Reaction to news that the Church have criticized Brand over supposedly encouraging voter apathy and also attacked the current British political culture.
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Russell Brand Looks At The Church In Britain
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Tag: voting
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Was There Any Good News For Liberals During The Midterms?
David Pakman looks at the good news of the 2014 election.
Paul Begala: People Voted For Gridlock
There’s a good case to be made that people voted for more gridlock in yesterday’s election.
Paul Begala, a former consultant to President Clinton, made that case.
According to him:
“One lesson from the 2014 midterms: Voters love gridlock.”
The Mitch McConnell victory “is not only a victory for McConnell. It is a victory for gridlock and extreme partisanship.”
It was McConnell, after all, who told the National Journal in 2010, “The single most important thing we want to achieve is for President Obama to be a one-term President.”
He states that after the Sandy Hook school shooting in 2012 in Newtown, Connecticut, McConnell vowed to fight “tooth and nail” to block any effort by the President to impose restrictions, including stiffening background checks on gun purchases.
The gun safety law, of course, garnered overwhelming public support; 92% of gun owners supported universal background checks. But thanks to McConnell, the National Rifle Association and its allies were able to defeat the measure.
Begala states, “It was pure McConnell: audacious, partisan, ugly — but successful. It was a strategy McConnell repeated again and again as Obama initiatives crashed into McConnell’s wall of obstructionism.”
“In their wisdom, the voters of the commonwealth of Kentucky have chosen to reward that partisanship and obstructionism. I accept that and honor that. But please don’t tell me voters don’t like partisanship and obstruction in Washington; they just re-elected the king of gridlock.”
Welcome to Mitch McConnell’s world.
GOP Mailer Intimidates & Threatens To Out Liberals
The Republican Party in Iowa sent out flyers to people reading “Notice: all voting is public,” and attempted to convince the reader that people who did not vote for the GOP would be outed and revealed.
The ad tell voters that “In a few months, Iowa will release the list of individual who voted in this election.” Most troublingly, the ad includes an aerial view of a neighborhood with checkmarks indicating that “These People Voted GOP.”
Long story short, it seemed like an attempt to bully people into voting for the GOP.
While information on who voted is public, how a person voted, including what party they voted for, is not.
Cenk Uygur discusses it.
Early Voting: Voters Report Voting Machines Switching Votes to Republican Candidate In NC
Video by The David Pakman Show.
Two Years Ago: Voting Machines Flipped Votes
David Packman discusses the voting machines flipping votes caught on video in West Virginia two years ago. He also discusses online voting in Estonia.
Slate article:
North Carolina Removes Voting Sites From College Campuses
Apparently, North Carolina has removed early-voting sites from some college campuses.
Some of the largest college campuses in the state will not host early voting sites for the fall election.
The Huffington Post states:
“The Republican-dominated North Carolina State Board of Elections, among other efforts, has sought to remove an early-voting location from the campus of Appalachian State University…”
According to the newspaper The State:
“The issue raised the ire of students and voting advocacy groups, and a lawsuit was brought over the removal of a site from Appalachian State University. On Wednesday, after an N.C. Court of Appeals decision, the State Board of Elections added a voting site at ASU. Minutes later, the state Supreme Court said it was sending the case to the Appeals Court to review.”
Below is a video about it with Cenk Uygur. One point that Uygur also brings up is the clever way that Fox News seems to bring on women to criticize women, blacks to criticize blacks, and Latinos to criticize Latinos.
http://www.thestate.com/2014/10/23/3763163_nc-election-law-eliminates-early.html?rh=1#storylink=cpy
Mack: Canadian-Born Ted Cruz Cannot Run For President
According to Right Wing Watch, Richard Mack, a former Arizona sheriff who now heads the Constitutional Sheriffs and Peace Officers Association and religious conservative, said in a recent Blog Talk Radio interview that he believes Cruz is ineligible for the presidency. Mack is known as a prominent “birther.”
In response to a caller who argued that the Constitution bars the Canadian-born Cruz from being president, Mack said, “That is correct, I try to say that to a lot of people. Ted Cruz cannot run for president of the United States.”
Earlier this year, Cruz praised the efforts of Mack and his fellow anti-government protesters in their armed standoff against the federal government at Cliven Bundy’s ranch in Colorado.
Planned Parenthood Study: Sex Education Delays Teen Sex
A recent study showed that teens will delay sex if they go through the sex education program “Get Real” sponsored by Planned Parenthood.
According to Think Progress: “Comprehensive sex ed classes that emphasize healthy relationships and family involvement can encourage more middle school students to put off having sex, according to the results from a new study published in the Journal of School Health.
“The results have big implications for school districts that are trying to decide what type of health classes to offer to kids in sixth, seventh, and eighth grades.
“The three-year study was conducted by researchers at the Wellesley Centers for Women, who wanted to figure out whether Get Real — a comprehensive sex ed program developed by Planned Parenthood — has an impact on middle schoolers’ sexual behavior.
“In order to do that, the researchers tracked a group of racially and economically diverse kids at 24 different schools in the Boston area, half of which implemented Get Real and half of which continued with their existing sex ed programs.”
Secular Talk video.
More info at: http://www.advocatesforyouth.org/publications/1487
Or: http://thinkprogress.org/health/2014/10/21/3581890/sex-ed-planned-parenthood-study/
Koch Brothers False Voter Registration Mailers
Americans For Prosperity (a conservative group with financial ties to the wealthy brothers Charles and David Koch) sent hundreds of North Carolina voters incorrect voter registration information, according to the State Board of Elections.
The mailers contained false information about the deadline to submit voter registration forms, incorrect contact information for the Secretary of State and State Board of Elections offices and an incorrect explanation about how voters are notified that their information has been received.
Clearly, some people may have sent in the mailers thinking that they would be registered, but were not.
Joshua Lawson, a public information officer with the State Board of Elections, told the News & Observer that his office has been receiving phone calls “all day, every day” asking about the mailings. He said that one resident had even received a registration form addressed to her cat.
“It’s unclear where [Americans for Prosperity] got their list, but it’s caused a lot of confusion for people in the state,” Lawson said, explaining that the group did not alert the board before sending the forms.
Misinformation about voter registration can be a felony if it is intentionally misleading and suppresses votes.
Bob Hall, the executive director of Democracy NC, told The Huffington Post that he believed an investigation should be conducted.
In his statement, Hall referenced a television ad that State Senate President Pro Tem Phil Berger (R) was forced to change after the state’s NAACP chapter complained that it gave misleading information to voters about a new identification requirement that doesn’t go into effect until 2016.
OK, Fine. 