Politics

Why are so many astonished by a political protester using "any" means to deliver a message? I view this guy's efforts to be misguided and misdirected but I support his right to protest. Isn't this part of the history of this country? Why does the silly media think it so strange that a small, almost invisible on radar, craft might be able to transverse restricted airspace? Yes, he could have been shot down by rifle fire without much difficulty. Thanks for not doing that. Consider this analogy. It is totally illegal to speed on the nation's highways. What are the results, unless caught doing so? Usually nothing. The point being that not speeding and not violating …

Fascinating archive of national security info on atomic matters hosted by George Washington University. http://nsarchive.gwu.edu/nukevault/

Sex workers, drug users, the outcast: how a radically inclusive church welcomes all In a basement on the Upper West Side Pastor Brown offers a space where LGBT and other socially marginalised people can be at home with their Christian faith ...I first heard about this church through David, who I met in law class. She was working on her masters thesis, which focused on the spiritual lives of sex workers. She told me the women she interviewed spoke about their work as a calling, a healing and spiritual endeavor... http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/apr/16/radically-inclusive-church-sex-workers-drug-users-outcast

Good Luck Reversing Obama's Cuba Policies Big business won't allow it. http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2015/04/cuba-opening-big-business-117009.html#ixzz3XSq6sTge

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/apr/14/marco-rubio-ted-cruz-republican-great-brown-hope-latinos

The Man Who Created the Lincoln We Know 150 years ago, William Herndon set out to write an honest biography of Honest Abe. Here’s what happened. Read more: http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2015/04/abraham-lincoln-william-herndon-116985.html#ixzz3XP9aNyLh

http://m.newnownext.com/gay-san-francisco-man-launches-id-bottom-for-hillary-viral-campaign/04/2015/?xrs=synd_facebook_logo

Little bit snotty condescending (and slightly misleading) headline, but the article is good. Hillary Clinton's goal: Keep Bill Clinton happy, involved Sidelined and ornery in 2008, the former president is prepared to help in the war room and on the trail. http://www.politico.com/story/2015/04/hillary-clinton-2016-announcement-bill-clinton-116890.html#ixzz3X94xgGqI

Top News South Carolina Officer Gets Murder Charge in Man’s Death The story evolved, and late today officer Slager was arrested for murder. Have we not learned anything? WARNING: This video shows the murder of Walter Scott https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=21T2F5WFPAw WASHINGTON — A white police officer in North Charleston, S.C., was charged with murder on Tuesday after a video surfaced showing him shooting in the back and killing an apparently unarmed black man while the man ran away. The officer, Michael T. Slager, 33, said he had feared for his life because the man had taken his stun gun in a scuffle after a traffic stop …

A Gay Sex Harassment Case Gives a Glimpse of Vatican Orgies The Daily Beast The alleged victim of a horny cleric in southern Italy takes him to court, and (once again) blows the lid off sexual corruption in the Catholic Church. If only there was an online hookup site especially for gay priests, perhaps it could save the Vatican some of the embarrassment that comes when celibacy-challenged prelates start snooping around for some action. Instead, we are reminded once again about the secret desires of the not-really-so-chaste. The latest awkward moment for the Catholic Church came this week when the archbishop of Taranto in the southern Italian province of Puglia dismi…

Can't take the heat. Rand Paul ends Q&A when pressed on GOP voters' views on race and policing Republican presidential candidate walks out of Guardian interview in third testy exchange with media this week as rocky start to campaign continues http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/apr/10/rand-paul-walks-out-live-interview

Several years old obviously but still.

Lawmakers warn DOJ to back off medical marijuana prosecutions By BURGESS EVERETT 4/8/15 6:24 PM EDT politico.com With Capitol Hill and the Justice Department locked in a feud over the future of medical marijuana, two leading congressional marijuana reform advocates are warning Justice that it's violating a new federal law. In a letter addressed to Attorney General Eric Holder, Reps. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Calif.) and Sam Farr (D-Calif.) on Wednesday said the Justice Department's interpretation of their medical marijuana amendment in last year's spending bill is "emphatically wrong."... Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2015/04/lawmakers-warn-doj-to-back-off-medical…

You have to admire Flynt for keeping on aggravating the system in the name of what he thinks is right. Larry Flynt wins right to access Missouri execution records Court allows Hustler magazine publisher to examine sealed records out of his interest to know how drugs are administered upon state's death row inmates http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/apr/07/larry-flynt-missouri-execution-records

As a rabid Hillary fan, I find this worryingly on the mark. Is Hillary Clinton Any Good at Running for President? New York Magazine ...Pat Buchanan, the venerable Republican operative who advised Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan, likes to assess politicians as political athletes. Putting aside ideologies, policy preferences, even personalities, how do they perform on the political playing field? "It's charisma, charm, savvy," he says. "Being a political athlete is having an extra dimension -- it's not learned; you're born with it." In Buchanan's long career, the greatest political athletes he's encountered have been John F. Kennedy, Reagan, Bill Clinton, and Barack Obam…

Michele Bachmann Compares Obama To Andreas Lubitz, Pilot Who Downed Germanwings Airliner The Huffington Post | By Paige Lavender Former Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) compared President Barack Obama to Andreas Lubitz, the pilot who downed the Germanwings airliner that crashed in the French Alps last week. In a Tuesday Facebook post, Bachmann said Obama was like Lubitz because of the U.S.'s nuclear talks with Iran: A French prosecutor said recordings from the airplane's black box suggest Lubitz brought the plane down deliberately. Lufthansa, the parent company of Germanwings, said in a statement Tuesday it knew Lubitz had suffered from an episode of "severe depress…

Pope Francis washes the feet of TV showgirl who was jailed for fraud The Pope - who has broken convention by washing the feet of women and Muslims in the past - washed the feet of 12 prison inmates on Maundy Thursday visit By Nick Squires, Rome 3:09PM BST 03 Apr 2015 Pope Francis kisses a prisoner's foot during the traditional Washing of the feet at the Rebibbia's jail in Rome He has broken Vatican convention by washing the feet of Muslims and women, and Pope Francis has now clocked up a new first – cleansing the feet of a former television showgirl during an Easter ceremony. During his Maundy Thursday visit to a prison in Rome, the Jesuit Pope knelt down in f…

An Excerpt From Masha Gessen’s New Book On The Tsarnaev BrothersIn this excerpt from The Brothers: The Road to an American Tragedy, journalist Masha Gessen recounts the Boston Marathon bombing’s immediate aftermath through the eyes of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev’s friends and classmates as they came to realize who was responsible. posted on April 2, 2015, at 6:07 p.m. Masha Gessen BuzzFeed Contributor Over at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth campus, just about every television set had been on for three straight days. Sixty miles’ distance from Boston made it all feel a bit like a video game. Few of the students were familiar enough with the multimillion-dollar town…

http://www.politico.com/story/2015/03/harry-reid-retires-best-insults-116450.html?hp=l2_3_b2

L. Ron Hubbard: The First Tea Partier? Bill Schulz, The Daily Beast HBO’s brutal Scientology take down, 'Going Clear', and Ted Cruz’s presidential talking points have made one thing, well, clear: Both the Tea Party and Tom Cruise’s religion have a lot in common. My two takeaways from Going Clear—HBO’s searing look at scientology dropouts (“searing” means “lots of blurry reenactments,” yes?)—were thus: A ) Tom Cruise’s ramrod posture should make chiropractors weep with admiration. And B ) L. Ron Hubbard hated paying taxes almost as much as he loathed gays. L. Ron’s oft repeated (by detractors) and disputed (by E-Meters) line of, “If you want to make a little money, …

My view completely. An abhorrent thing considered in any light. Pope: Death penalty represents 'failure,' fosters vengeance http://www.thestate.com/2015/03/20/4058612/pope-death-penalty-represents.html

Money is often the deciding factor. The Texas-Sized Anti-Gay Backlash Over twenty anti-LGBT laws have been proposed in Texas this year, including one just like the maligned bill that passed in Indiana this week. But advocates say they’re not going to pass. Bob Daemmrich/Newscom Jay Michaelson 03.29.15 By now, anyone who follows the news knows what the anti-LGBT backlash looks like. There are four recurring legislative actions: “Religious Freedom Restoration Acts” (RFRAs), or ‘Turn the Gays Away’ bills. The most recent one got passed in Indiana this week to much uproar. Then there are various ways to opt out of recognizing legal same-sex marriages. And don’t forg…

President Signs Order Making Ted Cruz Ineligible for Obamacare Andy Borowitz, The New Yorker http://www.newyorker.com/humor/borowitz-report/president-signs-order-making-ted-cruz-ineligible-for-obamacare

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/mar/20/does-pope-francis-say-too-much

http://news.yahoo.com/trump-launching-presidential-exploratory-committee-132942573--politics.html Trump launching presidential exploratory committee WASHINGTON (AP) — Donald Trump announced plans Wednesday to form a presidential exploratory committee. "I am the only one who can make America truly great again," the Republican businessman and reality television star declared in a statement announcing the move. While a step short of a formal campaign launch, the formation of an exploratory allows him to begin raising money and hire staff as he weighs a White House bid. Trump said he's already hired political aides in Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina, which host the…