Saturday, December 19, 2015

Here's another omnibus post--see you Monday!

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Coming soon!
It's almost here!!
Nationwide Baby-Drop Day!!!
(thud)

Starting at midnight, December 22, 2015,
just drop off your unwanted baby, child,
(or husband)
at the nearest anti-choice location.

Look for the home or office of any
Tea Partier, Christian, Republican,
or Catholic priest.

When in doubt, leave your bundle of joy
on the hood of a car
with any of the above bumper stickers
(anti-science bumper stickers work, too).

Then walk away, knowing that
they'll welcome your gift
as a blessing from God.

Remember:
If they want to make YOUR decisions,
then give THEM the consequences!
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“There is no meaningful risk of Christians committing acts of terror.”
-- Ted Cruz (South Carolina, 2015)
 
Did Ted Cruz FORGET about Richard Dear?
 
 
Look at these statistics:
 
Here is the reality:
 
Muslims are not the threat here!
 
"ISIL and other terrorist groups do not pose an existential threat to America," says FBI Director Jim Comey...
 
To all:
 
During a time of year that is usually filled with good cheer, the American people are feeling a significant amount of anxiety.  Because I believe they rightly view the FBI as a competent and independent force in the life of our country, I have been doing more public speaking about our work than I might normally.  My goal is to explain our work, and urge them not to let fear become disabling, but to instead channel it into something healthy – an awareness of our surroundings. 
 
When I first became Director, my children were each given a copy of the book, “The Gift of Fear,” which teaches the channeling of instinctual fear into awareness.  My family learned there are four possible states of existence:  Red (you are in a fight for your life); Orange (you are preparing to fight); Yellow (you are keenly aware of your surroundings); and White (you have your headphones on listening to music and are texting on a lonely subway platform late at night).  It is impossible to live life in a prolonged state of Red or Orange because the stress level would destroy you.  Most people instead live in White, moving through parking lots or restaurants unaware of what’s happening around them.  Yellow is a life of balance – acknowledgement that there is evil around us, but with awareness, not disabling fear. 
 
This holiday season you will have many opportunities to represent us to the American people, in all kinds of conversations.  Friends and relatives will ask you what’s going on and whether they should be afraid.  They should not be afraid.  ISIL and other terrorist groups do not pose an existential threat to America; our great country is too big and too good.  Instead, terrorists hope to kill, or inspire others to kill, in order to induce a crippling fear.  These savages actually believe they can significantly damage our country and our economy through fear.  They cannot and they will not.
 
The people of the FBI work every day to find and stop the killers.  We have stopped many this year.  Unfortunately, the nature of the threat is such that we simply can’t see it all, and so we can’t stop it all.  Because the potential killers are hard to see, we depend upon people telling us when they see something concerning; we depend upon people living in Yellow, not White. 
 
And part of enlisting that help is the trust we have earned – and must keep – with Americans of all backgrounds.  I have long believed that the enduring power of this country lies in the talent and character of the people we attract.  I am so lucky that my ancestors came here.  A whole lot of folks back in the day weren’t too excited to have the Irish joining the American family but they made it, and in the process made America better, as have countless other groups.  The FBI’s connection to all Americans is vital to our success.  Thank you for maintaining it.
 
However you celebrate this time of year, I hope you carve out the time to treasure your family and friends, hoist a favorite beverage, and maybe laugh until you can’t breathe.  You have been working very, very hard, doing tremendous good across the land and around the world.  America often asks you to sprint a marathon.  But if we are to keep protecting her so well, you must take a break from time to time and step away from the work. 
 
As for me, this Christmas my family is finally living in one place, which is a great joy.  Our new house in the DC area has narrow doorways, but I am determined to drag a big fat Christmas tree into it anyway, despite my wife’s understandable skepticism.  I will be responsible for vacuuming pine needles for months.  But it is totally worth it.    
 
Merry Christmas.
 
Jim Comey 
 

Dozens of abortion clinics could be forced to shut down if we lose at the Supreme Court.
Double your donation
 
Some time next year, the Supreme Court will decide whether states can effectively end safe and legal abortion by simply forcing clinics to shut down.
And if we lose, here's what we could be left with:1
  • 9 abortion clinics left in Texas
  • 2 clinics in Louisiana
  • 2 clinics in Alabama
  • 1 clinic in Oklahoma
  • ZERO clinics in Mississippi
With so much at stake, we’re aiming to raise $200,000 by January 1 to make sure we have the resources we need to defend abortion rights in the coming year.
How can abortion be considered safe and legal when there are no abortion providers left? The answer is: It can’t.
This has been the anti-choice game plan for years. Since they can’t outright ban abortion, they’re simply making it impossible to access by passing waiting periods of up to 72 hours and clinic shutdown laws that force women to travel hundreds of miles.
But 7 in 10 Americans support safe and legal access to abortion, so if we’re organized and fight hard, we will win.
Thank you for helping to make reproductive freedom real for all women.
Ilyse G. Hogue
President, NARAL Pro-Choice America
DOUBLE YOUR GIFT

Sources:
1. What is HB2?, Texas Policy Evaluation Project, updated August 13, 2015; Jindal signs bill that may close Louisiana abortion clinics, MSNBC, June 25, 2014
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The real story of Ted Cruz's "heroic" daddy

Jim Hightower Lowdown
Tuesday, December 1, 2015
 
Ready or not, it's time to go Cruzing again!
 
I realize that it can be frightening to travel through the dark, dangerous corridors of Ted Cruz's mind, making stomach-turning hard right turns that suddenly appear without warning. Yet, we must, for this guy intends to be your president. But buckle-up, for this trip not only takes us into Ted's mind, but also into the twisting mental curves of his hero, role model, mentor, top advisor, and surrogate campaigner – Rafael Cruz, also know as Daddy.
 
Ted is campaigning as a truth-teller and an honest fighter for freedom, regularly using his father's life story as a guidepost to his own integrity. The candidate tells and retells the story that his father first told him as a boy – about how Daddy Cruz had been a courageous rebel leader in Fidel Castro's Cuban revolution in the 1950s. Rafael says he ran guns, threw Molotov cocktails, and even survived arrest and torture in the struggle to bring down the right-wing dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista.
It's a riveting bit of history that thrills Sen. Cruz's audiences and gives emotional power to his political ambition. Indeed Rafael's Cuban heroics are so inspiring that son Ted features them in his recent campaign book, pointedly titled: "A Time for Truth."
 
But – Look out! – here's where the high moral road of Rafael's story suddenly washes out, sending his and Ted's integrity spinning off into a deep political ravine. It turns out that practically none of the tales about the father's machismo actions in Cuba actually happened!
 
Only a handful of real freedom fighters of that time remember Rafael at all, and none of them recall him doing anything more than strutting around and talking big. In fact, he was known as an ojalatero – one who wished the dictator would fall, but was too squeamish to act on it.

"Cruz's father no rebel, say Cuban peers," Austin American Statesman, November 15, 2015.

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