tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7133351587556953512024-02-19T04:10:11.407-05:00The Latest Outrage<strong>Exposing right-wing power grabs, corporate fraud, billionaires' misconduct, and Trump's war on democracy as he attempts to steal the 2020 election. <a href="https://twitter.com/latestoutrage">@latestoutrage</a> on Twitter / <a href="https://www.facebook.com/LatestOutrage">LatestOutrage</a> Facebook / <a href="http://www.latestoutrage.org">LatestOutrage.org</a></strong>Erikhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13724369148446520867noreply@blogger.comBlogger162125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-713335158755695351.post-1676666113484645842016-10-12T20:30:00.000-04:002016-10-14T21:26:16.366-04:0010 Questions Voters Were Not Allowed To Ask Trump At The Town Hall Debate<strong><span style="font-size:130%;"><a href="https://medium.com/@latestoutrage/10-questions-trump-doesnt-want-to-answer-at-the-next-debate-ff77b41ca935">Medium 10-8-16</a>, <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/erik-ose/10-questions-trump-doesnt_b_12372168.html">HuffPo 10-12-16</a></span></strong>
<p><div class="g-plus" data-action="share" data-annotation="none" data-href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/erik-ose/10-questions-trump-doesnt_b_12372168.html"></div> <div class="fb-share-button" data-href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/erik-ose/10-questions-trump-doesnt_b_12372168.html" data-layout="button_count"></div> <a href="https://twitter.com/share" class="twitter-share-button" data-url="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/erik-ose/10-questions-trump-doesnt_b_12372168.html" data-text="10 Questions Voters Were Not Allowed To Ask Trump At The Town Hall Debate" data-via="latestoutrage" data-count="none" data-dnt="true">|</a></p>
<p>Donald Trump is the biggest bullshit artist our nation has produced in the past few decades. But his con game is full of holes. Anyone with a little common sense can see right through his would-be tyrant shtick, which relies on scapegoating undocumented immigrants and Muslims while pretending to be a successful, competent businessman with "<a href="http://www.politico.com/story/2016/07/donald-trump-temperament-226473" target="_hplink">one of the great temperaments</a>" who can solve all of America's problems.</p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjxI95wDLkCBNed1_IyEhjeH7Jjm7ZmBlT2VD-tG_yXPjs9ncR-jpUNFGJz2KWxQ8TaEoNEhhsh8SdpEpYwznBUW1qn1_oqkiUgv1mEWs4SKzz0yTXHS2-qzHMGP7busTPQ37VTJVfCp0R/s1600/Trump-with-Anderson-Cooper.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjxI95wDLkCBNed1_IyEhjeH7Jjm7ZmBlT2VD-tG_yXPjs9ncR-jpUNFGJz2KWxQ8TaEoNEhhsh8SdpEpYwznBUW1qn1_oqkiUgv1mEWs4SKzz0yTXHS2-qzHMGP7busTPQ37VTJVfCp0R/s500/Trump-with-Anderson-Cooper.JPG" /></a></div>
<p>In order for Trump to maintain the illusion that he's not a fraud, he has to <a href="http://www.politifact.com/personalities/donald-trump/" target="_hplink">lie</a> <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/fact-checker/wp/2016/03/22/all-of-donald-trumps-four-pinocchio-ratings-in-one-place/" target="_hplink">relentlessly</a> about <a href="http://trumplies.com/" target="_hplink">things</a> <a href="http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2016/09/2016-donald-trump-fact-check-week-214287" target="_hplink">big and small</a>, and dodge as many serious questions as he can. That strategy posed risks for him on Sunday, October 9, when Trump met Hillary Clinton in the town hall-style <a href="http://www.voanews.com/a/campaign-focus-shifts-to-next-clinton-trump-debate/3538493.html" target="_hplink">second Presidential debate</a>, and general election voters got a chance to weigh in on some of their concerns.</p>
<p>But more often than not, what was asked in St. Louis didn't wholly reflect the fact that most voters have a lot of questions Donald Trump doesn't want to answer.</p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmzDMIpUFZe1AUe3ooPNJmoBcUU7IIsTzhHyOBT07G4ZaGViPK4GHWGEmBTi0qAIrmytFTiP-_KX4N7vqG3BCkWVDd2oO5HIyLm0taOCBWeh_d8K_uJ3_zw-kakyha697uueDOqdupnYA_/s1600/Trump-second-debate.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmzDMIpUFZe1AUe3ooPNJmoBcUU7IIsTzhHyOBT07G4ZaGViPK4GHWGEmBTi0qAIrmytFTiP-_KX4N7vqG3BCkWVDd2oO5HIyLm0taOCBWeh_d8K_uJ3_zw-kakyha697uueDOqdupnYA_/s500/Trump-second-debate.JPG" /></a></div>
<p>The second debate <a href="http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2016/09/in-debate-two-the-questions-are-on-the-ballot/501791/" target="_hplink">marked the first time</a> citizens were able to submit and vote on questions online, with the top 30 supposed to be considered for inclusion by the debate's ABC and CNN moderators. More than three and a half million votes were cast for over 15,000 questions submitted at <a href="https://presidentialopenquestions.com/" target="_hplink">PresidentialOpenQuestions.com</a>, a project of the bipartisan <a href="http://opendebatecoalition.com/" target="_hplink">Open Debate Coalition</a>.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, the top 30 voter-submitted questions were <a href="https://twitter.com/OpenDebate/status/785356212871139328" target="_hplink">ignored</a> by Martha Raddatz and Anderson Cooper, who instead <a href="https://theintercept.com/liveblogs/seconddebate/debate-moderators-appears-to-have-violated-online-question-rules/" target="_hplink">cherrypicked a single question</a> from the site, one regarding the latest Wikileaks dump of e-mails from Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta. Left unspoken was any context that the leaked e-mails were almost certainly <a href="http://www.wsj.com/articles/top-russian-officials-shift-away-from-denying-dnc-hack-1476295233" target="_hplink">stolen by Russian intelligence agency hackers</a>, in an effort to damage Hillary's campaign and boost Trump's chances.</p>
<p>The <a href="http://origin-nyi.thehill.com/regulation/other/300197-gun-control-groups-fume-over-debate-omission" target="_hplink">top question submitted</a> ("Would you support requiring criminal background checks for all gun sales?") was endorsed by over 75,000 citizens, and the 30th most popular question favored by over 20,000, yet the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zBdK4L2RdKE" target="_hplink">only question</a> chosen to be asked <a href="https://presidentialopenquestions.com/questions/17099/vote/" target="_hplink">received a mere 13 votes</a>.</p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBiTUP0PRemYBkYC0yKA7Ve5G2O6Tk-FYH07qDmBmVb_IVzv7-l50dVbbkijqWbN5EU72scefoF3U5HHAd_lvI7DyurCB3kSr93lGT1xdm1p4PMiM2k1Oj2Ojbt4nNAok3ih5zCW14Oizh/s1600/Trump-what-would-you-ask-the-candidates.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBiTUP0PRemYBkYC0yKA7Ve5G2O6Tk-FYH07qDmBmVb_IVzv7-l50dVbbkijqWbN5EU72scefoF3U5HHAd_lvI7DyurCB3kSr93lGT1xdm1p4PMiM2k1Oj2Ojbt4nNAok3ih5zCW14Oizh/s500/Trump-what-would-you-ask-the-candidates.JPG" /></a></div>
<p>This <a href="https://theintercept.com/liveblogs/seconddebate/debate-moderators-appears-to-have-violated-online-question-rules/">failed Open Debate Coalition experiment</a> now serves as a glaring example of how the American public doesn't have enough opportunities to legitimately question the presidential candidates when it counts, in widely-viewed national forums during the general election season.</p>
<p>Here are ten Open Debate questions that all received more votes than the one selected by the moderators. They could have been fairly asked of both candidates, and yet would have exposed Donald Trump for the <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/wp/2016/09/13/a-big-majority-says-trump-is-unqualified-for-the-presidency-how-much-will-that-end-up-mattering/" target="_hplink">unqualified</a>, racist, sexist, ignorant, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/trumps-hitlerian-disregard-for-the-truth/2016/09/19/1603877e-7e8e-11e6-8d13-d7c704ef9fd9_story.html" target="_hplink">sociopathically lying</a>, shamelessly scapegoating, <a href="http://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2016/09/29/dont-vote-for-donald-trump-editorial-board-editorials-debates/91295020/" target="_hplink">unfit to be President</a> fraud that he is. Click on any question to view how it was originally submitted online.</p>
<p><strong><span style="font-size:130%;"><a href="https://presidentialopenquestions.com/questions/13066/vote/" target="_hplink">1) Do you believe in gender equality - equal rights for both men and women? Why?</a></span></strong></p>
<p>Trump's lewd and vile remarks about groping, kissing, and attempting to have sex with married women as heard on the 2005 tape <a href="http://www.politico.com/story/2016/10/trump-wapo-229299" target="_hplink">released by the <em>Washington Post</em></a> on October 7 confirmed what we already knew about the man's despicable character.</p>
<p>This week, more shoes dropped as former Miss Teen USA contestants <a href="https://www.buzzfeed.com/kendalltaggart/teen-beauty-queens-say-trump-walked-in-on-them-changing" target="_hplink">revealed</a> that Trump, who at the time owned the pageant, had walked in on them while they were changing. Some of the girls in the room were as young as 15. And <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2016/10/12/two-women-accuse-trump-of-unwanted-sexual-touching/" target="_hplink">multiple women came forward</a> to confirm Trump had forcibly groped and kissed them, the same conduct he was caught on tape bragging about in 2005. At last Sunday's debate, Trump <a href="http://www.newyorker.com/culture/jia-tolentino/donald-trumps-unconscious-unending-sexism" target="_hplink">emphatically denied</a> he had ever actually engaged in such behavior.</p>
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<p>Trump has shown time and time again how he views women as objects, not equals. The day before he unleashed his <a href="http://www.newyorker.com/news/john-cassidy/the-meaning-of-trumps-early-morning-tweet-storm" target="_hplink">now-infamous early morning Twitter storm</a> against former Miss Universe Alicia Machado, trying to convince the world she deserved to be weight-shamed because she was "disgusting," the <i>Los Angeles Times</i> published a <a href="http://www.latimes.com/projects/la-na-pol-trump-women/" target="_hplink">lengthy investigative report</a> about Trump's apparent sex discrimination in the workplace. Statements made by multiple employees of a Trump-owned California golf course show Trump wanted female employees fired who weren't young, pretty and thin enough.</p>
<a href="https://presidentialopenquestions.com/questions/13066/vote/"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-bh_vgJ4CggPZkSrXEpykA9slAco5rAf0UfBadIvzHgrJ759Xr5Vh6UNm0ih5WbhZ5UiVFpNsOqifmzpzEZEAU-13pLPbMNMd5lMSQCzPbKw9hA9PEMSeUBhnufZgaWcxg41f_P8cg_6s/s1600/Trump-debate-question6-gender-equality.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-bh_vgJ4CggPZkSrXEpykA9slAco5rAf0UfBadIvzHgrJ759Xr5Vh6UNm0ih5WbhZ5UiVFpNsOqifmzpzEZEAU-13pLPbMNMd5lMSQCzPbKw9hA9PEMSeUBhnufZgaWcxg41f_P8cg_6s/s500/Trump-debate-question6-gender-equality.jpg" /></a></div></a>
<p><strong><span style="font-size:130%;"><a href="https://presidentialopenquestions.com/questions/1332/vote/" target="_hplink">2) Unemployment has fallen from 7.8% to 4.9% since Jan 2009. Why has this happened?</a></span></strong></p>
<p>(<b>UPDATE 10/13</b> - The Labor Department reported last week that the unemployment rate ticked up one tenth of a percentage point to 5.0% in September, the result of what most analysts agreed was more Americans actively looking for work.)</p>
<p>Trump falsely claims our economy is in shambles, and it's all President Obama's fault. In reality, Obama has <a href="http://politicsthatwork.com/economic-record-president/obama" target="_hplink">brought the economy out of the ditch</a> that George W. Bush's policies drove it into, and presided over the <a href="http://www.npr.org/2016/04/03/472745523/fact-check-the-white-houses-private-sector-job-streak" target="_hplink">longest stretch</a> of private-sector job growth on record.</p>
<p>In an August speech before the Detroit Economic Club, Trump <a href="http://fortune.com/2016/08/08/donald-trump-hoax/" target="_hplink">said</a> the unemployment rate as reported monthly by the Labor Department was one of the "biggest hoaxes in politics." Although the reported unemployment rate has hovered around 5% for the past year, over the course of his campaign, Trump has claimed the real rate ranges from 18% to 49%.</p>
<a href="https://presidentialopenquestions.com/questions/1332/vote/"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsChFIVIebcKpxecLtIJdvDQVl0U-JLSBTX_hecNmvgNb5LrwvgVynaz2Vni6DSfyn01Ehe6vZmddRk9dgq0rzO0-zFGTPPVSvEU32_BeFfQFA3wOLwxJaAwPCW4WM63NhasMrdvDruJSP/s1600/unemployment-rate-since-sept-2015.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsChFIVIebcKpxecLtIJdvDQVl0U-JLSBTX_hecNmvgNb5LrwvgVynaz2Vni6DSfyn01Ehe6vZmddRk9dgq0rzO0-zFGTPPVSvEU32_BeFfQFA3wOLwxJaAwPCW4WM63NhasMrdvDruJSP/s500/unemployment-rate-since-sept-2015.png" /></a></div></a>
<p>Independent economists agree the outdated, discredited economic policies Trump would implement - huge tax cuts for the wealthy that would <a href="http://www.npr.org/2016/09/19/494580145/analysis-trump-tax-plan-would-cost-trillions-boost-incomes-for-the-rich" target="_hplink">blow a $5.9 trillion hole in the national debt</a>, restricting immigration, and a global trade war - <a href="http://time.com/4515307/donald-trump-economic-birther/" target="_hplink">could wreck the U.S. economy</a>.</p>
<a href="https://presidentialopenquestions.com/questions/1332/vote/"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqiU2rWvEx1_fKUsbKsIfEQ2qacgRbu7FiJ2cEcmOhVJ_Nk93_xt65W74dYvOjaomgunLgCCznNi1_EfMNCC0wUAaBdjgPYhYpauGoqkq028T0onSzl_nTksaOico8eDalUO6PvAhWKIzI/s1600/Trump-debate-question1-economy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqiU2rWvEx1_fKUsbKsIfEQ2qacgRbu7FiJ2cEcmOhVJ_Nk93_xt65W74dYvOjaomgunLgCCznNi1_EfMNCC0wUAaBdjgPYhYpauGoqkq028T0onSzl_nTksaOico8eDalUO6PvAhWKIzI/s500/Trump-debate-question1-economy.jpg" /></a></div></a>
<p><strong><span style="font-size:130%;"><a href="https://presidentialopenquestions.com/questions/5021/vote/" target="_hplink">3) What is your plan to combat climate change & build a green economy?</a></span></strong></p>
<p>Trump claimed in a 2012 <a href="https://twitter.com/realdonaldtrump/status/265895292191248385?lang=en" target="_hplink">tweet</a> that "The concept of global warming was created by and for the Chinese in order to make U.S. manufacturing non-competitive." During his first debate with Clinton, she called him out over that fantasy. "I did not say that," <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/donald-trump-climate-change-debate_us_57e9cef6e4b082aad9b67433" target="_hplink">lied</a> Trump in response. But of course, <a href="http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2016/jun/03/hillary-clinton/yes-donald-trump-did-call-climate-change-chinese-h/" target="_hplink">he did</a>. And he has labeled climate change a hoax <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/donald-trump-climate-change-debate_us_57e9cef6e4b082aad9b67433" target="_hplink">numerous times</a>.</p>
<a href="https://presidentialopenquestions.com/questions/5021/vote/"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBRBvDTZodxkx0C047sKEtZpK3Vd4AQGPKus4j9Zk57fZ1-6L4dKGkO7-dkOUJUtpeRAM0cD8ztuV0siQZHTW-lnw3Eznr8vL-41sfqzxeWGVa0t9unse-M1vOYEkWWPF6XwrSXWT0M-Nh/s1600/Trump-debate-question2-climate.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBRBvDTZodxkx0C047sKEtZpK3Vd4AQGPKus4j9Zk57fZ1-6L4dKGkO7-dkOUJUtpeRAM0cD8ztuV0siQZHTW-lnw3Eznr8vL-41sfqzxeWGVa0t9unse-M1vOYEkWWPF6XwrSXWT0M-Nh/s500/Trump-debate-question2-climate.jpg" /></a></div>
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<p><strong><span style="font-size:130%;"><a href="https://presidentialopenquestions.com/questions/5359/vote/" target="_hplink">4) Why is it important for every American to pay our fair share of taxes?</a></span></strong></p>
<p>In the first debate, when Clinton pointed out Trump hadn't paid federal income taxes during some years, he <a href="http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/2016-presidential-debates/presidential-debate-donald-trump-s-remark-about-paying-taxes-raises-n655261" target="_hplink">replied</a>, "That makes me smart." An hour later, he <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pN1E5ok8Wsw" target="_hplink">denied having said it</a>, although 84 million viewers saw and heard him.</p>
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<p><a href="http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2015/04/americans-love-paying-taxes/390582/" target="_hplink">Studies have shown</a> most Americans consider paying taxes to be a moral obligation and act of civic duty, and agree with Hillary supporter and actual billionaire Mark Cuban's <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2016/10/03/politics/mark-cuban-trump-taxes/" target="_hplink">view</a> that "after military service, the most patriotic thing you can do as a wealthy person is pay your taxes."</p>
<a href="https://presidentialopenquestions.com/questions/5359/vote/"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFEVKPTPU1z6gycId9agF2GjabKwBEpnHfCpk18aTz4S_3T6vQnZf1GaQt2uRx_dW-CyJYY2_7Z8aCDbT4GMfFBkYz9ylbtqzgv7NHSv9vEBoRdhVQSQyCi-WCzZRnjQy2MzQ8qBXICymn/s1600/Trump-debate-question3-taxes.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFEVKPTPU1z6gycId9agF2GjabKwBEpnHfCpk18aTz4S_3T6vQnZf1GaQt2uRx_dW-CyJYY2_7Z8aCDbT4GMfFBkYz9ylbtqzgv7NHSv9vEBoRdhVQSQyCi-WCzZRnjQy2MzQ8qBXICymn/s500/Trump-debate-question3-taxes.jpg" /></a></div></a>
<p><strong><span style="font-size:130%;"><a href="https://presidentialopenquestions.com/questions/3673/vote/" target="_hplink">5) Do you support a woman's right to choose?</a></span></strong></p>
<p>If elected, a President Trump would solidify a conservative, reactionary majority on the Supreme Court for the next generation. He would attempt to pack the Court and the federal judiciary with <a href="http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/who-are-trumps-potential-supreme-court-picks" target="_hplink">extreme right-wing ideologues</a> who would work to further limit women's access to safe, legal abortions as currently protected by <i>Roe v. Wade</i>.</p>
<p>One of the nominees Trump has proposed putting on the Supreme Court, former Alabama Attorney General William Pryor, has <a href="https://thinkprogress.org/meet-the-two-ultra-conservatives-trump-would-nominate-to-the-supreme-court-da6a78b686b6#.cfaq5avbg" target="_hplink">described</a> <i>Roe</i> as creating "a constitutional right to murder an unborn child." Another, Diane Sykes, who sits on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit, wrote a 2013 opinion in which she <a href="http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/who-are-trumps-potential-supreme-court-picks" target="_hplink">called</a> some forms of birth control "abortifacient drugs."</p>
<a href="https://presidentialopenquestions.com/questions/3673/vote/"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBRhszfoWeZCvM-w35QerBYe4vcUnBsIzmIiMVN6We4N7EmLIy2SyWWJIOV76NAAqqWFRzTuG9tJhUmzzEpu3SYODptYDX_QHZUTn6trJjrGndmoQ35E7DKSIzHTNXeDkiAFyR8im0-IQp/s1600/Trump-debate-question4-right-to-choose.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBRhszfoWeZCvM-w35QerBYe4vcUnBsIzmIiMVN6We4N7EmLIy2SyWWJIOV76NAAqqWFRzTuG9tJhUmzzEpu3SYODptYDX_QHZUTn6trJjrGndmoQ35E7DKSIzHTNXeDkiAFyR8im0-IQp/s500/Trump-debate-question4-right-to-choose.jpg" /></a></div></a>
<p><strong><span style="font-size:130%;"><a href="https://presidentialopenquestions.com/questions/1144/vote/" target="_hplink">6) How will you address systemic racism?</a></span></strong></p>
<p>Trump has a <a href="http://www.vox.com/2016/7/25/12270880/donald-trump-racism-history" target="_hplink">documented history of racist behavior, statements, and actions</a> dating back more than 40 years.</p>
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<p>Trump's divisive record couldn't be more different from Hillary Clinton's, who has been a <a href="http://thehill.com/blogs/pundits-blog/civil-rights/218382-hillary-clintons-commitment-to-civil-rights" target="_hplink">strong advocate for civil rights</a> for <a href="http://killingthebreeze.com/this-is-the-robust-civil-rights-history-of-hillary-clinton/" target="_hplink">most of her adult life</a>.</p>
<a href="https://presidentialopenquestions.com/questions/1144/vote/"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRAac9VNa-ED0NmC8t6otHuZXwqi6O0jKh0fYlZGYjiYw6pjEyknEoWss4UkLbv4eC3DTVtVi5f8aJBuzzsGdS8Z3d7sLE1T8yEGWTn1mO2Fjf6Z93-0W0hVVQvcoE78qgywbvRO1zmDLv/s1600/Trump-debate-question5-racism.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRAac9VNa-ED0NmC8t6otHuZXwqi6O0jKh0fYlZGYjiYw6pjEyknEoWss4UkLbv4eC3DTVtVi5f8aJBuzzsGdS8Z3d7sLE1T8yEGWTn1mO2Fjf6Z93-0W0hVVQvcoE78qgywbvRO1zmDLv/s500/Trump-debate-question5-racism.jpg" /></a></div></a>
<p><strong><span style="font-size:130%;"><a href="https://presidentialopenquestions.com/questions/5750/vote/" target="_hplink">7) How will you address the issue of 11 million undocumented immigrants?</a></span></strong></p>
<p>Trump is playing with the lives of millions of undocumented immigrants in the United States by repeatedly threatening to deport them all, despite waffling on exactly how fast <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trumps-latest-plan-would-target-at-least-5-million-undocumented-immigrants-for-deportation/2016/09/01/d6f05498-7052-11e6-9705-23e51a2f424d_story.html" target="_hplink">mass deportations</a> would take place. Besides being <a href="http://www.latimes.com/politics/la-na-pol-trump-deport-20160822-snap-story.html" target="_hplink">logistically impossible, prohibitively expensive, and disastrous for the U.S. economy</a>, such an idiotic plan would tear apart families on a scale unprecedented in our country since the WWII-era Japanese American internment camps. Hillary Clinton, by contrast, is sanely and sensibly <a href="https://www.hillaryclinton.com/issues/immigration-reform/" target="_hplink">committed</a> to passing <a href="http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/article/2016/jul/15/compare-candidates-clinton-vs-trump-immigration/" target="_hplink">comprehensive immigration reform</a>.</p>
<a href="https://presidentialopenquestions.com/questions/5750/vote/"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjp4RHPxbsm7i02tvZvzoT_71fWoX5jiKCIJ7aG5_TPe25PlzdSxPkhZKwV6J_bPhJJ39C18Mbri-JJcdEapb3W8wCIxsbSU4sRcUcbN04I5LOuVoMAXI4xK7hrSn0TNFEDhvWtb6o0HMow/s1600/Trump-debate-question7-immigration.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjp4RHPxbsm7i02tvZvzoT_71fWoX5jiKCIJ7aG5_TPe25PlzdSxPkhZKwV6J_bPhJJ39C18Mbri-JJcdEapb3W8wCIxsbSU4sRcUcbN04I5LOuVoMAXI4xK7hrSn0TNFEDhvWtb6o0HMow/s500/Trump-debate-question7-immigration.jpg" /></a></div></a>
<p><strong><span style="font-size:130%;"><a href="https://presidentialopenquestions.com/questions/5296/vote/" target="_hplink">8) Do you agree with doctors and scientists that children should be vaccinated?</a></span></strong></p>
<p>Trump is one of the most prominent celebrities who in recent years have spread phony anti-vaccine propaganda, and <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/erik-ose/phony-antivaccine-propaga_1_b_6453536.html" target="_hplink">U.S. children have died as a result</a>.</p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixd16umoQkOWHczzheIG6MsdTB2d3EVwpBmQ4MTR_Gs9UvXVhBAhGBpn1usWThA7GDg6CRRT_5yPfFN7Lt-bnn86aZ-Fnzby9s7eAW4Q5vkBKJ22WJ6MnsA5gT3WXUZ7dVS7x2Zhgkj_IQ/s1600/Vaccine-Trump-tweet-border.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixd16umoQkOWHczzheIG6MsdTB2d3EVwpBmQ4MTR_Gs9UvXVhBAhGBpn1usWThA7GDg6CRRT_5yPfFN7Lt-bnn86aZ-Fnzby9s7eAW4Q5vkBKJ22WJ6MnsA5gT3WXUZ7dVS7x2Zhgkj_IQ/s500/Vaccine-Trump-tweet-border.JPG" /></a></div>
</br>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEPElILsEw5tFBUfCxIuWx66-4W3BBxyI6Ymz0zsRGyoRMjQLT9Oh8fK4TSvyNflfbW8NKgVDeZJc4poH8u1z9XY544EBsd8C21VUa3kyOPh3daPgry_v5JvKpgAQNMooio7F0Q2uwfTLP/s1600/Vaccines-Donald-Trump-on-Fox-and-friends.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEPElILsEw5tFBUfCxIuWx66-4W3BBxyI6Ymz0zsRGyoRMjQLT9Oh8fK4TSvyNflfbW8NKgVDeZJc4poH8u1z9XY544EBsd8C21VUa3kyOPh3daPgry_v5JvKpgAQNMooio7F0Q2uwfTLP/s500/Vaccines-Donald-Trump-on-Fox-and-friends.JPG" /></a></div>
<p>Hillary is the <a href="http://www.vox.com/2016/8/1/12341268/jill-stein-vaccines-clinton-trump-2016" target="_hplink">only presidential candidate who is unequivocally pro-vaccine</a>. Trump is an unrepentant anti-vaxxer, and Gary Johnson and Jill Stein have both pandered to the anti-vaccine movement.</p>
<a href="https://presidentialopenquestions.com/questions/5296/vote/"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7qA_fAG3LWsMnqx1BrMTrEfTwtrf0ylFtI0Tu2lATqN5_CQTiygUVJGBi2BCkUHl5OH0IIsJ5edfkob9w9L6XGvAE5gyy6D_AtmXh9JjLhUpgNlkGUCK-EvXHW7MCSNFYEEnwdkvtYiLu/s1600/Trump-debate-question8-vaccines.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7qA_fAG3LWsMnqx1BrMTrEfTwtrf0ylFtI0Tu2lATqN5_CQTiygUVJGBi2BCkUHl5OH0IIsJ5edfkob9w9L6XGvAE5gyy6D_AtmXh9JjLhUpgNlkGUCK-EvXHW7MCSNFYEEnwdkvtYiLu/s500/Trump-debate-question8-vaccines.jpg" /></a></div></a>
<strong><span style="font-size:130%;"><a href="https://presidentialopenquestions.com/questions/8853/vote/" target="_hplink">9) What community service in your past has prepared you for the job of President?</a></span></strong>
<p>Trump's lack of any prior community service should disqualify him outright him for the job he's seeking. Electing Trump would be the first time in two and a half centuries of American history that voters chose a President with no prior government or military experience. He's never held public office before, which means he's never given voters a chance to see how he could handle a lesser office before asking them to trust him with the presidency.</p>
<p>Trump has never held an appointed position in any previous presidential administration. He hasn't represented his fellow citizens as Governor, Mayor, or even a City Council member. He's never helped run any sort of government body whose goal is to serve the public interest. All Trump has done in his 70 years on this planet is expand a business empire that he <a href="http://www.alternet.org/story/156234/exposing_how_donald_trump_really_made_his_fortune%3A_inheritance_from_dad_and_the_government%27s_protection_mostly_did_the_trick" target="_hplink">inherited</a> from <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/fact-checker/wp/2016/03/03/trumps-false-claim-he-built-his-empire-with-a-small-loan-from-his-father/" target="_hplink">his father</a>, while managing to <a href="http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2016/jun/21/hillary-clinton/yep-donald-trumps-companies-have-declared-bankrupt/" target="_hplink">bankrupt his companies several times</a>.</p>
<p>In addition to serving in elected office as a U.S. Senator from New York and at the cabinet level as Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton has a nearly <a href="http://www.encyclopediaofarkansas.net/encyclopedia/entry-detail.aspx?entryID=2744" target="_hplink">50-year record of community service</a>.</p>
<a href="https://presidentialopenquestions.com/questions/8853/vote/"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrO0x5TZhP6ii2iPVaMYb_2NsydEkNUvJ7y7L2HV59yOnI5DpLlT0wfa4DS6Z813yc2cOqBY9Dj-lHTOmqS4oJregqXoXHhqTKpqyRuW79uh0VvpNiCHYKpZrnefcSgk48Bkcz-J8i0c49/s1600/Trump-debate-question9-service.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrO0x5TZhP6ii2iPVaMYb_2NsydEkNUvJ7y7L2HV59yOnI5DpLlT0wfa4DS6Z813yc2cOqBY9Dj-lHTOmqS4oJregqXoXHhqTKpqyRuW79uh0VvpNiCHYKpZrnefcSgk48Bkcz-J8i0c49/s500/Trump-debate-question9-service.jpg" /></a></div></a>
<p><strong><span style="font-size:130%;"><a href="https://presidentialopenquestions.com/questions/5493/vote/" target="_hplink">10) Do you have many lifelong friends? Tell us about one of them.</a></span></strong></p>
<p>In <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/trumprevealed/" target="_hplink">Trump Revealed</a>, an exhaustively-researched biography written by <i>Washington Post</i> reporters that came out in August, based in part on twenty hours of interviews with Trump, a <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/13/nyregion/for-donald-trump-friends-in-few-places.html" target="_hplink">shocking fact</a> came to light. When asked about his friends, Trump said he had no time for any. "It was apparent that Trump had no friends, outside his immediate family," <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/portrait-of-an-outrageous-poseur-as-a-young--and-then-older--man/2016/08/18/2f41b930-5f2c-11e6-af8e-54aa2e849447_story.html" target="_hplink">wrote the reporters</a>.</p>
<a href="https://presidentialopenquestions.com/questions/5493/vote/"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVcGR4eKgY6tGmpJltQxqiLyjyDNRW7r6YPuK4qNZ1ERstKGQybaFdhpSGH5skznG6CAsLsDc5ViAZqJNDQ3oCOWA0Vp3Y-dP8cKc5CCIKB4q9TkNrzk8jb3tyw16UPREvVmjiyg1US22f/s1600/Trump-debate-question10-friends.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVcGR4eKgY6tGmpJltQxqiLyjyDNRW7r6YPuK4qNZ1ERstKGQybaFdhpSGH5skznG6CAsLsDc5ViAZqJNDQ3oCOWA0Vp3Y-dP8cKc5CCIKB4q9TkNrzk8jb3tyw16UPREvVmjiyg1US22f/s500/Trump-debate-question10-friends.jpg" /></a></div></a>
<p>What Donald Trump does have is a deeply-rooted <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/bj-gallagher/donald-trump-is-an-addict_b_11352980.html" target="_hplink">addiction to fame, money, and attention</a>. He almost certainly needs <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/daniel-wagner/trump-and-narcissistic-pe_b_11289332.html" target="_hplink">psychological help</a>, but as these ten questions make clear, the last thing America needs is to put Trump in the Oval Office.</p>
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<script src="https://apis.google.com/js/platform.js" async defer></script>Erikhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13724369148446520867noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-713335158755695351.post-35987506480644150632015-02-14T10:35:00.000-05:002015-03-31T15:52:03.532-04:00Why The Chapel Hill Shooting Was More Hate Crime Than 'Parking Dispute'<p><strong><span style="font-size:130%;"><a href="http://www.opednews.com/articles/Why-The-Chapel-Hill-Shooti-by-Erik-Ose-ATHEIST_Anti-Muslim_Chapel-Hill-Shooting_Facebook-150217-554.html">OpEdNews 2-17-15</a>, <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/erik-ose/why-the-chapel-hill-shooting-hate-crime_b_6681968.html">HuffPo 2-18-15</a></span></strong></p>
<p><div class="g-plus" data-action="share" data-annotation="none" data-href="http://thelatestoutrage.blogspot.com/2015/02/why-chapel-hill-shooting-was-more-hate.html"></div> <div class="fb-share-button" data-href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/erik-ose/why-the-chapel-hill-shooting-hate-crime_b_6681968.html" data-layout="button_count"></div> <a href="https://twitter.com/share" class="twitter-share-button" data-url="http://thelatestoutrage.blogspot.com/2015/02/why-chapel-hill-shooting-was-more-hate.html" data-text="Why The Chapel Hill Shooting Was More Hate Crime Than 'Parking Dispute'" data-via="latestoutrage" data-count="none" data-dnt="true">|</a></p>
<p>CHAPEL HILL, N.C. -- When word of the execution-style murders of three Muslim students here leaked onto social media on the evening of Feb. 10, the internet exploded with outrage. <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2015/02/11/chapel-hill-muslim-student-shootings-spark-islamophobic-outcry-lack-media-coverage_n_6659562.html?1423656556" target="_hplink">Frustration</a> with the lack of any major media coverage gave birth to the hashtag #MuslimLivesMatter, and within hours, #ChapelHillShooting became the top worldwide trending subject on Twitter.</p>
<p><center><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiugdroHE1zoCvTpaZFvJfLJKQZDLgEeoOnn7O3ySJmIYUr_zGrgcXXsMTaN9tKicSe6tEHhd_azH1vXe9bfvMuiF1qvw7cgOy1Nl5WHMSsoG76OmHXFwMWjih17HFN8sT3Z8nx1qbUW0HE/s1600/chapel+hill-victims1-border.JPG" imageanchor="1" ><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiugdroHE1zoCvTpaZFvJfLJKQZDLgEeoOnn7O3ySJmIYUr_zGrgcXXsMTaN9tKicSe6tEHhd_azH1vXe9bfvMuiF1qvw7cgOy1Nl5WHMSsoG76OmHXFwMWjih17HFN8sT3Z8nx1qbUW0HE/s550/chapel+hill-victims1-border.JPG" /></a></center></p>
<p>Overnight, the <a href="http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2015/02/11/385417978/an-arrest-but-no-motive-announced-in-killing-of-3-muslims-in-n-c" target="_hplink">national</a> and <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/chapel-hill-shooting-craig-stephen-hicks-condemned-all-religions-on-facebook-prior-to-muslim-massmurder-arrest-10038126.html" target="_hplink">international</a> press <a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-trending-31421363" target="_hplink">picked up the story</a>. Pronounced dead at the scene were Deah Shaddy Barakat, 23, his wife Yusor Mohammad Abu-Salha, 21, and her sister, Razan Mohammad Abu-Salha, 19, <a href="https://www.facebook.com/ourthreewinners">three talented and promising young community members</a>, killed in their own apartment in a quiet complex near the University of North Carolina's campus, all <a href="http://www.wral.com/chapel-hill-police-parking-dispute-may-have-led-to-triple-shooting/14438074/" target="_hplink">shot in the head</a>. This grisly crime came at a time of rising anti-Muslim tensions <a href="http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2015/01/16/377714066/dukes-muslim-students-prepare-for-prayers-amid-controversy" target="_hplink">in North Carolina</a> and <a href="http://thinkprogress.org/world/2015/02/13/3623222/connecting-dots-north-carolina-murders-anti-muslim-hysteria/" target="_hplink">nationwide</a>, on a day marked by a nonstop media drumbeat about the <a href="http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/isis-terror/american-isis-hostage-kayla-mueller-dead-family-says-n303591" target="_hplink">confirmed death</a> of U.S. hostage Kayla Mueller, who was being held captive by ISIS militants. Many suspected the students' shooting was hate-related.</p>
<p><center><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLMqZbGAavyY0orDkToqFHVXPgkyetHUPrliiTOCbKFTltreIa0NUHQ7EfbSk8dsJyloynNlHZQSj5_vd-7TFEJ3s9xxf1HLMp_EkVnRnLF0ysF0bmqov8H2_lpaScOKo2BRe6FM5MbABQ/s1600/chapel-hill-shooting-initial-montage.JPG" imageanchor="1" ><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLMqZbGAavyY0orDkToqFHVXPgkyetHUPrliiTOCbKFTltreIa0NUHQ7EfbSk8dsJyloynNlHZQSj5_vd-7TFEJ3s9xxf1HLMp_EkVnRnLF0ysF0bmqov8H2_lpaScOKo2BRe6FM5MbABQ/s550/chapel-hill-shooting-initial-montage.JPG" /></a></center></p>
<p>Yet early the next morning, Chapel Hill Police released a <a href="http://www.townofchapelhill.org/Home/Components/News/News/8372/" target="_hplink">statement</a> that said their "preliminary investigation indicates that the crime was motivated by an ongoing neighbor dispute over parking."</p>
<p>From that point on, corporate media outlets seemed content to follow Fox News' lead in whitewashing any suggestion that the killings were at least partially sparked by hate, trumpeting <a href="http://nation.foxnews.com/2015/02/11/police-investigate-possible-hate-crime-killing-3-nc-muslim-students" target="_hplink">headlines</a> like "Parking dispute, not bias, triggered triple murder, say NC police."</p>
<p><center><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdb-S0jye1Jxixl23x2hR-EZjBW-Jfqs_dlOzLeCqQZRDdgpGdeXlik7r2c_hqPd4CWSaGK6TcmBasuUD2xy9iD_Gg2rDdFWLnCbL0qXX14txH5alZtpUxICdgoj1NdcGLpbxs2fAWq8-Z/s1600/chapel-hill-shooting-fox-news-take2-border.jpg" imageanchor="1" ><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdb-S0jye1Jxixl23x2hR-EZjBW-Jfqs_dlOzLeCqQZRDdgpGdeXlik7r2c_hqPd4CWSaGK6TcmBasuUD2xy9iD_Gg2rDdFWLnCbL0qXX14txH5alZtpUxICdgoj1NdcGLpbxs2fAWq8-Z/s550/chapel-hill-shooting-fox-news-take2-border.jpg" /></a></center></p>
<p>What is definitively known about the crime is that the murder suspect in the killings, Craig Stephen Hicks, 46, who turned himself over to police several hours after the shooting, was one of the victims' neighbors. Hicks moved to North Carolina <a href="http://www.ksdk.com/story/news/crime/2015/02/12/triple-murder-suspect-is-a-belleville-native/23277535/">from Illinois</a> in 2004. <a href="http://www.latimes.com/nation/nationnow/la-na-north-carolina-shooting-deaths-20150211-story.html#page=1" target="_hplink">According to</a> the <em>Los Angeles Times</em>, "a <a href="https://www.facebook.com/craig.hicks.967" target="_hplink">Facebook profile</a> that bore Craig Hicks' name and photo showed he appeared to be a militant atheist who shared anti-Muslim and anti-Christian posts and links."</p>
<p><center><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqHvjWAYPVEylg_xk7UHmmQotAXEHc3qixmDAeF-ZyvBw08366PVjQva9OcGneUlGPuQvGVX1E9KXKQ6TUV_PHs3g5ywXxc3vgc2HpVwhPFskdLE8AgrkGYxjGwpavnm_-H6ih6gyu01L-/s1600/chapel-hill-shooter-mug-shot-border2.jpg" imageanchor="1" ><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqHvjWAYPVEylg_xk7UHmmQotAXEHc3qixmDAeF-ZyvBw08366PVjQva9OcGneUlGPuQvGVX1E9KXKQ6TUV_PHs3g5ywXxc3vgc2HpVwhPFskdLE8AgrkGYxjGwpavnm_-H6ih6gyu01L-/s550/chapel-hill-shooter-mug-shot-border2.jpg" /></a></br><strong><span style="font-size:87%;">Chapel Hill shooting suspect Craig Stephen Hicks</span></strong></center></p>
<p>One of the <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/chapel-hill-shooting-craig-stephen-hicks-condemned-all-religions-on-facebook-prior-to-muslim-massmurder-arrest-10038126.html" target="_hplink">last three posts</a> Hicks made to this Facebook page, two days before the shooting, was an atheist-themed photo whose caption asked, "Why are radical Christians and radical Muslims so opposed to each others' influence when they agree about so many ideological issues?" Hicks expressed atheist beliefs in <a href="http://americablog.com/2015/02/atheists-confront-chapel-hill-shooting.html">frequent</a> public Facebook posts.
<p><center><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLJUXegA1JjBroTubV9GH7GxOw150wXNC4Yv75JcosrTSLpZSySlfEuioqLknRTrh-C_WwWvJ8pgDc0UTI3EEo_HvsXdZnIX5WGPl3LvT2CBkNfQfVnxQHdR4d_OTMdSnkdC4u25e8HIyc/s1600/chapel-hill-shooter-FB-post-from-feb-8-radical-muslims-border.JPG" imageanchor="1" ><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLJUXegA1JjBroTubV9GH7GxOw150wXNC4Yv75JcosrTSLpZSySlfEuioqLknRTrh-C_WwWvJ8pgDc0UTI3EEo_HvsXdZnIX5WGPl3LvT2CBkNfQfVnxQHdR4d_OTMdSnkdC4u25e8HIyc/s400/chapel-hill-shooter-FB-post-from-feb-8-radical-muslims-border.JPG" /></a></center></p>
<p>On Jan. 20, he posted a photo of what he said was "my loaded 38 revolver, its holster, and 5 extra rounds in a speedloader." In addition to the handgun Hicks was carrying when arrested, police <a href="http://www.wncn.com/story/28105951/warrants-man-accused-in-chapel-hill-shooting-had-at-least-12-guns" target="_hplink">recovered</a> an arsenal of at least a dozen more firearms from his apartment, including "three handguns, along with several rifles and shotguns...(and) numerous loaded magazines and cases of ammunition."</p>
<p><center><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqO0rtdHso9oZq9fd-uh0rFBwulrXakGHuGCHUz2F7kaQ-MJx90s7HU3-he-ujFHMYfHErNFAm7MbwLa_GrUAC_SZMeaMHkMQNK-a1KqCsVYfoubUkjCSVIAOlgLdwO3PkY85PRG-guLcc/s1600/chapel+hill+shooter-gun-large-border.JPG" imageanchor="1" ><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqO0rtdHso9oZq9fd-uh0rFBwulrXakGHuGCHUz2F7kaQ-MJx90s7HU3-he-ujFHMYfHErNFAm7MbwLa_GrUAC_SZMeaMHkMQNK-a1KqCsVYfoubUkjCSVIAOlgLdwO3PkY85PRG-guLcc/s400/chapel+hill+shooter-gun-large-border.JPG" /></a></center></p>
<p>The murdered women's father, Mohammed Abu-Salha, <a href="http://www.wral.com/questions-surround-motive-in-muslim-students-slayings/14439969/" target="_hplink">told</a> WRAL-TV that the students were afraid of Hicks. "who had come more than once to their doorstep with a gun in his waistband."</p>
<p><blockquote>"They felt he was hateful, and she used that word," Abu-Salha said. "She said, 'Daddy, we feel he hates us for who we are and how we look.' And our daughters dressed in the Muslim attire."</blockquote></p>
<p><center><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnT5Sk6qTK7RkcOHETN12mIuWGHk5hAN85O3QtwY_wyWnrLG2_mUCvJNb_TkfOgS5tZsn7gS17GMMpJaKGQhBsvj8f5OwdkQKRsmaLmWmOLnn3aWd2JXT6H0aaTTPDUipBWCPeFg2n23ql/s1600/chapel-hill-shooter-eyes+only-border.JPG" imageanchor="1" ><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnT5Sk6qTK7RkcOHETN12mIuWGHk5hAN85O3QtwY_wyWnrLG2_mUCvJNb_TkfOgS5tZsn7gS17GMMpJaKGQhBsvj8f5OwdkQKRsmaLmWmOLnn3aWd2JXT6H0aaTTPDUipBWCPeFg2n23ql/s400/chapel-hill-shooter-eyes+only-border.JPG" /></a></center></p>
<p>A close friend of the victims, Amira Ata, was <a href="http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/02/12/friend-this-was-no-parking-murder.html" target="_hplink">interviewed</a> by Dean Obeidallah for The Daily Beast, and explained why she thinks the shooting wasn't just triggered by anger over parking:</p>
<p><blockquote>"Ata said she believes that Hicks killed them because they were the only Muslims in the apartment complex. 'They were targeted because they're different and this is a hate crime,' she stated emphatically. She also said that on the day of the murders, Deah had just returned by bus. The only one with a car was the younger sister Razan, who had already parked earlier in the day. The point being: There was no 'parking dispute' in close proximity to the actual murders."</blockquote></p>
<p>It's undeniable that Hicks was a <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2015/02/12/alleged-chapel-hill-killer-described-as-neighborhood-bully-obsessed-with-parking-and-noise/" target="_hplink">neighborhood bully</a> known for hassling various other residents in the complex, especially when he felt they were parking in what he saw as "his" parking spaces. As Tara McKelvey <a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-31395467" target="_hplink">reported</a> from Chapel Hill for the BBC, "residents say Hicks had two parking spaces he focused on in front of his apartment."</p>
<p>Each apartment in the complex is assigned only one space, with all others reserved for visitor parking. By policing two spaces, Hicks was violating the complex's own parking rules. Deah Barakat's sister, Dr. Suzanne Barakat, <a href="http://www.cnn.com/videos/tv/2015/02/13/lead-intv-full-barakat-sister-chapel-hill-shooting-victim.cnn" target="_hplink">confirmed to CNN</a> that when Hicks returned home on the evening of Feb. 10, no cars belonging to any of the three victims were parked in the spaces he considered to be his:</p>
<p><center><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9CVVio7R_OtSUM06HldDh3r07V4VRApm0_Epucrf1uOLKBMqhm9Dx2cCF63GScLsYBiYRqTh-eAJ6P2z-3HYDN9x3BBnqiGAH5wvec3m3oVBLOeGhWfruHBQNdeVw3EYkdGQuYwIftsrQ/s1600/Suzanne-Barakat-on-CNN-2-13-15-border.JPG" imageanchor="1" ><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9CVVio7R_OtSUM06HldDh3r07V4VRApm0_Epucrf1uOLKBMqhm9Dx2cCF63GScLsYBiYRqTh-eAJ6P2z-3HYDN9x3BBnqiGAH5wvec3m3oVBLOeGhWfruHBQNdeVw3EYkdGQuYwIftsrQ/s550/Suzanne-Barakat-on-CNN-2-13-15-border.JPG" /></a></center></p>
<p><blockquote>"On the day of the murders, the parking spot that was, quote/unquote, 'disputed' had no parking -- no car in it. I wondered maybe was it Razan who was visiting her sister to keep her company had maybe parked in that spot and that triggered it. No. They all knew not to park in this disputed visitors' parking spot. And by disputed, I mean the one that the neighbor claimed belonged to his wife and had been cleared by the apartment complex agency as open and free to all. And despite that, they did not use it. So, this was not a parking dispute."</blockquote></p>
<p>Hicks' ex-wife Cynthia Hurley <a href="http://bigstory.ap.org/article/5675a9eee93c40bbb169c875c93314ad/man-arrested-after-3-shot-death-north-carolina" target="_hplink">said</a> his favorite movie was Falling Down, the 1993 film starring Michael Douglas as a laid-off defense industry worker who goes on a lengthy shooting spree. Hicks reportedly tangled with <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2015/02/12/alleged-chapel-hill-killer-described-as-neighborhood-bully-obsessed-with-parking-and-noise/" target="_hplink">numerous residents</a> over parking issues, but his own shooting rampage began and ended only with his Muslim neighbors. Why were they the only ones he singled out for repeated, gun-toting harassment? No other residents have come forward to say Hicks ever came to their doors carrying a gun.</p>
<p>This crime has struck a powerful chord in the hearts of Muslim-Americans, Muslims abroad, and everyone else who cares about Islamophobia. The corporate media's willingness to frame these killings as resulting from nothing more than a parking dispute reveals a <a href="http://www.tikkun.org/tikkundaily/2015/02/12/muslim-lives-matter-double-standards-and-islamophobia-in-chapel-hill/" target="_hplink">double standard</a> when it comes to reporting about Muslims as victims of violence.</p>
<p><center><blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>This picture speaks a 1000 words <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/ChapelHillShooting?src=hash">#ChapelHillShooting</a> <a href="http://t.co/0ngcF2wk63">pic.twitter.com/0ngcF2wk63</a></p>— Abdul Raheem Rudolph (@rudol9h) <a href="https://twitter.com/rudol9h/status/565880415115018241">February 12, 2015</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></center></p>
<p>Mohamad Elmasry, a communications professor at the University of North Alabama, <a href="http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2015/02/chapel-hill-shooting-western-media-bigotry-150211083909613.html" target="_hplink">noted</a>:</p>
<p><blockquote>"When Christians, Jews and other non-Muslims are killed by Muslims, Islam is identified as playing a direct role. When Muslims are killed by Jews, Christians and other non-Muslims, however, the religious identity of the violent perpetrators is downplayed or ignored."</blockquote></p>
<p>As some have pointed out, if Craig Hicks had been an observant Muslim with a history of posting Facebook rants against secular humanists, and then shot three white college students execution-style in the head, no one would be talking about parking. He would have been labeled a domestic terrorist, and if he had tried surrendering to police after the fact, might have been shot on sight.</p>
<p><center><blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>Unknown what motivated Chapel Hill murders but it's obviously striking how this would be talked about - quickly- if identities were reversed</p>— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) <a href="https://twitter.com/ggreenwald/status/565529324049420290">February 11, 2015</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></center></p>
<p>Fox's rush to spin these killings as anything but a hate crime was understandable, because to explore otherwise would mean raising questions about <a href="http://mediamatters.org/blog/2013/07/29/reza-aslan-and-how-fox-news-islamophobia-comes/195097" target="_hplink">the network's role</a> in shamelessly <a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/fox-news-top-five-islamophobic-smears" target="_hplink">fanning the flames of Islamophobia</a>.</p>
<p>But why did other corporate media go blindly along that path? And why did local police do the same? What kind of thorough investigation into this crime's motives led to such a quick pronouncement?</p>
<p>It didn't help that the department charged with investigating the murders is currently <a href="http://www.dailytarheel.com/article/2014/01/police-department-faces-funding-issues-with-hiring" target="_hplink">underfunded and short-staffed</a>. Or that despite serving and protecting the most liberal community in North Carolina, Chapel Hill's police department has a <a href="http://prisonbooks.info/2011/11/16/chapel-hill-police-department-has-long-history-of-violence/" target="_hplink">history</a> of <a href="http://www.indyweek.com/news/archives/2011/06/16/charles-brown-files-civil-suit-against-chapel-hill-police" target="_hplink">insensitivity</a> towards the town's minority citizens.</p>
<p>Former resident Cynthia Greenlee, now a doctoral candidate in history at Duke University, describes once driving with her boyfriend, a "tall, bearded black man with a naturally serious (read: threatening) demeanor," when they were <a href="http://prospect.org/article/chapel-hill-murders-are-about-more-parking-dispute" target="_hplink">pulled over</a> by police:</p>
<p><blockquote>"When a Chapel Hill police officer pulled a gun on us for a routine traffic stop, we didn't argue. He said we were speeding, but he was the quick one as he drew his weapon the moment he disembarked from his car. I was still wondering if we had a taillight out when he screamed for us to stay in the car and pointed his gun at us."</blockquote></p>
