Some of you may have noticed that President Obama was interrupted and then heckled by a supposed “reporter” in the Rose Garden today as he announced his plans to help DREAM-eligible immigrants. And you probably wondered what the hell that was about.
Turns out it was Tucker Carlson and his squad of incompetent buffoons at work, according to David Graham at The Atlantic: …The reporter has been identified as Neil Munro of the Daily Caller, a conservative online news outlet run by Tucker Carlson.
• And why did he have to go around Congress?: Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL), who has sponsored his own version of the DREAM Act, said this of President Obama’s decision: “Today’s announcement will be welcome news for many of these kids desperate for an answer, but it is a short term answer to a long term problem. And by once again ignoring the Constitution and going around Congress, this short term policy will make it harder to find a balanced and responsible long term one.”
Policy is not the same as legislation. Congress is responsible for legislation. Policy is the principle behind the legislation. The legislation is the actual written statement that if passed and signed by the president becomes law.
…President Obama was telling anyone who would listen that if Congress wouldn’t act, he would.
To the surprise of absolutely no one who is paying attention, he did.
The end result is a Republican Party that has seen their strategy of obstruction thwarted yet again, and with no plan they are left to do what they do best – panic and blame Obama.
[politicususa/Jason Easley and Sarah Jones/15 Jun 2012]
Confronted with the president’s landmark announcement, Mitt Romney attempted to whitewash his draconian immigration views during a campaign stop in New Hampshire today. Romney told reporters that he “agrees with Marco Rubio,” who has proposed a DREAM Act alternative.
This newfound belief is a far cry from his views during the primary campaign. Here are Romney’s top 5 comments on immigration during the Republican primary:
1. Romney attacked Governor Rick Perry for supporting the DREAM Act, calling it a “magnet for illegal immigration.” [September 2011, USA Today]
2. Romney pledged to veto the DREAM Act [December 2011, ABC News]
3. Romney promised to make life so miserable for undocumented immigrants that they would “self-deport.” [January 2012, Huffington Post]
4. Romney rebuffed undocumented young woman who was brought to the U.S. at age 10 and had a 4.0 grade-point average [January 2012, The Hill]
5. Romney consults author of extreme anti-immigrant legislation on immigration issues [April 2012, ThinkProgress]
Yesterday we posted a clip featuring Jerry Boykin warning that public school textbooks were being intentionally designed in order to undermine students’ pride in being Americans in order to weaken our Judeo-Christian values and ultimately install full-blown Marxism in this nation.
Today, Boykin followed that up by explaining to Rick Joyner that the Occupy Movement was proof that this conspiracy was working, claiming that participants in the movement “don’t even know why they’re there” or even realize that they have been led into it “by a very deliberate group that wants to destroy America.” Occupy members are really just “useful idiots” who have been robbed of their identity, Boykin explained, and now they are out there “just hopelessly wandering around and using drugs and raping people and committing all kinds of aberrant behavior”
After making the declaration that “corporations are not people”, Senator McCain says that Adelson’s profits are largely from his casino in Macau, and therefore it’s likely that Romney’s campaign is being funded with foreign money as a result. He goes on to criticize the Citizens United decision as the “most misguided, naive, uninformed, egregious decision of the United States Supreme Court” and predicts many scandals as a result of their decision. Ya think?
Mitt Romney repeated a message he’s pushed since early on in his campaign this Thursday: President Barack Obama hasn’t negotiated any trade agreements since taking office… This, however, would be news to some of the Republican-leaning associations, including the BRT, that have worked closely with Obama on the passage of three separate trade agreements with Colombia, Panama and South Korea.
[huffingtonpost/Sabrina Siddiqui/15 Jun 2012]
At first blush, the FBI’s recent investigations into Arizona politicians appeared to be limited to just a handful of low-level state lawmakers who have been charged with federal crimes.
