Paid Shills and Defending the right of Dark Money to LIE!

This issue highlights the travesty of the Citizens United decision, along with the subsequent McCutchein v FEC that allow unlimited DARK MONEY to govern the election process.

Any misleading statement can be made with little challenge.

Push Polling, Robo Calling and Glossy Mailings bombard voters with LIES and propaganda that few voters take the time to research.

Too many voters willingly follow the Judas Goat of well-funded extremism to slaughter, voting against their best interests.


SJC tackles Mannal's criminal pamphlet charge During his first reelection campaign Rep. Brian Mannal filed for criminal charges against the treasurer of a super PAC

ARTICLE | Politics | May 8, 2015 05:15 AM | By Andy Metzger, State House News Service


HIGH COURT TACKLES REP'S ALLEGATION OF CRIMINAL PAMPHLET


Mannal has not decided whether he would file a civil libel lawsuit High court justices grilled an attorney for the state Thursday, questioning her defense of a 1946 law that criminalizes knowingly making false statements used to boost or tear down a political candidate.

Assistant Attorney General Amy Spector argued that the statute can fit within free speech protections if [sic] is narrowly used while also advocating for a dismissal of the case that brought the matter before the Supreme Judicial Court (SJC).

During his first reelection campaign last year, Rep. Brian Mannal filed for criminal charges against the treasurer of a super PAC that claimed in a flyer the Barnstable Democrat prioritizes criminals over "our families."

After Falmouth Assistant Clerk Magistrate Norman Butler allowed Mannal's charges to be filed, the super PAC's treasurer, Melissa Lucas, appealed to the SJC to block her arraignment.

Spector argued the statute is constitutional when addressing fraud committed during elections, but said the mailer issued in Mannal's race constituted opinion and the charge should be dismissed.

At the hearing Thursday two justices voiced concern to Lucas's attorney about the role on money in elections, while several quizzed Spector about how the statute could hold up.

"These statements are clearly opinions," Spector said of the mailer issued by Jobs First Independent Expenditure PAC.

So clearly that a clerk magistrate issued a criminal complaint.

That clearly? interjected Justice Robert Cordy on the right. Justice Geraldine Hines questioned whether battling false speech with correcting speech is effective now that super PACs can raise unlimited sums of money to bankroll political messaging. "That sounds great if there's a level playing field for everybody who wants to speak and that's clearly not the case," Hines said, questioning how to "level the playing field," and saying, "The marketplace is flooded with all of these half-truths, outright lies. We all know that's what happens."

Arguing the law is unconstitutional, Lucas's attorney Peter Horstmann said Mannal successfully addressed the claims in the mailer without the need of the criminal courts.

"Mr. Mannal was able to hold a very effective press conference in which he denied the allegations that he said were false," said Horstmann, who called the statute a "time capsule" and said it has seldom been used. He said, "He didn't need the full weight of the application for criminal process."

Outside court, Mannal questioned whether his counter against Jobs First would have been as effective without the pursuit of criminal charges.

Would they have reported on my press conference if I hadn't taken that step?" Brian Mannal (on the right) asked the News Service.

In pursuing charges, Mannal used the court's process that allows for individuals to submit an application for criminal complaint, which is then evaluated by a clerk magistrate. He said he had spoken briefly about the matter with Attorney General Maura Healey.

Spector said the attorney general's office only filed a notice with the Supreme Judicial Court after the Cape and Islands prosecutor told the court it would not file a brief, and the attorney general "felt it was her duty to represent the interests of the Commonwealth."

The assistant attorney general told the seven justices that the statute should be "narrowly construed" and it would fit within freedom of speech protections.

"It's a form of fraud that's designed to trick voters," Spector said of intentionally false statements aimed at swaying an election.

Mannal said he has not decided whether he would file a civil libel lawsuit. Horstmann said using the criminal justice system to adjudicate political disputes during a campaign is a riskier prospect than taking a hands-off approach.

"While I understand the need to correct the falsities in the marketplace, I think the system allows for that and I think it does balance itself out. The greater risk is that someone is charged with a crime for stating a falsehood," Horstmann said.

"Or investigated," Cordy added. "During an election cycle."

Most SJC opinions are released within 130 days of oral arguments.

- See more at: http://www.capecodtoday.com/article/2015/05/08/224372-SJC-tackles-Mannals-criminal-pamphlet-charge#sthash.YC17crJX.dpuf


                                    Related Content:
Mannal's charge puts free speech case before SJC - See more at: http://www.capecodtoday.com/article/2015/05/08/224372-SJC-tackles-Mannals-criminal-pamphlet-charge#sthash.YC17crJX.dpuf


Watch the comments:

everyoneelse

So lets recap. Mannal used an obscure law to get himself re-elected vs a republican. The magistrate issued a criminal complaint, let me guess he is a democrat. The DA's office refused to file a brief, republicans. So the Attorney general is representing the case before the SJC, democrats. The SJC sees right through all of this and sides with.... what else? The Constitution. Well at least Mannal got anther two years right? To hell with the rest, perfect

middlebororemembers everyoneelse

How did the law or the complaint get him elected?

The issue didn't prevent you from voting nor remove his opponent's name from the ballot.

It should be of greater concern that 'dark money' invades elections, misrepresents the record and targets a single inflammatory issue.

Nowhere has any poster indicated any other matters Rep Mannal has supported or voted on beyond the issue of sex offenders.

"....Mannal's application for a criminal complaint, filed two weeks before he defeated Republican challenger Adam Chaprales by 205 votes, stems from Jobs First's claim in October that he filed a proposal for notifying sex offenders of their rights to a hearing and court-appointed attorney in hopes of "helping himself." As Horstmann wrote in the Dec. 5 complaint, Jobs First was asking voters to "connect the dots" between the bill and Mannal's work as a criminal defense attorney.

But Mannal has said that he has never handled a sex offender case, nor is he certified to do so, making him unable to benefit financially
from the bill....."


What is revealed by your comment is your willingness to follow the Judas Goat of Wack-A-Ding Tea Baggers defending their Right to Lie.



middlebororemembers

There are PAID SERVICES that are "FLAME THROWERS" - they are paid to support or oppose ANY issue.

Sometimes, you can clearly pick them out because of errors indicating they don't live in the area. Sometimes you can pick them out because they are forced to resort to name-calling.

It should be noted that everyoneelse has an invisible history.
Simply click on his screen name.
What's he hiding? His PAID FOR CONNECTION?
Folks, don't be fooled by the phony rhetoric!
When there's Dark Money involved, you're the one betrayed.

 

RSN: Scalia and Roberts Don't Know Best, Texas Suspect's Home Searched After Attack on Muhammad Cartoon Event

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FOCUS: Jamie Raskin | Scalia and Roberts Don't Know Best

Jamie Raskin, Moyers & Company
Raskin writes: "While Citizens United turned every corporate treasury in the country into a potential political slush fund, McCutcheon wiped out all aggregate limits on federal campaign contributions so that tycoons can now max out to every incumbent Member of Congress - plus all their opponents!"
READ MORE

Texas Suspect's Home Searched After Attack on Muhammad Cartoon Event
Lauren Gambino and Damien Gayle, Guardian UK
Excerpt: "Two unnamed gunmen were killed and a security guard injured on Sunday night during what appears to have been an attack on a contest calling for cartoon depictions of the prophet Muhammad hosted by an anti-Islam group in a Dallas suburb."
READ MORE

 

 

 

 

 

How much do you care about Democracy?

Wise men have explained the threat of concealed $$$ to our Democracy.

If you want to oppose the wholesale purchase of elections by the wealthy, please join and speak out:


Sign and send the petition: This would be a huge blow to Citizens United:

It will take a constitutional amendment to undo Citizens United entirely, but there’s one federal agency that has the power to rein in corporate money in politics in a big way right now. The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) can require that corporations disclose how they’re spending money to affect elections—and the SEC is taking public comments on just such a move right now. Sign and send the petition to the SEC: Don’t let corporations hide their political spending. Campaign finance reform is the issue that affects all other issues: Climate change, civil rights, workers rights, health care, education … you name it. The Supreme Court keeps giving already-powerful corporations new ways to influence politicians in all of these areas. And we’ve seen the levels to which corporations were willing to go to win in 2010 and 2012, when they drowned the airwaves in attack ads. Sign and send the petition now: Don’t let corporations hide their political spending. Keep fighting, Rachel Colyer, Daily Kos

P.S. Please help keep Daily Kos strong by chipping in $3.

Who are the Koch brothers and what do they want?

As a result of the disastrous Citizens United Supreme Court decision, billionaires and large corporations can now spend an unlimited amount of money to influence the political process. The results of that decision are clear. In the coming months and years the Koch brothers and other extraordinarily wealthy families will spend billions of dollars to elect right-wing candidates to the Senate, the House, governors’ mansions and the presidency of the United States. These billionaires already own much of our economy. That, apparently, is not enough. Now, they want to own the United States government as well. Four years ago, the Supreme Court passed Citizens United. A few weeks ago, they passed the equally horrendous McCutcheon campaign finance decision which gives even more political power to the rich. Now, many Republicans want to push this Supreme Court to go even further. In the name of “free speech,” they want the Court to eliminate all restrictions on campaign spending -- a position that Justice Thomas supported in McCutcheon -- and a view supported by the Chairman of the Republican National Committee. Not surprisingly, as it will give them the opportunity to buy politicians at will, this has always been the position of the Koch brothers. The Koch brothers are the second wealthiest family in America, making most of their money in the fossil fuel industry. According to Forbes Magazine, they saw their wealth increase last year from $68 billion to $80 billion. In other words, under the “anti-business”, “socialist” and “oppressive” Obama administration, their wealth went up by $12 billion in one year. In their 2012 campaigns, Barack Obama and Mitt Romney each spent a little more than $1 billion. For the Koch brothers, spending more than Obama and Romney combined in an election would be a drop in the bucket. They would hardly miss the few billion spent. Given the reality that the Koch brothers are now the most important and powerful players in American politics, it is important to know what they want and what their agenda is. Interestingly and not widely known, David Koch ran as the Libertarian Party’s vice-presidential candidate in 1980. He believed that Ronald Reagan was much too liberal. Despite Mr. Koch putting a substantial sum of money into the campaign, his ticket only received one percent of the vote. Most Americans thought the Libertarian Party’s platform of 1980 was extremist and way out of touch with what the American people wanted and needed. Fast-forward 34 years and the most significant reality of modern politics is how successful David Koch and like-minded billionaires have been in moving the Republican Party to the extreme right. Amazingly, much of what was considered “extremist” and “kooky” in 1980 has become part of today’s mainstream Republican thinking. Let me give you just a few examples: In 1980, Libertarian vice-presidential candidate David Koch ran on a platform that called for abolishing the minimum wage. 34 years ago, that was an extreme view of a fringe party that had the support of one percent of the American people. Today, not only does virtually every Republican in Congress oppose raising the $7.25 an hour minimum wage, many of them, including Republican leaders like Mitch McConnell and John McCain, are on record for abolishing the concept of the federal minimum wage. In 1980, the platform of David Koch’s Libertarian Party favored “the abolition of Medicare and Medicaid programs.” 34 years ago, that was an extreme view of a fringe party that had the support of one percent of the American people. Today, the mainstream view of the Republican Party, as seen in the recently passed Ryan budget, is to end Medicare as we know it, cut Medicaid by more than $1.5 trillion over the next decade, and repeal the Affordable Care Act. According to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, “Under the Ryan plan, at least 40 million people -- 1 in 8 Americans -- would lose health insurance or fail to obtain insurance by 2024. Most of them would be people with low or moderate incomes.” In 1980, the platform of David Koch’s Libertarian Party called for “the repeal of the fraudulent, virtually bankrupt, and increasingly oppressive Social Security system.” 34 years ago, that was an extreme view of a fringe party that had the support of one percent of the American people. Today, the mainstream view of the Republican Party is that “entitlement reform” is absolutely necessary. For some, this means major cuts in Social Security. For others who believe Social Security is unconstitutional or a Ponzi scheme this means the privatization of Social Security or abolishing this program completely for those who are under 60 years of age. In 1980, David Koch’s Libertarian Party platform stated “We oppose all personal and corporate income taxation, including capital gains taxes … We support the eventual repeal of all taxation … As an interim measure, all criminal and civil sanctions against tax evasion should be terminated immediately.” 34 years ago, that was an extreme view of a fringe party that had the support of one percent of the American people. Today, 75 Republicans in the House have co-sponsored a bill that Paul Ryan has said “would eliminate taxes on wages, corporations, self-employment, capital gains, and gift and death taxes in favor of a personal-consumption tax.” Here is what every American should be deeply concerned about. The Koch brothers, through the expenditure of billions of dollars and the creation and support of dozens of extreme right organizations, have taken fringe extremist ideas and made them mainstream within the Republican Party. And now with Citizens United (which is allowing them to pour unlimited sums of money into the political process) their power is greater than ever. And let’s be very clear. Their goal is not only to defund Obamacare, cut Social Security, oppose an increase in the minimum wage or cut federal funding for education. Their world view and eventual goal is much greater than all of that. They want to repeal every major piece of legislation that has been signed into law over the past 80 years that has protected the middle class, the elderly, the children, the sick, and the most vulnerable in this country. Every piece of legislation! The truth is that the agenda of the Koch brothers is to move this country from a democratic society with a strong middle class to an oligarchic form of society in which the economic and political life of the nation are controlled by a handful of billionaire families. Our great nation must not be hijacked by right-wing billionaires like the Koch brothers. For the sake of our children and our grandchildren, we must fight back. Sincerely, Senator Bernie Sanders

