Attacked from the Rear: Lindsey Graham Calls for GOP to Dump Trump

The blood is in the water and the sharks are swimming in an orgiastic frenzy as the full fury of the establishment is turned on billionaire usurper Donald Trump. With Trump’s debate clash with Fox News bimbo Megyn Kelly – who is being treated like Mother Teresa today – triggering a shock and awe carpet bombing, sock puppet opponents are going in for the kill. The establishment is not about to let Trump wriggle off the hook again like he did when he deftly escaped the ambush over drooling old John McCain’s “war hero” hagiography. 

This time they are ready to crucify him upon the cross of political correctness based on a phantom statement about blood from Kelly’s vaginal orifice and Lindsey Graham is bringing the nails. Never mind that Trump never actually uttered a word even remotely associated with a woman’s sexual organs, the media was happy to put the words into his mouth and now, as the Fantastic Four’s Ben Grimm used to say: It’s clobberin’ time!

Leading the pack of attackers despite bringing up the rear in polls is the perpetually mouthy South Carolina Senator who is the belle of the ball of the Sunday morning talk show circuit. With his media friendly persona, the Palmetto State princess has now launched the trial balloon for what will likely be a full out effort by the GOP to oust Trump. The Washington Post conducted an interview with Mr. less than one percent in the story entitled “Graham says Trump is Inflicting Permanent Damage on GOP, Urges Party Leaders to Stop ‘tiptoeing’” from which I excerpt the following:

Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.) said Saturday that fellow presidential candidate Donald Trump's derogatory commentary has begun inflicting permanent and possibly fatal damage to the Republican Party brand and urged GOP leaders to stop "tiptoeing" around the billionaire businessman and to confront him directly and unequivocally.

In an interview with The Washington Post, Graham said Trump's personal attacks on Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly after she questioned him in Thursday night's primary debate were "an affront to all women" and undermine the Republican Party's urgent mission to appeal to more women voters.

“I think we’ve crossed that Rubicon, where his behavior becomes about us, not just him," Graham said. "I hope the party leadership will push hard. I hope that those seeking the nomination to be the standard bearer will unequivocally reject this. People gave Mr. Trump a pass on the [debate] stage. I understand that to a point, but we’ve crossed a line here that can’t be ignored. There can be no more tiptoeing around this.”

AND

Graham, a long-serving senator from South Carolina, was relegated to the undercard debate on Thursday because of his poor standing in national polls. He said the party's deep bench of talented candidates is being overshadowed and undermined by Trump, who helped draw a record cable television audience for the main debate.

"Everything is being placed in jeopardy by the antics of Mr. Trump and we’re at a crossroads as a party," Graham said. "The good news is that 24 million people watched the Republican debate. The bad news is that 24 million people watched the Republican debate."

Graham urged his fellow presidential candidates, as well as party leaders like Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus, to state clearly that Trump's message "is not who we are, not where we're going to take the country and not what we believe."

“It’s just like driving by a car wreck without rendering aid," Graham said. "Donald Trump is an out of control car driving through a crowd of Republicans and somebody needs to get him out of the car. I just don’t see a pathway forward for us in 2016 to win the White House if we don’t decisively deal with this.”

Graham is correct that the Rubicon has indeed been crossed but the mock outrage over Trump’s altered comments about Ms. Kelly are nothing but a façade, something to sell to the chumps and rubes. What was Trump’s final offense? How about when during an exchange with Fox's Brett Baier during the debate when he stated that the entire system is a farce and that wealthy people like him are able to easily buy political influence.

Excerpted from the debate transcript (some chatter cleaned up):

BAIER: Mr. Trump, it’s not just your past support for single- payer health care. You’ve also supported a host of other liberal policies. Use — you’ve also donated to several Democratic candidates, Hillary Clinton included, Nancy Pelosi.

You explained away those donations saying you did that to get business-related favors.

And you said recently, quote, “When you give, they do whatever the hell you want them to do.”

TRUMP: You’d better believe it.

BAIER: So what specifically did… they do?

