Democracy Now! 2013-05-14 Tuesday
Democracy Now! 2013-05-14 Tuesday Headlines for May 14, 2013 Jailed Civil Rights Attorney Lynne Stewart Seeks Compassionate Release Over Worsening Cancer Former Attorney General Ramsey Clark Decries Government's "Big Brother" Seizure of AP Phone Records Dr. Paul Farmer on Rwanda's Health Leap, Haiti's Struggles & How Communities Can Repair the World Download this show ...
Democracy Now! 2013-05-13 Monday
Democracy Now! 2013-05-13 Monday Headlines for May 13, 2013 Ríos Montt Guilty of Genocide: Are Guatemalan President Pérez Molina, U.S. Officials Next? Climate Tipping Point? Concentration of Carbon Dioxide Tops 400 ppm For First Time in Human History Download this show ...
Benghazi Bombshell: Leaked Emails Were Edited to Make Obama Look Bad
Turns out the press got played again by Republicans. Jake Tapper has the smoking gun of the original email from the Obama administration which differs significantly from the emails ABC ran with.
When the IRS targeted liberals
While few are defending the Internal Revenue Service for targeting some 300 conservative groups, there are two critical pieces of context missing from the conventional wisdom on the "scandal." First, at least from what we know so far, the groups were not targeted in a political vendetta -- but rather were executing a makeshift enforcement test (an ugly one, mind ...
Minnesota Senate Passes Gay Marriage
ST. PAUL, Minn. -- The Minnesota Senate voted Monday to make gay marriage legal, the last legislative step before Gov. Mark Dayton's promised signature will make the state the 12th in the U.S. to do so. The Senate vote of 37-30 came four days after the House passed the bill on a 75-59 vote. A cheer erupted in the chamber ...
North Carolina May Ban Tesla Sales To Prevent “Unfair Competition”
From the state that brought you the nation’s first ban on climate science comes another legislative gem: a bill that would prohibit automakers from selling their cars in the state. The proposal, which the Raleigh News & Observer reports was unanimously approved by the state’s Senate Commerce Committee on Thursday, would apply to all car manufacturers, but the intended target ...
RNC Director Of Hispanic Outreach Quits Party And Registers As A Democrat
Former RNC Florida Hispanic Outreach Director Pablo Pantoja. Credit: Tampa Bay Times When Republicans appointed Pablo Pantoja to State Director of Florida Hispanic Outreach for the Republican National Committee, they hoped he would be able to bridge the sizable gap that only expanded during the 2012 elections, when the state’s 4.7 million Hispanic voters supported Barack Obama over Mitt Romney ...
Bush and His Aides Made 935 False Statements about Iraq In the 2 Years After 9/11
Skewed talking points flashback: President Bush and his top aides made 935 false statements about the security risk posed by Iraq in the two years following September 11, 2001.
Double Mastectomy: Why Angelina Jolie Had Breast Removal Surgery
Actress Angelina Jolie has undergone a preventive double mastectomy, she revealed Tuesday in The New York Times. She wrote an opinion piece, titled "My Medical Choice," explaining that she underwent the breast removal procedure because she has a mutated BRCA1 gene known to raise a woman's risk of breast and ovarian cancers. The BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes work in the ...
(A Real) Space Oddity
Chris Hadfield—astronaut, and commander of Expedition 35 on the International Space Station—is full of surprises. He's been tweeting amazing pictures from space for months, and has even sung a duet with a musician on the ground. Still, this I did not expect: A full-blown music video of him singing and playing guitar to David Bowie's "Space Oddity". This is, quite ...
Marco Rubio Humiliates Himself By Demanding That the Non-Existent IRS Commissioner Resign
Sen. Marco Rubio fired off a letter demanding that the IRS Commissioner resign. The only problem is that there is no IRS Commissioner. The position has been empty since November.
Stewart Destroys Obama Over IRS Scandal, Lack Of ‘Managerial Competence’: You’ve Vindicated Conspiracy Theorists
Jon Stewart mercilessly tore into the Obama administration tonight over the revelation that the Internal Revenue Service specifically targeted Tea Party groups for scrutiny. Stewart slammed the government’s lack of “managerial competence” and said that thanks to this scandal, conspiracy theorists how have a level of vindication they’ve never had before. After briefly responding to Bill O’Reilly going after him, ...
BREAKING: Minnesota Becomes 12th State To Legalize Marriage Equality
Just now, after over four hours of debate, the Minnesota Senate voted 37-30 to pass marriage equality legislation, cementing Minnesota as the 12th state to recognize the marriages of same-sex couples. The vote was largely along party lines, with only three Democrats voting no and only one Republican, Sen. Branden Petersen, voted yes. The House passed the bill on Thursday ...
Officials who don't exist can't resign
Associated Press Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) wrote an angry letter to Treasury Secretary Jack Lew this morning. "[I]t is clear the IRS cannot operate with even a shred of the American people's confidence under the current leadership. Therefore, I strongly urge that you and President Obama demand the IRS Commissioner's resignation, effectively immediately. No government agency that has behaved in ...
Ahead on the 5/14 Maddow show
Tonight's guests: David Schulz, a media attorney for more than 30 years now representing the Associated Press Michael Isikoff, NBC News national investigative correspondent Dan Rather, anchor and managing editor of Dan Rather Reports on AXS TV And here's executive producer Bill Wolff to tell you why you'll want to hold tonight's show closer: ...
Tuesday's campaign round-up
Today's installment of campaign-related news items that won't necessarily generate a post of their own, but may be of interest to political observers: * With Karl Rove's attack operation, American Crossroads, going after former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton over Benghazi, Weekly Standard editor Bill Kristol called Rove's efforts "ridiculous," leading to a new spat between the Republican pundits. The ...
Story on Benghazi leaks starts to unravel
White House photo President Obama and Deputy National Security Adviser Ben Rhodes On the Benghazi story, last week didn't follow the expected trajectory. The big event was supposed to be the House Oversight Committee hearing with "whistleblowers" who would take the story to a whole new level. That didn't work out for Republicans at all -- just about everyone agreed ...
Talk of filibuster reform percolates among Senate Dems
Two weeks ago, Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), arguably the chamber's most enthusiastic support of filibuster reform, told allies that the compromise reached in January "has failed" and the country "can't wait any longer to make the Senate work." He's not the only one who remains engaged on the issue. Senate Democrats frustrated with the GOP's blocking of a string of ...
Morning Maddow: May 15
AG Holder will get a grilling at a House hearing today. USA Today compares how the IRS treated groups with liberal-sounding and conservative-sounding names. AP interviews first responders to the fire at the West, TX chemical plant. The heads of the board that reviewed Benghazi agree to testify before Congress. How the gun industry markets to kids. The mayor of ...
Tuesday's Mini-Report
Today's edition of quick hits: * Several violent clashes in Israel today ahead of what Palestinians call the "nakba." * Categorical: "White House press secretary Jay Carney said Tuesday that he could rule out any involvement by President Obama or West Wing staff in the IRS decision to target conservative organizations. Pressed during his daily press briefing if he could ...
It's not 'even bigger' than Iran-Contra
Associated Press If I told you congressional Republicans launched a brand new probe this morning, you might think it has something to do with Benghazi, the IRS, or the Justice Department's leak probe. But as it turns out, today House Republicans actually got to work investigating Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius's effort to raise money to implement the ...
Morning Maddow: May 14
House Ways and Means sets a hearing on the IRS. Russia claims it has detained a CIA operative. The suspect being sought in the weekend's mass shooting in New Orleans. The RNC's director of Hispanic outreach in Florida becomes a Democrat. Sen. Harry Reid is contemplating filibuster reform again. Speaker Boehner is battling with his caucus over how to investigate ...
Decryptomaddowlogical #53
While the Justice Department may have gone after the phone records of AP reporters in the context of addressing terrorists abroad, they have likely started a whole new battle Need help? Need to shout out the answer without spoiling anyone else's game? There's a thread for that. *Remember to mention the number of the puzzle you're talking about.
An odd choice for Grand Inquisitor
Getty Images House Oversight Committee Chairman Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) receives quite a bit of attention for his unique roll on Capitol Hill. In short, he's the guy whose job it is to create political controversies for Obama White House, whether they have merit or not. So, when House Republicans investigated Solyndra's loan guarantees, it was Issa leading the hearings. When ...
