Found on the Internets …
Lawmakers Change Their Minds After Demanding ‘Every Effort’ Be Made To Free Bergdahl
Republicans are almost uniformly criticizing President Obama’s decision to swap five Taliban fighters at Guantanamo Bay for the release of U.S. Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, the only American held hostage in Afghanistan. But many of the administration’s loudest critics have previously demanded that it do more to bring Bergdahl to safety. Since his release, these lawmakers are emphasizing their criticism of Obama’s handling of the prisoner exchange while downplaying the successful return of an American servicemember.
In the clearest contradiction, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) told CNN’s Anderson Cooper in February that he “would be inclined to support” “an exchange of prisoners for our American fighting man,” like the one Taliban officials had offered in 2012. He has since labeled Obama’s deal “ill-founded” and a “mistake.”
Former Bush Official Blasts GOP On Bergdahl: Bush Would Have Done The Same Thing
“Year of the Establishment Republican”? How about “Year of the Discredited Narrative”“:
When the smoke clears on June 24, Mississippi will likely join Kentucky and Georgia as states where the loss of a Republican Senate seat in November is possible, and the dissipation of GOP resources better spent elsewhere is certain. Beyond that, Republican pols everywhere would know that not even four decades of genial service and effective money-grubbing for a very poor state, or the support of virtually everyone there ever elected to a position above dogcatcher, is enough to survive the ever-rightward tide of the conservative activist “base.”
– Iowa GOP Senate Nominee is ‘Sarah Palin Of Iowa’
– Mississippi GOP Senate Primary Likely Headed To Runoff
“In race after race, Republican candidates have been pulled so far to the right by the Tea Party that it is a distinction without a difference,” Wasserman Schultz said in a statement. “The likely runoff in Mississippi caused by Tea Party candidate Chris McDaniel shows that the GOP is the Same Old Party, which has failed to learn its lessons from recent elections. Come November, voters will reject a Republican Party which opposes an increase in the minimum wage for hard working Americans, has blocked equal pay for women, and is obsessed with repealing the benefits of the Affordable Care Act for millions of Americans.”
NRA Apologizes For Calling Guns-In-Restaurants Crowd ‘Weird’
The National Rifle Association has disavowed its recent criticism of pro-gun demonstrations in Texas.
In an interview on Tuesday with the organization’s own news site, the head of the NRA’s lobbying arm blamed a staff member’s “personal opinion” for the content of an unsigned statement published Friday on the organization’s website, and he apologized for “any confusion” the statement may have caused.
“It’s a distraction,” Chris Cox, the executive director of the NRA’s Institute for Legislative Action, told NRA News. “There was some confusion, we apologize, again, for any confusion that that post caused.”
Wait wait … we forgot that “weird” and “scary” is what we are!! Never mind.
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Ken Gude: Why The Five Taliban Detainees Had To Be Released Soon, No Matter What
When wars end, prisoners taken custody must be released. These five Guantanamo detainees were almost all members of the Taliban, according to the biographies of the five detainees that the Afghan Analysts Network compiled in 2012. None were facing charges in either military or civilian courts for their actions. It remains an open question whether the end of U.S. involvement in the armed conflict in Afghanistan requires that all Guantanamo detainees must be released. But there is no doubt that Taliban detainees captured in Afghanistan must be released because the armed conflict against the Taliban will be over. […]
… the statistics show that there is a 5 percent chance at most that these detainees will engage in militant activities upon release, they will be in Qatar for at least a year by which time the U.S. combat role in Afghanistan will be over, and they would have had to be released soon anyway. When put in the proper perspective, obtaining the release of the sole U.S. prisoner in Afghanistan is a masterstroke and worthy of congratulations.
Jim Wright: Negotiating With Terrorists
Are we now so filled with foul bilious hatred, are we now so consumed with soul-destroying fear, do we now despise our own selves so much that we would actually protest the return of one of our own? Is that it?[…]
Is this who we are?
Because the utter unmitigated, unhinged, unbounded yellow-eyed hypocrisy that defines this sick twisted morally bankrupt philosophy has finally, today, reached its zenith. There is nowhere left to go.
I didn’t think these people could dishonor the spirit of this country any more than they already had, but I was wrong.[…]
I get that they are so consumed with rage and so filled with naked hate and so programmed with their diseased ideology that it poisons their minds like a computer chip submerged in acid.
I get that they are so utterly terrified of the world that they piss themselves in abject fear at the mere thought of going to the grocery store without a goddamned gun stuck in their pants like an extra oversized prick.
More than anything, I get that they are afraid of Barack Obama, everything about him, every single thing about the president terrifies them. Obama stalks their feverish nightmares and he is the very symbol of their shameful impotence – so much so that they’ve written him into their precious bible, in a starring role as the devil, the destroyer of worlds. […]
… Bergdahl has been condemned by the popular media, by social networks, by pundits and politicians, not because they know more about the situation than you or I do, but solely because they hate the president. If Obama was behind Bergdahl’s release, then Bergdahl is a traitor, Q.E.D. because the president must never, ever, be allowed even the slightest acknowledgement of patriotism.
This condemnation isn’t about Bergdahl, it’s about Obama.
Anger explodes over treatment of Bergdahl’s release as veterans, troops call him a deserter
Other veterans of U.S. wars warned, however, that the high-pitched tenor of the desertion debate is harmful to the military’s reputation and damaging to the age-old ethos of never leaving a service member behind. Like him or not, the more muted camp said, Bergdahl was captured by the enemy, endured untold hardships, and must first be repatriated and rehabilitated before it’s appropriate to discuss punitive action.
Conservatives Go From Zero To Impeachment In Record Time On Bergdahl
June 4: The Day That Defines, And Still Haunts China .
As China prepares to mark the 25th anniversary of its brutal repression of protests around Tiananmen Square, its leaders have presided over an unprecedented pre-anniversary crackdown. Rights groups say at least 50 people have been detained, put under house arrest or disappeared
Can Civilian Health Care Help Fix The VA?
To address the crisis in wait times, the VA is ramping up a system that would explicitly allow veterans to get private care if they’ve been waiting more than 30 days for medical attention. Some in Congress have put forth measures to do the same. But that’s something the VA already has the authority to do – in fact, in 2013 the department spent $4.8 billion on care outside the VA system.
While veterans’ service organizations support many of the measures before Congress, the majority of such groups say the VA’s medical care is excellent once vets get access to it. And they worry that the private sector doesn’t have needed expertise.
Mad at Obama? Blame Republicans
The carping is familiar. President Obama has “overreached” and abused his authority by releasing terrorist prisoners without notifying Congress and in promulgating new environmental rules. But, as usual, Republicans have few remedies beyond press releases and the promises of hearings.
That’s the state of play in Washington: trench warfare that has lasted more than three years.
Obama began 2014 vowing that he would no longer be sidelined by Republican obstructionists-and he appears to be making good on his threat. More executive actions are likely on the way, as the president may well impose deportation curbs if the GOP won’t constructively work toward immigration-reform legislation.
House Republicans should stop and consider it-not because of the political benefit the party might, maybe, enjoy by helping to broker an immigration solution. No, the better reason is this: If they truly fear the unchecked growth of presidential power, then their best option is to come to the table and force compromise. It’s the one sure way to keep Obama from going cowboy (or, in their minds, tyrant).
One Day After U.S. Announces Emissions Target, China Says Carbon Cap Is On The Way
Major Companies Distance Themselves From U.S. Chamber Campaign Against Obama’s Climate Plan
In Ireland, A Macabre Discovery At Old Home For Unwed Mothers
The harsh conditions at the St. Mary’s Mother and Baby Home weren’t exceptional: In post-independence Ireland, thousands of women were abused or exploited in church-run homes.
Other church-run homes pretended children were orphans and gave them up for adoption – in exchange for donations – regardless of their mothers’ wishes. The 2013 film Philomena was inspired by the true story of such a forced adoption. And, as government reports have detailed , the sexual and physical abuse of children at Irish church-run schools and orphanages ran rampant – and was covered up by the church hierarchy.
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