Paid for by Friends of Bernie Sanders

RSN: Changing our Climate of Indifference, Pennsylvania Fails to Report Water Contamination From Fracking, Ukraine: The IMF's Big Lie, Anti-Liberal Left.....

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Reader Supported News | 06 April 14 It's Live on the HomePage Now: Reader Supported News FOCUS: Robert Reich | Will McCutcheon Give Birth to the Next Occupy? Robert Reich, Guardian UK Reich writes: "We have returned to the gilded age of the late 19th century, when the lackeys of robber barons placed sacks of money on the desks of pliant legislators. If this is not corruption, what is?" READ MORE

FOCUS | #CancelColbert and the Return of the Anti-Liberal Left

Michelle Goldberg, The Nation
Goldberg: "It's increasingly clear that we are entering a new era of political correctness. Recently, we've seen the calls to #CancelColbert because of something outrageous said by Stephen Colbert's blowhard alter ego, who has been saying outrageous things regularly for nine years."
READ MORE

Steve Weissman | Ukraine: The IMF's Big Lie

Steve Weissman, Reader Supported News
Weissman writes: "Like government leaders everywhere, Russia's Vladimir Putin often lies. But when he tells an uncomfortable truth, few people in the US or Europe bother to listen. Take what he said about Ukraine back in 2007, when Time magazine interviewed him as their 'Person of the Year.'"
READ MORE

John Nichols | A Resounding Vote Against Koch Brothers Dollarocracy
John Nichols, The Nation
Nichols writes: "Even as the US Supreme Court attempts to expand the scope and reach of the already dangerous dominance of our politics by billionaires and their willing servants, Americans are voting in overwhelming numbers against the new politics of dollarocracy."
READ MORE

New York Police Arrest Veterans Protesting at Vietnam War Memorial
Renee Lewis, Al Jazeera America
Lewis writes: "Three military veterans were arrested at New York City's Vietnam Memorial after taking part in a protest that activists said was part of an attempted revival of the Occupy movement, a push that began Friday with events planned worldwide."
READ MORE

David Sirota | Rahm Emanuel Cuts Public Pensions, Diverts Money to Benefit Campaign Donors
David Sirota, Pando Daily
Sirota writes: "This same story, portraying public employees as the primary cause of budget crises, is being told across the country. Yet, in many cases, we're only being told half the tale."
READ MORE

Errol Morris, On Donald Rumsfeld's Inability to Separate Fact From Fantasy
Calum Marsh, Esquire
Marsh writes: "In his more than thirty-five years as a documentarian, Errol Morris has profiled a lot of delusional people: Holocaust deniers, unpunished murderers, serial killer obsessives. None are as oblivious to their own mistakes as Donald Rumsfeld proves to be in this film."
READ MORE

Changing our Climate of Indifference
Jill Richardson, AlterNet
Richardson writes: "In a million ways, the changing climate is ruining lives there: changing rain patterns, floods, mudslides, crop failures, and more."
READ MORE

Pennsylvania Fails to Report Water Contamination From Fracking
Lindsay Abrams, Salon
Abrams writes: "If you live in Pennsylvania and would like to be informed of when and where fracking leaks are contaminating the groundwater, well, good luck."
READ MORE

RSN: The Unquenchable Thirst of an Expanding Coal Industry, A Case Study in GOP Cannibalism, et al

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ATTENTION, RSN WILL BE DOWN FOR MAINTENANCE: Early Sunday morning, around 3:am eastern, April 6th, RSN will be offline for a couple of hours for scheduled maintenance. Please be patient. Thank you!

