July 20, 2014

All GOPers Vying For This Congressional Seat Inclined To Impeach Obama

Source: TPM

By CAITLIN MACNEAL Published JULY 20, 2014, 2:27 PM EDT

All four of the Republican candidates for the congressional seat representing Wisconsin's sixth district indicated on Thursday that they would likely support impeaching President Obama if elected, according to the Wisconsin Journal Sentinel.

During a GOP candidate forum in Ozaukee County, Wisc., the candidates agreed that they would support naming a special prosecutor to investigate certain scandals, such as the IRS scandal and collection of bulk data, as the first step in an impeachment process.

"He should be impeached for so many things," state Sen. Glenn Grothman (R) said at the forum.

"You begin to see the markings of a totalitarian state," he added about the pattern created by the administration's IRS and NSA scandals.

-snip-

Read more: http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/wisconsin-congress-seat-gop-impeachment

July 20, 2014

Fox Host To Cruz: You May Be 'Enemy Of The Good In Pursuit Of The Perfect'

By CAITLIN MACNEAL Published JULY 20, 2014, 4:45 PM EDT

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) on Sunday insisted that his bill to cut off funding for the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, which allows some young undocumented immigrants to stay in the U.S., is the most humane and effective way to address the border crisis.

Cruz said on "Fox News Sunday" that the "promise of amnesty" caused the influx of undocumented minors coming to the U.S. from Central America.

Host Chris Wallace questioned Cruz as to why he wanted to block all other bills to address the situation until his is passed.

"You're perhaps the enemy of the good in pursuit of the perfect," Wallace said to Cruz.

-snip-

Watch the interview via Fox News

more
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/chris-wallace-grills-cruz-border-plan

July 20, 2014

Scammers target families of undocumented child immigrants to U.S.: FBI

Source: Reuters

By Reuters
Sunday, July 20, 2014 12:12 EDT

U.S. officials warned on Sunday that scammers are attempting to prey on the families of some of the tens of thousands of unaccompanied child immigrants crossing the border from Latin America, seeking money for phony travel costs.

A Federal Bureau of Investigation official in San Antonio said investigators have uncovered two similar fraud schemes targeting family members of the children who are living illegally in the United States.

“One fraud scheme involved individuals who claimed to be representing a charitable or non profit organization, which they claimed assists in processing and reuniting the children with their families,” said Special Agent Michelle Lee.

Another scheme used what Lee described as “caller I.D. spoofing” to make it appear that the calls were coming from a San Antonio business, which she didn’t name, in an attempt to lend credibility to the scheme.

-snip-

Read more: http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/07/20/scammers-target-families-of-undocumented-child-immigrants-to-u-s-fbi/

July 20, 2014

Fox Host Questions Kerry About Comment On Israel Caught On Hot Mic (VIDEO)

Source: TPM

By CAITLIN MACNEAL Published JULY 20, 2014, 10:33 AM EDT

"Fox News Sunday" played a clip of a conversation Secretary of State John Kerry had with one of his aides about Israel before he went on air Sunday.

"While you were on camera and while on microphone, you just spoke to one of your top aides between the interviews about the situation in Israel and the fact that 14 Israelis have either been shot or killed in an operation," host Chris Wallace said before playing the clip.

It's unclear what the unnamed aide is saying to Kerry, but the Secretary of State's comments are audible.

"It's a hell of a pinpoint operation — hell of a pinpoint operation," he said, which according to Fox was a reference to Israel's ground operation in Gaza. "We've got to get over there," Kerry continues. "We ought to go tonight. I think it’s crazy to be sitting around."

-snip-

Read more: http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/kerry-hot-mic-fox-news-israel

July 20, 2014

UPDATED ~ Kerry: Ukraine rebels likely downed passenger jet

Source: ASSOCIATED PRESS

SUNDAY, JUL 20, 2014 09:15 AM EDT

WASHINGTON (AP) — The United States is putting the likely blame for the downed Malaysian passenger plane on Ukraine separatists who had Russian military help.

Secretary of State John Kerry is citing a mix of U.S. intelligence and social media reports as evidence that he says “obviously points a very clear finger at the separatists.”

Kerry says there’s been a major flow of arms and weapons crossing the Russian border over the past month to help the Ukrainian rebels who are fighting to break away in the east from the central government.

Kerry says separatists have shot down about 12 aircraft over the last month, and bragged about Thursday’s attack on the Malaysian plane until they realized it was a commercial jet. Kerry appeared on five talk shows Sunday.

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Read more: http://www.salon.com/2014/07/20/kerry_ukraine_rebels_likely_downed_passenger_jet/

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SUNDAY, JUL 20, 2014 09:15 AM EDT

Kerry defends Israel’s right to defend itself

WASHINGTON (AP) — Secretary of State John Kerry says Israel “has every right in the world to defend itself” from attacks by Hamas militants in Gaza, but the U.S. is working diligently to get an immediate cease-fire in place.

Kerry says Israel long has endured rocket attack by Hamas, and no nation “would sit there while rockets are bombarding it.”

Kerry also cites tunnels constructed by Hamas in what he says is “an obvious effort” to try to kidnap Israelis.

Kerry tells NBC’s “Meet the Press” that it’s “unacceptable by any standard anywhere in the world” and that Israel must protect its citizens. Kerry also says he believes that President Barack Obama will want him to return to the Mideast shortly to see if a cease-fire can be put in place.

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http://www.salon.com/2014/07/20/kerry_defends_israels_right_to_defend_itself/

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UPDATE:

Kerry On Plane: Evidence 'Points Very Clear Finger At The Separatists'

By CAITLIN MACNEAL Published JULY 20, 2014, 10:00 AM EDT

Secretary of State John Kerry on Sunday said that evidence gathered on activity in Ukraine before, during and after the Malaysian plane was shot down over eastern Ukraine points to pro-Russian separatists.

"It obviously points very clear finger at the separatists," Kerry said on CNN's "State of the Union" about evidence collected thus far about the plane. Kerry said that "we know for certain" that separatists were trained by Russians to use missiles, and that they had a system on Monday. And "within hours" of when the plane was shot down, a missile system passed through two towns near the crash site.

He stopped short of blaming Russia, however. When host Candy Crowley asked if Russia and Vladimir Putin were "culpable" in shooting down the plane, Kerry said that "people can make their own judgements about what they read here."

He did say that this is a "wake up call" for Europe to join in U.S. sanctions against Russia. Separatists have also been interfering with evidence, Kerry said. He told CNN they have removed parts of the plane and have been piling bodies in an unceremonious way.

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http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/kerry-plane-evidence-points-to-separatists

July 20, 2014

Europe leaders warn Russia to get crash zone open

Source: ASSOCIATED PRESS

SUNDAY, JUL 20, 2014 08:45 AM EDT

PARIS (AP) — The leaders of France, Germany and Britain are telling Russia’s Vladimir Putin to ensure that separatists in Ukraine give full access to investigators at the Malaysian plane crash site or risk the ire of Europe.

French President Francois Hollande, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and British Prime Minister David Cameron agreed on Sunday to demand that Putin force separatists controlling the site to “finally allow rescuers and investigators to have free and total access to the zone.”

A statement from Hollande’s office said that if Russia fails “to immediately take the needed measures, consequence will be drawn” at an EU foreign ministers meeting Tuesday.

Armed rebels have denied emergency workers full access and are now removing bodies from the crash site.

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Read more: http://www.salon.com/2014/07/20/europe_leaders_warn_russia_to_get_crash_zone_open/

July 20, 2014

Meet The Putin-Loving Congressman Who’s Worried About Fluoride In Our Drinking Water

James Kirchick

Republican Dana Rohrabacher is Putin’s most reliable defender on Capitol Hill. Now he’s joined the old far-right crusade against fluoridated drinking water, which conspiracy theorists say leads to Communist mind control.

Rep. Dana Rohrabacher had an odd warning last week for the Heartland Institute. The conservative think tank was hosting a conference challenging the notion of “whether man-made global warming is a problem worth addressing.” Rohrabacher, a prominent climate change skeptic who once suggested that “dinosaur flatulence” might have been responsible for past fluctuations in global temperatures, was delivering a speech entitled, “Global Warming as a Power Grab.”

Riffing on the notion of scientific consensus, the California Republican remarked that he did not “know whether fluoridating the water helps people’s teeth become better or not. But I do know that in this country, we should be the ones who should be deciding what we put into our bodies one way or the other. Not the federal government or the local government putting fluoride into our water!”

The last time water fluoridation was seriously debated in America was at the start of the Cold War. The far-right John Birch Society, whose founder claimed that Dwight Eisenhower was a “dedicated, conscious agent of the communist conspiracy,” launched a nationwide campaign opposing fluoridation on the grounds that it opened the floodgates to Soviet mind control experiments on Americans. Stanley Kubrick famously satirized the theory in his classic Dr. Strangelove via the character of Jack D. Ripper, the mad Air Force officer who warns against Soviet attempts to poison our “precious bodily fluids.”

