“Rainbow jihadists of SCOTUS blow up twin towers of truth and righteousness,” writes Christian radio show host Bryan Fischer of the American Family Association.
He also writes, “From a moral standpoint, 6/26 has become our 9/11.”
Secular Talk
On Wednesday, former Texas Governor Rick Perry told conservative talk radio host Dana Loesch that President Obama hasn’t shown any “engagement to stop ISIS,” which he attributed to the president’s “lack of being able to really connect the dots” and “lack of executive experience.”
Barack Obama has been President for more than 6 years. Isn’t that enough foreign policy “executive experience?” How much global “executive experience” does Rick Perry have?
http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/perry-inexplicably-blasts-obamas-lack-executive-experience
Though most of his conspiracies seem pretty questionable, Alex Jones may be on the “correct side” on the TPP.
(Updated article)
http://www.infowars.com/trans-pacific-partnership-obama-ready-to-push-secretive-trade-deal/
Secular Talk
According to The New York Times, former Governor Jeb Bush talked about his mother-in-law’s affliction with Alzheimer’s disease last week. He also shed some light on what he thinks should be done to fight the illness.
“In an email exchange with Maria Shriver, the journalist, activist and author, Mr. Bush wrote that he has been getting a lot of feedback since revealing that his family has firsthand experience with the disease,” writes The Times.
Mr. Bush called for more research funding and a faster drug approval process to fight Alzheimer’s, which the CDC says afflicts some 5 million Americans, according to The NYT. “We need to increase funding to find a cure,” Mr. Bush said.
(Updated article)
http://crooksandliars.com/2015/05/republican-compassion-hey-affects-me
Secular Talk
Recently, New York Times columnist Charles Blow quoted the president speaking at Georgetown University about the poor:
“And I think the effort to suggest that the poor are sponges, leeches, don’t want to work, are lazy, are undeserving, got traction,” said the President.
“And, look, it’s still being propagated. I mean, I have to say that if you watch Fox News on a regular basis, it is a constant menu — they will find folks who make me mad. I don’t know where they find them. [Laughter.] They’re like, I don’t want to work, I just want a free Obama phone [laughter]…”
The columnist also criticized Fox News’ Bill O’Reilly for calling poor people “lazy.”
O’Reilly then gave his opinion of Blow’s column on his TV show The O’Reilly Factor.
Below is a quote from Media Matters that was cited by Blow in his column. Media Matters states the quote is from 2004 from O’Reilly’s radio show The Radio Factor.
O’Reilly: “Reagan was not a confrontational guy, didn’t like confrontation, much rather be your pal … doesn’t want to get involved with the really nasty stuff, the tough stuff, and that’s what racial politics is — nasty and tough. … It’s hard to do it because you gotta look people in the eye and tell ’em they’re irresponsible and lazy. And who’s gonna wanna do that? Because that’s what poverty is, ladies and gentlemen.”
Are poor people lazy? What about the “working poor?” Are people who work full-time for low wages lazy? Are there times – during an economic downturn, for example – when people are forced to accept low wages?
Article from the New York Times:
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/14/opinion/charles-blow-the-president-fox-news-the-poor.html?_r=0
In a recent Fox News interview with host of The Kelly File, Megyn Kelly, Jeb Bush didn’t seem to differ much from his brother on the subject of Iraq, nor did he seem worried about the trillions of dollars spent or the thousands of lives lost from the war.
The Huffington Post:
“Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush (R) would have authorized the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq, putting the likely 2016 presidential contender on the same page as his brother George W. Bush, the president who actually did so.”
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/05/10/jeb-bush-iraq-hillary-clinton_n_7251872.html
Secular Talk
Sources state that on Thursday, a panel of three federal judges from the Second Circuit Court of Appeals ruled unanimously that the NSA’s bulk-phone records spying program was illegal.
Reuters states: “Ruling on a program revealed by former government security contractor Edward Snowden, the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan said the Patriot Act did not authorize the National Security Agency to collect Americans’ calling records in bulk.
“Circuit Judge Gerard Lynch wrote for a three-judge panel that Section 215, which addresses the FBI’s ability to gather business records, could not be interpreted to have permitted the NSA to collect a “staggering” amount of phone records, contrary to claims by the Bush and Obama administrations.”
Also, According to the National Journal, more court decisions are on the way:
“Two other appeals courts have in recent months heard arguments considering the legality of the NSA bulk telephone program, but neither has issued a ruling yet. Any split among the courts likely will prompt a Supreme Court review.
Boing Boing and The Electronic Frontier Foundation state:
1. When Congress gave the NSA the power to gather “relevant” information and do so for an “investigation,” they didn’t mean “gather everything and store it forever in case it becomes relevant later.”
2. Having your data collected by the NSA gives you the right to sue them — even if the NSA never looked at that data.
3. Metadata is sensitive information, and the NSA can’t argue that its mass-spying is harmless because it’s collecting metadata instead of data (the fact that you called a suicide hotline is every bit as compromising as what you said while you were talking to them).
4. The judges have “concerns” about the constitutionality of mass spying (though the didn’t go so far as to say that it is unconstitutional, partly because the ACLU had already won on the statutory language alone).
5. One judge added: The government shouldn’t have secret laws. The government argued that its interpretation of surveillance laws was a secret, and the court spanked them for it, saying that a law that’s “shrouded in secrecy” lacked legitimacy.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/05/07/us-usa-security-nsa-idUSKBN0NS1IN20150507
http://www.nationaljournal.com/tech/federal-appeals-court-rules-nsa-spying-illegal-20150507
http://boingboing.net/2015/05/10/what-did-the-courts-just-do-th.html
Secular Talk
On Thursday, Fox News police contributor Bo Dietl suggested that Freddie Gray be given a toxicology examination because he may have taken drugs that caused him to slip and fall in the van and injure himself. Freddie Gray is the man from Baltimore, Maryland, who recently had his spinal cord injured while being arrested.
Wikipedia: “Richard A. “Bo” Dietl (born December 4, 1950) is a former New York City Police Department detective and a media personality known for contributing on the Fox News Network and Imus in the Morning.”
Recently, Fox News’ Bill O’Reilly criticized Baltimore African Americans on many fronts, including income and arrest rates.
According to MediaITE, he said that “despite African-Americans controlling Baltimore, the city’s not prospering” and he focused on personal behavior instead of economic conditions. He also pointed out stats about black crime in Baltimore.
Secular Talk discusses it.
(Updated article)
Secular Talk
The Huffington Post calls the recent Baltimore riots “the worst outbreak of rioting in Baltimore since 1968.”
The L.A. Times states that at the recent riots, more than 235 people were arrested, including at least 34 juveniles; 15 buildings were set on fire; 144 vehicles were destroyed; about 20 police officers were injured, including one who was hit in the head with an object and remained hospitalized Tuesday.
At least one civilian was in critical condition as a result of a building fire.
Public schools closed Tuesday, keeping nearly 85,000 children out of classes. Schools are to reopen today, Wednesday.
(Updated article)
http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-baltimore-riots-tuesday-20150428-story.html#page=1
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/04/28/baltimore-protests_n_7160006.html
OK, Fine. 