Politics Plus

Recently, Barack Obama has given some thoroughly impressive speeches, and in my view, he has clearly outdone himself once again in his defense of his Iran Policy at American University.  I found myself so impressed that I consider the speech a “must watch” event for Americans who want to know how to overcome seditious Republican attempts to destroy the world’s efforts to deny Iran nuclear arms, so Republicans can deny success to Obama.

President Obama took on critics of the nuclear deal between Iran and six world powers in an aggressive speech on Wednesday, saying they were the same people who created the “drumbeat of war” and played on public fears to push the United States into the Iraq war more than a decade ago.

“Let’s not mince words: The choice we face is ultimately between diplomacy and some sort of war — maybe not tomorrow, maybe not three months from now, but soon,” Mr. Obama told about 200 people in a speech at American University. “How can we in good conscience justify war before we’ve tested a diplomatic agreement that achieves our objectives?”

Mr. Obama, opening a new, more overtly political phase of his public campaign for the accord, portrayed the coming vote in Congress to approve or reject the deal as the most consequential foreign policy decision for lawmakers since Congress voted in 2003 to authorize the invasion of Iraq. He implored them to “shut out the noise” and back the deal… [emphasis added]

Inserted from <NY Times>

Photo credit: Hopes and Dreams

Here’s the complete video.

For the transcript, click here.

The video is almost an hour in length, but in it, Obama demolished every possible argument against the international policy.  That’s why I said, it’s “must watch” for those who want peace, as opposed to the Republican path to war.

Tomorrow evening, the Republican Reichsministry of propaganda, Faux Noise, will be subjecting the nation to what they call a debate, but is really a Cavalcade of Criminal Clowns.  I intend to watch, so please keep me in your good wishes and prayers that I might survive the ordeal.  The field is now divided between the Cavalcade Clowns and the excluded, banned from the stage, and effectively out of the race at the whim of Faux Noise.

Gov. John Kasich of Ohio is in and former Gov. Rick Perry of Texas is out of Fox News’s Republican debate on Thursday night in Cleveland, officials with the network said Tuesday, resolving the mystery of which lower-polling candidates would make the cut for the first debate of the 2016 presidential contest.

The network announced the 10 candidates who will have a podium spot for the main forum, which is expected to draw wide national viewership and give an invaluable platform to the candidates involved. The remaining seven will be part of an earlier forum airing at 5 p.m. that day.

Fox News’s “decision desk,” which does its election night calls, sifted through five national polls, including the network’s own survey released late Monday, to select the top 10 candidates for the debate based on the polling.

The others included in the lineup are Donald J. Trump, former Gov. Jeb Bush of Florida, Gov. Scott Walker of Wisconsin, Senator Marco Rubio of Florida, Senator Ted Cruz of Texas, Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky, Ben Carson, former Gov. Mike Huckabee of Arkansas and Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey…

Inserted from <NY Times>

However, Faux Noise has so little integrity, that they cheated on their own rules.  Rachel Maddow covered the story with this video.

I agree with her completely that the Republican party is off the rails.  At this stage in the race, national polls are meaningless.  Since seventeen are too many criminal clowns for one debate stage, the fair way to manage it would be to divide the field in half and hold two debates.  If they say they can’t, because there are an odd number of clowns, they could put half of Chris Christie, aka PIGnocchio, in each debate.

Either the Republican Party leaders have decided that they wanted to cut down the field, are using Faux Noise as a political assassin, and are hiding their own complicity in this fraud, or the Republican Party leaders have lost their ability to influence events, leaving the party to be run by Rupert Murdoch and the Koch Brothers.  Either way, that’s a disaster for decent Republicans.

Please remember that, when I refer to Republicans in my writing, I am referring the party leadership, the politicians, the pundits, and the rabid base.  I fully realize there are many decent rank and file Republicans, who are Republican by tradition, and who have not paid too much attention to what their party has become.  If you are one of them, I urge you to leave the Republican Party.  They no longer represent you.

The Cavalcade of Criminal Clowns have one thing in common.  If any one of them becomes President, they will destroy this nation.

To many, it appeared that Planned Parenthood was in danger of losing their federal funding, due to a Bill sponsored by Joni “Pig Nuts” Ernst (R-IA) and Rand “Idiot, Son of idiot, Named after Idiot” Paul (R-KY).  It seemed that hundreds of organizations churned out emails that Planned Parenthood was doomed, unless we made a contribution to the sender.  In actuality Planned Parenthood was not in any danger at all.

A Republican effort to strip Planned Parenthood of its federal funding came up short in the Senate Monday, with a Democratic filibuster leaving the bill from Sens. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) and Rand Paul (R-Ky.) seven votes shy of the 60 needed for passage. But the failure of the measure, which aimed to take away more than $500 million in federal funding from the organization, is likely just a prelude to a fiercer debate to come.

Republican presidential candidates such as Paul and Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) are threatening another government shutdown if federal money for the reproductive health and abortion service provider is not eliminated. Cruz told Politico that Ernst’s bill was nothing more than a "show vote," and that when it comes to the real fight, he is willing to do whatever it takes to defund Planned Parenthood.

The recent conservative attacks on Planned Parenthood follow the July 14 release of two heavily edited video clips in which Planned Parenthood officials appear to be negotiating the sale of aborted fetuses. The videos, part of a conservative campaign against Planned Parenthood, were produced by a little-known anti-abortion activist named David Daleiden, whose group, the Center for Medical Progress, is associated with the anti-abortion organization Live Action. The video was circulated by Groundswell, a conservative strategy group, which Mother Jones’ David Corn reported on back in 2013. Groundswell includes such players as Ginni Thomas, the wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, and conservative journalists and commentators from outlets like Breitbart News, which broke the news of the first sting video…

Inserted from <Mother Jones>

If Republicans had been serious about passing this bill they would have tucked it into a must pass budget item originating in the House, forcing Democrats to obtain 60 votes to remove it.  Instead, they brought it to the floor knowing that Democrats would block cloture.  Only Donnelly (DINO-IN) and Manchin (DINO-WV) goose stepped with the Republican Reich,  May both suffer saguaro suppositories!  The final vote was 53 – 46.

The only Reason the Republicans did this is to have a dog and pony show that they could take home to display to their rabid base voters.  We can be sure they will try to keep this issue alive because they can use it as a distraction from the many subjects they wish to avoid on the campaign trail.  Nevertheless we need to know how to counter their lies.  The videos, on which they are basing this attack have been thoroughly debunked already.  Furthermore, several of the Republicans, who are screaming their outrage now, voted to fund research using fetal tissue in the past.

Finally, never forget that Republicans have their own comprehensive plan covering women’s rights: