Displaying 1,471 To 1,500 Of 19,504 Comments Morning Blog 6th Anniverary Edition Hey Kalima! That would actually be pretty cool if Scotland and Wales could form their own country but it would tip the UK heavily to the Tories. You can tell Hillary is starting to feel The Bern, she and her campaign are getting hostile again towards Bernie. He’s looking pretty solid to win in WI and is cutting her lead in NY. If he could catch and beat her in NY, I think her campaign will go nuclear on him because he will have all the momentum and a legit path to beating her. She just doesn’t inspire people and if she does win the nom, the only thing that will save her is that Trump’s or Cruz’s negatives will be higher than hers. Donald Trump’s Incoherent Abortion Stance? My question is, what stance of his isn’t incoherent? Rouseff should be impeached but they need to clean house in Brazil. Then…if we can clean The House and The Senate here in Nov! I always go for the ironic so to answer the Trivia Quiz, I’d guess MLK got a C in Public Speaking/Preaching? The Nepal story is horrible though I could imagine Trump rationalizing it. Another wonderful MB! » Posted By AdLib On April 1, 2016 @ 2:12 pm Very sorry to hear this, Kalima. Your words are so true and meaningful, anyone who’s ever lost a family member, human or furry, knows how fleeting time can be and how lucky we are to have the time we do have with those we love. I know how happy and grateful your furry little one had to have felt with all the love and care you gave to him/her, always remember how lucky you both were to have each other for the time you did. » Posted By AdLib On February 19, 2016 @ 12:43 pm Kalima, I hope everything has settled down today. Are you still getting frequent aftershocks? Of course, an earthquake wouldn’t keep you from posting MB, you’re indomitable! » Posted By AdLib On February 6, 2016 @ 10:54 am Kalima, what a wonderful Christmas and holiday wish (which covers Festivus as well!)! Thank you for leaving coal in the stockings of those spammers and bots. You’re like Santa in being everywhere at once to drop down the chimney on those who have been naughty or nice and Morning Blog is that lovely gift that keeps on giving all through the year. A very Merry Christmas to you and your family, wishing you all the best this season and a very Happy New Year! » Posted By AdLib On December 24, 2015 @ 9:31 am Kalima, I’ll have more to add later but I wanted to be the first to congratulate you on six amazing years of Morning Blog! How amazing! Day in and day out, offering such a broadened view and greater insight to all of us readers of yours as to what other people all around the world are experiencing. Politically, socially, lending such a valuable global perspective that is so hard to find here in the U.S. . This truly is quite a wonderful and substantial accomplishment (especially considering the salary you’re not getting!). Morning Blog is the heart of PlanetPOV and even though I and many of your readers may not comment as much as we should, it’s a daily must-read for us. Once again, congratulations on the sixth anniversary of Morning Blog! I will toast you in the morning with a cup of coffee in my favorite mug…my Morning Blog mug of course! Congrats Kalima on six fantastic years! And onward! » Posted By AdLib On November 20, 2015 @ 2:05 am Top 3 Favorite TV Shows of GOP Candidates Kes, love your list! Very funny! Maybe we should do book titles next, Confederacy of Dunces sure fits the whole field (and who would we apply American Psycho to? So many to choose from!). » Posted By AdLib On November 10, 2015 @ 1:33 pm Thanks Kalima! I think that was Jeb! Then again, I was tempted to give “The Walking Dead” to Ben Carson but it really was so Jeb!. So glad you enjoyed them! I really didn’t have any leftover titles I didn’t use but I didn’t check many reality show titles. I was going to use “Here Comes Honey Boo Boo” for Lindsay but he’s so “My Little Pony”! » Posted By AdLib On November 9, 2015 @ 7:24 pm PPO, how could I forget the one show that all of them hate? “To Tell The Truth”! » Posted By AdLib On November 9, 2015 @ 7:18 pm Weekend Music Thread – Making Things Up Again » Posted By AdLib On November 7, 2015 @ 8:17 pm » Posted By AdLib On November 7, 2015 @ 8:14 pm » Posted By AdLib On November 7, 2015 @ 8:10 pm » Posted By AdLib On November 7, 2015 @ 8:07 pm Ben Carson Announces His First 3 Acts if Elected President monicaangela, you nailed it when you mentioned that if Carson won the Presidency, being a know-nothing, he would have to bring in the very establishment Repubs to run the government that he claims to be running against. We would indeed have Bush 2.0 with a hapless figurehead mumbling too low for America to hear anything he said anyway. But Carson could never win a GE. Most of the country does actually care about the things candidates say and want to do if elected. And being such a religious extremist, the campaign commercials against him that would quote him and drill that into voters minds would sink him lower than his decibel level. Thanks for the props on the photo, it was exactly what I was looking for, makes me smile too! » Posted By AdLib On November 5, 2015 @ 7:47 pm Kalima, I think the MSM is being co-dependent in touting Carson because it’s in their best financial interest. Otherwise, Carson is so obviously an ignorant lightweight who lies frequently and never has sensible answer to anything. Carson would be torn to shreds in a General Election…so I am just fine with him winning the GOP nom if he can. As for brain surgeries, Carson has just put the last nail in the coffin of the cliche, “You don’t have to be a brain surgeon to…”, being a brain surgeon no longer connotes intelligence. » Posted By AdLib On November 5, 2015 @ 7:41 pm Thanks Kes! I think the kind of cognitive dissonance you describe in that Carson supporter seems more the rule than the exception for Carson supporters. They like him because he’s a soft talking “Christian” and yet what he actually espouses is unChristian. He wants to prevent people who love each other from getting married. He doesn’t want America to take care of the poor with Obamacare, Medicare and SS. He compares pro-choice women to those who owned slaves. What Carson supporters are really about is having someone with black skin representing the worst of their beliefs and giving them an excuse to be racist but have an excuse for saying they’re not. Carson has attacked most of the black population, attacked the Black Lives Matter activists and anyone who supports their movement, he espouses the hateful bigotry his supporters harbor but in a soft spoken way that makes them feel better about themselves. He prides himself as a know-nothing about political issues and solutions and that also gets overlooked by his followers. Never before have we seen a candidate so happily say he has no idea of how he’d accomplish anything, be so embraced by so many voters. They really want a President who has no clue how to run a country, running the country? The irony is, he would have to bring in political hacks to run everything and voters would get just the opposite of the outsider they wanted. Carson will never win a GE, once he’s in it, his ignorance will be glaring and actually scary to most voters. But for now, live it up Carson, Carson supporters and MSM, believe in meaningless polls and babble about Carson, by March it will all be collapsing very quickly for Carson. » Posted By AdLib On November 5, 2015 @ 7:36 pm PPO, Rupert Murdoch says Carson would finally be a real black President. First Obama isn’t a real American, a real Christian, a real Democrat but now, when the Repubs have a black candidate who spouts the craziest religious drivel, Obama is now not even a real black President! What is a minor annoyance for me is how intentionally stupid the media is about Carson. The poll numbers today couldn’t be more irrelevant to what wil happen next November. And they all know that these polls are all about vague opinions of candidates, most Americans have no idea what Carson has said or what an extremist religious nut he is. So none of this matters, 70% of Repubs say they haven’t made their minds up yet. And still, the MSM is all excited about proclaiming he could win the Presidency. Oh well, I’ll just sit back and watch these hacks suddenly proclaim Carson unelectable by March. » Posted By AdLib On November 4, 2015 @ 6:38 pm Cheers Nirek, very appreciated! » Posted By AdLib On November 4, 2015 @ 6:27 pm Hey KT, thanks so much! Well, Carson does believe in patent medicine, promoting that fraudulent Mannatech crap to cure everything from nail fungus to cancer. Maybe his “replacement” for Obamacare will be making all Americans distributors for Mannatech? I do like that photo of him too, indeed, that’s Carson’s real inner nutcase coming out. » Posted By AdLib On November 4, 2015 @ 6:26 pm Hillary Covers Up Truth of Why Bill Clinton Signed DOMA monicaangela, this is one of those few occasions when we disagree. Giving Donald Trump the benefit of the doubt (not much doubt in my mind) that he will be better as President than we think while proposing that Hillary will be worse, just doesn’t follow for me. I think both may be worse but don’t understand why Trump should ever be viewed as better than he is. IMO, if Donald Trump or any Repub becomes President, our future as a nation will be cemented into decline. My central argument is that a President Donald Trump/Ben Carson/Marco Rubio/etc. could be in a position to lock in the SCOTUS for decades into a strong RW majority and it won’t matter what happens in subsequent Presidential elections, American society will be strangled by a RW SCOTUS. So my proposition to those who express that they would rather sit out the election and help a Republican win instead of voting for a Democrat who they view as undesirable, is that they would also be supporting a new, RW majority SCOTUS to destroy the Obama legacy, including Obamacare, voting rights protections, consumer protections, etc. that will never be re-instituted again in our lifetime. So, in the end, not voting for a Dem President in 2016 may be assisting in the destruction of Obama’s Presidency and accomplishments. I don’t have high expectations for what a Hillary Presidency would be, I think many of your concerns are valid and many could indeed happen. However, I don’t think she would nominate a SCOTUS judge who would be a Right Winger dedicated to undermining the President and the laws that the President signs. And if she wants to be re-elected, she couldn’t nominate one that Dems didn’t approve of. At worst, Hillary would nominate a centrist SCOTUS judge. Meanwhile, a President Trump who wants to get re-elected, or any other Republican, would know that if they didn’t nominate a RW ideologue, they’d be pilloried by the GOP core. Not only are the RW ideologues on the SCOTUS getting older and potentials for retirement, so are some of the liberals and moderates. If a Republican President was able to replace a couple of liberals as well as RWs with young RWs? That’s a RW majority SCOTUS controlling our society for decades. That’s why I think it is critical that a Dem is in the WH, even if it is a PINO (Progressive in Name Only…not a Pinot!). » Posted By AdLib On October 27, 2015 @ 1:33 pm Nirek, I think any fair minded person recognizes that Bernie is genuine in his long held beliefs and doesn’t display the typical attributes of typical politicians that includes lying to voters, hypocrisy and being beholden to wealthy and powerful donors. Win or lose, all I want is for the contests in the Dem Primary to be as honest as possible and for voters to make their decisions based on the true character and positions of the candidates. This is why Hillary’s dishonesty gets such a focus from me, hiding truths and promoting falsehoods is anti-democratic IMO. » Posted By AdLib On October 27, 2015 @ 1:02 pm Funk, thanks for the recap of the passage of DOMA and how slanted it was. What astounds me is the incredible gall Hillary demonstrated in being so obviously dishonest about something so documented in history. Despite the evidence being so overwhelming that Bill signed DOMA to help his re-election (and Hillary supported it for the same reason), she delivered this propaganda so confidently and comfortably. She affirmed that she is unprincipled and dishonest. For Hillary, feeling so confident in winning now seems to have made her feel freer to go back to being smug about delivering falsehoods. Her latest propaganda is trying to portray Bernie Sanders as sexist for using the word “yelling” towards her in the debate when he expressed that talking/yelling about something isn’t the same as getting it done. Now she has a meme she’s repeating, “Sometimes when a woman speaks out, some people think it’s shouting.” Yes, Bernie hates women and opposes letting them express their opinions while Hillary Clinton is a martyr for women. Just a disgusting dishonesty, Hillary’s so anxious to play the gender card whenever she can and slur the character of someone who isn’t misogynist, just to benefit herself. I saw that Maddow interview with Bernie but I wish Maddow had challenged Hillary at the time when she tossed out that propaganda. Hillary’s on a roll now, spouting more and more dishonest propaganda. This is what she seems happiest doing, have you seen the joy she seems to have when she’s doing so? This is who she is and if she does win the nom and the WH, the necessity of people to come out and confront her is critical to blunt this behavior. » Posted By AdLib On October 27, 2015 @ 12:45 pm RSGmusic, respect your views and points. I also appreciate your position not to bash other Dems like Bernie just because there are a few issues where you may disagree with them. Actually, I feel the same way. I do think we should be honest and fair handed in our criticisms which is why none of my criticisms of Hillary are about the few areas on policy where I disagree with her, they are about character. Positions on issues are very important but character is most important to me in a candidate, I have issues with any politician on either side of the fence who is hypocritical, selfishly motivated and/or dishonest. Who a person is matters most to me, above what party they may belong to. And I think that when a politician/candidate is dishonest, we have a responsibility to call them out on that. Citizens deserve honesty from their representatives but if they don’t demand it, in the end, they won’t receive it. Just to be clear, I wasn’t