But records uncovered this week by TPM show at least one of the probes has been linked to some of the most powerful politicians in the state government as well as a shadowy conservative group known as ALEC, which has drawn national scrutiny for its outsized influence in state capitols across the country.
[talkingpointsmemo/NICK R. MARTIN & RYAN J. REILLY/15 Jun 2012]
Members of the Michigan legislature are expected to behave in a manner that is becoming, not only of the dignity and responsibility of their high office, but of the people they represent.
That’s why the Honorable Frank Foster, member of the Michigan House of Representatives, did the only gentlemanly thing possible when Michigan Nurses Association staffer Julia Smith-Heck wouldn’t stop mowing her lawn while Foster was a guest in Smith-Heck’s neighborhood last month: he called her a cunt. As a matter of fact, Foster shouted “you’re a cunt” from across the street.
The term ‘temper tantrum’ is not-so-subtly coded sexist language leveled at women to infantilize them and de-legitimize their points. In an attempt at clarification, the spokesman only reaffirmed that the Michigan House GOP’s position was not only against saying the word ‘vagina,’ but also against letting women talk seriously about political issues.
[thinkprogress/Annie-Rose Strasser/15 Jun 2012]
Scientists at a Canadian research facility recently reported a potential advance in the search of treatment for infection by the potential bioweapon Ebola virus.
Researchers from the National Microbiology Laboratory in Winnipeg said that monkeys deliberately infected with Ebola were saved with a mixture of antibodies against the virus, according to GlobalTVEdmonton.com.
All four of the primates that were given the treatment 24 hours after infection survived. Two out of four survived when treated 48 hours after the initial infection.
Gov. Cuomo came under intense criticism when news was leaked of a plan to begin fracking in economically depressed areas of New York.
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo is coming under increased criticism as his administration’s plan to begin fracking in economically depressed areas of the state was leaked. On Wednesday, the New York Timesreported on the reveal, which came from an anonymous senior official from the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation.
The plan is part of a demonstration project in which the DEC would issue permits for a limited number of wells in certain areas and then monitor the fracking to see if the process could be done safely. Critics are calling on the governor not to use the residents of these impoverished territories as “guinea pigs.”
These struggling areas, which include Broome, Chemung, Chenango, Steuben and Tioga counties, make up what is known as the Southern Tier, a region in southwest New York that borders Pennsylvania, a state that allows fracking. This region lies on top of the Marcellus Shale, a rock formation stretching across the Appalachian Mountains to upstate and western New York, which is believed to contain a large supply of natural gas.
Extremely high level of radiation has been detected on a floor just above the No.2 reactor at the crippled Fukushima nuclear power plant in Japan, the plant operator said on Thursday.
The Tokyo Electric Power Company (Tepco) said a reading of 880 millisieverts per hour of radiation was detected on the fifth floor, which is 4.5 meters above the reactor containment vessel. The reading was taken by a robot which the company deployed in the reactor building on Wednesday.
Russia is sending armed troops to Syria amid escalating violence there, United States military officials told NBC News Friday, in a move certain to frustrate Western efforts to put pressure on the regime of President Bashir Assad.
Moscow has sent a ship carrying a small contingent of combat forces to guard Russia’s deep-water port and military base at the Syrian city of Tartus, the US officials said.
[NBC News, and msnbc.com news services/Jim Miklaszewski/15 Jun 2012]
• US holds high-level talks with Syrian rebels seeking weapons in Washington – Syrian rebels have held meetings with senior US government officials in Washington as pressure mounts on the US to authorise a shipment of heavy weapons, including surface-to-air missiles to combat the Assad regime, the Daily Telegraph has learned:
A senior Free Syrian Army representative met in the past week at the US State Department with the US ambassador to Syria, Robert Ford and Frederick Hoff, special coordinator for the Middle East, sources have confirmed.
The rebel emissaries, armed with an iPad showing detailed plans on Google Earth identifying rebel positions and regime targets, have also met with senior members of the National Security Council, which advises President Obama on national security policy.
FSA representatives in Washington have compiled a “targeted list” of heavy weaponry, including anti-tank missiles and heavy machine guns that they plan to present to US government officials in the coming two weeks.
The consultations come ahead of next week’s G20 meeting in Los Cabos, Mexico where British and US officials are expected to make a last-ditch attempt to get the Russian President Vladimir Putin to intervene in the Syria crisis.
[telegraph/Peter Foster, and Ruth Sherlock/15 Jun 2012]
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Friday rejected the claims, saying that Moscow had not been discussing plans for a political transition in Syria that would include Assad’s departure from power.
”It’s not true that we are discussing Syria’s fate after Bashar Assad. We aren’t dealing with a regime change either through approving unilateral actions at the United Nations Security Council, nor through taking part in some political conspiracies,” Lavrov said following talks with his Iraqi counterpart in Moscow.
The top Russian diplomat also renewed Moscow’s calls for establishing a contact group to implement Kofi Annan’s peace plan, and called for regional countries including Iran to be included in the talks.
Earlier in the day, he said that the Syrians themselves must decide the future of their country, warning that a push for the ouster of Assad would plunge Syria into an all-out war.
Pressing for Assad’s ouster, “contrary to the aspirations of a considerable segment of Syrian society that still relies on this regime for its security and well-being, would mean plunging Syria into a protracted and bloody civil war,” Lavrov wrote in an opinion piece posted Friday on the Huffington Post.
As quietly as possible, BBC world news editor Jon Williams has admitted that the coverage of last month’s Houla massacre in Syria by the world’s media and his own employers was a compendium of lies.
Datelined 16:23, June 7, Williams chose a personal blog to make a series of fairly frank statements explaining that there was no evidence whatsoever to identify either the Syrian Army or Alawite militias as the perpetrators of the May 25 massacre of 100 people.
By implication, Williams also suggests strongly that such allegations are the product of the propaganda department of the Sunni insurgents seeking to overthrow Bashar al-Assad.
After preparatory statements of self-justification noting the “complexity of the situation on the ground in Syria, and the need to try to separate fact from fiction,” and Syria’s long “history of rumours passing for fact,” Williams writes:
“In the aftermath of the massacre at Houla last month, initial reports said some of the 49 children and 34 women killed had their throats cut. In Damascus, Western officials told me the subsequent investigation revealed none of those found dead had been killed in such a brutal manner. Moreover, while Syrian forces had shelled the area shortly before the massacre, the details of exactly who carried out the attacks, how and why were still unclear.”
…Only now does Williams state:
“Given the difficulties of reporting inside Syria, video filed by the opposition on Twitter, Facebook and YouTube may provide some insight into the story on the ground. But stories are never black and white—often shades of grey. Those opposed to President Assad have an agenda. One senior Western official went as far as to describe their YouTube communications strategy as ‘brilliant’. But he also likened it to so-called ‘psy-ops’, brainwashing techniques used by the US and other military to convince people of things that may not necessarily be true.”
[wsws/Chris Marsden/15 June 2012]
• The head of the UN Stabilisation Mission in Syria (UNSMIS) says the mission has been suspended because of escalating violence.
CAIRO, June 16 (UPI) — Egyptians voted in presidential elections Saturday to choose between the ousted Hosni Mubarak’s last prime minister and a Muslim Brotherhood candidate. The election comes a day after Egypt’s Supreme Constitutional Court dissolved Parliament and ruled the former Mubarak regime prime minister, Ahmed Shafiq, had a right to run in the presidential runoff vote.
[upi/16 Jun 2012]
AMMAN: As the casualties mount from fresh clashes in southern Libya between soldiers and tribesmen, the security situation in the capital Tripoli, Zintan, Misrata and the eastern city of Benghazi remains shaky as militia groups extend their control.
