World News Korner

Courtesy of Mediaite:

During his final briefing on Wednesday, White House Press Secretary Jay Carney got in a jab at Dick Cheney after the former vice president wrote in the Wall Street Journal that “rarely has a U.S. president been so wrong about so much at the expense of so many” with regards to Iraq and Middle East policy.

“Which president was he talking about?” Carney zinged as ABC reporter Jon Karl read off the quote, prompting laughter from the packed room. “I believe he was talking about President Obama,” Karl joked back.

Carney ultimately settled with this response: “He’s entitled to his opinion.”

The idea that anybody should seriously listen to anything Cheney has to say about Iraq is being universally dismissed.

From the New York Times:

This, from the man who helped lead us into this trumped-up war, searching for nonexistent weapons of mass destruction, a war in which some 4,500 members of the American military were killed, many thousands more injured, and that is running a tab of trillions of dollars.

To the Washington Post:

When it comes to being wrong about Iraq, Dick Cheney has been in a class by himself. It was Cheney who said, “Simply stated, there is no doubt that Saddam Hussein now has weapons of mass destruction. There is no doubt he is amassing them to use against our friends, against our allies, and against us.”

It was Cheney who said: “it’s been pretty well confirmed” that 9/11 hijacker Mohammed Atta “did go to Prague and he did meet with a senior official of the Iraqi intelligence service.”

It was Cheney who said: “we do know, with absolute certainty, that [Saddam Hussein] is using his procurement system to acquire the equipment he needs in order to enrich uranium to build a nuclear weapon”

It was Cheney who said in 2005: “I think they’re in the last throes, if you will, of the insurgency.”

All those things, and many more, were false. There is not a single person in America — not Bill Kristol, not Paul Wolfowitz, not Don Rumsfeld, no pundit, not even President Bush himself — who has been more wrong and more shamelessly dishonest on the topic of Iraq than Dick Cheney.

And even, believe it or not, over at Fox News:

“In your op-ed [in the Wall Street Journal], you write as follows: ‘Rarely has a U.S. president been so wrong about so much at the expense of so many,” Kelly said on her show “The Kelly File.” “But time and time again, history has proven that you got it wrong as well sir.”

And while all of that is good, it is really not good enough.

Good enough would be seeing Dick Cheney giving interviews from behind bars.

Good enough would be seeing the entire Bush Administration prosecuted for war crimes.

Good enough would be the Republican party admitting publicly that they helped lie a nation into war and lose their standing as a political party of worth in this country.

It would not bring back the thousands of dead American soldiers, nor the hundreds of thousands dead Iraqis, but at least it might do something to keep such a travesty from ever happening again.

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Courtesy of the White Walker of Wasilla's Facebook page:

Does it seem like a decorated Marine is the only one Obama doesn't want crossing our border?

I’ve had the good fortune to be in contact with associates of Sgt. Andrew Tahmooressi, the U.S. Marine jailed in Mexico after inadvertently crossing the border with three registered guns in his car. Fox’s Greta Van Susteren has been covering this story diligently, and has traveled the route our Marine traveled when straying across a highway into Mexico, noting it seems quite easy to end up in Mexico without planning on it, because signage is so poor along the roads.

As reported, his mother has had difficulty finding good legal representation for her son, but they’ve now acquired a good attorney to present his case and get him released as soon as possible.

This terrible and unnecessary situation will likely be resolved via the court system and there is every indication that Sgt. Tahmooressi has a strong case to win, but it’s a crapshoot. And it’s crappy (Boy I remember when I was ten years old and liked to say some version of the the word "crap.") that more hasn’t been done to help free this detained U.S. Marine who’s suffered months in a Mexican jail for crossing the boarder into their country with registered arms. We must implore our commander-in-chief to help America’s Marine under his command, and help his family with at least having their questions answered. (You know as a civilian I am more than a little insulted at the idea that somebody in the military is more deserving of justice than any other American. It's not like there are not people in uniform who are incapable of breaking the law, or doing terrible things.) Please don’t prove this is par for the course for your administration, Mr. President. Perhaps if Sgt. Tahmooressi had deserted his post, his mother would get the red carpet treatment at the White House instead of being ignored. (Okay that is just an ugly and unnecessary dig at Sgt. Bergdahl.)

Let’s bring our honorable Marine home. An organization helping Sgt. Tahmooressi will have information for all of us soon, so stay tuned for more info – I'll get it to you – and please do what you can to support them in bringing an honorable American son home.

- Sarah Palin

I know NOTHING about the ease with which one can accidentally cross the border into Mexico, but you would think with everybody so focused on security that it would not be something quite so easily accomplished.

And it appears I'm right.

