Alaska collects its first pot tax.

Courtesy of ADN: 

The state of Alaska has received its batch of cannabis tax revenue from the first full month of retail marijuana sales. 

In November, seven marijuana cultivators paid $81,100 to the Alaska Department of Revenue's Tax Division, division director Ken Alper wrote in an email. 

About 98 pounds of marijuana bud and 10 pounds of trim — the leaves and stems — were sold wholesale, Alper wrote. Under Alaska law, cultivators pay the state's tax. Bud is taxed at $50 per ounce, and other parts of the plant, like the stems and leaves, are taxed at $15 per ounce. 

Most of the taxes were paid in cash, and a few were paid with check, Alper wrote.

$81,100 may seem like a fairly paltry sum at this point, but remember that is ONLY with five stores operating in the entire state, and not all of them were open the entire month of November.

There are now three more stores open, with one of them in Anchorage, so I would be willing to bet that the next time the state collects taxes it will be substantially larger. (Colorado brought in 70 million in one year alone.)

I of course don't think that marijuana will ever bring in the tax revenues provided by the oil companies, but at least it is a steady source of tax income that does not require ripping the shit out of the wilderness.

So there's that.

The New York Times records the final, frantic, days of the Donald Trump campaign.

Here are a few of the highlights from the New York Times piece.

Trump's state of mind:

He requires constant assurance that his candidacy is on track. “Look at that crowd!” he exclaimed a few days ago as he flew across Florida, turning to his young press secretary as a TV tuned to Fox News showed images of what he claimed were thousands of people waiting for him on the ground below. 

And he is struggling to suppress his bottomless need for attention.

.....

In the final days of the presidential campaign, Mr. Trump’s candidacy is a jarring split screen: the choreographed show of calm and confidence orchestrated by his staff, and the neediness and vulnerability of a once-boastful candidate now uncertain of victory. 

On the surface, there is the semblance of stability that is robbing Hillary Clinton of her most potent weapon: Mr. Trump’s self-sabotaging eruptions, which have repeatedly undermined his candidacy. Underneath that veneer, turbulence still reigns, making it difficult for him to overcome all of the obstacles blocking his path to the White House.

On how his staff is controlling him:

Aides to Mr. Trump have finally wrested away the Twitter account that he used to colorfully — and often counterproductively — savage his rivals.

....

Taking away Twitter turned out to be an essential move by his press team, which deprived him of a previously unfiltered channel for his aggressions. 

On Thursday, as his plane idled on the tarmac in Miami, Mr. Trump spotted Air Force One outside his window. As he glowered at the larger plane, he told Ms. Hicks, his spokeswoman, to jot down a proposed tweet about President Obama, who was campaigning nearby for Mrs. Clinton. 

“Why is he campaigning instead of creating jobs and fixing Obamacare?” Mr. Trump said. “Get back to work.” After some light editing — Ms. Hicks added “for the American people” at the end — she published it.

The article is filled with references to staff walking on eggshells around the famously brittle candidate, and doing their best to reshape bad news into more palatable positive information to keep him firmly in a state of denial.

They are essentially creating a fact free bubble within which Trump can remain calm, blissfully unaware of the damage that has been done to his campaign and the fact that any chance of victory is all a mirage.

Back on his plane, heading into the campaign’s final weekend, Mr. Trump reclined in his leather chair and refused to entertain any suggestions that his unorthodox, unpredictable and now uncertain campaign for the presidency would end in defeat. 

“I’m going to win,” he said.

 I think the day after this election Donald Trump's response is going to be reminiscent of a toddler who has just been told there is no more chocolate ice cream for dessert.

The only difference is that a toddler does not have millions of unstable supporters ready to take to the streets in protest, and with thoughts of civil war bubbling in their pea sized brains.

As always I urge you to read the entire article as it is a fascinating look into a megalomaniac's rapidly deteriorating political ambitions and the efforts that his sycophants are undertaking to keep him tranquil (Well as tranquil as Donald Trump ever gets.) and under control until election day.

Donald Trump tells his supporters to make sure to vote on November 28th.

.@realDonaldTrump tells supporters in Florida to vote on "November 28." https://t.co/0w9O26NerX

— ABC News Politics (@ABCPolitics) October 12, 2016

Now I would like to remind Trump supporters that the liberal mainstream media lies, and that the only truth that they should recognize is the truth according to Donald Trump.

So if they read that the actual date of the election is November the 8th, they simply need to discount that and chalk it up to liberal dirty tricks. 

