to wobble. There's a little bit of a freakout going on right now in Washington..."
~ Rachel Maddow, March 10, 2017









Heated Exchange About Flynn via Yahoo News:
(Sean Spicer, Trump spokesman:) There are certain private citizen's activities that you conduct and you seek counsel on or professional advice. That's not up to the government. And that's exactly how the system worked."
Fox News' John Roberts then asked how that didn't raise a red flag.
Spicer cut him off and said, "You already had your question, John."
But Roberts continued.
"You have an attorney calling the transition that the person who is in line to be the national security adviser may need to register as a foreign agent," Roberts said. "And that doesn't raise a red flag?"
"It's not a question of raising a red flag, John," Spicer said. "It's a question of whether or not they gave them the advice they're supposed to, which is it is not up to them to make decisions as to what you need to do or not do. As you know, there are certain activities that fall under each of these requirements as far as what the threshold is, what activities, who the funding source was, etc. etc....
Another reporter then asked a follow-up question, pointing out that "this was an issue of judgment about who you guys wanted in your administration."
















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Friday, February 6, 2015

How MSNBC Has Failed The Viewers - and it's not just Morning Joe

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Previous Related Posts:
Joe Scarborough Attacks Unite Blue
Morning Joe Quarterbacking for Chris Christie
Krystal Ball Freaks Out Over Obamacare Website
MSNBC Ratings Fall as Hosts Go Emoprog
MSNBC Chooses Tea over Truth in Sacking of Martin Bashir
Chuck Todd Admits Truth Isn't Part of his Job Description
The Uppity Stranger ~ Chuck Todd's Book Slams President Obama
President and Malia Obama: Chuck Todd's Book is "Sad"
Chuck Todd Shills for Mitch McConnell
David Gregory Has Man-Crush on Paul Ryan

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I've been watching MSNBC ever since it first appeared on my local cable TV. I was a huge fan of Keith Olbermann, and sad when he was asked to leave the channel. I won't go into all that here ~ read this article for some background. Keith is still a TV icon to the Left because he would stay on a story for weeks after it was dropped by other networks, and he never backed down in his attacks on rival Fox News, especially Bill O'Reilly. While obviously his personality was too strong for some, and maybe too strong for cable news, he wasn't just a mouthpiece for a bunch of talking points like say, cough, cough, Joe Scarborough, cough.

I will always miss Keith's commentaries, but I got over it and became a fervent MSNBC watcher again during President Obama's 2012 campaign. I loved their "Lean-Forward" message, and Rachel Maddow's speech to the Tea Party about all the things that weren't going to happen now that Mitt Romney had failed as a candidate.

But just after the election something changed. Time and again from 2013 till now, MSNBC has disappointed their main viewership, made up of Democrats and Liberals like myself who voted for Barack Obama. It's not just one thing, it's an accumulation of wrong-headed mistakes. If I had a dollar for every time someone on Twitter told me to turn off MSNBC and boycott them, I would have a chunk of change.

The bottom line is this: MSNBC has forgotten who their demographic is. In their quest to steal from Fox and CNN, they think they have to become a right-center network. But in doing so, they are offending the very people who have stuck with them since before Keith Olbermann got the boot.

A little background on the long decline of MSNBC:

From PoliticusUSA
MSNBC’s decline can be traced back to one decision. At the time, when he let Keith Olbermann walk out the door, MSNBC boss Phil Griffin believed that his network’s brand was strong enough to replace the former 8 PM host. Griffin was wrong.

After Lawrence O’Donnell had failed, Griffin put Ed Schultz in the 8 PM slot. Griffin shuffled Schultz off to the weekends because he believed that MSNBC could attract more young viewers by developing several clones of Rachel Maddow’s successful 9 PM show. Phil Griffin decided to go wonky with Chris Hayes at 8, which led to many former MSNBC viewers leaving and not coming back.

Hayes has been a disaster at 8 PM, and viewer demand for Schultz was so strong that the blue collar populist was put back on to the weekday lineup at 5 PM.

MSNBC was floundering, and Griffin made things worse by caving to Sarah Palin and the right by defacto firing Martin Bashir for some blunt comments that he made about the former half term Alaska governor.

Bashir never has the audience that Olbermann did, but his removal from 4 PM sent a message to MSNBC’s viewers. Lean Forward was just a marketing slogan. When push came to shove, MSNBC easily caved to right-wing pressure.


Martin Bashir was fired after reading a historical document about slavery on the air in response to Sarah Palin, who had tossed slavery into her word salad about GOP oppression caused by President Obama. Bashir was disgusted with Her Royal Stupidity misinterpreting history, and he made a choice to speak some serious truth so she would understand the demeaning tortures that real slaves in the South had to endure.

While it's true that some details of the history lesson were distasteful (so-to-speak), the far-right on Twitter spread the untrue story that Bashir had told Palin to "eat sh*t" on the air. The Tea Party kept the pressure on until the President of MSNBC, Phil Griffin,fired Martin Bashir.

Phil Griffin has a long history of pandering to the Right:







Griffin is known for having "pets" at MSNBC, and they know who they are. Take Joe Scarborough, please. He did an interview last year, after the firing of Bashir, explaining his relationship with Griffin:

Via Mediaite
Appearing on Steve Malzberg‘s NewsMaxTV show Wednesday, MSNBC host Joe Scarborough spoke out about the controversy surrounding his colleague Martin Bashir...
. . . Malzberg asked Scarborough why MSNBC hadn’t suspended Bashir or publicly reprimanded him. Obviously hesitant to comment on internal matters, the Morning Joe host suggested that, much like how Fox chief Roger Ailes doesn’t allow his hosts to attack each other, MSNBC’ers are unable to do the same.
However, he did say:
Every time something horrific is said like that, I go in and I talk to Phil Griffin, who I’m good friends with. And I say, Phil, this is unacceptable. Either they apologize for it or I’m going to bring it up myself.

Personally, I can't stand "Morning Joe" and I usually only see clips of it on Twitter. But apparently it started out to be MSNBC's one right-leaning show to "balance" the rest of the network. Maybe that would work if the namesake of the show had an ounce of humility and a willingness to learn from others. Unfortunately, Joe Scarborough is a loud-mouth bully who dominates not just sidekick Mika, but anyone else who shows up in the morning.

Last year, Scarborough verbally attacked the large and growing Democratic and Liberal-leaning Twitter group Unite Blue, of which I am a member. He called our members "freaky fringe haters" or something like that, never thinking for a minute he was shooting himself and MSNBC in the foot. Somehow he thought it was a good idea to attack the very demographic that was keeping his job available to him, since Dems and Liberals watch most of the other shows.

That display of arrogance should have been enough to get him fired like Martin Bashir, but we soon found out that "pets" get to stay, and the feelings of a huge group of Democrats don't mean very much to Phil Griffin, compared to someone important like the Tea Party's Sarah Palin.

But Lean Forward, right? LOL.

BINGO!







For a long time many have called for Joe Scarborough to be fired to save the rest of the network, but instead, Griffin tried him out on the night shift last week, in place of Maddow and Chris Hayes. It's unbelievable.





This recent article warning of impending doom at the network makes no mention of Joe Scarborough, choosing to blame mainly Chris Hayes, and warning that Ronan Farrow and Joy Reid may be on their way out. Looks like he wants to "save the pets" while kicking off the strays.

From The Wrap
January ratings revealed double-digit declines compared with January, 2014 in all ratings measurements. During the day, MSNBC was down 20 percent in viewers and 37 percent in the advertising-coveted 25-54 demo. In primetime, it fell 23 percent in viewers and 39 percent in demo.

From Politico
In October, MSNBC President Phil Griffin said the network was "experimenting" with new ways to regain momentum, spawning widespread speculation that he planned to make significant changes to the lineup. Ronan Farrow's show, which debuted last year and has received dismal ratings ever since, is one program that is widely believed to be up for removal. On Tuesday, it brought in just 11,000 viewers in the demo.
An MSNBC spokesperson declined to comment on the Tuesday ratings.


But Morning Joe isn't the only problem at MSNBC. Even the mainstays of the network seem to lean some other direction besides Left.

Rachel Maddow and Chris Hayes, for all the good they do night after night, often go a little nuts and out of step with ordinary liberals out here in the heartland, to the point that real Democrats just turn them off. This has become more of a cumulative effect since the 2012 elections. Yes, they have a right to their opinions, but if you want to know why the ratings are so low, look back over the past two years at topics that may seem unimportant in the scheme of things, but which made viewers angry enough to boycott MSNBC.

I love Rachel Maddow and I really enjoy her show. She is witty, entertaining, funny, and at her best, her show has the spirit of Keith Olbermann.

But unfortunately she sees herself as a "War Historian," and whenever President Obama seems to be on the verge of doing something with American firepower or diplomacy anywhere in the world, Maddow goes berserk. I remember the first time I went "click" on her show. She was saying that President Obama had every right to intercede in Syria, but that he needed to ask permission from Congress or he might get us trapped into another war in the Middle East. It still makes me go "huh?" She sounded just like the nuts on Fox who didn't want that uppity President to do anything like any other President who has ever lived.

And what's worse, Maddow seemed to have no sense of irony that the Congress she was suggesting he ask for "permission" is the same wingnut Congress she reported on every night as a bunch of warmongers obsessed with guns and Benghazi. He was supposed to ask them? She even invoked the Constitution, which is right up there with Sarah Palin!

Some people forgot to watch her show after that. Oh, and they were really mad at her. Some of them still are. Some viewers just aren't coming back.










There are some problems with Chris Hayes too. His chirpy, giddy and cerebral persona were more appropriate for his Saturday morning show "Up," but Griffon thought he could save their prime-time lineup and attract the younger demographic. It was soon apparent that it didn't work out that way. I think he means well and much of his reporting is excellent, such as his work during the Ferguson marches.

