Vice President Joe Biden Tells ISIS That America Will Follow Them To The ‘Gates Of Hell’

At an event in Portsmouth, New Hampshire on Wednesday, Vice President Joe Biden delivered an emotionally charged message regarding the recent deaths of journalists Steven Sotloff and Jim Foley at the hands of ISIS. Biden told the gathered crowd that America will follow the perpetrators of the murders of Sotloff and Foley “to the gates of hell to bring them to justice.” The Vice President brought up 9/11 and the Boston Marathon bombing as instances where the country’s resolve was strong and that we did not stop until the terrorists that caused these acts were brought to justice.

During his speech, Biden said the following:

They somehow think this is going to lessen our resolve, frighten us, intimidate us. But, if they think the American people are going to be intimidated, they don’t know us very well. We came back after 9/11. We dusted ourselves off and we made sure Osama Bin Laden would never, ever again threaten the American people. We came back ‘Boston Strong’ blaming no one but resolved to be certain that this didn’t happen again.

Today, America may be grieving — still grieving from Jim Foley, a native New Hampshire as I said of Rochester — but the American people are so much stronger, so much more resolved than any enemy can fully understand. As a nation, we’re united. And when people harm Americans, we don’t retreat. We don’t forget. We take care of those who are grieving. And when that’s finished, they should know, we will follow them to the gates of hell until they are brought to justice! Because hell is where they will reside! Hell is where they will reside!

These strong words from Biden came on the heels of comments from President Obama earlier in the day during a press conference in Estonia. After verifying the authenticity of the video showing an ISIS militant murdering Sotloff, the President made the following comment:

“We will not be intimidated. Their horrific acts only unite us as a country and stiffen our resolve to take the fight against these terrorists. And those who make the mistake of harming Americans will learn that we will not forget, and that our reach is long and that justice will be served.”

Secretary of State John Kerry also released a statement on Wednesday regarding the killing of Steven Sotloff. The Secretary praised Sotloff’s reporting and the man himself. At the same time, he pointed out that the terrorists responsible for the murders of Sotloff and Foley will be held accountable.

Barbarity, sadly, isn’t new to our world. Neither is evil. We’ve taken the fight to it before, and we’re taking the fight to it today. When terrorists anywhere around the world have murdered our citizens, the United States held them accountable, no matter how long it took. And those who have murdered James Foley and Steven Sotloff in Syria should know that the United States will hold them accountable too, no matter how long it takes.

It is apparent that the current administration is taking the actions of ISIS very seriously. While those who perpetrated these heinous acts will be brought to justice, the White House will still be extremely cautious about getting the nation involved in a long-term military conflict halfway around the globe. They are well aware that ISIS is using these actions to push the United States into an emotionally charged decision and engage in a multi-front war in the Middle East. Hopefully, the majority of lawmakers in Washington, will offer support to the President surrounding the very tough decisions that lay in front of him over the coming days and weeks.

ISIL Will Continue its Terror Campaign Until the World Says Enough! And Means it

So we’ve got this group in the Middle East kidnapping and enslaving people, holding foreigners for ransom, and generally getting rich off the misery of others, all in the name of god. We’ve seen this before in history. We’ve seen it many times. And it is terrifying.

Perhaps not since the Assyrians has the world seen a gang of thugs so adept at spreading terror among its enemies. The old Assassins of 11th century fame have nothing on these guys. They make al-Qaeda seem Pikers in comparison.

There is an art to spreading terror: For the Assyrians it was impalement, a spike up the fundament. The Romans liked to crucify. The French revolutionaries spread terror with Madam Guillotine. But ISIL prefers messy beheadings with a combat knife. These are people who have seen twerking and found its exact opposite.

For centuries, the “Barbary Pirates,” so-called because they operated out of the area known to Europeans as the Barbary Coast after its indigenous Berbers, did the same, only on sea rather than on land.

The Islamic State (ISIL/ISIS) claims to have re-established the Caliphate, but the Barbary Pirates had as their nominal suzerain the Caliph in Constantinople himself. And they raided far and wide, even as far as Iceland.

We rightly lament the loss of the few Westerners killed or captured by the Islamic State, but Wikipedia informs us that, “Historian Robert C. Davis estimated that between 1530 and 1780 1-1.25 million Europeans were captured and taken as slaves to North Africa, principally Algiers, Tunis, and Tripoli, but also Constantinople and Salé.”

Imagine that today, in the age of the world-wide media, where the loss of even one innocent Westerner creates outrage.

The long horror of the Barbary Pirates was not stilled without violence. When the West could take no more, it struck back. The United States struck back. It was the activities of the Barbary Pirates which led to the establishment of the U.S. Navy, six frigates funded to face down the “Algerian corsairs.”. But meanwhile, like everyone else, the new country paid ransom.

ISIL demands millions for the release of hostages and again, this is nothing new. Michael B. Orem tells us that,

[O]n September 5, 1795, America signed a Treaty of Amity and Friendship with Algiers. In return for releasing American prisoners, the Algerian ruler would receive a long list of gifts — “25 chests of tea of 4 different qualities…6 Quintal of loaf sugar refined…Some elegant penknives. Some small guilt thimbles, scissor cases…a few shawls, with roses curiously wrought in them….” worth more than $650,000. Worse than that, though, the U.S. also agreed to provide Algiers with cannons, gunpowder and a 36-gun made-in-America warship — in essence, the very tools of piracy.