saying that Hillary would ever attempt to re-instate DOMA if elected President, I just documented that she was intentionally dishonest once again in the Maddow interview about something she could have easily been honest about. Hillary has stated that she was involved in meetings about DOMA back in 1996 and that she too approved of it. Those facts are not disputed by her so I’m not holding her responsible for anything Bill did, I’m connecting her to her own position and involvement back then. The dispute is over the manufactured falsehood that she and Bill supported DOMA because they were saving gays from a Constitutional Amendment that would have been worse. That’s just flat out false. There was nothing going on back then with a Constitutional amendment and as I offered, saying that you shot an innocent person in the stomach so someone else wouldn’t shoot them in the head is messed up. My point was that since Hillary is claiming that supporting harm towards Americans can be good if it can be claimed to be protecting them from greater harm, that should be a concern. If, for example, she is willing to sign a bill that harms 99% of Americans and gives more power and wealth to the banks (who contribute big time to her campaign) and she can justify it by saying that if she didn’t sign that bill, a bill that was worse could be passed, primary voters should consider that. I fully agree, taking back the Senate in 2016 is critical! My main reason for that is that there is a good chance that SCOTUS seats may need to be filled and we need to have Dem running the confirmation process, maybe even having to use the Nuclear Option if Repubs try to block a Dem President from filling those seats. Bernie does have his faults, his position on gun control is one of them, IMO. He is not a perfect candidate because such a candidate doesn’t exist. He does seem to be more committed over a long period to many of the positions many Progressives support which is why his candidacy has been far more successful than he had ever dreamed. When it’s all said and done, we need a Democrat winning the White House in 2016, whoever the nom ends up being. I do think it is best though that we see that person for who they are though, applauding the positive traits and criticizing the negative traits as fair minded, free thinking citizens should. » Posted By AdLib On October 27, 2015 @ 12:18 pm Appreciate the quotation, RSGmusic. I think most Bernie supporters will absolutely vote for Hillary if he she wins the nom. And though there are the PUMA types who vow not to vote for Bernie if he was to beat Hillary for the nom, I think most Hillary supporters would vote for Bernie if he won. IMO, it probably is more of a compromise for Bernie supporters to vote for Hillary because many of the Progressive views he’s long held have only been held by Hillary since she’s been campaigning to beat him for the nomination. Adding her dishonesty to the mix, one could understand the lack of confidence some Bernie supporters may have in Hillary. On the flip side, I don’t think most Hillary supporters doubt how earnest Bernie is in his commitment to all of the Progressive views Hillary espouses. So they wouldn’t be voting for someone who they’d view as potentially abandoning the positions he campaigned on, they’d be voting for everything Hillary represents she supports if they voted for him. The difference is, the Hillary voters who are most against Bernie take that position based primarily on their personal feelings towards Hillary and/or seeing America elect its first woman President. That is understandable and not unreasonable. The only thing that would be unreasonable though would be refusing to vote for a candidate that represents virtually all the principles their chosen candidate says she represents…and empowering Republican candidates who are greatly opposed to those values. Any voters who would do so, whether Bernie or Hillary supporters, are not Democrats, they are acting like petulant children who would let the house burn down if they can’t have their chosen fireman put out the fire. » Posted By AdLib On October 27, 2015 @ 11:39 am slm – I think it stems from two main things, the primary thing being that Hillary and Bill will do and say whatever it takes to get what they want (i.e. elected) and the second thing is that they have a sense of superiority over the rest of Americans, looking at them as beneath their intellects and foolish enough to believe whatever BS they shovel out to them. Hillary is dishonest, the numerous incidents and facts are there for anyone to see if they choose to. She is only advocating Progressive positions to outflank Sanders, her campaign has admitted as much. When she veers back to the more conservative side in the GE if she wins the Dem nom, no one should be surprised. It would not have been a negative for Hillary to