Last Call For Burning Down The House

Ladies and gentlemen, Obama Derangement Syndrome example case #186948.

A Minnesota man is in custody on charges of arson after police say that he set fire to his house and then blamed President Barack Obama and the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). 

Patch reported that fire was reported coming from the Minnetonka home of 49-year-old Ronald Gary Bailey after 9 p.m. on Dec. 1. 

According to court records, Bailey asked firefighters responding to the call when they would be finished putting out the blaze so that he could “start the rest of my house on fire.” 

But by the time that firefighters had extinguished the fire, the home had been destroyed. 

Standing at the end of his driveway, Bailey explained to them: “You should know, you did this, the CIA implanted a computer in my brain and body.” 

“What do I have to do, how big of a bomb do I have to build before the police respect me?” Bailey said, according to court documents. 

Officers who were transporting Bailey to Hennepin County Medical Center’s behavioral Crisis Intervention Center discovered that he had a loaded .380 caliber pistol concealed in his pocket. 

At some point, Bailey told officers that he was the “first half-man/half-robot created by the government.” He said that the CIA and FBI had bugged his house, and blamed “Obama” and the “CIA” for causing the fire that burned down his home.

Emphasis on the Derangement part.  Here's hoping that Mr. Bailey here gets the mental health assistance he clearly needs.

Through provisions in the Affordable Care Act.

Getting Something Out Of The Koch Machine

A new Washington Post analysis finds the network of GOP-backed campaign groups backed by the billionaire Koch brothers has now surpassed the entire Democratic fundraising machine, and all of it is 100% anonymous, unlimited donations to the tune of $400 million.

The resources and the breadth of the organization make it singular in American politics: an operation conducted outside the campaign finance system, employing an array of groups aimed at stopping what its financiers view as government overreach. Members of the coalition target different constituencies but together have mounted attacks on the new health-care law, federal spending and environmental regulations. 

Key players in the Koch-backed network have already begun engaging in the 2014 midterm elections, hiring new staff members to expand operations and strafing House and Senate Democrats with hard-hitting ads over their support for the Affordable Care Act. 

Its funders remain largely unknown; the coalition was carefully constructed with extensive legal barriers to shield its donors. 

But they have substantial firepower. Together, the 17 conservative groups that made up the network raised at least $407 million during the 2012 campaign, according to the analysis of tax returns by The Washington Post and the Center for Responsive Politics, a nonpartisan group that tracks money in politics. 

A labyrinth of tax-exempt groups and limited-liability companies helps mask the sources of the money, much of which went to voter mobilization and television ads attacking President Obama and congressional Democrats, according to tax filings and campaign finance reports. 

The coalition’s revenue surpassed that of the Crossroads organizations, a super PAC and non­profit group co-founded by GOP strategist Karl Rove that together brought in$325 million in the last cycle. 

The left has its own financial muscle, of course; unions plowed roughly $400 million into national, state and local elections in 2012. A network of wealthy liberal donors organized by the group Democracy Alliance mustered about $100 million for progressive groups and super PACs in the last election cycle, according to a source familiar with the totals.

But that means the Right outspent the Left by several hundred million in 2012, and will do so again during the midterms.  What was a solid victory for President Obama resulted in only a few pickups for the Democrats in Congress, and the goal now is to finish what they started in 2010:  buying out the rest of the competitive state-level races that will give the GOP unprecedented power in state legislatures and Governor's mansions.

Should they gain control of the Senate as well as expand their power in states like Florida, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Michigan, President Obama would be the only person standing between them and complete control of the country.  The reality is they are trying to relegate the Democrats to a West Coast + New England regional party.

2014 is the battleground.  If they take control after November, 2016 will merely be postponing the inevitable.

And they have the billions to do it.

Better vote.

Don't Care How, I Want It Now!

Liz Cheney is apparently not going to get that Senate seat in Wyoming after all.

Liz Cheney, whose upstart bid to unseat Wyoming Sen. Mike Enzi sparked a round of warfare in the Republican Party and even within her own family, is dropping out of the Senate primary, sources told CNN late Sunday.

Cheney, the eldest daughter of former Vice President Dick Cheney, began telling associates of her decision over the weekend and could make an official announcement about the race as early as Monday.

Cheney's surprising decision to jump into the race, an announcement made in a YouTube video last summer, roiled Republican politics in the Wyoming, a state Dick Cheney represented in Congress for five terms before moving up the Republican food chain in Washington.

Enzi was a low-key presence in Washington who was elected in 1996 and, with few blemishes, amassed a conservative voting record in the Senate. He expressed public annoyance at Cheney's decision to mount a primary challenge. A number of his Senate colleagues quickly rallied to his side and pledged support for his re-election bid.

There was little public polling of the race, but two partisan polls released last year showed Enzi with a wide lead, an assessment mostly shared by GOP insiders watching the race.

Pretty sure this call has nothing to do with the Tea Party vs. GOP leadership scuffle, and everything to do with Liz Cheney being a horrible person, even by Republican standards.  She's so bad in fact that all indications are she would have lost her primary by something like 50 points.  She stomped in and demanded Daddy buy her a Senate seat, and this is what happened:

She was a bad egg, as the man says.  And not even Daddy is going to throw good money after bad rubbish.

Bye-bye, Liz!

StupidiNews!

• A small plane flying from Tuscon crashed on a landing attempt in Aspen, killing one and badly injuring two others, according to Colorado law enforcement officials.
• Doctors in Spain will be attempting the world's most extensive full face transplant to date in order to replace a man's malformed jaw and nose.
• Al Qaeda forces along the Iraq-Syria border are claiming responsibility for a suicide bombing in Beirut that killed four and injured dozens.
• New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo is planning to revive a 1980 state medical marijuana law to allow prescriptions of the drug.
• AT&T is offering up to $450 to T-Mobile customers who drop their current carrier as the communications giant looks for new revenue.

Last Call For Utah's Posse Bigot-tatus

Seems that Utah's anti-LGBT bigots aren't going to let same-sex marriage continue in the state without a fight.  Or possible intimidation.  Or maybe actual bloodshed.  Or, well, who knows what might happen...

The Constitutional Sheriffs and Peace Officers Association on Saturday organized a meeting in Highland, Utah to call for an uprising and to express their opposition to same-sex marriage in Utah, Fox 13 Now News Salt Lake City reported. 

"The people of Utah have rights, too, not just the homosexuals. The homosexuals are shoving their agenda down our throats," Former Graham County, Ariz., Sheriff Richard Mack said at the meeting.

You see, LGBT Utahans don't count as people, so whatever may happen to them as a result of this group is going to be unfortunate, but it'll be their fault anyway, the awful perverts.

Mack said that Gov. Gary Herbert (R) failed the people of Utah.

"State sovereignty supercedes what this judge did," Mack said. "The Governor needs to get some courage and grip."

Cherilyn Eager, one of the event organizers, said that people need to speak out.

"We need people to stand up and speak out. We need to get noisy. We need some outrage," she said. "It is about the sheriffs now coming out to protect the people."

Federal law doesn't matter apparently since Utah is no longer part of the United States or subject to the Constitution, and since we've established above that LGBT Utahans aren't people according to these lovely folks, well, "the people" will need these armed officers of the law to "protect" them.

If you catch my drift.

Mack and Eager asked meeting attendees to call their local representatives and ask them to urge clerks to stop issuing marriage licenses to gay couples.

"The way you take back freedom in America is one county at a time. The sheriffs need to defend the county clerks in saying, 'No, we're not going to issue marriage licenses to homosexuals,'" Mack said at the meeting.

While we're breaking the law and everything, let's "ask" county clerks to do so as well.  If they don't, well then, maybe the "people" will need "protection" from them, too...

The GOP Unemployment Ploy

Republicans are beginning to realize their position that the long-term unemployed are "just too lazy to find work and don't need benefits" is going to get them killed in November.  All of a sudden, Republicans like House Speaker John Boehner are all for extending benefits.

Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) remains open to an extension of emergency unemployment benefits even in the face of growing conservative opposition to such a move.

The Ohio Republican maintains the position he expressed last month that Republicans would “clearly consider” an extension of federal help for the long-term unemployed “as long as it’s paid for and as long as there are other efforts that will help get our economy moving once again,” Boehner spokesman Michael Steel said Friday.

And surprise, surprise:  Sen. Rand Paul got the memo that Kentucky's unemployment picture is pretty lousy, so now he's for extending benefits too:

"Well, what I have always said is that it needs to be paid for, but we also need to do something for long-term unemployed people, and that is, we need to create something new that creates jobs. So, what I would like to do, when we get back, is one, if we extend it, we pay for it. But, two, we add something to it that would create jobs. And so what I have been promoting are economic freedom zones, which any area that has unemployment one-and-a-half times the national average, we would dramatically lower taxes to try to spur and stimulate the economy there and create jobs."

Of course, this is the part where Republicans all add on demands for these benefits in order to support the bill.  Both Boehner and Paul want to cut the budget elsewhere to "pay for" these extended benefits.  My suggestion is that Democrats take them up on the offer and start with eliminating big oil company subsidies and tax breaks.

Why, we'd even come out ahead I'm betting.

The Plan For 2014

President Obama will come out swinging on Monday when he's back from Hawaii and ready to take on the GOP over some big issues that they continue to block against the will of the people:  immigration reform, federal unemployment benefits, and helping the working poor by boosting the minimum wage, all issues that have broad approval across a majority of Americans.

The president's advisers hope comprehensive immigration reform, perhaps Obama’s number one goal of his second term, can still be in play in 2014. 

“It remains a top, top, top priority,” a White House official said. 

And Obama’s most pressing concern is to retain the Senate. Republicans believe they can win the six seats they’d need to take over the upper chamber, something that would force Obama to play defense in his remaining years in office. 

To bolster the chances for Democratic Senate candidates and Obama’s agenda, White House aides are looking to tap into the themes of fairness and equality—which they believe helped Obama win the presidency twice. 

Part and parcel of that effort is the immediate push on extending unemployment benefits, an efffot that started before Obama flew to Honolulu. Obama is expected to hold an event to push the issue early this week. 

In the same vein, they plan to aggressively push to hike the minimum wage to $10.10, backing a recent proposal by Congressional Democrats. 

Both issues are intended to telegraph a message about the inequality gap in the country, underlining differences with Republicans that the White House and Democrats think can be exploited in an election year. 

“It’s a fight we’re happy to have,” said the White House official. 

In short, the Republicans are about to remind everybody why a Democrat was elected President...and then re-elected President.

Last Call For Rocky Mountain Lows

Earlier today I talked about Chris Hayes, privilege, and the massive disparity between the arrest rate of white and black marijuana smokers.  The awesome Goldie Taylor made the very compelling argument Friday on Twitter that Colorado's legalization setup is only going to make this worse:

... Colorado's new regulations further tip the scales in favor of a privileged class already largely safe from criminalization...
— Goldie Taylor (@goldietaylor) January 3, 2014

... those people-- largely black, brown and poor-- due to exorbitant pricing and heavy taxation, are priced out of the legal market...
— Goldie Taylor (@goldietaylor) January 3, 2014

Do read the entire Storify by Kashann Kilson, who captured all of Goldie's tweets on the subject.

Bottom line:  the state of Colorado now has not only every legal incentive to go after non-licensed pot dealers and the people who buy their product, but every financial incentive too.  Black market pot from your neighborhood dealer costs the state tax revenue dollars.  Expect prosecutions and raids to be up big time...and there's absolutely nothing to make me think these pot-based arrests won't be as wildly skewed towards minorities as they were before Colorado put this into place.  Look for the state to bring its full power down upon "your usual connection".

If anything, I agree wholeheartedly with Goldie Taylor that it will be far more race and class based.  The people who can afford pot at Colorado's licensed prices will buy.  Those who can't, well, things are going to get ugly.

Out And About In Washington DC

So, here's the question:  Is it okay to publicly out a Republican Congressman as gay when he does everything he can to be a hypocrite and anti-LGBT bigot, and sponsors and votes for legislation to that effect?

Apparently at least one CBS News journalist (in this case Itay Hod who is gay himself and is an anchor for CBS News's show on the LGBT-themed Logo network) thinks the answer is "oh hell yes, and about time too."

Early yesterday, Hod — who is also gay — posted a long note on Facebook wondering why no journalist has ever outed Schock, who he claims has been caught by a journalist in the shower with his male roommate by as well as in gay bars by TMZ. "Doesn't the media have an OBLIGATION to expose hypocrisy?" he asks:

here's a hypothetical: what if you know a certain GOP congressman, let's just say from Illinois, is gay... and you know this because one of your friends, a journalist for a reputable network, told you in no uncertain terms that he caught that GOP congressman and his male roommate in the shower... together. now they could have been good friends just trying to conserve water. but there's more. what if this congressman has also been caught by tmz cameras trolling gay bars. now what if you know that this very same guy, the darling of the gop, has also voted against repeal of don't ask don't tell, opposed the repeal of doma, is against gay marriage; and for the federal marriage amendment, which would add language to the us constitution banning gay marriage and would likely strike down every gay rights law and ordinance in the country? 

Are we still not allowed to out him?

Hod goes on to defend outing the "certain GOP congressman" before posting a link to "The 7 gayest Aaron Schock Instagram posts of 2013" juuuuust to make sure we're all on the same page.

So is what Hod did the right thing to do?  I'm a straight ally, so do I even have a valid opinion either way in this fight?  Any opinions out there?

Privilege Is A Hell Of A Drug

Last night MSNBC All In host Chris Hayes talked about Colorado's legalization of marijuana and NY Times columnist David Brooks admitting that he smoked pot as a teenager, but I will give Hayes all the credit in the world for his story of checking out the Republican National Convention in Philly in 2000 and realizing he still had a bag of weed in his glasses case, heading towards a search checkpoint for convention security.



Hayes's on-air admission, in part:

"I've re-run that incident countless times since, and while I have no earthly idea why the cop not only didn't arrest me but decided to give me my weed back, the best case seems to be that he looked at me like I could have been some Senator's son, and that arresting me was going to possibly cause a whole bunch of headaches that he did not need on a night when he was mostly there to make sure no one was bringing weapons or explosives into that building. 

"And I can tell you as sure as I am sitting here before you that if I was a black kid with cornrows instead of a white kid with glasses, my ass would have been in the back of the squad car faster than you could say 'George W. Bush'."

Thank you, Chris Hayes, for personally admitting that truth about our society, drugs like marijuana, and who actually gets arrested for them.

More people need to admit that America is not colorblind, and never will be.  Not in my lifetime, at least.

The Big Bad Bluegrass Battleground

Increasingly, Kentucky is becoming a battleground state.  Not over electoral votes in 2016, but over President Obama's energy and environmental policies, as Mitch the Turtle is setting himself up as the "only person" who can stop the Friends Of Coal license plate state from becoming clean and green, but Kentucky's far from the only state where this battle will rage in 2014:

Republicans like Senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.) plan to go on the attack against President Obama’s  climate action plan, which they have dubbed a “war on coal.”

They’re backed by conservative groups like the American Energy Alliance, which is already airing campaign ads attacking Democrats such as Rep. Nick Rahall (W.Va.) for supporting a carbon tax. 

Green activists led by Tom Steyer plan to return fire.

The billionaire former hedge fund manager, who has poured his money into environmental causes, said Thursday that his New Year’s resolution is to make climate change a voter concern in 2014.

“This election year, more than ever, we must hold our leaders responsible for the role they play in the fight against climate change,” he wrote on NextGen Climate’s  website,  keystonetruth.com.

Energy and environmental issues are expected to take a front seat in dozens of races across the country, from coal country in West Virginia and Kentucky to the Gulf Coast, where Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.) faces a tough reelection race just as she prepares to take up the chairmanship of the Senate Energy Committee.

Noise surrounding crude oil exports and offshore oil development from coastal states is already being made, and Landrieu may push policy that evens the playing ground for coastal states when it comes to collecting federal dollars tied to energy development.

In Alaska, Sen. Mark Begich (D-Alaska) faces a difficult reelection battle in a major energy state. On Thursday, he distanced himself from Obama's climate agenda, pushing for more oil exploration.

Open-seat Senate races in South Dakota and Montana are also places where energy will be a major theme as the natural-gas boom becomes a prominent debate in 2014.

Here's the political reality in states like Kentucky, West Virginia, Louisiana and the Dakotas: you want to get elected as a Democrat?  Better get in line with Big Energy or you'll lose to a Republican who will.  So yes, Mark Begich, Mary Landrieu, and yes, Alison Lundergan Grimes are all going to have to play nice with the oil and coal boys or lose to Republicans.

The EPA can still do things at the federal level...for now.  Enough Republicans in the Senate however and that may go away too.  I hate it, I think climate change is a real problem, and that future generations are going to really, really loathe us over our failure to act.  The damage will be insane.

But the political reality of now is a factor, like it or not.

The Return Of Mayor McSleaze

Oh Toronto Mayor Rob Ford, never, ever change.

Never mind the admission to smoking crack cocaine, or the bizarre home video, or the unforgettable remark about the sexual fulfillment in his marriage.

Rob Ford wants you to evaluate him on his record and, if you do, he's pretty confident you'll conclude — like he did — that he's Toronto's finest mayor ever.

“I’ve got the strongest track record. I’ve been the best mayor that this city’s ever had. My record speaks for itself,” Ford said, as quoted by the Toronto Star.

Ford filed for re-election on Thursday, the first day for candidates to turn in paperwork for Toronto's Oct. 27 mayoral election.

He was the first candidate to file for the race.