<p><center><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh23Rddd1leMxswofnFgCfBAd4pf0ZTQiLUMQ4bQSWx6e_ZaKtTNB0J5estfpiCMZ-2xWJLpUIWoNanqsrmM9-9J_Pg4DteZkCfFTq5evzJIJcEHroMRzWU_7QTS6bH4RCx4XUkIpBCgzPP/s1600/chapel-hill-aftermath-border.JPG" imageanchor="1" ><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh23Rddd1leMxswofnFgCfBAd4pf0ZTQiLUMQ4bQSWx6e_ZaKtTNB0J5estfpiCMZ-2xWJLpUIWoNanqsrmM9-9J_Pg4DteZkCfFTq5evzJIJcEHroMRzWU_7QTS6bH4RCx4XUkIpBCgzPP/s550/chapel-hill-aftermath-border.JPG" /></a></br><strong><span style="font-size:87%;">Victims' family and friends waited for answers in shooting's aftermath</span></strong></center></p>
<p>Also troubling is that the killings happened within Durham County, N.C., where law enforcement officials are not known for spotless ethics or competence. Over the past decade, "several scandals have raised questions about the dispensation of justice in Durham County," as the <em>Washington Post</em> <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-watch/wp/2014/03/20/darryl-howard-and-the-rampaging-prosecutor-durham-learns-little-from-duke-lacrosse-debacle/" target="_hplink">reported</a> last year. Two Durham district attorneys have been removed from office for misconduct since 2007, one of them Mike Nifong, of <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2007/LAW/06/16/duke.lacrosse/" target="_hplink">Duke lacrosse case infamy</a>. "Prosecutors are rarely ever removed from office for misconduct," said the <em>Post</em>. "For it to happen twice, in the same county, within five years is extraordinary."</p>
<p>Observers hold out hope that newly-elected D.A. Roger Echols, who one local attorney described as "careful and deliberate," will adhere to a higher standard of justice while prosecuting this case. A Durham grand jury <a href="http://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/craig-hicks-indicted-shooting-muslim-students" target="_hplink">indicted</a> Hicks on Feb. 17 on three counts of murder.</p>
<p>The FBI <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2015/02/12/us/chapel-hill-shooting-hate-crime-explainer/index.html" target="_hplink">describes</a> a hate crime as any "traditional offense such as murder, arson or vandalism with an added element of bias." In order to gather statistics, Congress <a href="http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2015/02/11/5508217/victims-father-says-chapel-hill.html#.VN0geebMSSo" target="_hplink">has defined</a> hate crimes as "criminal offense(s) against a person or property motivated in whole or in part by an offender's bias against a race, religion, disability, ethnic origin or sexual orientation." On Feb. 12, the FBI <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/14/us/fbi-inquiry-muslim-student-killings-chapel-hill-north-carolina.html" target="_hplink">announced</a> it had "opened a parallel preliminary inquiry" into the students' deaths, "to determine whether or not any federal laws were violated related to the case."</p>
<p><em>The New York Times</em> <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/14/us/fbi-inquiry-muslim-student-killings-chapel-hill-north-carolina.html" target="_hplink">reported</a> that "people who have talked with the victims' families say they have some doubts about the capacity of local authorities to handle the case." Linda Sarsour, a spokeswoman for the victims' families, said that "as of (Feb. 12), the family hadn't even been approached by law enforcement. They were already feeling like there was something missing."</p>
<p><center><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUFRIk5kXgCInEH-VJB69FLW3xec7dtyXZVks_0UHWYa2oDxrHXLsaYhdF9nGhPS_fxfj6dmIAsQ10w01jGDqZiMeSRh93URzD7cwgNTWCWXwQrK8lTz9RXBqyL8mUtAa-_w899HszvDTD/s1600/people-gathered-to-pray-outside-white-house-2-13-15.JPG" imageanchor="1" ><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUFRIk5kXgCInEH-VJB69FLW3xec7dtyXZVks_0UHWYa2oDxrHXLsaYhdF9nGhPS_fxfj6dmIAsQ10w01jGDqZiMeSRh93URzD7cwgNTWCWXwQrK8lTz9RXBqyL8mUtAa-_w899HszvDTD/s550/people-gathered-to-pray-outside-white-house-2-13-15.JPG" /></a></br><strong><span style="font-size:87%;">Friday prayers outside the White House on Feb. 13 in memory of the shooting victims</span></strong></center></p>
<p>Has our country's seemingly endless War on Terror made anti-Muslim bigotry more socially acceptable, and in the process devalued Muslim lives here at home? There are now <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2015/02/11/anti-muslim-hate-crimes-are-still-five-times-more-common-today-than-before-911/" target="_hplink">five times as many</a> hate crimes committed annually against Muslims in the U.S. than there were before 9/11. At the students' memorial service, attended by an estimated 5,000 people, Azhar Azeez, President of the Islamic Society of North America, <a href="http://mwcnews.net/news/americas/49723-chapel-hill-mourners.html" target="_hplink">said</a>, "We are concerned that the anti-Muslim rhetoric may have angered some to commit violence against American Muslims."</p>
<p>Cynthia Greenlee <a href="http://prospect.org/article/chapel-hill-murders-are-about-more-parking-dispute" target="_hplink">analyzed</a> the reaction of far too many to the media coverage of this crime:</p>
<p><blockquote>"The fact that many of my Facebook friends are now doing particularly vigorous mental gymnastics to deny that ethnicity, race or religious identity might have anything to do with this act of violence speaks loudly to the needs of a dominant culture to see itself as bearing no responsibility for hatred in its midst--even in a town where a black man simply driving down the street invites a potentially deadly encounter with the law."</blockquote></p>
<p>We will never know exactly what was going through Craig Hicks' deranged mind at the time these brutal killings were committed. But we should all reflect on the words of Yusor and Razan Abu-Salha's father, Mohammad Abu-Salha, who is a psychiatrist. "The media here bombards the American citizen with Islamic, Islamic, Islamic terrorism and makes people here scared of us and hate us and want us out," <a href="http://bigstory.ap.org/article/5675a9eee93c40bbb169c875c93314ad/man-arrested-after-3-shot-death-north-carolina" target="_hplink">said</a> Abu-Salha. "So if somebody has any conflict with you, and they already hate you, you get a bullet in the head."</p>
<p><center><blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p><3 <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/ChapelHillShooting?src=hash">#ChapelHillShooting</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NeverForget?src=hash">#NeverForget</a> <a href="http://t.co/iI3fGiGqeD">pic.twitter.com/iI3fGiGqeD</a></p>— MohaNNad أبو مازن (@TheMoeDee) <a href="https://twitter.com/TheMoeDee/status/565659102769344512">February 11, 2015</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></center></p>
<p>There is much to suggest these three students weren't murdered solely over a parking space. This heinous act looks more like a hate crime.</p>
<p><a href="https://twitter.com/share" class="twitter-share-button" data-url="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/erik-ose/why-the-chapel-hill-shooting-hate-crime_b_6681968.html" data-text="Why The Chapel Hill Shooting Was More Hate Crime Than 'Parking Dispute'" data-via="latestoutrage" data-dnt="true">###</a></p>
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<center><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFFmEx8TWfjN3avhVqz3FaFU7dDZyfM4wQ1wZc2t-ISv-VtmNicCpJPzbToDTN2pNFi51ftkGMZRi8LcLbFCnXBc6alMkqK2-C1SzgD_mY7aMExmLlCQnCSeS8NDMgQZTJCS5-4tz6aZ61/s1600/CHILD-SURGERY.jpg" imageanchor="1" ><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFFmEx8TWfjN3avhVqz3FaFU7dDZyfM4wQ1wZc2t-ISv-VtmNicCpJPzbToDTN2pNFi51ftkGMZRi8LcLbFCnXBc6alMkqK2-C1SzgD_mY7aMExmLlCQnCSeS8NDMgQZTJCS5-4tz6aZ61/s550/CHILD-SURGERY.jpg" /></a></center>
<p>When the nation turned our eyes to watch the ball drop in Times Square on New Year's Eve, we saw actress and former Playboy Playmate Jenny McCarthy urging viewers to kiss her on our TV screens. Thousands of people did, and sent her pictures to prove it. That's the nature of being a celebrity, possessing the ability to influence other people's behavior, and therein lies its potential for abuse.</p>
<p><center><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglcE7wl391mRESGbi0hgWXL-m8fxyGtkh6BDW9gp6qq2po-nF25KC5IAJZOXiJL22BQGUJhG8nyRfEq3drvP0htF8dAxhiJCJAdOkvWgPr8019JOIniWxWvmnN1z5aIR5Wy9j1Ljy_YaSv/s1600/Jenny-McCarthy-New-Years-kiss-cropped.jpg" imageanchor="1" ><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglcE7wl391mRESGbi0hgWXL-m8fxyGtkh6BDW9gp6qq2po-nF25KC5IAJZOXiJL22BQGUJhG8nyRfEq3drvP0htF8dAxhiJCJAdOkvWgPr8019JOIniWxWvmnN1z5aIR5Wy9j1Ljy_YaSv/s550/Jenny-McCarthy-New-Years-kiss-cropped.jpg" /></a></center></p>
<p>The idea that vaccines cause autism has been found to be totally false by doctors and scientists, in the same way almost all sane observers agree global warming is man-made. But thanks to anti-vaccine misinformation spread by <a href="http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/gallery/hollywoods-biggest-anti-vaccine-proponents-731277">some celebrities</a> like McCarthy, <a href="http://www.slate.com/blogs/bad_astronomy/2014/12/19/mayim_bialik_actress_scientist_alt_med_believer.html">Miyam Bialik</a>, and right-wing idiot <a href="http://www.salon.com/2014/03/28/look_out_donald_trumps_on_another_vaccine_truther_tear/">Donald Trump</a>, doctors say preventable diseases like measles are <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/7.30/content/2014/s4157936.htm">making a comeback</a> across America, and children are dying from them. From mid-2007 through the end of 2014, there were 6,274 U.S. deaths that could have been prevented by vaccines, as <a href="http://www.jennymccarthybodycount.com/Anti-Vaccine_Body_Count/Preventable_Deaths.html">documented by</a> CDC reports.</p>
<p><center><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizIBYgQYFLAUr3sNwL1Gxld90fCc2lw0kwvlgs5y8DMG5GhBEbLO94Tt75E9uJg0SV27CwlS-cnkozFLeRcvU05xxMwCgYpVsTA6ET_YHRg7_bPh-KX1GBuMBPgzRe9sozkIVuBWS6R3aD/s1600/Vaccine-Trump-tweet-border.JPG" imageanchor="1" ><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizIBYgQYFLAUr3sNwL1Gxld90fCc2lw0kwvlgs5y8DMG5GhBEbLO94Tt75E9uJg0SV27CwlS-cnkozFLeRcvU05xxMwCgYpVsTA6ET_YHRg7_bPh-KX1GBuMBPgzRe9sozkIVuBWS6R3aD/s550/Vaccine-Trump-tweet-border.JPG" /></a></center></p>
<p>Measles cases in the U.S. reached a <a href="http://www.cdc.gov/media/releases/2014/p0529-measles.html">20-year high</a> last May. The CDC estimates that in 2013, ninety-two percent of measles cases occurred in people who weren't vaccinated.</p>
<p>Before the anti-vaccine propaganda campaign heated up, measles were prematurely declared eradicated in this country in 2000. This represented a huge public health victory, since in the 1950s, prior to widespread vaccinations, there were hundreds of thousands of cases annually -- in some years almost a million.</p>
<p><center><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdR7ZPuxKisr-TtAHPOWpPeVOcCHjHyl-jU4y_aHP67AMPyVOvVKnPZFmqmzTsAy_aeEEA9XbcviroXudZt44a7SvIhQkP49hNBSd3kOxJCtgkngbdlcT0EJL3H_FKpGeT7UaER5pgrh4E/s1600/Baby+with+measles.JPG" imageanchor="1" ><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdR7ZPuxKisr-TtAHPOWpPeVOcCHjHyl-jU4y_aHP67AMPyVOvVKnPZFmqmzTsAy_aeEEA9XbcviroXudZt44a7SvIhQkP49hNBSd3kOxJCtgkngbdlcT0EJL3H_FKpGeT7UaER5pgrh4E/s550/Baby+with+measles.JPG" /></a></center></p>
<p>As MedicalDaily.com editor Elijah Wolfson <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/elijah-wolfson-/vaccines-debate_b_3916421.html">reported</a> in 2013:</p>
<p><blockquote>Measles cause ear infections in ten percent of the children infected by the disease, and about five percent get pneumonia. Even scarier is the fact that one or two in every 1,000 infected by the disease die, according to the CDC. With numbers as low as they are right now, this isn't yet cause for concern -- but if we return to rates closer to those of the 1950s, it could become a major epidemic. Consider that the disease still kills about 164,000 people globally every year.</blockquote></p>
<p>In 2001, 6-year-old Abigale Duffy of Sleepy Eye, Minnesota, was recovering from the chickenpox when she contracted pneumococcal bacteria. Her parents believed in vaccinations, but <a href="http://shotofprevention.com/2010/11/12/in-recognition-of-world-pneumonia-day/">according to</a> her mother, Shannon Duffy Peterson, "at that time, we had a pediatrician who did not push vaccinations and did not recommend the most recent vaccines available. Consequently, my children did not have their chickenpox and pneumococcal vaccinations." Abigale developed a fever one Sunday evening, and later that night <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/7.30/content/2014/s4157936.htm">died in her mother's arms</a> on the way to the hospital.</p>
<p><center><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUfMF3QIgDd_XzY4kmtA-mKhb3doEpQibGlGPKHJ3eLqIxigJq5m-O21s4bKnM8MfGK-mlu6KFRYi00ZXVQ0x2lFd81yWC50dTzCvaNWRIhJThFSBo-4Gbho6_vOoSQWtVKDR3Is-uSl0R/s1600/Vaccine-Abigale1.JPG" imageanchor="1" ><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUfMF3QIgDd_XzY4kmtA-mKhb3doEpQibGlGPKHJ3eLqIxigJq5m-O21s4bKnM8MfGK-mlu6KFRYi00ZXVQ0x2lFd81yWC50dTzCvaNWRIhJThFSBo-4Gbho6_vOoSQWtVKDR3Is-uSl0R/s550/Vaccine-Abigale1.JPG" /></a></center></p>
<p>Three years ago, in early 2012, 2-month-old Brady Alcaide Riffenburg of Chicopee, Mass. <a href="http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/04/06/anti-vaccine-movement-is-giving-diseases-a-2nd-life/7007955/">died of pertussis</a>, or whooping cough. Brady's mother, Kathryn Riffenburg, had been vaccinated years before, but later learned a vaccine booster shot during pregnancy would most likely have saved him. Barbara Stechenberg, Chief of Pediatric Infectious Diseases at Baystate Children's Hospital where Brady died, <a href="http://shotofprevention.com/2012/04/25/bradys-battle-with-pertussis/">explained</a> that "one of the important things to know is most babies who develop whooping cough get it from an older child or an adult in the family." As Christine Vera from <a href="http://shotofprevention.com/about/">ShotOfPrevention.com</a> reminds us, "since infants don't begin receiving vaccinations for many diseases until they are two months old, they remain vulnerable at a time when they are also most fragile."</p>
<p>Even children who survive bouts with preventable diseases can have their lives altered forever. A 2010 outbreak of meningitis in the Oologah-Talala public school system in Oklahoma killed two children and infected five others. One of the survivors was kindergartener Jeremiah Mitchell. Doctors had to amputate both his arms and legs, plus parts of his eyelids, jaw and ears. "He came out with all his limbs cut off and wrapped up like a mummy -- I fainted," <a href="http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/04/06/anti-vaccine-movement-is-giving-diseases-a-2nd-life/7007955/">said</a> his mother, Michaela Mitchell. "We cried for a long time."</p>
<p>Jeremiah was vaccinated against other illnesses, but not meningitis, because his school didn't require meningitis vaccinations for children his age. As <a href="http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/04/06/anti-vaccine-movement-is-giving-diseases-a-2nd-life/7007955/">reported by</a> <em>USA Today</em>, "though his family did everything according to medical recommendations, Jeremiah was exposed because someone brought the disease into their community."</p>
<p><center><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEQTScOq6bToC5IRli33iL-vZbTsE-2yUcljC5wFzhX6ucJbaUkAt2lkqTJa4OMU4R3Z2Blh5WBsQG2FHh4SdO0uB4_qCOFIOtv26P5Oidw8-mSHjtY492wE4sYLgWlbjI7PYM063nZ6hI/s1600/Vaccines-Jeremiah-before-after-final.jpg" imageanchor="1" ><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEQTScOq6bToC5IRli33iL-vZbTsE-2yUcljC5wFzhX6ucJbaUkAt2lkqTJa4OMU4R3Z2Blh5WBsQG2FHh4SdO0uB4_qCOFIOtv26P5Oidw8-mSHjtY492wE4sYLgWlbjI7PYM063nZ6hI/s550/Vaccines-Jeremiah-before-after-final.jpg" /></a></center></p>
<p>Jenny McCarthy has been <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20110805041329/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1968100,00.html">described</a> as a "Playmate turned pseudoscientist" <a href="http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/10/24/jenny-mccarthy-i-am-not-anti-vaccine.html">who</a> "by dint of sheer energy and celebrity...became the nation's most prominent purveyor of anti-vaxxer ideology." She is <a href="http://www.generationrescue.org/home/about/jenny-mccarthy/">president</a> of Generation Rescue, a non-profit group founded in 2005 by Lisa and J.B. Handley, which promotes the discredited idea that children with autism can be cured by unscientific, non-medical methods. Its website <a href="http://www.generationrescue.org/recovery/biomedical-treatment/">claims</a>, "Conventional medicine treats the symptoms of autism. Biomedical treatment addresses the root cause." McCarthy stumbled onto this website <a href="http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/vaccines/interviews/handley.html">within weeks</a> of its debut in 2005, shortly after her son was diagnosed with autism, and soon afterwards began her anti-vaccine crusade.</p>
<p>The false theory that vaccines might cause autism came from a now-retracted 1998 UK study on the MMR vaccine (preventing measles, mumps and rubella) which turned out to have been almost entirely fabricated by its author, Dr. Andrew Wakefield. He <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2011/HEALTH/01/05/autism.vaccines/">made up virtually the entire thing</a>, according to CNN, "misrepresent(ing) or alter(ing) the medical histories of all 12 of the patients whose cases formed the basis of the 1998 study." A 2011 <a href="http://www.bmj.com/content/342/bmj.c7452">investigation</a> by the British medical journal <em>BMJ</em> called it an "elaborate fraud," and <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2011/HEALTH/01/05/autism.vaccines/">concluded</a> that of the 12 cases, "five showed developmental problems before receiving the MMR vaccine and three never had autism." Wakefield was stripped of his medical license in 2010.</p>
<p>But because it was reported as a credible study at the time, the idea of a vaccine-autism link entered people's minds. It perfectly illustrates how misinformation can spread like a virus. Years later, when the study was exposed as fraudulent, the <a href="http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/body/autism-vaccine-myth.html">damage had already been done</a>, since a cottage industry had sprung up around the lies, exploiting the families of children with autism who were desperate for answers to explain why their kids were affected.</p>
<p>What's indisputable is that no real scientific research has ever found evidence vaccines cause autism. "The Earth isn't flat, it's round, and vaccines don't cause autism," <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/7.30/content/2014/s4157936.htm">says</a> Dr. Paul Offit, Chief of Infectious Diseases at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and co-inventor of a Rotavirus vaccine. "That's just a matter of scientific fact."</p>
<p>The original <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2011/HEALTH/01/05/autism.vaccines/">phony 1998 study</a> sparked a worldwide scare despite being based on falsified data about only 12 children. In 2012, a review of actual, rigorous studies covering over 14.7 million children found no vaccine-autism link in any cases, as <a href="http://www.upworthy.com/16-years-ago-a-doctor-published-a-study-it-was-completely-made-up-and-it-made-us-all-sicker">recently documented</a> by Upworthy in its <a href="http://www.upworthy.com/all7billion">"All 7 Billion" series</a> about global health and poverty, funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.</p>
<p><center><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgi3lRbytv8OoKsrjwO-x7nHFYrDHjSNeMD8Euv6uW6ns-lgjN1uk_-ekTTTac1mHFqqp6U6RsAarp0cFg4YmEg13g6bmAXi529MJEZ6tV9MoGcJE-_odqwYOapod8KAXcjnTYucKZ_M-vF/s1600/Vaccine-Autism-studies-graphic.JPG" imageanchor="1" ><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgi3lRbytv8OoKsrjwO-x7nHFYrDHjSNeMD8Euv6uW6ns-lgjN1uk_-ekTTTac1mHFqqp6U6RsAarp0cFg4YmEg13g6bmAXi529MJEZ6tV9MoGcJE-_odqwYOapod8KAXcjnTYucKZ_M-vF/s550/Vaccine-Autism-studies-graphic.JPG" /></a></center>
<center><strong><span style="font-size:87%;">Graphic by Adam Mordecai & NowSourcing, used under Creative Commons license.</span></strong></center></p>
<p>Is it too much to ask Jenny McCarthy to read a simple, well-researched article <a href="http://www.upworthy.com/16-years-ago-a-doctor-published-a-study-it-was-completely-made-up-and-it-made-us-all-sicker">like the one published by Upworthy</a> and properly educate herself about how no legitimate scientific studies have linked vaccines to autism? And then, to announce to the world she was wrong? It would help undo at least some of the damage she's done to public health and our country's children by pushing phony anti-vaccine propaganda <a href="http://www.salon.com/2014/04/14/no_you_havent_been_wrongly_branded_jenny_mccarthy/">for the past decade</a>.</p>
<p>Now that long-dormant diseases are reappearing, McCarthy has tried to deny her anti-vaxxer history. Worse, she is still misinforming the public.</p>
<p>"I am not anti-vaccine," she <a href="http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/10/24/jenny-mccarthy-i-am-not-anti-vaccine.html">said</a> last November, right before the debut of her new SiriusXM radio show. "I'm in this gray zone of, I think everyone should be aware and educate yourself and ask questions. And if your kid is having a problem, ask your doctor for an alternative way of doing the shots," meaning receiving fewer doses at once, which is <a href="http://time.com/2992222/spacing-out-kids-vaccines-can-hurt-their-health/">not medically recommended</a>, since it increases the time children remain unvaccinated and vulnerable to illness.</p>
<p>"The ironic thing is my position has always remained the same. People just never listened to it," McCarthy <a href="http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/10/24/jenny-mccarthy-i-am-not-anti-vaccine.html">continued</a>. "Literally, throughout the years, I have said the same thing over and over again. But people will only read headlines instead of looking back and seeing what I've been saying."</p>
<p>Taking a look back shows that in 2007, McCarthy appeared on Oprah and <a href="http://www.salon.com/2014/04/14/no_you_havent_been_wrongly_branded_jenny_mccarthy/">shared</a> her beliefs:</p>
<p><blockquote>We vaccinated our baby and something happened...Right before his MMR shot, I said to the doctor, 'I have a very bad feeling about this shot. This is the 'autism' shot, isn't it?' And he said, 'No, that is ridiculous. It is a mother's desperate attempt to blame something,' and he swore at me and then the nurse gave [Evan] the shot. And I remember going, 'Oh, God, I hope he's right.' And soon thereafter -- boom -- the soul's gone from his eyes.</blockquote></p>
<p><center><iframe width="500" height="281" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/-2bhQ3SYJhg" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></center></p>
<p>On CNN, she <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-2bhQ3SYJhg">said</a>, "Without a doubt in my mind I believe vaccinations triggered Evan's autism." In 2009, she <a href="http://content.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1888718,00.html">told</a> <em>Time</em> magazine:</p>
<p><blockquote>I do believe sadly it's going to take some diseases coming back to realize that we need to change and develop vaccines that are safe. If the vaccine companies are not listening to us, it's their f-cking fault that the diseases are coming back. They're making a product that's sh-t. If you give us a safe vaccine, we'll use it. It shouldn't be polio versus autism.</blockquote></p>
<p>Later in the same interview, she <a href="http://content.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1888718,00.html">said</a>, "If you ask a parent of an autistic child if they want the measles or the autism, we will stand in line for the f-cking measles."</p>
<p>If we ever want to see a meaningful public recantation from Jenny McCarthy, we have to make our views known to the people paying her salary and keeping her on television. <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/07/16/jenny-mccarthy-the-view-vaccines-autism_n_3605083.html">Public pressure</a> contributed to the <a href="http://www.thewrap.com/inside-the-view-exits-sherri-shepherd-rejected-abcs-final-offer-jenny-mccarthys-contract-not-renewed/">non-renewal</a> in 2014 of her contract to co-host ABC's "The View," after only one year on the job.</p>
