World News Korner

Courtesy of the Washington Post:

During a taped interview set to run Sunday on C-SPAN's "Newsmakers" program, Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul hit Bill Clinton for his sexual indiscretions. Again.

Here's the critical piece of what Paul told C-SPAN's Steve Scully:

"The Democrats can't say, 'We're the great defenders of women's rights in the workplace and we will defend you against some kind of abusive boss that uses their position of authority to take advantage of a young women' when the leader of their party, the leading fundraiser in the country, is Bill Clinton, who was a perpetrator of that kind of sexual harassment. Anybody who wants to take money from Bill Clinton or have a fundraiser has a lot of explaining to do."

Yeah, anybody really buying that Paul is all bent out of shape because Bill let Monica Lewinsky play the skin flute?

Yeah me either.

And while I cannot really defend Clinton's actions, he was not exactly taking advantage of an innocent school girl.

Monica knew exactly what she was doing, she flirted with him outrageously, did naughty things with his cigars, and even had the presence of mind to hang onto that blue dress. THOSE are not exactly the actions of a victim.

And the real problem here is that Rand Paul is conflating one man's sexual impropriety, with an entire political party's oppressive and insensitive anti-woman policies.

Hell, by all accounts Bill Clinton did not even screw that woman, but there is ample evidence that the Republican party has been screwing women in America for decades.

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Courtesy of the Washington Times:

Alaska is poised to become the third state to legalize retail marijuana after pro-pot advocates this week cleared the signature hurdle to place an initiative on the August ballot.

The Committee to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol in Alaska hit 31,593 valid signatures Tuesday, well above the 30,169 signatures required to place the measure before voters. The initiative is expected to appear on the Aug. 19 primary ballot once a final count is certified by the state.

Alaska follows in the footsteps of Colorado and Washington, where voters approved measures to regulate the sale of recreational marijuana for adults in November 2012. Colorado unveiled the nation’s first retail pot shops in Jan. 1, and Washington is expected to begin marijuana sales in June.

Dependably Republican Alaska would become the reddest state to approve retail marijuana, but Committee spokesman Taylor Bickford predicted the legalization effort would appeal to the electorate’s libertarian streak.

“Alaska voters have a large degree of respect for personal liberty and freedom, and that’s reflected in the poll numbers we’ve been seeing,” said Mr. Bickford.

On the one hand we are so conservative about social issues, like gun control and taxes, but then on the other side we are all, "Hey let's get high!"

This could of course simply be driven by our libertarian streak, or it could mean that the state is finally ready to return to its blue state roots.

After all we are also starting to change our minds about marriage equality:

For the first time, the left-leaning polling organization found that more Alaskans support gay marriage than oppose it, with 47 percent of voters in favor and 46 percent opposed, according to the poll done Jan. 30 through Feb. 1. A few weren't sure. Last year, 43 percent supported it and 51 percent were against it. And 71 percent back civil unions for gay couples.

Well as a liberal all I can say is that I welcome the return of Alaska's progressive overlords and wish them a long and fruitful reign.

About damn time too!

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You know if this keeps up America might actually soon live up to it's reputation as the land of the free. Free from religion and the constraints it puts on society that is.

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Last Friday Obama stopped by a bar-cafe to pimp out Obamacare. During his visit Obama decided to pick up a baby that apparently was born in Kenya and when confronted about the baby's birth in Kenya Obama replied,


Excerpt via Robinson Meyer at The Atlantic:



[...] When the president arrived, 40 minutes later—stepping out of his SUV, smiling, with a little wave—the nerves subsided. The cafe is split into two long halves, and he first turned to visit its opposite half, smiling, shaking hands, shaking more hands.

And then—for the first time in nearly an hour—I could work. I found that I was so accustomed to his voice, how he holds his body, his aura, that ignoring him in person is as easy as ignoring a TV. Easier, in fact. He stops being the president and starts being That Guy Who You See In Tweets, That Guy Who Gives Speeches, That Guy.

That Guy shook exactly half the hands on the other side of the restaurant. He came back to our side. He addressed the five people sitting adjacent to me—who were, indeed, apparently there to talk to him.

That Guy said he would save our whole side of the restaurant for after the meal. But then, next to me, on my other side, he spotted a baby.

He apologized to the group. He could not resist, he said, a baby.

Concerning the Baby



He picked up the baby. The baby’s mom told him about the baby. Before, I had asked her if she would like pictures of them meeting, so I got out my phone and documented the event. One of those pictures is above.

Pete Souza, the official White House photographer, was also there. He documented the event a little better than I did.

✈ Baby Force One ✈ pic.twitter.com/0e2075cbb2
— The White House (@WhiteHouse) January 11, 2014

There is little else to say about the baby. He was adorable. Obama really seemed to appreciate holding him, and bounced him for probably a minute. The baby's mom told him that their family had just been stationed in Kenya, that thats where the baby was born.

He seemed to stumble for a second, as he realized he could not phrase a joke in exactly the way he could phrase it in private.

“That’s, that’s where Donald Trump thinks I was born,” he said.

Then he handed the baby back to his mom. It was then that I made my only physical contact with the president.

My Only Physical Contact With the President [...] - Continued @ The Atlantic.





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In the heat of an election Illegitimate Obama and his cronies lied about the Benghazi attack that killed Ambassador Stevens, and three other Americans, blaming it on some obscure video. The filmmaker was promptly arrested and imprisoned on probation violations including using an alias. The Five reports he's still sitting in jail.


The Five also reports the DOJ likely will not file any criminal charges in the IRS targeting scandal. You think!?



Newly declassified documents reveal that high-ranking members of the Obama administration were aware that the September 11, 2012 assault on the American consulate in Benghazi was a “terrorist attack” only minutes after the battle began.

In classified testimony given on June 26, 2013 to the House Armed Services Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigation, Gen. Carter Hamm, former head of the United States Africa Command (AFRICOM) revealed he was the one who broke the news to former Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and Gen. Martin Dempsey, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. According to declassified testimony obtained by Fox News, Hamm testified that he learned about the attack only 15 minutes after it began at 9:42 p.m. Libya time. Thus, the administration’s carefully crafted narrative that the attack was based on a video has once again been revealed for the lie it always was.
[...] - Continued @ Canada Free Press.






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Image courtesy of Facebook

Boy she REALLY likes that quote doesn't she?

In my opinion you know that Palin is really dedicated to selling something when she puts it on Facebook. After all that is her link to all of the other shut ins, middle school girls, and mental health patients who use Facebook to communicate to the world about what they just ate, who they wish would drop dead, and that they think that guy in the back row of Algebra is really hot.

Palin even had her ghostwriter dredge up a non-glam shot to demonstrate how serious she is about presenting herself as a wilderness expert and woman at one with nature.

Of course the above photo dates back to Palin's media event when she tried to explain the reason why she suddenly left the Governorship, so it does not exactly help her case that she has to present a photo from almost five years ago now.

I am a little interested in how the faithful see this new reality show, and if that has FINALLY convinced them that she is no longer worth their time, or the money they donate to SarahPAC in the hopes she will run for President someday or use her waning influence to help elect some more Teabagger types.

Actually if you take a moment to check over at SarahPAC you will find that the last time it was updated was back on November 23rd. If THAT is any indication it may go to prove that even the slowest, thickest people on the planet eventually get the hint.

Or then again, maybe not.

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Courtesy of Newser:

MSNBC’s “The Rachel Maddow Show” has delivered a rare victory over Fox News in the ratings: Maddow’s program won its timeslot in the key A25-54 demographic for the week of January 6.

“The Rachel Maddow Show” averaged 325,000 A25-54 viewers for the week, topping Fox News’ “The Kelly File,” which drew 305,000, and “Piers Morgan Tonight,” which had 159,000. It was MSNBC’s best 9pmET performance since the week of the Boston Marathon bombing (4/15/13).

MSNBC’s coverage of the Chris Christie bridge scandal propelled MSNBC to#1 in the primetime demo on both Thursday and Friday of last week. Maddow won the 9pmET timeslot among younger viewers both nights.

I think Maddow did incredibly important work on this scandal last week, as did many of her fellow MSNBC hosts (Chris Hayes especially.) and she clearly deserved to come out on top in the ratings.

Especially since the usual ratings heavyweight, Fox News, either acted as if there were no scandal, or disingenuously tried to obfuscate by bringing up fake Obama "scandals."

Rachel is, as you all know, my go to news source when I am trying to make sense out of breaking stories, and I ma rarely disappointed by her incredibly well researched reporting.

My hope is that this trend continues and that in the months to come we will find Fox struggling to retake this time slot while also losing ground in many others.

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