Here is some information that Palin seems to be willfully overlooking:

According to Vice News, Tahmooressi entered Mexico with a 5.56mm rifle, a 12-gauge shotgun and a .45-caliber pistol, as well as more than 400 rounds of ammunition. The chief Mexican customs officer at the San Ysidro crossing told Vice that the guns, all loaded, were "just wrapped up in his belongings" rather than locked away and unloaded as required by California law. Vice also reported that "the rifle was found behind the driver’s seat, the shotgun on the passenger seat, and the pistol was in the driver-side door pocket, along with several cartridges."

It's pretty hard to accidentally end up in Mexico. Especially with guns. There are big signs on the U.S. side telling travelers that guns are illegal in Mexico. There’s plenty of warning that the border is approaching. Is it plausible that Tahmooressi crossed by accident in the dark? Maybe. I’m willing to give him the benefit of the doubt, even though he admitted that he lied to Mexican officials about how many times he'd crossed the border.

Okay now if you were a Mexican police officer and you found an American who entered your country with illegal firearms in their vehicle and four hundred rounds of ammunition, and they then lied about how many times they crossed your border, would you trust that their motives innocent?

But hey if Palin is hell bent on grandstanding in a totally useless fashion, she can join these guys:

U.S. Marine Sgt. Andrew Tahmooressi has been in a Mexican prison for almost three months — and a group of bikers have decided that’s long enough.

John Harrington, founder of Shield Tactical, grew tired of waiting on President Obama to intervene on the Marine’s behalf, so he is organizing a ride to the Mexican border to demand Tahmooressi’s release.

“I started last Thursday to organize the ride on the border to demand the release of Sgt. Tahmooressi,” Harrington told the Guerilla Media Network in a roadside interview earlier this week. “Somebody has to stand up for these guys. It’s time we start fighting liars with fires. So that’s what we’re doing.”

How does one "fight liars with fires" by the way?

So these motorcycle morons are going to ride their Harley's to the border, and gun their engines in order to intimidate the Mexican law enforcement into releasing the ex-Marine.

It sounds like somebody has been watching too many episodes of the Sons of Anarchy.

The actual Marines have a more reasoned approach to this matter:

In a letter this week to Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Calif., Marine Corps Manpower and Reserve Affairs Commander Lt. Gen. Robert Milstead said the Corps has limited ability to help Tahmooressi, but was willing to do whatever possible to bring him back.

“I understand ... this matter rests appropriately within the U.S. Department of State’s capable hands,” Milstead said. “While it is not within the Marine Corps’ purview to unilaterally intervene in matters involving a foreign government, I assure you that we are prepared to assist as necessary to the greatest extent permissible under law.”

You see THAT is the kind of support that is appropriate. To "assist as necessary to the greatest extent permissible under law." Only attention seeking idiots rant and rage about something that is already being handled by the courts of country with whom we have a friendly relationship.

So here is my question.

What happens if the Mexican authorities turn up some new evidence that Tahmooressi wasn't the innocent border crosser he claims to be? What if it turns out that he was engaged in illegal activities?

Will Palin, Fox News, and the Right Wing rabble rousers then suggest that we invade Mexico to break him out of jail? Or do they actually respect the sovereignty of other nations like they are always saying?

I can just hear John McCain now, "Bomb, bomb, bomb... bomb, bomb Mexico."

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Justin Ayers and his newborn baby.

Courtesy of the News Herald:

A new father is dead after what appeared to be a bizarre, accidental shooting Tuesday night.

Steven Justin Ayers, 33, and his wife had gathered family members to celebrate the homecoming of their 3-day-old baby — born on Father’s Day. But the celebration at 2502 Michigan Court ended shortly after 6 p.m. when a stray bullet entered the home from more than 200 feet away, struck Ayers in the back of the head and killed him instantly.

Moments earlier, Charles Edward Shisler, 62, had picked up a loaded 9mm pistol in his residence, adjacent to the Ayers’ home, and the gun discharged. Shisler was in his backyard at 3708 W. 25th St. by the time Bay County Sheriff’s Office deputies arrived minutes after the shooting, according to arrest reports.

Shisler was initially uncooperative with deputies and “extremely belligerent,” according to arrest reports. While in custody, waiving his right to remain silent, Shisler told officers the shooting was accidental.

“The damn gun doesn’t usually shoot,” Shisler’s arrest report quoted him as saying. “You have to squeeze the hell out of the trigger to shoot it.”

Sitting in you home gazing lovingly at your newborn baby, and then suddenly dead.

Just another day in the home of the brave, and the land of the 2nd Amendment.

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This is from an interview with the National Geographic Daily News.

This may be the most frustrated that I have ever seen Professor Tyson,

And really who can blame him?