What I didn't expect was that he would become the sudden champion of an out-and-out traitor to the United States, Edward Snowden, the Russian "patriot" defector.

Viewers didn't leave the show because Hayes criticized the NSA. Viewers just got fed up with MSNBC's elevation of Snowden's partner/mentor/witness/whatever Glenn Greenwald as some kind of hero journalist and paragon of virtue who wants to save the world. The real Greenwald is a raging Anti-Government Libertarian and Near-Anarchist who calls the President an "Imperial Emperor" (just like the rightwing nutjobs) and thinks anyone with allegiance to any country is a "statist." After a few weeks of Greenwald worship, Chris Hayes figured out that most Democrats don't like him, but by then Hayes was like a little boy whose balloon got deflated all of a sudden by criticism on Twitter and the falling ratings.











DUH!






Griffon can blame Ronan Farrow, Joy Reid, or anyone else he likes for low daytime ratings. But he should look at his pets, for instance the ever-exasperated Andrea Mitchell and the ever-smarmy Chuck Todd. Day after day since the last election they have been going into hysterics over President Obama's "Optics" - "Why is he playing golf" or "Why is he going out for dinner?" "Why is he drinking coffee?" "Why doesn't he care?" "Why is he on vacation?" - stuff no one ever said about George W. Bush or any other President in history.










Krystal Ball from "The Cycle" is another problem. She is so far-left, she is nearly to the right of Rand Paul sometimes. She's not that horrible sometimes, but other times, she is. I don't hate her, but I don't watch her anymore either.

Ball went on a crazy tirade about the Obamacare website back when it was having problems, helped along by some whining by then MSNBC fixture, Ezra Klein - who wanted background music while waiting on the phone. Of course now that the same website is enrolling millions of new people into health insurance,and yes, Krystal Ball does seem to take pride in that - NOW. But back at the beginning, Ball certainly helped the Far-Far Right by slamming ACA Obamacare because it wasn't working automatically.

Considering that just this week, two years after Ball and Klein attacked the Obamacare website, my own state of Tennessee just turned down Medicaid expansion again due to Obamacare haters in the GOP, it was never a good thing that Krystal Ball decided to attack ACA from the left. Maybe MSNBC has chosen to forget this wrong-headedness, but it's harder to forget here in a red state.






She also praised Libertarian Nutcase Rand Paul as "courageous, and begged Hillary Clinton not to run for President. . Last year, she said President Obama's State of the Union "depressed her." What. The. Hell? Is it any wonder that viewers sometimes wonder whose side she is on?













Last year, Chuck Todd wrote a book about President Obama called "The Stranger," which the President and his daughter mocked just before Christmas as "a sad book." Todd is famous for stating that he had no obligation to report "the truth" about Obamacare to the GOP - that tells you all you need to know about his life as a "journalist." He replaced the lame David Gregory, another Phil Griffin favorite, on NBC's Meet the Press, and I'm sure the ratings have plummeted even more. Todd also turns up frequently on MSNBC shows such as Morning Joe and Hardball to discuss "Lame Duck" or "Weak" President Obama. What Democrat wants to hear that stuff day after day? Not this one!



My point here is that there are many problems with MSNBC, and they are so deep it may not be fixable with Phil Griffon at the top. Unfortunately he seems to be tone deaf to the viewers, and incapable of firing his pets. They can turn the network into another version of Fox News and probably lure some wingnut viewers if that's what they want, but it would be a shame to see the network of Keith Olbermann go completely down the toilet.













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Friday, January 30, 2015

Bryan Fischer Fired, but Still Blogging and Blabbing for AFA

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Previous Related Post:
Hate Radio Host Bryan Fischer Ousted By Christian Group

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There's more on the alleged "firing" of Bryan Fischer from the Christian group American Family Association (AFA).

Rachel Maddow covered it on her show again Thursday night, pointing out that Fischer and the AFA had attacked Mitt Romney in 2012 because he was a Mormon, calling his religion a "cult" that worships a "false god." Yet mainstream RNC leader Reince Priebus and other members of the GOP are traveling to Israel this weekend on the dime of the AFA. As Rachel points out, they don't have to get on the plane Saturday morning. But I bet they do!



From Think Progress
... In reality, this might not actually change very much for Fischer. After Maddow broke the story, Fischer tweeted, “Don’t believe everything you hear! I’ll be on air same time tomorrow as always 1-3pm CT, on http://www.afr.net . Tune in!” Wildmon’s description of Fischer as “just a talk show host” isn’t so different from the many times that AFA has stipulated that Fischer does not speak on the organization’s behalf, even when he’s speaking on their radio network or writing for their news site. Though his bio has been scrubbed from AFA’s site, all of his written content remains. The incident may perhaps be an embarrassment to AFA and to Fischer, but if he’s continuing to do his radio show, his status quo — the podium AFA provides him — might not have actually changed at all.
Maddow pointed out during her segment that Fischer’s extremism was not a problem when AFA funded Texas Gov. Rick Perry’s (R) pre-presidential prayer rally, nor for Louisiana’s Gov. Bobby Jindal’s (R) recent prayer rally, but the Republican Party’s reputation in Israel may have been just a step too far.


Here's a great lampoon of Fischer babbling about how The Gays Caused the Holocaust in a song by James Rustad:
"Jesus Loves Me, This I Know, Cause Rick Perry Tells Me So, If I Die I'll Go To Hell Says Governor Bobby Jindal."



Basically the AFA demoted Fischer but didn't take away his talk show, so while he isn't technically a "spokesman" for the group, essentially he still is their mouthpiece. So the AFA may think everyone is as gullible as Rick Perry, Bobby Jindal and their members seem to be, but no one is buying that Fischer is gone from their organization. It's also doubtful that the Jewish Press is going to believe it in time to save the RNC's trip to Israel which starts this weekend.

From The Advocate
The AFA apparently decided to downplay Fischer’s role amid an uproar over the fact that the group is sponsoring a trip to Israel this weekend for nearly 100 members of the Republican National Committee. The AFA is virulently antigay and on the far right concerning every other issue — the progressive Southern Poverty Law Center classifies it as a hate group — but Fischer is its most outrageous face.
Fischer's remarks over the past few years read like a playbook of antigay hyperbole: that Adolf Hitler’s most savage enforcers were gay soldiers (ignoring the fact that Hitler’s regime sent gays to concentration camps); that gays and Mormons may be plotting together to legalize polygamy; that “flaming homosexuals” will storm Christian bookstores and demand jobs if antigay discrimination is banned nationwide; that the Supreme Court ruling against the Defense of Marriage Act was a bigger legal travesty than the acquittal of George Zimmerman in the death of Trayvon Martin; and that if schools are teaching LGBT history, they should include the biblical story of Sodom and Gomorrah.
And that’s just Fischer on LGBT issues — he has also said that religions other than Christianity have no right to free exercise under the First Amendment, that Muslims are traitors, and that believers in evolution should not hold public office.

Fischer also wrote a post yesterday on the AFA's official blog called
The U.S. Should Support Israel Because God Does
God here declares one simple, abiding truth: he will deal with the nations of the world as they deal with Israel.

A nation which stands with Israel will receive a blessing from God. A nation which stands against the Jewish people (Nazi Germany comes to mind) will rest under a curse.

You can argue all day if you’d like about whether the United States is a Christian nation. The evidence is indisputable that it is, but one thing no one can dispute is that the United States has been kind to the biological and spiritual offspring of Abraham.

. . . The Jewish people zealously protected, preserved, and passed on the very words of God as recorded by the ancient prophets and historians in Israel. Our faith as a Christian nation is rooted in Jewish soil. No Judaism, no Christianity.

Abraham is our father in the faith, the Ten Commandments our guiding standard for both personal and public morality, and the Jewish prophets of old still a source of inspiration. (You can ask Martin Luther King, Jr. about that.)

That blog post is really just a recap of Fischer's beliefs in "Christian Founding Fathers."

As Wonkette Described Fischer's Beliefs, Dec. 11, 2014
Bryan Fischer Has Magic Constitution That Says First Amendment Is Only For Christians


Yesterday, the AFA group sent a letter to the Southern Poverty Law Center further distancing themselves from Fischer's core beliefs:

From Right Wing Watch
AFA rejects the idea expressed by Bryan Fischer that "Free exercise of religion" only applies to Christians. Consequently, AFA rejects Bryan's assertions that Muslims should not be granted permits to build mosques in the United States;

AFA rejects the ideas expressed by Bryan Fischer that the violent expulsion of Native Americans was divinely ordained and that, "Superstition, savagery and sexual immorality" morally disqualified Native Americans from "sovereign control of American soil."

AFA rejects the ideas expressed by Bryan Fischer that "we" need to clamp down on immigration because Hispanics are socialist by nature and vote Democratic because it allows them to "benefit from the plunder of the wealth of the United States."

AFA rejects Bryan Fischer's characterization of minorities as "people who rut like rabbits."

AFA rejects the statement by Bryan Fischer that, "Homosexuality gave us Adolph Hitler, and homosexuals in the military gave us the Brown Shirts, the Nazi war machine and six million dead Jews."

AFA rejects the policy advocated by Bryan Fischer that homosexual conduct should be illegal

AFA rejects the notion advocated by Bryan Fischer that, "We need an underground railroad to protect innocent children from same-sex households."

AFA rejects Bryan Fischer's statement that, "If Hillary Clinton becomes president In 2016, she will not only be our first female president, she could be our first lesbian president."

....In light of this notice, do not continue to charge AFA with the statements by Bryan Fischer that we have repudiated. When identifying "hate groups" in the context of training military or law enforcement personnel, do not put AFA in a false light by quoting Mr. Fischer's statements that we have repudiated.

SPLC responded yesterday

SPLC President Richard Cohen, in a letter to the AFA today (see below), wrote that “it’s difficult to see the AFA’s disavowal as anything other than an effort to quell the negative press attention you’re receiving in connection with your sponsorship of an all-expenses-paid trip to Israel for members of the Republican National Committee.”
. . . Cohen noted that other AFA officials, including its president, Tim Wildmon, and founder, Don Wildmon, also have made statements “that reflect narrow-minded bigotry” and that AFA printed materials have demonized the LGBT community.
“Without ending Mr. Fischer’s talk show, without apologizing for the bigoted statements that he, Mr. Wildmon, and others associated with the AFA have made, and without making it crystal clear that the AFA will not tolerate any such statements in the future, the AFA’s 11th-hour disavowal of Mr. Fischer appears to serve only one purpose: to give the AFA a degree of plausible deniability while it continues to spew hateful rhetoric,” Cohen wrote. “It’s a shell game and a transparent one at that.”

Complete Letter from SPLC to AFA ~ Here



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Thursday, January 29, 2015

Hate-Radio Host Bryan Fischer Ousted by Christian Group

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Rachel Maddow broke the news last night on her MSNBC show that wiggedy-whack Evangelical Bryan Fischer has been fired as spokesman from the group American Family Association, which is a cheerleading and money-raising support group for the Tea Party and the far-right wing of the GOP.

This is a complicated story, and will be ongoing for some time to come. The basic plot is that the American Family Association has paid for members of the RNC (Republican National Convention) to take a trip to Israel starting next Sunday. The Jewish press then discovered that the AFA has some, ahem, not-quite-Jewish-friendly members, such as Evangelist and Hate-Radio Talk Nut, Bryan Fischer.

The story below gave the RNC good reasons to pressure AFA to fire Fischer. Although frankly, this isn't news to anyone familiar with the Southern Poverty Law Center, Hatewatch, or the Evangelical movement.

Headline Story from Haaretz:
U.S. NGO: Evangelical 'hate group' funding Republican National Committee trip to Israel
Evangelical political operative planned 9-day freebie trip for national committee members, on behalf of the conservative Christian AFA group which blasts Muslims, gays. SPLC rights group staffer: Our issue is not with the trip, but with the 'heinous beliefs' of those sponsoring it.

The The AFA is described as a "hate group” and "extremist group” by the SPLC, an Alabama-based civil rights nonprofit, because of statements it made that are deemed anti-LGBTQ, anti-Latino and anti-black, and which suggest that the United States is a country for Christians only.
“The AFA has an extensive track record of bigotry and hate,” SPLC president and CEO Richard Cohen wrote in a letter to each member of the RNC, urging them not to go on the free trip.
Bryan Fischer, the AFA’s director of issue analysis, has said that black people “rut like rabbits.” Moreover, in a September essay, he wrote: “We are a Christian nation and not a Jewish or Muslim one.” On a video segment on MSNBC’s "Rachel Maddow Show" last Friday, Fischer was seen blasting gay activists as “jack-booted homo-fascist thugs,” and depicting Islam as “an Ebola virus that is lethal and deadly.”

So in order to save some kind of dignity for this trip to Israel, the group threw Fischer under the bus. However, he still has his radio show where he can continue to hate the Jews and everyone else as much as he wants.



From Right Wing Watch:
From what we have been able to gather, Fischer has not actually been dismissed by AFA but has rather merely been stripped of his title as director of issues analysis and his role as spokesman for the organization. Fischer will reportedly continue to produce his daily radio program for the AFA's radio arm, American Family Radio.
If this is indeed the case, then the AFA has literally accomplished nothing with this stunt and has completely failed to distance itself from Fischer's utterly despicable views. The primary venues though which Fischer has managed to spread his bigotry for the last six years have always been owned, operated, and funded by the American Family Association and that relationship appears to remain intact.

And of course, his departure is probably just the tip of iceberg, since most AFA members espouse the idea of America as a "Christian Nation" above all other religions. That's clearly why they have kept Fischer around all these years, in spite of the controversy. So will this firing make much difference? Not really. Other members of the group agree with him!

There is still their wingnut leader David Lane, quoted by Haaretz:
. . . Asked why he organized this trip, Lane said, “Who’s the best friends of Israel? The 65 to 80 million evangelicals in America who read their Bible and believe in the Abrahamic covenant.”
. . . Lane is a longtime behind-the-scenes, evangelical Christian political operative who rarely speaks to the press. In an interview with Haaretz, however, he said his work involves “mobilizing pastors in pews around the country” to be politically involved.
His American Renewal Project is working to persuade 1,000 evangelical pastors to run for public office in 2016.
“The Lord gave me this model of mobilizing pastors to try and engage the culture. Somebody’s values are going to reign supreme,” Lane told Haaretz, adding, “America was founded by Christians for the glory of God and the Christian faith.”
Lane said he’s taking a total of 98 people on the nine-day trip to Israel, which begins on Saturday, January 31. Participants will travel from the Galilee and Golan Heights to Jerusalem and the Dead Sea, he told Haaretz, with Jewish tour guides and two evangelical pastors in tow. In addition to Priebus and his wife, guests include Susie Hudson, who last week was elected RNC secretary, and Jewish conservative radio talk-show host Dennis Prager.
. . . Asked who exactly furnished the approximately $400,000 that Lane says the trip will cost, he declined to share specifics. “I know people who love Israel and want influential people to travel there and see the reality of the land of Jesus,” he told Haaretz.
. . .