I have been saying for awhile now that Hillary Clinton needs to win this election by a landslide. Here is what that might look like.

Courtesy of FiveThirtyEight:

In a normal presidential election, both candidates raise essentially unlimited money and staff their campaigns with hundreds of experienced professionals. In a normal presidential election, both candidates are good representatives of their party’s traditional values and therefore unite almost all their party’s voters behind them. In a normal presidential election, both candidates have years of experience running for office and deftly pivot away from controversies to exploit their opponents’ weaknesses. In a normal presidential election, both candidates target a broad enough range of demographic groups to have a viable chance of reaching 51 percent of the vote. This may not be a normal presidential election because while most of those things are true for Clinton, it’s not clear that any of them apply to Trump.

Now Nate Silver of FiveThirtyEight by no means suggests that Hillary WILL beat Donald Trump for certain, much less in a landslide victory.

But considering the circumstances  of this election that possibility does exist.

Here are a couple of examples of what we might see in November if indeed that is the case.

I like it. That's a good solid win.

However don't forget that Trump is going to cry foul and claim the election was stolen, so a much bigger margin would be preferable.

Oh yeah, that's much better.

Bill Clinton won Missouri twice and South Carolina seems to up for grabs this time as well. So this could be a very likely scenario.

But you know what? I would like to see an even bigger margin if possible.

Wow, Texas going blue, and Alaska!

Damn wouldn't that be something?

Let me just say how over the moon I would be if my state finally voted for Democratic nominee in a presidential election for the first time since 1964.

It's unlikely though right?

But if we turn out in significant numbers we might come close to seeing something like this come to fruition. Never hurts to try, right?

I don't know about the rest of you, but I have managed to convince at least five young people so far to register this year for the first time, and I can guarantee that none of them are going to vote for Trump.

If we all try to do that, well then just maybe dreams CAN come true.

Supporters of Bernie Sanders to hold "fart in" during Hillary Clinton's acceptance speech in Philadelphia.

Courtesy of Truthdig:  

Cheri Honkala, the leader of the Poor People’s Economic Human Rights Campaign, announced that her group was organizing the world’s largest “fart-in” to be held on July 28 at the Wells Fargo Center during Hillary Clinton’s anticipated acceptance speech for the Democratic nomination. 

“We will be holding a massive bean supper for Bernie Sanders delegates on American Street in my Kensington neighborhood on the afternoon of July 28,” she said. “We are setting up a Clintonville there, modeled on the Hoovervilles of the 1930s where the poor and unemployed built shanty towns. The Sanders delegates, their bellies full of beans, will be able to return to the Wells Fargo Center and greet the rhetorical flatulence of Hillary Clinton with the real thing.” 

Honkala said she would issue an invitation to Sanders to join the bean supper, which she is calling Beans for Hillary. She has asked donors to send cans of beans to 1301-W Porter Street, Philadelphia, Pa., 19148. 

“Any remaining beans will be served to the homeless, although we will, of course, be urging Sanders delegates to eat as much as possible,” Honkala said. 

Chris Hedges, an author and activist who is an ordained Presbyterian minister, will open the Beans for Hillary meal with a nondenominational prayer. 

“I am happy to bless a meal that will be put to such effective political use,” Hedges said.

In other news a number of Sanders' supporters are also arguing against the Sanders' campaign given their mailing list to the DNC:

Asked Friday if Sanders should hand over his donor list to the Democratic National Committee or the Clinton campaign, a panel moderated by “Democracy Now!” co-host Juan Gonzalez voiced their opposition. 

Dominique Scott, a 21-year-old University of Mississippi student who attended the summit Saturday, argued that Sanders shouldn’t hand over his list because "there are reasons why people didn’t support Clinton in the first place." 

"She has her own donors," Scott said. "She has plenty of money." 

For those who may not know, it is traditional for losing campaigns to hand over their donor lists to the party once their campaign comes to an end. It is how grownups do politics.

In yet other news there are a number of Bernie supporters who are also practicing how to get arrested at the convention in Philadelphia:

The big question this weekend in Chicago is how to turn the Bernie Sanders movement into a lasting element of Democratic politics. 

For some of the Sanders faithful on Saturday afternoon, the answer was locking arms on a civic center floor and struggling as “police officers” pulled them apart and “arrested” them.

Okay just for clarification are THESE the people whose trust Hillary is supposed to "earn" before November?

People magazine flatly states out loud that Bristol Palin's newest child was born in November.

So People magazine has up a rather innocuous article about some new photos that Bristol posted to Instagram featuring Tripp holding Sailor Grace.

It's all mostly fluff of course, until you get to this portion:

Palin welcomed the newest addition to her family in November, announcing the news in a sweet Instagram snap of herself and her bundle of joy. 

Wait, November? 

Well that is certainly not in line with the official Palin family version of events, now is it?

Of course we have long argued that the baby was born on November 4th, but the official, Palin family approved, version states that Sailor Grace was born on December 23, 2015.

So did People magazine make a boo boo? Or do they know something that we are not supposed to know?

Yes Bristol Palin we know you lied about when you gave birth to Sailor Grace Palin.

As has been pointed out multiple times here this is the image that showed up on Dakota Meyer's Facebook page on December 24th with the message: 

Best Christmas present ever!! I couldn't be more proud of this little blessing.

Now take a moment to blow that up as large as you can and take a very careful look at the tape attached to the IV on the bottom of what appears to be Bristol Palin's right hand.

Do you see the date?

If you have the tools and the know how you can also lighten it, like this.

Do you see it now?

Now there has been a VERY aggressive effort to suggest that this image is photoshopped. However if you can lighten it yourself you will see a very similar image as well.

So that would appear to indicate that Sailor Grace Palin was born NOT on December 24th, 2015 but instead on November 4th, 2015.

Which would reinforce the gossip saying that she had already given birth when she was posted baby bump selfies in late November....

And also help to explain why she did not appear at the final custody hearing on December 21st, and instead participated by telephone.

Which leaves open the question, why?

After all Bristol was first photographed being all chummy with Dakota back on January 25th.

I think most of us assume that once she met the guy she also probably....you know....MET the guy.

However Bristol was not formally engaged to Dakota until the middle of March, which means that even if she got pregnant that night her baby should not have been born until mid December.

So is THAT it? Is she so determined to cling to the last vestige of Christian purity that she would lie about the birth of her new baby simply to create the impression that she would not give up the goods until Dakota put a ring on it?

I have to admit I'm not really sure exactly why.

But I Do know that if you go ask Bristol on Instagram, that she will ask you if you are high, and then tell you to "go fuck yourself."

Well she certainly preserved that Christian purity thing didn't she? 

Chances are when it comes to terror tonight will have NOTHING on November the 4th.

Courtesy of Salon: 

Consider the remarkable number of races that remain tossups at this late stage. According to RealClearPolitics’ polling averages, less than three points separate the candidates in Alaska, North Carolina, New Hampshire, Kansas, Georgia, and Iowa. Moreover, based on pollsters’ recent history of overestimating GOP strength and underestimating Hispanic turnout, there’s reason to believe that the Colorado Senate race is even closer than the 3.6 point edge held by Republican Cory Gardner over Democratic Sen. Mark Udall suggests. The razor-thin margins that separate the candidates in these contests all but ensure that at a clear victor won’t emerge in at least one or two of them on election night. Accordingly, some candidates, including Iowa GOPer Joni Ernst and Republican Thom Tillis and Democratic Sen. Kay Hagan in North Carolina, are gearing up for weeks-long legal battles. 

Meanwhile, up in Alaska, where Democratic Sen. Mark Begich appears to be making something of a comeback, the state’s time lag and relatively slow vote-counting process mean that a winner probably won’t be declared until November 5 at the earliest. In 2008, Begich wasn’t proclaimed the winner of his race against Sen. Ted Stevens until two weeks after Election Day. Though polls suggested Begich was headed to an easy victory, he ultimately only won by a point. Observers expect the Democrat’s race against Republican Dan Sullivan this year to be similarly close. 

Add it all up, and it’s increasingly clear that political junkies hoping for a firm Senate result next Tuesday night will probably find themselves disappointed. At this point, the likeliest scenario for a definitive election night answer is a GOP wave. If Republican Scott Brown knocks off Sen. Jeanne Shaheen in New Hampshire early Tuesday night, for instance, that portends an excellent night for the Republicans and substantially increases the odds that the GOP will have 51 Senate seats in its column by the end of the night. Despite polls indicating a tightening race, however, Brown’s ceiling of support appears to be roughly 48 percent, and a new survey showing Shaheen with an eight point lead underscores the likelihood that she’ll ultimately hold on. 

So fasten your seat belts — it could be a bumpy few weeks.

You know I am a tried and true TV watcher, and I get really sucked into the reality of my favorite shows sometimes.

For instance I about jumped out of my skin when the Mountain suddenly gained the upper hand during his epic battle with Prince Oberyn Martell. (NSFW gore.) And I was on the edge of my seat during that Terminus Slaughter Scene. (More gore.) But I have no doubt that all of that will seem like nothing compared to my stress level while waiting for the votes to be counted and the elections to finally be decided.

There is just so much hanging in the balance here.

Part of me wants to have confidence in the voting public. but then the other part of me thinks "Fuck those people they never know what's good for them."  So you see I am conflicted.

It's an easy choice folks. Either we embrace the future, and cast our votes to move the country toward a brighter tomorrow. Or we allow fear and cowardice to rule the day and choose once again to give power to the party of "You have to be this white, and this male, to ride this ride."

How hard of a choice is that?

It finally took the Mississippi Supreme Court to tell Chris McDaniels that he lost the Republican primary election back in June.

"Hey, I don't know the meaning of the word 'lose.' No really, I don't."

Courtesy of TPM:  

Chris McDaniel's months-long quest to overturn the results of the Mississippi Republican Senate primary appeared to reach its end when the state supreme court rejected his legal challenge Friday. 

McDaniel lost to Sen. Thad Cochran (R-MS) in the June primary, but he has been using the legal system ever since to undermine the election. Allegations of voter fraud and illegal crossover voters have abounded, and the case eventually made its way to the Mississippi Supreme Court. 

But the court dismissed McDaniel's challenge on Friday, citing timing and political considerations, according to election law expert Rick Hasen's analysis. 

"Sometimes these rulings are a mercy killing. McDaniel’s evidence of fraud seemed weak, and his legal theories about crossover voting even weaker," Hasen wrote. "This timing ruling was a way for the courts to end the process without going through a long drawn out trial. Not that the courts would ever admit they were doing that, but I guess this was in the back of at least some Justices’ minds."

Okay I have seen some sore losers in my time, but this asshole takes the cake. 

I hate to say it but I really think that this is the plan for other GOP candidates in the general election as well.

I think that is why Joni Ernst of Iowa is already gathering information about recounts even though the election is still ten days away.

If I am right about this many of our elections may not be decided for weeks, or even months, after November 4th, and some of us could be in for a very long, expensive, and frustrating battle that undermines our democracy and leaves voters stuck in a kind of political purgatory.

Oh joy.

Guess what is coming back in November.

Is it just me or is anybody else watching current events and wonder, "Gee I wonder how they will handle that on the Newsroom?"

Sadly this is the final season so this will be the last time to wonder.

The premiere is November 9th, and personally I can hardly wait.

An explanation of marijuana laws in Alaska that even I find confusing.

When I first heard about Ballot Measure 2, my first thought was "Wait, isn't pot already legal up here?"

And the answer to that question is "Yes, kinda."

In fact in 1975, the Alaska Supreme Court ruled that residents have the right to grow and consume small amounts of marijuana in their homes. That was 39 years ago, when I was only fifteen.

However that is where things get a little complicated.

Here let the Washington Post clear things up a little for you:

As you might imagine, that ruling has faced some opposition over the years, and has been placed into legal limbo from time to time due to various ballot and legislative challenges. But Alaska courts have repeatedly and consistently upheld the notion that Constitutional privacy protections cover the personal possession, cultivation and use of marijuana in Alaska. 

"Alaskans can currently lawfully possess up to four ounces of marijuana in their homes for personal use [and cultivate up to 25 plants], but still risk prosecution under existing state and federal statutes," concludes University of Alaska law professor Jason Brandeis in an exhaustive history of Alaska marijuana law (which makes for a pretty interesting read if you're into such things). You could still technically be charged with marijuana possession if caught with less than four ounces in your home, but a court would essentially have to throw the charge out. 

This puts Alaska in a unique position: in some respects its marijuana laws are more liberal than those in the Netherlands, which outlaw personal cultivation completely. While all eyes are on Colorado and Washington to see how those experiments with legal marijuana turn out, Alaska, with 39 years of (admittedly complicated) legalization history is largely overlooked: you'd think that forces on both sides of the national marijuana debate would be looking to Alaska for answers and arguments. Why aren't they? 

Part of it is that Alaska is just weird. Extrapolating lessons from one state to the rest of the country is a fraught exercise in the best circumstances, and all the more so when the state in question is geographically remote and sparsely populated.

The article goes on to say that even Alaskans are often not sure of the laws up here. And I would certainly agree as I am one of those that was not up to speed.

So what the ballot measure does is essentially kind of make the whole thing much simpler to understand in the following ways: 

Includes a statement saying the initiative is not intended to diminish the rights established by the Alaska Supreme Court in the Ravin case, which allow citizens to possess a limited amount of marijuana in their homes. It also includes a statement saying the initiative will not diminish the rights of patients or caregivers under Alaska’s medical marijuana law. 

Makes possession of up to one ounce of marijuana and up to six plants (three flowering) legal for adults 21 years of age or older. It also allows adults to possess the marijuana produced by the plants on the premises where the plants are grown. 

Makes manufacture, sale and possession of marijuana accessories legal. 

Grants regulatory oversight to the Alcoholic Beverage Control Board, but gives the legislature the authority to create a new Marijuana Control Board at any time. The regulatory board has nine months to enact regulations, and applications shall be accepted one year after the effective date of the initiative. 

Creates the following marijuana establishments: marijuana retail stores, marijuana cultivation facilities, marijuana infused-product manufacturers, and marijuana testing facilities. 

Allows localities to ban marijuana establishments, but they cannot prohibit private possession and home cultivation. 

Establishes an excise tax of $50 per ounce on sales or transfers from a marijuana cultivation facility to a retail store or infused-product manufacturer. 

Consumption of marijuana in public will remain illegal and punishable by a $100 fine. 

The initiative does NOT change existing laws related to driving under the influence. 

Allows employers to maintain restrictions on marijuana use by employees. 

As I have mentioned before I am not someone who uses marijuana so I don't really have a dog in this fight.

However I really DO think that the whole country is moving toward legalization, and since Alaska is just about there anyway it makes no sense that we would let this opportunity pass without giving it our yes vote, as we all know full well that it will certainly be passed anyway in the next five years or so.

We might as well be ahead of the wave, instead of being left high and dry on the sand (Or perhaps more accurately un-high and dry on the sand.) while other states cross the finish line ahead of us.

The Palin curse slithers forth to claim its next victim.

Despite recent devastating defeats during primaries (But not Chris McDaniel dammit! He will never concede! Click here to see the latest lunacy from Mississippi.), Palin continues shake her head of snakes at the next victim endorsee which she has Facebook chosen to be humiliated in the next primary.

This unlucky bastard is Rob Manness of Louisiana. (You may remember him as the guy who fake wrestled an alligator in order to impress the ladies.)

From the Maniacal Medusa's Facebook page:

We’re in the Pacific northwest this week at a Sheeran family reunion. My cousins Trish and Jason Morgan are both proud Air Force vets, and we’re so proud of them along with our family members in all the other branches of service! The Morgans were singing the praises today of their former supervisor, Col. Rob Maness, who is currently running for the U.S. Senate in Louisiana. 

I’m very proud to have endorsed Col. Maness, who is busy this week rolling out positive ideas and solutions to get America back on the right track. Leave it to a military man, not a politician, to break the code to victory. Col. Maness released a 12-point contract with voters that they can hold him accountable for once in office. Rob’s driving his F-150 across Louisiana on a 50 Town Hall tour he’s calling "Solutions For Us” to discuss these ideas to restore our country.

By the way an F-150 is really just a truck, but I guess calling it a truck is simply not  butch enough for Palin.

The Louisiana election is not until freaking November, so this pimping is a little early. And if you guessed that Manness is floundering, and not seen as a serious contender, than you are so right.

In fact most of the speculation about elections focuses on the general, which everybody assumes will be between Senator Mary Landrieu and GOP challenger Bill Cassidy.

Palin did not waste this post simply on Mannes, she also decided to pimp her family a little.

Including giving a shout out to old cousin Jason's band, who you may remember was determined to be one of the worst bands in the country.

Here is Jason "JD" Morgan standing with Track, who is wearing the shirt that you would totally expect a Palin to wear, and who looks like he really needs to take his "warrior body" back to the gym.

Well I am a little bummed that we have to wait all the way until November for Palin's next loser to flame out and fall to earth.

But oh well, I have little doubt that in the meantime Palin, or somebody in her family, will do something outrageously stupid to keep all of us entertained.

P.S. Oops, I almost forgot.

Happy Resignation Day everybody!

It was five years ago today that Sarah Palin quit her job as Governor in order to pursue her career as a D-list motivational speaker, and to attack the President through ghostwritten Facebook posts.

He was the one fringe Tea party candidate that she didn't endorse, but now that Dave Brat has defeated Eric Cantor, Sarah Palin is desperate to bathe in his reflected glory.

Hey Mr. Brat, look over here! It's me Sarah!

From the political table scrap eater's Facebook page:

Congratulations to Dave Brat in Virginia on such an encouraging victory tonight! You shocked the political world and reminded D.C. that power lies with We the People and not any conventional party establishment. Dave Brat was massively outspent (more than 10 to 1) and laughed off by most, but he won the trust of voters the old fashioned way – one by one. Tonight’s victory showed the power of the local grassroots – the ones with boots on the ground who put up the campaign signs and go door to door to provide needed support for great candidates. Appreciation also goes to those with powerful microphones like Laura Ingraham, Mark Levin, Ann Coulter and others who recognized Dave’s strengths and had the guts to provide him a megaphone to reach concerned citizens. 

Grassroots commonsense conservatives can use this momentum to push good candidates like Chris McDaniel, T.W. Shannon, and Rob Maness to victory for America. These candidates are also being massively outspent by establishment candidates and they need our help and energy. 

Thank you, Virginia! On to November! 

- Sarah Palin

You know if you listen carefully you can almost hear her  kicking herself with her naughty monkey pumps and mumbling "Why didn't I endorse him, why?"

Palin has had such a lackluster performance in 2014, this victory must be eating away at her like the meth is eating away at her brain.

But hey Sarah it's not too late.

You could still endorse him for the general election and even show up on the campaign trail to "help" him against his little known Democratic opponent Jack Trammell.

After all this is a deeply red district so there is very little chance for the Democrat to pull off a victory. (Until you show up that is.)

Just imagine how sweet that victory will be in November, with Dave Brat receiving all of those accolades and you standing just off to the side with your wonky eyed grin, just basking in all that reflected glory almost as if it were all for you.

The prospects are high in Alaska for a Mark Begich victory in 2014. Get it, high.

Courtesy of the Daily Beast:  

If Alaska Democrat Mark Begich wins re-election to the U.S. Senate, he may have Republican state legislators to thank. 

Because the Alaska Legislature failed to gavel out by its statutory deadline last week, the November ballot has morphed into an electoral blockbuster. Three initiatives that were supposed to appear in the August primary have been bumped to the general election. So now, on top of deciding whether they want reelect a Democrat in a year where Republicans could seize control of Congress, Alaskans will be voting on initiatives to increase the minimum wage, to allow the sale of marijuana, and to make it harder to build an unpopular open-pit mine near the world’s largest salmon run. 

Any one of those initiatives could be seen as a gift to Democrats. Together, they could boost turnout by up to 5 percent, according to political scientist Caroline Tolbert. 

“The conditions are ripe for these ballot measure to potentially shape the races in 2014,” says Tolbert, a professor at the University of Iowa. 

While Alaska is uniquely difficult to survey, the polls that have been done on those initiatives show they’re popular in the state. They do especially well with younger and often more liberal voters.

I think the Republicans really crewed the pooch by allowing this marijuana vote to make it onto the ballot in November. Alaskans may be apathetic about a lot of things, but getting high is not one of them.

And with Colorado already seeing huge revenues and positive outcomes from their choice to legalize pot, Alaskans are definitely poised to join the party.

Add to that the votes on the minimum wage and the Pebble Mine, and this would appear to be a blowout for the progressives.

So with that in mind, IF this election goes another way for Begich, Alaskans MUST be ready to challenge the results and attempt to finally do away with the election fraud that has plagued this state for decades. 

Obama's November surprise: President's sanctions force shutdown of Iranian nuclear program. Update: Not so fast America!

Courtesy of Addicting Info:  

To the right-wing, Iran was the devil itself, something to bring up in order to pound the war drum. It did not matter that they could not find the nation on map, it was the enemy and they were marching to war. 

To Mitt Romney’s rhetoric, the sanctions were meaningless, that Iran was “spinning its centrifuges” to making a bomb. It was only a matter of time. Vote for Romney or else Iran would have a nuclear device virtually overnight. 

Today, the Iranian Foreign Policy and National Security Commission of Parliament Mohammad Hossein Asfari told the Iranian Student’s News Agency, the second largest news organization in the nation, that Iran was shutting down their centrifuges, suspending its entire nuclear program, as a symbol of “good will.” 

In the discussion, Mohammad admitted that the sanctions have been crippling to the Iranian people. With their trade effectively shut off, the exchange rate for their currency was slashed by over 80%, and continuing to plummet. The nation was facing crucial shortfalls of crucial goods, from wheat, flour, sugar, and red meat, as well as aluminum and steel. The sanctions have effectively turned Iran into an international pariah. 

