Red-Faced, Red-Handed

Washington NFL Team Nickname Defenders, meet the Daily Show.

You never had a chance.

The four die-hard Redskins fans thought the opportunity was as golden as the vintage helmets of their favorite football team: “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart” wanted them to appear on the Comedy Central program to defend the team’s name, which has been under relentless attack.

The Redskins Nation citizens eagerly signed up, most of them knowing that they might be mocked in their interview with correspondent Jason Jones. But several hours into the Sept. 13 taping of the yet-to-air episode, the fans, all from Virginia, said they were suddenly confronted by a larger group of Native American activists — all of whom were in on the showdown prearranged by “The Daily Show.”

The encounter at a Dupont Circle hotel was so tense that an Alexandria fan said she left in tears and felt so threatened that she later called the police. She has told “The Daily Show” to leave her out of the segment but doesn’t know whether the producers will comply.

“This goes way beyond mocking. Poking fun is one thing, but that’s not what happened,” said Kelli O’Dell, 56, a former teacher who lives in Alexandria and doesn’t watch the show regularly. “It was disingenuous. The Native Americans accused me of things that were so wrong. I felt in danger. I didn’t consent to that. I am going to be defamed.”

If you look closely, you'll see exactly how much of a damn I don't give for these assholes being "defamed" for using a centuries-old racial slur as a team nickname.

You deserve and have earned every bit of the national humiliation given here, and that's a fraction of what Native Americans have gone through in the last 400+ years.

Woulda, Coulda, Shoulda For Grimes

Over at TNR, Alec MacGillis argues that Alison Lundergan Grimes would be winning if she had mentioned the success of Kynect in the state, and yes, she does apparently take into account the same NY Times article that I pointed out was evidence that here in Kentucky, people will never give Obama credit for anything.

No doubt, there are many GOP-inclined voters like Ms. Evans among the several hundred thousand Kentuckians who have obtained coverage under Obamacare. Their existence, and quotes like this, only confirm one of the most popular conceptions of red state politics in the minds of blue state liberals: the “What’s the Matter with Kansas” notion that lower- and middle-class white voters in these states are voting Republican even though their economic interests are far better represented by Democrats. How else to explain that a state like Kentucky could be benefitting so much from the law and yet be leaning Republican?

But this likely takeaway from the piece—like the "What's the Matter with Kansas" thesis more broadly—may oversimplify things. For starters, my strong hunch from my own reporting in the region over the past couple years—including several trips to Kentucky for a new book on McConnell—is that the Democrats’ biggest problem in Appalachia and the Upland South is not that the people who are benefitting from Obamacare or would stand to benefit from it if their states fully implemented the law are voting against their own interests, for Republicans. It is that many of those people are not voting at all.

Well, I agree with her on that part at least.  I certainly don't expect turnout here in Kentucky to be more than 40%.

No, the bigger problem for Democrats in Kentucky is the second one I identified at that free medical clinic, the political disconnect of the low-income population that stands to benefit most from the law. And this is where the scrutiny really needs to shift away from the voters and to the candidate. Alison Lundergan Grimes’s campaign has made the decision to talk about Obamacare as little as possible, even though the law has had a bigger impact and better implementation in Kentucky than just about anywhere in the country, thanks to the staunch backing of Governor Steve Beshear, a Democrat. Her campaign is avoiding the issue despite the fact that McConnell is so aware of his vulnerability on it—vowing to repeal a law that has provided coverage to hundreds of thousands in his state—that he has wound himself into comical pretzels to obscure the ramifications of his stance, claiming at points that “kynect” could survive even if Obamacare is repealed. The Grimes campaign briefly pounced on this blatant disingenuousness, but has not been nearly as aggressive pressing the point as it could have been.