The sums paid were staggering. He goes on to tell us that,

The other regencies caught on, and soon Tunis and Tripoli had extracted similar concessions — so many, in fact, that by 1800, the United States was paying out 20% of all its federal revenues to North Africa.

The European powers fought back, as America ultimately did. When, in the wake of the beheading of journalist James Foley, President Barack Obama said, “The United States of America will continue to do what we must to protect our people. We will be vigilant and we will be relentless,” he was only repeating what Americans had said about the Barbary Pirates two centuries before.

From Malta to Spain to France and England, Western fleets shelled Algiers in the old-fashioned equivalent to air strikes, forcing concessions and peace. Two actual wars were fought, the First Barbary War in 1801 and the Second in 1815. Finally, France conquered Algiers in 1830, rooting out the pirates at their source, as Pompey once did the Cilician pirates of Asia Minor.

The point of all this is the lesson learned by Rome and by other states since, that the bad guys do not simply go away. You have to make them go away. Paying them ransoms may save the few or even the many, may put off the inevitable for a time, but in the end, ransoms only encourages more kidnappings.

President Obama said, “People like this [ISIL] ultimately fail,” and he is right that “They fail, because the future is won by those who build and not destroy,” but they don’t fail without being destroyed themselves.

The Barbary Pirates persisted in their activities until destroyed by European powers unwilling any longer to put up with what we would today call their terroristic activities. The Islamic State, unless too firmly grounded in a cult of personality around Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi and his Rolex, will also likely persist until somebody gets weary enough of their terroristic activities to forcibly silence them.

President Obama has said groups like ISIL have “no place in the 21st century,” but they will have a place until somebody takes that place from them. Kind words will no more suffice than ransoms. There are some problems diplomacy cannot solve. It could not solve the Barbary Pirates and it will not solve the Islamic State.

Whether it is ultimately the United States itself, or a coalition of Western powers or perhaps the Islamic countries threatened by the so-called Caliphate, ISIL will be taken down by force.

As the example of the Assyrian Empire proves, a power subsisting on terror rather than on nation-building, will ultimately fall to the neighbors it has terrorized. ISIL has enemies aplenty. What it lacks is an enemy stronger than it, able and willing to shell them into submission, a task which, as history again proves, requires boots on the ground.

The shrub’s misguided policy of plundering Iraq to make he and his repugican friends rich, is responsible for the creation of conditions in that country and the rise of ISIL. If America is too war-weary now to contemplate striking ISIL at its source, it is also thanks to the shrub fighting a 10-year-war that need not have been fought. Now, when there is a need for war, the country has no will to fight it.

Obama gets the blame in the media, but it is not Obama who is to blame. He’s merely the guy who inherited the Middle East the shrub destroyed. The shrub gave us one war during his presidency and has condemned us to fight another in the echoes of his failure.

Now ISIL is the world’s problem. The United States will not, because it cannot, act alone. And ISIL will continue its campaign of terror until the rest of the world says “Enough” and, as it did with the Barbary Pirates, means it. And the American people will have to decide if they are more tired of war or of the terrorists of ISIL.

Random Photos

The Prison Special: One Last Push for Women's Suffrage

In 1919, things weren’t looking good for women’s suffrage. Although the House had passed the Nineteenth Amendment, the Senate had voted it down. Politicians were tired of the suffragists, and President Wilson wasn’t helping matters. Also, activists were being arrested left and right and were abused in prison. What to do? Organize a train ride!

They called it "Democracy Limited," but the public immediately dubbed the three-week suffrage tour of February 1919 "The Prison Special." Its purpose? Make one last push for suffrage by harnessing the power of personal narrative. Its focus? The inhumane prison sentences served by so many women who fought for the vote.

The concept was relatively simple: the tour's slogan was "From Prison to People" and the train traveled the nation, packed with 26 members of the National Women's Party. When they arrived at their destination, they would don uniforms like the ones they were forced to wear at the Occoquan Workhouse, the prison that would eventually house over 150 suffragists. Alice Paul was force-fed egg yolks and placed in solitary confinement in a psychiatric ward. There, women were beaten, dragged, kicked, and even knocked unconscious by guards unsympathetic to the crowds. Now the same women brought their tales of incarceration and unsanitary, shocking conditions to the public, concluding with passionate pleas for President Wilson to act at last.

Not everyone greeted the tour with open arms, but it ended up helping to push the Amendment through the Senate. Read the story of the Hail Mary move that served as the end of the campaign for the right for women to vote, at mental_floss.

The 60 Weirdest Royal Epithets from History

It's an established tradition that noblemen often get epithets--an adjective that describes that person's defining characteristic. But not every nobleman can be Charles the Great, Philip the Bold, or Suleiman the Magnificent. Some aristocrats through history have received less flattering nicknames. Paul Anthony Jones of Mental Floss has rounded up 60 odd or insulting epithets. Here are a few samples:

5. ALFONSO THE SLOBBERER was King of Galicia from 1188-1230. He apparently earned his nickname because he foamed at the mouth when enraged. […]
9. ARCHIBALD THE LOSER was the son of Archibald the Grim, who served as 4th Earl of Douglas from his father’s death until his own death in battle in France in 1424. […]
18. CHILDERIC THE IDIOT was King of the Franks from 743-751. No one is quite sure what he did to earn the epithet “the Idiot,” but seeing as he ended his reign by being deposed and consigned to a monastery, it may be nothing more than an attempt by his successors to tarnish his name. […]
21. CONSTANTINE THE DUNG-NAMED was the nickname of Constantine V, the Byzantine Emperor from 741-55. The Latin epithet Copronymus, “dung-named,” was unsurprisingly bestowed on him by his many enemies. […]
25. EYSTEIN THE FART, Eystein Halfdansson, was an 8th century king of Norway. The epithet “Fart” is usually taken to mean that he was a busybody or loudmouth, although no definitive explanation has yet been found. […]
33. HALFDAN THE BAD ENTERTAINER, also known as King Halfdan the Mild, was the son of Eystein the Fart. His nickname apparently refers to his habit of paying his soldiers generously, but providing them with little food or entertainment. […]
35. HENRY THE IMPOTENT was king of Castile from 1454-74. His nickname probably refers to his disastrously ineffectual reign, although some accounts have since suggested that Henry was genuinely impotent, if not secretly homosexual.
36. IVAYLO THE CABBAGE, also known as “Ivaylo the Swineherd,” was a Bulgarian farmer who led a peasants’ revolt in the late 13th century and proclaimed himself Emperor of Bulgaria in 1278. He was overthrown the following year and assassinated. […]
45. LOUIS THE UNAVOIDABLE was the nickname of Louis XVIII of France, who spent much of his reign in the late 1700s and early 1800s either in prison or in exile during the French Revolution. When Napoleon was finally defeated in 1815, Louis was the “unavoidable” choice to return and reclaim the throne.

How Batista From Guardians of the Galaxy Inspired an Autistic Child

Sometimes, the web is full of irreverence and silliness, which can be a good thing. But sometimes, in some far flung corner of the interwebz, you will find a story that feeds your soul a bit. For me today, this was that story. Essentially, a girl who has a brother who is borderline Autistic went to see Gaurdians of the Galaxy. For those who don't know, the Drax character cannot understand metaphors or sarcasm and seems to take everything literally. The girl noticed her little brother instantly relating to Drax as he never had with an on-screen character before:
I took my little brother (who falls on the autism spectrum) to see Guardians of the Galaxy and after this scene he lit up like a Christmas tree and screamed “He’s like me! He can’t do metaphors!” And for the rest of the film my brother stared at Drax in a state of rapture.
So for the last 6 days I have heard my brother repeatedly quote all of the Drax lines from the movie verbatim (one of his talents), begin studying vocabulary test words, and tell everyone he knows that people with autism can also be superheroes.
You can click the link below the read the full story, and I suggest you do. Pretty sure this might be the best thing that has ever come out of a summer movie with a talking raccoon (no insult to this fun and enjoyable film, but who knew it could have such an important impact?).
Well played. A superhero who can make a kid who feels ostracized feel normal? Now that, to me, defines superhero.

MerryWeatherBlue

Gates and Gun Control

Bill Gates Donates $1 Million to Gun Control

Bill Gates just threw a million dollars behind a new legal measure in Washington State aimed at tighter gun control. Trace explains the details of the bill Gates is backing. 

Courage in the Workplace

Workplace courage: more process than personality

Unlike the cowardly lion in the book The Wonderful Wizard […]

Ziggy

Fingers and Toes: Nails that is

Why Do Fingernails Grow Faster Than Toenails?

In a growth race between toenails and fingernails, fingers win every time. Why would evolution make that happen?

Fruity Allergies

Girl's Allergic Reaction Tied to Antibiotics in Pie

The new study is the first to link an allergic reaction to antibiotics in fruit. 

Your House Stinks

Why Can't We Smell Our Own Homes?

Ever wonder why everything smells fine in your house until you go away for awhile and then come back wondering, "Why does it stink in here?" You can thank your brain for that, Tara explains. 

Daily Comic Relief

40 Tremendous College Traditions

(YouTube link)

After Labor Day, the great exodus commences, in which college students make their way back to school from their various summer residences. In this week’s mental_floss video, John Green takes advantage of so many folks thinking of college to tell us about 40 traditions at different colleges and universities that freshmen must learn. These traditions give the student body a feeling of membership and solidarity that will last many years after graduation.

Back To School

Back to School B.C.E.

For children growing up in ancient Sparta, India or China, back to school had an entirely different meaning than it does today.

They Be Trippin'

Psychedelic Culture Tripped Circa 500 C.E.

Mind-altering substances were all the rage 1,500 years ago, at least among certain elite members of a South American society.

