March 26, 2015

Who’s The Mystery Lawyer Behind ‘Kill All Gays’ Drive?

Despite the implications of a proposed ballot measure in California mandating the execution of all homosexuals, little is known about the Orange County lawyer behind it.

"The Sodomite Suppression Act" was submitted to the state by attorney Matthew Gregory McLaughlin on Feb. 26 and proposes to legalize the extermination of gay people via “bullets to the head or by any other convenient method.”

What we do know: McLaughlin is an attorney in Huntington Beach, California. The website of the California State Bar says his law license is active. It also says he went to the University of California Irvine for his undergraduate degree and George Mason University for law school. He's been practicing law since 1998 and has circulated another state initiative back in 2004, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.

This week, TPM contacted two watchdog groups that track anti-gay extremists: the Southern Poverty Law and Human Rights Campaign. Neither had information on McLaughlin or his history.

more
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/muckraker/matt-gregory-mclaughlin-kill-all-gays-california

March 26, 2015

It’s Hard Out There for a Hate Group

Keli Goff

Hate-group membership spiked when Obama first became president, but now it’s decreasing. Maybe things actually are getting a tad better.

While political watchers will spend decades debating whether or not President Obama’s election was good for America from a policy standpoint, one issue is not up for debate: The Obama presidency has been great for hate. According to experts, President Obama has been one of the greatest recruitment tools hate groups have seen in decades. But a new report from the Southern Poverty Law Center indicates that the hate parade may be finally coming to an end.

Mark Potok, a Southern Poverty Law Center expert, previously reported that there was a 40 percent increase in the number of hate groups from 2000 to 2009. But to put into context just how much hate flourished in the Obama era: On the day after President Obama’s election, 2,000 new members made their way to Stormfront, a popular white supremacist message board.

In the last five years its membership base has increased 60 percent. Stormfront’s slogan is, “We are the voice of the new, embattled white minority!” Rants tend to focus on topics like the horrors of mixed-race families, and the particular dangers of a mixed-race president. There have been other high-profile incidents that seemed to indicate that the Obama era was not only not post-racial, but perhaps pretty racist. One of the most disturbing perhaps took place in Virginia, when Easter eggs filled with racist messages were left during a children’s Easter egg hunt last year.

But while racist rhetoric may be unnerving, there have been more troubling and direct racially charged threats. Shortly after Obama secured the Democratic nomination, a group of skinheads was arrested for plotting to assassinate him. In the midst of this hate-fueled cottage industry there were other incidents that seemed to highlight America’s racial divide in other equally unfortunate ways. There was the Trayvon Martin tragedy, the Michael Brown shooting and its aftermath, and most recently the racist lynching song courtesy of a few University of Oklahoma students. All of these stories considered collectively would seem to indicate that far from bringing us together, the Obama era has helped tear Americans further apart. And yet according to the Southern Poverty Law Center, the numbers finally seem to indicate otherwise.

more
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/03/26/it-s-hard-out-there-for-a-hate-group.html

March 26, 2015

The ‘Patriot’ Terrorist Is Anything But

Dean Obeidallah

The Georgia man who planted a bomb was willing to see innocents die so that people would blame Muslims. And he called himself a ‘patriot.’

I thought I had seen every imaginable way to stoke the flames of anti-Muslim bigotry in America. There have been countless people on Fox News, certain Republican elected officials, the professional bigots, and even some right-wing “Christian” leaders serving up hate in various ways.

But these people all pale in comparison to Michael Sibley. You see, Sibley wasn’t content to just giving us the same old right-wing crap like Muslims wants to impose Islamic law so say goodbye to bacon cheeseburgers and whiskey and say hello to lamb kebobs and strong coffee served in small cups.

Nope, this self-described “patriot” planted a bomb at a national park in Georgia in the hopes that the public would think a Muslim did it. And yes, I know most haven’t heard about this incident. There’s not even a need to mention how different the media coverage would be have been if the bomber had actually been Muslim. I already detailed that scenario earlier this week in my article about a non-Muslim man that attacked federal officers at a U.S. airport with poison spray and a machete while carrying six homemade bombs in a duffel bag.

Sibley, who is 67 years old and lives in Roswell, Georgia, told FBI officers that he planted this bomb because in his view, “no one was paying attention to what was going on the world.” Apparently as a “patriot” he was going to maim or even kill his fellow Americans to wake them up to the threat facing America.

more
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/03/26/the-patriot-terrorist-is-anything-but.html

March 26, 2015

Jeb and the Neocon Trap

Matt Lewis

Can Jeb Bush assuage the concerns of the GOP’s hawks without looking like the second coming of his brother?

Are the neoconservatives turning on Jeb Bush? It would be ironic, considering the men his brother turned to for foreign policy advice. It would also be highly problematic—since foreign policy establishment hawks should represent one of Bush’s few natural constituencies on the right. But it’s hard to observe recent developments and not suspect something is afoot.

I’ve often observed that Sen. Rand Paul has to walk a fine line in order to keep all the disparate elements of his coalition together, but it’s increasingly looking like Jeb Bush is having to do the same thing. He has the legacies of his father and brother to contend with. And while these legacies aren’t necessarily mutually exclusive, they aren’t necessarily complementary, either. And therein lies the trap for Jeb: Does he alienate the GOP’s main cadre of foreign policy activists and thinkers, or does he saddle up with them and risk being seen as the second coming of his brother?

The foreign policy “realist” community hopes Jeb will be the “smart” son and follow the “prudent” footsteps of his father. Bush 41 oversaw the collapse of the Soviet Union and liberated Kuwait without toppling Saddam, a move that—depending on where you stand—was either an example of prudence or cowardice. But neoconservatives prefer George W. Bush’s more aggressive foreign policy, and want the GOP to nominate a hawk in 2016. Now Jeb Bush’s campaign needs to figure out what kind of President Bush he would be, and he likely won’t be able to assuage the concerns of both camps.

The conundrum, presumably, began when Jeb announced his foreign policy team. Much was made of the fact that many of his advisers had served in previous Bush administrations. This was much ado about nothing. Any Republican who gained senior foreign policy experience in the last quarter of a century would likely have worked for a Bush administration.

more
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/03/26/jeb-and-the-neocon-trap.html

March 26, 2015

Kamikaze Co-Pilot Accused of Mass Murder

Clive Irving

French officials say the co-pilot voluntarily crashed the Germanwings plane after locking out the pilot.

The co-pilot of Germanwings Flight 9525 took control of the airplane and headed straight into a mountain at more than 400 miles per hour as the passengers screamed in terror, a French prosecutor said today.

Evidence gathered from the cockpit voice recorder showed that one of the pilots had left the cockpit when the Airbus A320 reached cruise height, but was then unable to get back to the flight deck because he was locked out.

The pilot made repeated attempts to break through the door, the French official said: “We hear the pilot calling, asking to regain access to the cockpit, through the phone used to communicate between the cabin and the cockpit. There was zero response from the co-pilot.” The pilot failed to gain entry and the recording ends with the blaring of a proximity alarm, indicating that the impact with the Alps was imminent.

The prosecutor said that while the co-pilot was alone “he manipulated the flight management system to manage the descent.” The highly sophisticated computerized system of the A320 would not have detected any anomaly from these actions. Although the system uses a “flight protection envelope” to prevent pilots from what is called “over-corrrecting”—forcing the airplane into a maneuver that could destabilize it—the Germanwings A320 did not breach this safeguard in its descent. When the ground proximity warning is triggered the crew would be required to make an urgent change of course.

more
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/03/26/did-kamikaze-pilot-kill-150-people.html

March 26, 2015

Germanwings Co-Pilot Deliberately Crashed Jet, French Prosecutor Says

The crash of the Germanwings plane in the French Alps that killed 150 people most likely happened because the co-pilot crashed the jet deliberately, the prosecutor in France heading the criminal investigation said on Tuesday.

The co-pilot began the plane’s descent for an unknown reason while he was alone in the cockpit, said the prosecutor, Brice Robin, describing the action as deliberate. Mr. Robin said he had opened an investigation for voluntary manslaughter.

The revelation that one of the pilots of a Germanwings jetliner was locked out of the cockpit before it crashed raised new and troubling questions on Thursday, as search teams continued to scour the rugged terrain of the French Alps for clues that could shed light on what happened.

The flight, an Airbus A320 operated by the budget carrier Germanwings, was traveling to Düsseldorf, Germany, from Barcelona, Spain, on Tuesday morning when it inexplicably descended and slammed into the French Alps, killing the 144 passengers and six crew members on board.

