Bharat Rakshak

Salon.com ‏@Salon 2h2 hours ago

The Supreme Court's latest ruling proves the legacy of Jim Crow is alive and well in America http://slnm.us/tzUYt0N

After the fall of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak in 2011, the U.S. Agency for International Development hired several non­governmental organizations to set up pro-democracy programs in Egypt — even though they were not registered to work in the country.

Less than a year later, the Egyptian government charged 43 NGO workers with operating illegally. Sixteen of them were Americans, including the son of then-U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood.

The Americans were freed in March 2012 after USAID secretly paid the Egyptian government $4.6 million in “bail” money.

There are lots of folks like me in Berea, who came here for its professed openness and diversity. But we had a rude shock last week, when the City Council voted 5 to 3 against an ordinance to ban discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity.

The vote illuminates a new reality for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender Americans. The equality divide we face is no longer between red and blue states, but between urban and rural America. Even as we celebrate victories like this month’s Supreme Court order on same-sex marriage, the real front in the battle for equality remains the small towns that dot America’s landscape.

...
But step outside the cities and the picture changes, just as in most states. Kentucky is one of 29 states where it is perfectly legal to refuse service to anyone even perceived as being gay or transgender, and protections vary locally. Once we enter small towns we can be kicked out of restaurants, refused places to rent or fired from our jobs just because of who we are.

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The opposition was mostly two large church congregations. At council meetings, they wore shirts embossed with “Vote No to Favoritism,” an ironic phrase, since religious groups are specifically protected from discrimination on state law books. Sometimes the protesters held signs that read “Against Fairness.” During the public hearing, anti-fairness folks uttered words like “sick” and “abomination” when the topics of transgender people and gay marriage arose.

...
Homophobia and racism are not unique to rural America; I have seen them in New York and Chicago, in sudden, violent spurts. Of course, cities also offer the opportunity to surround ourselves with like-minded people in a way that small towns do not. And intolerance pervades rural thinking in a different way, mostly brought about by constant preaching in the small white churches lining country roads, a dogma that is often welcomed into the public schools and takes up residence beneath the skin of the people. Rural homophobia can be quiet, but steady. It is a slow assault on the spirit sanctioned by states that refuse to enact legislation offering everyone equal protection.

The study, conducted by the nonpartisan Pew Research Center, informs us that America’s least-trusted news source is conservative radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh, rated unreliable by almost 40 percent of all Americans. The also conservative Fox “News” follows closely at 37 percent. So America’s least-trusted news sources are also its most popular; Limbaugh hosts the number one show on radio and Fox is the highest-rated cable news outlet.

It gets better. Pew tells us America’s most trusted news source is CNN; the network that eschews any ideological identifier is considered reliable by 54 percent of us. Yet for as much as we supposedly trust it, we don’t seem to like it very much. Its ratings — despite a mild resurgence in recent months — are but a fraction of Fox’s and it is undergoing massive layoffs.

For what it’s worth, there’s evidence to support America’s perception of who is and is not trustworthy. PunditFact, an offshoot of PolitiFact, the Pulitzer Prize-winning fact-checking website, has issued a report card on the truthfulness of broadcast pundits by network. It’s an imperfect measure, but the results are still compelling. Over 60 percent of Fox pundit statements rated by PunditFact have been found to be some flavor of false.

CNN? Just 22 percent.

If all this sounds like a commercial for the network of holograms and missing plane obsessions, it isn’t. Rather, it’s a lament for the closing of the American mind.

Two years ago, at the request of yours truly, the people at Nielsen crunched some numbers. They found that in times of major breaking news — the examples used were the Columbine shooting, the Sept. 11 attacks, the commencement of the Iraq War, the Japanese tsunami and the death of Michael Jackson — ratings for all three cable news outlets tend to rise. But, almost without exception, the most dramatic spikes on a percentage basis are enjoyed by CNN. The week of Sept. 11, its ratings rose by 800 percent. No other network came close.

In other words, when something big has happened and people need to know what’s going on, they know where to go. They go where they can trust.

But on a routine day, many Americans, for as much as they will say otherwise, really don’t want to be informed so much as to be confirmed in their political biases, in the partisan version of truth that explains the world to them while making the fewest demands on intellect — and conscience. They need the “death panels” and “anchor” babies, the birther controversies and supposedly rampant voter fraud, the “threats” of sharia law and Obama-caused Ebola, the whole rickety structure of falsehood and fear upon which conservatism has built its alternate reality. That’s the whole reason Fox exists — and CNN barely does.

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/opinion/opn- ... rylink=cpy

Still, the conventional wisdom to banish the president from key Senate battlegrounds, in favor of either Bill and Hillary Clinton, Vice President Joe Biden, and even First Lady Michelle Obama made sense to most Senate Democratic campaigns. The president's low approval numbers plus the conservative terrain at risk for Democrats in Arkansas, Alaska and Louisiana was a "toxic combination," as another top strategist put it.

The problem with that approach, according to Democratic midterm second-guessers, is that it left the party with little to offer voters.

"I am becoming convinced that many Democrats made a mistake in trying to run away from President Obama and the Democratic party agenda," said Jim Manley, a former spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid. "How is the base supposed to get excited when elected Democrats are going to such great length to put as much distance as the can between them and a president that was elected twice by the American people," Manley asked.

UlanBatori wrote:http://www.cnn.com/2014/11/03/politics/ ... ?hpt=hp_t1

Still, the conventional wisdom to banish the president from key Senate battlegrounds, in favor of either Bill and Hillary Clinton, Vice President Joe Biden, and even First Lady Michelle Obama made sense to most Senate Democratic campaigns. The president's low approval numbers plus the conservative terrain at risk for Democrats in Arkansas, Alaska and Louisiana was a "toxic combination," as another top strategist put it.

The problem with that approach, according to Democratic midterm second-guessers, is that it left the party with little to offer voters.

"I am becoming convinced that many Democrats made a mistake in trying to run away from President Obama and the Democratic party agenda," said Jim Manley, a former spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid. "How is the base supposed to get excited when elected Democrats are going to such great length to put as much distance as the can between them and a president that was elected twice by the American people," Manley asked.

Can u believe these ppl?
Back in Nov. 2008, the US was plunging headlong into depression, unemployment over 10%, tied up in two losing wars..
Now the stock market is way up, unemployment is at 5.5%, the $ is way up, gas prices are plunging to record lows, gold is down 50 tp 60%, the US is out of Iraq, and only losing mildly in Afghanistan.
The Obamacare system has taken hold, it sure isn't any worse than what was there before, and is probably a heck of a lot better. It is the first reform to take place in the stinking ripoff of the medical system.

All this time, the Republicans have NOTHING to show except that they have been obstructing all progress all this time.

And these chicken-sh1t racist Democrats can't find anything in themselves to use in a campaign to shut up the Republicans? Shows what they are made of. They are facing getting wiped out tomorrow, and the COTUS is going be more like a circus, filled with Palinist Creationist cretins.

Character shows, every time!

Y. Kanan wrote:So I have a genuine question for fellow BR'ites. Which US political party is more dangerous to India? Or the world for that matter?

A_Gupta wrote:CNBC ass.
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/11/0 ... television

Shreeman wrote:All I have to say re. the election oucome is -- awww, p000p!

LokeshC wrote:As far as the US goes there are two constants:
1) Slide into authoritarianism and facism. Regardless of which side of the political spectrum each parties fall.

With this victory, the Republicans have smelt blood and they will strike at the coloreds sooner or later. Obviously this will alienate the Black/Hispanic/Colored voters and that wound will not be forgotten in the near future.

Which US political party is more dangerous to India? Or the world for that matter?

The times they are a- changing

UlanBatori wrote:Sign of the times, but as Dylan said,

The times they are a- changing

It's going to be interesting to watch his next show. I actually watched part of the show where Affleck was demonstrating why actors should just look pretty and STFP, but fell asleep.

Gus wrote:you should see the next week's episode. he had some muslim woman who claimed to be a 'secular muslim' (the 'global citizen' types in the outermost layer in shiv's concentric circles)..that woman was all over the place.

to his credit, bill maher is the only progressive/liberal person on tv who consistently brings up this 'cannot be tolerant of intolerance, as that is against liberal values' against the 'oh no, we should not speak anything at all, against muslims or islam in an educated and targeted/nuanced way on things that seem wrong to us'

Christine Fair @CChristineFair · 2h 2 hours ago

With every passing year, it becomes ever more clear that Merkin Jesus-e-stan is so much like al Bakistan.
0 replies 2 retweets 3 favorites
Christine Fair @CChristineFair · 2h 2 hours ago

also at a loss as to why so many Merkins are so pissed at Obama. Our economy has rebounded etc. This is ideological. Becoming Jesus-e-stan.
0 replies 1 retweet 3 favorites
Christine Fair @CChristineFair · 2h 2 hours ago

I'm also at a loss as to why women sign up to this reptard anti-woman agenda.
0 replies 2 retweets 3 favorites
Christine Fair @CChristineFair · 2h 2 hours ago

I really don't understand how we Merkins can elect officials who don't believe in science to protect our national interest. Merkastan?

LokeshC wrote:

Shreeman wrote:All I have to say re. the election oucome is -- awww, p000p!

Just as (almost everyone) predicted. Although I did underestimate how much the white voter has been polarized. They are polarized enough to vote for some really amazing nutjobs this time.

The propaganda machinery on the Republican side is truly an amazing machine. They know the fear of the whites, and they capitalize it to the fullest.

Christine Fair @CChristineFair · 7h 7 hours ago

With every passing year, it becomes ever more clear that Merkin Jesus-e-stan is so much like al Bakistan.

Christine Fair @CChristineFair · 7h 7 hours ago

also at a loss as to why so many Merkins are so pissed at Obama. Our economy has rebounded etc. This is ideological. Becoming Jesus-e-stan.

Christine Fair @CChristineFair · 7h 7 hours ago

I'm also at a loss as to why women sign up to this reptard anti-woman agenda.

Christine Fair @CChristineFair · 7h 7 hours ago

I really don't understand how we Merkins can elect officials who don't believe in science to protect our national interest. Merkastan?

Bloomberg News ‏@BloombergNews 17m17 minutes ago

Obama to move on immigration even with warning, aide says: http://bloom.bg/1uHBDcE

President Barack Obama won’t scale back plans for unilateral action on immigration and will press forward with his agenda even as Republican leaders warned of a poisoned relationship, a top aide said today.

“We’re going to do what we think is best for the country,” senior Obama adviser Dan Pfeiffer told reporters and editors at a Bloomberg breakfast in Washington. “If they have disagreements about the things we do, they have the capacity to legislate.”

Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky and House Speaker John Boehner, an Ohio Republican, have said Obama should delay executive action on immigration he promised by the end of the year to avoid antagonizing members of their party.

Obama may use his authority to protect millions more undocumented immigrants already in the U.S. from deportation. He already acted in 2012 to stop deportations of undocumented immigrants brought to the U.S. as children.

Shreeman wrote: The US citizens will take it in the ar$e with vengeance as republicans run full throttle to turn back anything and everythung oibama did. But to argue that it is because of republican campaign success or democratic incompetence is as far from truth as can be.

The voting demographics by AGE are the only story here. This is nothing more than a repeat of scottish referendum. Voting was also a lot more difficult everywhere this cycle, and that trend too will continue in the future.

pankajs wrote: Bakistan has gone mainstream?

Y. Kanan wrote:

With this victory, the Republicans have smelt blood and they will strike at the coloreds sooner or later. Obviously this will alienate the Black/Hispanic/Colored voters and that wound will not be forgotten in the near future.

This I actually disagree with. No such thing will happen. The US population, even Republican voters, just don't have it in them. They're too fat, lazy and apathetic to engage in the kind of extremism you describe. Secondly, the US ruling establishment actually has no interest in stopping illegal immigration; where do you think they get all their slave labour? Illegal immigration is the wild card that will rescue the US from terminal economic decline; the Mexicans are the reason US birth rates aren't declining like Europe, China, Japan and other competitors. This, along with their recent oil & natural gas boom, will give the American economy a new lease on life, and allow them to avoid the stagnation and decline that would have been otherwise inevitable.

Such laws are increasingly being used as the basis for arresting women who have no intention of ending a pregnancy and for preventing women from making their own decisions about how they will give birth.

How does this play out? Based on the belief that he had an obligation to give a fetus a chance for life, a judge in Washington, D.C., ordered a critically ill 27-year-old woman who was 26 weeks pregnant to undergo a cesarean section, which he understood might kill her. Neither the woman nor her baby survived.

In Iowa, a pregnant woman who fell down a flight of stairs was reported to the police after seeking help at a hospital. She was arrested for “attempted fetal homicide.”

In Utah, a woman gave birth to twins; one was stillborn. Health care providers believed that the stillbirth was the result of the woman’s decision to delay having a cesarean. She was arrested on charges of fetal homicide.

In Louisiana, a woman who went to the hospital for unexplained vaginal bleeding was locked up for over a year on charges of second-degree murder before medical records revealed she had suffered a miscarriage at 11 to 15 weeks of pregnancy.

Florida has had a number of such cases. In one, a woman was held prisoner at a hospital to prevent her from going home while she appeared to be experiencing a miscarriage. She was forced to undergo a cesarean. Neither the detention nor the surgery prevented the pregnancy loss, but they did keep this mother from caring for her two small children at home. While a state court later found the detention unlawful, the opinion suggested that if the hospital had taken her prisoner later in her pregnancy, its actions might have been permissible.

In another case, a woman who had been in labor at home was picked up by a sheriff, strapped down in the back of an ambulance, taken to a hospital, and forced to have a cesarean she did not want. When this mother later protested what had happened, a court concluded that the woman’s personal constitutional rights “clearly did not outweigh the interests of the State of Florida in preserving the life of the unborn child.”

Anti-abortion reasoning has also provided the justification for arresting pregnant women who experience depression and have attempted suicide. A 22-year-old in South Carolina who was eight months pregnant attempted suicide by jumping out a window. She survived despite suffering severe injuries. Because she lost the pregnancy, she was arrested and jailed for the crime of homicide by child abuse.

These are not isolated or rare cases. Last year, we published a peer-reviewed study documenting 413 arrests or equivalent actions depriving pregnant women of their physical liberty during the 32 years between 1973, when Roe v. Wade was decided, and 2005. In a majority of these cases, women who had no intention of ending a pregnancy went to term and gave birth to a healthy baby. This includes the many cases where the pregnant woman was alleged to have used some amount of alcohol or a criminalized drug.

Since 2005, we have identified an additional 380 cases, with more arrests occurring every week. This significant increase coincides with what the Guttmacher Institute describes as a “seismic shift” in the number of states with laws hostile to abortion rights.

...

LokeshC wrote:As far as the US goes there are two constants:
1) Slide into authoritarianism and facism. Regardless of which side of the political spectrum each parties fall. --> Internal and external impact
2) Anti Indic/Anti-Pagan stance and subtle but pervasive racism. --> External impact

These two will remain until the US is the sick old man of the world.

As far as what is going to happen within the US, the voters are irreversibly polarized. Its about to get much more dirtier than it already is, just a matter of time before more open and blatant votebank politics occurs in the US. At this time it is very subtle, like Gerrymandering for ex.

With this victory, the Republicans have smelt blood and they will strike at the coloreds sooner or later. Obviously this will alienate the Black/Hispanic/Colored voters and that wound will not be forgotten in the near future.

Shit is about to hit the fan........

Benjamin Disraeli via Samuel Langhorne Clemens wrote:lies, damn lies, and statististics

saurabh.mhapsekar wrote:

LokeshC wrote:As far as the US goes there are two constants:
1) Slide into authoritarianism and facism. Regardless of which side of the political spectrum each parties fall. --> Internal and external impact
2) Anti Indic/Anti-Pagan stance and subtle but pervasive racism. --> External impact

These two will remain until the US is the sick old man of the world.

As far as what is going to happen within the US, the voters are irreversibly polarized. Its about to get much more dirtier than it already is, just a matter of time before more open and blatant votebank politics occurs in the US. At this time it is very subtle, like Gerrymandering for ex.

With this victory, the Republicans have smelt blood and they will strike at the coloreds sooner or later. Obviously this will alienate the Black/Hispanic/Colored voters and that wound will not be forgotten in the near future.

Shit is about to hit the fan........

Sir, do you actually live in US?