TRUMP: If I ask them, if I need them, you know, most of the people on this stage I’ve given to, just so you understand, a lot of money.

TRUMP: Many of them.

TRUMP: I will tell you that our system is broken. I gave to many people, before this, before two months ago, I was a businessman. I give to everybody. When they call, I give.

And do you know what?

When I need something from them two years later, three years later, I call them, they are there for me.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So what did you get?

TRUMP: And that’s a broken system.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What did you get from Hillary Clinton and Nancy Pelosi?

TRUMP: Well, I’ll tell you what, with Hillary Clinton, I said be at my wedding and she came to my wedding.

You know why?

She didn’t have a choice because I gave. I gave to a foundation that, frankly, that foundation is supposed to do good. I didn’t know her money would be used on private jets going all over the world. It was.

But…

(BUZZER NOISE)

BAIER: Hold on. We’re going to — we’re going to move on.

Yes, Trump must go right now before the billionaires who are underwriting over a dozen other GOP candidates close their checkbooks to Reince Priebus and the RNC. America owes Donald Trump a debt of gratitude for those few minutes of truth broadcast on national television that would have never gotten through the media blockade otherwise.

Interestingly, Senator Graham's comments come only a day after he had acknowledged that if Trump were to win the Republican party nomination that he would "hold his nose" and "vote" for him.

Break Out the Tin Foil Hats: Washington Post Insinuates that Trump is a Clinton Mole

Incapable of wrapping their minds around exactly why it is that billionaire outsider Donald Trump has rocketed to the top of polls, the establishment is desperate to find a reason to explain how such a thing could possibly happen. The so-called professional consultants, pollsters and political ‘pros’ never saw the overwhelmingly positive public reaction to the Donald coming and these are people who are paid a lot of money to conduct focus groups and studies that treat Americans like stupid lab rats.

Now, on the eve of the first 2016 Republican debate – a debate that the party bosses never wanted Trump to be in – the Washington Post has resorted to crackpot conspiracy theories to explain the Trump phenomenon. Most notably a phone call between Trump and Bill “Slick Willie” Clinton right before he declared his candidacy that just must make Mr. Trump a puppet of the Clinton crime family.

Politico reports on the Trump-Bubba call in the story “Report: Bill Clinton Talked With Donald Trump as He Was Considering White House Run”:

Bill Clinton didn’t tell Donald Trump to run for president, but he reportedly didn’t say not to, either.

The former president and husband to 2016 Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton had a private phone call with the real estate mogul in late May, according to The Washington Post, which cited aides to both Bill Clinton and Trump.

While the timing is interesting — the call came well after Hillary Clinton had thrown her hat in the ring and just weeks before Trump formally announced his White House run — what was discussed appears to be in dispute.

An aide to Clinton reportedly said the presidential race was never specifically discussed. Trump allies, however, said Trump was explicit about his potential interest in a White House bid and that Clinton then analyzed Trump’s prospects, according to the Post.

What the sources from both camps agreed upon, however, was that Clinton did not urge Trump to run.

Despite there being a long-standing relationship between the Clintons and Trump, both professional and personal, the report taps into the conspiracy theories that Trump is carrying some water for Democrats.

The Trump truthers will point to the original story published by the gospel of the imperial city, the Washington Post as proof of the conspiracy. The WAPO it must be noted is the preeminent forum for the influential neocon gaggle who believe that war is the answer to all problems as well they should considering that the military industrial complex and security state are the primary employers of millions in Washington and the surrounding areas. Their very livelihoods depend on a state of permanent war that justifies the confiscation of taxpayer dollars at the expense of anything that actually may benefit them instead of a small, corrupt and entrenched elite. An outsider like Trump may shake things up by – GASP- actually putting America first and directing more taxpayer dollars to securing our own damned border rather than the borders of Iraq and Ukraine and that just can’t be allowed to happen.

It will be interesting to see if one of the lesser candidates – perhaps an ankle biter like Marco Rubio – will bring up the Clinton call during the big debate tonight. It definitely plays into the narrative of the loons and whack jobs like Rubio’s fellow Cuban nutcase, Miami Congressman Carlos Curbelo who was babbling about Trump being a Clinton plant last month. Being a businessman – and therefore needing to play both sides politically – it isn’t exactly a bizarre occurrence or a smoking gun that Trump would talk to Slick Willie who has a history of being chummy with many Republicans.

