night everyone

(The song: After All by The Frank and Walters)

Wednesday: The President and First Lady will record an interview with Oprah Winfrey in Chicago, where he will also attend a couple of fundraisers (the show is expected to air May 2, but the date has not yet been confirmed). Later in the day the President will travel to New York City to speak at two Democratic National Committee events

nice, they’re calling veterans morons now.

Orlando Sentinel: A town hall meeting held in Orlando by U.S. Rep. Dan Webster degenerated into bedlam Tuesday, with members of the crowd shouting down the freshman Republican congressman and yelling at one another.

Webster tried to go over a series of charts showing growing levels of federal spending and debt, and the reason he supports the federal budget plan put forward by Rep. Paul Ryan. But he was interrupted at every turn by shouts from his critics, including members of progressive groups such as Moveon.org and Organize Now.

Boos and shouts of “liar” were mixed with angry accusations that Ryan’s plan to change Medicare would leave those now under 55 without health insurance in their retirement, calls to eliminate the tax cuts first put in place by former President Bush and the need to raise corporate taxes rather than cut entitlement programs.

When one man who said he was a veteran yelled that he wanted to know why Webster was cutting Medicare and veterans’ benefits, his answer came from the audience instead.

“We can’t afford it, you moron!” a red-faced man screamed.

More here

Thanks Fred

questionable ivy league admittance standards?

Salon: Donald Trump added a blatantly race-baiting component to his already racially charged campaign against Barack Obama’s Americanness this week when he claimed – based on things he’s “heard” – that Obama was a “terrible student” who got into Columbia and then Harvard based solely on affirmative action:

“How does a bad student go to Columbia and then to Harvard? I’m thinking about it, I’m certainly looking into it. Let him show his records,” he said, without providing backup for his claim. Trump added, “I have friends who have smart sons with great marks, great boards, great everything and they can’t get into Harvard.”

Leaving aside the fact that Obama, who went on to graduate Harvard Law magna cum laude, seems like he was probably a very good student, Mr. Trump might need a refresher course in how unqualified people actually do manage to get into the prestigious Ivy League Universities.

Let us take, as an example, the story of a student so obviously unqualified, so transparently unworthy, that a book was written about what his admittance into Harvard said about the sorry behavior of supposedly elite colleges.

That student was Donald Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner.

Kushner’s father, real estate developer Charles Kushner, bought Jared his Harvard acceptance. It cost him $2.5 million. (Kushner later went to jail for tax evasion and witness tampering, so it was also, technically, dirty money that bought Trump’s daughter’s husband’s entry into the Ivy League.)

More here

heart & sole

President Barack Obama is briefed by Richard Reed, Special Assistant to the President for Homeland Security and Senior Director for Resilience Policy, in the Oval Office, April 26, before a phone call with Arkansas Governor Mike Beebe to discuss tornado damage in that state. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

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Hey, thanks so much to the Teabagger who just tried to leave a comment about the “n****r” putting his feet on the sacred Oval Office desk. I know, imagine a President doing something as outrageous as that!

Oh noes, look here

‘code-word fears’

GOPolitico: Rev. Jesse Jackson told POLITICO today that the birther movement is part of a larger pattern of rollbacks against civil rights and and an attack on the legitimacy of the nation’s first African-American president..

“Any discussion of his birthplace is a code word,” said Jackson. “It calls upon ancient racial fears. Trump has trumpeted this cause. For him to go down this low is a bit surprising,” Jackson said, making explicit what many black leaders have suggested. “He is now tapping into code-word fears that go far beyond a rational discourse.”

Jackson also pointed to a broader pattern of hostility towards civil rights – pointing to a number of events, including the battle over public sector unions, a transportation policy that he says disadvantages poor minority city dwellers, and a renewed interest in policies like voter ID.

“I’m saying there’s a pattern here. It’s not just name calling of Barack. We’ll win that battle,” said Jackson ‘There is a retreat – a pronounced, documented retreat on civil rights enforcement.”

“This is the most personal attacks on any president ever,” said Jackson. “Whose personal religion has ever been challenged before? That has strong racial overtones.”

talk tv

WXYZ Detroit

WTKR Hampton Roads

The President also did interviews with WSB Atlanta and WKYC Cleveland today

tour of duty

a quite eggcellent day

true!

debunked……yet again.

Ezra Klein makes a good point on this: “It’s great that CNN has conclusively debunked the birther nonsense yet again, but really, what’s the point of fact-checking someone (Donald Trump) who has adopted a deliberate strategy of trafficking in lies in order to attract media attention, with no concern about whether it’s positive or negative?”

Still, credit to Anderson Cooper for showing these people up for what they are yet again: racist excrement.

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Alex Pareene (Salon): CNN has finally found something it can take a stand against ….the man who drove CNN over the edge into something resembling activist journalism is, of course, Donald Trump.

…Anderson Cooper devoted the entirety of “Anderson Cooper 360°” last night to Trump, disguised as a special on “definitively debunking” birtherism, a conspiracy theory that has been definitively debunked a thousand times since 2008.

…Breaking: Hawaiian officials who have seen relevant documents confirm that the president was born in Hawaii! This has been known for years. The real meat of the special is a testy interview with, yes, Donald Trump, the television star…..

….But I am still proud of CNN, for finally finding some backbone and having the bravery to state that Donald Trump is a buffoon, without also noting, for balance, that some people think Donald Trump is not a buffoon. Baby steps.

More here