Nuclear development is not something you can just suspend and restart at will. The materials degrade, decompose, and pollute themselves over time. Any successful nuclear program requires continuous active development. Once a program is shut down, in effect it will need to be restarted from scratch. Years of effort, gone. 

The Obama sanctions have restored balance to the region.

Well that takes care of that!

What else have you right wingers got?

Oh, are you still trying to make a mountain out of the Benghazi molehill?

Well good luck with that.

Update: Apparently the  Iranians did not like being portrayed as having caved under pressure and are now saying that ""Twenty percent uranium enrichment activities continue as before and no change has happened." (By the way uranium needs to be enriched to 90 percent in order to be used in a nuclear weapon.)

Interestingly enough the second article does NOT dispute the toll that sanctions have taken on the Iranian economy, and I still have to wonder if their government is not trying to find some way to negotiate some compromise with the US, especially since they seem to have pushed their diplomatically clumsy President aside and claim that it "never broke off talks with the West," while still saving face among their people and the rest of the Middle East.

By the way the Right Wing is spinning this supposedly new desire to talk as due to the Iranians fear of a Mitt Romney presidency. But I think if the Iranians have been paying any attention at all they surely realize that Romney's point of view about EVERYTHING changes with the direction of the wind.

Obama is the one that has been putting the squeeze on them, and HE is the one that has the patience of Job and the determination of a man who has systematically disabled Al-Qaeda until they are a mere shell of their former selves. If they are going to negotiate with anyone it is our current President, and NOT somebody who bullies them one day and flip flops the next.

Movie about assassination of Osama Bin Laden to be televised 48 hours before election day. Oh Republicans are not going to be happy about this!

Courtesy of The Guardian:

Film producer Harvey Weinstein may prove to be the secret weapon of the Barack Obama re-election campaign thanks to a film about the killing of Osama Bin Laden that is set to air on US TV just 48 hours before polling day. 

Seal Team Six: The Raid on Osama Bin Laden is the first high-profile dramatisation of the attack on the al-Qaida leader's Pakistan hide-out. The incident, in May 2011, was widely regarded as a coup for the Obama administration, following former President Bush's failed seven-year attempt to catch Bin Laden "dead or alive". 

Produced by the Weinstein Company, the film will be broadcast on the National Geographic Channel on Sunday 4 November. "While some of the characterisations have been dramatised for creative reasons, the core story is an accurate portrayal of an event that ended the longest manhunt in American history," the channel said in a statement.

Okay usually I just pooh pooh the Right Wing's conspiracy theories, but THIS time I think that we can definitely say that timing for the release of this movie is purely political.

And do you know what? It will very likely have some positive impact for the President too.

Forgive me if I don't get too bothered by the fact that the signature talking point of the GOP, going after terrorists and keeping America safe, has been usurped by President Obama, and will very likely contribute greatly to his reelection.

Good morning my friends and welcome to November 5th.

Today could be quite an eventful day for those who are tired of faux news organizations and corporate banks lying to, and stomping all over the rights, of American citizens.

First we have the "Move your Money" campaign, something all of us can participate in,  that is encouraging everybody to move their money out of large banks like Wells Fargo and Bank of America to smaller local banks or Credit Unions.

Customers are dumping their banks in droves ahead of the nationwide "Move Your Money" and "Bank Transfer Day" movements this Saturday. 

Given the recent spotlight on attempts -- and ultimate failures -- by some of the nation's biggest banks to tack on new debit card fees, thousands of disgruntled consumers have already either left or pledged to leave their current bank for a community bank or credit union, which are known for having fewer and/or lower bank account fees. 

At least 650,000 consumers have already joined credit unions since Sept. 29, the day Bank of America announced plans to impose its controversial $5 debit card fee, according to a nationwide survey of credit unions by the Credit Union National Association. That amounts to $4.5 billion in new savings accounts, CUNA said.

It looks like the movement has already had a significant impact on the banks.  It will be interesting to see if the banks make any policy changes in order to woo back disgruntled ex-customers. Though for me personally I am not at all interested in ever going back.

Today is also the day that the secret cyber group "Anonymous" claims that they will  take down Fox News.

