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Education Foreign Policies Jews News Politics Racism

Mazel Tov Laos

Whatever they’re doing in Vientiane to combat antisemitism, the rest of the world needs to take notice.

According to a poll just released by the Anti-Defamation League, 26% of the world’s adults harbor some form of anti-semitic attitude. From the article:

The highest concentration of anti-Semitic attitudes was found in the Middle East and North Africa, the survey showed, led by the West Bank and Gaza, where 93 percent of respondents held such views, followed by Iraq at 92 percent, Yemen at 88 percent and Algeria at 87 percent. The areas where anti-Semitic attitudes were least prevalent were Oceania, the Americas and Asia.

I can’t say that I’m surprised by the findings or the fact that most of the hatred seems to come from areas where there are conflicts between Jews and other populations. But then comes this:

In Laos, less than 1 percent of the population held such views, the lowest anywhere, the survey said.

What is the Laotian secret? Is it that they remember the horrors of the Vietnam War and the Cambodian genocide that followed and are making sure that ethnic hatred is banished from the country? Do they have an especially tolerant attitude towards their Jewish population (I couldn’t find the Laotian Jewish population, but approximately 300 Jews live in neighboring Vietnam)? What programs are they teaching in schools that are so effective that only 0.02% of the population is anti-semitic? We need to find out and copy it immediately.

In the meantime, thank you Laos for being a beacon of openness.

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Celebrities

Hotel Employee Who Released Jay Z Fighting Video Fired

The first casualty of the Jay Z, Beyonce, Solange Knowles incident has now been announced. According to reports, the hotel employee who released the video showing Jay Z getting his assets punched, kicked and scratched to TMZ has been fired.

According to the hotel, the person was fired for “breaching the security polices of the hotel and recording the confidential CCTV video.”

Celebrity website TMZ shared the video on Monday, which appears to be from the night of the Met Gala and shows Solange attacking Jay Z while Beyoncé watches. There is no audio, but many theories have been floated for why the fight happened.

The Standard Hotel said after the video aired Monday that it was “shocked and disappointed.” On Wednesday, the hotel added that it would turn over “all available information to criminal authorities.”

Neither Jay Z, Beyoncé, or Solange have publicly commented on the video, but Beyoncé posted a slew of Instagram photos with her and her sister showing affection for one another.

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democrats Healthcare ObamaCare Politics

Clinton’s Message to Weak-back, Feathery-knees Democrats

The “Explainer-In-Chief” has a word or two for the weak-back, feathery-knees Democrats who are laying down to the Republicans false attacks on Obamacare – Don’t lay down, fight for what you’ve accomplished!

“What I advise the Democrats to do is talk about the good things that have happened under the bill, acknowledge the problems and say, ‘Let’s do what sensible people would do. We had a problem we had to deal with, Albert Einstein couldn’t have done it perfectly the first time, now let’s set a long-term repair process,’” Clinton told moderator Gwen Ifill.

“Nobody could’ve done this perfectly,” he added.

Noting a recent bipartisan agreement over one of the small business requirements within the bill, Clinton suggested Congress should have more special committees that work every year to get bipartisan improvements to the law.

“I think we’re rocking along pretty good here,” Clinton said after touting some aspects of the Obamacare’s successes.

“It’s a beginning, and I think that the people can handle the truth. Talk about what’s good about it, talk about the remaining problems, commit to fix the problems. That’s the best political position,” Clinton said.

Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2014/05/bill-clinton-midterms-advice-106678.html#ixzz31ip8GdHt

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Bill O'Reilly Politics Racism Racists

Bill O’Reilly – Exposing The Racists Turn Us into a Nation of Witch Hunters

Now I’m not the brightest one in the class, but it sure sounds like Mr. Reilly is suggesting that we just leave the racists alone. Which then mean that if we’re not pointing out their hate and racism, aren’t we in fact enabling them through our silence? Like Bill O’ and his ilk at Fox News are doing now?

See their love fest with Cliven Bundy for reference.

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Climate change Politics

Global Warming – April Was The 350th Straight Month with Above Normal Temperature

Meanwhile, Republicans insist that climate change or global warming is a figment of our imagination. They totally disregard the science of it all.

Around the planet, April temperatures averaged 58.5°F, which is 1.3°F above average temperatures. This is only a tad lower than than the warmest April ever recorded, a milestone hit in 2010 when NASA calculated global temperatures of 1.44°F above average, according to the data sheet.

The data announcement also marks this April as the 350th month in a row where the globe has experienced above-average temperatures, a phenomenon that scientists agree is largely caused by increases of man-made greenhouse gases emitted into the atmosphere. Incidentally, April 2014 also marked the first month in human history when average carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere reached above 400 parts per million.

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Politics voter suppression

Rand Paul Flips, Flops, Then Flips Again on Republican Voter Suppression Efforts

There are numerous examples where Rand Paul supported or supports – depending on the time of day – the Republicans effort to suppress the vote through voter I’D measures.

That of course is not the news.

What made news was an apparent effort by the senator to distance himself from his fellow Republicans when he said that those in favor of voter restrictions should step back from marking it a central part of their platform.

“I think it’s wrong for Republicans to go too crazy on this issue because it’s offending people,” he said.

Paul then goes on Hannity to sooth the base of the Republican party by reaffirming that he is in fact, in favor of voter ID laws, and that his original flip flop on the issue was “overblown.” The country’s drug policies have a restrictive effect on the minority vote, he said, while the GOP’s voter ID efforts may not.

Paul added that if the Republican Party is making voter ID a “central theme and issue,” his colleagues must be sensitive to how some minority voters will perceive those efforts as an attempt to shut them out of the voting process.

“I’m trying to go out and say to African-Americans ‘I want your vote, and the Republican Party wants your vote’ … we have to be aware that the perception is out there and be careful about not so overdoing something that we further alienate a block of people that we need to attract,” he said.

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Politics

Thanks Obama! Projected Budget Heading For a Six Year Low

Good news for America, bad news for the propaganda machine that is otherwise known as the Republican party! Even with all the roadblocks they have put up in America’s way, the projected budget for the year 2014 should be between $300 to $500 billion.

The U.S. government ran a big surplus in April, thanks to a flood of tax payments that helped keep the budget on track for the lowest annual deficit in six years…. Through the first seven months of the 2014 budget year, which began Oct. 1, the deficit totals $306.4 billion. That’s down 37 percent from the same period last year.
The Congressional Budget Office is forecasting a deficit of $492 billion for the full budget year. That would be the narrowest gap since 2008.

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Climate change News

Watch How Humans Increased Global Warming in This 90 Seconds Video

This new video from the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences and NOAA’s Earth System Research Laboratory not only shows the recent global carbon-dioxide trend, but it also shows that humans have increased carbon-dioxide levels rapidly, and to their highest levels in at least 800,000 years:

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Featured Racism racist Sports

Donald Sterling Interview – Claims He’s Not Racist, Disses Magic Johnson

Donald Sterling went on CNN and dropped this gem. My overall take on this man and this interview? I walk away feeling sorry for him. I pity his ignorance, his inability to see his racist ways.

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Michelle Obama Politics

Jon Stewart Smacks Rush Limbaugh with #F*@KYOURUSH Hashtag – Video

The Republican darlings like Rush Limbaugh and the cast at Fox News, have beaten up on Michelle Obama ever since the First Lady joined the crusade to bring more attention to the over 300 kidnapped girls in Nigeria.

But I’m really not telling you anything new here. Republicans have worked hard to develop a reputation of being against anything the Obamas are for. So when Michelle Obama posted a photo of her holding up a sign with the hashtag #BringBackOurGirls, it was just a matter of time before the Republicans, led by their mightily heavy leader Rush Limbaugh, jumped on their Obama hating bandwagon.

Apparently, it makes good sense and politics to these Republicans to show the world that they are against someone who is trying to bring more publicity to the three hundred young girls kidnapped in Nigeria.

Jon Stewart of the Daily Show took note if this.

“See that’s the thing about hashtag activism. It cannot force a crazy person to do something. But it can shame a less crazy person into not doing nothing,” Stewart said on “The Daily Show,” referencing Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan’s decision to let foreign countries aid in the search for the missing girls.

“Whilst apparently driving a medium crazy person crazier,” Stewart continued, cutting to a clip of Limbaugh bashing the #GetBackOurGirls campaign.

In the clip, Limbaugh railed against Michelle Obama as “pathetic,” lamenting that people will probably criticize him for not trying to help the kidnapped girls.

“You know what Rush, you’re right. Sometimes the world has to choose sides. Let’s see our choices,” Stewart said before flashing pictures of Malala Yousafzai, who posted a photo to Twitter with the hashtag, and Limbaugh.

“So that’s our choice: Malala or Rush, the quivering rage heap who is apparently desperately trying to extinguish any remaining molecule of humanity that might still reside in the Chernobyl-esque superfund cleanup site that was his soul.”

He then tells viewers to tweet their votes to “#F*@KYOURUSH.”

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Benghazi fail Politics Republican

Watch Morning Joe’s Republican Guest Totally Flips Out On The Republicans

He grew up in a conservative household and still identify himself as a fiscal conservative. But on Tuesday morning, CNBC anchor Brian Sullivan went on Morning Joe and totally dogged the Republican party.

The conversation had to do with Benghazi and why the issue of four dead Americans has become so political and divisive. When Republicans were referred to as… Republicans, Sullivan flipped out!

“Can we stop saying ‘the’ Republican Party?” Sullivan said. “As somebody who grew up in a conservative household, I don’t recognize the Republican Party of even my youth. I don’t like what I see. I don’t like the far right, I don’t like the extremism.”

He went on. “I don’t know who the Republican Party is anymore. I don’t know if the Republican Party knows who the Republican — because it’s not a party, unfortunately Republicans, that I can get on board with. Because I don’t like the small-minded attitude, a lot of the far right stuff that comes out — I should go home now.”

Watch.

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north carolina Politics

Clay Aiken’s North Carolina Opponent Suddenly Dies

Clay Aiken’s Democratic opponent, 71 years old Keith Crisco, died on Monday after sustaining injuries from a fall in his home.

“I am stunned and deeply saddened by Keith Crisco’s death,” Aiken said.  “Keith came from humble beginnings. No matter how high he rose – to Harvard, to the White House and to the Governor’s Cabinet – he never forgot where he came from. He was a gentleman, a good and honorable man and an extraordinary public servant.”

Aiken said May 12 that he is suspending all campaign activities to “pray for his family and friends.”

According to Brad Crone, a North Carolina Democratic strategist, Crisco was planning to concede May 13. While the state board of elections has acknowledged Crisco’s death, Aiken has not been certified the winner.

Aiken held a slim lead for the Democratic nomination, with an unofficial tally of 11,649 votes, or 40.8%. Keith Crisco was in second place with 11,277 votes, or 39.5%. In North Carolina, a candidate needs to get more than 40% of the vote to avoid a runoff election.

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