Militia from former rebel strongholds have mounted a series of attacks over the last week, including a blast at the office of the International Committee of the Red Cross in Misrata on Tuesday.
A convoy carrying the British ambassador to Libya was hit by a rocket-propelled grenade in Benghazi on Monday, and days earlier, a rocket-propelled grenade was also fired at the US consulate in the eastern city. Two weeks ago, the international airport in Tripoli was seized by armed militia.
In the midst of this instability that has plagued Libya since the revolution that ended Muammar Gaddafi’s 42-year rule, a delegation from the International Criminal Court, including Australian lawyer Melinda Taylor and her Lebanese-born interpreter Helene Assaf, was detained in Zintan on June 7.
“The key perpetrators of the assassinations of Majid Shahriari, Mostafa Ahmadi Roshan (two of the slain nuclear scientists) and Reza Qashqaei (the driver) were identified and, in a series of rapid and authoritative operations, were arrested and transferred to detention facilities,” the ministry announced in a Thursday statement.
[presstv/14 june 2012]
F.D.Brightly
Obama acts on immigration reform [Shorter Question Everything]
Rightwing loses it:
• U.S. President Barack Obama Saturday urged Americans to tell Congress “stop worrying about the next election and start worrying about the next generation.”
President Obama Speaks on Department of Homeland Security Immigration Announcement
• Wingnut ‘Daily Caller’ Reporter Heckles President During Rose Garden Statement:
• On heckling and other childish behaviour: Is This What It’s Come To? and Yes, I Guess This IS What It’s Come To.
• And why did he have to go around Congress?: Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL), who has sponsored his own version of the DREAM Act, said this of President Obama’s decision: “Today’s announcement will be welcome news for many of these kids desperate for an answer, but it is a short term answer to a long term problem. And by once again ignoring the Constitution and going around Congress, this short term policy will make it harder to find a balanced and responsible long term one.”
• EXCLUSIVE: Romney Immigration Adviser Calls Obama’s New Policy ‘Illegal’
• Obama’s Immigration Surprise Triggers an Epic Blubbering Right Wing Meltdown:
• Irony Just Threw Up in its Mouth a Little:
• Not A Dream: Romney’s Top 5 Comments On Immigration During The Republican Primary:
More right wing silliness:
• Boykin: Occupy Protestors Just ‘Useful Idots’ Wandering Around Doing Drugs and Raping People:
• John McCain: Corporations Are Not People:
• Romney Attacks Obama’s Trade Record, Contradicts Republican-Allied Groups:
• ALEC, Senior Arizona State Legislators Linked To FBI Probe:
The Terrifying Vagina Of Doom!:
• Hero Michigan Rep. Frank Foster Identifies Appropriate Words For Lady Parts:
• Michigan GOP Spokesman: Female Reps Threw ‘Temper Tantrums’ Over Abortion Bill:
History:
• Deep Throat File: Mark Felt Part 01 of 01 [via Truthdig]
CBRNE:
• Canadian lab records success in treating Ebola:
• Revealed: NY Governor Plans to Experiment with Fracking in Impoverished Areas:
• High Radiation Detected On Floor Above Crippled Fukushima Reactor:
Middle East:
• US Official: Russia Sends Troops to Syria as Peace Hopes Fade:
• US holds high-level talks with Syrian rebels seeking weapons in Washington – Syrian rebels have held meetings with senior US government officials in Washington as pressure mounts on the US to authorise a shipment of heavy weapons, including surface-to-air missiles to combat the Assad regime, the Daily Telegraph has learned:
• Russia denies entering talks on political transition in Syria:
• BBC world news editor: Houla massacre coverage based on opposition propaganda:
• The head of the UN Stabilisation Mission in Syria (UNSMIS) says the mission has been suspended because of escalating violence.
• Egyptians go to polls to elect president:
• Libya descends into militia chaos as hostages still held:
• Iran arrests elements behind assasination of nuclear scientists: Intelligence ministry: