Mayor of London: jihadis are porn-watching 'wankers'

London Mayor Boris Johnson described men who go to fight with Islamic State as “literally wankers” who watch porn because they can’t meet women, the Guardian reports.

Said Johnson: “If you look at all the psychological profiling about bombers, they typically will look at porn. They are literally wankers. Severe onanists. They are not making it with girls and so they turn to other forms of spiritual comfort – which of course is no comfort.”

He added: “They are just young men in desperate need of self-esteem who do not have a particular mission in life, who feel that they are losers and this thing makes them feel strong – like winners.”

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http://politicalwire.com/2015/01/30/london-mayor-says-islamic-state-wankers-look-porn/

Why Romney Backed Out

Scott Brown files for Mass. state pension

State senator. US senator from Massachusetts. Would-be US senator from New Hampshire. Fox News commentator. And now, or soon, pensioner.

Former senator Scott Brown, who won a Senate seat in Massachusetts and lost one in New Hampshire, is ready for retirement. Brown has applied for his state pension, in Massachusetts, based on his nearly 17 years of state, county, and municipal service, which also entitles him to retiree health benefits.

Brown, 55, filed his application to the State Board of Retirement on Nov. 17, 13 days after he came up short by less than 16,000 votes against US Senator Jeanne Shaheen, the New Hampshire Democrat.

Availing himself of the public pension to which he contributed during his time in office clouds Brown’s political future, particularly if he chooses to remain in New Hampshire, political analysts said. Part of Brown’s core argument in last year’s campaign was that he had roots in the state, and was more philosophically aligned with its residents than with those in Massachusetts.

“You can’t fault anybody for getting their pension that they’ve earned, but if you’re looking at running for another state office, it’s probably not the best timing or message you want to have delivered,” said Ron Bonjean, a Republican public affairs strategist in Washington, D.C.

more
http://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2015/01/30/scott-brown-files-for-mass-state-pension/2uXc9Bjg9du6octcCkereI/story.html

Romney insults voters one last time

By Stephen Stromberg January 30 at 12:20 PM

The country let out a collective “thank God” — or, in Utah, a “thank gosh” — on Friday when Mitt Romney said he would not run for president a third time. He went out as he went in — a decent man and an accomplished manager who serially insults voters.

As Romney floated potential campaign messages over the past few weeks, it became clear that yet another Romney run would have been driven by yet another Romney reinvention. Among other things, a man who four three years ago literally said on national television that he was “not concerned about the very poor” was going to run as a man who cares deeply about poverty. What else do you expect from a politician who implemented an Obamacare-like universal health-care plan and favored strong climate change policy as governor of Massachusetts — and then ran an uncreatively shrill 2012 campaign opposed to both ideas?

The case for Romney was always premised on the notion that, despite his desperate attempts to reflect the views of 50 percent-plus-one voters back at them, he would quit this nonsense in the Oval Office, applying his intelligence and businesslike competence rather than behaving like an ideologue or governing by focus group. Naturally, GOP ideologues didn’t trust him. But neither did a lot of other people who had reason to wonder if, like his campaigns, his presidency would have been driven by constant and brazen political calculation.

Perhaps Romney felt as though his developing 2016 message was more authentically Mitt. But he had already strained the credulity of all but the most devoted Romneyites. He should have taken the goodwill he generated after his unsuccessful 2012 run and become a GOP elder statesman. Instead, he had to inflame the political world one last time over the past few weeks with characteristically awkward hints of another run. Whether he was serious about performing another political shape-shift or he simply wanted to flex his ego, the result is the same: He reminded Americans of why he was a flawed candidate.

That’s a shame. Romney is an otherwise accomplished man and father who was at times unfairly savaged during the 2012 campaign. But, as ever, his own worst enemy is himself.

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http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-partisan/wp/2015/01/30/romney-insults-voters-one-last-time/

Jeb: I Drank and Smoked Weed

Jeb Bush is owning up to all his childhood vices early in the game. In a Boston Globe profile, the potential Republican presidential candidate admitted to drinking and smoking marijuana as a teen studying at Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts. Along with this, his grades were so bad that he was almost expelled. According to peers, he was detached about politics and sometimes bullied smaller classmates. (Bush denies bullying.) At the time, a classmate recalled, Bush “was as far away from the political activism from that time as if he was standing on the moon.”

Read it at Boston Globe

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http://www.thedailybeast.com/cheats/2015/01/30/jeb-i-drank-and-smoked-weed.html

Meet David Lane: The Anti-Gay, Christian-Nation Extremist Of The RNC

Last night, Rachel Maddow reported that the American Family Association has fired Bryan Fischer as its official spokesman, while letting Fischer keep his radio show on the organization’s radio network. The move apparently came as a result of growing controversy surrounding a trip to Israel for Republican National Committee delegates bankrolled by the AFA.

It didn’t look good for the RNC that the group paying the tab for the trip to Israel has a spokesman and radio host who believes that gay people are modern-day Nazis who are responsible for the Holocaust, demands Jewish conversion to Christianity (and wants to require conversion for Jewish and other non-Christian immigrants), and insists that non-Christians have no First Amendment rights: “Counterfeit religions, alternative religions to Christianity, have no First Amendment right to the free exercise of the religion.”

However, the RNC trip’s chief organizer, David Lane of the American Renewal Project, which has close ties to the AFA, is no less radical than Fischer … but his extreme views haven’t stopped Republicans from embracing Lane.

RNC Chairman Reince Priebus has appeared at Lane’s political gatherings and praised his radical anti-LGBT activism. In fact, potential Republican presidential candidates like Rand Paul, Ted Cruz, Mike Huckabee, Rick Perry and Mike Pence have either appeared at Lane’s events, which typically take place in early primary states, or participated in election-themed advertisements for Lane’s group.

- See more at: http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/meet-david-lane-anti-gay-christian-nation-extremist-rnc#sthash.PfJ9IEm4.dpuf

This article is full of links to sites backing up/supporting every item the author reports on.

Mitt Romney Doesn’t Think Much of Jeb Bush

Jeb Bush's Response To Romney: 'I'm Sure Today's Decision Was Not Easy'

-snip-

Here's Bush's full statement:

The GOP’s Flip-Flopping Cuban Heartthrob

UPDATED 2 X: Romney Says He Won’t Run for President

Source: New York Times


Mitt Romney will not seek the Republican nomination for president in 2016, according to people familiar with his decision.

Mr. Romney, the former Massachusetts governor, was expected to share his decision on a conference call with a small group of advisers and later with a larger group of supporters on a subsequent call.

By not pursuing a third White House bid, Mr. Romney frees up scores of donors and operatives who had been awaiting his decision, and creates space for other potential center-right candidates such as Jeb Bush.




Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/31/us/mitt-romney-2016-presidential-election.html?