Tuesday, November 13, 2012

November 13

 
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It's a week after the election and Arizona still has 300,000+ votes to count, some of which are provisional ballots (i.e., cast by possible Mexicans because they are brown) that might expire tomorrow. In other words, everything went according to Republican plan.

That's why I had to laugh when I heard people like Sean Hannity say that they're ready to do immigration reform, as if that will fix the problem Republicans have with Latinos. If you're one of the 500,000 or so mostly Latino mostly new/early/provisional voters who's wondering if the Republicans will let your ballot be counted, I'm thinking that there's fuck-all the Republicans can do right now to win your vote the next time, or the time after that. It's not that disenfranchisement trumps immigration reform, though it might. Latinos know that Republican obstruction is the reason we don't have immigration reform. A few House Republicans grudgingly voting for immigration reform isn't going to change a 70/30 or 80/20 split in Latino voting preference that took years to create, and the House isn't going to overturn SB 1070 or push Jan Brewer out of office.

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The National Journal has an article up about the massive FAIL of Republican pollsters. It ends with a question/statement from an unnamed GOPer:

No matter what the answer is, the GOP knows it must come up with a more reliable method of measuring the electorate. It hurts to lose; it hurts more when a party doesn't see it coming. And this year, Republicans were completely blindsided.

Democrats "must be looking at us like we're the biggest f——- morons in the world," one frustrated Republican said. "That's what I'd be doing."

Yep, that about sums it up.

The only folks dumber than the Republican candidates, fluffers and operatives would be the gullible suckers who vote for these idiots.

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Talking Points Memo pulls out the four most telling paragraphs from the NYTimes (paywall) story about the convoluted Patraeus affair story:

Ms. Kelley, a volunteer with wounded veterans and military families, brought her complaint to a rank-and-file agent she knew from a previous encounter with the F.B.I. office, the official also said. That agent, who had previously pursued a friendship with Ms. Kelley and had earlier sent her shirtless photographs of himself, was "just a conduit" for the complaint, he said. He had no training in cybercrime, was not part of the cyber squad handling the case and was never assigned to the investigation.

But the agent, who was not identified, continued to "nose around" about the case, and eventually his superiors "told him to stay the hell away from it, and he was not invited to briefings," the official said. The Wall Street Journal first reported on Monday night that the agent had been barred from the case.

Later, the agent became convinced — incorrectly, the official said — that the case had stalled. Because of his "worldview," as the official put it, he suspected a politically motivated cover-up to protect President Obama. The agent alerted Eric Cantor, the House majority leader, who called the F.B.I. director, Robert S. Mueller III, on Oct. 31 to tell him of the agent's concerns.

The official said the agent's self-described "whistle-blowing" was "a little embarrassing" but had no effect on the investigation.

So… the shirtless FBI Agent–who's advances were spurned by the ingenue Jill Kelley went to the GOP Majority Leader Eric Cantor to tip him that a scandal was brewing that could help the GOP, you know, because of his world view.

The little factoid that kept confusing me as this stupid story unfolded was why Cantor was briefed and the President wasn't, and now we know: Teabagging. This sad and stupid story now officially has no legs. I hope that Mrs. Petraeus gets a good settlement and that miserable little rat-fucker General gets what he deserves.

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Let's name storms after oil companies

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GOP Senator: Obama Should Find Common Ground By Adopting Policies 'Just Like Romney Suggested'

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Though Congress remains whiter, older, and more male than the nation as a whole, the incoming class will be the most diverse in history.

The 113th Congress will be more representative of the United States from race to religion, and from gender to sexual orientation. It will look more like America with 3 new African American representatives, 10 new Latinos, 5 new Asian Americans and 24 women in the House or Senate.* It will believe more like America with the first two Hindu congresspeople, the first Buddhist senator, and the first non-theist to openly acknowledge her belief prior to getting elected. It will love more like America, with 4 new LGBT congresspeople or senators, including the first openly bisexual congresswoman and the first openly gay congressman of color. And it will be younger, with four new congressmen born in the 1980s.

Read more

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Fuck these people.

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Nearly 400,000 People Call On Macy's To Dump Donald Trump

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Just in case you're confused about the details of the impending "fiscal cliff," here are three easy-on-the-eyes explanations/primers on what's at stake and what could happen.

First, Kevin Drum (but you should read the whole thing):

The fiscal-cliff way: On January 1, about $400 billion in tax increases and $200 billion in spending cuts will take effect. That's $600 billion, or 4 percent of GDP, and that would be a huge drag on the economy.

Also, here's The Week magazine with a solid write-up, and Ric Edelman with an even-keeled run down.

Bottom line: if it happens, the economy will suffer — as will just about everyone.

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We have yet another CEO threatening his employees following President Obama's reelection, but this one claims it's because of the so-called "fiscal cliff." As if the federal deficit has anything at all to do with hiring at a private health insurance provider.

Aetna CEO Mark Bertolini joins a growing list of corporate strongmen who fancy themselves as dictators.

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This really happened:

"The president was elected on the basis that he was not Romney and that Romney was a poopy-head and you should vote against Romney. And he won by two points, but he didn't make the case for higher taxes and higher spending. He kind of sounded like the opposite." -Grover Norquist

That's right. Roughly half of congress has pledged allegiance to a man who still uses the term "poopy-head" in a serious manner and who clearly has no grasp of empirical reality.

And if you ask me, this sounds like a case of good old projection. Clearly President Obama is the poopy-head for having the audacity to make a winning argument.

Grover Norquist is not a serious person.

 

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