Prosecutor To George Zimmerman: Quit Complaining
About The Judge

post from TPMMuckraker on 17 July 2012 02:08:00 PM. © TPMMuckraker

Florida prosecutor Bernie de la Rionda had some angry words on Tuesday for the man charged with second-degree murder in the killing of unarmed teenager Trayvon Martin.

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McCain: Half-wit hockey mom with knocked-up teen
daughter better candidate than Romney

post from Daily Kos on 17 July 2012 02:07:10 PM. © Daily Kos

U.S. Republican Presidential candidate Mitt Romney pauses during his reaction to the Supreme Court's upholding key parts of President Barack Obama's signature healthcare overhaul law during a rooftop news conference in Washington June 28, 2012. Romney sai Not as qualified as (hahaha) Sarah Palin.This pretty much says it all, doesn't it?

Mitt Romney's tax returns had nothing to do with Sen. John McCain's decision to choose Sarah Palin as his running mate in 2008, according to the Arizona Republican, saying he chose the former Alaska governor because she was a "better candidate." [...]
Asked why he chose not to go with Romney, McCain said: "Oh come on, because we thought that Sarah Palin was the better candidate. Why did we not take [Tim] Pawlenty, why did we not take any of the other 10 other people. Why didn?t I? Because we had a better candidate, the same way with all the others. ... Come on, why? That?s a stupid question."

Hear that, Mitt? T-Paw? (And every other single Republican in the entire country not named Sarah Palin?) Sarah Palin was the most bestest, most qualifiedicalistic candidate in the entire party?no, the country. (Remember, McCain the Maverick was even willing to consider Democrats for his ticket too.)

That's how much Mitt Romney sucks. That's how much trouble he's in. McCain's camp took one look at him and realized he was too big a risk to put on the ticket so they went with the Disasta from Alaska instead. Because country first, after all.

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FBI Goes Over Gov. Corbett's Head To Investigate
Connected Cyber Schools Owner

post from Crooks and Liars on 17 July 2012 02:00:56 PM. © Crooks and Liars

Will Bunch has a long memory for Pennsylvania politics, and in his latest post, he points out that the FBI finally had to come in to investigate the finances of a politically-connected cyber schools operator -- whose activities were pretty much ignored in an investigation by then-Attorney General Tom Corbett (who's now our Scott Walker clone of a wingnut governor). He's also famous for taking three years before the state prosecutors finally brought charges against Jerry Sandusky.

If you're a political junkie, you've probably heard of the Pennsylvania Cyber Charter School. It figured prominently in a scandal that helped end the Senate career of Pennsylvania's Rick Santorum. It was the thriving online learning center -- launched in a foundering ex-steel town on the Ohio border called Midland, Pa. -- that was taking $38,000 a year from taxpayers in the blue-collar Pittsburgh suburb of Penn Hills for the home-schooling of five of Santorum's kids, who lived two states away in an affluent Virginia suburb.The arrangement made Santorum look bad (for one thing, he'd been elected to Congress in 1990 by attacking an incumbent... for moving to Virginia) but it also gave some folks pause about the millions of dollars that Pennsylvania was beginning to hurl into cyber-charter schools -- schools that are getting the same public dollars as bricks-and-mortar charter schools, even through their cost of educating each child is much lower. But the flow of public cash to the Pennsylvania Cyber Charter empire founded by entreprenuer Nicholas Trombetta surged despite the bad publicity in the Santorum case, and despite news in 2007 that a state grand jury was probing the convoluted financial dealings of Trombetta, a GOP donor.Nothing ever came of that 2007 probe. You may have heard of the state's attorney general back then, a chap by the name of Tom Corbett.By 2010, the massive flow of money to the Trombetta cyber-empire -- which now included a baffling array of for-profit entities -- began to draw notice. According to a report in Sunday's Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, the state........ pays tens of millions of dollars a year to a network of nonprofit and for-profit companies run by former executives of the state's largest online public school.The relationships between the Beaver County-based school and those businesses were a concern to former Gov. Ed Rendell's administration, which late in its tenure asked PA Cyber for better accounting of its payments to spin-off entities. Gov. Corbett's Department of Education, though, opted early on to let the relationships continue without heightened accountability.There's that Corbett guy again! Anyway, someone has finally stepped in. Not the state of Pennsylvania, of course. The job fell instead to the feds:On Thursday agents from the FBI, the criminal investigations division of the IRS, and the U.S. Department of Education searched the school's headquarters in Midland, its accountants' office in Koppel, and properties rented by its spin-offs in Ohio.The investigation appears to be aimed at current or former executives of the school. PA Cyber "as an entity, is not a current target," U.S. Attorney David J. Hickton's office said. Regardless of the direction of the investigation, PA Cyber demonstrates a consequence of the state's charter school revolution: the emergence from schools of profit-seeking spin-offs.This news come as a) evidence mounts that cyber-charters, in spite of -- or maybe because of -- their ability to generate profits, do a poor job of actually educating children (PDF) and b) the state of Pennsylvania is thus racing to apporve more cyber-charters.

