Year: 2014

Joy Reid’s New Show Starts Today on MSNBC

Jon Ponder

Joy Reid, one of the smartest, insightful and best-informed political analysts in the business, is finally getting her own show on MSNBC. It starts today at 11 a.m., Pacific.

We’re glad she’s getting a show but would much prefer to see her in the network’s primetime line-up — she’s among the best at the network, rivaled only by Rachel Maddow in terms of breadth of knowledge and depth of analysis. So if you like tough-minded political thinkers who do not pull punches or hesitate to call right-wing b.s. what it is, Reid is your gal.

Reid discussed her rise through the MSNBC ranks in a recent interview with Lee Bailey:

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New Republican Party Anthem – ‘Jailbait’ by Ted Nugent: ‘I Don’t Care If You’re Just 13!’

Jon Ponder

Ted Nugent, 65, a has-been rock star whose endorsement has inexplicably been sought by family-values spouting Republican politicians from Mitt Romney in his presidential bid in 2012 to Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott who is running for governor this year, has admitted to having had sex with girls under the age of consent multiple times. Nugent has even written a rock anthem to his compulsion titled “Jailbait” (lyrics follow) which all GOP candidates should play before every campaign event:

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S.C. Lawmakers Cut Public Colleges Budget Over Same-Gender Relationship Books

Buck Banks

$70,000

Amount South Carolina lawmakers voted to cut in funding from two public colleges that assigned books about same-sex relationships, The State reports. Said state Rep. Gary Smith (R): “One of the things I learned over the years is that if you want to make a point, you have to make it hurt. I understand academic freedom, but this is not academic freedom… This was about promoting one side with no academic debate involved.”

GOP Head of North Carolina Environmental Agency Appears to Be an Anti-Science Conspiracy Nut

Jon Ponder

John Skvarla, Secretary of the N.C. Department of Environment and Natural Resources, [bio] has suggested that he believes a theory promoted by World Net Daily contributor Jerome Corsi — one of the originators of Birtherism and a promoter of other conspiracy theories, including one that Pres. Obama is gay — that oil is not a finite resource created by centuries of compression of organic material but is a renewable resource created by the earth on an on-going basis, like wind or solar.

Skvarla is the head of the agency charged with regulating Duke Energy, which is responsible for the third-largest coal-ash spill in U.S. history, an on-going disaster that is still unfolding in North Carolina.

Never heard of it? You’re not alone. As Rachel Maddow says at the end of the segment above, “This North Carolina story, and this federal criminal investigation into what’s happening in North Carolina, is a terrible and amazing story from about a million different angles. Why the Beltway refuses to care about it, I do not know, but it cannot last long.”

Read more about the story here.

Even the 2nd Amendment’s Little Known Dumbass Clause Wasn’t Strong Enough

Trish

While this ad from Saatchi & Saatchi for the “gun responsibility” group, Evolve, is funny, neither the ad’s, nor the group’s, dots connect.

“Personal decisions” leave us at the mercy, not of good guys with guns, but just guys with guns which in reality is all there is

The spot’s creators said they were not taking a stand on gun safety laws.

“When we researched the gun debate in America, we saw that it’s become almost impossible to have a thoughtful discussion about gun safety. What I love about Evolve is that they’re not about taking a side in that debate–they’re squarely focused on promoting personal decisions about gun safety.”

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On the ‘Fake Campaign Trail’ with Donald Trump

Buck Banks

The notion that he is simply too big — too presidential — for a measly job in the Albany Statehouse has temporarily quelled his insecurity. But after this morning, Trump can no longer escape the fact that his political ‘career’ — a long con that the blustery billionaire has perpetrated on the country for 25 years by repeatedly pretending to consider various runs for office, only to bail out after generating hundreds of headlines — finally appears to be on the brink of collapse. … The reason: Nobody seems to believe him anymore.

Buzzfeed‘s McKay Coppins goes on “the fake campaign trail” with Donald Trump.

S.C. Has Most Black Candidates Running for Statewide Office Since Reconstruction

Buck Banks

7

The number of African-American candidates running for South Carolina statewide office in 2014. “Some could be eliminated in June’s primary elections, but it appears at least three black candidates will make it to November’s general election,” The State reports. “South Carolina also is assured to elect its first African-American candidate in a statewide race since Reconstruction in one U.S. Senate race, where all three of the announced candidates are black.”