Navy Veteran Ejected from Trump Rally for Being Muslim

Navy Veteran Nate Terani (center)

One of the most perplexing parts of the Donald Trump experience is that his fans don't seem to believe in anything. They hold no principles they won't instantly abandon on a whim; they never practice what they preach, and what they preach has absolutely no relation to reality.  This bizarre lack of ideological cohesion is particularly galling when it comes to our veterans--publicly, they put our fighting men and women on a pedestal to use for political brownie points, but when it comes down to it, your religion means more to them than the sacrifices you've made to keep them free.  That disgusting hypocrisy put on full display (yesterday) when a Muslim-American Navy veteran was forcibly ejected from a Trump rally--his crime was holding up a sign saying "Stop Hate Speech Against Muslims!"...

...After he served his country, he dedicated his life to the men and women he served with.  He is the Veterans Coordinator at an Arizona nonprofit called Soldier's Best Friend, which provides and trains service and therapeutic dogs to our warriors who suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder or traumatic brain injury.

Trump supporters claim to be true patriots (who) are proud of their military, but apparently that respect and pride only extends to white Christian veterans. How dare these ignorant bigots treat a man who has put his life on the line for their country with such callous disrespect?  They claim to love their country and want to make America great again, but they hate everything that made this country great in the first place.

eye'm thynkin':  Donald J. Trump, with his hamster habitat head, and his orange face, and the white raccoon circle around his eyes, and his too-small-for-his-fleshy-face mouth, and his so-predictable-they're-almost-a-line-dance physical mannerisms, is as dependable as the sunrise.  

Every day I can count on dependable Mr. Rich White Trash to find a new way to disgust me.

Read more at Occupy Democrats

Voting Travesty: Veterans Administration Photo ID Card Not Acceptable in Wisconsin

Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker (R)

90-year old veteran Leo Olson was blocked from voting because his Veterans Identification Card was deemed unacceptable as proof of his identity.

Olson, a Wisconsin veteran of the battle of Iwo Jima, was denied his vote for the state's Supreme Court primary election. Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice Ann Walsh Bradley, who happens to be the niece of Olson, wrote a letter to Wisconsin governor Scott Walker regarding the incident.

"It makes no sense to me that this proud patriot with a veterans card displaying his photo would be turned away from the polls and denied the right to vote," she wrote. "He considers voting part of his patriotic duty, yet, last week this proud patriot of 90 years of age was embarrassed and confused when he went to the polls and was denied his right to vote.  When he presented his veterans administration card with his picture on it, he was told that the card was not listed as 'acceptable' proof of his identity.  He responded: 'You mean veterans can't vote?'"

eye'm thynkin':  Stories like this make me so angry.  

Voting is a right, not a privilege; but try telling that to the GOP.  As long as they can keep minorities and/or the poor from voting, they don't care who gets hurt in the process.  

This man risked his life in the service of this country, and has voted for over 70 years.  Suddenly, he's not good enough.  No state issued ID, no voting rights.  Federal IDs aren't good enough.  Does Wisconsin believe their photographers are superior to the federal governments?  Will a picture taken in America's dairy state somehow be more identifiably accurate?  Or maybe the powers that be in Wisconsin believe there are hoards of 90-year-old veterans being kidnapped, locked in federal bunkers, and coerced by President Obama into presenting false identification in order to cheat our election system?  Yeah, that's it.  It must be President Obama's fault.

Read more at Liberal America

February 12 - More Stories from Political Pollution

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m'eye thoughts:  I'm just going to leave this here.

Read more at Addicting Info 

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Rubio's plan is classic Republican trickle down economics, but on steroids.

The GOP can't accept that the trickle down plan they love looks so good on paper but doesn't work in

the real world.  Along comes Rubio to save the day by blaming the failure on their not having gone far enough.  Rubio and his fellow Republicans will stubbornly continue to attempt to prove they are right by putting more and more money into the hands of the uber-rich, hoping their economic philosophy will suddenly begin working and they'll all be crowned geniuses.  I can just hear the GOP logic: "All those nice rich people who are paying us say it will work.  They can't be wrong...right?"

If these guys were scientists (I jest) their research funds would have been pulled long ago when it became obvious their hypothesis was false.  Really, how many mice do you have to kill before you accept that they can't live without a brain?

Read more at MSNBC

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Not one word about how the President doesn't care about our soldiers.

Not one word about how much Republicans do.

Not - One - Word.

Read more at KCENTV

February 8 - A Few More Stories I Originally Posted at Political Pollution

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m'eye thoughts: "So much for Trump being an expert 'deal maker,' as he just got played by a small charity to the tune of $100,000."

I applaud this veterans' group for refusing to be used by the Trump campaign and still getting their money.

Read more at Addicting Info

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These selfish jerks will never be able to spend the money they have in their life time.  Now these "patriots" think they're being picked on by being asked to support the country that made them rich in the first place?  

Give me a break.