Evidently, the Grimes camp worries that talking about Obamacare’s benefits for Kentucky necessarily yokes her closer to the law’s namesake, who is not popular in the state and who is constantly named in the barrage of ads that have been attacking Obamacare, virtually unchallenged, across Kentucky. They assume that talking up the law will inevitably backfire with the likes of Robin Evans. But deeply anti-Obama voters like Evans are likely a lost cause for Grimes regardless. What her campaign could dearly use is higher turnout from Democratic-inclined voters who, like many Kentuckians, have a low opinion of McConnell and who haven’t voted in the past but might just be prompted to do so with a strong pitch for the benefits of “kynect.” Grimes, to her credit, has tried to reach out to such disconnected, downscale voters with a sustained message in favor of raising the minimum wage. But why not strengthen that "I'm with the little guy" appeal even further with a forthright pro-kynect message that both appeals to self interest and highlights McConnell’s double-talk on health care?

Because of the shame factor.  People in Kentucky and especially Coal Country are literally dirt-poor.  They have been for some time, and some of the poorest counties in the state are also the most Republican when it comes to turning out.  These are folks who are proud and sick of the fact they need help.  Giving them more help is one thing.  Having them take the help is also another.  But having them be grateful enough for the help to vote for a black President's proxy?

Nope. It's easy to blame Grimes here.  The real problem is social, cultural, and racial.

Yeah, Grimes has run a bad campaign and I've said as such.  The fact that she's within 4 or 5 points speaks volumes as to just how sick people are of Mitch McConnell screwing them over.  But Rand Paul better watch out when he faces voters again in 2016 once Obama is out of office.

StupidiNews, Weekend Edition!

• All of the nearly 50 Turkish consulate hostages held by ISIS in Northern Iraq for three months have been freed in a covert operation by Turkish forces.
• Pope Francis has named Bishop Blase Cupich as the new archbishop of the diocese of Chicago, who is widely seen as a moderate, diplomatic voice in the church.
• Embattled NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell says the league will make major changes to the way it handles player conduct amid a growing domestic violence crisis.
• New Zealand Prime Minister John Key has won a third term in a landslide victory, with his National Party winning 48% of the vote.
• Chinese e-commerce company Alibaba raised nearly $22 billion on its first day on the NYSE, a record IPO making the company worth north of $200 billion.

Last Call For Wanting Out

A staggering new Reuters poll out today in the wake of Scotland's secession vote:  roughly 1 in 4 Americans wish their state would secede from the union.

Some 23.9 percent of Americans polled from Aug. 23 through Sept. 16 said they strongly supported or tended to support the idea of their state breaking away, while 53.3 percent of the 8,952 respondents strongly opposed or tended to oppose the notion. 

The urge to sever ties with Washington cuts across party lines and regions, though Republicans and residents of rural Western states are generally warmer to the idea than Democrats and Northeasterners, according to the poll. 

Anger with President Barack Obama's handling of issues ranging from healthcare reform to the rise of Islamic State militants drives some of the feeling, with Republican respondents citing dissatisfaction with his administration as coloring their thinking. 

But others said long-running Washington gridlock had prompted them to wonder if their states would be better off striking out on their own, a move no U.S. state has tried in the 150 years since the bloody Civil War that led to the end of slavery in the South. 

"I don't think it makes a whole lot of difference anymore which political party is running things. Nothing gets done," said Roy Gustafson, 61, of Camden, South Carolina, who lives on disability payments. "The state would be better off handling things on its own."
Scottish unionists won by a wider-than-expected 10-percentage-point margin. 

Falling public approval of the Obama administration, attention to the Scottish vote and the success of activists who accuse the U.S. government of overstepping its authority - such as the self-proclaimed militia members who flocked to Nevada's Bundy ranch earlier this year during a standoff over grazing rights - is driving up interest in secession, experts said.

"It seems to have heated up, especially since the election of President Obama," said Mordecai Lee, a professor of governmental affairs at the University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee, who has studied secessionist movements.

Gosh, just can't imagine what's so different about Barack Obama that would cause 60 million Americans to go bonkers and consider secession from the United States as not only a possible solution to their anti-government grievances, but as a reasonable and sane solution to them.

And yeah, it's about 30% of Republicans and 21% of Democrats, 19% of New Englanders and 34% of Southwesterners, including Texans.

Even in Texas, some respondents said talk about breaking away was more of a sign of their anger with Washington than evidence of a real desire to go it alone. Democrat Lila Guzman, of Round Rock, said the threat could persuade Washington lawmakers and the White House to listen more closely to average people's concerns.

"When I say secede, I'm not like (former National Rifle Association president) Charlton Heston with my gun up in the air, 'my cold dead hands.' It's more like – we could do it if we had to," said Guzman, 62. "But the first option is, golly, get it back on the right track. Not all is lost. But there might come a point that we say, 'Hey, y'all, we're dusting our hands and we're moving on.'"

People talking about secession like it was no more difficult than trying to choose aluminum siding or something.   We have a real problem in this country.

And that is these people vote.

Can't Discuss Civics, NCIS: Omaha Is On

Americans are exceedingly uninformed about basic civics, and that's just the way Republicans like it.

Americans show great uncertainty when it comes to answering basic questions about how their government works, a national survey conducted by the Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania has found.

The survey of 1,416 adults, released for Constitution Day (Sept. 17) in conjunction with the launch of the Civics Renewal Network, found that:

• While little more than a third of respondents (36 percent) could name all three branches of the U.S. government, just as many (35 percent) could not name a single one. 

• Just over a quarter of Americans (27 percent) know it takes a two-thirds vote of the House and Senate to override a presidential veto. 

• One in five Americans (21 percent) incorrectly thinks that a 5-4 Supreme Court decision is sent back to Congress for reconsideration.

“Although surveys reflect disapproval of the way Congress, the President and the Supreme Court are conducting their affairs, the Annenberg survey demonstrates that many know surprisingly little about these branches of government,” said Kathleen Hall Jamieson, director of the Annenberg Public Policy Center (APPC). “This survey offers dramatic evidence of the need for more and better civics education.”

It gets worse.  Much, much worse:

• Asked which party has the most members in the House of Representatives, 38 percent said they knew the Republicans are the majority, but 17 percent responded the Democrats, and 44 percent reported that they did not know (up from 27 percent who said they did not know in 2011).

• Asked which party controls the Senate, 38 percent correctly said the Democrats, 20 percent said the Republicans, and 42 percent said they did not know (also up from 27 percent who said they did not know in 2011).

 So fewer than two in five know which party controls the House and Senate.  Oddly enough, that 38% is about your average midterm election turnout in America.  The rest of us apparently don't give a damn enough to vote, and then wonder why things are so awful.

So Let Me Tell You About Our Local White Supremacist

Reminder: it's Kentucky, folks, and we have our share of racist assclowns.  But one in particular pisses me off to no end, because he's right here where I live.  And did I mention he's running for Mitch's job in November?

A white supremacist is running a write-in campaign for U.S. Senate in Kentucky to promote his anti-Semitic slogan: “With Jews we lose.” 

Robert Ransdell’s name won’t appear on ballots, but county clerks must count write-in votes for the Cincinnati-area coordinator of National Alliance who is also affiliated with the Ku Klux Klan. 

The Florence, Ky., resident drew recent attention for about 20 signs he placed this week in the Boone County area, advertising his campaign and his message.

“I believe that there is no such thing as racial equality,” Ransdell told WLWT-TV. “You see that in our cities everyday.”

Rob Ransdell is something of a local uncomfortable joke here in the NKY.  He's the crazy racist uncle that shows up at school and embarrasses you in front of the town (or in my case would probably direct a huge tirade at me.) We try to do what any Southerner would do with our less desirable relatives, which is get them a double-wide and a satellite dish away from civilization, but the guy keeps showing up anyway and keeps taking a giant dump on the lawn.

The University of Kentucky held its annual Constitution Day celebration on Wednesday. But one speaker had his speech cut off because of his controversial comments. 

Many people felt the speech from write-in U.S. Senate candidate Robert Ransdell of Florence was racist and offensive. And UK leaders say the comments surprised them. 

A Vine video from a high school student at the event shows Ransdell leaving the stage after those in attendance said his speech turned racist. Another high school student took a picture of one of Ransdell's campaign signs, which reads "With Jews We Lose." 