Press the Meat: Chuck Todd Opens Bipartisan Effort to Quash Donald Trump

Not that one should expect much from a television network that employs the likes of ‘lyin Brian Williams and the giggly horse-faced lesbian Rachel Maddow but Chuck Todd’s Sunday morning tour de force of bullshit in bashing renegade GOP candidate Donald Trump was epic. Todd – whose surname would be a much better fit if it were "Toad" – was the tip of the spear for the coming bipartisan attempt to shut down The Donald  ASAP before he gains even more momentum.

Todd’s primo spot on NBC’s Sunday morning McNews program Press the Meat or it is formally known - Meet the Press - will provide him with a perfect forum to act as a hatchet man for the Democrats with an occasional under the table Handy Andy administered to establishment ‘conservatives’. For example folks like Lindsey Graham, John McCain, Mitch McConnell, Peter King,  Bob Corker and Nikki Haley - the latter two of whom were MTP guests this week.

Sunday morning was the unofficial kick Donald Trump in the balls day and the cornucopia of boot-licking lackeys and establishment friendly clowns certainly did not disappoint. Upchuck Todd even went there by comparing Trump to the notorious civil rights era villain and Alabama Governor George Wallace, a man who is still vilified by liberals nearly two decades after his death.

As reported by the conservative website Breitbart News in the story “Chuck Todd Likens Trump to Segregationist George Wallace”:

Sunday on NBC’s “Meet The Press,” after playing a montage of Donald Trump on issues over the years, host Chuck Todd attacked the Republican presidential candidate and billionaire business mogul by comparing him to segregationist Alabama Democratic Gov. George Wallace.

Journalist Maria Hinojosa said, “I did my research. I went back, and I was like, ‘What did FDR say about Japanese Americans?’ He said they could never be trusted to own land, they could never be trusted to assimilate. What did Strom Thurman say in 1948, when he was running for president? That all of the bayonets of the U.S. Army will never be able to force Negroes into my home or my church. So if, and what I’m hearing from Latino leaders who I’ve been speaking to, if this was being said, these comments were being said about any other group, African-Americans, Italian-Americans, Jewish-Americans, the entire Republican Party, the entire Democratic Party, the entire media establishment would stand up and say no. And yet, the feeling is well, you know, how much can we get away with insulting Mexicans, Latinos, immigrants.”

Host Chuck Todd said, “I think the question is are the Republican leaders doing enough to distance themselves? Are they going to look back a year from now and say, ‘Boy, I should have been tougher?’ Is Jeb Bush going to say, ‘I should have just said, ‘You know, I’m not going on a debate stage with that guy?”

He added, “We’ve seen versions of Donald Trump over the years. And I just don’t mean versions of this Donald Trump, but I mean, you know, a George Wallace and things like this. This does happen. And they do strike a chord.”

Todd was slicker than dog snot on a door knob with his little trial balloon that "Jeb!" should boycott the upcoming Republican debate because of Trump's presence. Not only is Todd a turd but Maria Hinojosa isn't exactly an unbiased guest given that she is an unapologetic Latino activist who has her own show on flaming liberal propaganda outlet NPR. Hell, she might as well just be Tokyo fucking Rose or Baghdad Bob, at the end of the day what's the difference? Liberals have ZERO credibility these days because they have as the tagline for Dr. Strangelove goes "stop worrying and love the bomb". The same people who were howling for Bush's head on a pike are just fine with torture, NSA surveillance, drone strikes, war and Wall Street bailouts now that their guy is in the White House. Fuck them!

