March 18, 2014

Sen. Warren eviscerates Scott Brown

An email I got this morning:

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"Self-serving and hypocritical"

Manny, I have good news and bad news.

The good news: This weekend, we raised more than $40,000 to help Jeanne Shaheen beat Scott Brown in New Hampshire – surpassing our $25,000 goal.

Now the bad news: Karl Rove's Super PAC just announced that it's spending $600,000 on a new round of ads attacking our friend Jeanne.

We know first-hand how aggressive, relentless, and deceptive Scott Brown's attacks can be. And now he's signed on to get the dirtiest, most secretive help he can find to attack Jeanne Shaheen. So we need to fight back.

We're not going to be able to put together $600,000 as quickly as Karl Rove's anonymous billionaire and corporate friends – but we can still make an important difference. Can we double our goal and raise $50,000 for Jeanne?

Make a donation to fight back against the efforts of Karl Rove, the Koch Brothers, and the Republican Party to get Scott Brown back in the U.S. Senate.

You may remember that, during our campaign in Massachusetts, the outside groups spent $3 million in attack ads just in the first few months of our campaign. So in January 2012, Scott Brown and I signed a pledge to keep outside money out of the race. The pledge surprised all the pundits and succeeded at keeping the Super PACs off the air. Karl Rove and the Koch Brothers stayed out of Massachusetts, and voters heard loud and clear from our campaigns about what we believe in.

But Scott Brown lost – and he has wasted no time making clear he's going to take any shady outside money he can get this time around. On Saturday, after Jeanne Shaheen signed a Peoples' Pledge that is identical to the agreement we signed two years ago in Massachusetts, Scott Brown called Jeanne's signature "self-serving and hypocritical."

Wow.

Scott Brown attacking Jeanne Shaheen as "self-serving and hypocritical" for signing the Peoples' Pledge was like the time Karl Rove attacked me for supporting Wall Street – totally unreal. Jeanne Shaheen showed real courage and did what's right – and I hope we can back her up.

He spends a lot of time talking about how he's an outsider, but Scott Brown welcoming Karl Rove and the Koch brothers with open arms is the ultimate insider move. Now that he's moved into Karl Rove's pocket, settling in with all of Karl Rove's money, he has become a Big Time Insider in the ugliest part of politics.

Help Jeanne raise $50,000 to stop Scott Brown in his new home of New Hampshire. We need to make sure people in New Hampshire know as much about Scott Brown's record as voters of Massachusetts did when they decided to vote him out. Please make a donation right now.

Thank you for being a part of this,

Elizabeth

March 18, 2014

Somebody knows where that plane is.

20 or so years ago, there were a few engineers in my social circle who were designing airborne radar systems for a big defense contractor. They were finishing up a system that could spot a baseball coming over the horizon from 30,000 feet or so up.

Given how much technology's advanced since then, the size of a 777, and the current ubiquity of US military installations and Operation Spy on Everyone, I expect that the US and some other countries have a pretty good idea of where the jet is. They may not want to say what they know, for fear that it will expose our capabilities.

March 18, 2014

I apologize. I know I can do better if you give me a chance.

Yesterday I used the contraction "etc." in an OP. I now understand that this was a really insensitive thing to do, and I want my friends here to know I'll work hard to do better in the future.

I've let you down, and I'm sorry.

Regards,

Chastened Manny

March 18, 2014

A question for Republicans (and Democrats) re: Putin

Those of you who compare Putin to Hitler... If Putin is following in Hitler's footsteps, aren't we compelled to destroy him and his armies, right away, before he gets more emboldend?

March 17, 2014

Who's wreaked more international havoc lately? US or Russia?

Over the past five years, including what's going on now in Ukraine, which country's caused more geopolitical strife?

(Note to the dim-witted: I'm not defending Putin, defending Russia's actions, hating on homosexuals, etc. just trying to get some perspective here.)

March 17, 2014

Opinion: No way out of the Crimea crisis

From Deutsche Welle:

Opinion: No way out of the Crimea crisis

It is rare that a government statement is anticipated with as much deep concern as Chancellor Angela Merkel's address to parliament on the situation in Ukraine. For weeks and months, a drama that has shocked the continent has been unfolding right at the gates of the European Union. It's about democracy and self-determination on the one hand, and power and geopolitical interests on the other. The crisis is headed for another fever pitch with the weekend's referendum in Crimea. But the West is at a loss as to how to prevent the secession of the peninsula from Ukraine and its annexation by Russia.

Merkel addressed her preference to defuse the conflict with diplomacy, adding that military action is not an option. Instead, she said, the West is banking on a mix of negotiations, financial assistance for Ukraine and sanctions against Russia. Should Moscow hold fast to its confrontational course, current sanctions would be tightened, she said. The clock can't be set back, Merkel added, saying that conflicts of interest in Europe can't be solved by resorting to methods dating from the 20th century.

The West made mistakes

But that is exactly what the West - the United States and the European Union -has done. After the fall of the Iron Curtain and the Soviet Union, the West acted like the victor, and increased its sphere of influence right up to Russia's borders. The West broke its promise not to expand NATO into Eastern Europe and further curtail Moscow's sphere of influence. NATO and the EU took no considerations of Russian sensibilities during their expansions into Eastern Europe.

Despite Moscow's wishes, the West intervened in Yugoslavia and recognized Kosovo's independence. With the help of Western allies and in violation of international law, the US went to war in Iraq, and intervened in Libya. As of late, the West has had an unabashed eye on Africa - or rather, the natural resources on the African continent.

...

March 16, 2014

DU Liberals for Putin, check in!

I'm reading threads chastising DU Liberals for believing Putin to be a fellow Liberal.

So... show of hands:

March 15, 2014

Ah! An email from my good friend Barack.

Just got an email from the President, asking for my help.

Here it is, in a nutshell:

This, dear reader, is why non-DU Democrats don't turn out in droves: "wherever I can" is a pout, not a battle cry.

"We suck less" won't cut it either.

Hey Obama! Hey Congressional Democrats! Pull yourself off of Wall Street's teat, stand up straight and start swinging: that's what'll get Democrats out! Show us you're on our side, and Democrats, hell all Americans, will show you that they're on yours.

Regards,

First-Way Manny

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Manny --

The top Republican in the House said Americans should judge them not on how many laws they pass, but on how many they repeal.

The top Republican in the Senate said his top priority wasn't to create jobs or expand opportunity, but to beat me.

I want to work with Congress wherever I can to do the job the American people sent us here to do -- but it turns out Republicans and Democrats have some very different ideas about what that means.

Let me level with you: The only way we're going to achieve our goals is by electing more Democrats in 2014.

Chip in $10 or more to help elect Democrats to a Congress we can all be proud of:

https://my.democrats.org/Elect-Democrats-in-2014

Thanks,

Barack Obama

March 15, 2014

Why does anyone think the CIA and NSA are out of control?

Look at the people placed in charge of these entities: Brennan, Alexander, and Clapper.

No intelligent person could put these people in charge of our intelligence community unless they desired the very behavior we see today. These folks are not nuanced intellectuals who anguish with Constitutional limits.

They are working as desired and expected.

March 13, 2014

Does anyone here think our federal government is functional at this point?

Of, by, and for The People?

It's been seriously lurching for decades, but this latest CIA thing indicates to me that it's off the rails now. Not since Watergate do I remember anything so brazenly contemptuous of Americans.

The IWR vote was horrific, but at least it was a vote. This is a bare-knuckled power grab by the Executive.

Our government is lost.