have been honest and admitted that she and Bill felt that in 1996, a veto of DOMA could have meant Bob Dole and Republicans getting the White House. Even though she and Bill could have done the right thing, they didn’t, out of fear of losing and they could admit they made a mistake. But Hillary and Bill don’t like to admit mistakes, the elite don’t apologize to the lower class they’re supposed to serve. Her performance in dealing with the email server certainly evidenced that, all the harm she did to herself and her campaign because Clintons will do almost anything to avoid having to admit they showed poor judgement (even risk impeachment for lying about an affair). This is what we’re stuck with in this political cycle, many candidates who appear most loyal to their own ambition and the elite but give lip service to being all about serving “the people” and having no reservation about lying to the people. Meanwhile, the electorate is sick and tired of power hungry and money hungry politicians who have no problem compromising the positions they’ve campaigned on to get money and a position of power via the wealth and power of the elite. They’re not all the same, Trump is different from Hillary, who are both different from Carson but they are all running as populists even though none of them are. Bernie Sanders is a genuine populist with legit populists stands on issues that he’s held for many years. He too has his flaws as a candidate, on gun control for example, but it would be unrealistic to think that only a perfect politician is who should be President (haven’t had one yet!). One big difference between Hillary and the Republicans is that the force of public opinion can press her to stay closer to Progressive values. No amount of public pressure could influence an egomaniac billionaire CEO or an ignorant religious extremist to follow the will of the people. » Posted By AdLib On October 27, 2015 @ 11:21 am The way I look at it, many Repubs view their politics like their religion. They invest 100% faith in it and those who represent it, it’s all about believing completely in it and not questioning the dogma or authority. These are often people who vote against their own interests, vote against their own avowed principles and do so without any reasoning of their own, just echoing the propaganda they’ve been fed by Fox News, Rush Limbaugh, the RNC, etc. However, I have seen some Dems too who act similarly, blindly following the party dogma, acting as purists and condemning those who dare to criticize Dem politicians and quick to dish out hatred and/or fear towards those who they view as “outsiders”. Those who strive to be thoughtful individuals first and associated with a political party second would seem to me to be the more constructive and honest Americans. » Posted By AdLib On October 27, 2015 @ 10:55 am The MSM’s Re-Coronation of Hillary Clinton monicaangela, IMO, there is no question that Progressives will get more of what they want, whoever wins the Dem primary BECAUSE Bernie Sanders is running. Hillary would not have naturally supported all of Bernie’s positions if she didn’t have him as a genuine threat to her coronation. Because of that, she is in way too deep on supporting more Progressive positions than she might have liked, to move away from them in a GE. Now with her rejection of contributions from the private prison corporations and vow to curb the imprisoning crisis, she’s cementing that in…or risking a massive backlash from her base. This race is far from over, after all, she is a Clinton and they always seem to find a way of causing themselves trouble. So it’s way too early to assume Hillary will win, Bernie could still win the nom, plenty of time for things to change. » Posted By AdLib On October 23, 2015 @ 12:17 pm Monicaangela, this is what I mean by public pressure forcing candidates to do what the majority of voters want. Just breaking this morning:
Clinton To Cut Ties With Private Prison Industry On Friday morning, the campaign of Democratic presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton announced they will no longer accept donations from federally registered lobbyists or PACs for private prison companies. “When we’re dealing with a mass incarceration crisis, we don’t need private industry incentives that may contribute — or have the appearance of contributing — to over-incarceration,” campaign spokesperson Xochitl Hinojosa told ThinkProgress, explaining that Clinton will donate the large amount she has already received from these sources to a yet-to-be-named charity. Hinojosa explained that the move is part of Clinton’s promise to “end the era of mass incarceration,” especially private prisons and private immigrant detention centers. “She believes that we should not contract out this core responsibility of the federal government,” Hinojosa said. “This is only