Historical writer Doris Kearns Goodwin whose best selling book “Team of Rivals” so inspired Emperor Barack Obama that he used it as the blueprint to build his first cabinet was also a guest. Goodwin’s book is an obligatory coffee table display for all of the holier than thou star-bellied Sneetches whose indigenous territory is  imperial Washington but what makes her an authority on anything that Trump may be saying is beyond me. She did however whip and play out the dreaded Hitler card as per the official MTP transcript:

The country hasn't lost if Republicans in the south start taking a leadership in this role. I found it an extraordinary emotional moment. And I think that if they can say to themselves, "We want to heal this country," they lost the war. It's good they lost the war. If they hadn't lost the war, we would have had a split country. We wouldn't have been able to fight Hitler, we might not have been able to fight the Cold War. They should value the union that we have and now begin the racial healing. It's a great thing for the country that they've taken the leadership.

Rounding out the non-sitting politician slate was some dude named Matt Bai who seems to be a blogger for Yahoo or something. Arthur Brooks, who is the head of neoconservative think tank The American Enterprise Institute was there to impress the viewing audience with his intellectual gravitas. Hinojosa’s comments about “Jewish Americans” open the door to possible anti-Semite smears to be hurled Trump's way, or at the very least, sleazy innuendo comparing him to Hitler. This is a favorite trick of the neocons - who would lose big under the pro-American Trump - which meshes nicely with what the "Team of Rivals" lady had to say. You can practically see the wheels in all of the propaganda chop shops churning: Trump hates Mexicans, Trump is a racist, Hitler hated Jews so therefore Trump must be like Hitler. Pay attention folks, this is a pattern usually reserved for the foreign bogeyman of the week but the advance work is already being done by the corrupt state-corporate media to sell it to a domestic audience.

The bipartisan war on Donald Trump is now on like Donkey Kong. If as much energy was devoted to an effort to destroy ISIS then all of those dirty-bearded savages would punching their tickets off this mortal coil now and Americans would be safe. But this is after all electoral politics and the thing that people really need to start to understand is that it is a proxy war against the American people for control over the golden money spigots. No matter how crude that he comes across, Trump is the biggest challenge to the Beltway sewer dwellers in one hell of a long time and it is imperative that he be terminated with extreme prejudice. There is even a crazy story floating around out there that the Clintons have cut a deal the Bushes to take Trump out - I mean is that mafia or what?

He may be an ass clown on the brink of David Gregoryesque proportion but Chuck Todd is working his slimy ass off to score that big invite to sip bubbly, schmooze with the rest of the D.C. royalty and laugh at Obama’s bad jokes at next year’s White House Correspondent’s Dinner. Ratings be damned, nothing is more beneficial to the political elite than a proven snake in the grass.

The Revolving Door Spins Again as Eric Holder Returns to Gig at White Shoe Law Firm

Former Attorney General Eric Holder wasn’t out of work for very long. He has now - like so many others who have undermined American democracy in the imperial Washington sewer - passed back through that gold-plated revolving door between government and the private sector. Mr. Holder, who turned over his duties of giving away get out of jail free cards to Wall Street looters to Loretta Lynch in May, has returned to the same white shoe law firm where he worked prior to heading up the Justice Department as the nation's top law enforcement official.

As reported by the website The Intercept in the story “Eric Holder Returns As Hero to Law Firm That Lobbies for Big Banks”:

After failing to criminally prosecute any of the financial firms responsible for the market collapse in 2008, former Attorney General Eric Holder is returning to Covington & Burling, a corporate law firm known for serving Wall Street clients.

The move completes one of the more troubling trips through the revolving door for a cabinet secretary. Holder worked at Covington from 2001 right up to being sworn in as attorney general in Feburary 2009. And Covington literally kept an office empty for him, awaiting his return.

The Covington & Burling client list has included four of the largest banks, including Bank of America, Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo. Lobbying records show that Wells Fargo is still a client of Covington. Covington recently represented Citigroup over a civil lawsuit relating to the bank’s role in Libor manipulation.

Covington was also deeply involved with a company known as MERS, which was later responsible for falsifying mortgage documents on an industrial scale. “Court records show that Covington, in the late 1990s, provided legal opinion letters needed to create MERS on behalf of Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase and several other large banks,” according to an investigation by Reuters.