More on David Lane at Right Wing Watch

So the American Far-Right and Israeli Judaism are strange bedfellows. Evangelicals say that they share the same family-values with Orthodox Jews, even while they whisper among themselves that "Jews are the Pharisees who killed Jesus." Israel gets support from the GOP and Evangelicals because of Biblical Prophecy that talks of Israel's downfall during the future apocalypse of Armageddon, during which the "wings of eagles" (the United States) will save them from the Antichrist (Muslims), or something like that. It's a strange connection - the Evangelicals believe the Jews are doomed and only Jesus can save them, which isn't what most Jews want to hear.

Political Israelis such as Bibi Netanyahu use this fervent support from the Right to pull stunts, such as teaming up with John Boehner to diss President Obama over Iran in the House of Representatives. And they use it to get more money for "security in the Middle East." But the truth is, there isn't much real common ground between the Jews and the Evangelical side of the GOP, so things can fall apart in a hurry.

From MSNBC
. . .When “The Rachel Maddow Show” asked AFA President Don Wildmon what prompted Fischer’s ouster, Wildmon specifically referenced Fischer’s bizarre assertions connecting Nazis and homosexuality. Fischer, of course, originally made these remarks years ago, and has repeated related comments in the years since, but talking to us last night, Wildmon now says, “We reject that.”
As of last night, Fischer’s bio page on the AFA website has been removed.
. . .  the American Family Association, despite years of right-wing extremism, is partnering with Reince Priebus and members of the Republican National Committee on a trip to Israel, which created an awkward dynamic. Why would the RNC team up with a group whose spokesperson says things like, “Counterfeit religions, alternative religions of Christianity have no right to the free exercise of religion”?
Nearly 100 RNC members are scheduled to participate in the AFA-sponsored Israel trip, which begins this weekend. It’s against this backdrop that, all of a sudden, Fischer is no longer the religious right group’s spokesperson.






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Thursday, May 1, 2014

Oklahoma and the Unusually Cruel Execution

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Oklahoma gave an inmate an untried chemical cocktail in an attempt to perform an execution. The only problem was the prisoner didn't die right away, and instead suffered a horrible death that was witnessed by reporters. Thanks to the secrecy of the state of Oklahoma, we'll probably never know exactly what went wrong, but at least they stayed execution for the next prisoner in line. As if OK wasn't backward enough, now they have this new blot on their record. One more good reason to get rid of Governor Mary Fallin.

Live Tweets of horror by reporter Bailey McBride:













Her feelings the next day, April 29, 2014:



From The New Yorker
Oklahoma’s secrecy laws make it impossible to know anything beyond the names of the ingredients injected into the condemned prisoner. The state has declined to provide the public with reasons for selecting a particular drug cocktail, or with any details about the drugs themselves, or about the supplier. The state reportedly buys the drugs with petty cash, to make the purchases more difficult to track and, therefore, harder to legally challenge.

What is known, though, is that, ten minutes into Lockett’s execution, a prison official told a doctor, “Go ahead and check to see if he’s unconscious.”
After checking, the doctor said, “Mr. Lockett is not unconscious.”
“I’m not,” Lockett said.

Courtney Francisco, a reporter for KFOR-TV, in Oklahoma City, was one of the witnesses at the execution. She told the BBC that Lockett, strapped to the gurney, was moving his arms and legs and mumbling, “as if he was trying to talk.”

We have a fundamental standard in this country that even when the death penalty is justified, it must be carried out humanely. I think everyone would recognize that this case fell short of that standard.
~ White House Spokesperson Jay Carney

You’d think that a modern society endlessly searching for a “humane” way to kill people, and finding that all of its methods turn out to be some form of torture, would do one of two things: realize there’s no humane way to kill people, and stop it, or accept that the point is cruelty, and just torture the hell out of them. Mary Fallin and her Oklahoma allies appear to have decided the latter. They should be honest about it.
~ Joan Walsh on Salon

The botched execution of Clayton Lockett in Oklahoma this week is yet more evidence that the death sentence is barbaric and has no place in a civilized society.
The fact that, as reported, Lockett was left "writhing in agony" on the gurney of the death chamber of Oklahoma state penitentiary after a cocktail of lethal drugs had been administered, and that it took 43 minutes for him to die of a heart attack, should be reason to call a moratorium on the death sentence in the US, else it can no longer claim to be that symbol of freedom and justice it claims.
~ John Wight, Huffington Post

The death penalty may be on its death bed.
The botched execution of an Oklahoma inmate Tuesday night has temporarily halted planned executions in that state, but the horrifying death of Clayton Locket is only the most recent in a series of executions to illustrate that lethal injection is not a humane alternative to options like the electric chair or firing squad. With crime rates dropping across the U.S., states abolishing capital punishment, and drug companies abandoning the execution market – forcing the creation of secret and unproven drug combinations – the fight to end the death penalty may have reached a tipping point.
~ Meredith Clark, MSNBC

From KFOR News in Oklahoma City
ACLU of Oklahoma Says Governor’s Proposed Investigation is Not Independent

UPDATE 7:38 p.m. - Shortly after the execution of Clay Lockett, the American Civil Union of Oklahoma called for a moratorium on all executions in Oklahoma pending a complete and independent investigation into the botched execution and the events leading up to the fundamental breakdown in the state’s execution process.

The ACLU of Oklahoma issued a statement in response to Oklahoma Governor Mary Fallin call for an investigation to be conducted by a state agency under her control.

The Executive Director of the ACLU of Oklahoma Ryan Kiesel said, “It is impossible for the Department of Public Safety, the Attorney General’s office, or anyone who is under the control of any agency or politician who played a role in this matter to offer a truly independent assessment. It is absurd to think that the same group of people that unnecessarily rushed last night’s execution and fought openness at every turn, can now be expected to hold themselves accountable in an investigation. This began as a question of whether we trust the government to kill its citizens, even guilty ones, in a secret process. Now we add to that the question of whether we trust the government to investigate itself and hold itself accountable when something goes horribly wrong during its secret execution process.”

Excellent reporting by Rachel Maddow on this horrible topic:





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Wednesday, January 29, 2014

Tea Party Traumatized by President's Logical State of the Union Speech - Updated

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President Obama gave a brilliant and historic State of the Union Speech to both Houses of Congress and the American People last night. Afterward, right wing heads exploded, some of them right there on TV.

Related Posts:
Cathy McMorris Rodgers Gives Stepford Wife Response to SOTU

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"It is time to do away with policies that belong in a Mad Men episode."



Update: Rachel Maddow did a whole segment mocking this tweet
by Randy Weber R-Texas
"Kommandant-In-Chef"





















Louie Gohmert R-Texas posts pic that resembles
Nosferatu the Vampire in the Haunted Castle




Tim Huelskamp R-Kansas was in a class by himself:









Heartfelt Standing Ovation for Hero Cory Remsburg
Equals "Politicizing" for Huelskamp
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Rachel Maddow of MSNBC Called Huelskamp Out on his Tweets
Making His Head Asplode

(My Transcript)

Maddow: Sgt. Remsford was grievously wounded - President Obama said "Like the military he loved, like the country he served, Sgt. Cory Remsford never gives up and he does not quit."
That was punctuated with a standing ovation that went on for more than a minute and 40 seconds. It was absolutely the emotional high point of the address tonight. There was not a single person in the room that was not standing up. At which point Congressman Heulskamp tweeted: "Obama politicizes the Military to end his speech. Totally expected, Mr. President."

Joining us now is Tim Huelskamp of Kansas... Mr. Huelskamp, I have to ask you if that was tongue-in-cheek. Do you really believe that was politicizing the Military?

Huelskamp: We actually invited our own veteran. One that's served bravely as well, some tremendous heroes out there. And we received word from the Administration when we put a press release out that perhaps we were politicizing that fact. Very brave man. Lots of brave heroes. Very interesting - the President very clearly ran against the military and continues to highlight them when it helps him politically. But at the end of the day, more of the same in the speech, Rachel--

Maddow: How did the President run against the military?

Huelskamp: Well, it's pretty clear! He wanted to bring the troops home, he wants to close Gitmo, he wants to do all kinds of things. But at the end of the day, the focus of the speech should have been 'how are things working out?'

Maddow: Is bringing the troops home your definition of being against the military?”

Huelskamp: No - what the President talked about when he first ran obviously is very different. There's this NSA issue. Whether and how much the President should have in terms of authority. He ran against Bush on all these things, Rachel, it's very clear. And all of a sudden he's all for Presidential power now. He's all for the NSA now. He's all for the military now, during his speech. But at the end of the day, his policies are failing and that's why we have 24 million Americans still looking for a full time job.

Maddow: Congressman Huelskamp, I still don't understand how he ran against the military. I still don't understand if you mean he was politicizing the military by praising that Sergeant.
. . . 3 minutes later you tweeted "Was there a diplomat in Benghazi that gave his life for his country, Mr. President?"

Huelskamp: Yeah.

Maddow: Are you denying that an American diplomat died in Benghazi?

Huelskamp: (laughs) Yes, Do you know what happened in Benghazi? The President refuses to come clean. Your Hillary Clinton refuses to come clean. They won't tell us what happened. And a diplomat died, we believe, the initial evidence still is, that the President or someone in the White House failed to provide support to defend that diplomat and our Marines on the ground. That's ir - irreprehensible (sic) and I have no answer for that and that's what we're talking about. We need answers.

Maddow: Are you questioning whether Ambassador Stevens gave his life for his country? What are you--?