Meanwhile, here's another example of Corbett's kid-glove handling of the politically connected, via CasablancaPA:

Here's how tough and relentless Jonelle Eshbach was in getting to the truth:
"[The] state investigator was a fan: If that was the culture that permeated Penn State, could it have affected the investigation by state attorney general?s office? Jonelle Eshbach, the senior deputy attorney general who interviewed Paterno, several of Sandusky?s victims and Penn State officials when they appeared before the grand jury, has not been shy about her loyalty to the late coach. After Paterno?s divisive firing, her Facebook page showed she took a survey about the board?s decision. Her page says she answered that she would have let Paterno finish the 2011 season, then retire as he planned. Freeh?s team concluded that Paterno?s firing was warranted. Eshbach didn?t return a message at her office. Attorney general spokesman Nils Frederiksen declined to comment on it...When she interviewed Paterno, Eshbach specifically told him to explain what he knew about the McQueary incident, 'without getting into any graphic detail.' She also never followed up when Paterno hinted that something about an earlier claim might have been discussed in his presence prior to that. 'You did mention ? I think you said something about a rumor. It may have been discussed in my presence, something else about somebody,' Paterno said at the grand jury. 'I don?t know. I don?t remember. I could not honestly say I heard a rumor.'? (Patriot News 7/12/2012)

ESPN:

"While the current Sandusky investigation was in its second year, Corbett spent much of his time focusing on the sweeping public corruption inquiry of Democrats and Republicans in Harrisburg nicknamed ?Bonusgate.? He also crisscrossed Pennsylvania campaigning for governor, pledging to cut runaway spending and 'restore trust in Harrisburg.' State campaign records show he accepted contributions of nearly $650,000 from current and past board members of Second Mile and their businesses."

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http://crooksandliars.com/susie-madrak/fbi-goes-over-gov-corbetts-head-inves

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The Case for an Early VP Pick

post from Firedoglake on 17 July 2012 02:00:51 PM. © Firedoglake

The New York Times is reporting that Mitt Romney may officially select his running mate very soon, possibly as early as this week. If Romney does choose a running mate in July, it will be one of the earliest selections in presidential history. From a[...]

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The Case for An Early VP Pick

post from Firedoglake on 17 July 2012 02:00:51 PM. © Firedoglake

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Mentally Disabled Execution Delayed

post from ThinkProgress on 17 July 2012 02:00:04 PM. © ThinkProgress

The execution of Warren Lee Hill, the mentally disabled men scheduled to be killed in Georgia in spite of a Supreme Court prohibition, has been postponed till Monday. This decision was not a stay of execution, but rather a consequence of Georgia switching the type of chemical it uses in lethal injections. This will give the Supreme Court till Monday to decide on Hill’s plea for a true stay.

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Med Student Launches ‘Cooch Watch’ To
Combat Virginia Attorney General’s Anti-Abortion Agenda

post from ThinkProgress on 17 July 2012 02:00:04 PM. © ThinkProgress

Tea Party-backed Attorney General of Virginia Ken Cuccinelli is doing everything in his power to make abortion restrictions more stringent in his state.