<p>McCarthy's new reality show <a href="http://www.aetv.com/donnie-loves-jenny"><em>Donnie Loves Jenny</em></a> premiered Wednesday, January 7, airing on cable channel A&E. In November, the network <a href="http://www.aetv.com/news/ae-network-announces-new-series-donnie-loves-jenny-and-deal-with-donnie-wahlberg-and-jenny">announced</a> an unscripted production and development deal with D&J Productions, the joint production entity between McCarthy and her new husband Donnie Walhberg. <em>Donnie Loves Jenny</em> is only the first project in that deal.</p>
<p>You can let A&E executives know how you feel about their network giving airtime to Jenny McCarthy by emailing Chairman <a href="http://www.aenetworks.com/about/executive/abbe-raven">Abbe Raven</a> -- Abbe.Raven@aenetworks.com, or calling her office at 212-210-9007. Or contact Chief Revenue Officer <a href="http://www.aenetworks.com/about/executive/melvin-berning">Mel Berning</a> at 212-210-1321, Mel.Berning@aenetworks.com. Mel is <a href="http://variety.com/2014/tv/news/mel-berning-named-chief-revenue-officer-ae-networks-1201323968/">in charge</a> of A&E's <a href="http://www.aenetworks.com/advertise">ad sales</a>, so you can try the subject lines, "Ask Jenny McCarthy to Publicly State Vaccines Work or A&E Advertisers Will Hear About It," or "Why Is A&E Giving Airtime to a Celeb Whose Anti-Vaccine Propaganda is Killing U.S. Children?"</p>
<p><center><blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>Tell A&E and ABC to Stop Giving Jenny McCarthy Airtime Until She Admits Vaccines Don't Cause Autism <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/p2?src=hash">#p2</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/vaccineswork?src=hash">#vaccineswork</a> <a href="http://t.co/L3Xa70yik6">pic.twitter.com/L3Xa70yik6</a></p>— The Latest Outrage (@latestoutrage) <a href="https://twitter.com/latestoutrage/status/552834841759449088">January 7, 2015</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></center></p>
<p>McCarthy has appeared on <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Broadcasting_Company">ABC's</a> "Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve" as a Times Square correspondent since 2011. To reach Disney, the corporate parent of both ABC and A&E, go straight to the top and contact Disney CEO <a href="http://thewaltdisneycompany.com/about-disney/leadership/ceo/robert-iger">Bob Iger</a> at robert.a.iger@disney.com, or through Disney's main switchboard at 818-560-1000.</p>
<p>Kids like Abigale Duffy and Brady Riffenburg can't advocate for themselves anymore. To protect the rest of America's children from similar fates, more of us must speak up until there's no doubt remaining that vaccines are safe, necessary, and they work.</p>
<p><a href="https://twitter.com/share" class="twitter-share-button" data-url="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/erik-ose/phony-antivaccine-propaga_1_b_6453536.html" data-text="Phony Anti-Vaccine Propaganda Is Killing U.S. Children" data-via="latestoutrage" data-dnt="true">###</a></p>
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<script>!function(d,s,id){var js,fjs=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],p=/^http:/.test(d.location)?'http':'https';if(!d.getElementById(id)){js=d.createElement(s);js.id=id;js.src=p+'://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js';fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js,fjs);}}(document, 'script', 'twitter-wjs');</script>Erikhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13724369148446520867noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-713335158755695351.post-11811549262236735482014-12-30T16:48:00.000-05:002015-03-31T15:54:10.894-04:00Steve Scalise's Ties to David Duke Show GOP Can't Escape its Embrace of Racism<p><div class="g-plus" data-action="share" data-annotation="none" data-href="http://thelatestoutrage.blogspot.com/2014/12/steve-scalises-ties-to-david-duke-show.html"></div> <div class="fb-share-button" data-href="http://thelatestoutrage.blogspot.com/2014/12/steve-scalises-ties-to-david-duke-show.html" data-layout="button"></div> <a href="https://twitter.com/share" class="twitter-share-button" data-url="http://thelatestoutrage.blogspot.com/2014/12/steve-scalises-ties-to-david-duke-show.html" data-text="Steve Scalise's Ties to David Duke Show GOP Can't Escape its Embrace of Racism" data-via="latestoutrage" data-count="none" data-dnt="true">|</a></p>
<p>GOP House Majority Whip Steve Scalise (R-La.) <a href="http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_slatest/2014/12/29/house_majority_whip_spoke_at_a_2002_white_supremacist_conference.html">confirmed</a> on Monday that he had addressed a white supremacy conference in 2002 organized by former KKK Grand Wizard and onetime GOP presidential candidate David Duke. The revelation immediately cast doubts on whether Scalise will hang onto his leadership position within the House Republican caucus as the GOP prepares to lead both chambers of Congress in 2015.</p>
<p><center><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCzsChty3tLXwjv0vLQEfy2FoeKZb4OTeGeA57gqZTGRQiuP1VMihQricF8BX8Am7KIOedK_2SoNVL97km4dB03U5zGephfhm2RL9WlemxpuVCXwWfK25Mk0DOCd_Xho7ZlSs2VG7uEZBh/s1600/Scalise+and+Duke.JPG" imageanchor="1" ><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCzsChty3tLXwjv0vLQEfy2FoeKZb4OTeGeA57gqZTGRQiuP1VMihQricF8BX8Am7KIOedK_2SoNVL97km4dB03U5zGephfhm2RL9WlemxpuVCXwWfK25Mk0DOCd_Xho7ZlSs2VG7uEZBh/s550/Scalise+and+Duke.JPG" /></a></center></p>
<p>Democrats condemned Scalise's appearance and called on his fellow GOP House leaders to do the same. "Steve Scalise chose to cheerlead for a group of KKK members and neo-Nazis at a white supremacist rally and now his fellow House Republican Leaders can’t even speak up and say he was wrong," <a href="http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/228241-dems-pounce-on-scalise-flap">said</a> Josh Schwerin, National Press Secretary for the DCCC. "Republicans in Congress might talk about improving their terrible standing with non-white voters, but it’s clear their leadership has a history of embracing anti-Semitic, racist hate groups."</p>
<p><center><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhF-rVmWztIlOems0_6z9dmgqSaEmhEthDSmGpF1ULQ_3X1mcKiUuQoz2AmiVo4A2VVyhyphenhyphenX8ajLzCEMUpNIsm1RiH15vUykCqWsnohn3QUllMoavIVJCipeWXeKBCIlkIgBYnwHrrfP_Www/s1600/Racism+has+nothing+to+do+with+this.JPG" imageanchor="1" ><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhF-rVmWztIlOems0_6z9dmgqSaEmhEthDSmGpF1ULQ_3X1mcKiUuQoz2AmiVo4A2VVyhyphenhyphenX8ajLzCEMUpNIsm1RiH15vUykCqWsnohn3QUllMoavIVJCipeWXeKBCIlkIgBYnwHrrfP_Www/s550/Racism+has+nothing+to+do+with+this.JPG" /></a></center></p>
<p>As <a href="http://thehill.com/homenews/house/228249-scalise-casts-shadow-on-gop">reported by</a> The Hill:</p>
<blockquote><p>"The news about Scalise will cast a cloud over the first week of Congress...Scalise will be surrounded by reporters upon his return to Washington, and it will distract from the GOP’s official message. Damaging stories touching on racism have the potential not only to distract, but to damage the GOP brand.</p>
<p>Scalise on Monday denounced the European-American Unity and Rights Organization, to which he spoke in 2002. 'I didn't know who all of these groups were and I detest any kind of hate group,' he said in an interview with the <i>New Orleans Times-Picayune</i> on Monday. 'For anyone to suggest that I was involved with a group like that is insulting and ludicrous,' he said.</p>
<p>Many people have expressed doubt, however, that Scalise could not have known who the group was given its name and David Duke’s prominence in the state of Louisiana. 'By 2002, everybody knew that Duke was still the man he claimed not to be. EVERYBODY,' influential conservative blogger Erick Erickson wrote Monday on RedState.com. 'How the hell does somebody show up at a David Duke organized event in 2002 and claim ignorance?'"</p></blockquote>
<p><center><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSEX6073MZTz-OsJ1iZqVuhaw5iIS6gd9-7HJAT9lpRupfxhq-ehQPuBBQPBOpXSqiBzshH82fnARDQUiVek-FHErkVUQXf0SFbuZ2QyL6aXoIvcFilhAC7JTkMV3bHmXvjjALqd4_xz8s/s1600/Scalise.JPG" imageanchor="1" ><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSEX6073MZTz-OsJ1iZqVuhaw5iIS6gd9-7HJAT9lpRupfxhq-ehQPuBBQPBOpXSqiBzshH82fnARDQUiVek-FHErkVUQXf0SFbuZ2QyL6aXoIvcFilhAC7JTkMV3bHmXvjjALqd4_xz8s/s550/Scalise.JPG" /></a></center></p>
<p>According to David Duke, Scalise knew exactly what company he was keeping. "Scalise would communicate a lot with my campaign manager, Kenny Knight," Duke said on Monday <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-politics/wp/2014/12/30/former-kkk-leader-says-his-political-adviser-was-friendly-with-rep-scalise/">when interviewed</a> by the <i>Washington Post</i>. "That is why he was invited and why he would come." Kenny Knight is one of Scalise's congressional <a href="http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/kenny-knight-steve-scalise-campaign-donation">campaign donors</a>.</p>
<p>Yet appearing at the EURO conference was hardly the first time Rep. Scalise has tried to further his political career by appealing to bigotry and dividing people. Past votes and legislation pushed by Scalise show a disturbing pattern that casts doubts on his commitment to equal rights for all Americans.</p>
<p><center><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhENg8MpwdYz-JSBV_PzE8QZgSk9PYG1cGJF9R79JPWDyEOOMTeeOMeFzEmDZlTPsCMkae1e5EY0_Q5t8KPYy0MMSGnGN0Mlms7F64yKuiTsxYZ5aE_9y3aXntqjlUtSTvxegfueHkhWIuQ/s1600/Scalise3.JPG" imageanchor="1" ><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhENg8MpwdYz-JSBV_PzE8QZgSk9PYG1cGJF9R79JPWDyEOOMTeeOMeFzEmDZlTPsCMkae1e5EY0_Q5t8KPYy0MMSGnGN0Mlms7F64yKuiTsxYZ5aE_9y3aXntqjlUtSTvxegfueHkhWIuQ/s550/Scalise3.JPG" /></a></center></p>
<p>While serving as a state representative, Scalise joined former U.S. Senator and <a href="http://thelatestoutrage.blogspot.com/2008/07/jesse-helms-shameful-legacy-cant-be.html">notorious bigot</a> Jesse Helms (R-N.C.) in the dubious club of Republicans who tried to stop the nation from honoring Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday, when he <a href="http://www.politico.com/story/2014/12/steve-scalise-white-supremacy-group-reaction-113872.html">twice voted against</a> establishing an MLK holiday in Louisiana. In 1997, he <a href="http://www.politico.com/story/2014/12/steve-scalise-white-supremacy-group-reaction-113872.html">voted no</a> on a bill designed to "prohibit hate crimes based on race, class or sexual orientation." Exploiting anti-gay bigotry to win votes for the GOP in 2004, Scalise was the <a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/steve-scalise-hails-louisiana-anti-marriage-equality-ruling">lead author</a> of a bill that put a constitutional amendment on the Louisiana ballot banning gay marriage.
<p>In 2009, Scalise was one of the leading Republicans who joined Glenn Beck in a campaign <a href="http://time.com/3649354/steve-scalise-david-duke-euro/">to smear</a> black Obama Administration official Van Jones, forcing him to <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/09/06/glenn-beck-gets-first-sca_n_278281.html">resign his post</a>. Beck, Scalise, and the rest of the GOP scalp-hunters targeted Jones after it was discovered that his name appeared on a 2004 <a href="http://www.911truth.org/911truth-org-statement-to-the-press/">petition</a> calling for more investigations into the 9/11 attacks, and also questioning whether any Bush Administration officials knew about the attacks in advance. Jones had agreed to lend his name to the petition <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/02/24/van-jones-explains-911-pe_n_475960.html">without reading it first</a>. "The last green jobs czar we had left in disgrace," Scalise <a href="http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0211/49781.html#ixzz3NNUQOUMp">crowed</a> about Jones' departure, "because he expressed comments embracing communism and actually tried to blame the government, the American government, for September 11th attacks."</p>
Currently, as <a href="http://www.vocativ.com/usa/us-politics/steve-scalise-congress-euro-white-supremacist-david-duke/">pointed out by</a> Vocativ:</p>
<p><blockquote>"(Scalise) is a regular on Tony Perkins' radio show, Washington Watch With Tony Perkins. Perkins heads the Family Research Council, which the Southern Poverty Law Center condemns as virulently anti-LGBT."</blockquote></p>
<p>Tony Perkins is also pals with David Duke, having once paid $82,500 for Duke's mailing list. Perkins filed a false campaign disclosure form to hide the payment, for which he was eventually fined $3,000.</p>
<p><center><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuuT6f2OGdedgs0Rrw_Y7qgf3rrTpjK0-oTZW3Ha5XKNQEEnR1atXS2VNkg14mJZNL9xlS0rI9HXUlHYpKMFC5UWxQthotJzeOdGAdQJd0fdWMcPkS2nUXIiivCMkJ7it-jAvKwbHGTQFv/s1600/New+House+Majority+Whip.JPG" imageanchor="1" ><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuuT6f2OGdedgs0Rrw_Y7qgf3rrTpjK0-oTZW3Ha5XKNQEEnR1atXS2VNkg14mJZNL9xlS0rI9HXUlHYpKMFC5UWxQthotJzeOdGAdQJd0fdWMcPkS2nUXIiivCMkJ7it-jAvKwbHGTQFv/s550/New+House+Majority+Whip.JPG" /></a></center></p>
<p>The Republican Party needs to decide whether this is the face it wants to keep showing at a time when it has a demographic imperative to improve its standing with non-white voters. As Steve Scalise's political career makes clear, the ghosts of racism past and present still haunt the GOP.</p>
<p><b>#stevescalise #davidduke #gop #whitesupremacy #resign</b></p>
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<p>Today, President Obama <a href="http://www.cbsnews.com/news/obama-to-start-normalizing-u-s-relations-with-cuba/">announced the historic news</a> that he is moving to normalize relations with Cuba. This move comes after 50 years of failed U.S. policy that attempted to undermine the Cuban Revolution by isolating the island and keeping Cubans and Americans apart. It didn't work, ensured Cuba would remain economically dependent on the Soviet Union for decades, and delayed the day when the revolution's original promise will be fulfilled and true democracy will come to Cuba.</p>
<p>The wealthy, right-wing Cuban exiles who fled the revolution have had outsized influence on U.S. politics ever since the early 1960s. And Republican politicians in Florida have long cozied up to them. Which brings us to almost-declared GOP presidential candidate Jeb Bush. Jeb's political connections are as shady as his father's and brother's were before him. While building his political and financial career in Florida, Jeb Bush became tightly linked to some of the most corrupt, far-right members of the Cuban exile community.</p>
<p>As <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/world/2002/dec/02/usa.books">reported by</a> award-winning investigative journalist Ann Louise Bardach in the book <b>Cuba Confidential: Love and Vengeance in Miami and Havana</b> (2002):</p>
<p><blockquote>"The Bush family connections go back to 1984 when Jeb Bush began a close association with Camilo Padreda, a former intelligence officer with the Batista dictatorship overthrown by Fidel Castro. Jeb Bush was then the chairman of the Dade county Republican party and Padreda its finance chairman. Padreda had earlier been indicted on a $500,000 embezzlement charge along with a fellow exile, Hernandez Cartaya, but the charges were dropped, reportedly after the CIA stated that Cartaya had worked for them. Padreda later pleaded guilty to defrauding the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development of millions of dollars during the 1980s.</p>
<p>Jeb Bush was also on the payroll in the 80s of the prominent Cuban exile Miguel Recarey, who had earlier assisted the CIA in attempts to assassinate President Castro. Recarey, who ran International Medical Centres (IMC), employed Bush as a real estate consultant and paid him a $75,000 fee for finding the company a new location, although the move never took place, which raised questions at the time. Jeb Bush did, however, lobby the Reagan/Bush administration vigorously and successfully on behalf of Recarey and IMC. "I want to be very wealthy," Jeb Bush told the Miami News when questioned during that period.</p>
<p>In 1985, Jeb Bush acted as a conduit on behalf of supporters of the Nicaraguan contras with his father, then the vice-president, and helped arrange for IMC to provide free medical treatment for the contras. Recarey was later charged with massive Medicare fraud but fled the US before his trial and is now a fugitive."</blockquote></p>
<p><center><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjATV55-aXnlEqpF6iD7RsxL21QLKBu6SIMm0i0abp1Ntw_ZmOvXam7k5eKxywYR-S9uROaergQONekamuKEiWuAoysgxpLxcYy9lahbzlzkH7QCVlHfvJx4WuMCumzehBF6W4jaVtYPSj-/s1600/Jeb-Bush-terrorists.jpg" imageanchor="1" ><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjATV55-aXnlEqpF6iD7RsxL21QLKBu6SIMm0i0abp1Ntw_ZmOvXam7k5eKxywYR-S9uROaergQONekamuKEiWuAoysgxpLxcYy9lahbzlzkH7QCVlHfvJx4WuMCumzehBF6W4jaVtYPSj-/s550/Jeb-Bush-terrorists.jpg" /></a></center></p>
<p>Jeb Bush's most controversial connection to right-wing Cuban exiles may be convicted terrorist Orlando Bosch, who died in 2011.</p>
<p><blockquote>"At the request of Jeb, President George H.W. Bush intervened in 1989 to release the convicted Cuban terrorist Orlando Bosch from prison and then granted him US residency. According to the Justice Department in George Bush Sr's administration, Bosch had participated in more than 30 terrorist acts. He was convicted of firing a rocket into a Polish ship which was on passage to Cuba. He was also implicated in the 1976 blowing-up of a Cubana plane flying to Havana from Venezuela in which all 73 civilians on board were killed.</p>
<p>CIA memorandums strongly suggest, according to Bardach's book, that Bosch was one of the conspirators, and quotes the then secretary of state, Henry Kissinger, as writing that the "US government had been planning to suggest Bosch's deportation before Cubana airlines crash took place for his suspected involvement in other terrorist acts and violation of his parole."</blockquote></p>
<p>This is the company Jeb Bush kept during his rise to political power. It shows a stunning lack of judgment and tolerance for corruption that by itself should be enough to disqualify him from high office. But most voters will never hear of these episodes from Jeb's past. His last name alone ensures he can't be ruled out as a serious contender for the 2016 GOP nomination.</p>
<p><b>#cuba #jebbush #havana #orlandobosch #election2016 #florida #BushClintonDynasties</b></p>
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<p>Jeb Bush is gearing up for his own presidential run, hoping to take advantage of Hillary Clinton being the likely Democratic nominee in 2016. Analysts predict a Bush-Clinton dynasty rematch will be seen as stale and boring by voters, and depress turnout to the extent that a GOP candidate could win nationwide again, despite the nation's browner, less Republican-friendly, changing demographics.</p>
<p>Veteran political journalist Joe Conason <a href="http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/what_voters_dont_know_yet_about_jeb_bush_20141203">recently reminded us</a> there are many things voters don't know yet about Jeb's years in Florida, from his shady business dealings to his tenure as an extremely right-wing Governor. For example:</p>
<p><blockquote>"If Bush runs, extremism and corruption in the Sunshine State during his tenure will provide ample fodder for investigative reporters and primary opponents, as will many episodes in his long business career. Five months after he left the governor's mansion in 2007, he joined Lehman Brothers as a 'consultant.' No doubt he was well-compensated, as reporters may learn if and when he releases his tax returns someday. The following year, Lehman infamously went bust—and left the state of Florida holding about $1 billion worth of bad mortgage investments.</p>
<p>There are many equally fascinating chapters in the Jeb dossier, rooted in his declaration three decades ago that he intended to become 'very wealthy' as a developer and, yes, a 'consultant.' His partners back then included a certain Miguel Recarey, whose International Medical Centers allegedly perpetrated one of history’s biggest Medicare frauds. Indicted by the feds, Recarey fled the country—but not before Jeb placed a call on his behalf to his presidential dad’s health and human services secretary, Margaret Heckler. For serving as the flunky of a crook, he received a generous tip of $75,000 from Recarey, a mob associate."</blockquote></p>
<p><center><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXzXeq1FGGCygTwd5wDfYnge_8hDz1F3viLUm5ZmtuL5-e7xGNEEXGLOxU89UVkLKjsvmT6YRyrLSnEHF4KOZcQQySEUEyKnXCsbH_p4yfzypbHH5jUPjtOSKM4G9SBe6i_S_fVMrKcNz9/s1600/JebBush-Skeletons.jpg" imageanchor="1" ><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXzXeq1FGGCygTwd5wDfYnge_8hDz1F3viLUm5ZmtuL5-e7xGNEEXGLOxU89UVkLKjsvmT6YRyrLSnEHF4KOZcQQySEUEyKnXCsbH_p4yfzypbHH5jUPjtOSKM4G9SBe6i_S_fVMrKcNz9/s550/JebBush-Skeletons.jpg" /></a></center></p>
<p>Today's <a href="http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/first-read/jeb-bush-announces-hell-actively-explore-2016-run-n269226">announcement</a> by Jeb that he would "actively explore" running for President comes as no surprise. The Bush family has been grooming him for the presidency for the past quarter century, and originally planned for him to run in 2000. Until something called democracy got in the way when Jeb lost his first race for Governor of Florida in 1994, thanks to legendary Florida Democrat Lawton Chiles. Jeb had to wait to win until his second try in 1998, the same year George W. was re-elected to the top job in Texas. Which is how W. ended up with just enough experience mis-governing a large red state to be a credible GOP contender for the 2000 nomination.</p>
<p>And we all know how that turned out. After the debacle of W.'s presidency, why would anyone vote for another Bush? Unfortunately, history fades fast in America, even more so now that we're living in a 24-7 news cycle when the latest shiny distraction is all that seems to matter. As Conason warns, "If Jeb runs for president, it will be fascinating to see whether the mainstream press, which vetted his brother George W. so inadequately during the 2000 presidential race, performs any better this time." America shouldn't count on it.</p>
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<script>!function(d,s,id){var js,fjs=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],p=/^http:/.test(d.location)?'http':'https';if(!d.getElementById(id)){js=d.createElement(s);js.id=id;js.src=p+'://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js';fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js,fjs);}}(document, 'script', 'twitter-wjs');</script>Erikhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13724369148446520867noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-713335158755695351.post-62481626004026616422014-12-16T11:00:00.000-05:002015-03-31T15:56:02.090-04:00Congress Secretly Voted Themselves a CRomnibus Luxury Car Perk<p><strong><span style="font-size:130%;"><a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/erik-ose/after-congress-secretly-v_b_6330644.html">Huffington Post</a>, <a href="http://www.opednews.com/articles/Congress-Secretly-Voted-Th-by-Erik-Ose-2016-Elections_Action-Alerts_Budget-Cuts_Campaign-Finance-And-Reform-141216-138.html">OpEdNews</a>, 12-16-14</span></strong></p>
<p><div class="g-plus" data-action="share" data-annotation="none" data-href="http://thelatestoutrage.blogspot.com/2014/12/congress-secretly-voted-themselves.html"></div> <div class="fb-share-button" data-href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/erik-ose/after-congress-secretly-v_b_6330644.html" data-layout="button_count"></div> <a href="https://twitter.com/share" class="twitter-share-button" data-url="http://thelatestoutrage.blogspot.com/2014/12/congress-secretly-voted-themselves.html" data-text="Congress Secretly Voted Themselves a CRomnibus Luxury Car Perk" data-via="latestoutrage" data-count="none" data-dnt="true">|</a></p>
<p>Over the weekend, the CRomnibus budget deal passed the Senate by a 56-40 margin after narrow approval by the House. The outcome is a win for big corporations and wealthy campaign donors, and a huge letdown for 99% of Americans, who once again have been shafted by back room negotiations and legislation written to favor the rich and powerful.</p>