Huelskamp: You know this President and Hillary Clinton are hiding the truth on Benghazi. We’re looking for them to come forward, let those folks testify who were on the ground. That's a Congressional responsibility.
It’s also the responsibility of Hillary Clinton. Just a few months ago she said what difference does it make? Two days ago she says it was the biggest regret in her life, the failure in Benghazi. We're lookin' for some answers there. 'Cause that should not happen again.

The Republicans have passed bills - we put stuff in the budget that would help protect our embassies and diplomats.

Maddow: Did you just vote for the spending bill that would cut security funding for American diplomatic facilities abroad? There was a significant cut . . .

Huelskamp: No, I did not vote for that bill.

Maddow: Did you vote for the cut to diplomatic security facilities before Benghazi?

Huelskamp: No, we had passed significant security measures as requested by the Administration. But don't forget - Hillary Clinton did not request security enhancements. And we do believe this Administration let our troops down there.

photo huelskamp.png

Huelskamp: This administration promised to be the most transparent in history, Rachel. And if you would stop being a cheerleader and be a journalist, you’d recognize that we’re not getting those answers.

Maddow: Did you just call me a cheerleader?

Huelskamp: (laughs) I don’t know, maybe you have that history.

Maddow: No, wait wait, - Wait, hold on, hold on, hold on.

Huelskamp: You're being a cheerleader for the Administration.

Maddow: So I'm a cheerleader?

Huelskamp: You can't be a journalist when you're not willing to look at the facts. If it was [George W.] Bush, you would be jumping and screaming.

Maddow: You’re amazing!

Huelskamp: If it's Hillary Clinton, you don't want the answers. Rachel, face the facts. We don't know the answers there.

~~~

Maddow: When you tweeted that Obama was "Hail to the King" and "Obama to Unleash the Imperial Presidency" are you making the case that this President is acting in an unlawful manner by proposing the things he proposed in his State of the Union Address?

Huelskamp: The President acted in numerous unlawful manners. Particularly in his willingness to suspend parts of Obamacare. He went out and said big businesses don't have to use Obamacare --

Maddow: Sir, I’m just trying to focus on the case that you’re making which is that his speech--

Huelskamp: A speech makes no law! The President makes good speeches…

Maddow (quoting Huelskamp’s tweet): … “reads like dictates from a King hashtag LawLess”; What did he say in the speech that was lawless tonight?

Huelskamp: …Fourteen different points where the President said, ‘I don’t like the American people, who they elected…’ That’s what the President was saying! He said, ‘I don’t like Congress! I don’t like the American people that sent these people up here, and so he listed fourteen different dictates, executive orders…

Maddow: Dictates? Are executive orders lawless?

Huelskamp: An executive action without authority is lawlessness.

Maddow: Executive orders by presidents are lawless?

Huelskamp: If there is no authority! …

Maddow: ( laughter) We’ve squared the circle. If there’s no authority, it has no authority … Congressman Huelskamp, your tweet stream tonight and and your arguments here…

Huelskamp: Enjoy ‘em!

Maddow: …are from two totally different universes.

Huelskamp: The universe of reality, Rachel. The universe of outside this beltway. The President's speech fell flat out in the real world. Washington - they're still a-twitter. But recognize Americans want some answers, they want some solutions.





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Tuesday, November 5, 2013

Rand Paul Throws Down Gauntlet Over Plagiarism ~ Updated with Detention

 
 
Previous Related Posts:
Rand Paul is Confused about Plagiarism
Rand Paul's Gattaca Moment

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Rand Paul keeps taking a new helping of words even while challenging Rachel Maddow of MSNBC to a Duel (as in, shooting her) over her reports about him. Blame the Haters!!!

Senator Rand Paul R-Kentucky via Maddow Blog
“[U]nder thousands of things I’ve written, yeah, there are times when they’ve been sloppy or not correct or we’ve made an error. But the difference is I take it as an insult, and I will not lie down and say people can call me dishonest, misleading or misrepresenting. I have never intentionally done so.
“And like I say, if – you know, if dueling were legal in Kentucky, if they keep it up, you know, it’d be a duel challenge. But I can’t do that because I can’t hold office in Kentucky then.”
. . . I think I’m being unfairly targeted by a bunch of hacks and haters.”

There is nothing wrong with the reporting. . . . You can try to make this about me, but how about addressing the substance?
And now Rand Paul wants to shoot at me or stab me with a sword or something for reporting something true that he has done wrong as a politician. Responding to the person rather than to the charge is a time tested tactic. Honestly, it is a symptom of immaturity in our political discourse that it's expected that this is part of the way he'll respond.
~ Rachel Maddow of MSNBC via Huffington Post

 UPDATE!

 It annoys the hell out of me. I feel like if I could just go to detention after school for a couple days, then everything would be okay. But do I have to be in detention for the rest of my career?
~ Rand Paul in National Review

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Meanwhile . . . people are digging up more examples of Plagiarism while his handlers start trying to erase his mistakes (that's cheating too and doesn't work too well on the Internet).
































































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