PC Magazine has determined that Anonymous has a fairly good chance at successfully pulling this off:

OPERATION FOX HUNT 
 Another proposed Guy Fawkes Day operation, Fox Hunt, threatens to either take Foxnews.com offline or actually take control of the Web site, if some of the more boastful Anons are to be believed. The reason Anonymous is targeting Fox News is that the cable news network has been consistently critical of Occupy Wall Street and associated protests. Anonymous has attached itself strongly to the global Occupy movement and doesn't take attacks on it very kindly. 

Chances of success: Decent. Operation Fox Hunt seems much more likely to happen than Operation Facebook. Taking Foxnews.com down surely has a lot of support within Anonymous' ranks and would no doubt please many of the collective's Occupy allies. Anonymous has a long track record of taking down Web sites with distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks—and many believe the group now has more sophisticated tools in its arsenal for such operations.

Like I said before I am not usually a fan of hacking, or other cyber attacks, but in this case I cannot think of more deserving target. I will be watching for this with great anticipation.

For myself, since I have already moved my money and NEVER watch Fox News, I am going to spend some time today watching my favorite November 5th movie, V for Vendetta, and monitoring the many protests planned today.

I think we can treat this post as an open thread, and you can tell me what you have planned for this November 5th, as well as provide updates as to the success of the Move You Money campaign, and the Operation Fox Hunt.

Hmm how shall I sign off this post?  There's really only one choice, don't you agree?

Remember, remember the fifth of November
The Gunpowder Treason and plot
I know of no reason the Gunpowder Treason
should ever be forgot....

Everybody mark November 5th on your calendars. It just might be a VERY big day in America.

Courtesy of Raw Story:

In a video statement carried recently by several official channels maintained by members of the hacker activist group “Anonymous,” a digitally generated voice explains that the online collective has decided to take down the Fox News website on Nov. 5th of this year. 

The date, Nov. 5, is significant for its dramatic placement in the film and comic book “V for Vendetta,” about a freedom-loving terrorist who destroys an authoritarian government that’s come to power in the U.K. “Remember, remember the 5th of November,” is his saying, hearkening back to the “Gunpowder plot” of 1604, in which the terrorist Guy Fawkes was captured and executed for his attempt to blow up Parliament. 

The mask used by the Guy Fawkes character in “V for Vendetta” has also become a ubiquitous symbol for “Anonymous.” 

To mark this 5th of November, the latest “Anonymous” video points to the network’s “continued propaganda against the occupations” as reason for vowing to “destroy the Fox News website.” 

“Since they will not stop ridiculing the occupiers, we will simply shut them down,” the digitized voice explains, adding that an Anonymous-driven “propaganda campaign” against Fox News would follow. 

“Fox News, your time has come,” it concludes. “Operation Fox Hunt. November 5th. May the hunt begin.”

I will admit to having conflicted feelings concerning "Anonymous,"  but if they can pull this off they will forever be heroes in my book.

In my opinion, considering the damage that Fox News has done to journalism, politics, and the future of our nation, NOTHING short of physical harm, or murder, should be considered off limits in taking them down.

By the way have any of you ever seen my avatar on Twitter?

A hint...

Remember, remember, the Fifth of November, 

the Gunpowder Treason and Plot. 

I know of no reason 

why the Gunpowder Treason 

should ever be forgot...

Hey, I participated in this poll!

Yep I got a call from the robotic voice which conducts the Rasmussen poll who proceeded to ask me a bunch of questions which you can find here, and instead of hanging up the phone and then flipping it the bird like I usually do, I actually took the time to answer all of them because I did not want a bunch of teabagging shut ins to skew the results..

And here are those results: according to TPM:

Miller 35%, Murkowski 34%, and Democratic nominee Scott McAdams 27%. The survey of likely voters has a ±4.5% margin of error. In the previous Rasmussen poll from just under a month ago, Miller had a much stronger lead with 42%, Murkowski at 27%, and McAdams with 25%.

So in less than a month McAdams has gained two percentage points, Murkowsi gained seven, and Miller lost seven.  I am not at all convinced that, since she is a write in candidate, the poll is able to accurately determine Murkowski's percentage of support, but I am fairly positive it is accurately tracking Miller's death spiral.

So with two weeks still to go, it looks like this race could be won by any one of the three candidates.  If Murkowski wins it will automatically go to a hand count, but if this thing stays this close until November 2nd I think a hand count might be unavoidable. Which, by the way, would be just about the ONLY way I would trust the outcome.

Perhaps this video will serve as an inoculation against voter apathy this November.

Kind of makes you want to go to your polling place today and stand in line until November 2nd doesn't it?