August 5, 2014

GOP Rep.: Central American Immigrants May Be Carrying Ebola

Rep. Todd Rokita (R-IN) implied during an interview conducted Monday with Indianapolis radio station WIBC that children immigrating from Central America may be infected with the Ebola virus.

According to the Northwest Indiana Times, Rokita said that the issue of infection had come up during a conversation with fellow Rep. Larry Bucshon (R-IN), who happens to also be a heart surgeon.

"He said, look, we need to know just from a public-health standpoint, with Ebola circulating and everything else -- no, that's my addition to it, not necessarily his -- but he said we need to know the condition of these kids," Rokita said, according to the Times.

Ebola has already killed more than 800 people this year in West Africa but there are no reported cases originating in the Western Hemisphere. According to the U.S. Office of Refugee Resettlement's website, all refugees released to family members and sponsors have first undergone a series of medical screenings ensuring that they are not infected with contagious illnesses.


http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/todd-rokita-central-americans-ebola

August 5, 2014

White Supremacist Defiant at Sentencing for Killing Spree

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — White supremacist David "Joey Pedersen offered no apology for a multi-state crime spree that left four dead, using his statement at Monday's sentencing to blast police, prosecutors and American foreign policy in a harangue briefly interrupted by a sister who yelled at him to "shut up."

Pedersen said he couldn't sit idle while "Western identity is being destroyed by other cultures," and he regretted that police intervened before he did more damage.

"I offer no excuses because none are needed," he said.

Pedersen, 34, and his girlfriend, Holly Grigsby, went on the rampage during nine days in 2011 as part of a campaign to purify and preserve the white race. Grigsby was sentenced to life in prison last month.

Pedersen was sentenced Monday for the carjacking murders of an Oregon teenager the couple mistakenly thought was Jewish and of a black man in Northern California.

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/white-supremacist-defiant-at-sentencing-for-killing-spree

August 5, 2014

Congratulations, Hamas.

You won by firing rockets from populated areas knowing full well that a hothead like Netnayahu would send the troops after you, causing the civilian deaths you knew would happen. Even more brilliant is how you got much of the world community to ignore how you goaded this conflict to begin with. Bravo.

August 3, 2014

Both Liz Cheney and DU are both angry at Obama over torture.

Liz Cheney bashed President Obama Friday night for the way he characterized CIA interrogation practices after Sept. 11, 2001 as "torture."

"Even before I came into office, I was very clear that in the immediate aftermath of 9/11, we did some things that were wrong. We did a whole lot of things that were right, but we tortured some folks," Obama said during a Friday press conference. We did some things that were contrary to our values."

Cheney said this was unacceptable.

"This president is an utter disgrace. He’s got a situation where, as your last two reports showed, you’ve got crises erupting around the world. And he is expending more time, more energy, more passion, more aggressive activity in targeting and going after patriots, heroes, CIA officers and others who kept is safe after 9/11," Cheney said on Fox News' Hannity.

"He’s lying about what they did, he’s slandering them, he went to Cairo and did it in 2009. Today he did it from the podium of the Oval Office. It’s a disgrace. It’s despicable," Cheney continued.

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/liz-cheney-obama-disgrace

August 3, 2014

I just saw Guardians of the Galaxy and I have to say this about Marvel Studios (No Spoilers)..

They took an obscure set of characters, created a snarky trailer that got everyone curious, and now they are set to make almost $100 million with a movie that was pretty good. Hats off to Marvel.

August 2, 2014

Republican who crafted House border policy says our nation's borders were established by God

During a conference call last month with the National Emergency Coalition, Rep. Steve King said that the U.S. needs to crack down on immigration because our nation’s borders were established by God. Disrespecting the borders, the congressman suggested, is disrespecting God’s will.

He also blamed the child migrant crisis not on drug-war-related violence in Central America but on President Obama’s Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, or as he calls it, “deferred action for criminal aliens.”


http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/steve-king-god-established-americas-borders#sthash.FBddX0LU.dpuf

August 2, 2014

While we argue amongst ourselves, let's take a moment to remember what we are dealing with....

New Hampshire state Rep. Kyle Tasker (R) asked a Republican colleague on Facebook this week if his fondness of rap music was enough to allow him to join a black caucus.

Tasker's comments were part of a Facebook exchange that began with a post made by fellow Rep. Jordan Ulery that said the conservative American Legislative Exchange Council planned to work with the Black Caucus of State Legislators.

Tasker responded to the post by asking, "How do I join the white caucus of state legislators?"

Ulery replied: "Caucuses are merely groups of people with similar likes/dislikes. Personally I long for the day of character, not color being again the guiding principle."




http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/kyle-tasker-black-caucus-rap

August 2, 2014

Republicans set to piss away any hope of growing their party for a generation.

Bachmann called it "the most monumental vote that we will take in this entire term." She said it was a "very good bill that people can be proud of," declaring that it was about "stopping the invasion of illegal foreign nationals into our country."

The bill is going nowhere in the Senate, and the White House threatened to veto an earlier version of it. The goal is to give Republicans political cover to tell their constituents they acted on the border crisis when they go home for recess.

Republicans decided to add $35 million in new funds to reimburse border states who called in the National Guard to help address the flow of some 57,000 unaccompanied minors, a senior Republican aide said. So far only Texas has done that.

The plan is to have two votes: the first one is on the supplemental and tougher border language to swiftly send home children coming from Central American countries. If that passes, there'll be a second vote on the bill to end the Obama administration's Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program and stop the president from granting legal status to anyone in the U.S. illegally.

"I feel very confident that we'll be able to put this behind us today," Rep. Steve Womack (R-AR), a deputy whip, told reporters.


http://talkingpointsmemo.com/dc/house-gop-to-rebuke-obama-on-immigration