StupidiNews, Weekend Edition!

• With 75,000 reservists called up amid promises to "expand the campaign", Israel is massing tanks and troops on the Gaza border for a possible ground invasion.
• A Federal court late Friday sided with a Christian book publisher that the health care law's contraception mandate is a violation of the company's religious liberties.
• An international criminal court has overturned the conviction of two Croatian generals on war crimes charges, stating a lower court had misread evidence.
• Stanford has ended Baylor's 42-game win streak in women's college basketball with a 71-69 win.
• With Nintendo's new Wii U console debuting this weekend, competition from Microsoft and Sony means new price cuts for holiday shopping.

Last Call

When President Obama comes through with a hell of a deal and wins the "fiscal cliff speed bump" showdown, we'll look back and see that the moment he won was the second Grover Norquist opened his mouth.  Yggy:

One part of the ongoing budget farce in Washington has been a lot of dancing around the idea that maybe Republicans would agree to a plan that raises tax revenue without raising tax rates. Frustratingly, reporters have spent a lot of time querying Republican Party elected officials about this (they give cagey answers) rather than asking the person who really matters: Grover Norquist.

The text of the no-taxes pledge that he gets all Republicans to sign is terse and like all good elements of holy writ could be interpreted in different ways. But the Pope of the supply-side cult himself has weighed in and says this doesn't work for him:

“If you raise taxes, it’s a problem with the pledge,” Norquist says in an interview. “Romney’s plan was always revenue neutral – I’m in favor of getting rid of deductions and credits and reducing rates, as long as it’s revenue neutral. That’s always been the Republican position.”

No tax reform.

Ergo the country will go over the fiscal cliff (temporarily) and then as Matt says here, everything from that point on becomes a tax cut.  Republicans will then have no choice but to go along.  Obama wins.

The details are important, but from this point forward, it's just a matter of time.

Another Four Years Of Crap Like This

The sad part is the American public is inured to the constant threats made against President Obama's life.  The US Secret Service on the other hand, the busiest guys in the room.  Every threat gets checked out, as it should.

Police in Melbourne, Fla., are holding a man over threats he made on Facebook to kill President Barack Obama, reported Florida Today.

On Nov. 1, Christopher Castillo wrote on the social network that if Obama were re-elected, he would “hunt down” the president and “watch the life disappear from his eyes.” When someone commented that the threat itself was a federal offensive, he responded that it was a “promise.”

Castillo, a 28-year-old army veteran, also made threats during questioning with U.S. Secret Service agents and county investigators two days after the elections, threatening to beat up President Obama. But Castillo’s father says the threats are meaningless, although he understands that “the Secret Service has to do what they have to do.”

This guy clearly deserves the treatment he's getting from the USSS.  But as a veteran, it would be nice to see him get treatment for whatever issues made him post something like this in the first place.  It's a hell of a cry for attention, frankly.  Let's hope that he gets the help he needs. 

The Maine Problem With The GOP Is...

...the head of the Maine Republican Party, Charlie "Whitey" Webster, and his views on minorities in New England.

The head of Maine’s Republican Party defended himself on Thursday over comments he made about black people committing voter fraud in his state.

In an interview with TPM, Charlie Webster said his remarks earlier in the week had been misinterpreted as racist, but he still insisted it was “unusual” to see so many black voters at the polls in an overwhelmingly white state.

Webster had claimed in interviews with local media outlets that having a high number of blacks showing up at the polls could be a sign of voter fraud. He vowed to investigate. That investigation would be conducted using his own private funds after he steps down from his party post on Dec. 1, Webster told TPM.

He also said he regretted some of the language he used in the previous interviews.

“I regret saying the word black because it wasn’t like I was singling out black,” Webster said. “The reason I said it, ‘cause I don’t know where you live, but where I come from in rural Maine, it’s a small percentage of the population. I think we’re the whitest state in the country. So if you go to the polls and see people who are black, it’s unusual. And when you see a lot of people who are black, like six or eight or ten people, you think, ‘Wow, where do they live?’ That was my point.”

Sorry, Charlie.  The problem is your assumption that when you see six or eight or ten black people, you automatically assume they must be committing a crime because your ignorant, sheltered self chooses not to realize that while Maine's percentage of black citizens is 1.3%, it still means 15,000 black people live in the state, asshole.

Try saying hello next time instead of practically calling the cops.

StupidiNews!

• Israel says it will cease fire today during the visit of Egyptian PM Hesham Kandil to the Palestinian Territories, but only if the Gazans do the same.
• A federal appeals court has struck down Michigan 2006 ballot law that ended affirmative action admissions in colleges and universities.
• A new study finds Mississippi as the worst state in the nation for income inequality, with nominal wages for the state's poorest workers rising only $1,700 since 1975.
• With reports of suicides linked to foreclosures, Spanish lawmakers are moving to institute new protections for homeowners.
• With a $75 million investment in an Iowa wind farm, Google is now approaching $1 billion invested in green energy production for its power-hungry data sites.

Last Call

And the impeach Obama nonsense from the right begins in record time.  Post-election moderation of conservatives lasted all of one week.

The Conservative Majority Fund, a conservative group known primarily for its birther conspiracy spreading, has launched a robocall campaign to gin up support for the president's impeachment.

The call, emailed to The Huffington Post by Shaun Dakin of StopPoliticalCalls.org, reads in part as follows:

Our only recourse now is to move forward with the full impeachment of President Obama. We suspect that Obama is guilty of high crimes and misdemeanors and that there may be grounds for impeachment as is laid out in the constitution. Further, he may not even be a U.S. citizen because nobody, I mean no one, has seen an actual physical copy of his birth certificate. Impeachment is our only option. And Republicans are already considering Obama investigations. As the nation's most effective conservative group we are launching the official impeach Obama campaign.

Trying to figure out if being "the nation's most effective conservative group" is some sort of dig at Karl Rove, or if the bar for "effective" has been lowered to "somewhere deep in the Earth's mantle".

This is the level of "cooperation" you should expect from conservatives.  Barack Obama will never be "their" President.  Ever.

Tell me again how both sides do it, guys.

Georgia On My Mind (Control)

Georgia Republicans have lost their minds and should resign in abject shame over this complete nonsense.

President Obama is using a Cold War-era mind-control technique known as "Delphi" to coerce Americans into accepting his plan for a United Nations-run communist dictatorship in which suburbanites will be forcibly relocated to cities. That's according to a four-hour briefing delivered to Republican state senators at the Georgia state Capitol last month.

On October 11th at a closed-door meeting of the Republican caucus convened by the body's majority leader, Chip Rogers, a tea party activist told Republican lawmakers that Obama was mounting this most diabolical conspiracy. The event—captured on tape by a member of the Athens-based watchdog Better Georgia (who was removed from the room after 52 minutes)—had been billed as an information session on Agenda 21, a non-binding UN agreement that commits member nations to promote sustainable development. In the eyes of conservative activists, Agenda 21 is a nefarious plot that includes forcibly relocating non-urban dwellers and prescribing mandatory contraception as a means of curbing population growth. The invitation to the Georgia state Senate event noted the presentation would explain: "How pleasant sounding names are fostering a Socialist plan to change the way we live, eat, learn, and communicate to 'save the earth.'"

Putting the derangement in Obama Derangement Syndrome, that's the Georgia Republican Party.  These guys are insane.  Absolutely cracked.  A four hour presentation on this sick, racist, vitriolic hatred at taxpayer expense?

No.  Georgia should demand mass resignations of these fools.

Collective Punishment, Ohio Republican Style Part 2

As I mentioned a few days ago, the goal by Republicans now is to collectively punish the members of the Obama coalition (minorities, LGBT, women, young voters) at the state level in order to turn them against the President and the Democrats.  Nowhere is this effort proceeding more quickly than in Ohio, where Republicans are trying to revive the nation's strictest anti-abortion "heartbeat" bill.  In addition to that, Ohio's GOP controlled state House Wednesday took the first step to defund all Planned Parenthood clinics in the state.

After a lengthy and heated hearing, an Ohio bill meant to defund Planned Parenthood cleared a House committee on Wednesday by an 11-9 vote along party lines. House Bill 298, ostensibly about re-prioritizing federal family planning money, seeks to strip $1.7 million from Planned Parenthood clinics in the state. According to Planned Parenthood Ohio CEO Stephanie Knight, nearly 100,000 Ohio women depend on the organization for health care — overwhelmingly for preventative care including cancer screenings and birth control.

Every single medical professional present testified against the bill. Dr. Grant Morrow of Nationwide Children’s Hospital decried HB 298 as the result of a “political agenda” that would have a devastating impact, primarily on poor and young women. Planned Parenthood is frequently a punching bag for many conservative politicians, despite the fact that abortions comprise only 3 percent of services provided by the women’s health organization. And as Dr. Kimberley Shepherd, a Columbus-based OB-GYN, testified during the hearing, defunding Planned Parenthood in Ohio would jeopardize cancer prevention screenings, STI care, hypertension testing, and many of the preventative measures the organization provides to low-income women.

Religious groups also sent multiple representatives to testify against HB 298. Former state representative Marian Harris of the National Council of Jewish Women argued that no one religious viewpoint should receive preferential treatment under the law, and pointed out that the legislation would gut funding for family planning clinics. Religious leaders also testified in support of Planned Parenthood, including a rabbi, a Lutheran minister, and a United Methodist minister. 

Given the massive GOP edge in the House (59-40) and the Ohio Senate (23-10) and GOP Gov. John Kasich, at this point if Ohio Republicans wanted to jam this through, it's going to happen.  We'll see what goes down.

StupidiNews

• China unveiled its new leaders for the next ten years, headed by new Party Secretary and putative President Xi Jinping.
• A court hearing for accused Colorado theater shooter James Holmes has been postponed today due to a reported head injury Holmes suffered while in jail.
• President Obama will attend the East Asia Summit next week in Cambodia and become the first US President to visit Myanmar.
• Wal-Mart's holiday toy dominance has a new challenger this year: Amazon's online sales.
• Time Warner Cable's $4 monthly fee for cable modems has triggered a class action lawsuit for failing to notify customers of the price increase.

Last Call

Israel, seeing President Obama has been re-elected, decides if that they can't bomb Israel, they'll just bomb Gaza instead.

An Israeli air strike Wednesday killed the head of Hamas' military wing, the first attack in a broader military operation against terrorist targets in response to an increase in rockets fired on Israel from Gaza.

Palestinian leaders immediately condemned the Israeli attacks as an escalation, with the Hamas military wing saying Israelis had opened "the gates of hell on themselves."

Medical sources said nine people died in the Israeli air strikes, including a young girl, and 35 others were wounded.

An Israel Defense Forces statement said the attack on a vehicle in Gaza carrying Ahmed al-Ja'abari, the Hamas military leader, was part of "an extensive program of direct offensive strikes against Hamas, Islamic Jihad" and other terrorist targets approved by Lt. Gen. Benny Gantz, the IDF chief of staff.

So now on top of everything else President Obama is dealing with, we've got Bibi choosing about right now for getting his war on.

This is turning into a hell of a week.

Filled To Busted With Filibusters

In a development that should stun absolutely nobody, The Hill is reporting that despite having at least 54 Dems in caucus (and 55 after Angus King quits playing footsie), the Dems don't have the 51 votes they need for filibuster reform yet.

Lawmakers leading the charge acknowledge they remain short, but express optimism they’ll hit their goal.

“I haven’t counted 51 just yet, but we’re working,” said Sen. Tom Udall (D-N.M.), a leading proponent of the so-called constitutional or “nuclear” option, in which Senate rules could be changed by a majority vote.

“We’re building the momentum right now,” Udall said. “It’s hard to say at this point, but I think it’s looking very good. The last two years have really helped coalesce people’s minds around the idea that we need to change the way we do business.”

The problem for Udall and other supporters of filibuster reform is that many veteran Democratic senators remember when the filibuster was a useful tool in their years in the minority.

Dems don't want to go on record as making the Senate so partisan?  Really?  Have you guys seen the last four years?  Your new Senate collegues were specifically elected because they ran on fixing the filibuster:

All seven Democratic senators-elect — Tammy Baldwin (Wis.), Martin Heinrich (N.M.), Heidi Heitkamp (N.D.), Mazie Hirono (Hawaii), Tim Kaine (Va.), Chris Murphy (Conn.) and Elizabeth Warren (Mass.) — have pledged to support filibuster reform. Sen.-elect Angus King (I-Maine) made filibuster reform a central plank of his campaign.

But Democrats can’t count on a number of their “old bulls,” as was reflected by a vote just two years ago.

Udall, Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) and Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) proposed a package of reforms for the 112th Congress that would have eliminated filibusters on motions to proceed to new business. Their package also would have required senators wanting to hold up legislation or nominees to actually hold the floor and debate, and shortened to two hours the time that must elapse after a filibuster on a nominee has been cut off.

The package failed in a 44-51 vote, with Democratic Sens. Jim Webb (Va.), Max Baucus (Mont.), Herb Kohl (Wis.), Mark Pryor (Ark.), Jack Reed (R.I.) and Reid voting no. Democratic Sens. Dianne Feinstein (Calif.), John Kerry (Mass.) and Daniel Inouye (Hawaii) did not vote.

Dems better figure out a way to get this done.  You can bet the next time the GOP gets control of the Senate, they sure as hell will.

The First Fight In The Schism

The Conserva-schism in the GOP continues this week as the Tea Party and Country Club wings of the party battle it out to see who will remain in charge of the House.  The first skirmish on tap is for leadership of the House Conference Committee, the #4 position in the GOP House.

Reps. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (WA) and Tom Price (GA) will go head-to-head Wednesday afternoon as the members hold a closed-door vote to elect the next House Republican Conference Chairman, the party’s No. 4 leadership role.

Speaker John Boehner is officially neutral but privately supporting McMorris Rodgers. Paul Ryan, the returning chairman of the Budget Committee whose profile rose enormously during his vice presidential run, is asking colleagues to back Price.