Better Identification of Viking Corpses Reveals: Half of the Warriors Were Female

Shieldmaidens are not a myth! A recent archaeological discovery has shattered the stereotype of exclusively male Viking warriors sailing out to war while their long-suffering wives wait at home with baby Vikings. (We knew it! We always knew it.) Plus, some other findings are challenging that whole “rape and pillage” thing, too.
Researchers at the University of Western Australia decided to revamp the way they studied Viking remains. Previously, researchers had misidentified skeletons as male simply because they were buried with their swords and shields. (Female remains were identified by their oval brooches, and not much else.) By studying osteological signs of gender within the bones themselves, researchers discovered that approximately half of the remains were actually female warriors, given a proper burial with their weapons.
It’s been so difficult for people to envision women’s historical contributions as solely getting married and dying in childbirth, but you can’t argue with numbers—and fifty/fifty is pretty damn good. The presence of female warriors also has researchers now wondering just how accurate the stereotypes of raping and pillaging actually are:

Women may have accompanied male Vikings in those early invasions of England, in much greater numbers than scholars earlier supposed, (Researcher) McLeod concludes. Rather than the ravaging rovers of legend, the Vikings arrived as marriage-minded colonists.

In many ways, this discovery is well-timed with the recent uproar over Thor becoming a title for both sexes instead of an exclusively male name. Fingers crossed this means that pop culture could start including more female warriors than just Sif and Lagertha (from The History Channel’s Vikings, above). Just so long as they’re not wearing boob plate armor.

Dry spell at Stonehenge reveals secret that has eluded archaeologists

Brown patches of grass left by short hosepipe lead to 'lightbulb moment' that may confirm monument was once a perfect circle

An orthophoto of Stonehenge taken from the air shows the brown patches of grass where stones may once have completed the circle. Photograph: English Heritage/Damian Grady

One of the many mysteries of Stonehenge may have been solved, not because of a scientific breakthrough or painstaking research, but after a maintenance team's hosepipe turned out to be a little short.
Archaeologists have long argued over whether the ancient monument was once a perfect circle or if it was always, as it is now, an incomplete ring.
When a hosepipe used to keep the grass green in hot spells failed to reach a broken part of the circle, unsightly brown patches began to appear. Custodian Tim Daw was fretting over the blemishes when he realized they matched the spots where stones would probably have stood if the monument had been a complete circle.
Daw said it was a "lightbulb moment". "I was standing on the public path looking at the grass near the stones and thinking we needed to find a longer hosepipe to get the parched patches to green up," he said.
"I remembered that the marks were where archaeologists had looked without success for signs that there had been stone holes. I called my colleague over and he saw them and realized their possible significance as well. Not being archaeologists, we called in the professionals.
"I am still amazed, and very pleased, that simply looking at something that tens of thousands of people had unwittingly seen, can reveal secrets that sophisticated machinery can't."
The professionals duly took charge. Aerial photographs were hurriedly commissioned before the rain could come and remove the brown patches, and the scorch marks on the western side of the Wiltshire site were mapped, and some of the brown patches indeed tallied with where stones would have stood if the circle were complete.
Other brown patches corresponded to recorded archaeological excavations, included trenches dug by the engineer William Gowland in 1901. That some of the patches matched the site of the trenches supports the theory that they indicate disturbed ground.
The patches were spotted last summer, but the conclusions have just been detailed in a report by Daw and other English Heritage staff published in the latest edition of the journal Antiquity. The report points out that, despite being one of the most intensively explored prehistoric monuments, Stonehenge continues to hold surprises. It also highlights the value of continually surveying the site from the ground and air.
Susan Greaney, senior properties historian for English Heritage, said the accidental discovery was "really significant" and added: "It shows us just how much we still have to learn about Stonehenge. It's great that people who know the site really well and look at it every day were able to spot these parch marks and recognize them for what they were."
Greaney said what might have happened to the missing stones remained a puzzle. They could have been removed and used as stone for local houses or even roads. But the lack of a decent-sized hosepipe means the idea that the circle was deliberately left incomplete can probably be discounted.
There are no plans to excavate beneath the brown marks, but English Heritage, which manages Stonehenge, may deliberately fail to water parts of the site next time there is a hot spell in case other mysteries can be solved.

Neanderthal Art

Could Cave Carving Be First Neanderthal Art?

Possibly the first known example of Neanderthal rock art has been discovered in a seaside cave on the Rock of Gibraltar, archaeologists say. 

Ocean Garbage Origins

Origins of Giant Ocean Garbage Patches Revealed

Studying how water moves gives scientists a better idea of where ocean debris is coming from and a new way of looking at oceans.

Infared Ebola

Ebola Crisis Prompts New Use For Infrared Cameras

New airport Ebola screening procedures in some countries include using infrared cameras to take body temperature. 

Face Mites

Tiny Mites Are Living on Your Face. Yes, Mites!

In what's likely to be unsettling news to, well, anyone, it turns out we have little mites making a living on our faces. They eat, sleep and even have sex in your pores. How did they get there, and what makes our faces such good homes? 

Mushroom Animals

New Mushroom-Shaped Animals Found in Deep Sea

Animals that look very similar to the mushrooms you find in salads and on pizza have been found living in the deep sea.

Animal Pictures

The Daily Drift

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Today in History

1260		At the Battle of Montaperto in Italy, the Tuscan Ghibellines, who support the emperor, defeat the Florentine Guelfs, who support papal power.
1479		After four years of war, Spain agrees to allow a Portuguese monopoly of trade along Africa's west coast and Portugal acknowledges Spain's rights in the Canary Islands.
1781		Los Angeles, first an Indian village Yangma, is founded by Spanish decree.
1787		Louis XVI of France recalls parliament.
1790		Jacques Necker is forced to resign as finance minister in France.
1804		USS Intrepid explodes while entering Tripoli harbor on a mission to destroy the enemy fleet there during the First Barbary War.
1820		Czar Alexander declares that Russian influence in North America extends as far south as Oregon and closes Alaskan waters to foreigners.
1862		Robert E. Lee's Confederate army invades Maryland, starting the Antietam Campaign.
1870		A republic is proclaimed in Paris and a government of national defense is formed.
1881		The Edison electric lighting system goes into operation as a generator serving 85 paying customers is switched on.
1886		Elusive Apache leader Geronimo surrenders to General Nelson A. Miles at Skeleton Canyon, Ariz.
1893		Beatrix Potter sends a note to her governess' son with the first drawing of Peter Rabbit, Cottontail and others. The Tale of Petter Rabbit is published eight years later.
1915		The U.S. military places Haiti under martial law to quell a rebellion in its capital Port-au-Prince.
1941		German submarine U-652 fires at the U.S. destroyer Greer off Iceland, beginning an undeclared shooting war.
1942		Soviet planes bomb Budapest in the war's first air raid on the Hungarian capital.
1943		Allied troops capture Lae-Salamaua, in New Guinea.
1944		British troops liberate Antwerp, Belgium.
1945		The American flag is raised on Wake Island after surrender ceremonies there.
1951		The first transcontinental television broadcast in America is carried by 94 stations.
1957		Arkansas governor Orval Faubus calls out the National Guard to bar African-American students from entering a Little Rock high school.
1967		Operation Swift begins as US Marines engage North Vietnamese Army troops in Que Son Valley.
1972		Mark Spitz becomes first Olympic competitor to win 7 medals during a single Olympics Games.
1975		Sinai II Agreement between Egypt and Israel pledges that conflicts between the two countries "shall not be resolved by military force but by peaceful means."
1998		Google founded by Stanford University students Larry Page and Sergey Brin.

Non Sequitur

"When it comes to human rights, the United States must practice at home what it preaches abroad."

The United Nations' Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination has recently concluded its 85th Session during which time it considered seven state reports, including one on the United States.

The report praised many progressive steps the U.S. has taken to ensure equality, including the termination of the National Security Entry-Exit Registration System, the adoption of the Fair Sentencing Act and the adoption of the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act.
However, the number of issues the report raises is pretty abominable. CERD expressed concern over the following problems:

• .Lack of a national human rights institution
• Persistent racial profiling and illegal surveillance
• Prevalence and under-reporting of racist hate speech and hate crimes
• Disparate impact of environmental pollution in low income and minority communities
• Restrictive voter identification laws leading to unequal right to vote
• Criminalization of homelessness when homeless people are disproportionately minorities
• Discrimination and segregation in housing
• De facto racial segregation in education
• Unequal right to health and access to health care
• High number of gun-related deaths and "Stand Your Ground" laws, which disproportionately affect members of racial and ethnic minorities
• Excessive use of force by law enforcement officials
• Increasingly militarized approach to immigration law enforcement
• Violence against women occurs disproportionately more frequently for women from racial/ethnic minorities
• Criminal justice system disproportionately arrests, incarcerates and subjects to harsher sentences people from racial/ethnic minorities
• Youth from racial/ethnic minorities are disproportionately prosecuted as adults, incarcerated in adult prisons, and sentenced to life without parole
• Non-citizens are arbitrarily detained in Guantanamo Bay without equal access to the criminal justice system, while at risk of being subjected to torture
• Unequal access to legal aid
• Lacking rights of indigenous peoples (the report lists numerous different concerns)
• Absence of a National Action Plan to combat racial discrimination

In a press conference convened Friday, CERD committee vice chairman Noureddine Amir highlighted the death of Ferguson teenager Michael Brown: "The excessive use of force by law enforcement officials against racial and ethnic minorities is an ongoing issue of concern and particularly in light of the shooting of Michael Brown. This is not an isolated event and illustrates a bigger problem in the United States, such as racial bias among law enforcement officials, the lack of proper implementation of rules and regulations governing the use of force, and the inadequacy of training and law enforcement officials."
In response to the UN's report, Jamil Dakwar of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) said, "When it comes to human rights, the United States must practice at home what it preaches abroad."

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5 False Founding Father Quotes That The repugican cabal Can’t Stop Falsely Quoting

by Randa Morris 

The repugican cabal misquotes the founding fathers so often it almost seems like there’s a deliberate agenda to rewrite history and misrepresent the historical figures that they claim to so greatly admire.
When you hear one person after another, after another, repeating the same few made up quotes, it almost seems as if the repugican cabal is testing the theory behind another falsely attributed quote:

“If you repeat a lie often enough, the people will come to believe it.”