Cuccinelli essentially goaded the Virginia legislature into writing highly restrictive and unnecessary guidelines for abortion clinics, based on his own unsolicited legal guidance and legislation he failed to enact when he was in the statehouse. Those efforts took the form of Targeted Regulation of Abortion Providers (TRAP), which requires clinics to resemble an emergency room and undergo structural changes.

A few weeks ago, the Virginia Medical Board decided to exempt existing abortion clinics from the new requirements, leading Cuccinelli to refuse to certify the board’s decision.

A group named “Cooch Watch” after Ken ‘The Cooch’ Cuccinelli just launched to fight back. They aim to stop the attorney general from forcing his will on Virginians. Medical student and former abortion clinic worker Stephanie Arnold is leading the group of about 10 women. Arnold said on a call today that Cooch Watch plans to “attend Mr. Cuccinelli’s public events, ask questions, protest, and remind Mr. Cuccinelli that he is being watched” and will be “held accountable for his actions”:

Everyone knows that if clinics have to somehow find a quarter of a million dollars to unnecessarily upgrade, many will close their doors. [...] Cooch Watch is relevant now more than ever. [...]
The Attorney General has aspirations of running for governor and he’s really just shown a reckless abuse of power and it’s something that people need to be paying attention to. For us, this is starting with TRAP but I have every intention of continuing to keep an eye on him for the people of Virginia. He’s just on a rampage.

Virginia has become a major battleground on abortion rights. The state was in the news earlier this year for its invasive and unnecessary proposed transvaginal ultrasound bill, which led to statewide protests. They also passed a mandated 24-hour waiting period before abortions, and now require all women to have an ultrasound before the procedure. Places that the state lists as ultrasound providers are all anti-abortion “pregnancy crisis centers.”

Cooch Watch will start its activism tonight, attending a Tea Party rally at which Cuccinelli is speaking.

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http://thinkprogress.org/health/2012/07/17/531331/med-student-launches-cooch-watc
h-to-combat-virginia-attorney-generals-anti-abortion-agenda/

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Britain’s Oldest Black Newspaper Denied
Credentials To Cover London Olympics

post from ThinkProgress on 17 July 2012 02:00:04 PM. © ThinkProgress

The organization in charge of issuing media credentials at the 2012 London Olympics, which begin in 10 days, has denied the request filed by Great Britain’s oldest black newspaper, sparking outrage across the country. The Voice, which is celebrating its 30-year anniversary this year, published an article last week notifying readers that the British Olympic Association, which is in charge of credentialing, had denied its request to cover the Games.

The paper was denied because of an “extraordinary interest and demand from UK media,” the BOA told the paper, even as the organization has “led a high-profile campaign highlighting London’s cosmopolitan culture, and the games itself were won on the back of the city’s rich diversity.” The decision sparked protests on social networks and a petition drive led by activist Zita Holbourne, who told the paper she was “furious” over BOA’s decision:

Holbourne said: “I was furious. There has been a catalogue of errors and issues around the Olympics and this is just one more thing.
?If the BOA are using blanket criteria to assess whether or not a publication is suitable for accreditation has a disproportionate negative impact on smaller and specialist publications and, obviously, The Voice is a specialist publication.
?Given the number of black athletes that are competing in the Olympics that Team GB rely on for Olympic success, no accreditation for the biggest-selling black newspaper is just atrocious.?

The International Olympic Committee has fought to make the London Olympics the most diverse ever held. For the first time in history, every Olympic team has at least one female member after the IOC negotiated the addition of two female athletes to the Saudi Arabian team — the kingdom’s first-ever female representatives. South African runner Oscar Pistorius, meanwhile, will try to become the first person with artificial legs to win a medal since 1906.

But for Britain’s black journalists and the community they serve, the decision harkens back to past fights with British authorities. Lester Holloway, a former Voice reporter, told the paper it reminded him of times when “we had to fight the parliamentary authorities to get accreditation to cover for the House of Commons. There were no black journalists at that time. It was a hard fought battle that went on for number of years and eventually we were allowed in. The fact that we are here again in 2012, shows how behind the times the Olympic authorities are.?