Ransdell calls himself a "white separatist" or "white nationalist." 

The University of Kentucky said in a statement that all speakers at the event were supposed to talk about the principles of the Constitution, not about politics. 

"I was about to get to the Constitution before I was cut off. I was getting to it," Ransdell told WKYT's Garrett Wymer by phone hours after the event. "But I intended after traveling - I'm up here near Cincinnati - after traveling that far to be forthright about something I believe in."

So yeah, when I say there's a definite streak of nasty racism here in Northern Kentucky, I mean Rob Ransdell and his Constitutionally protected vile speech get to drive around the state spewing his hateful nonsense to kids and college students.  Oh, and vote for him!

Karma is a bitch, man.  Maybe someday he'll discover that.

StupidiNews!

• With a record 85% turnout, Scottish voters have rejected independence from the UK by a 55%-45% vote, with UK PM David Cameron adding that he is "delighted" by the result.
• A Florida man shot and killed his daughter and six grandchildren before taking his own life, according to Gilchrest County Sheriff's Office officials.
• Evacuations in drought-stricken Northern California continue as the King wildfire is burning out of control, part of eleven wildfires burning in the state currently.
• The National Climatic Data Center has found that the Earth as a whole experienced its hottest June through August period on record this summer.
• Retailer Home Depot now says as many as 56 million credit card numbers were stolen by malware on its point of sale terminals from April through September.

Last Call For Some Snyder Remarks

How bad are things for GOP Gov. Rick Snyder's re-election campaign in Michigan right now?

Bad enough that he's taking credit for Obamacare's Medicare expansion in his state.

Gov. Rick Snyder on Tuesday touted Michigan’s successful Medicaid expansion as part of his re-election bid, saying 63,000 more low-income adults have signed up than projected this year, with [three-and-a-half] months left. 

The Republican governor said about 385,000 enrolled between April, when the Healthy Michigan program launched, and Monday. His administration had expected 322,000 signups by year’s end. 

“At that level, we’re adding over 9,000 patients a week,” Snyder said at an endorsement event at the Michigan State Medical Society, an East Lansing-based professional association of physicians. “It’s outstanding progress.”

 But...death panels!  Evil mandates!  Death spirals!

Our old friend Chris Savage, ruler of all things liberal in Michigan over at the indispensable Eclectablog, reminds us that the state's Tea Party is quite pissed at Snyder over this too.

The bottom line of course is that like here in Kentucky, the states that embraced Obamacare are finding out it's working and cutting millions of uninsured.  Even Republican governors are signing up now.  First, Pennsylvania's Tom Corbett, now Michigan's Rick Snyder.

The rest will follow.

.

Energy Efficiency, Standard

Here comes the next big freakout by the GOP and the energy companies who completely own them over energy standards from the White House:

The U.S. Department of Energy unveiled its latest energy efficiency rule on Thursday, a standard for commercial air conditioning units that the White House believes could slash energy use in commercial and industrial buildings. 

The proposal would cut climate-changing carbon emissions by more than 60 million tonnes, and could save more energy than any other efficiency standard issued by the Energy Department to date, the White House said in a release. 

The new standard was part of a package of actions announced on Friday that the White House said would curb nearly 300 million tonnes of carbon emissions by 2030 and save consumers more than $10 billion on energy bills.

The Energy Department also said it would train veterans to install solar panels at military bases, while the Agriculture Department said it would invest $68 million in 540 renewable energy and efficiency projects in rural areas, including 240 solar projects.

Save consumers $10 billion in power bills?  You mean "cost energy companies $10 billion in revenue."  We can't have that, you know.  Expect shrill attacks calling this fascist socialism, and white papers saying how this will end up costing consumers more than they save if you take factors X, Y and Z into account (because efficiency standards always do, right?)

Considering the UN's big climate change conference starts Tuesday, preceded by a city-wide march on Central Park on Sunday, the climate change deniers are going to be going bonkers for the rest of the month.  You can count on that.