He is watching the thing he loves, science, under constant attack by politicians and religious leaders, while also seeing that one of the attacks comes in the form of the dumbing down of education in this country.

If I were him I would be yelling about this everyday.

Hell I'm not him, and I still do my fair share of yelling about it.

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Courtesy of the LA Times:

When Austin Holland was being considered for his job as the sole seismologist at the Oklahoma Geological Survey in 2009, his interviewer posed a wry question: "Are you going to be able to entertain yourself as a seismologist in Oklahoma?"

Back then, the state had a 30-year average of only two earthquakes of magnitude 3.0 or higher per year. As it turns out, though, boredom has been the least of Holland's concerns. Over the last five years, the state has had thousands of earthquakes — an unprecedented increase that has made it the second-most seismically active state in the continental United States, behind California.

The state had 109 temblors measuring 3.0 or greater in 2013 — more than 5,000% above normal. There have already been more than 200 earthquakes this year, Holland said.

Scientists have never observed such a dramatic swarm of earthquakes "in what's considered a stable continental interior," Holland said. "Whatever we're looking at, it's completely unprecedented."

Oklahoma has always had the potential for earthquakes; it has a complex underlying fault system. But until recently, the most powerful quake of the modern era was a 5.5-magnitude temblor in 1952 that left a 15-meter crack in the state Capitol.

Scientists say the more likely cause of the recent increase is underground injection wells drilled by the oil and gas industry. About 80% of the state is within nine miles of an injection well, according to the Oklahoma Geological Survey.

Of course Oklahoma is not alone. Texas is experiencing the exact same problem.

And in fact so are just about every state where fracking is taking place.

This is my first post of the day folks, and I am going to post all kinds of information today.

But to be honest I am not sure that anything else I am going to share is going to be as important as this story is, so please help to spread this information far and wide.

We are literally shaking our planet to pieces in the attempt to dredge up fossil fuels and inject them into our atmosphere in order to destroy our climate. These are the actions of the clinically insane.

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Welcome all you rational people to the world of irrational fear that permeates the "gun culture."

First up we have the case in Texas of the Open Carry dipshits approaching schoolchildren and attempting to convince them that carrying around assault weapons helps to fight Jim Crow laws:


Open Carry Texas posted this disturbing image which shows their fully armed members talking with school children. I’m not certain if their weapons were loaded with freedom bullets or not. They proudly declared in their post, “Dallas County speaks to kids at Coppell City Hall this weekend who mentioned they were studying Jim Crow laws in school.”

We all know how that subject comes up when kids run into heavily armed groups consisting of mostly men. These are the same armed people Target allowed to protest on their premises.

They continue to say, “We explained that gun control is a major component of the Jim Crow era to keep guns out of the hands of minorities and that Open Carry Texas is working to repeal these laws.” They concluded, “We also discussed gun safety.”

Yes it was lack of access to firearms that kept African Americans from receiving the same educational opportunities as white people, and from passing the unfair literacy tests they were subjected to before being allowed to vote, and it is what kept them from being allowed to eat in the same restaurants as their Caucasian neighbors.

Just imagine how much differently things would have turned out if the black man had taken up arms against their white oppressors, and shot their way into restaurants, voting booths, and better schools.

Idiots!

Not to be outdone an Open Carry advocate in Michigan decided to bring his metal penis extender to a local library's summer reading party:

"I'd rather have my gun and not need it, versus needing it and not having it," said Warren, a 31-year-old resident of Kalamazoo Township's Eastwood neighborhood who runs his own lawn-care business. "I'd rather be prepared. "

"Whether it's the gas station or the library, I can live with the fact that I'd be forced to take another man's life if he attacked my family," Warren said. "I couldn't live with not doing anything."

Translation: "I'm really hoping to kill somebody someday."

In eastern Pennsylvania a guy was a little TOO prepared and ended up falling asleep watching gun videos on You Tube and discharging his weapon accidentally:

Greg Winnick, of Wind Gap, said he had been watching YouTube videos about a new trigger for his AR-15 after installing one on his gun when he apparently dozed off at the computer with the gun cradled in his lap, reported The Express-Times.

The 37-year-old, who said he had been awake since midnight Sunday, told state police he had not realized the weapon was loaded.

Your gun going off in your sleep, who hasn't been there?

But what happens when your metal penis becomes jealous of your natural equipment?

Courtesy of Crooks and Liars:

A man in Macon, Georgia accidentally shot himself in the penis while attempting to holster his gun last week.

Talk about ironic.

You know they must have little bullet proof sheaths to prevent this kind of thing, right? Or maybe you could just arm your dick so that it can fire back.