The mystery of what happened on the plane during an unexplained 10-minute descent deepened late Wednesday, when a senior French military official participating in the investigation revealed that evidence from a cockpit voice recorder indicated that one pilot had left the cockpit before the plane began its descent and was unable to get back in.

READ MORE »
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/27/world/europe/germanwings-crash.html?emc=edit_na_20150326

March 26, 2015

Ex-Texas GOP Sen. Will Back Jeb Bush Over Ted Cruz In 2016

Former Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX) doesn't plan on endorsing Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), the first major candidate to enter the 2016 presidential race. Instead, the former Texas senator plans to endorse former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush if he decides to run for president in 2016.

"I think he has a way about him that is going to give people confidence and I think people are going to trust him," Hutchison said Wednesday on MSNBC. "He's not a braggadocios guy, he's not a guy that does sweeping gestures. He is kind of the trusted, father type that you want to run our country. And I think you need someone that will bring people together, Democrats and Republicans. That's what he did in Florida, that's what his reputation is. He will have an agenda. He will focus on that agenda."

Cruz won Hutchison's Senate seat when she ran for governor in 2010, beating the establishment Republican-aligned David Dewhurst.

Hutchison's comments come just a few days after Cruz announced his candidacy for president. Hutchison is an ally of the Bush family and had their support when she challenged former Gov. Rick Perry (R-TX) in the gubernatorial primary in 2010. Perry has also shown interest in running for president in 2016.

more
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/kay-bailey-hutchison-ted-cruz-jeb-bush

March 26, 2015

House Passes GOP Budget To Privatize Medicare For 5th Straight Year

Source: TPM

WASHINGTON — The Republican-led House of Representatives passed a far-reaching budget blueprint for the fifth consecutive year that partially privatizes Medicare.

The budget was approved Wednesday by a vote of 219-208, overcoming Republican defections.

Like previous proposals by Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI), the new plan by House Budget Chair Tom Price (R-GA) transforms Medicare after 10 years into a market exchange (which bears many similarities to Obamacare) where seniors receive a federal subsidy to buy insurance from a menu of options.

The menu includes private insurance plans and the option of staying in traditional Medicare. Like Ryan's proposal last year, it does not impose a cap on how much Medicare is allowed to spend per beneficiary, a GOP budget aide said. It is a response to criticism that the "premium support" structure could lead to high out-of-pocket costs that make coverage unaffordable for seniors.

-snip-

Read more: Link to source

March 25, 2015

Fox News host says healthy school food is ‘the road to hell’: It’s ‘causing mental problems’

Fox News host Andrea Tantaros warned on Wednesday that healthier school food was already “causing mental problems” for students.

In a Tuesday report, WCBS pointed out that new rules from the New York City Board of Health reduced the amount of juice a 2 year old could have at day care to 4 ounces a day. The old rules followed American Academy of Pediatrics guidelines of 6 ounces per day, but officials wanted to leave some wiggle room for children who consumed juice outside of school.

On Wednesday, Fox News host Harris Faulkner accused the Board of Health of being “the food police.”

But Bill O’Reilly, who was appearing as a guest on Outnumbered, argued that some amount of “social engineering” was necessary with school food because many parents “don’t care what their children do, don’t care how they eat, don’t care how they behave, how they speak, what they learn.”

“It is nanny state-ish,” O’Reilly agreed. “But it’s necessary because we have so many irresponsible parents.”

more
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2015/03/fox-news-host-says-healthy-school-food-is-the-road-to-hell-its-causing-mental-problems/

March 25, 2015

CO Republican says brutal attack on pregnant woman could be God’s punishment for legal abortion

A Colorado Republican lawmaker blamed abortion laws for a brutal attack last week on a pregnant woman in his state.

State Rep. Gordon Klingenschmitt (R-Colorado Springs), a demon-obsessed former Navy chaplain elected last year to the state House of Representatives, discussed the case Wednesday on his “Pray In Jesus Name” program, reported Right Wing Watch.

Michelle Wilkins, who was seven months pregnant, was lured to the home of a Longmont woman advertising baby clothes for sale on Craigslist.

Instead, police said 34-year-old Dynel Lane stabbed the 26-year-old pregnant woman and “removed” the fetus from her body and went to a hospital, where she claimed she had a miscarriage.

Wilkins survived, but her baby did not.

more
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2015/03/colorado-republican-says-brutal-attack-on-pregnant-woman-could-be-gods-punishment-for-legal-abortion/