one of many ways that she believes we need to re-balance our criminal justice and immigration systems.” Yet the decision came after months of pressure from civil rights and immigrant justice groups, who launched online petitions and interrupted Clinton’s public events, demanding she cut ties with the private prison industry. http://thinkprogress.org/politics/2015/10/23/3715544/clinton-private-prisons/ » Posted By AdLib On October 23, 2015 @ 12:10 pm monicaangela, the sad truth is that even if the Fairness Doctrine was still in effect, it wouldn’t affect Fox, MSNBC, CNN or any other non-broadcast station. It only applied to over-the-air broadcast stations like CBS, NBC, ABC and Fox. The law would have to have been updated to reflect the modern tv age and considering that it was killed, that never would have happened. So the sanctioning of lying and deceiving Americans, led by the corporatists and Repubs (and some Dems), is what rules the day today. There is still much of the taxpayer infrastructure that is used by broadcast and non-broadcast networks that it would be justified to re-instate a Fairness Doctrine and imagine the enormous benefit to the country to blunt the extremists from their campaign to deceive and divide the nation. Both videos you linked to were great (Love Democracy Now!), the first accurately pointing out the problematic side to a Biden run. He was an errand boy for the big banks, spearheading the destruction of bankruptcy laws that used to protect Americans (what rationale is there to say that only student loans should never be forgiven, with today’s outrageous gouging of students by colleges?). Also, he couldn’t have rubbed me the wrong way more if he had tried, proclaiming this week that Republicans aren’t our enemies and that he thought Dick Cheney was a good guy and a friend. WHAT?! Cozying up with Dick Cheney to set himself apart from Hillary as a bipartisan guy? WTF? I like Biden generally and even with his baggage, I was fine with him getting in the race, to force Hillary to face the kind of conflict coming her way and make the case for following and protecting the Obama legacy. However, it is a bit of a relief to not have such a flawed candidate, who I want to like despite all of his negatives, causing confusion and havoc in the primary. If you noticed, many Repub pols and pundits were unusually supportive and complimentary of Biden, they wanted him in the race because they saw his presence in the Dem Primary as harming Hillary and whipping up division and conflict in the Dem Party. Poor Repubs, not only do they lose a chance for havoc in the Dem Party, Hillary’s appearance in the Benghazi hearings nuked their scheme to attack her on it and made her look stronger and superior to the tantrum-prone man-children running the GOP. The last two weeks were admittedly very kind to Hillary, doing well at the debate (though Bernie did well too), Biden dropping out and spanking the Repubs at the Benghazi sham, I do expect her numbers to go up. But to be fair, this could be the high point in the lead up to the primary for Hillary, Bernie could have a great week or two too that elevates him. The race isn’t over just because things have gone well for Hillary lately. The focus will come back to policy, character and trust as the debates continue and the primaries approach. One thing that became very clear from the Benghazi hearing was that Hillary can stonewall very well when she doesn’t want to answer something, that is a trait that we’ve seen in her in the campaign as well. It’s part of her character so while we can be pleased that it worked well to thwart the frothing Repubs in that hearing, it is something to strongly consider as a trait of a President. » Posted By AdLib On October 23, 2015 @ 11:01 am Thanks so much, Nirek! The MSM often acts like an intentionally bad translator who the public trusts implicitly. They take facts and events, filter out most of them then translate the few remaining in whatever way is most advantageous to them. The Founders saw the press as the final safety net for our democracy, if the government became too corrupt or stopped serving the people, the press could be the last resort for the public. Now that our press is mostly just a corporately-owned cash machine with the primary goal of churning out the most cash to its owners, they have become an enabler and sometimes an instigator of the corruption of our democracy. It’s a huge relief that we have the internet because now it is all about the people speaking up and standing up for truths and the best interests of the majority. » Posted By AdLib On October 23, 2015 @ 10:09 am Friday Comedy Singalong: “I’m Proud to Be A Democrat” Nice Kalima! Never heard that before, it’s perfect, “RawPride!” » Posted By AdLib On October 16, 2015 @ 11:36 pmComments Posted By AdLib
«« Back To Stats Page
Home Stats