The new Koch Brothers. On steroids and VERY scary.

Hilarious!! Texas Legislator Jessica Farrar (D - Houston) got TIRED of all her male colleagues

legislating women's bodies, so she decided to have a little fun and introduce a bill of her own.

This bill fines men for masturbating because that is a crime against an unborn child.

Isn't that FUN???

Here's the link: http://www.dailykos.com/stories/2017/3/13/1642899/-Texas-state-rep-introduces-bill-to-fine-men-for-masturbating-as-act-against-an-unborn-child

HP:Bernie Sanders Campaign Faced A Fake News Tsunami. Where Did It Come From? The trolls set out to

distract and divide the invigorated left.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/bernie-sanders-fake-news-russia_us_58c34d97e4b0ed71826cdb36?63g&ncid=inblnkushpmg00000009

There were in fact a lot of anti-Clinton types of posts on sites I went to as a Bernie supporter. Some, sadly, were even parroted on here.

But here's the bottom line: most of these 'trolls' were from Eastern Europe. At first, they were anti-Clinton in an effort to stop some Sanders supporters from voting Clinton in the general, then they were anti-Clinton, presumably to encourage people to vote Trump in the general.

How much of this happened courtesy of Vladimir Putin? How extensive was Russian involvement in elevating the clown Trump to our highest office?

And, MOST importantly, how much did Trump, Pence, Bannon and the rest know?

Because if they knew ANYTHING, and did nothing, they they are guilty of treason.

The fact that a foreign power influenced one of our elections is NOT OK. We need to focus on this issue with single-minded intensity until we have the answers and have fixed the situation so it never happens again.

We are in the midst of an information war battlefield and most Americans don't

even know it.

This Columbia Journalism Review quotes a Harvard study that shows that right wingers are more isolated, that is less likely to bridge from their usual news sources to more mainstream media as liberal leaning people do. The study calls this tendency 'bridge nodes,' and points that this is what's been wrong with right wingers from the end of the Fairness Doctrine in 1987 (thanks Saint Ronnie!) - they have small bridge nodes.



Seriously, though, and this is a serious article, here's an excerpt:

Someone asked how the 'anti-Trump liberals' would react if Trump actually turned

this nation around and improved it substantially. Here's my reply:

I just don’t think that’s going to happen. That said, allow me to say something else. I’ll be as honest as I can be, but you must realize this is my opinion. It is, however, an educated one. Here’s the thing: Americans live in bubbles. The far left lives in the ‘far left bubble’ where they get their news from certain sources and no other. The far right lives in the ‘far right bubble.’ This bubble is larger, some say much larger, and it consists primarily of Fox News and AM talk radio. The rest of America tends to live in the ‘entertainment, sports and popular culture bubble’ and doesn’t really even think about elections until the week before.

Let us look at the history of the far right bubble. How did this come to be? The old and venerable newscasters, people like Edward R. Murrow and even Walter Kronkite, Chet Huntley and David Brinkley, would spin in their graves if they watched the O’Reilley Factor or Fox and Friends. Why? Because they had to abide by the Fairness Doctrine, which required both sides of an issue be reported.

Unfortunately, after Vietnam, Watergate, and the Civil Rights and anti-war movements that changed our society, intellectuals on the right felt they needed to find a way to get the corporate or business ‘truth’ out to Americans because they were afraid we were moving too far left.

Accordingly, future-Supreme-Court-Justice Lewis Powell wrote a confidential memorandum to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. In it, he laid out the case for the Chamber to become more activist in challenging what he genuinely felt were ‘leftist’ positions.

Powell laid out a plan for the Chamber to challenge the ‘leftists’ on college campuses, speakers bureaus, and business schools. He advocated the creation and assistance of groups on the right who would challenge the ‘liberal’ system through local political involvement, textbook editing, and the courts.

Later, in 1987, Ronald Reagan vetoed a new Fairness Doctrine bill sent to him by the Democrat-controlled U.S. Congress of the time.

During the 1990s and on to today, we have seen the growth of AM talk radio and Fox News. The message of these outlets has become rather insulated. In fact, there are whole groups of Americans who deeply believe the ‘news’ broadcast by these groups, and who don’t get their news from anyplace else.

In effect, this was an absolutely brilliant insurgency by the right using some of the same brainwashing techniques our CIA learned about during the Korean War, and perfected in the 1960s and 1970s.

This is why, when someone like Kellyanne Conway talks about ‘alternative facts,’ and Donald Trump tweets out wild accusations, they are believed by a substantial number of Americans.

Sadly, this brilliant insurgency move by corporate interests has rendered our country so divided that some perceive a danger of civil war. Do we want to get rid of the gridlock and reinstitute sane public dialog? Then I believe we need to do three things:

1. Overturn Citizens United and get corporate money out of politics.
2. Impose a new Fairness Doctrine, which includes net neutrality.
3. Limit political campaigns to a month or two in duration, and finance them equally using public, not private, monies.

Ah, you’re laughing, I see. And calling me a ‘unicorn.’ Indeed. There’s lots of money out there; billions of dollars in fact, that will line up against these reforms. I’m 58 years old now, though, and I will say this: If you want this country to be what it could and should be, then we need to find a way, somehow, to make these reforms.

The American people deserve more objective facts and less ‘spun’ propaganda.

Kansas shooting victim's wife asks the question in every immigrant's mind

A poignant article from CNN.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/03/01/us/kansas-shooting-wife-post-trnd/index.html

On the dreadful night of Wednesday February 22nd 2017, I lost my husband — my soul mate — my friend and my confidante. He was a source of inspiration, a support system not just to me but to any and all he got to know. He always had a smile for every one, respected all especially his elders. His passion was to constantly innovate in the the aviation industry. Here in America, he commenced is his career at Rockwell Collins, and he worked On Flight Control System especially on Primary Flight Control Computer that would change the way flights work with improved performances. He dedicated his life to this development. There were days he used to come home to have only dinner and leave for work again - only return around 2 or 3 in the morning. He was very happy at Rockwell and liked living in a small town like Cedar Rapids, Iowa. But we decided to move from there to a bigger city so that I could get a job and be able to pursue my dreams, as he was able to do for himself. Kansas was our instant choice, and we moved here with a lot of dreams. We built our dream home, which he painted, and installed the garage door. Doing any kind of work on his home gave him immense joy. This was the home that he had built to – for us and any kids we would have- was our first step to starting our family. It’s so unfortunate that this dream of ours is now shattered. All of this, because of one person, who did not think of the impact his deed would have on the victim’s family.

I will now ask same question — On what basis we decide a person is good or bad, and of course, it’s not based on the color of your skin. So what decides that? Many times, these issues are talked about for a few weeks and people tend to forget about them afterward, but the fight must go on towards eradicating hatred from the minds of people. So what is the government going to do to stop hate crime? Lastly, to answer the question that is in every immigrant’s mind, DO WE BELONG HERE? Is this the same country we dreamed of and is it still secure to raise our families and children here?
-Sunayana Dumala