<p><center><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGWjUKtwgzXR9ToIRmsR9NX3YgAazkhlW2rACATaC4NVJuLp0WwdouYDBemP5DWMcTz4lWhI6oAgzc1bZ2tEVXvgLmWTrc___sSB2nmztCsekxUKka0Ca-qj5hmwsD-COuml18d5zCK8y8/s1600/CONGRESS-thumbs-up.jpg" imageanchor="1" ><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGWjUKtwgzXR9ToIRmsR9NX3YgAazkhlW2rACATaC4NVJuLp0WwdouYDBemP5DWMcTz4lWhI6oAgzc1bZ2tEVXvgLmWTrc___sSB2nmztCsekxUKka0Ca-qj5hmwsD-COuml18d5zCK8y8/s550/CONGRESS-thumbs-up.jpg" /></a></center></p>
<p>There's a lot to make ordinary citizens sick about the CRomnibus. Republicans used the legislation as an end-of-year Trojan Horse to pass numerous stealth provisions that benefit the few at the expense of the many. Two of the worst are <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/12/10/democrats-revolt-on-wall-_n_6304082.html" target="_hplink">rolling back</a> Dodd-Frank financial regulations so banks can once again gamble with money insured by taxpayers, which re-opens the door to more bank bailouts; and further <a href="http://thelatestoutrage.blogspot.com/2014/12/tell-congress-to-reject-deal-allowing.html" target="_hplink">gutting campaign finance reform</a> by letting rich donors give up to $1.5 million a year to political parties, ten times the current limit.</p>
<p>But the <a href="http://www.examiner.com/article/spending-bill-includes-1-000-subsidy-for-congress-to-pay-for-their-cars" target="_hplink">one CRomnibus secret</a> that wasn't reported anywhere in the media until after the bill cleared both the House and Senate was that the budget deal renews a lucrative perk for members of Congress: the ability for each member to spend $1000 of our tax dollars per month <b>per car</b> on a luxury car allowance. The number of cars members can lease is limited only by the total pool of money funding Congressional operations.</p>
<p><center><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOPBwqInJfspOmWBu9LOWiqmVYwWxI4PITeBQrnidRZXjVx1SCnlNc0Fd8bYKv-n1PcczGR4qgkfoKOHThFuvKeSsrRYmPLyd-kvmIZI54bXwo6lEdbVNwwdkSWUlxYWxI5WFNFmKUUQsQ/s1600/Secret+CRomnibus+Luxury+Car+Perk.JPG" imageanchor="1" ><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOPBwqInJfspOmWBu9LOWiqmVYwWxI4PITeBQrnidRZXjVx1SCnlNc0Fd8bYKv-n1PcczGR4qgkfoKOHThFuvKeSsrRYmPLyd-kvmIZI54bXwo6lEdbVNwwdkSWUlxYWxI5WFNFmKUUQsQ/s550/Secret+CRomnibus+Luxury+Car+Perk.JPG" /></a></center></p>
<p>Democratic Rep. Jared Polis of Colorado was the first to alert the public to this perk's renewal, when he <a href="https://www.facebook.com/jaredpolis/photos/a.130848302529.105829.53481427529/10152722095352530/" target="_hplink">posted</a> about it on Facebook last Wednesday, the day after House Republican leaders filed the legislation. The relevant language was hidden on page 982 of the <a href="http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/CPRT-113HPRT91668/pdf/CPRT-113HPRT91668.pdf" target="_hplink">1,603-page bill</a>:</p>
<p><blockquote>"None of the funds made available in this Act may be used by the Chief Administrative Officer of the House of Representatives to make any payments from any Members' Representational Allowance for the leasing of a vehicle, excluding mobile district offices, in an aggregate amount that exceeds $1,000 for the vehicle in any month." </blockquote></p>
<p>At a time when U.S. families are finally getting their feet under them again after our economy's long climb back from the Great Recession, the audacity of Congress to vote itself a luxury perk like this is breathtaking. It passed only because it was buried in an enormous spending bill, with no public discussion or media coverage.</p>
<p>President Obama has said he will sign the CRomnibus, but he deserves to hear the American people's opinions about it. Act <em>right now</em> to tell President Obama to veto this deal, and send it back to Congress for an honest debate over its Congressional luxury car cash and <a href="http://www.thenation.com/blog/192785/spending-bills-wall-street-giveaway-bad-thats-not-all" target="_hplink">many other</a> unacceptable provisions. You can call the White House at 202-456-1111, or <a href="https://represent.us/action/omnibusted-5/" target="_hplink">send him a quick e-mail</a> using this tool powered by Represent.Us:</p>
<p><center><a href="https://represent.us/action/omnibusted-5/" imageanchor="1" ><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3usk2MDWEPJyivqV3waXuHM01swZEJf-NniptiS41mx4ZbMEUqu7L8vnBoM5XBVYxdkEqGjTX2gcnyx90spXX68H_Wu4ZMeAvb7nfa3u1vELgGgc6ZIaQ5Kn74QTcvi6Tb7aVj0ZH1fA0/s550/Our+Message+To+President+Obama-final-graphic2.jpg" /></a></center></p>
The silver lining in this battle was that it <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/miles-mogulescu/the-speech-that-could-make-elizabeth-warren-president_b_6319142.html" target="_hplink">showed</a> Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) is willing to take on Wall Street and the super wealthy when it comes to fighting for the rest of us. The CRomnibus fight <a href="http://www.politico.com/story/2014/12/elizabeth-warren-budget-cromnibus-2016-elections-113561.html" target="_hplink">boosted her national profile</a> overnight, and cemented her status as the Democrat who could most likely wrest the Democratic nomination from Hillary Clinton in 2016.</p>
<p><center><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgX6vM5Olke0vALz4EYt3RUeVYgNGmwUBQbnplhod8MESona_Xhxlr9zak9pz8rCgfNJgPQWP-QM0xk_4O0W0BWN2kIX5YSgEYLmq3rEp4H2F7BaF05urvDyOx0Bvrkg0X8h1CnoD0wKAsO/s1600/SenWarrenspeech-text.JPG" imageanchor="1" ><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgX6vM5Olke0vALz4EYt3RUeVYgNGmwUBQbnplhod8MESona_Xhxlr9zak9pz8rCgfNJgPQWP-QM0xk_4O0W0BWN2kIX5YSgEYLmq3rEp4H2F7BaF05urvDyOx0Bvrkg0X8h1CnoD0wKAsO/s400/SenWarrenspeech-text.JPG" /></a></center></p>
<p>Where was Hillary when the CRomnibus reared its ugly head? As <em>Politico</em> <a href="http://www.politico.com/story/2014/12/elizabeth-warren-budget-cromnibus-2016-elections-113561.html" target="_hplink">made clear</a>, "Clinton has not commented on the $1.1 trillion spending bill, which Warren claims will undo (financial) reforms made under the Dodd-Frank law."</p> <a href="http://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/227212-clinton-quiet-as-warren-rises">According to</a> <i>The Hill</i>:</p>
<p><blockquote>"The reason for Clinton's silence, some of her staunchest supporters say, is that she likely supported the spending bill — even if she didn't want to go on record with that support. 'I don't think she would have considered the legislation deeply flawed,' said one ally. 'She would have some issues with it, of course, and she'd think that it's not a perfect bill but I don't think she would have taken Warren's stance.'"</blockquote></p>
<p>Other CRomnibus provisions that advance the GOP's agenda include <a href="http://labornotes.org/blogs/2014/12/cromnibus-continues-attack-pensions" target="_hplink">allowing</a> corporations to cut up to ten million workers' pensions; slashing $300 million from housing assistance to the homeless; <a href="http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2014/12/10/3601723/six-worst-enviro-energy-provisions-cromnibus/" target="_hplink">reducing</a> the EPA's budget by $60 million, which will lead to massive cutbacks and layoffs; and cutting $300 million from grants to low-income students.</p>
<p>It's good for the wealthy, the powerful, and Washington, D.C.'s luxury car rental companies. But the CRomnibus is bad for America, and President Obama needs to step up with his veto pen and do the right thing.</p>
<p>(<b>UPDATE 11:30 pm:</b> With little fanfare, earlier tonight President Obama signed the CRomnibus, a bill which also tonight was immortalized by Jon Stewart as unappealing enough to be the "Bill Cosby of legislation." Passage of the CROmnibus is sorry evidence of how corporate interests firmly control Washington, and how badly real change is needed.</p>
<p><center><a href="http://mashable.com/2014/12/16/obama-signs-spending-bill/" imageanchor="1" ><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTA-qgNhNa_8_fK4ZZpepbp7hgQjZWvjHVAkLnpri4qKsUbYxS7dw8LsRB3qWm4JavJtUhFVljT2v_dCUShO9ktkeHP3D-QuHjfBHuhyphenhyphensfYR-BVZpLRNsd_9VtHu0DCDyPef5HumtdvM0b/s550/Obama-signs-CRomnibus.JPG" /></a></center></p>
<p>President Obama's stated reason for signing it was that it was the best deal Democrats could get before the GOP assumes control of the Senate in January, and he was wrong. The GOP's brand is now so linked with government shutdowns that they don't want to be blamed for another. If more Democrats had stood unified and rejected the poison pill-packed CRomnibus, Republicans were prepared to pass a three month spending bill with current levels of funding, not shut the government down. As <a href="http://thehill.com/homenews/house/226995-how-the-house-approved-the-11-trillion-government-funding-bill">reported by</a> <i>The Hill</i>:
<blockquote>"Republicans prepared a three-month stopgap spending measure, known as a continuing resolution, just in case anything went awry. 'That was always the fallback but we were going to do everything we could to pass the bill,' said one source." </blockquote>
Three months from now, Obama could have then insisted the GOP pass a longer-term budget stripped of the riders the Republicans had crammed into the CRomnibus to force their agenda through, or face a veto. The unpopular provisions it was packed with could never survive up and down votes on their own. Instead, he and Congressional Democrats got rolled again.)</p>
<p>(<b>CORRECTION 12/18:</b> An earlier version of this post misstated the taxpayer-subsidized vehicle perk as new for FY2015, not a renewal of an existing perk.)</p>
<p><a href="https://twitter.com/share" class="twitter-share-button" data-url="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/erik-ose/after-congress-secretly-v_b_6330644.html" data-text="Congress Secretly Voted Themselves a CRomnibus Luxury Car Perk" data-via="latestoutrage" data-dnt="true">###</a></p>
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<p>After the midterms resulted in billionaires buying a U.S. Senate majority for Republicans, the CRomnibus spending bill fight has re-energized progressives and set the stage for full-throated opposition to the GOP's agenda over the next two years.</p>
<p>Paul Waldman <a href="http://prospect.org/article/progressives-just-lost-fight-budget-so-why-are-they-so-happy">observes</a> in <i>The American Prospect</i>:</p>
<p><blockquote>"For the first time in this presidency, liberal Democrats feel as though something like a coherent bloc, outside of and sometimes in opposition to the White House, is beginning to form. Animated by a new sense of purpose, they're experiencing the flush of hope."</blockquote></p>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNjCRCdQ5WE5_YIcbNGl2oySJgUV0-oIECPcPHJT0yWbHFFww9sIbDbkCoAiLT1cEKAziq-2Vjs1jHlDbyrzF_-JszjTed0_knbYo6OXSAfaQ__fwnP7cuxEieIKZboVn5AxnKYCBurrEy/s1600/Left+Waking+Up.JPG" imageanchor="1" ><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNjCRCdQ5WE5_YIcbNGl2oySJgUV0-oIECPcPHJT0yWbHFFww9sIbDbkCoAiLT1cEKAziq-2Vjs1jHlDbyrzF_-JszjTed0_knbYo6OXSAfaQ__fwnP7cuxEieIKZboVn5AxnKYCBurrEy/s550/Left+Waking+Up.JPG" /></a>
<p>And explains why a resurgent, insurgent left is exactly what the Democratic Party needs going into the 2016 election cycle:</p>
<p><blockquote>"In contrast to what the Tea Party does to the Republicans, a newly coherent and organized left is unlikely to impede any of the party's practical goals, nor is it likely to damage the party's image. The policy ideas favored on the left tend to be pretty popular, and liberal lawmakers aren't pushing for anything destructive like government shutdowns.</p>
<p>What they may do, however—and what the Tea Party did with such extraordinary effectiveness—is mobilize their party's base, to vote and contribute and organize. There are few things the Democratic Party needs more than that kind of energy."</blockquote></p>
<p><b>#readyforwarren #cromnibus #progressives #Democrats #election2016 #organize</b></p>
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<p>Not content with the loosened campaign finance rules made possible by Citizens United, the GOP is attempting to pass a stealth provision that would open the big money floodgates even further. Republican leaders added the measure at the last minute to the so-called "CRomnibus" spending bill now under consideration in Congress.</p>
<p>As <a href="http://www.politico.com/story/2014/12/budget-rider-would-expand-party-cash-113459.html" target="_hplink">reported by</a> <em>Politico</em>:</p>
<p><blockquote>"A provision tucked deep inside the $1.1-trillion spending bill filed by Republicans on Tuesday night would dramatically increase the amount of money a single rich donor could give to national party committees each year -- from $97,200 to as much as $777,600. The provision, inserted as a rider to the bill only hours before it was filed, would mark a further erosion of campaign cash restrictions."</blockquote></p>
<p><center><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMYgIdCLvwFgIf4A8n1f9kle4Zolqkce7_o2MPTi4_ShRRgnxMFcmxKOAlDHhDxqSRSratU7S2lYjdjRs74tI3lU053LfjBATTohtlsb8jvSS5-00ILS93XL6OTRXUCKBi6SDHA1A-UuAr/s1600/DINS+wide.JPG" imageanchor="1" ><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMYgIdCLvwFgIf4A8n1f9kle4Zolqkce7_o2MPTi4_ShRRgnxMFcmxKOAlDHhDxqSRSratU7S2lYjdjRs74tI3lU053LfjBATTohtlsb8jvSS5-00ILS93XL6OTRXUCKBi6SDHA1A-UuAr/s550/DINS+wide.JPG" /></a></center></p>
<p>The provision was hidden on page 1,599 of a 1,603-page bill. NBC News <a href="http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/first-read/fate-huge-spending-bill-uncertain-some-both-parties-slam-deal-n265501" target="_hplink">reported</a> that House Speaker John Boehner, "along with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, (both) pushed for the campaign finance measure, according to an appropriations committee aide."</p>
<p>In a statement, campaign finance reform leader Rep. John Sarbanes (D-Md.) put the blame where it belongs. "We're seeing a preview of the Mitch McConnell Senate," <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/12/10/campaign-finance-omnibus-bill_n_6305012.html" target="_hplink">said</a> Sarbanes.</p>
<p><blockquote>"He's attempting to drastically expand the influence of the wealthy and well-connected without even introducing a bill, holding a hearing or allowing a direct vote. By tucking this into a 1,600-page funding bill, Mitch McConnell is essentially saying 'auction off our democracy or I'll shut down the government.'"</blockquote></p>
<p>Act <u>right now</u> to tell your members of Congress to reject this deal, which would further increase the corrosive influence of big money on our democracy. You can <a href="http://action.citizen.org/p/dia/action3/common/public/?action_KEY=12641">send them a quick e-mail</a> using this tool provided by Public Citizen:</p>
<p><center><a href="http://action.citizen.org/p/dia/action3/common/public/?action_KEY=12641" imageanchor="1" ><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyOvhvgmP55kFO1t2Bpcer3FrxC6ZoJSjL1JDpXbYyL1SuIUSRc_eJAgzIcqQIf93GNo5ygSmBC45aMqo-U5cEw1CK-4Owkz63rJ2IeCm3IuroA162WYWcQPNr_OLdAGGTfZwkvEDPtl0A/s550/Fight+The+Cave+In-final.jpg" /></a></center></p>
<p><em>The Hill's</em> <a href="http://thehill.com/homenews/house/226730-whip-count-mad-scramble-for-cromnibus-votes" target="_hplink">constantly updated whip count</a> for this bill shows opposition growing among Democrats and even some Republicans. Observers <a href="http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/first-read/fate-huge-spending-bill-uncertain-some-both-parties-slam-deal-n265501" target="_hplink">agree</a> Speaker Boehner needs a substantial chunk of House Democrats to support the spending bill in order for it to pass.</p>
<p>The House is <a href="http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/dc-legalize-pot-secrets-cromnibus/story?id=27509980" target="_hplink">expected to vote</a> on the spending bill sometime on Thursday, with the Senate <a href="http://thehill.com/homenews/senate/226824-liberal-senators-threaten-to-oppose-omnibus">facing a midnight deadline</a> to pass it. Republican leaders have said they would offer a substitute spending bill to fund the government through January if the CRomnibus is rejected.</p>
<p>Another measure in the bill would give taxpayer subsidies to Wall Street derivatives trading, as <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/12/09/wall-street-subsidy-shutdown_n_6292950.html" target="_hplink">first reported</a> by <i>The Huffington Post</i>. The office of Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/12/10/democrats-revolt-on-wall-_n_6304082.html" target="_hplink">called</a> the deal a "Wall Street giveaway."</p>
<p>On Wednesday, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) <a href="http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/first-read/fate-huge-spending-bill-uncertain-some-both-parties-slam-deal-n265501" target="_hplink">urged</a> Senate Democrats to oppose the spending bill, denouncing it as "a giveaway to most powerful banks in this country."</p>
<p>"This is a democracy, and the American people didn't elect us to stand up for Citigroup, they elected us to stand up for all the people," she said on the Senate floor.</p>
<p><center><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIyevw6l_iQqGKJ2Q4U83oaKhA1s9ZvliigTDFVL1rKTSpf9m16Vu_tWwHVUbipJHpzV1MRNkZTTbqXqwvzp1DQg8J4CcLi4WqpqAxmdeAcje-Y6dBt1bDBCZamwqp8-DV0Q6ehAB5upTo/s1600/monopoly-banker-smoking.jpg" imageanchor="1" ><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIyevw6l_iQqGKJ2Q4U83oaKhA1s9ZvliigTDFVL1rKTSpf9m16Vu_tWwHVUbipJHpzV1MRNkZTTbqXqwvzp1DQg8J4CcLi4WqpqAxmdeAcje-Y6dBt1bDBCZamwqp8-DV0Q6ehAB5upTo/s550/monopoly-banker-smoking.jpg" /></a></center></p>
<p>House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi <a href="http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/first-read/fate-huge-spending-bill-uncertain-some-both-parties-slam-deal-n265501" target="_hplink">said</a> Democrats are "deeply troubled" with the bill's measures. On Wednesday, Pelosi <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/12/10/campaign-finance-omnibus-bill_n_6305012.html" target="_hplink">declared</a>, "These provisions are destructive to middle class families and to the practice of our democracy. We must get them out of the omnibus package."</p>
<p><a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/12/10/campaign-finance-omnibus-bill_n_6305012.html" target="_hplink">According to</a> <i>The Huffington Post</i>:</p>
<p><blockquote>Rep. Ted Deutch (D-Fla.) and other House members -- including Reps. Alcee Hastings (D-Fla.), Donna Edwards (D-Md.), Jim McGovern (D-Mass.) and Jared Polis (D-Colo.) -- issued a joint release calling for the provision to be removed or else they would not support the bill."</blockquote></p>
<p>An amendment offered by Rep. Deutch to remove the campaign finance provision from the CRomnibus spending bill was not adopted in a House Rules Committee hearing on Wednesday night.</p>
<p>Take five minutes today to e-mail and call your members of Congress. Tell them to reject this blatant attempt to allow the super wealthy to buy more elections!</p>
<b>UPDATES</b>
<p><b>(12:30 pm:</b> Not a single Democrat voted to set up debate on the bill, which <a href="http://thehill.com/blogs/floor-action/house/226800-house-narrowly-passes-rule-for-cromnibus">narrowly advanced</a> Thursday morning by a one vote margin, 214-212. The Republican-controlled House will now vote on final passage of the bill this afternoon.)</p>
<p>(<b>2:45 pm:</b> Instead of pushing ahead with a vote, the House declared recess at 2 pm, a sign Republicans are <a href="http://thehill.com/homenews/house/226843-funding-bill-struggles-for-votes">scrambling to find enough votes</a> to pass the spending bill. Keep contacting your House members and Senators.)</p>
<p>(<b>3:30 pm:</b> House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi <a href="http://www.weeklystandard.com/blogs/pelosi-republicans-don-t-have-enough-votes-pass-cromnibus_821164.html">issued</a> an open letter to her fellow Democrats saying the recess makes it clear that "Republicans don’t have enough votes to pass the CRomnibus." Meanwhile, liberal Senate Democrats are <a href="http://thehill.com/homenews/senate/226824-liberal-senators-threaten-to-oppose-omnibus">lining up in opposition</a>.)</p>
<p>(<b>6:40 pm:</b> Rep. Maxine Waters (Calif.), the top Democrat on the House Financial Services Committee, <a href="http://thehill.com/homenews/house/226886-dem-to-dems-dont-be-intimidated-by-obama">gathered</a> about 20 members in her office Thursday afternoon and worked the phones, countering a White House push to convince wavering Democrats to back the bill. "We don't like lobbying that is being done by the president or anybody else that would allow us to support a bill that...would give a big gift to Wall Street and the bankers who caused this country to almost go into a depression," said Waters. "I'm opposed to it and we're going to fight it." House Democrats went into a closed-door caucus at 5:30 pm to weigh their options.)</p>
<p>(<b>9:50 pm:</b> The CRomnibus <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2014/12/11/politics/spending-bill-brink/">has passed</a> the House. The final vote was <a href="http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory/house-roll-call-spending-bill-27546780">219-206</a>, only <a href="http://thehill.com/homenews/house/226995-how-the-house-approved-the-11-trillion-government-funding-bill">one more vote</a> than needed. Now it moves on to the Senate. If the House had rejected it, the Senate leadership <a href="http://thehill.com/homenews/senate/226896-senate-ready-to-pass-short-term-funding-bill">was prepared</a> to quickly pass a three-month continuing resolution funding the government. Instead, as <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2014/12/11/politics/spending-bill-brink/">reported by</a> CNN, "the Senate will agree to a two day extension of current funding levels to give itself time to approve the House bill." So the fight continues into the weekend.)</p>
<p>(<b>Friday, 10:50 am:</b> Outgoing Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid wants a vote on the spending bill <a href="http://thehill.com/blogs/floor-action/senate/226930-reid-wants-friday-funding-vote">by this evening</a>, although the deadline for action before a shutdown is now pushed back to midnight Saturday. Whether a vote proceeds today or not <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/13/us/battle-over-spending-measure-shifts-to-the-senate.html">depends on</a> "possible delays prompted by Democrats who want to air complaints over contentious provisions" in the bill. We need to keep contacting our Senators.)</p>
<p>(<b>Friday, 10:30 pm:</b> The Senate has recessed without a vote on the CRomnibus. <strike>Earlier today, it passed a voice vote extending the government's current funding through midnight Wednesday.</strike> <a href="http://www.cbsnews.com/news/senate-still-to-vote-on-1-1-trillion-spending-bill/">According to</a> CBS News, a cloture vote to end debate is expected Monday when the Senate returns to work. Today, Sen. Warren introduced an amendment to strip out the bill's Wall Street giveaways. But Sen. Harry Reid shut down that option when he "made a procedural move Friday evening that would set up a vote on final passage in the Senate no later than Monday," as <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2014/12/12/politics/senate-spending-bill-friday/">reported by</a> CNN.</p>
<p><blockquote>"By making the procedural move, Reid prevented...amendments from being considered. Amendment votes could have been risky because if (any) passed, the spending bill would have to go back to the House to be voted on again. While the House is technically in session, most members have left Washington until the new Congress convenes in early January."</blockquote></p>
<p>Let's stand with Sen. Warren and keep calling the Senate. The toll-free number for the Capitol switchboard is 1-888-291-9824.)</p>
<p>(<b>Saturday, 6:15 pm:</b> The Senate recessed Friday night without a vote on the CRomnibus, but came back into session today. Before the recess, a small faction of Tea Party Senators led by Texas GOP Sen. Ted Cruz attempted to force a vote on President Obama's immigration executive orders, and used procedural tactics late Friday night that delayed a previously agreed-to voice vote extending the government's current funding through midnight Wednesday. That funding extension was finally passed this afternoon.)
<p>(<b>Saturday, 10:40 pm:</b> In an unexpected move, Senate leaders reached an agreement on moving the CRomnibus vote forward tonight instead of Monday. The bill <a href="http://www.politico.com/story/2014/12/conservatives-move-backfires-113556.html">passed</a> by a 56-40 vote, and now heads to President Obama's desk, who plans to sign it.</p>
<p>The silver lining in this battle was that it <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/miles-mogulescu/the-speech-that-could-make-elizabeth-warren-president_b_6319142.html">showed</a> Sen. Elizabeth Warren is willing to take on Wall Street and the super wealthy when it comes to fighting for the American people.)</p>
<p><a href="https://twitter.com/share" class="twitter-share-button" data-url="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/erik-ose/cromnibus-bill_b_6306722.html" data-text="Tell Congress To Reject CRomnibus Deal Allowing Rich To Buy More Elections" data-via="latestoutrage" data-dnt="true">###</a></p>
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<p>The release of the long-awaited Senate Intelligence Committee's report on CIA torture methods confirms that former President George W. Bush sacrificed our country's values and demeaned our most cherished principles of justice, and for what? Ineffective torture that did more harm than good.</p>
<p><center><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJcntwEwrw77-FTyA3VGhWTqXJlH626A2C72TEJ17yHBEGO7qz6qc-QqoVqZMM6Btdq8CjnhBSZkr2KdTfv736EW-ieR8ErWvXVEb-Ae-yGnBNS8RH7P5yS8MQJz88JNyTFXNGGOYE7VvY/s1600/CIA+Can-Do-cropped.jpg" imageanchor="1" ><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJcntwEwrw77-FTyA3VGhWTqXJlH626A2C72TEJ17yHBEGO7qz6qc-QqoVqZMM6Btdq8CjnhBSZkr2KdTfv736EW-ieR8ErWvXVEb-Ae-yGnBNS8RH7P5yS8MQJz88JNyTFXNGGOYE7VvY/s550/CIA+Can-Do-cropped.jpg" /></a></center></p>
<p>Instead of helping keep America safe, torture hurt the fight to stop terrorist plots, according to the report. Authorities were repeatedly sent on wild goose chases when false confessions yielded bad intel and phony information.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2014/12/09/cia-torture-report-senate-intelligence-feinstein/20134093/">As reported by</a> <i>USA Today</i>:</p>
<p><blockquote>"The use of waterboarding, sleep deprivation and chaining prisoners in cold dungeons led some detainees to give false confessions, sending U.S. law enforcement officials in the wrong direction as they chased bad information, the report says. One detainee interrogated by the CIA falsely confessed to trying to recruit African-American Muslims in Montana — a state where blacks make up less than 1% of the population. </br></br>The report also refutes claims by the CIA that its harsh 'enhanced interrogation techniques' helped gain information that lad to the U.S. capture and killing of al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden. That information was actually elicited before the detainees were subjected to those methods, the report said."</blockquote></p>
<p><center><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWFFFDiW7Z7vS1OchPMgB8iKXvsZN_A7w14VT-FxKA5JDDPEz3e0MwJQJL63kw4Q185sRJE1M9dkh7ks_D3hCspU2zU0t4vz-84DhoFkEV-4S8Aqt_oUkHD-EYwqgHtInsGHEe1yIQH7C9/s1600/Only+WMD+Ever+Found.JPG" imageanchor="1" ><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWFFFDiW7Z7vS1OchPMgB8iKXvsZN_A7w14VT-FxKA5JDDPEz3e0MwJQJL63kw4Q185sRJE1M9dkh7ks_D3hCspU2zU0t4vz-84DhoFkEV-4S8Aqt_oUkHD-EYwqgHtInsGHEe1yIQH7C9/s550/Only+WMD+Ever+Found.JPG" /></a></center></p>
<p>Five years in the making, the Intelligence Committee report draws on more than 6 million pages of CIA documents. As expected, the declassified summary of the report condemns the methods used by the CIA to torture and imprison terrorism suspects under the Bush Administration, while concluding the information gained by torture didn't help stop terror plots. <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/10/world/senate-intelligence-committee-cia-torture-report.html">According to</a> <i>The New York Times</i>:</p>
<p><blockquote>"During his administration, President George W. Bush repeatedly said that the detention and interrogation program, which President Obama dismantled when he succeeded him, was humane and legal. The intelligence gleaned during interrogations, he said, was instrumental both in thwarting terrorism plots and in capturing senior figures of Al Qaeda. The Intelligence Committee’s report tries to refute each of these claims, using the C.I.A.'s internal records to present 20 case studies that bolster its conclusion that the most extreme interrogation methods played no role in disrupting terrorism plots, capturing terrorist leaders — even finding Bin Laden."</blockquote></p>
<p><center><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCyQJvSfuYT-BW8QxOrfSPls9Lqbn-lrUWUVZHXqnfRG_w8WMawUmJKvTuxE_Hl7y8O-CIzjZwR65tVlyN8rwbL_wlk7cB0Nyi_XWcJIw2zWLLExmdVFwjTq_zdfFnfeALZwQHIa_oea1V/s1600/This+Govt+Does+Not+Torture+People.JPG" imageanchor="1" ><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCyQJvSfuYT-BW8QxOrfSPls9Lqbn-lrUWUVZHXqnfRG_w8WMawUmJKvTuxE_Hl7y8O-CIzjZwR65tVlyN8rwbL_wlk7cB0Nyi_XWcJIw2zWLLExmdVFwjTq_zdfFnfeALZwQHIa_oea1V/s550/This+Govt+Does+Not+Torture+People.JPG" /></a></center></p>
<p>Top Republicans claimed the report's release by the still-Democratic-controlled Senate Intelligence Committee was "unconscionable," <a href="http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/politics/political-pulse/os-rubio-blasts-dems-over-cia-report-20141209-post.html#page=1">in the words</a> of Florida's GOP Sen. Marco Rubio. But the only thing unconscionable about releasing the CIA torture report is the torture it reveals. On this issue, even former Republican presidential nominee Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) was forced to stand up for the truth, owing to his history as a former POW and victim of torture at the hands of his captors during the Vietnam War. "The American people have a right - indeed the responsibility - to know what was done in their name," <a href="http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/john-mccain-cia-report-proves-what-i-know-experience-n264806">said</a> McCain.</p>
<p><center><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUD1JCm-POADjeg_zTN2twQNv7ZDTwtOQGIVNOIviwORbaQr7ml9yQFf2uq6xL0Ge4HQm8MrigrNqPtfApwxizGnYmg4UgjEp52WPUXlubL9HI2-GhdheFSirJIkS9K6WrY2PfI6muVgHS/s1600/waterboarding-bush-cropped-resized-final-text.jpg" imageanchor="1" ><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUD1JCm-POADjeg_zTN2twQNv7ZDTwtOQGIVNOIviwORbaQr7ml9yQFf2uq6xL0Ge4HQm8MrigrNqPtfApwxizGnYmg4UgjEp52WPUXlubL9HI2-GhdheFSirJIkS9K6WrY2PfI6muVgHS/s550/waterboarding-bush-cropped-resized-final-text.jpg" /></a></center></p>
<p>The real travesty is that by torturing terrorism suspects, the Bush Administration needlessly violated what America stands for in exchange for useless, unreliable information. For years, Bush apologists have insisted the "enhanced interrogation techniques" authorized by George W. Bush's appointees were not torture, ignoring the <a href="http://www.hrw.org/news/2014/12/08/usa-and-torture-history-hypocrisy">verdicts</a> of independent watchdog groups like Human Rights Watch and <a href="http://www.motherjones.com/special-reports/2008/03/torture">meticulous documentation</a> by investigative journalists. Now there can be no doubt it was torture all along.</p>
<p><b>#CIA #TortureReport</b></p>
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<p>Shortly before 11 pm on December 8, 1980, thirty-four years ago today, John Lennon was <a href="http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/08/29/13553386-chilling-details-of-john-lennon-shooting-recounted-at-chapman-parole-hearing">shot dead</a>. He was the most radical rock star of his generation, and his refusal to stop speaking out about injustice made him the target of surveillance by the US government for most of the 1970s. An <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5m_-tZQjt6c">assassin's bullets</a> may have felled him, but his message of peace and love will endure forever.</p>
<p><center><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfF1kGUp967d_HKcMCAdaeSQacd9R8fBG6RfbtM8SzorzzSoLwEG2SrG-Ui6gRJdwquyUtb5brEgU2tBH4Ao6-8aVfL2II45lWLcPWJflaXblgaZFmSdf7GpIAWQJG0DXSdbZNbTKNhKcT/s1600/John+Lennon+RIP-2.JPG" imageanchor="1" ><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfF1kGUp967d_HKcMCAdaeSQacd9R8fBG6RfbtM8SzorzzSoLwEG2SrG-Ui6gRJdwquyUtb5brEgU2tBH4Ao6-8aVfL2II45lWLcPWJflaXblgaZFmSdf7GpIAWQJG0DXSdbZNbTKNhKcT/s640/John+Lennon+RIP-2.JPG" /></a></center></p>
<p>In <a href="http://www.democracynow.org/2005/12/8/john_lennon_1940_1980_history_professor">this 2005 interview</a>, Amy Goodman of Democracy Now! talks with UCal-Irvine history professor Jon Wiener, author of two books on Lennon, about Lennon’s politics, his FBI files, and why Richard Nixon tried to deport him.</p>
<p><b>#johnlennon #lennon #RIPJohnLennon #fbi #peace</b></p>
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<script>!function(d,s,id){var js,fjs=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],p=/^http:/.test(d.location)?'http':'https';if(!d.getElementById(id)){js=d.createElement(s);js.id=id;js.src=p+'://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js';fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js,fjs);}}(document, 'script', 'twitter-wjs');</script>Erikhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13724369148446520867noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-713335158755695351.post-43089452205510635702014-12-06T09:35:00.000-05:002015-04-01T19:01:35.869-04:00How The GOP Is Scheming To Steal The Electoral College In 2016<p><div class="g-plus" data-action="share" data-annotation="none" data-href="http://thelatestoutrage.blogspot.com/2014/12/how-gop-is-scheming-to-steal-electoral.html"></div> <div class="fb-share-button" data-href="http://thelatestoutrage.blogspot.com/2014/12/how-gop-is-scheming-to-steal-electoral.html" data-layout="button"></div> <a href="https://twitter.com/share" class="twitter-share-button" data-url="http://thelatestoutrage.blogspot.com/2014/12/how-gop-is-scheming-to-steal-electoral.html" data-text="How The GOP Is Scheming To Steal The Electoral College In 2016" data-via="latestoutrage" data-count="none" data-dnt="true">|</a></p>
<p>Frustrated by their inability to win the national popular vote, Republicans are again exploring ways to <a href="http://www.salon.com/2014/12/06/now_theyre_trying_to_steal_2016_the_demented_gop_schemes_to_rewire_the_electoral_college_and_elect_a_tea_party_president/">re-write the rules</a>.</p>
<p><center><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0hSh7YkE9htX9CAHjeS-0U1l89laqA2bPtgNPcpPCanuxt5Bpf_oeLoADa45L_clCigBeVvJmatf-FyjvTTEM9t3JDkWGAoh5OrAEwPrk5tLNe1a57_A1hk_1OecaW6N-5_FAnoLD8otd/s1600/Democracy+Who+Needs+It.JPG" imageanchor="1" ><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0hSh7YkE9htX9CAHjeS-0U1l89laqA2bPtgNPcpPCanuxt5Bpf_oeLoADa45L_clCigBeVvJmatf-FyjvTTEM9t3JDkWGAoh5OrAEwPrk5tLNe1a57_A1hk_1OecaW6N-5_FAnoLD8otd/s550/Democracy+Who+Needs+It.JPG" /></a></center></p>
<p>By monkeying with the electoral college in blue states like Michigan, Pennsylvania, Ohio and Wisconsin, they could elect a Tea Party President in 2016 with no more votes than Mitt Romney got in 2012.</p>
<p><b>#teaparty #gop #electionfraud #election2016 #electoralcollege #vote</b></p>
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<p>In response to a Staten Island grand jury's <a href="http://abcnews.go.com/US/protests-erupt-eric-garner-grand-jury-decision/story?id=27355323">decision not to indict</a> police officers involved in the July 17 death of Eric Garner, Republican Congressman Peter King of New York <a href="http://www.alternet.org/news-amp-politics/4-truly-bizarre-right-wing-reactions-eric-garner-decision">told</a> CNN's Wolf Blitzer that "if he had not had asthma, and a heart condition and was so obese, almost definitely he would not have died from this."</p>
<p>Despite Garner's repeated protests that he couldn't breathe, as caught on video, King claimed "police had no reason to know that he was in serious condition."</p>
<p><center><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLhcXXDFAx-D_zh2K2esPElsyswt9fDoeAGj8MIR3XIeWc5Tticxak3Jmmocvs_1O0h7q4N00gAESCjOm2FTuVJziK_pafi0K8t9I9HiVQ4C93zKuWPRdZi8PuQhiUyK-RE3ebqC6cU403/s1600/Eric+Garner-cartoon-full2.JPG" imageanchor="1" ><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLhcXXDFAx-D_zh2K2esPElsyswt9fDoeAGj8MIR3XIeWc5Tticxak3Jmmocvs_1O0h7q4N00gAESCjOm2FTuVJziK_pafi0K8t9I9HiVQ4C93zKuWPRdZi8PuQhiUyK-RE3ebqC6cU403/s550/Eric+Garner-cartoon-full2.JPG" /></a></center></p>
<p>Meanwhile, GOP Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) <a href="http://www.alternet.org/news-amp-politics/4-truly-bizarre-right-wing-reactions-eric-garner-decision">blamed</a> Garner's death on high cigarette taxes, and right-wing Fox News commentator Bill O'Reilly's <a href="http://www.alternet.org/news-amp-politics/4-truly-bizarre-right-wing-reactions-eric-garner-decision">reaction</a> was that "he should not have resisted."</p>
<p><b>#icantbreathe #ericgarner #policethepolice #gop #injustice #blacklivesmatter</b></p>
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<p>Why do we need police review boards to oversee local law enforcement agencies? Because as Eric Garner's July 17 death in Staten Island shows, body cameras aren't enough. <a href="http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2014/08/what-i-did-after-police-killed-my-son-110038.html">This is how</a> Wisconsin passed its first-in-the-nation law mandating outside review of all deaths in police custody, after 21-year old Michael Bell, Jr. was shot outside his house in front of a crowd of witnesses, including his mother and sister.</p>
<p><center><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimteaP9psu-1gKb7cSp8lXLCX9ZHGRFghcJ3RnlWXvlgwUuFC4EgFkeItUisc4h2yjY7WPAqoKgJruBJARiXdjHeqXVRvq0EwVo-N6gc71BPAYTcM-8J7F0VJRKbJGfTdY7Xd6_Ue1sf4T/s1600/When+You're%2Ba%2BHammer.JPG" imageanchor="1" ><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimteaP9psu-1gKb7cSp8lXLCX9ZHGRFghcJ3RnlWXvlgwUuFC4EgFkeItUisc4h2yjY7WPAqoKgJruBJARiXdjHeqXVRvq0EwVo-N6gc71BPAYTcM-8J7F0VJRKbJGfTdY7Xd6_Ue1sf4T/s550/When+You're%2Ba%2BHammer.JPG" /></a></center></p>
<p>We must pass laws like this nationwide, because our increasingly militarized police need more transparency and rules of restraint. Without them, police will continue losing the confidence of the communities they are supposed to serve and protect. As Michael's father says, "if police on duty believe they can get away with almost anything, they will act accordingly."</p>
<p><b>#ericgarner #policethepolice #injustice #blacklivesmatter</b></p>
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<p>The Supreme Court hears testimony today in "the most high-stakes challenge to pregnancy discrimination law in a generation," <a href="http://time.com/3616516/supreme-court-ups-young-pregnancy-discrimination/">according to</a> <i>Time</i> magazine.</p>
<p><center><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1jeqGdv9hvS3z5ELUH8nDjP0cwpnhuDKIwHSR27moSthMsNOR6j9YC0qdWWWSdnx0nCYOPsud-Sb-fLtqAefZNxL0HR17ZablAMNDYvSjOwjbPzWlQ7uHmHqfAXxvgwcs2PhyphenhyphenNqPkREbT/s1600/Stand+With+Peggy.jpg" imageanchor="1" ><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1jeqGdv9hvS3z5ELUH8nDjP0cwpnhuDKIwHSR27moSthMsNOR6j9YC0qdWWWSdnx0nCYOPsud-Sb-fLtqAefZNxL0HR17ZablAMNDYvSjOwjbPzWlQ7uHmHqfAXxvgwcs2PhyphenhyphenNqPkREbT/s550/Stand+With+Peggy.jpg" /></a></center></p>
<p>At issue is <a href="http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/supreme-court-hears-pregnancy-discrimination-case">the case of former UPS employee Peggy Young</a>, who was put on unpaid leave and subsequently lost her job after the company denied her request to not lift heavy packages during her pregnancy eight years ago. Her story raises the question of why we are so far behind the rest of the developed world when it comes to providing paid maternity leave for pregnant women.</p>
<p><center><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1JqILN63jJSV_qnkgdIRCYdHiA72wADy625Jz6SUMyYvGpHUVjPsVkBvXS2ouIDYT2jqZDeYkbOljAKJTcvRv-RP9-IvZrP9aBVPV2mhyb7Ds-fuq20X2NmAnEBSbAPTYvOGc8BBdvsWn/s1600/PaidMaternityLeave.JPG" imageanchor="1" ><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1JqILN63jJSV_qnkgdIRCYdHiA72wADy625Jz6SUMyYvGpHUVjPsVkBvXS2ouIDYT2jqZDeYkbOljAKJTcvRv-RP9-IvZrP9aBVPV2mhyb7Ds-fuq20X2NmAnEBSbAPTYvOGc8BBdvsWn/s550/PaidMaternityLeave.JPG" /></a></center></p>
<p>The UK <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2014/dec/03/-sp-america-only-developed-country-paid-maternity-leave">guarantees</a> an entire year of paid leave - 52 weeks. Australia gives 18 weeks, and Mexico offers 12 weeks, during which mothers are reimbursed fully 100% of their normal pay. Yet here in the United States? Nothing. Not even a single day of paid maternity leave.</p>
<p>Our children are our future, and we can do better!</p>
<p><b>#standwithpeggy #waronwomen #reproductiverights #notright</b>
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<p>On Alternet, Chauncey DeVega <a href="http://www.alternet.org/civil-liberties/darren-wilsons-testimony-reads-ramblings-paranoid-white-supremacist">shows</a> how Wilson's testimony resembles the "ramblings of a paranoid white supremacist."</p>
<p><center><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxMk3VsT1d9SZZKETgniPbJEjYhdFJTqB47SJCyxYMKyD4E5S5Yge3-VKrr5RMd9AkcWhz4pOEqA9Rqllz8sm6ov-Bt6PvTL_V0_iqY6ZFmMO9rb4y6kNq1vdDAgdtb2rUYSbAQgebA1e-/s1600/Liar-Liar-text.JPG" imageanchor="1" ><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxMk3VsT1d9SZZKETgniPbJEjYhdFJTqB47SJCyxYMKyD4E5S5Yge3-VKrr5RMd9AkcWhz4pOEqA9Rqllz8sm6ov-Bt6PvTL_V0_iqY6ZFmMO9rb4y6kNq1vdDAgdtb2rUYSbAQgebA1e-/s550/Liar-Liar-text.JPG" /></a></center></p>
<p>Wilson's own words reveal a deep racial bias and thoroughly discredit his version of what happened the day he gunned down Michael Brown.</p>
<p><b>#ferguson #blacklivesmatter #darrenwilson #policebrutality #whitesupremacy #kkk #policethepolice #endracism</b></p>
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<p>In the closing days of the 2014 elections, GOP voter intimidation efforts intensified nationwide. In North Carolina, mailers containing incorrect voting information <a href="http://www.southernstudies.org/2014/10/americans-for-prosperity-says-nc-voter-misinformat.html">blanketed the state</a>, sent to voters by Koch-funded right-wing dark money group Americans For Prosperity.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.politicususa.com/2014/11/01/minority-voter-suppression-north-carolina-witnessed-firsthand.html">Unidentified individuals</a> were stationed outside early voting polling sites telling black voters it would take 2 hours to vote, while white voters were assured there was only a 45-minute wait. And echoing cross burnings of the past, in a predominantly Republican neighborhood in Huntersville, N.C., a black family's campaign sign for Democratic Senator Kay Hagan <a href="http://www.wsoctv.com/news/news/local/kay-hagan-campaign-sign-burned-huntersville-front-/nht8T/">was torched on their front lawn</a>.</p>
<p><center><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkblKJumkMoqnw_4FbvC1uOnyTVEb9aqZA6vAzJs4NT5JMPq6s5tuTe1gKN_j0N_X8tVkFXoovD-BUs7AbtSYVFrhqBoIEBbkyujCrYKzU8XF55VrklsfxMsd20VxQx5u7xwR7TazcV_AF/s1600/Kay+Hagan+yard+sign+burned.JPG" imageanchor="1" ><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkblKJumkMoqnw_4FbvC1uOnyTVEb9aqZA6vAzJs4NT5JMPq6s5tuTe1gKN_j0N_X8tVkFXoovD-BUs7AbtSYVFrhqBoIEBbkyujCrYKzU8XF55VrklsfxMsd20VxQx5u7xwR7TazcV_AF/s550/Kay+Hagan+yard+sign+burned.JPG" /></a></center></p><p><b>#votersuppression #voterintimidation #election2014 #kayhagan #northcarolina #boycottkoch #blackvotesmatter</b></p>
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<p>In a stunning display of historical ignorance, a spokesman for the <a href="http://www.pfaw.org/media-center/publications/citizens-blindsided-secret-corporate-money-the-2010-elections-and-america-#limited">right-wing dark money group</a> Americans for Limited Government denounced Ferguson protestors as a “lynch mob” out to get Darren Wilson. Rick Manning, the group's vice president of public policy and communications, blamed the global attention drawn by Michael Brown’s death on “those who profiteer off of hate and misery (who) descended on the small town with (Attorney General) Holder amongst them.”</p>
<p><center><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVrOu7NF5P6wwi952kAz93aZgYkCpm_-xy5_mLPh9VvjBCzKrtt3ikwVeP6k3rQuG9NNXTc1QfdBw5WMUnZ93w0ToOSk_FuI1KCJiQUR1OYSPJth7M6gx03oQ_EPZ-FiuP8Z7oEZfStHuu/s1600/Rick+Manning-large-text.jpg" imageanchor="1" ><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVrOu7NF5P6wwi952kAz93aZgYkCpm_-xy5_mLPh9VvjBCzKrtt3ikwVeP6k3rQuG9NNXTc1QfdBw5WMUnZ93w0ToOSk_FuI1KCJiQUR1OYSPJth7M6gx03oQ_EPZ-FiuP8Z7oEZfStHuu/s550/Rick+Manning-large-text.jpg" /></a></center></p>
<p>Americans for Limited Government has been <a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/right-wing-groups-play-games-courts-try-block-judicial-nominees">described</a> as a “pro-corporate Astroturf group” by <a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/">Right Wing Watch</a>. It is led by New York real estate magnate Howard Rich, who has “funded ballot initiatives throughout the country promoting his extreme anti-government agenda,” and wants to privatize the public education system.</p>
<p><b>#blacklivesmatter #ferguson #rightwingidiots</b></p>
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<p>Tonight's <a href="http://www.commondreams.org/news/2014/11/24/ferguson-grand-jury-will-not-indict-darren-wilson">announcement</a> that a grand jury in St. Louis County, Missouri had decided not to indict Officer Darren Wilson for the August 9 shooting death of unarmed teen Michael Brown should come as no surprise. St. Louis County Prosecutor Robert McCulloch has a <a href="http://www.newsweek.com/ferguson-prosecutor-robert-p-mccullochs-long-history-siding-police-267357">long history</a> of siding with the police, his life shaped by when his own father, a St. Louis police officer, was shot and killed by a black man when McCulloch was 12 years old. He was fundamentally incapable of impartially handling the Michael Brown shooting case, and clearly steered the grand jury towards not indicting.</p>
<p><center><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhR1ldDaIUDzC1lOUARW571ODa_QDCHR23BohvoEP4WR56uaetlRKDWpb_sC_VCFLYPYQ3JajczfFyY7FqzJXU1ttgD0Rg7Ke-SIHNNou9ah_g_YpIfkHWGqGEfymDl2i-3MS0lMYGM4Cye/s1600/Ferguson+You+Have+The+Right+To+Remain+Silent.JPG" imageanchor="1" ><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhR1ldDaIUDzC1lOUARW571ODa_QDCHR23BohvoEP4WR56uaetlRKDWpb_sC_VCFLYPYQ3JajczfFyY7FqzJXU1ttgD0Rg7Ke-SIHNNou9ah_g_YpIfkHWGqGEfymDl2i-3MS0lMYGM4Cye/s550/Ferguson+You+Have+The+Right+To+Remain+Silent.JPG" /></a></center></p>
<p>As Pulitzer Prize-winning former <i>New York Times</i> reporter Don Von Natta Jr. <a href="https://twitter.com/DVNJr/status/537078641063366656">said</a>, "I covered criminal justice for 12 years. Never saw anything like this no-indict statement: a mix of confusion, defiance and condescension." <a href="http://www.newsweek.com/ferguson-prosecutor-robert-p-mccullochs-long-history-siding-police-267357">According to</a> <i>Newsweek</i>, even before the non-indictment was announced, Ferguson's black community had been "bracing for McCulloch to let the officer who shot Brown go free."</p>
<p><blockquote>"'I don't believe that Bob McCulloch's office is going to issue any charges,' said Jerryl Christmas, a local criminal defense lawyer (in late August). 'It's not going to happen.' The investigating grand jury, Christmas said, is the perfect tool for allowing McCulloch to bail out the officer without getting blamed for dumping the case."</blockquote></p>
<p><center><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9u336oLXmShditFeolthDi54_LhyphenhyphenEgWINB28G2NNkLgaAorHtcPM-HSUyDLWqhWzmEG9W7ModtHHWal4Emkq00vUxKGoPCzE859y-LpMtYT2X-qWmXBWtCjetvo3PcPiH58Tnd-8Yu7Ma/s1600/lynching_cartoon.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9u336oLXmShditFeolthDi54_LhyphenhyphenEgWINB28G2NNkLgaAorHtcPM-HSUyDLWqhWzmEG9W7ModtHHWal4Emkq00vUxKGoPCzE859y-LpMtYT2X-qWmXBWtCjetvo3PcPiH58Tnd-8Yu7Ma/s550/lynching_cartoon.jpg" /></a></div></center></p>
<p><b>#ferguson #policebrutality #justiceformikebrown</b></p>
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<p>A new poll released in the wake of President Obama's <a href="http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2014/11/20/obama-to-expand-protections-for-5-million-undocumented-immigrants">announcement</a> of his executive orders on immigration <a href="http://aufc.3cdn.net/1b1ad804b726a59000_u7m6bxtti.pdf">shows</a> two-thirds of voters likely to cast ballots in 2016 support these long overdue reforms. This includes 91% of Democrats and 67% of all Independents.</p>
<p><center><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLSZ5e5Jl0MiOcWMPhv1bqRFH4BD_SsYkTvUVYTwg65WVus-SNY4PzGX81BfwGQUekmDZddzcJfHoN5R3NIrGZ6ZYjLfb3FEZCabOCZBtKW47rV7ergW0DjtqnSEK1W9m_hC57dQhHNXVa/s1600/Two+thirds+of+2016+voters+support+Obama+Immigration+EA2.JPG" imageanchor="1" ><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLSZ5e5Jl0MiOcWMPhv1bqRFH4BD_SsYkTvUVYTwg65WVus-SNY4PzGX81BfwGQUekmDZddzcJfHoN5R3NIrGZ6ZYjLfb3FEZCabOCZBtKW47rV7ergW0DjtqnSEK1W9m_hC57dQhHNXVa/s550/Two+thirds+of+2016+voters+support+Obama+Immigration+EA2.JPG" /></a></center></p>
<p>Yet 51% of Republicans still say no, fueled by Tea Party members who are opposed by a 2-1 margin. The GOP is out of step with the rest of our nation.</p>
<p><b>#ImmigrationAction</b></p>
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<p>Now that the 2014 elections are over and the issue is no longer worth exploiting, the GOP-controlled House Select Intelligence Committee has <a href="http://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2014/11/republicans-finally-admit-there-no-benghazi-scandal">released its final report</a> on the 2012 attacks on the U.S. Mission in Benghazi, Libya, which admits there was no scandal, after all.</p>
<p><center><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggsS5-f7bDF208wN0hPDySX_RFWAzBG4tP78pd-yOhg8Oh9l0d15vPm0kW_wFJTWMiR3kaCrqgIovzuLrtstlHb8jJcNwq_WPorGrsTPOCZH2aIME1HZzj8FUwCUGUyYC1hOCerlPqrh2p/s1600/Emily-bw.JPG" imageanchor="1" ><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggsS5-f7bDF208wN0hPDySX_RFWAzBG4tP78pd-yOhg8Oh9l0d15vPm0kW_wFJTWMiR3kaCrqgIovzuLrtstlHb8jJcNwq_WPorGrsTPOCZH2aIME1HZzj8FUwCUGUyYC1hOCerlPqrh2p/s550/Emily-bw.JPG" /></a></center></p>
<p>Ever since the Benghazi attacks, which <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2013/09/10/world/benghazi-consulate-attack-fast-facts/">occurred</a> from Sept. 11-12, 2012, Republicans have been trying to blame the Obama White House or the State Department under Hillary Clinton for the deaths of four Americans who were killed there. But it was all a manufactured, faux news non-scandal. Shame on them.</p>
<p><b>#Benghazi #FauxNews #Scamdal</b></p>
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<p><center><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKI8kfrjXkBVEW0m3RjtKvnAYPwnsFVqZZHw_X6CVv5Ha0G7iu8BmOu1VzgJczjEt1Wuwo-xCisNWaY28iV7RIF6PmvYtQQyv3_JxS8hpVzj34zfQd8uPj2I-kqiCedWiiZ-a7l6pNPOXn/s1600/Rick_Santorum.jpg" imageanchor="1" ><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKI8kfrjXkBVEW0m3RjtKvnAYPwnsFVqZZHw_X6CVv5Ha0G7iu8BmOu1VzgJczjEt1Wuwo-xCisNWaY28iV7RIF6PmvYtQQyv3_JxS8hpVzj34zfQd8uPj2I-kqiCedWiiZ-a7l6pNPOXn/s550/Rick_Santorum.jpg" /></a></center></p>
<p>This week, former Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum <a href="http://www.politico.com/story/2014/11/rick-santorum-2016-decision-in-june-112952.html">announced</a> he'd make a decision next year about running for the White House <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/11/17/rick-santorum-2016_n_6173264.html">again in 2016</a>. Last week, while guest hosting a <a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/category/people/steve-deace">right-wing talk radio show</a> in Iowa, the ultra-conservative former Pennsylvania Senator gave the country a glimpse of what a Santorum presidency might look like.</p>
<p>Over the air, Santorum lamented the "breakup of any kind of cooperation in Washington D.C.," and <a href="https://www.freespeech.org/text/rick-santorum-wishes-obama-was-racial-uniter-jerry-falwell-and-jesse-helms">said</a> "this president is very much to blame for this," because Obama hasn't been enough of a gentleman. Unlike the late Republican Senator from North Carolina and hate-mongering demagogue Jesse Helms.</p>
<p><center><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9X1HpEHL5oiOZhihA0qXO2Yxrxuh-qfFX2LU5i9c_srzfW8XRJH0zsk-Xe1EGoODsQ0p8I-v4dreVGrCAJjB0De4REgOYCtzTTGaBgNe6i8egdhtG91rxHEWIbDmf5VgwMeYlzRgUn1-p/s1600/Obama+and+Helms.jpg" imageanchor="1" ><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9X1HpEHL5oiOZhihA0qXO2Yxrxuh-qfFX2LU5i9c_srzfW8XRJH0zsk-Xe1EGoODsQ0p8I-v4dreVGrCAJjB0De4REgOYCtzTTGaBgNe6i8egdhtG91rxHEWIbDmf5VgwMeYlzRgUn1-p/s550/Obama+and+Helms.jpg" /></a></center></p>
<p>"There was no one nicer than Jesse Helms," <a href="https://www.freespeech.org/text/rick-santorum-wishes-obama-was-racial-uniter-jerry-falwell-and-jesse-helms">said</a> Santorum. "I mean, I don't think a single Democrat would tell you that on a personal level, there was anybody that was more gentlemanly, more kind than Jesse. He stood up for what he believed in, but he was always a gentleman about it."</p>
<p><iframe width="100%" height="200" scrolling="no" frameborder="no" src="https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https%3A//api.soundcloud.com/tracks/177342995&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&visual=true"></iframe></p>
<p>This echoed the <a href="http://blogs.rollcall.com/wgdb/cruz-we-need-a-hundred-more-like-jesse-helms-in-the-u-s-senate-video/">controversial comments</a> made by Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) last year, when he told a crowd at the Heritage Foundation that Helms was the first political candidate he had ever donated to, and "we need a hundred more like Jesse Helms in the U.S. Senate." He'll have at least one new Helms clone by his side next year, Iowa Republican Joni Ernst, who managed to hide her <a href="http://thelatestoutrage.blogspot.com/2014/10/12-reasons-why-joni-ernst-is-2014s-most.html">extreme right-wing views</a> from enough voters to win a Senate seat. Santorum campaigned for Ernst in early November, <a href="http://wcfcourier.com/news/local/govt-and-politics/stumping-for-tuesday-santorum-hints-at/article_878e6e78-854a-51e1-9317-d3f74be095e2.html">telling</a> volunteers her victory would "set a tone for 2016."</p>
<p>Santorum and Cruz are Helms' <a href="http://thinkprogress.org/politics/2013/09/12/2609951/ted-cruz-keeping-jesse-helms-legacy-alive/">ideological descendants</a>, so it's not surprising they would speak highly of the man. But as sane observers are <a href="http://www.salon.com/2001/08/31/broder_3/">well aware</a>, the real Jesse Helms spent more than five decades stirring the pot of bigotry and hatred to win elections and further his political career.</p>
<p>Ten lowest points of <a href="http://thelatestoutrage.blogspot.com/2008/07/jesse-helms-shameful-legacy-cant-be.html">Helms' shameful legacy</a> include:</p>
<p><strong>(1)</strong> Creating scurrilous, race-baiting ads and handbills in 1950 for a white segregationist candidate.</p>
<p><strong>(2)</strong> Denouncing the civil rights movement in TV and radio commentaries broadcast in North Carolina throughout the 1960s.</p>
<p><strong>(3)</strong> Defeating his Greek-American opponent in 1972 in part by using the slogan, "Jesse Helms: He's One of Us!"</p>
<p><strong>(4)</strong> Distributing tens of thousands of leaflets in 1976 during the Reagan-Ford primary fight in N.C. that alleged Gerald Ford was considering picking a black running mate.</p>
<p><strong>(5)</strong> Opposing and delaying every effort ever proposed to impose U.S. sanctions on South Africa over apartheid, no matter how mild.</p>
<p><strong>(6)</strong> Filibustering against renewal of the Voting Rights Act in 1982.</p>
<p><strong>(7)</strong> Spending 16 days filibustering against making Martin Luther King Jr. Day a federal holiday in 1983, and ending up the only Senator to vote against it.</p>
<p><strong>(8)</strong> Using <a href="http://thelatestoutrage.blogspot.com/2008/10/helms-and-herzenberg-when-old-south-met.html">shameless gay-bashing</a> and fears of Jesse Jackson registering black voters to win re-election in 1984.</p>
<p><strong>(9)</strong> <a href="http://thelatestoutrage.blogspot.com/2008/07/how-jesse-helms-ruled-north-carolina.html">Unleashing a wave</a> of blistering, race-baiting attack ads against his 1990 black Democratic challenger Harvey Gantt, including some of the <a href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00PL81Y24">most racially divisive political advertising of modern times</a>.</p>
<p><center><object width="550" height="413"><param name="movie" value="//www.youtube.com/v/KIyewCdXMzk?hl=en_US&version=3"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="//www.youtube.com/v/KIyewCdXMzk?hl=en_US&version=3" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="550" height="413" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true"></embed></object></center></p>
<p>And finally, perhaps <a href="http://thelatestoutrage.blogspot.com/2008/07/jesse-helms-shameful-legacy-cant-be.html">Helms' greatest crime</a>:</p>
<p><strong>(10)</strong> Leading the opposition in the U.S. Senate to increased federal funding for AIDS research all throughout the 1980s, which left real blood on Helms' hands, because even a modest increase in spending could have saved tens of thousands of gay Americans who died horrible, painful deaths in the years before effective AIDS drugs were developed.</p>
<p>But <a href="https://www.freespeech.org/text/rick-santorum-wishes-obama-was-racial-uniter-jerry-falwell-and-jesse-helms">according to Santorum</a>, we shouldn't believe Helms' well-documented history of fearmongering and inflaming racial tensions, because he was a politician who exhibited "probably the starkest contrast of what the press used to portray and what the reality was."</p>
<p>While on the subject of Jesse Helms, Santorum also told listeners how fondly he remembers the late Rev. Jerry Falwell, the man who <a href="http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/story?id=121322">blamed</a> gays, feminists, and the ACLU for the 9/11 attacks. At the time of his death in 2007, Falwell was <a href="http://www.nbcnews.com/id/18679412/M#.VGtzCTTMSSo">described</a> as "a founder and leader of America's anti-gay industry" by Matt Foreman, executive director of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force.</p>
<p><center><object width="550" height="413"><param name="movie" value="//www.youtube.com/v/H-CAcdta_8I?hl=en_US&version=3"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="//www.youtube.com/v/H-CAcdta_8I?hl=en_US&version=3" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="550" height="413" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true"></embed></object></center></p>
<p>During the 1980s, Falwell's Moral Majority PAC raised $69 million for GOP candidates and claimed to speak on behalf of 6.5 million members. It <a href="http://www.nbcnews.com/id/18679412/M#.VGtzCTTMSSo">helped elect</a> presidents Ronald Reagan in 1980 and George H.W. Bush in 1988, and re-elect Sen. Helms in 1984. Falwell founded the Moral Majority in the 1970s to organize evangelical Christians behind conservative Republican candidates, and claimed it was Roe v. Wade that sparked his movement. Yet the so-called "Religious Right" he helped lead <a href="http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5502785">first came together</a> to preserve the right of Christian schools to maintain racial segregation.</p>
<p>The divisive political figures Santorum admires tell us all we need to know about how he would lead America if ever given the chance. Hopefully we've come too far as a country to go back to the days when far right-wing demagogues using religion to cloak their narrow-minded agendas were guiding our national politics. We can be thankful Santorum's chances to succeed as a presidential candidate <a href="http://blog.chron.com/goplifer/2014/11/the-missing-story-of-the-2014-election/">are remote</a>, and his time on the national stage will eventually end up in the dustbin of history alongside the chapters on Helms and Falwell, where they all belong.</p>
<p><a href="https://twitter.com/share" class="twitter-share-button" data-url="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/erik-ose/rick-santorum-wishes-obam_b_6180396.html" data-text="Rick Santorum Wishes Obama Was More Like Jesse Helms" data-via="latestoutrage" data-dnt="true">###</a></p>
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<p><div class="g-plus" data-action="share" data-annotation="none" data-href="http://thelatestoutrage.blogspot.com/2014/11/how-gop-blocked-vote-in-north-carolina.html"></div> <div class="fb-share-button" data-href="http://thelatestoutrage.blogspot.com/2014/11/how-gop-blocked-vote-in-north-carolina.html" data-layout="button"></div> <a href="https://twitter.com/share" class="twitter-share-button" data-url="http://thelatestoutrage.blogspot.com/2014/11/how-gop-blocked-vote-in-north-carolina.html" data-text="How The GOP Blocked The Vote In North Carolina" data-via="latestoutrage" data-count="none" data-dnt="true">|</a></p>
<p>CHAPEL HILL, N.C. -- Over the summer and into the fall, while polls showed other Senate Democrats in swing states like Colorado and Iowa falling behind their GOP challengers, incumbent North Carolina Senator Kay Hagan had consistently <a href="http://elections.huffingtonpost.com/pollster/2014-north-carolina-senate-tillis-vs-hagan">clung to a small lead</a>.</p>
<p><center><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhG8_Qmv6jFhuVi3yh34CvYyyKoh-FAb9UuyBpoo6KYlPCF0UnRg2AF_z2wcEbEg77fL2g-wM_Q3CYqHRNuqv0Nz6h0FA12eui3OiwfXd5D195OgMpOUNj4tmPShoUMZVOkXgn9eevpipiL/s1600/Hagan-Tillis-fox1.JPG" imageanchor="1" ><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhG8_Qmv6jFhuVi3yh34CvYyyKoh-FAb9UuyBpoo6KYlPCF0UnRg2AF_z2wcEbEg77fL2g-wM_Q3CYqHRNuqv0Nz6h0FA12eui3OiwfXd5D195OgMpOUNj4tmPShoUMZVOkXgn9eevpipiL/s550/Hagan-Tillis-fox1.JPG" /></a></center></p>
<p>In the end, Hagan lost by <a href="http://enr.ncsbe.gov/ElectionResults/">less than two points</a>, defeated 48.8 percent - 47.3 percent by her Republican opponent Thom Tillis, Speaker of the GOP-led N.C. House.</p>
<p>Here are three reasons Democratic voter turnout missed the mark on election night:</p>
<p><strong>(1) Black voters turned out at record levels, but their votes weren't enough.</strong></p>
<p>After the GOP seized control of the North Carolina legislature in 2010, and won the Governor's mansion in 2012, they <a href="http://www.southernstudies.org/2013/08/special-investigation-how-art-pope-helped-turn-bac.html">pushed through</a> the nation's <a href="http://www.thenation.com/blog/175441/north-carolina-passes-countrys-worst-voter-suppression-law#">most restrictive new voting laws</a>. Experts described them as the worst voter suppression measures passed by any state since the Voting Rights Act became law in 1965.</p>
<p>Besides mandating unreasonably strict Voter ID provisions (no student ID's, no public employee ID's) and cutting one week of early voting, they repealed several laws designed to make voting easier and more convenient for citizens that had been in place for years. Same-day voter registration during early voting and out-of-precinct voting on election day were both abolished. These efforts to block the vote<a href="http://www.brennancenter.org/blog/how-much-difference-did-new-voting-restrictions-make-yesterdays-close-races"> may have provided Tillis with his margin of victory</a>, and have been universally recognized as a blatant attempt to make it more difficult for core Democratic constituencies to cast ballots, including African-Americans, low income voters, and students.</p>
<p><center><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yMhpN9zVfmk" imageanchor="1" ><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvwp2Nfld_rvqQMANmQfuAVtjU3ZnvhWSL01hfN09hHUiasdJZD9AgQ5046EtSyt-KjiQmaF6Q9RXErx6ni4Ugn1ekf1t7KbPn3M65o0aNvn3mysj6s_2GvUutMmb4waBN5Hd11dTi6x-J/s550/Don+Yelton+Daily+Show+2013.jpg" /></a></center></p>
<p>In response, North Carolina's black community and progressive allies <a href="http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2014/10/north-carolina-democrat-black-vote-kay-hagan">organized to fight back</a>. One of the largest ever efforts to mobilize black voters in North Carolina in a non-presidential year was launched, spearheaded by Democrats, voting rights groups, and the state NAACP. And even with President Obama not on the ballot, African-American voters still turned out for Kay Hagan.</p>
<p><center><object width="550" height="309"><param name="movie" value="//www.youtube.com/v/7ADBiUzXvbs?hl=en_US&version=3"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="//www.youtube.com/v/7ADBiUzXvbs?hl=en_US&version=3" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="550" height="309" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true"></embed></object></center></p>
<p>In Durham County, a bastion of black and white liberal voters in North Carolina, Hagan received 70,601 votes, or 76.6 percent of the votes cast. Mecklenburg County is home to Charlotte, the state's largest city, and another source of black voting strength. Democrats and independent voters outnumber Republicans there by 3-1. Hagan got 156,533 votes in Mecklenburg, or 59.2 percent to Tillis' 38.1 percent.</p>
<p>Durham and Mecklenburg counties alone delivered 50,000 more votes for Hagan than were cast there for Democratic nominee for Senate Elaine Marshall in 2010.</p>
<p>Exit polls <a href="http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/elections/2014/NC/senate/exitpoll">showed</a> black voters were 21 percent of the North Carolina electorate this year, which equaled their numbers <a href="http://www.newrepublic.com/article/120141/kay-hagans-defeat-hurts-most-2014-midterms">in 2008</a>, when Barack Obama narrowly won North Carolina, and only slightly down from 23 percent <a href="http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/elections/where-were-all-dems-heres-who-turned-vote-n241696">in 2012</a>. Fully 96 percent of them chose Hagan.</p>
<p>But their numbers fell short, because:</p>
<p><strong>(2) Partly due to a <a href="http://thelatestoutrage.blogspot.com/2014/11/why-kay-hagan-lost-in-north-carolina.html">relentless attack ad barrage</a> funded by right-wing outside groups, Hagan's support shrank among white voters.</strong></p>
<p>Hagan got just 33 percent of the white vote, <a href="http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/elections/2014/NC/senate/exitpoll">according to</a> exit polls, a drop from the 39 percent she received in 2008 when she was first elected to the Senate. <a href="http://bigstory.ap.org/article/c9184f30b8674371bf5cdedac11e5066/exit-polls-white-voters-turn-away-democrats">That year</a>, Hagan won white voters age 18-29 by a margin of 60 percent - 36 percent, but in 2014, they voted for Republican Thom Tillis by 56 percent - 32 percent. White voters who didn't attend college made up 35 percent of the electorate, and they backed Tillis by a crushing 69 percent - 25 percent.</p>
<p>Through most of the summer, Hagan maintained a <a href="http://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/2014/senate/nc/north_carolina_senate_tillis_vs_hagan-3497.html">small lead</a> in the polls by <a href="http://www.nationaljournal.com/politics/could-the-perfect-campaign-lose-20141023">hitting Tillis hard</a> for his role in cutting the state's education budget. In early October, Tillis threw everything he had at Hagan in a bid to improve his poll numbers among white voters. He began attacking her over foreign policy, exploiting voters' fears about the Islamic State's military gains in Iraq and Syria and the Ebola outbreak in West Africa. He also <a href="http://www.politico.com/story/2014/10/thom-tillis-kay-hagan-ad-111972.html">tied her</a> to a <a href="http://www.newsobserver.com/2014/10/17/4242486/nc-denr-nothing-improper-with.html">phony controversy</a> over stimulus grants that went to a company co-owned by her husband.</p>
<p>Tillis started gaining traction with ads that called Hagan out for missing an Armed Services Committee hearing back in February where the Islamic State was discussed. Karl Rove's dark money group Crossroads GPS followed suit. One featured the mother of a Marine who told viewers, "It makes me so mad to see how the President's weakness has allowed the Islamic State to grow. And Senator Hagan? She just goes right along with him." The ad closed with a hard-hitting plea: "We can't let our kids die in vain. We have to change our Senator."</p>
<p><center><object width="270" height="152"><param name="movie" value="//www.youtube.com/v/4L-FCU_TbCE?hl=en_US&version=3"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="//www.youtube.com/v/4L-FCU_TbCE?hl=en_US&version=3" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="270" height="152" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true"></embed></object> <object width="270" height="152"><param name="movie" value="//www.youtube.com/v/nLTHt3NRJDg?hl=en_US&version=3"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="//www.youtube.com/v/nLTHt3NRJDg?hl=en_US&version=3" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="270" height="152" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true"></embed></object></center></p>
<p><center><object width="270" height="152"><param name="movie" value="//www.youtube.com/v/PTQvLX5WSnU?version=3&hl=en_US"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="//www.youtube.com/v/PTQvLX5WSnU?version=3&hl=en_US" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="270" height="152" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true"></embed></object> <object width="270" height="152"><param name="movie" value="//www.youtube.com/v/ER2fcFiCPy8?version=3&hl=en_US"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="//www.youtube.com/v/ER2fcFiCPy8?version=3&hl=en_US" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="270" height="152" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true"></embed></object></center></p>
<p>In a state with a strong military presence, polls showed the message had an impact. Support for Tillis ticked slightly upwards. Exit polls revealed the 16 percent of N.C. voters who were veterans chose Tillis over Hagan by 55 percent - 43 percent. The 11 percent of voters who thought foreign policy was the nation's top issue went with Tillis by a 68 percent - 31 percent margin.</p>
<p>The Tillis campaign tried to <a href="http://www.wncn.com/story/27338555/tillis-beat-hagan-by-targeted-rural-gop-counties">spin their win</a> as due to their targeting of "GOP areas where their voters turned out in past elections but they felt more could vote." Tillis' chief campaign strategist Paul Shumaker "pointed to places such as Rowan, Cabarrus and Catawba counties."</p>
<p>Actually, in these three heavily white counties, Tillis received 1500 less votes than N.C.'s senior Republican Senator Richard Burr in 2010, and nearly 7500 more votes were cast for Hagan than for Burr's challenger Elaine Marshall.</p>
<p>The areas supposedly key to Tillis' victory instead illustrate how statewide, Tillis did worse than the last Republican to win a Senate race in a midterm election by about 35,000 votes, and Hagan got nearly a quarter million more votes than the last unsuccessful Democratic Senate candidate. Tillis didn't turn out more white voters than in 2010, but he benefited because <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/erik-ose/why-kay-hagan-lost-in-north-carolina_b_6143286.html">too few white Democrats were fired up enough about Kay Hagan</a> to vote this year.</p>
<p><strong>(3) Not enough young voters turned out.</strong></p>
<p>All 18-29 year-olds backed Hagan 53 percent - 39 percent, but they only made up 12 percent of voters, down from <a href="http://elections.nbcnews.com/ns/politics/2012/north-carolina/president/#exitPoll">16 percent in 2012</a>. Voter support for Tillis roughly increased with age levels, and senior citizens age 65 and older favored him by a margin of 57 percent - 42 percent. Senior voters made up 23 percent of the electorate, with nearly twice as many casting ballots as 18-29 year-olds.</p>
<p>One reason for such low turnout by young voters was the state's new restrictive voting laws. As part of their strategy to suppress the Democratic vote, N.C. Republicans made special efforts to discourage students from voting. Under the new Voter ID statute, college student ID's are unacceptable. Students now need a North Carolina driver's license or special state-issued ID in order to vote, which created huge obstacles to participation by out-of-state students. Republican-controlled local election boards in counties with large universities <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/10/23/north-carolina-early-voting-college_n_6031670.html">moved early voting sites off campuses</a> and pushed through other changes that made it harder for students to get to the polls.</p>
<p><center><object width="550" height="413"><param name="movie" value="//www.youtube.com/v/ibNUOM7GU5w?hl=en_US&version=3"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="//www.youtube.com/v/ibNUOM7GU5w?hl=en_US&version=3" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="550" height="413" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true"></embed></object></center></p>
<p>The state's abolition of same-day registration during early voting left untold numbers of people unable to vote simply because they had moved within N.C. since the last time they voted. They were <a href="http://www.southernstudies.org/2014/11/new-nc-voting-law-already-stopping-would-be-voters.html">turned away from the polls</a> when they went to update their addresses during early voting, a practice that had been allowed for years before this election.</p>
<p>This deliberate attempt to make it harder to vote disproportionately affected young people, students and non-students alike, because they move more often. But it also disenfranchised older citizens like disabled veteran Bryan McGowan, who served 22 years in the Marine Corps, including four tours in Iraq and Afghanistan, and was <a href="http://www.southerncoalition.org/votes-counted-bryans-story/">prevented from voting</a> on October 23 in Western North Carolina.</p>
<p>What happened this year to Bryan and other N.C. voters like him is a mockery of democracy. But the GOP can't be sure of winning races any other way. And their attempts to fix the game further in their favor in North Carolina have now led to a truly unfortunate election result for America.</p>
<p><a href="https://twitter.com/share" class="twitter-share-button" data-url="http://www.opednews.com/articles/How-The-GOP-Blocked-The-Vo-by-Erik-Ose-African-americans_Democratic_Elections_Fear-141124-82.html" data-text="How The GOP Blocked The Vote In North Carolina" data-via="latestoutrage" data-dnt="true">###</a></p>
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<p><div class="g-plus" data-action="share" data-annotation="none" data-href="http://thelatestoutrage.blogspot.com/2014/11/why-kay-hagan-lost-in-north-carolina.html"></div> <div class="fb-share-button" data-href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/erik-ose/why-kay-hagan-lost-in-north-carolina_b_6143286.html" data-layout="button_count"></div> <a href="https://twitter.com/share" class="twitter-share-button" data-url="http://thelatestoutrage.blogspot.com/2014/11/why-kay-hagan-lost-in-north-carolina.html" data-text="Why Kay Hagan Lost In North Carolina" data-via="latestoutrage" data-count="none" data-dnt="true">|</a></p>
<P>CHAPEL HILL, N.C. -- When the smoke cleared, the most expensive contest of 2014 had become the costliest Senate race <a href="http://www.usnews.com/news/blogs/data-mine/2014/11/07/north-carolina-priciest-state-in-historys-most-expensive-midterm-elections">in U.S. history</a>. More than $111 million was spent by both sides in the North Carolina battle for incumbent Democratic Senator Kay Hagan's seat.</p>
<p>Hagan ultimately came up short, <a href="http://enr.ncsbe.gov/ElectionResults/">losing by</a> 45,608 votes out of 2.9 million cast to Republican N.C. House Speaker Thom Tillis.</p>
<p><center><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMpHYSh-ZnJEK9O_qYvqKVELIofWpWy-knNJaNgE7KhKPPau49l3rLVnI2JKqcDyJcVMXVEEi7BTOfReDjN5jqb2eLWSl7RNHPe8vU1tPP5m6OyYuBYvgIxGs3zDmRQeBINd9tb4h2YQ1x/s1600/Tillis-on-election-night-screen-shot.jpg" imageanchor="1" ><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMpHYSh-ZnJEK9O_qYvqKVELIofWpWy-knNJaNgE7KhKPPau49l3rLVnI2JKqcDyJcVMXVEEi7BTOfReDjN5jqb2eLWSl7RNHPe8vU1tPP5m6OyYuBYvgIxGs3zDmRQeBINd9tb4h2YQ1x/s550/Tillis-on-election-night-screen-shot.jpg" /></a></center></p>
<p>So what happened? As a sitting Senator running for re-election at a time when the recovering economy still hasn't translated into income gains for most voters, Hagan faced historical headwinds, and President Obama's deflated approval ratings didn't help. But beyond those national factors, here are two critical reasons why Hagan lost her seat:</p>
<p><strong>(1) Wealthy right-wing outside groups led by the Koch brothers and Karl Rove spent tens of millions on attack ads and get-out-the-vote efforts against Hagan.</strong></p>
<p>Big money was put up to poison the well of Hagan's support among North Carolina voters. Hagan had a huge target on her back, <a href="http://rothenbergpoliticalreport.com/news/article/most-vulnerable-senator-of-14-pryor-by-a-hair">described</a> in one news story after another as one of the most vulnerable Senate Democrats. The Koch brothers' political machine began pummeling her with attack ads over her support for the Affordable Care Act before it was even signed into law in early 2010.</p>
<p>The pace intensified in 2013, and by February of this year, the Koch brothers' dark money group Americans For Prosperity had <a href="http://www.politico.com/story/2014/02/koch-brothers-kay-hagan-103406.html">already expended $8.2 million</a> on TV, radio and digital ads designed to defeat her. At that point in the cycle, it was an unparalleled sum to have been spent in one state, more than all Democratic outside groups had sunk into every 2014 Senate race in the country combined.</p>
<p><center><object width="270" height="152"><param name="movie" value="//www.youtube.com/v/ab2E2lZzbH8?hl=en_US&version=3"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="//www.youtube.com/v/ab2E2lZzbH8?hl=en_US&version=3" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="270" height="152" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true"></embed></object> <object width="270" height="152"><param name="movie" value="//www.youtube.com/v/jODEmS_J_ho?hl=en_US&version=3"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="//www.youtube.com/v/jODEmS_J_ho?hl=en_US&version=3" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="270" height="152" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true"></embed></object></center></p>
<p><center><object width="270" height="152"><param name="movie" value="//www.youtube.com/v/oA1a4FNesPI?hl=en_US&version=3"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="//www.youtube.com/v/oA1a4FNesPI?hl=en_US&version=3" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="270" height="152" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true"></embed></object> <object width="270" height="152"><param name="movie" value="//www.youtube.com/v/tESmeZBXKb0?hl=en_US&version=3"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="//www.youtube.com/v/tESmeZBXKb0?hl=en_US&version=3" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="270" height="152" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true"></embed></object></center></p>
<p>N.C. voters couldn't escape the attack ads, which carpet bombed the state. "If anyone hasn't seen those ads, they haven't just been under a rock," said Vanessa Johnson, a voter from Winston-Salem. "They've been down in Bedrock with the Flintstones!" <a href="http://mediaproject.wesleyan.edu/releases/ad-spending-tops-1-billion/">According to</a> the Wesleyan Media Project, fully two-thirds were negative, the highest percentage of negative ads aired in any Senate race this year.</p>
<p>Crossroads GPS (the dark money group co-founded by Karl Rove) piled on, <a href="http://www.politifact.com/oregon/statements/2014/may/23/monica-wehby/was-jeff-merkley-deciding-vote-obamacare/">falsely claiming</a> Hagan cast the "deciding vote" for the Affordable Care Act, and blaming her for the <a href="http://swampland.time.com/2012/08/16/fact-check-obamacares-medicare-cuts/">discredited myth</a> that the law cut over $700 billion from Medicare. "That means North Carolina stands to lose over $16 billion in Medicare payments," one ad warned.</p>
<p>Other Crossroads GPS ads were full of similar distortions, accusing Hagan of wanting to "raise (the) social security retirement age," "reduce (the) home mortgage interest deduction," "increase out-of-pocket Medicare expenses," and "give us cuts to our Medicare."</p>
<p><center><object width="270" height="152"><param name="movie" value="//www.youtube.com/v/2TA_W_3L_0U?hl=en_US&version=3"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="//www.youtube.com/v/2TA_W_3L_0U?hl=en_US&version=3" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="270" height="152" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true"></embed></object> <object width="270" height="152"><param name="movie" value="//www.youtube.com/v/EwPu7v0P7uI?version=3&hl=en_US"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="//www.youtube.com/v/EwPu7v0P7uI?version=3&hl=en_US" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="270" height="152" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true"></embed></object></center></p>
<p><center><object width="270" height="152"><param name="movie" value="//www.youtube.com/v/1TBEkH3lKn0?version=3&hl=en_US"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="//www.youtube.com/v/1TBEkH3lKn0?version=3&hl=en_US" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="270" height="152" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true"></embed></object> <object width="270" height="152"><param name="movie" value="//www.youtube.com/v/kuajJgmNnqA?version=3&hl=en_US"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="//www.youtube.com/v/kuajJgmNnqA?version=3&hl=en_US" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="270" height="152" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true"></embed></object></center></p>
<p>In her own campaign ads, Hagan stressed her moderate, centrist philosophy, but the Koch brothers and Karl Rove defined her as a Barack Obama puppet from early on. Outside groups <a href="http://www.opensecrets.org/races/indexp.php?cycle=2014&id=NCS1&spec=N">reported</a> spending $34.5 million by election day to tear down Hagan and prop up Thom Tillis.</p>
<p>Besides financing a deluge of attack ads, the Koch brothers realized they needed to compete with the Democratic Party's ground game. So Americans For Prosperity <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/americans-for-prosperity-plows-millions-into-building-conservative-ground-force/2014/10/06/692469b6-4b35-11e4-b72e-d60a9229cc10_story.html">greatly expanded</a> its field organizing this year in North Carolina and others states with key Senate races. They announced plans to put half of the $125 million they would spend on the midterms into a stronger ground campaign, hiring 500 field staffers nationwide. In the Tar Heel state, this built on AFP's earlier organizing efforts.</p>
<p><blockquote>A top priority of the group for years, North Carolina was one of the first states where it set up local chapters, helping build what (AFP President) Tim Phillips says is one of its "deepest state infrastructures," with more than 130,000 activists that helped defeat a Medicaid expansion in the state Legislature last year and now is singularly focused on defeating Hagan. - <a href="http://www.politico.com/story/2014/02/koch-brothers-kay-hagan-103406.html">Politico, 2/12/14</a></blockquote></p>
<p><center><object width="550" height="309"><param name="movie" value="//www.youtube.com/v/dn9X6HMUHnk?version=3&hl=en_US"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="//www.youtube.com/v/dn9X6HMUHnk?version=3&hl=en_US" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="550" height="309" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true"></embed></object></center></p>
<p>Hagan pushed back, making the Koch brothers' attempts to buy the election a campaign issue in her ads and campaign speeches. "The people of North Carolina need to know what their agenda is," Hagan <a href="http://www.politico.com/story/2014/02/koch-brothers-kay-hagan-103406.html">said</a> last February. "They want to have tax cuts for corporations and the wealthy and, at the same time, put that burden on the middle class and the poor."</p>
<p>But her counterattacks may not have resonated with voters. "It's utterly ineffective. Elections have to be about voters and what candidates will do for them," <a href="http://www.politico.com/story/2014/11/koch-brothers-democrats-2014-campaigns-112670.html">argued</a> Thomas Mills, a top advisor to the state's unsuccessful Democratic Senate nominee in 2010, N.C. Secretary of State Elaine Marshall. "And this strategy is more about the candidates. It says, 'Look at me! Help me -- they are spending money against me.' There's no connection between that and voters."</p>
<p><center>____________________________________________________________________________</center></p>
<p><strong>(2) Democratic voters were fired up about opposing Thom Tillis and the GOP agenda in North Carolina, but not overwhelmingly behind Kay Hagan.</strong></p>
<p><a href="http://www.wral.com/about-that-record-turnout/14150762/">Overall turnout was 44 percent</a> of North Carolina's registered voters, the exact same percentage of voters who cast ballots in 2010, the last time there was a midterm Senate battle. It was nowhere near the state's record in modern history for midterm turnout, when 62 percent of registered voters showed up for the hotly contested <a href="http://thelatestoutrage.blogspot.com/2008/07/how-jesse-helms-ruled-north-carolina.html">1990 Gantt-Helms race</a>.</p>
<p>With 1.42 million votes in all, Tillis fell slightly short of the 1.46 million ballots cast in 2010 for Richard Burr, North Carolina's senior Republican Senator. But it was enough to beat Hagan's 1.38 million total, even though that was 230,000 more votes than the 1.15 million received by Burr's Democratic challenger Elaine Marshall.</p>
<p>Democrats cast 49 percent of all early votes, with the GOP accounting for only 31 percent. But <a href="http://www.newsobserver.com/2014/11/08/4305385/election-pollsters-explain-why.html">on election day</a>, just 36 percent of voters were registered Democrats, versus 35 percent Republicans. The 29 percent of independent voters <a href="http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/elections/2014/NC/senate/exitpoll">broke for</a> Tillis by a margin of 49%-42%, and helped push him over the top.</p>
<p>Why didn't more Democrats turn out for Hagan?</p>
<p>According to <a href="http://www.msnbc.com/craig-melvin/watch/nc-candidate-would-issue-same-sex-marriages-252364355859">Mark Chilton</a>, a veteran elected official in liberal Orange County, N.C. who won his first election in 1991 as a 21-year old undergraduate, "Hagan made the strategic choice to run as a centrist and the tactical decision to run a Beltway-approved, paid TV-oriented campaign." As a result, it was harder for voters to feel part of a popular movement devoted to electing her. "The Democrats needed a different electorate to show up at the polls," <a href="https://www.facebook.com/MayorChilton/posts/10153299552443272">said</a> Chilton. "But the same-old strategy got us the same-old electorate, and the same-old results."</p>
<p>Quoted in <em>Mother Jones</em>, an unemployed former construction worker from Raleigh expressed the lack of enthusiasm many low-income voters may have felt about their Senator, even those who planned to vote for her. "Kay Hagan, to me she's wishy-washy, she's two-faced," <a href="http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2014/10/north-carolina-democrat-black-vote-kay-hagan">said</a> Michael Curtis. "But Tillis is an out-out crook."</p>
<p>Hagan is no populist. Rather, she has been a centrist, business-oriented Democrat from the time she entered public office, when she was first elected to the N.C. Senate in 1998. Although she settled in North Carolina after attending law school at Wake Forest University, Hagan grew up in Florida. She is from one of the <a href="http://www.ruthvens.com/about-ruthvens/our-history/">wealthiest and most politically connected families</a> in the southwest central part of the Sunshine state, and her uncle was former Florida Governor and U.S. Senator Lawton Chiles.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.usnews.com/news/campaign-2008/articles/2008/11/04/10-things-you-didnt-know-about-kay-hagan">Before public life</a>, she was a corporate lawyer and eventually a vice president at North Carolina National Bank, which was later bought by Bank of America. She ran for the Democratic nomination for U.S. Senate in 2008 "with backing from the business and political establishment," as noted by a <a href="http://yesweekly.com/article-permalink-4645.html">profile</a> at the time.</p>
<p>Once elected, Hagan supported enough of President Obama's first-term agenda to be accused by Tillis and his billionaire backers of voting with Obama 96 percent of the time. She voted for the 2009 economic stimulus, the Affordable Care Act, and against extending the Bush tax cuts.</p>
<p><center><object width="270" height="152"><param name="movie" value="//www.youtube.com/v/vwWQMLGr3QA?hl=en_US&version=3"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="//www.youtube.com/v/vwWQMLGr3QA?hl=en_US&version=3" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="270" height="152" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true"></embed></object> <object width="270" height="152"><param name="movie" value="//www.youtube.com/v/vpypIpWsyqg?hl=en_US&version=3"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="//www.youtube.com/v/vpypIpWsyqg?hl=en_US&version=3" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="270" height="152" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true"></embed></object></center></p>
<p>But she also veered to the right on several issues. She endorsed the Keystone XL pipeline, and in the election's closing weeks made the unfortunate decision to support a West African travel ban, after getting hammered by Thom Tillis' truly shameless attempts to whip up <a href="http://www.salon.com/2014/10/08/thom_tillis_ebola_hysteria_a_toxic_mix_of_unfounded_panic_and_awful_policy/">Ebola hysteria</a>. He was the <a href="http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/220997-gop-senate-hopefuls-embrace-ebola-travel-ban">first Senate candidate</a> to call for a travel ban, and opened the floodgates to a wave of <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/erik-ose/gop-ebola_b_6001794.html">GOP demagoguery</a> over Ebola.</p>
<p>Hagan turned her back on the DREAMers when she was one of only five Democratic Senators to vote against the DREAM Act in 2010. Latino activists swore they would <a href="http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2014/11/08/5300997/thesourceon-politics.html#.VF7IPjTMSSo">remember</a> when Hagan faced re-election, and they did, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MISxE54L5gc">disrupting some of her rallies</a> and erecting billboards around the state <a href="http://thinkprogress.org/immigration/2014/10/27/3584783/dreamers-interrupt-democrat-senator-on-stage/">denouncing</a> Hagan's immigration-related stands. Yet their efforts may have been a wash, helping inoculate Hagan against Tillis' charges that she was too pro-immigration. Exit polls <a href="http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/elections/2014/NC/senate/exitpoll">showed</a> Latino voters only made up 3 percent of the N.C. electorate in 2014, with inconclusive results as to which candidate they preferred.</p>
<p>With her corporate background and a campaign that stressed her centrism, many low income voters in North Carolina, be they white, black, or brown, may not have felt Kay Hagan was leading the fight on their issues. It would explain why voters who earned less than $30,000 a year <a href="http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/elections/2014/NC/senate/exitpoll">only made up 19 percent</a> of the 2014 electorate, down from <a href="http://elections.nbcnews.com/ns/politics/2012/north-carolina/president/#exitPoll">25 percent in 2012</a>. This was a body blow to Democrats, because the ones who did vote backed Hagan 63%-30%. By contrast, 24 percent of all voters made more than $100,000, and went for Tillis by a 59%-39% margin.</p>
<p>And it left an opening for the GOP to try and convince voters that Thom Tillis would do the most to look out for their economic interests and create jobs.</p>
<p><center><object width="270" height="152"><param name="movie" value="//www.youtube.com/v/ZaJa4VFsAfQ?hl=en_US&version=3"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="//www.youtube.com/v/ZaJa4VFsAfQ?hl=en_US&version=3" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="270" height="152" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true"></embed></object> <object width="270" height="152"><param name="movie" value="//www.youtube.com/v/YUZA32QEUdI?version=3&hl=en_US"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="//www.youtube.com/v/YUZA32QEUdI?version=3&hl=en_US" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="270" height="152" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true"></embed></object></center></p>
<p>44 percent of North Carolina voters named the economy as the top issue facing the country, and split 52%-44% for Tillis. 64 percent of N.C. voters who cast ballots this year favored a higher minimum wage, <a href="http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/elections/2014/NC/senate/exitpoll">according to exit polls</a>. But 29 percent of them voted for Tillis, even though he <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/02/27/thom-tillis-minimum-wage-_n_4866505.html">explicitly opposed it</a>, and Hagan wanted to raise it to $10.10 an hour. The minimum wage was one of the <a href="http://www.kayhagan.com/issues/jobs/">few economic issues</a> where she drew a <a href="http://www.newsobserver.com/2014/09/12/4145909/senate-candidates-spar-over-minimum.html">sharp contrast</a> between herself and her opponent, but an insufficient number of low-income voters noticed.</p>
<p>During a presidential year with substantially higher turnout, Hagan more than likely would have been re-elected. When she won her first Senate term in 2008, Hagan outperformed Barack Obama in North Carolina by over 100,000 ballots, leading the statewide ticket with 2.25 million votes.</p>
<p>In this year's midterm election, with opposition to her party's sitting President giving Republicans all the motivation they needed to vote, enlarging the electorate was Hagan's only hope of surviving the onslaught of right-wing money determined to take her down. Her campaign ran the <a href="http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2014/10/north-carolina-democrat-black-vote-kay-hagan">largest field operation ever</a> in an N.C. Senate race, with 40 offices, 100 staffers, and an estimated 10,000 volunteers.</p>
<p>Yet by the time the polls closed, not enough Democratic voters had gotten excited enough about Kay Hagan to save the day. "I don't think a field operation can create enthusiasm - it can mobilize enthusiasm," <a href="http://www.newsobserver.com/2014/11/08/4305385/election-pollsters-explain-why.html">observed</a> Democratic strategist Gary Pearce.</p>
<p><center><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0vggb0n_cEh5t7VVuVhr05HnoBRgnYn8vkUmAJwCU1VvrFgLYTb_otHqXpFiVlpRYOWFsV0saderkjRZBGEAoTbQYMKCwzQMOIrdSQbdXC4QwJTArjs-rxed8_Arfg53sRTTxkZWib22j/s1600/Kay+Hagan+concedes.JPG" imageanchor="1" ><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0vggb0n_cEh5t7VVuVhr05HnoBRgnYn8vkUmAJwCU1VvrFgLYTb_otHqXpFiVlpRYOWFsV0saderkjRZBGEAoTbQYMKCwzQMOIrdSQbdXC4QwJTArjs-rxed8_Arfg53sRTTxkZWib22j/s550/Kay+Hagan+concedes.JPG" /></a></center></p>
<p>No one should count Hagan out of politics too soon. She could still make a comeback run in two years for Republican Sen. Burr's seat. But Mark Chilton sums up what's on the mind of many North Carolina Democrats right now.</p>
<p>"We can lazily chalk up this result and many others across the country to 2014 being a bad year for Democrats," said Chilton. "Or we can seriously ask ourselves whether we need a new approach - on policy, on style, and on demography."</p>
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<p>The battle for the Senate has been a cliffhanger for months. Races in <a href="http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/11/control-of-us-senate-hinges-on-a-handful-of-close-races/">at least ten states</a> that will decide the balance of power have remained <a href="http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2014/11/01/245412/polls-all-agree-races-too-close.html">too close to call</a>, despite corporate pundits' haste to forecast a GOP victory. Now, on the eve of Election Day, it's tempting to throw up your hands, sit back and wait for the returns to come in.</p>
<p><center><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh80HDmdKkammh4FuFEFqBTiOk-yECAjaSBuOAac30oG3tHlMVY5nTh2D9VXtSJP4_mte-Dwc3_z8BO-ErWcHW-ZZkM-3S1vtSzccktIWZWdMgGqNdl9OcAlZulleiLm-6oF5UhTtAHqvhU/s1600/Voters.JPG" imageanchor="1" ><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh80HDmdKkammh4FuFEFqBTiOk-yECAjaSBuOAac30oG3tHlMVY5nTh2D9VXtSJP4_mte-Dwc3_z8BO-ErWcHW-ZZkM-3S1vtSzccktIWZWdMgGqNdl9OcAlZulleiLm-6oF5UhTtAHqvhU/s550/Voters.JPG" /></a></center></p>
<p>That's exactly what Republicans are hoping we'll do. Give up hope and do nothing.</p>
<p>What's the alternative?</p>
<p>How can progressives channel our outrage over the possibility of the GOP ruling both houses of Congress for the remaining two years of Obama's presidency? Pushing whatever legislation they want to further their far-right agenda and keep our country from moving forward? Holding the power to <a href="http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/11/02/who-controls-the-senate-controls-the-courts.html">control the nation's courts</a> by blocking judicial nominations, including seats on the Supreme Court?</p>
<p>If you can, take tomorrow off from work. Call your local Democratic campaign office, and show up to volunteer. Don't fool yourself into thinking one more volunteer won't make a difference. It will, and they need us. Bring your cell phone. Whether it's making phone calls to voters or going out to knock on doors and flush folks out who haven't voted yet, your efforts will pay off.</p>
<p>If your state is true blue or red and doesn't have a close Senate or House race, it's even easier to make a difference. From the comfort of your own home, or wherever you happen to be, the number one way you can help is to call voters in other states.</p>
<p><center><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwJdYZP1qUCQNjggsLUlUxP5fk_rlWmgWtbOON_r3wl0Zu6QdMlphQoZ8ZDNmAKe3_F6UwF5PF6K_iljjKp1bYjSRzkBaXHpjxVnMT3F3gcrsiV1i34ktTwN3augRYquSEz4bTxVSCayE2/s1600/Phone+calls+to+voters.JPG" imageanchor="1" ><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwJdYZP1qUCQNjggsLUlUxP5fk_rlWmgWtbOON_r3wl0Zu6QdMlphQoZ8ZDNmAKe3_F6UwF5PF6K_iljjKp1bYjSRzkBaXHpjxVnMT3F3gcrsiV1i34ktTwN3augRYquSEz4bTxVSCayE2/s550/Phone+calls+to+voters.JPG" /></a></center></p>
<p>Through its <a href="http://pol.moveon.org/2014calls/whereareyou.html">Voters Rising campaign</a>, MoveOn.org has helped volunteers around the country make over five million calls to progressive voters in targeted states so far, voters who are on the fence about voting in the midterms. You can help reach even more. There are still calling shifts available that you can <a href="http://pol.moveon.org/2014calls/home_shift_signup.html">sign up for right now</a>.</p>
<p><center><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjulsbESiZQuHW-bfhCwI21K43jmfpr4yE9ASsvt7l_LE3vy144x6PpwEJU9VmcevcAR_7jJh7urVUAlM5wN0BgSxt5V3h3ciVWt1mTJgKt-uHiG3-v_Qzn5cJ3yVQ0RZSJQtHh_qsfuRhQ/s1600/MoveOn+Voters+Rising.JPG" imageanchor="1" ><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjulsbESiZQuHW-bfhCwI21K43jmfpr4yE9ASsvt7l_LE3vy144x6PpwEJU9VmcevcAR_7jJh7urVUAlM5wN0BgSxt5V3h3ciVWt1mTJgKt-uHiG3-v_Qzn5cJ3yVQ0RZSJQtHh_qsfuRhQ/s550/MoveOn+Voters+Rising.JPG" /></a></center></p>
<p>Calling voters is empowering for both you and the people you'll talk with. Make a little time to do it. You'll speak with good-hearted citizens in other states who share your views and may have just been waiting for the extra push you'll give them in order to vote this year.</p>
<p><center><object width="550" height="309"><param name="movie" value="//www.youtube.com/v/EVlztjHwTBo?version=3&hl=en_US"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="//www.youtube.com/v/EVlztjHwTBo?version=3&hl=en_US" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="550" height="309" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true"></embed></object></center></p>
<p>The reality is that there's never a better time than the few days immediately before an election to call voters and remind them to go to the polls. In 2004, I worked to elect John Kerry in North Carolina. Our office was <a href="http://thelatestoutrage.blogspot.com/2008/02/fighting-together-for-something-we-all.html">overrun with volunteers</a> in the campaign's closing days, spread out in every room and hallway with cell phones and call sheets. But there's always more phone calls to be made than there are volunteers available to make them.</p>
<p>With control of the Senate <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/republicans-appear-set-to-take-control-of-senate-but-hope-remains-for-democrats/2014/11/01/9e2f4a68-61e7-11e4-8b9e-2ccdac31a031_story.html">hanging in the balance</a>, the stakes are high in 2014. Spend some time between now and tomorrow night dialing for voters, and you'll go to bed on Tuesday knowing you helped make a difference in this election.</p>
<p><center><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKinGxWyvYdfetCus3Onfya9ynnAoFIRiOuDah2KbDett5d5mzYsEIYeRJz3y431zsmnqYCKuK3Cr-SIra_uOUQczWJOprbzA9spomKrfIPVc9szrn6wxS0KvZTY10EmT_Cb-gtyw5Rwaf/s1600/VOTE.jpg" imageanchor="1" ><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKinGxWyvYdfetCus3Onfya9ynnAoFIRiOuDah2KbDett5d5mzYsEIYeRJz3y431zsmnqYCKuK3Cr-SIra_uOUQczWJOprbzA9spomKrfIPVc9szrn6wxS0KvZTY10EmT_Cb-gtyw5Rwaf/s400/VOTE.jpg" /></a></center></p>
<p><a href="https://twitter.com/share" class="twitter-share-button" data-url="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/erik-ose/the-number-one-way-you-ca_b_6093876.html" data-text="How You Can Help Save the Senate" data-via="latestoutrage" data-dnt="true">###</a></p>
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