In light of Rohrabacher’s repetition of Birch Society talking points, one might assume that he has maintained a rigorous skepticism, if not paranoia, about Russian designs on the world. Rohrabacher worked as a speechwriter for fellow Californian Ronald Reagan and, after winning his first term in Congress in 1988, traveled to the wilds of Afghanistan to join mujahadeen fighting the Soviets. “I was Vladimir Putin’s worst nightmare,” he boasted in an interview earlier this year. But in a befuddling foreign policy about-face, Rohrabacher is now Putin’s best friend on Capitol Hill.

more
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/07/20/meet-the-putin-loving-congressman-who-s-worried-about-fluoride-in-our-drinking-water.html

July 20, 2014

Christian Radio Host Says Obama Politicized MH17 to Normalize ‘Sexual Deviancy’

Olivia Nuzzi

A Christian radio host believes President Obama is exploiting the crash of MH17 for the benefit of the gay agenda.

Bryan Fischer believes he has identified the real tragedy of the shooting down of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 in Ukraine on Thursday: men are still, despite his best efforts to stop it, having sex with other men.

Fischer, of Tupelo, Mississippi, is a nationally syndicated Christian radio host and the Director of Issue Analysis for Government and Public Policy at the American Family Association — an anti-LGBT, anti-pornography, anti-21st Century nonprofit founded as the "National Federation for Decency" in 1977 by minister Donald E. Wildmon. The outfit was listed as a "hate group" by the Southern Poverty Law Center in 2010.

Bryan Fischer @BryanJFischer

Obama politicizes deaths of AIDS researchers on Malaysian plane. We know how to stop AIDS: persuade men not to have sex with men.

12:04 PM - 18 Jul 2014

Among the 298 passengers aboard the flight were AIDS researchers and advocates on their way to the International Aids Conference, including Dr. Joep M. Lange, a high-profile AIDS expert who had devoted much of his life to combatting the disease.

During a press conference at the White House on Friday, President Obama expressed dismay at the loss of the researchers: "These were men and women who had dedicated their own lives to saving the lives of others, and they were taken from us in a senseless act of violence. In this world today, we shouldn't forget that in the midst of conflict and killing, there are people like these. People who are focused on what can be built, rather than what can be destroyed. People who are focused on how they can help people they've never met. People who define themselves not by what makes them different than other people, but by the humanity that we hold in common."

more
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/07/20/christian-radio-host-says-obama-politicized-mh17-to-normalize-sexual-deviancy.html

July 20, 2014

Is it Time to Send Lady Liberty Back to France? - By Gene Robinson

Much smaller, poorer countries are opening their gates for refugees from violence-torn parts of the world. Why can't we do the same?

Maybe we should just send the Statue of Liberty back where it came from.

That long-and-much-beloved iconic statue, standing in New York Harbor, greeting immigrants by the tens of thousands, is inscribed with Emma Lazarus’ poem: “Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses, yearning to breath free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore, Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door.” Our beloved Lady Liberty has been a beacon of hope for millions of people seeking a better life.

The first human being to come through Ellis Island was an unaccompanied minor. Her name was Annie Moore, and a statue of her (and her two younger brothers) now stands on that tiny piece of hope in New York Harbor, along with one of her in Ireland, from whence she came. Thousands of unaccompanied minors followed her through Ellis Island.

But these days, with unprecedented numbers of children reaching our border with Mexico, many in Congress would have you believe that we are dealing with barbarians at the gate, rather than children seeking refuge from violence in their home countries. Congress is refusing President Obama’s request for emergency funds to deal with this crisis and seeking to overturn a human trafficking law (which grants a hearing to apprehended immigrants in order to determine whether or not they qualify for asylum), in order to deport these children more speedily. These are not immigrants simply looking for a cushier life, but rather refugees seeking relief from a dangerous and deadly, domestic “war” in their own countries.

more
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/07/20/is-it-time-to-send-lady-liberty-back-to-france.html

July 20, 2014

Armed Rebels Demand Emergency Workers Hand Over Bodies From Plane

By YURAS KARMANAU Published JULY 20, 2014, 7:57 AM EDT

HRABOVE, Ukraine (AP) — Armed rebels forced emergency workers to hand over all 196 bodies recovered from the Malaysia Airlines crash site and then had them loaded onto refrigerated train cars bound for a rebel-held city, Ukrainian officials and monitors said Sunday.

The surprising, rapid-fire developments Sunday morning came after a wave of international outrage over how the bodies of plane crash victims were being handled and amid fears that the armed rebels who control the territory where the plane came down were tampering with the evidence.

Ukraine and the separatists accuse each other of firing a surface-to-air missile Thursday at Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 as it flew from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur some 33,000 feet (10,000 meters) above the battlefields of eastern Ukraine. Both deny shooting down the plane. All those onboard the flight — 283 passengers and 15 crew — were killed.

Ukraine says Russia has been sending sophisticated arms to the rebels, a charge that Moscow denies.

more
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/ukraine-rebels-plane-bodies-train