You can also count on any climate treaty that comes out of that UN conference to be dead on arrival in the US Senate if the Republicans win in November, too.

Even FOX Screws Up And Tells The Truth Sometimes

Hey, when you have a 24 hour news channel to fill, controlling every single word uttered can be an issue.  So it's no surprise that every now and again FOX News slips up and chooses to fill dead air with actual truth rather than GOP propaganda.  Case in point: FOX News correspondent Mike Tobin discussing voter suppression in Republican Scott Walker's run for re-election as Wisconsin's governor.

On September 12, the 7th District U.S. Court of Appeals dissolved an injunction blocking the state of Wisconsin from implementing voter ID laws that required voters to show photo identification in order to cast their votes. According to Reuters, these new rules are set to go into effect in time for the November general elections. 

During the September 17 edition of Special Report with Bret Baier, Fox correspondent Mike Tobin reported on the upcoming gubernatorial election between Governor Scott Walker (R) and Democratic challenger Mary Burke. During a discussion of polling numbers placing the two candidates at a statistical tie, Tobin acknowledged that the implementation of the state's new voter ID laws could potentially impact the election. Claiming that "there is only a handful of voters who won't get IDs by election day," he went on to say that "even a handful can tip the scales" in this election.

Say what?  You mean Republican voter ID laws are about reducing the number of traditionally Democratic voters through disenfranchising them with onerous bureaucratic requirements, and not "maintaining electoral integrity" like they keep bleating about?

Who knew?

If anyone watching FOX News caught this, maybe they do.

I wouldn't count on it though.

StupidiNews!

• Australian police have arrested one and detained 15 others in a massive police raid designed to interrupt a "pending terror attack" by ISIS.
• US senators on both sides of the aisle are calling for the resignation of Alabama US District Court Judge Robert Fuller after his arrest for beating his wife last month in an Atlanta hotel room.
• Record turnout is expected today as Scots are at the polls deciding on independence from the UK, with results of the vote expected tomorrow morning.
• US gas prices are falling sharply as the summer driving season ends, which could see gas below $3 a gallon in some parts of the country later this fall.
• Sony continues to take a bath on its mobile phone division as the Japanese electronics giant could end up losing more than $2 billion this fiscal year.

Last Call For Arming Up

Looks like Republicans in the House at least are backing President Obama's plan to arm and train Syrian rebel moderates, whoever they are.  But it means the GOP can't duck things if and when they go wrong.

The House on Wednesday approved President Obama’s plan to train and equip moderate Syrian rebels to counter the growing threat of the Islamic State terrorist organization even though lawmakers in both parties remain deeply skeptical about its chances for success.

The vote put Congress one step closer to authorizing the third prolonged U.S. military operation in Iraq in the last quarter century and delivered Obama much-needed domestic political support as he seeks an international coalition to combat the growing threat of Islamist terrorism in the Middle East. It also put lawmakers on the record for the first time approving U.S. engagement in the years-long Syrian civil war.

But the tally — 273 to 156 — also revealed widespread misgivings about the chances of success for the plan, even among many lawmakers who voted in favor of it.

Obama’s proposal was opposed by more than 40 percent of Democrats, many of whom are concerned that new U.S. military operations in the Middle East could fester for several years with no clear strategy or definition of success.

Republicans provided the lion’s share of support, but many are worried about the limits of Obama's early plans. One top GOP leader suggested Congress could go as far as giving the president blanket military authority, even if Obama doesn’t want it, when the lawmakers hold a much broader debate after the November elections about the fight against Islamic terrorists.

So there are skeptics on both sides at least.   But it means that the President's plan is moving forward, even there's a healthy chunk of Dems that oppose it.  GOP owns this as much as the President does, so it's time to stop sabotaging it.

Oh who am I kidding, they'll sabotage him regardless.

Matt Bevin Is Back, Baby

Last time we heard from GOP Tea Party Senate hopeful Matt Bevin, he was getting his ass handed to him by Mitch McConnell and his 32% approval rating.  Bevin was a candidate so bad he couldn't even find a way to run to Mitch McConnell's right without screwing up and losing by 20 points.

