Author: Raymond

 
From Wisconsin conservative James Wigderson:

Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Evers, the Democratic candidate for governor, may need someone to check his agency’s homework. The Republican Party of Wisconsin found more instances of plagiarism (pdf) by the Department of Public Instruction in budgets submitted to the state in previous years.

“Tony Evers repeatedly plagiarized the education budgets he authored over the course of six years — failing to meet a level of accountability a teacher would require from any 3rd grader,” said Alec Zimmerman, spokesman for the Republican Party of Wisconsin. “When you’re cheating on your schoolwork in Tony’s position, it’s called failed leadership.”

Evers’ 2013-15 biennial budget request contains sections taken almost verbatim from a policy analysis from a national think tank.

– More –
 

 
From driftglass:

This is the “Bad” Post-Trump Republican Party (from Vox, today)

The Trump administration reportedly wants the government to revoke civil rights protections from transgender people

They want to define gender at birth — and force DNA tests to prove otherwise.

And this is the “Good” Pre-Trump Republican Party (from The New York Times, 14 years ago):

‘Moral Values’ Carried Bush, Rove Says

WASHINGTON, Nov. 9 – President Bush’s chief political adviser, Karl Rove, said Tuesday that opposition to gay marriage was one of the most powerful forces in American politics today and that politicians ignored it at their peril.

“This is an issue on which there is a broad consensus,” Mr. Rove said, discussing a presidential election that took place as voters in 11 states backed constitutional amendments barring same-sex marriages.

– More –
 

 
From Vixen Strangely at Strangely Blogged:

The Saudi government is now willing to admit that Jamal Khashoggi has died, although they are currently saying he died in the event of a fistfight that broke out with himself and about a dozen or fifteen people upon entering the Saudi Arabian consulate in Istanbul. In the way, you know, that nearly 60-year old men simply acquiring paperwork for their upcoming nuptials will engage in a fistfight with a dozen or so men, especially when they are academically-minded and generally practice “using their words” to accomplish things.

This is a story too late in the telling and too peculiar in the offering to be taken at face value.

– More –
 

 
From Frances Langum:

All too often, the mainstream cable news networks treat Fox News with kid gloves. “There are some very fine people who work there” “our colleagues at Fox News” baloney.

So it’s refreshing to see Morning Joe actually use a CLIP from “Outnumbered” and call out Harris Faulkner’s words while at the same time showing her saying them. Because what she did was atrocious — saying she was just “putting it out there” that “some people say” (a Fox favorite for pushing right-wing conspiracies) that murdered journalist Jamal Khashoggi was possibly affiliated with (insert bad Arab boogie man terrorist organization here).

Mika called out by name the Faulkner line, “just putting it out there” as a complete lie and terribly irresponsible.

– More –
 

 
From Kei Kawashima-Ginsberg of Tufts University at The Moderate Voice:

Unlike the much-studied millennials, we don’t know much about Generation Z, who now make up most of the 18- to 24-year-old voting bloc.

These young people started first grade after 9/11, were born with the internet, grew up with smartphones and social media and practiced active-shooter drills in their classrooms.

In 2018, they have taken an active role in political activism on issues like gun control, Black Lives Matter and #MeToo. For example, Parkland high school students started the movement against gun violence and named voting as a way to support the movement.

Yet, many people are skeptical about Generation Z’s commitment to voting. For instance, The Economist explained, in a piece titled “Why Young People Don’t Vote,” that “young people today do not feel they have much of a stake in society.”

Will Generation Z affect the midterm elections?

– More –
 

 
From ABC News:

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has heard an alleged audio recording of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi’s murder inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, according to a senior Turkish official.

Speaking exclusively and on condition of anonymity to ABC News, the official claimed the recording was played in meetings in Turkey on Wednesday, and that Pompeo was given a transcript of the recordings.

Separately, ABC News has also learned that Turkish officials believe that Khashoggi was killed inside the Saudi consulate following a struggle that lasted eight minutes and that they believe he died of strangulation.

– More –
 

 
From Green Eagle:

Once again, we are about to suffer another round of one of the biggest lies in history: the notion that Democrats and their social programs are responsible for the deficits that have plagued the country since Reagan took office. Since that time, it has been the deliberate attempt of Republicans to destroy social spending, and thieve the money to give to their sociopathic rich backers, thus accomplishing two purposes: enriching their billionaires enough to keep them providing the money to flood the country with propaganda which keeps the Republicans in office, and also to achieve a long time goal of Republicans, deliberately destroying Social Security and Medicare, the two greatest Democratic contributions to the well-being of the American people.

– More –
 

 
From Jonathan Bernstein:

Remarkable stories about Democrats raising money just keep coming in. Two more from Wednesday are worth noting, because they mark what looks like an important change in the nature of political activism.

In North Dakota, a Republican-backed plan threatened to discourage Native Americans from voting by requiring identification with a street address. Many reservations don’t use formal street addresses, so tribal identification cards often don’t include one. A local group was rushing to get new cards or other documents to everyone affected, and on Wednesday the liberal site Daily Kos got involved and raised $100,000 to cover the costs.

Then there’s a group called Data for Progress, which targeted a handful of state legislative seats that they calculated had the most potential to turn Republican-majority chambers into Democratic ones.

– More –
 

 
From Infidel753:

With less than three weeks left before the election, we’re seeing the usual Republican dirty tricks in all their slimy glory — mass rejection of minority voter registrations in Georgia, a law blocking residents of Indian reservations from voting in North Dakota, and bullying like this. I’ve also seen a ramping-up of troll comments on left-wing news sites — deriding this or that Democratic candidate as not progressive enough to be worth voting for, trying to re-ignite the Hillary-vs-Bernie infighting from 2016, etc. Some of these commenters may be Russian or Republican trolls, some may be actual far-left ideological purists — but either way the practical effect is to help Republicans, and that’s all that matters. Expect to see more and more of all this between now and election day.

After polls began to foreshadow a blue wave, though, I started wondering if we’d see something bigger and nastier…

– More –
 

 
From Dave Dubya:

I have to thank a far Right Trump supporter for asking a simple question that needs to be answered, for the good of our country. The more Americans who ask this question, the sooner America can go back to making itself a greater democratic republic.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Q:What law has President Trump broken while in office? Waiting.

A: Yes, we are waiting for justice to take its course. In addition to violations of the Constitution’s Emoluments Clause, multiple counts of obstruction of justice are the most obvious.

– More –