On a serious note the facts are that despite NRA arguments to the contrary the evidence shows that guns to NOT keep our families safe:

The overwhelming empirical evidence indicates that the presence of a gun makes children less safe; that programs such as Eddie Eagle are insufficient; and that measures the NRA and extreme gun advocates vehemently oppose, such as gun safes and smart guns, could dramatically reduce the death toll. Study after study unequivocally demonstrates that the prevalence of firearms directly increases the risk of youth homicide, suicide, and unintentional death. This effect is consistent across the United States and throughout the world. As a country, we should be judged by how well we protect our children. By any measure, we are failing horribly.

The United States accounts for nearly 75 percent of all children murdered in the developed world. Children between the ages of 5 and 14 in the United States are 17 times more likely to be murdered by firearms than children in other industrialized nations.

Children from states where firearms are prevalent suffer from significantly higher rates of homicide, even after accounting for poverty, education, and urbanization. A study focusing on youth in North Carolina found that most of these deaths were caused by legally purchased handguns. A recent meta-analysis revealed that easy access to firearms doubled the risk of homicide and tripled the risk for suicide among all household members. Family violence is also much more likely to be lethal in homes where a firearm is present, placing children especially in danger. Murder-suicides are another major risk to children and are most likely to be committed with a gun.

These gun toting pieces of shit can talk about the importance of their 2nd Amendment rights, and their desire to keep their families safe from violence, but the facts are that THEY are "bad guys with the gun" that the NRA keeps warning us about and that to be safe we need to keep weapons out of the hands of those who fantasize cutting down law breakers during their lunch break.

More guns, means more bullets, means more deaths. It is as simple as that.

Other countries have done the math and it is high time we do the same.

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Well crap!

Courtesy of Politico:

Glenn Beck is admitting he was wrong and liberals were right for opposing the invasion of Iraq.

“[Liberals] said we couldn’t force freedom on people,” Beck said at the start of his Tuesday radio show. “Let me lead with my mistakes. You were right. Liberals, you were right, we shouldn’t have.”

“From the beginning, most people on the left were against going to Iraq,” Beck said. “I wasn’t.”

The talk show host explained that when a possible invasion of Iraq was being discussed, he believed Saddam Hussein was backing terror against the United States and that something had to be done.

“In spite of the things I felt at the time when we went into war, liberals said, ‘We shouldn’t get involved, we shouldn’t nation-build and there was no indication the people of Iraq had the will to be free,’” Beck said. “I thought that was insulting at the time. Everybody wants to be free.”

On Tuesday, Beck admitted, “You cannot force democracy on the Iraqis or anybody else, it doesn’t work. They don’t understand it or even really want it.”

Holy crap! And here I thought that when Pat Robertson came out against the decision to invade Iraq that it was big news.

I can hardly wait to see who next publicly devours a huge helping of crow.

Which makes me wonder if we are getting closer to a time when the nation might seriously consider prosecuting the architects of that illegal conflict.

Oh a boy can dream can't he?

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Courtesy of Time:

“We cannot let a minority of people, and that’s what it is, it is a minority of people, hold a viewpoint that terrorizes the majority of people,” Clinton said during a live CNN town hall. The comments were Clinton’s deepest foray into an exceedingly controversial political subject since leaving the State Department last year.

“I was disappointed that the Congress did not pass universal background checks after the horrors of the shootings at Sandy Hook,” she said in response to a question from a school teacher in the audience. “I don’t think any parent, or any person should have to fear about their child going to school or going to college because someone for whatever reason, psychological, emotional, political, ideological, whatever, could possibly enter that school property with an automatic weapon and murder innocent children, students, teachers.”

“I will speak out [on this subject] no matter what role I find myself in,” Clinton pledged, referring to her consideration of a presidential bid in 2016.

Damn, that is a pretty bold position for somebody who is clearly running for President in 2016.

This will ABSOLUTELY inspire the NRA to throw tons of money at defeating her and other Right Wing lunatics will now have a rallying cry to use to get the conservative vote out.

This also kind of softens the criticism that Hillary is too politically calculating and that all of her responses to the questions from reporters are focused on making her more electable rather than her honest feelings on the topic.

Clearly Hillary knows that this answer will show up in political advertisements, chain e-mails, and debates right up until November 2016.

To honest this really impresses me, and gives me more confidence in who she will be as President.

As did her response to the RNC squirrel:

A Republican National Committee intern, dressed in a Squirrel costume, has been stalking Hillary Clinton while she’s on her book tour. On Tuesday, the former Secretary of State walked up to the intern and said while handing him a copy of her book ‘Hard Choices,’ “Hello Mr. Squirrel, how are you?” She continued with a smile on her face, “I know you’ve been following me around and while you’re in between your gigs. I wanted you to get a copy of my book.”

Oh yeah, she going to do fine.

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