The Department of Justice under Holder not only failed to pursue criminal prosecutions of the banks responsible for the mortage meltdown, but in fact de-prioritized investigations of mortgage fraud, making it the “lowest-ranked criminal threat,” according to an inspector general report.

The Obama regime has had several of the figures who bailed out the banksters at the expense of the U.S. taxpayer quit their public gigs only to cash in big after a brief period by taking jobs in the same industry - an enormous betrayal of the American people. There was former Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke who scored two jobs with firms that benefitted from his management of the printing presses. 

Helicopter Ben nailed down gigs with bond firm Pimco as well as hedge fund Citadel and his Quantitative Easing programs have inflated the largest stock market bubble in history - one that is inevitably going to burst but probably not until Obama has joined Holder on the golf course. Then there is former Treasury Secretary Timothy Geitnher who ended up at private equity firm Warburg Pincus and departed Press Secretary Robert Gibbs who scored a position with McDonalds along with many others of a lesser profile.

The conflict of interest is stunning but predictable for a rat and longtime fixer like Holder. It would have been nice had he at least waited for a few months but the stench of impropriety is so thick in the D.C. air that it isn't even noticed anymore. This is a very serious breach of the public trust for Holder who was in the position to act on behalf of all Americans who got ripped off by these big banks but unethical Eric had all of their backs. With the news that he is officially back on their team now it is pretty evident why there were no meaningful prosecutions of the Wall Street racketeers.

Powerful Democrat Senator Bob Menendez Indicted on Corruption Charges

New Jersey Senator Robert Menendez, one of the most powerful Democrats in the United States Senate was formally indicted on corruption charges on Wednesday. Menendez, like all criminals proclaimed that he is “innocent” and mixed in “outraged” as well because elements of America’s political elite are rarely if ever are held to account for their abuse of power. It probably didn’t help Menendez’s case that he was often at odds with Emperor Barack Obama and Barry likely sent his remorseless henchman Eric Holder after him to settle the score.

Republicans - despite their ability to play the Soprano State senator off against the hated Obama - must be in high spirits as there is soon going to be one less entrenched career scumbag standing in line of a stronger majority in the Senate.

As reported by Reuters in the story “Senator Menendez of New Jersey indicted on corruption charges”:

U.S. Democratic Senator Robert Menendez of New Jersey was indicted on corruption charges, allegations that the high-ranking lawmaker said he would address at a news conference on Wednesday night.

Menendez was indicted by a grand jury in New Jersey for accepting gifts from Salomon Melgen, a Florida ophthalmologist, in exchange for using the power of his Senate office to benefit Melgen's financial and personal interests, according to the court filing.

The allegations against Menendez, a senior lawmaker on foreign policy and banking, raise the possibility of Republicans gaining a 55th Senate seat to strengthen their hand in policy fights with Democratic President Barack Obama, should the senator decide to resign his seat.

Menendez was stepping down as ranking member, or top Democrat, on the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations committee, Senate aides said.

Menendez and Melgen, both 61, were charged with one count of conspiracy, one count of violating the travel act, eight counts of bribery and three counts of honest services fraud. Menendez was also charged with one count of making false statements.

Menendez, in response to previous reports of a federal investigation, has denied wrongdoing. Melgen and his representative could not immediately be reached for comment on the charges.

Menendez is no doubt dirty but so are the vast majority of United States Senators who betray their country on a daily basis and whore themselves out to the highest bidder. The Senator is no stranger to ugly allegations of misconduct and seems to have a taste for sweet young tail, it wasn’t long ago that he was accused of frolicking with underage prostitutes but he was able to wiggle out by blaming it all on Fidel Castro. The Daily Beast, which is pretty much a liberal website has an interesting piece on Menendez entitled “The Soaking Tub Bob Menendez Craved” that is worth a read if only for some of the juicier tidbits like:

If the indictment unsealed this week lands Sen. Bob Menendez in a prison cell, he will at least have the memory of the $1,536.96-a-night suite with a woman in a five-star Paris hotel—thanks to the generosity of his good friend and now co-defendant, Dr. Salomon Melgen.

“King bed, work area with internet, limestone bath with soaking tub and enclosed rain shower,” Menendez wrote in an email allegedly asking his pal to make the reservation and pick up the tab.

And if the same indictment keeps Melgen separated by prison walls from any possible female company, he will at least have the memory of the three girlfriends who secured visas to visit him—thanks to the efforts of Menendez.

The Daily Beast article closes with the hysterical lines “Maybe he and Melgen can somehow explain it all. Otherwise, they will be going to a place where there is no rain shower and no girls at all”. That is a sugar-coated way of saying that the prissy, entitled Senator may soon end up being the bitch of some big fat smelly gold-toothed black career criminal being pimped out for cigarettes and bubble gum. It’s a damned good start but why stop at Menendez? Drain the whole damned swamp in Washington.

Jeb Bush to Give Big Foreign Policy Speech

With Americans’ political choices in the 2016 presidential race having pretty much already been made for them – Bush III or Clinton II – it is now up to the candidates to craft their sales pitches. While neither one will differ drastically from the other in terms of endless foreign entanglements, banker bailouts, mass surveillance, the war on civil liberties and amnesty for illegals it is all a matter of packaging. While Hillary lays low in the weeds - a luxury in that she has no competition from other Democrats – Jeb is going to have to actually go out and hit the cornbread and rubber chicken circuit to sell his policies.

Reuters is reporting that Jeb is doing just that in what is billed as an “exclusive” on his first major foreign policy speech in the story “Republican Jeb Bush to lay out case for stronger U.S. role in world”:

The United States needs to regain its leadership role in the world, Republican Jeb Bush will say in a speech on Wednesday, while asserting that President Barack Obama has been inconsistent and indecisive in carrying out American foreign policy.

Bush's speech at the Chicago Council on Global Affairs will be his first major foray into foreign policy since he announced in December that he is considering a run for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination.

“The great irony of the Obama presidency is this: Someone who came to office promising greater engagement with the world has left America less influential in the world,” Bush will say, according to speech excerpts that were provided to Reuters.

The former Florida governor is casting a wide net for advice on national security. An aide provided to Reuters a diverse list of 20 diplomatic and national security veterans who will be providing informal advice to Bush in the coming months.

Many of them are from past Republican administrations, including those of his father and brother, former presidents George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush, as well as that of Ronald Reagan.

Jeb’s gaggle of foreign policy and national security advisors include the likes of James Baker III, Paul Wolfowitz, Michael Chertoff, Tom Ridge, Stephen Hadley, Porter Goss, Michael Hayden. Paula Dobriansky and Robert Zoellick. It is fair to say that a Jeb Bush regime would represent a return to the era of the neoconservatives and the first George W. Bush term. Jeb is essentially putting the band back together again.

This doesn’t bode well for the financial prospects of Americans in that counter to the post-World War II conventional wisdom that war is good for the economy it only applies to the connected insiders. The gravy train will be running at full speed under Bush III and the key will be selling a “stronger America” to an electorate that if it understands nothing else it understands that Obama’s foreign policy has been an aimless and ineffective mess. But what can you expect when you bring in John “Skull and Bones” Kerry, Susan Rice and Samantha Power as your heavy hitters. The Bush collection of neocons can be called many things but incompetent is not among them.

This is not a good thing for average Americans and with Jeb already staking out a very muscular foreign policy vision it will be incumbent upon Hillary – no shrinking violet – to present an even more bellicose vision of a “stronger America”. None of this hogwash about American having a “stronger role” in the world does one damned thing to address the very serious problems in The Homeland. The reality is that America is now a land of a rigged financial system that is unable to function without government backstopping, ever increasing mass surveillance, diminishing civil liberties, crumbling infrastructure, lousy jobs (thanks to offshoring and importing illegal aliens) and dismal hopes for future generations.

Neither Jeb Bush nor Hillary Clinton represent anything short of a strengthening of a status quo grown fat and powerful off of cashing in on the never ending Global War on Terror (GWOT).  In a true and functional democracy – we no longer live in one – voters would have a choice that offers more difference than a taste test between Coke and Pepsi.