So it seems he's shifted gears and appears to be considering running for Governor in 2015 instead.

Former Republican U.S. Senate candidate Matt Bevin is looking past his race against Kentucky U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell and says he is considering the encouragement of those around him to run for another office. 

Bevin told Pure Politics at the annual Fancy Farm picnic that he has been encouraged to run for another office. And in a poll about the 2015 governors race, Bevin topped the list of potential Republican candidates with 25 percent. 

On Wednesday, Bevin told Pure Politics he has continued to receive encouragement to run for another office and is thinking about it because he cares about the future of the state. 

“I am absolutely considering not only the gubernatorial but frankly any other way to serve going into the future. What I have no desire to do is make this a new rest of my life kind of venture,” Bevin said (at 1:15). “I am 47 years old, I am not a kid anymore. But I hopefully have a little gas left in the tank too and to that end, I know there are things that need to be done, I know what my abilities are and are not and if I think I can apply those in a way I think will help my children and other people’s children have a better possibility in the future then I’ll consider that.” 

In terms of a timeline, Bevin said he will know if he is going to run or not by the end of September but will not make any kind of announcement any time soon because he does not want to distract from the important issues at play in the 2014 races.

Will Matt Bevin push already declared GOP candidate and current Ag Secretary James Comer further to the right should he enter the race?  Sure hope so.  Bevin's not going to have Mitch McConnell, Dinosaur Steve, or even Barack Obama to run against, and the means he's going to have to make the case for why he should win as opposed to why everyone else should lose.

I hope Bevin does as much damage as possible to Comer so that Jack Conway can sweep in for the win.

Point Of View In Ferguson

A new survey out by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch shows a pretty stark divide in the way people in the community view last month's deadly shooting of Michael Brown by police office Darren Wilson.

The survey, released Monday morning by the Kansas City-based Remington Research Group, found that 65 percent of African-American county residents believe that Ferguson Police officer Darren Wilson acted unjustly when he ended Brown's life Aug. 9 on a Ferguson street. 

Conversely, 62 percent of the white residents surveyed by Remington believe the shooting death of Brown was justified.

The fissure broke even wider when surveyors asked if Wilson should be "arrested and charged with a crime" with 71 percent of African American residents responding "yes" opposed to the 71 percent of white survey-takers who believe the police officer should not be held liable. 

An equally stark divide emerged on the question of whether Brown was "targeted because of his race." 

Over three-quarters of the white respondents - 77 percent - responded "no" while 64 percent of the African-Americans answered in the affirmative.

I can't say that I'm surprised.  Black respondents overwhelmingly believed Wilson took Brown's life without justification, that as a result he should be arrested and charged, and that Brown was a victim because of his race.  White respondents overwhelmingly saw the opposite.  Whether or not you believe race had anything to do with Michael Brown's death, there's no question race is driving St Louis County's response to that death.

Seven in 10 whites think Wilson should walk.  Seven in ten blacks think he should be arrested.  If there's any silver lining, it's that the Justice Department and Eric Holder are all over this one, because I seriously doubt anyone who lives in Ferguson believes Wilson will ever spend a single minute in jail if it were up to the county prosecutor.

Frankly, I only have any hope at all for a federal case, but that will take years and if a Republican president gets in power in 2016, well, remember the DoJ's civil rights division under Dubya?

It's going to take a very long time to see justice for this, regardless.

StupidiNews!

• Federal authorities have indicted a Rochester, NY store owner on charges of providing material support and recruitment for ISIS.
• The Baltimore Police Department is facing a $35 million lawsuit as a video shows an officer repeatedly punching a man for the crime of littering in June.
• South Korean President Park Geun-hye says that the door to reunification talks with North Korea will remain open at the upcoming UN General Assembly.
• Scots will vote in tomorrow's independence referendum and those votes will be carried to Glasgow by ship, plane, and even helicopter to reach the furthest of the country's many islands.
• NASA administrator Charles Bolden has announced that both Boeing and Space-X will be providing vehicles for the next phase of US spaceflight operations.