McMorris Rodgers is the highest ranked woman in the House Republican conference, and a loyal leadership ally who has earned their trust as the conference’s vice-chair. A surrogate for Mitt Romney’s presidential run, she isn’t known as a hard-line ideologue but has cultivated a conservative voting record in recent years.

Price, meanwhile, is the favorite of the GOP’s conservative wing. A former chairman of the deeply conservative Republican Study Committee, he has been backed by outgoing conference chairman Rep. Jeb Hensarling (TX), who is expected to chair the Banking Committee next year.

Those who support McMorris Rodgers say she’s in good shape to win.

Orange Julius on one side, Zombie-Eyed Granny Starver on the other.  I'm hoping both sides lose, but let's keep in mind this position will be the person in charge of hashing out legislation with the Senate, and a Price win here would signal that the Tea Party is running things, Boehner's job is in serious trouble, and that there's zero chance of compromise with Senate Dems.

I'm hoping Price does get the nod.  Giving away the game this early would make things a lot easier on the Democrats in the long run.  We'll see who wins.

[UPDATE]  And the GOP establishment wins as McMorris Rodgers gets the nod.  Sorry, Tea Party.  You lose again.

StupidiNews!

• The exhumation of the body of former Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat continues as new evidence has prompted an investigation into the cause of his 2004 death.
• A Utah school district faces an ACLU lawsuit after school officials removed a book about lesbian mothers from school libraries.
• Libyan officials say that after three months, they have yet to arrest anyone in the deadly Benghazi consulate attack that killed four Americans.
• Wednesday brought another coordinated national general strike in Spain to protest austerity measures and PM Mariano Rajoy.
• Pizza chain Papa John's faces steep FCC fines and a possible class-action lawsuit for texting hundreds of thousands of mobile customers without their consent.

Last Call

As I've said before, the chief goal of Republicans now is to do everything they can to punish the Minority Majority in an effort to peel off voters.  Odious human carbuncle Bryan Fischer of the American Family Association wants a national 'clamp down' on Latino voters, who overwhelmingly voted for President Obama and the Democrats last week.

“Hispanics are not Democrats, don’t vote Democrat because of immigration,” the American Family Association’s Bryan Fischer said in video posted by Right Wing Watch on Tuesday. “It has to do with the fact that they are socialists by nature. They come from Mexico, which is a socialist country. They want big government intervention, they want big government goodies.”

“Now they want open borders — make no mistake — because they’ve got family and friends that they want to come up and be able to benefit from the plunder of the wealth of the United States, just as they have been able to do.”

He continued: “Republicans can pander all they want to Hispanics, to immigrants and it will not work. There is no way on Earth you care going to get them to leave the Democratic Party. It’s one reason we got to clamp down on immigration.”

Odds of a comprehensive immigration deal?  Zero. Stop kidding yourself, America.  Racist white supremacist assholes like Fischer will continue to beat the Republican Party up until they're the only ones left.

The only way to move forward at this point?  Democrats must take back control of the House.

Election Spoiler Alerts

Matt Welch over at Reason Magazine is usually a complete jackass whom I vociferously disagree with, but today he serves a useful purpose for once and admits that there were several Congressional races in 2012 where the Libertarian candidate cost the Republican candidate the election and handed over the seat to the Democrats.

On Friday, Garrett Quinn pointed out two congressional races in which a Libertarian Party candidate received considerably more votes than the margin separating a winning Democrat from a losing Republican: Massachusetts' 6th District (49.3%-48.1%-2.6% for Rep. John Tierney over Richard Tisei and Daniel Fishman), and Utah's 4th District (48.3%-47.3%-4.5% for Rep. Jim Matheson over Mia Love and Jim Vein).

Last Wednesday, Brian Doherty also flagged Montana's race for U.S. Senate, where incumbent Sen. John Tester defeated the Ron Paul-endorsed Denny Rehberg 48.7% to 44.8%, while LP nominee Dan Cox received 6.5% of the vote. All three losing Republicans had significantly more libertarian credibility than maybe 90% of elected GOPers on the national level.

So are there any other "spoiler" accusations out there? At least four, probably more:

Two of the races he points out are two of the three black Tea Party Republicans defeated in House races I pointed out yesterday:  Mia Love in Utah and Vernon Parker in Arizona. In Utah, Jim Wein got 4.5% of the vote allowing Jim Matheson to keep his seat, and in Arizona, Krysten Sinema won in part because Libertarian Powell Gammill got more than 6% of the vote.

Considering about the only difference between the Libertarian candidates and the tea party ones were the Libertarian view of "live and let live" on social issues and pot legalization, it's notable that we're looking at a situation where social issues burned Republicans badly.

It's also notable that Libertarians put up significant numbers against black Republicans in two states not known for having a high African-American population.  If Love and Parker were white, would they still have lost?

That's a question worth asking among Republicans.