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http://thinkprogress.org/media/2012/07/17/532611/britains-oldest-black-newspaper-
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Bachmann’s Islamophobic Conspiracy Theory
Fuels Egyptians’ Anti-Clinton Protest

Egyptian protesters threw shoes and tomatoes at Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s motorcade in Alexandria this week. The New York Times reported that their demonstration “delighted conservative bloggers in the United States” but “what has attracted less attention” is why they were protesting: a conspiracy theory cooked up by Islamophobes in the U.S. that the Obama administration is working on behalf of the Muslim Brotherhood:

Pressed by American reporters to explain where they got the idea that their new Islamist president, Mohamed Morsi, had been foisted on them through a U.S. plot, rather than the will of the majority, several Egyptians cited information gathered from American blogs or news sites.
An Egyptian-American Christian who met Mrs. Clinton on Sunday cited a recent assertion by Representative Michele Bachmann, a Republican, ?that the Obama Administration is pursuing a closeted pro-Muslim agenda,? in a conversation with Time magazine?s correspondent, Abigail Hauslohner.
Rumors that the Obama administration has provided the Muslim Brotherhood with billions of dollars in aid remain an article of faith with many Egyptians who are convinced that Mr. Morsi?s victory was a sham, despite repeated efforts by the U.S. Embassy in Cairo to correct the record on Twitter.

That’s right — Bachmann’s ludicrous allegation that the Muslim Brotherhood has “penetrated” the United States government convinced anti-Islamist Egyptians that the U.S. is backing their domestic Islamist opponents. The source for Bachmann’s ravings is Frank Gaffney, a conspiracy theorist who claims that the Muslim Brotherhood has infiltrated the government and that shari’a law is coming to the U.S.

Non-coincidentally, one Egyptian blogger, Sara Ahmed, said that retired Lieutenant General William Boykin had evidence that the U.S. was in cahoots with the Muslim Brotherhood, pointing to an episode of Gaffney’s radio show in which he hosted Boykin. The retired military officer has claimed that there ought be “no mosques in America” and that Muslims are “under an obligation to destroy our Constitution.” Underscoring why such rhetoric is so dangerous, Ahmed said that a senior official of Boykin’s level “wouldn’t say such thing without proof!”

The Obama Administration is quite wary of the consequences of the Brotherhood’s electoral victory for regional stability and has been prodding the Brothers to respect the Israeli-Egyptian peace treaty. Meanwhile, Rep. Keith Ellison (D-MN) has publicly called on Bachmann to produce solid and irrefutable evidence that the Muslim Brotherhood has penetrated the U.S. government.

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http://thinkprogress.org/security/2012/07/17/529071/bachmann-islamophobic-egpyt-c
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Romneyland now has surrogates doing surrogate
damage control

Romneyland is getting better at this damage control thing. Almost.

After top campaign surrogate John Sununu spent the morning calling President Obama a stoner socialist who needs to "learn how to be an American," they dispatched former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty to clean up Sununu's mess.

But instead of simply cleaning up the mess, Pawlenty decided to praise Sununu ... for supposedly having cleaned up the mess himself.

Governor Sununu made those comments earlier today. He then clarified and walked back those statements by saying he meant that President Obama doesn't really have a familiarity with what it means to be in the American entrepreneurial and private enterprise system, early stage capital formation deployment and comments to that effect. So I think he clarified it, and obviously Governor Sununu has a knack for colorful language, and can be very informative and entertaining. This one he, you know, admitted perhaps he wasn't as clear as he should have been, and issued a clarification and I think that was appropriate under the circumstances.

To refresh your memory, here's the specific remark Pawlenty was talking about:

I wish this president would learn how to be an American.

I'm not sure what wasn't clear about that, especially given that Sununu had earlier claimed that President Obama didn't come to the United States before moving to Chicago in his adulthood, but I'll give Pawlenty this: Sununu is entertaining. Just not in a good way for Romneyland.