That quote, which has often been attributed to Hitler’s propaganda minister, Joseph Goebbels, undoubtedly came from someone within Adolph Hitler’s administration. We know that the quote first originated in Nazi Germany. Yet, there’s no substantiated record that can accurately pinpoint its original author.
These five quotes have been repeated so many times in the past several years, and by so many different repugican cabal and tea party leaders, that many people have no idea that they are completely made up. Especially not your average repugican voters. They have been trained to accept without question every lie that comes out of the mouths of  wingnut politicians and shrieking heads, while rejecting all information that comes from outside of the bubble. Needless to say, fact checking is not a part of their information gathering routine.

1. “The government that governs least, governs best.”

The wingnuts have repeatedly and falsely attributed this quote to Thomas Jefferson. This false attribution has been circulated in memes on social media, repeated at political rallies, even spoken on the floor of federal and state houses across America, by wingnut frauds, dim wits and perpetual liars.
This is a real quote, but its author was not Thomas Jefferson. This quote is from the writings of Henry David Thoreau, beloved author, founder of the transcendental movement, founder of the modern day environmental movement, author of modern civil disobedience techniques, including those practiced by Martin Luther King and Gandhi. Thoreau was a devoted supporter of racial equality, so much so that he went to jail refusing to pay taxes in opposition to legalized slavery and war. Thoreau opposed materialism and all forms of waste. He also despised the capitalist system that the wingnuts worship with all its greedy little heart. He opposed religious dogma and embraced a form of religion that included only “the love of nature,” something wingnut 'christians' clearly do not approve of. The quote appears in Thoreau’s book “Civil Disobedience,” published in 1849.
Obviously the wingnuts changed the attribution, mainly so their uneducated base doesn’t figure out that the quote comes from the writings of someone who would despise everything that they stand for.
But then again, Jefferson would not embrace the modern wingnuts, any more than Thoreau.
Both of these men must roll over in their graves every time someone with the tiny intellect of Michelle Bachmann or Sarah Palin repeats this quote in an attempt to justify their political extremism. Clearly few repugicans have read anything written by either man.

2. “When the people fear the government, there is tyranny. When the government fears the people, there is liberty.”

Another quote falsely attributed to Thomas Jefferson, this false quote has been repeated over and over by all the wingnut rock stars, Michelle Bachmann, Christine O’Donnell, Tim Walberg, Michael Steele, Austin Scott, the list goes on and on.
This quote has also occasionally been attributed to Thomas Paine and at other times to Samuel Adams. The first time this quote was ever attributed to Jefferson  was in 1994. The book that attributed this quote to Jefferson, ‘It’s All In The Game; Butterflies, Mind Control — The Razor’s Edge,’ by Gyeorgos Ceres Hatton, is a typical wingnut fear mongering, conspiracy laden piece of hack journalism, full of erroneous quotes, paranoid fantasies and flat out lies.
The first time this quote appeared anywhere in print was in the ‘Barnhill – Tichenor Debate on Socialism‘, published by the Rip-Saw Publishing Company in 1914 (page 34). The author is not any of the founding fathers, but John Basil Barnhill, someone no-one has ever heard of. Of course if the wingnuts simply steal the quote from some dead, unknown person, then attributes it to some famous person, few people will ever be the wiser. By falsely attributing the quote to Jefferson, the repugican cabal hacks know they have a better chance of influencing their base and convincing the idiots that follow them that they really are doing ‘what the founders intended.’
If you want to do what the founders wanted you to do, you might try reading. Jefferson was an avid supporter of education.
As Thomas Jefferson actually did say, on May 6, 1810:

“no one more sincerely wishes the spread of information among mankind than I do, and none has greater confidence in it’s effect towards supporting free & good government.”

Or as he said on April 24, 1816:

“enlighten the people generally, and tyranny and oppressions of body & mind will vanish like evil spirits at the dawn of day.”

And on October 15, 1785:

“what are the objects of an useful American education? classical knowledge, modern languages & chiefly French, Spanish, & Italian; Mathematics; Natural philosophy; Natural History; Civil History; Ethics.”

Remember kids, tyranny and oppressions are the enemy of enlightenment and education.

3. “Most bad government is the result of too much government.”

Thomas Jefferson also did not say this. This quote has been circulated by repugican cabal hacks like Alan West and Joe Scarborough. West himself wrote an entire book that was so full of erroneous founding father quotes it made headlines for its stunning lack of historical accuracy. West’s book included four quotes that were falsely attributed to Jefferson, along with a list of quotes falsely attributed to other historical figures, including Abraham Lincoln, George Washington, John Adams, James Madison, Patrick Henry and a host of other figures from American history.
It seems to me that if the founding fathers would really support your totally irrational positions then you ought to be able to find some actual quotes to illustrate that. Why constantly make stuff up?

4. “The Constitution is not a tool for government to restrain the people. It’s a tool for people to restrain the government.”

This is a quote that the wingnuts have falsely attributed to Patrick Henry. It got its start on the internet in 2003. According to Patrick Henry biographer, Thomas Kidd of Baylor University in Texas, Patrick Henry never said this. When asked about the quote, Kidd summed up his feelings about the growing number of fake founding father quotes being disseminated on the internet by saying:

“If we admire these people, then I think we should represent what they actually said.”

I agree wholeheartedly. Nothing shows how little you actually respect the founders or value what they said quite like misquoting them time and time again.

5. “It cannot be emphasized too strongly or too often that this great nation was founded, not by religionists, but by christians; not on religions, but on the gospel of jesus christ!”

Again a quote attributed to Patrick Henry that is just a flat out fabrication. It first appeared in a 1950′s magazine article, which was a commentary on Henry’s christian faith. It’s been falsely attributed to Patrick Henry by such  wingnut blow-hards as David R. Barton (who retracted it later) and Newt Gingrich (who was content to allow the false attribution to go unchecked.)
Kidd has a new article out which does a good job of debunking more false quotes which have been attributed to Patrick Henry, on Huffington Post.
Whenever you come across a quote on the internet, before you share it, verify it. If the quote does not come with a reference to a particular date or publication, that’s generally a first sign that it’s bogus. On the other hand, some false quotes come complete with false sources, such as the first quote above, attributed to Thomas Jefferson in ‘The Federalist.’ The Federalist was written by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison and John Jay. Jefferson had nothing to do with that work. Additionally, the quote does not appear in the Federalist at all.
The wingnuts count on the fact that their base is made up of very low information voters. They can get away with attributing an erroneous Thomas Jefferson quote to a source that wasn’t even written by Thomas Jefferson, confident that their non-reading, education hating base, will happily distribute the bad information far and wide, without ever questioning its authenticity.

Obama Comes Into Scott Walker’s Backyard and Drills repugicans For Opposing Everything

President Obama went into Scott Walker’s backyard in Milwaukee, Wisconsin and called out repugicans for their failed top-down economic policies, and ripped congressional repugicans for saying no to everything.

Video:

At Laborfest in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, President Obama said,

Most of the policies I’m talking about have two things in common. They’re going to help more families get ahead, and the repugicans who run our Congress oppose almost all of them…They oppose almost everything. I’m not making that up. I’m just telling the truth. It’s just the facts. In fact, they oppose stuff they used to be for. No, it’s true. I mean, they used to be for building roads, and bridges, and stuff. Now suddenly, no we can’t build roads and bridges. Well, why not? Because you proposed it.

I am just telling the truth. The sky is blue today. Milwaukee brats are delicious. The Brewers are tied for first place, and repugicans in Congress love to say no. Those are just facts. The facts of life. They say no to everything. If we had a Congress that cared about policies that actually helped working people, I promise you we could everything done that we talked about doing. But until we have that Congress, it’s up to us to fight for those policies.

Many of the policies that President Obama talked about in Wisconsin are things that repugican Scott Walker has opposed. The president wasn’t getting involved in the governor’s race, but the similarities between what repugicans in Congress believe and what Walker has done in Wisconsin are unavoidable. Scott Walker implemented the top down Koch philosophy. He tried to bust the public sector unions, and he promised that jobs would come if taxes were cut for the wealthy and corporations.

Walker’s term as governor has been an economic disaster for Wisconsin. Instead of creating the 250,000 new jobs that he promised, Walker’s tax cuts have led to negative job growth. The battle ideological battle in Wisconsin mirrors what is going on in our divided federal government.

The repugicans are saying no to things that work. They continue to oppose anything that could grow the economy and create jobs. The fairy tale that tax cuts for the rich will bring economic prosperity for all has been disproved again.

The repugicans have spent the last six years saying no to President Obama and policies that will grow the economy. This November will be the voters’ chance to say no to them.

Democrats Remind Voters What It Means When repugicans Make Promises: Nothing

As repugicans threaten and promise a government shutdown on one hand and deny it on the other, Democrats are reminding voters of similar broken repugican promises last year.…

As repugicans teeter drunkenly toward yet another government shutdown, Democrats are on the warpath.

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee is taking this moment to remind everyone of what the repugicans were saying last year at this time. You know, right before they shut down the government after promising they would not shutdown the government.

The repugicans weren’t going to shut down the government last year because it would hurt people:

Mark Meadows:  “Leadership has a concern, as do I—they don’t want side effects that would hurt people, and a government shutdown could do that.” [Weekly Standard, 9/02/13]

But then they did shutdown the government, knowingly hurting people.

Currently, Mitch McConnell (r-KY) is making shutdown promises if repugicans win the Senate, in what seems like a rather try-hard effort to attract the crazies. McConnell is promising to force the President to do the Koch’s agenda, but even if repugicans win the Senate, McConnell can’t force the President to do anything. The repugican  has even threatened to withhold government funding over the President’s new EPA rules. Apparently nothing gets a repugican down like cutting down on toxins.

Steven King (r-IA) is making public threats to shutdown the government again, because the tea party is absolutely addicted to anarchistic chaos. Even an election year can’t stop the crazy. This is King’s “solution” to President Obama using his authority as President to issue an executive order on immigration, an act Obama is only considering taking because House repugicans are so inept that they haven’t managed to actually address the immigration issue in a realistic way that the Senate would consider.

King thinks that the President signing the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) is cause for his impeachment, which just goes to show you that King doesn’t know much about government. But you probably already sorted that one out.

This is not a winning strategy for the repugican cabal. The repugicans’ “tattered” public image, in part from last year’s shutdown, might cost them House seats. The repugicans should have been able to gain 25 seats; they aimed for 11, but it looks like they might only pick up 5. They can’t raise any real cash (even from their own members) and the big money left them for the big power in the Senate.

Democrats have a whole list of broken repugican promises from last year that sound a whole heck of a lot like the promises being made this year:

Glenn Thompson: “U.S. Rep. Glenn Thompson, a former health-care executive, has made it clear that he is no fan of the Affordable Care Act. But Thompson does not think that shutting down the government, or denying funding for the law to halt its implementation, is the way to go.” [Erie Times-News, 9/01/13]

Steve Womack: “Steve Womack, who represents repugican-heavy northwest Arkansas, has also warned colleagues of the political fallout they’d likely suffer over a standoff that he says would certainly trigger a government shutdown. Womack, who was elected in 2010, noted the backlash the repugican cabal faced over partial shutdowns in 1995 and 1996. ‘To me, the risks are not worth the gamble, the gamble being that we somehow cause the Senate to have this epiphany and the president to have this epiphany,’ Womack said.” [Associated Press, 9/01/13]

Larry Bucshon: “Am I in favor of a government shutdown? Absolutely not.” [Tribune Star, 9/01/13

Rodney Davis: "At a Springfield appearance last week, Davis said a shutdown would go against his reason for seeking office. 'I came to Congress to govern,' he said." [State Journal-Register, 8/29/13]

Steve Scalise: “Scalise says he doesn’t want to see government shut down.” [The Advocate, 8/28/13]

Tom Latham:  “I am certainly not for any kind of government shutdown for any reason.” [Des Moines Register, 8/28/13]

Martha Roby: “She said she supports the defunding of the Affordable Care Act, but doesn’t believe repugicans should shut down the government in their attempt to repeal the law. ‘I am not for it (shutdown).’” [Dothan Eagle, 8/27/13]

Bank on that! The repugicans were against a government shutdown last year. No way that was going to happen. After all, they came to Congress to “govern”.

But then that didn’t happen. Actually, repugicans presided over the Do-Nothingest House on record, which is sort of like governing only without any of the responsibilities.

The repugicans are headed for another disaster if they shutdown the government. They know a government shutdown is not responsible, would harm people and would harm their party, but they’re high on hate. So high, that they just might be setting themselves up for the ultimate self-sabotage in 2016.

What does it mean when repugicans make promises? Nothing. Where are the jobs? Exactly.

Bachmann 2012 state campaign chair pleads guilty on obstruction of justice charge

Oops, did we do that?

Former Iowa state Senator Kent Sorenson, who was Michele Bachmann's Iowa state campaign chair before abruptly and very publicly switching loyalties to Ron Paul, has pleaded guilty over charges that he solicited and got secret payments from the Bachmann campaign in exchange for his support.
In the plea agreement, Sorenson admitted receiving and lying about monthly payments of roughly $8,000 from October to December 2011, when he was still named Bachmann's state chairman.
His resignation came just hours after Mark Weinhardt, a special prosecutor asked to investigate whether Sorenson had broken Iowa Senate rules, released a report saying it was "manifestly clear" Sorenson negotiated payments in 2011 in exchange for his work as Bachmann's Iowa campaign chair.
Sorenson pleaded guilty to obstruction of justice and to "causing a campaign to falsely report expenditures."

More

Study Blows The Lid Off The repugican cabal’s Big Lie By Revealing Citizens United Helps repugicans 'Win'

According to a new study, Citizens United is helping repugicans 'win' state legislative elections by increasing their likelihood of victory.

The Washington Post reported on the study,

The advantage isn’t large, but it is statistically significant: The researchers found the ruling, in Citizens United v. FEC, was associated with a six percentage-point increase in the likelihood that a repugican candidate would 'win' a state legislative race.

And in six of the most affected states — Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, North Carolina, Ohio and Tennessee — the probability that a repuhican would be 'elected' to a state legislative seat increased by 10 percentage points or more.

In five other states — Colorado, Iowa, Texas, Wisconsin and Wyoming — repugican candidates were seven percentage points more likely to 'win'.

The findings of the study are significant because it debunks the claim of repugicans that Citizens United is not influencing the outcomes of elections. State legislative races are fertile ground for wingnut big spenders because state legislatures have a big influence on policy, and they draw the congressional district maps every ten years.

The wave of voter suppression and anti-choice legislation is coming from repugican run state legislatures that were backed by Citizens United money. The movement to destroy public sector unions is being pushed by the unlimited dark money that was legalized in the Citizens United decision.

The model for what the Koch brothers and other wingnut billionaires and cabals want to do to the federal government can be found in state legislatures all across the country. The repugicans and their billionaires haven’t figured out how to make Citizens United money work in Senate and presidential elections yet, but they are working on it.

The repugican claim that the billionaire dollars are just free speech is not true. The millions of ad dollars spent by the wingnut interests in state legislative elections pay immediate dividends. The flood of negative ads gives repugicans a substantial advantage in elections where the Democratic candidate is underfunded and largely unknown.

The threat to our elections and representative democracy is real, and this study shows why repealing Citizens United should be a top priority for Americans who wants their government back.