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FOCUS: Andy Borowitz | Supreme Court Defends Wealthy's Right to Own Government

Andy Borowitz, The New Yorker
Borowitz writes: "By a five-to-four decision, the United States Supreme Court today defended the right of the wealthiest Americans to own the United States government."
READ MORE

FOCUS: Robert Reich | The Jobs Report and the Supreme Court's 'McCutcheon' Debacle

Robert Reich, Robert Reich's Blog
Reich writes: "What does the Supreme Court's 'McCutcheon' decision this week have to do with today's jobs report, showing 192,000 new jobs for March?"
READ MORE

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Charles Pierce | A Case Study in GOP Cannibalism

Charles Pierce, Esquire
Pierce writes: "In Wisconsin's Sixth Congressional District, there's a Republican incumbent named Tom Petri. He seems like an unremarkable sort. He has been in office for 35 years."
READ MORE

Paul Ryan Accidentally Reveals the Truth About the GOP's Obamacare Replacement
Igor Volsky, ThinkProgress
Volsky reports: "House Budget Chairman Paul Ryan (R-WI) admitted on Friday that Republicans would not be able to preserve the most popular elements of Obamacare if they repeal the law as a whole."
READ MORE

McCutcheon Ruling Spurs Rush for Cash in Both Parties
Nicholas Confessore, The New York Times
Confessore writes: "As constitutional scholars digest the court's decision, it has already set off a bipartisan scramble for campaign cash, thrusting party leaders, lawmakers with leadership PACs, and candidates into a fierce competition."
READ MORE

Democrats Try to Make the Koch Brothers the New Face of the GOP
Kathleen Parker, The Washington Post
Parker writes: "Rush Limbaugh can relax. The popular 'demon of the right' has been replaced at least through the midterms by the Koch brothers, Charles and David."
READ MORE

NYPD Officer Embroiled in Assault Trial Sued by Another Occupy Campaigner
Jon Swaine, Guardian UK
Swaine writes: "A New York police officer whose allegation of assault against an Occupy Wall Street activist could send her to prison for seven years is being sued by another Occupy campaigner, who alleges that the officer injured him on the same day."
READ MORE

Kumi Naidoo | The Unquenchable Thirst of an Expanding Coal Industry
Kumi Naidoo, Guardian UK
Naidoo writes: "An oasis is a body of water, ringed by greenery and beyond that, a lifeless, endless landscape that coughs up dust and sand whenever the wind touches it. It is a globally understood symbol of something precious, fragile and rare."
READ MORE

RSN: Holy Seven Million, Batman!, "License to Discriminate", Biomass Electricity More Polluting Than Coal, et al

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Paul Krugman | Holy Seven Million, Batman!

Paul Krugman, The New York Times
Krugman writes: "The Affordable Care Act, a k a Obamacare, has made a stunning comeback from its shambolic start."
READ MORE

Katrina vanden Heuvel | Will America Once More Turn Its Back on Civil Rights?
Katrina vanden Heuvel, The Nation
vanden Heuvel writes: "The progress African Americans forged has stalled. Will the United States once more turn its back on civil rights?"
READ MORE

The New Power and Control McCutcheon Affords Big Donors
The New York Times | Editorial
Excerpt: "Reince Priebus, the Republican Party chairman, was practically giddy on Wednesday imagining the riches he can squeeze from big private bank accounts as a result of the Supreme Court decision."
READ MORE

Mississippi Governor Signs "License to Discriminate" Into Law
Sunnivie Brydum, Advocate.com
Brydum reports: "Mississippi Republican governor Phil Bryant today signed a bill into a law that will allow business and individuals to deny service to anyone in the interest of religious liberty."
READ MORE

McDonald's Managers Admit to Making Staff Work Without Pay
Hayley Peterson, Business Insider
Peterson reports: "Two former McDonald's store managers have come forward to admit making staff work without pay."
READ MORE

Brad Pitt's New Movie on the Steubenville Rape Case Has the Wrong Protagonist
Tara Culp-Ressler, ThinkProgress
Culp-Ressler writes: "Although it's likely not the intention of Plan B Entertainment, that framing choice ends up further obscuring the real women who are victimized by sexual assault."
READ MORE

Biomass Electricity More Polluting Than Coal
Partnership for Policy Integrity
Excerpt: "Biomass electricity generation, a heavily subsidized form of 'green' energy that relies primarily on the burning of wood, is more polluting and worse for the climate than coal."
READ MORE


FOCUS: William Boardman | Praising Iraq War, Obama Faces Another "Dumb War"

William Boardman, Reader Supported News
Boardman writes: "What happened to that guy who was challenging President Bush to finish the fight with bin Laden, to shut down banks that handle terrorists' funding, to let the U.N. do its work in Iraq?"
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RSN: Exxon Mobil's Response to Climate Change Is Consummate Arrogance, Vietnam Is Sentencing Corrupt Bankers to Death by Firing Squad, Money Talks: The John Roberts Project, et al

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Jeffrey Toobin | Money Talks: The John Roberts Project
Jeffrey Toobin, The New Yorker
Toobin writes: "If you think that the Supreme Court's decision in McCutcheon v. Federal Election Commission was bad, just wait: worse may be on the way."
READ MORE

Tom Engelhardt | The Bermuda Triangle of National Security
Tom Engelhardt, TomDispatch
Engelhardt writes: "No, Virginia, Flight 370 was not commandeered by aliens and Vladimir Putin is not Joseph Stalin's younger brother."
READ MORE

US Built "Cuban Twitter" to Stir Up Political Unrest
Sarah Gray, Salon
Gray reports: "For two years the U.S. Agency for International Development ran a "Cuban Twitter" social media network, whose intent was to propagate dissatisfaction with the the Cuban government."
READ MORE

Vietnam Is Sentencing Corrupt Bankers to Death by Firing Squad
Patrick Winn, GlobalPost
Winn reports: "Amid a sweeping cleanup of its financial sector, Vietnam has sentenced three bankers to death in the past six months."
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Nearly 500,000 More Americans Speak Out Against Federal Plan to Strip Wolves of Protections
Defenders of Wildlife
Excerpt: "More than 460,000 Americans filed official comments calling on the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) to scrap its controversial proposal to remove federal protections from the gray wolf."
READ MORE

Bill McKibben | Exxon Mobil's Response to Climate Change Is Consummate Arrogance
Bill McKibben, Guardian UK
McKibben writes: "If Exxon Mobil and its ilk keep their promise to dig up their reserves and burn them, then the planet will no longer function effectively."
READ MORE

Supreme Court Strikes Down Another Limit on Campaign Contributions

Sad commentary!

Citizens United, Part 2

Apr 2, 2014 | By CAP Action War Room

Supreme Court Strikes Down Another Limit on Campaign Contributions

Just days after 2016 GOP hopefuls traveled to Las Vegas to kowtow to billionaire Republican donor Sheldon Adelson, the Supreme Court has made it even easier for the ultra-rich to control elections. In McCutcheon v. FEC, the five conservative Justices ruled that aggregate limits in campaign contributions are unconstitutional.

Ian Millhiser at ThinkProgress breaks down exactly what the decision does, and why it is so harmful:

What McCutcheon invalidates are aggregate limits on the total amount of money that donors may give to all federal candidates ($48,600) and to all political committees ($74,600). Thus, before Wednesday, donors could spend as much as $123,200 seeking to influence the 2014 election cycle — now they can spend as much as they want. Make no mistake, this decision benefits no one except for a handful of very wealthy donors. Who else can say that they’ve already given more than a hundred thousand dollars worth of donations and that they are upset that they cannot give even more?

The previous landmark campaign finance case, 2010′s Citizens United, struck down limits on campaign expenditures by independent groups. This paved the way for the explosion of super-PACs and gave billionaires like the Koch Brothers and casino mogul Sheldon Adelson the ability to spend hundreds of millions of dollars to influence the 2012 election.

The McCutcheon decision gives the wealthiest even more influence in elections. The public policy organization Demos has estimated that the decision will “bring more than $1 billion in additional campaign contributions from elite donors through the 2020 election cycle.” According to their analysis, if these limits had not been in place during the 2012 election, 1,219 super-wealthy donors would have more than tripled their giving to more than $459 million. That number would have been almost 50 percent more than the $313 million in small dollar contributions to the Obama and Romney campaigns.

CREDIT: demos

In the dissenting opinion, Justice Stephen Breyer sums up the consequences:

Taken together with Citizens United v. FEC, today’s decision eviscerates our Nation’s campaign finance laws, leaving a remnant incapable of dealing with the grave problems of democratic legitimacy that those laws were intended to solve.

BOTTOM LINE: In the past four years, the Supreme Court has made it far easier for the wealthiest to buy an election and far harder for average Americans to vote in one. The McCutcheon decision doubles down on Citizen’s United, giving even more unchecked power to those who can afford to buy influence. Somewhere, the Koch Brothers and Sheldon Adelson are raising a glass.

BONUS: For an in-depth look at why the conservative Justices display a naive view of political corruption in their McCutcheon opinion, be sure to check out this brief from our colleagues at the Center for American Progress. And take action with this online tool to tell your Senators to confirm judges who follow the law, not special interests.

RSN: The Dimming Prospects for Human Survival, The American Government Is Open for Corruption, Rick Scott's Florida Voter Purge Was Illegal ......

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FOCUS: Charles Pierce | The American Government Is Open for Corruption

Charles Pierce, Esquire
Pierce writes: "The remarkable story of how we have come to privatize political corruption in this country reached another milestone today as the Supreme Court, John Roberts presiding, handed down its decision in McCutcheon."
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FOCUS: Noam Chomsky | The Dimming Prospects for Human Survival

Noam Chomsky, AlterNet
Chomsky writes: "A central conclusion is that the U.S. must maintain the right of a nuclear first strike, even against non-nuclear states."
READ MORE

 

BREAKING: Supreme Court Strikes Down Campaign Contribution Limits

Aaron Blake, The Washington Post
Blake reports: "The Supreme Court on Wednesday issued one of its most significant campaign finance rulings ever, striking down the overall campaign contribution limits."
READ MORE

NSA Confirms Warrantless Searches of Americans
Spencer Ackerman, James Ball, Guardian UK
Ackerman and Ball report: "US intelligence chiefs have confirmed that the National Security Agency has used a 'back door' in surveillance law to perform warrantless searches on Americans' communications."
READ MORE

KBR (Halliburton) Under Investigation for Fraud
Scott Higham, The Washington Post
Higham reports: "Two members of a powerful congressional committee on Tuesday asked one of the nation's largest government contractors to produce numerous internal corporate files, signaling a widening investigation into claims that the company covered up reports of fraud."
READ MORE

Appeals Court: Rick Scott's Florida Voter Purge Was Illegal
Josh Israel, ThinkProgress
Israel reports: "Gov. Rick Scott's (R-FL) 2012 voter purge was so error-riddled that 30 Republican local elections officials refused to carry it out and his hand-picked Secretary of State had to apologize for it."
READ MORE

Afghan Women See Hope in the Ballot Box
Rod Nordland, The New York Times
Nordland reports: "For the first time, a woman - Habiba Sarobi, the former governor of Bamian Province - is running for vice president on a leading national ticket."
READ MORE

Tar Sands Emissions Linked to Serious Health Problems in Alberta
Andy Rowell, Oil Change International
Rowell reports: "In a landmark report to Alberta's energy regulator, a panel of experts has concluded that odors from a controversial tar sands processing plant are linked to human health impacts."
READ MORE

 

 

Billionaires Take Over the Ballot Box, Again?

In Citizens United v. the Federal Elections Commission, the Supreme Court lifted the ban on independent corporate election spending, ruling that it was a violation of First Amendment free speech. This unleashed a flood of corporate money into our elections, allowing wealthy groups and the individuals who run them to wield more undue power over our political process than ever before. With the imminent Supreme Court ruling, McCutcheon v. FEC, the overall donation limits for individual donors may be lifted, too.

Filing suit against the FEC, Republican millionaire Shaun McCutcheon argued that federal aggregate limits prevented him from donating to multiple Tea Party candidates in violation of his First Amendment rights a la Citizens United. If the Supreme Court rules in his favor, the FEC would have to get rid of aggregate federal campaign donation limits for individuals, currently $123,200. Imagine a world where donors could spend significantly more...

Billionaire venture capitalist Tom Perkins said, “[Elections] should be like a corporation. You pay a million dollars in taxes, you get a million votes."

Sounds ludicrous, right? To us, too –elections are supposed to be an equal playing field, where each voter has an equal say, but with McCutcheon v. FEC, Perkins' twisted logic could become our reality.

Join with American Family Voices and Public Citizen at a rally in your area to get big money out of politics – click here to find an event near you.

Thank you.

Lauren Windsor
Creative Director, American Family Voices

This, that......

Bold Nebraska

"The oil companies have drilled there for 100 years, and now all the easy-to-get-out oil is gone and 'Big Oil' has to resort to riskier methods," Carson resident Glen White told the city council. "They get all the profits. We get all the risks. Their profits, our resources."

 

 

California City Temporarily Bans All New Oil Drilling Over Fracking Concerns

thinkprogress.org

The city of Carson says it needs time to study the effects of using fracking to extract oil.

 

 

 

 

Howling For Wolves

Here is Minnesota's "database" on wolf mortality. For 2 yrs, Howling for Wolves has made formal requests to the DNR for information on all sources of wolf deaths. We received a 6" stack of incident reports. An "Incident Report" is submitted by a DNR conservation officer, filed away, and not analyzed or available for public scrutiny. HFW learned there is no overall tracking of wolf diseases and deaths, and no publicly accessible data on wolf-ivestock conflicts for farmers eith...er. No one tracks when wolves are killed as incidental catches in traps or snare set for other animals.

An important editorial in The Forum this week states: "Legislation to temporarily suspend wolf hunting, trapping and snaring in Minnesota is a rational response to legitimate concerns about the management of the state’s wolf population."

Read: http://bit.ly/1fS9wts

‪#‎SF2256

 

 

 

 

 

Rebuild The Dream's photo.

 

 

Elizabeth Warren is hands down the best person. (Thank you, Young Progressive Voices)

 

 

 

 

Grist.org

The oil and gas behemoth is returning to the Gulf of Mexico to drill, now that we've all forgotten that pesky little Deepwater Horizon thing.

 

BP is gonna drill in the Gulf of Mexico again, because THAT’s worked so well

grist.org

Maybe BP's learned its lesson and will be more careful ... and maybe tomorrow Tina Fey and I will become BFFs.

 

 

 

Keith Olbermann Fan Page shared US Uncut's photo.

 

Share if you agree. Like our page US Uncut and invite your friends to like us too.

 

 

 

EARTHWORKS

Injecting fracking wastewater underground causes earthquakes.

In 2012, California injected 23 billion gallons of waterwater from the oil and gas industry underground.

Anyone else see a problem here? http://shakyground.org

 

 

 

 

 

Robert Reich

In few days the Supreme Court will hand down its decision in “Shaun McCutcheon v. Federal Election Commission” – which might use the bizarre logic of the Court's “Citizens United” decision to abandon all limits on what individuals can spend on political campaigns – another huge victory for the Koch brothers. I’m no conspiracy theorist, but it’s interesting that only months after “Citizens United” was decided, the Koch brothers' invite to their twice-yearly political retreat noted that previous guests at such meetings had included Supreme Court Justices Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas (according to the New York Times).

 

 

 

 

Republican Extremists Distracting From Real Issues

Americans have more important issues to address from which Republican Extremists are distracting --

GLOBAL WARMING  that threatens the planet,

the sale of our democracy because of Citizens United
and next McCutcheon v FEC,

income inequality, unemployment,

American inability to compete around the globe because of declining public education funding,

increasing incarceration rates,

American inability to compete around the globe because of declining research dollars,

hungry Americans caused by Republicans slashing SNAP,

immigration reform,

increasing poverty,
 
and much else.

Being Liberal

(M) Once again, The Onion nails it.

 

 

 

 

 

Baby Boomers and Senior Citizens Against Republicans & The Tea Party posted a photo to Left Action's timeline.

 

 

 

 

 

 

God Bless the President of the United States

Please list all the things the GOP has done and has failed to do that we all must REMEMBER IN NOVEMBER!!!!!

 

 

 

 

Left Action

Mitch McConnell has staged 428 filibusters since he became Minority Leader in 2007 -- the highest rate of obstruction in history. And yet, instead of being ashamed of this, McConnell has declared himself the "proud guardian of gridlock."

Send McConnell a message, let him know exactly how you feel, and tell him to stop the GOP gridlock.

And KEEP UP THE PRESSURE! Key Republicans in the Senate are starting to break ranks with him on this, and we need to keep speaking out against gridlock!

 

SPEAK UP AND ADD YOUR NAME:

Tell Mitch McConnell: Stop the GOP Gridlock