Read more at Think Progress

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"The worst part of Reagan's legacy, as it pertains to average Americans, is the change he brought to

the American economy known as 'supply-side economics.'  The theory was that giving the people at the top large tax breaks would cause them to invest their windfall in new businesses and the expansion of old ones, thereby creating new jobs.  When Reagan largely stopped enforcing the Sherman Antitrust Act, the country saw an unprecedented number of business mergers, acquisitions, and leveraged buyouts.  Small businesses suffered as already large companies became behemoths.  So instead of creating new businesses or expanded capacity, businesses simply bought up other existing businesses."

And so it continues today.  Reagan created the honey pot, and the rich are so addicted to the taste, they think they'll die if they're forced to share.

Read more at If You Only News

Fact-Checking the GOP: Ted Cruz State Chairman Not the Combat Hero He Claims to Be?

Ted Cruz'
Washington State Campaign Chairman
 Rep. Graham Hunt

The Statements and the Facts:

(Taken from a post on Raw Story)

A Republican lawmaker who is serving as chairman of Sen. Ted Cruz's campaign in Washington state is either unwilling or unable to verify that he is a decorated combat veteran.

State Rep. Graham Hunt (R-Orting), who was elected in 2014...listed three medals on his official and campaign biographies that a military personnel center has no record of him receiving, reported The Seattle Times.

A military spokeswoman pointed out to the newspaper that the personnel center's records are sometimes incomplete--but Hunt has been quietly deleting some details about his service record from online biographies since reporters have begun to press him for more information,

Hunt, who traveled out of state earlier this month to meet with armed militants who are occupying an Oregon wildlife refuge, says he was "wounded in combat" but has offered only vague details about what happened.

The lawmaker said he was knocked down by explosions but can't remember where, and he also claims he cannot remember which units he deployed with to Afghanistan and Iraq.

Hunt deleted a Facebook post in 2015 that showed a dramatic photo of a U.S. soldier consoling another that, according to a caption, showed the lawmaker after a 2005 mortar attack...

..."I think combat camera captured the moment pretty well", the post said. "I surely have not forgotten that moment."

The image, however, was an Associated Press photo from 2003 that showed two Ohio soldiers...

The lawmaker deleted references last month to the Air Force Commendation Medal, the Iraq Campaign Medal and the Afghanistan Campaign Medal after the newspaper questioned him about the awards--which military officials say do not appear on his service record.

He also stopped describing himself in online biographies as a "combat veteran" of Iraq and Afghanistan...

"Honestly, I don't even care to list any honors or awards I have received, because, frankly I don't think they are important to the public in the first place," Hunt said, after removing details from his bio...

...Military records show Hunt earned an Air Force Achievement Medal for his service in 2002 and 2003 at Prince Sultan Air Base in Saudi Arabia, where he worked as a security guard..."in extreme heat and austere conditions."...

...Hunt insists he was sent to Afghanistan...and Iraq...but cannot recall any details or supply the names of anyone he served with there...

...Military records show...there's no record he served in Iraq or Afghanistan.

...The lawmaker said paperwork about his combat service, wounds and medals might be lost or misplaced at a relative's house.

m'eye Verdict:

He says he has medals and combat wounds from Afghanistan and Iraq though the military has no record of his deployment to either country, he can't remember what unit he was in or the actual names of the medals he received, can't remember the names of anyone he served with there.   Hmmmm.   A moment he surely has "not forgotten" is preserved in a photo that turns out to be of two other guys taken two years earlier, and somehow he left all his records at a relative's house where they were lost.  Now he is erasing his claims of military glory from his bio.  

Sounds legit to me.  Okay, maybe not.  In fact, 'maybe not' to the degree that Mr. Hunt earns 4 out of 5 Gops.  I'm holding one back in case his relatives miraculously find all those misplaced records he accidentally left at their house.  The little butt end tacked onto the end is my personal statement about Mr. Hunt's humbleness when he said he didn't "even care to list any honors or awards I have received" right after he erased the list honors and awards he claimed to have received and with which he had been papering his biographies and Facebook page--until someone asked about them.

When Is a Felon Worth More Than a Soldier? Ask a Republican!

Under current U.S. law, if a female inmate at a federal prison is raped and becomes pregnant and wants to end the pregnancy, she will receive a government financed abortion. If a female civilian military employee is raped, becomes pregnant and wants to end the pregnancy, she can use her government insurance to pay for the abortion. If a serving female soldier is raped and becomes pregnant and wants to end the pregnancy, she must pay for the abortion herself.

what eye thynk: This just illustrates how far off the track of good sense and reason the Republican party has wandered.

Last week three Republican Senators, John McCain (Arizona), Scott Brown (Massachusetts) and Susan Collins (Maine) voted with all but one of the Democrats on the Armed Services Committee to add a provision to the National Defense Authorization Act that would remove the payment requirement. Nine other Republicans along with one Democrat, Ben Nelson (Nebraska), voted to leave the payment requirement intact.

The Senate is expected to pass the NDAA with the provision included. The Republican led House will present a version of the NDAA that excludes the provision.

What possible logic can the House Republicans be using to support paying for an abortion for a prison inmate while denying the same right to a woman who has chosen to defend her country? What country grants a right to their criminals while denying their soldiers that same right?  What a slap in the face of the freedom these women are serving to protect!

There is no reasonable explanation for the exclusion of this provision other than to feed the frenzied maw of the conservative, right wing, religious nutcases who are currently leading the Republican party around by their noses.