I have to hand it to Canada: why muck about with all the American-style fake remorse, the false penitence play before the Good Lord, and the pretend Christian hand-wringing (after getting busted doing crack on video) when you can just directly go to the part where you balls it out and dare the bastards to try to come for your job?

Watch him get re-elected, too.

StupidiNews!

• The Northeast is bracing for a major winter storm that will dump snow from DC to Maine.
• Bill Nye "The Science Guy" will go head to head with Creation Museum founder Ken Ham in a debate at the museum in Kentucky in February.
• A suspected suicide bombing has killed 5 near Hezbollah's Beirut headquarters, prompting police to look for connections to Syria's civil war.
• Wal-Mart will DNA test its donkey meat sold in China after recalling contaminated product containing fox meat.
• The NSA is trying to build a quantum computer than can break encryption algorithms in record time.

Last Call For Rand Paul Meets Annie Hall

Remember this classic scene from Woody Allen's Annie Hall?





As Steve Benen points out, Rand Paul got the Marshall McLuhan treatment on his idiotic insistence that cutting federal unemployment benefits is a good idea.

This week, Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) had a McLuhan Moment of his own. The Republican senator continues to argue that extending federal unemployment benefits to jobless Americans would be bad for those already struggling, and cited economist Rand Ghayad to bolster his claim. 

Ghayad didn’t literally say, “You know nothing of my work,” but he came awfully close.

Oh it gets worse.  Ghayad's response in part:

So why does [the senator] want to end unemployment benefits for people who have been out of work for 6 months or longer? Well, Paul cites my work on long-term unemployment as a justification – which surprised me, because it implies **the opposite** of what he says it does. 

Now, we clearly have a long-term unemployment problem. The question is why. Paul says it’s all about incentives. He thinks extending unemployment benefits does a “disservice” to the unemployed by encouraging them to stay unemployed for too long. And as a “big-hearted” member of a party that cares about the jobless, he wants to protect them from making such mistakes – by cutting their benefits, of course. 

But Paul misreads my work to try to back up his argument.

Ouch.

"You know nothing of my work," indeed.

PS, here in Kentucky the unemployment rate is 8.2% for November 2013, significantly higher than the national average.  Perhaps Rand Paul might want to take his constituents into account and do his job rather than trying to lie his way into being a presidential "contender" in 2016 at our expense.

Rick Scott Fails The Test

Sorry Governon Batboy, you lose big time.

A federal judge in Orlando, Florida ruled Tuesday that the state’s law requiring drug tests from all applicants for public assistance is unconstitutional. According to the New York Times, Judge Mary S. Scriven found that the law — Tea Party Gov. Rick Scott (R)’s signature piece of legislation — violates the U.S. Constitution’s protections against unreasonable searches and seizures. 

“The court finds there is no set of circumstances under which the warrantless, suspicionless drug testing at issue in this case could be constitutionally applied,” Scriven wrote. 

Note the key word there: "suspicionless".  Subjecting people to drug testing just because they are poor enough to need government help is criminalizing being poor.  Requiring a drug-free workplace is one thing, but requiring a drug free private home is unconstitutional, period.

The decision made permanent an earlier temporary hold she placed on the law, which was passed by the Republican-controlled state legislature and signed by Scott in 2011. Scott is refusing to back down, saying in a statement on Tuesday that the law was designed to ensure that children aren’t being raised in homes headed by drug users. 

“Any illegal drug use in a family is harmful and even abusive to a child,” read the statement. “We should have a zero tolerance policy for illegal drug use in families — especially those families who struggle to make ends meet and need welfare assistance to provide for their children. We will continue to fight for Florida children who deserve to live in drug-free homes by appealing this judge’s decision to the U.S. Court of Appeals.”

Only one problem with that:  the rate of drug use is higher among people who aren't on assistance.

Reuters reported in 2011 that — during the short time it was allowed to proceed before courts put a stop to it — the testing found a much lower rate of drug use among applicants for public assistance than in the population at large. Less than two percent of applicants tested positive for drugs. 

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services found that around eight percent of the general population ages 12 and older report using illicit drugs. The high cost of testing applicants and low rate of denial of benefits ultimately meant that Scott’s plan cost the state more to implement than it saved.

Less than two percent.  Gosh, it's almost like people on public assistance are too poor to afford illegal drugs or something, and are just working class people trying to survive, and not all junkie criminals or something, but actual human beings.

Not to Rick Scott and Floridia Republicans they aren't.  To him, they're potential customers to the chain of medical test providers he used to own and divested to his wife when he became Governor.

Funny how THAT works, huh.