Marco Rubio Calls for Permanent USA PATRIOT Act

The ambitious and cunning Florida Senator Marco Rubio is going to hang his 2016 long shot presidential hopes on the National Security State. When you have nothing to sell in post 9/11 America you can always peddle fear and it always works. Rubio came out in favor of making the USA PATRIOT Act permanent in a FOX News oped piece last month but is being challenged by those who are concerned over our ongoing loss of civil liberties. One prominent critic of Rubio's terrorism gambit is the conservative organization Freedom Works that was a big backer of the Tea Party movement.

While Freedom Works did give Little Ricky credit for some of his more positive attributes they drew a line at the young stud's support for a permanent surveillance state. According to the organization's website:

Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) is one of the best in the upper chamber when it comes to budget and spending issues, earning high marks in 2013 and 2014 on FreedomWorks' congressional scorecard. He's also expanding the reach of the Republican Party with his youthfulness and pop culture savvy.

The Florida Republican has, however, been among the most vocal defenders of the National Security Agency and the surveillance state. In an op-ed published on Wednesday at FoxNews.com, Rubio, invoking 9/11 and recent activities of the Islamic State, called on his colleagues on Capitol Hill to permanently extend Section 215 of the PATRIOT Act, one of the law's most controversial provisions.

"This year, a new Republican majority in both houses of Congress will have to extend current authorities under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, and I urge my colleagues to consider a permanent extension of the counterterrorism tools our intelligence community relies on to keep the American people safe."

Section 215 of the USA PATRIOT Act amended the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act to make it easier for intelligence and federal law enforcement agencies to access third-party records related to investigations in suspected terrorist activity. This provision, though, has been used by the NSA as the legal justification to spy on Americans through the bulk collection of phone metadata. In the NSA's view, or so it seems, every American is a suspected terrorist.

Freedom Works has been vilified by Democrats as just another front for the evil Koch Brothers who have effectively become bogeymen as well as drivers of liberal fundraising campaigns. The Koch connection to Freedom Works has always been nebulous at best but any organization that is calling out supporters of the PATRIOT Act is working in the best interests of America. This abomination was rammed through Congress in the aftermath of the September 11, 2001 attacks and despite the original sunset provisions continues to be renewed. Rubio, like the others who have suckled high off the teat of the bloated Global War on Terror money machine never hesitate to launch into demagoguery of the worst type to serve their own self-interests rather than honor the U.S. Constitution.

Senator Rubio is a desperate man so expect to see more of this type of crap coming out of his campaign media operation going forward. He also has close ties to the McCain-Graham-Ayotte Axis of fascist big government and his Hispanic identity makes him a potential vice presidential pick. While there are really are truly very bad people out there who really do hate us all,  guys like Rubio are acting as their defacto agents when it comes to destroying this once great country from within. I can't believe that anyone would have a problem with the feds conducting their surveillance of the "bad guys" but there needs to be necessary protections for law-abiding Americans and they really do not exist at this point.

It is also good to see that at least a few principled members of Congress are calling out Rubio over his obviously politically motivated support of domestic repression. Michigan Congressman Justin Amash has also blasted Florida's junior Senator as reported by the libertarian website Reason online:

Rep. Justin Amash (R–Mich.) threw some shade at Sen. Marco Rubio (R–Fla.) today over the latter's support for permanently reauthorizing the PATRIOT Act.

The congressman was asked during a panel at the 2015 International Students for Liberty Conference, happening now in Washington, D.C., how he felt about the idea that Congress should "rubberstamp" reauthorization of the controversial law. Amash responded: "I think it's embarrassing to say things like that. It reflects a lack of awareness of what the American people think and what the Constitution says. And if [Rubio] thinks that that is the future of the Republican Party, he is very wrong."

Amash said the GOP's job is to stand for liberty, protect people's rights, and curb corporate welfare, adding, "I think we have a great group of people who are pushing the country in the right direction. And we've got some people like Sen. Rubio who want to take us backward, and move the party in the wrong direction, and make it into a very small party."

You have to hand it to guys like Justin Amash and organizations like Freedom Works, at least they are trying to do something about our increasingly dwindling freedoms unlike the Democrat and Republican establishments. To this day there has NEVER been a serious debate about how exactly to balance off the trading of liberty for security in the new American century and the technological age. As long as there are charlatans like Marco Rubio trafficking in the politics of fear there never will be one either.

Not that I am throwing in with the Koch Brothers who are doing their damned level best to buy the entire system but were the system not so completely corrupted already it would not be up for sale. 

How Republicans Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Frogs

Republicans are piling onto Emperor Obama for his failure to attended the gathering of world “leaders” in a show of anti-Muslim unity Sunday in Paris. Media outlets were filled with the imagery of French President François Hollande, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Israeli Megalomaniac Benjamin “Bibi” Netenyahu and various and sundry other human rights abusers and war criminals marching with linked arms in front of the procession. It was however all staged as has been reported by a number of independent websites including Liberty Blitzkrieg.

In a piece entitled “NOUS SOMME HYPOCRITES – Authoritarian, Anti-Free Speech Politicians Pose for Staged Photo Op in Paris” Michael Krieger nails it:

 As I was wrapping up my travels in Asia, an extremely sad event unfolded in Paris during which 12 people were murdered at the office of satire magazine Charlie Hebdo. Just four days later, another sad and pathetic event occurred. A swarm of politicians, many of whom are professional authoritarians, shamelessly descended onto the streets of Paris to “join millions of protesters” in a rally for free speech and solidarity with the victims of the barbaric attack.

As is typically the case, mainstream media stories were filled with powerful images of these political hacks marching arm in arm; faces austere, defiantly standing their ground on behalf of freedom and liberty the world over. You have doubtlessly seen many variations of the following:

 

Such images were commingled with photos of the real march, which was estimated to include an incredible 3.7 million people.

Such images can bring a tear to the eye of even the most hardened cynic. Politicians and citizens united for a noble cause! There’s just one minor problem. As the Huffington Post and Independent both noted, this is what the politicians’ march actually looked like:

While this pathetic and shameless photo op is embarrassing enough, what’s far more concerning and downright hypocritical is the fact that many of the participants are active authoritarians in their home countries.

Even less surprising that the whole “unity” scam was yet another political dog and pony show is how many of the Republicans have now learned to love the French, a people who normally are vilified by party hacks. In excerpting from the smarmy Dana Milbanks in his Washington Post column entitled “Republicans’ inconsistent attacks on Obama’s Paris response”:

A decade ago, Republicans in Congress were renaming French fries “freedom fries” and French toast “freedom toast” because of that country’s refusal to support the Iraq war. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld belittled the “old Europe” French, President George W. Bush mocked an American reporter for speaking French to the French president, and conservative critics called the French “weasels,” “appeasers” and worse. John Kerry, the 2004 Democratic presidential nominee, was ridiculed by the Bush administration for being “too French” and looking French, and his fluency in French was a liability in the campaign.

And now, that very same Monsieur Kerry, the secretary of state, and his boss, President Obama, are being condemned by conservatives for . . . not being nice enough to the French.

Quelle horreur!

The cause célèbre this time is the failure of the Obama administration to send anybody of higher rank than the U.S. ambassador to attend Sunday’s march in Paris showing solidarity against the terrorists.

“Our president should have been there, because we must never hesitate to stand with our allies,” proclaimed Sen. Ted Cruz, the Republican agent provocateur from Texas.

Fox News’s Greta van Susteren said the absence was “embarrassing” and that “Obama should not have snubbed Paris.”

Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) — like Cruz a would-be presidential contender — declared it “a mistake not to send someone.” (For the record, neither Cruz nor Rubio attended the march.)

The grandstanding Cruz who passes himself off as a devout Christian should be asked whether he is down with the cover image from Charlie Hebdo that shows his lord and savior engaging an anal sex. While he is at it he can also weigh in on the “standing with our allies” – translation: Netanyahu – remark since the cat is now out of the bag that the entire world leader portion of the marched was yet another political farce. Nothing translates better than hypocrisy.