The Trouble With Town Hall Meetings

Representatives are elected to represent those who elect them in Washington. Sounds simple enough, right? Aren't kids still taught that in school? Are kids taught that they have free will to choose their representative for congress?

Oh. They aren't taught that they only get to choose from people who can afford to make themselves known through the mass media, or get to choose only from people who are bankrolled by greed.

So when voters must hold their noses when they vote, they are not happy, and the results are similar to what's going on with Illinois' 13th district representative Rodney Davis.

• The News Gazette: Rodney Davis: No plans for C-U meeting
• Smile Politely: Rodney Davis won’t do a town hall meeting because he doesn’t do “grandstanding events”
• WMCI: Protesters Demand Congressman Rodney Davis Hold Town Hall Meeting
• Illinois State Journal-Register: Rep. Davis sets Wednesday 'tele-town hall'
• GLT89.1FM: Congressman Rodney Davis
• OnlineActions.org: Tell Rodney Davis: Hold a Town Hall in Springfield!
• Driftglass.blogspot.com: Local Weasel Plans To Duck Constituents

When voters are angry at the people they elect, this is known in some circles as Cognitive Dissonance. They are not happy with their choice of representative. It's a symptom of rigged political system.

The Elites May Be Finished

Who Are They?

Politico

Top conservatives gather to plot third-party run against Trump

The elite on the right are losing control of the Republican Party to Donald Trump

Observer

How the DNC Helps Clinton Buy Off Superdelegates

The elite on the left are losing control of the Democratic Party to Bernie Sanders

Huffington Post

Sanders is Winning Blue States, Clinton Red

It seems the elite on the left and the right favor Clinton over Sanders

Huffington Post

In Nearly Every Blue, Purple, and Light-Red State, Bernie Sanders Polls Better Against Trump Than Hillary Clinton

In the end it may be Sanders versus Trump, and the elites will be faced with final vilification and isolation.

Now are you finally getting the idea that the elite work both Republicans and Democrats?

Straw Documents

Wikipedia

Memogate: The Killian Document Controversy

60 Minutes reporter Dan Rather was discredited when documents he held up as evidence against George W. Bush's military service record appeared to have been forged.

Your News Wire

Video: Is This The Reason Why Princess Diana Was Assassinated?

Documents that appeared to have been forged are for sale by Oswald LeWinter, who coincidentally was also allegedly involved in the October Surprise Iran Hostage Release that is said to have won the 1980 election for Ronald Reagan.

Media Matters

Dan Rather is Right

It turns out the documents Dan Rather used in the 60 Minutes segments were not necessary after all. They may have been forged but not necessarily false.

Wikipedia

Straw Man

While this form of argument seems far from creating partially forged documents which relate actual events in order to discredit the belief in those events,

Switching Gears: It looks like some sources we rely on for fact-checking are not necessarily supportive of the truth.

Snopes

Tehran-No Saw Us

An Iranian official stated that Repiblicans wanted the prisoner exchange to be delayed until after the U.S. election. Snopes author Kim LaCapria says "claim didn't seem very plausible."

FAIR

Debunking the Debunkers of October Surprise

The 1980 October Surprise is still held up as a Conspiracy Theory by most main-stream media, and Wikipedia. The fact that this tactic has been used in the past with great success makes it much more plausible than the Snopes author suggests.

The site Your News Wire recently posted a video describing how documents were allegedly recreated with minor alterations that would have totally discredited the claims of the person presenting them as evidence. In this case it was the death of Princess Diana.

Suddenly I was reminded of the 60 Minutes episode that ended Dan Rather's career at CBS. He too presented documents as evidence that turned out to be forgeries, but years later it was discovered that the facts behind those documents were  none-the-less true.

Ben Carson's Days: Are They Numbered Yet?

News.GroopsSpeak

CARSON HAS COMPLETE MEDIA MELTDOWN, WHINES: ‘OBAMA GOT TREATED BETTER’ (VIDEO)

Ben Carson brings up Barack Obama's "sealed records" and asks the reporters why they are not looking into them.

FactCheck.org

Obama’s ‘Sealed’ Records

Here is why the reporters are NOT looking into Obama's sealed records.

Well, this pretty much wraps up Ben Carson. He's resorted to repeating old right-wing false rumors from Barack Obama's campaign days.

He was caught being ambiguous but not untruthful on numerous occasions, which the media exploits by making false inferences, then turning the false inferences into false statements.

I call such activity on the part of the news media "Inference Opportunities." It may be an underhanded gimmick, but it does raise questions about Ben Carson's ability to communicate with other world leaders as President.

He must be unequivocal,

Presidential Candidate and Ohio Governor John Kasich (R)

Ohio Governor John Kasich

Americablog (2/24/2015)

John Kasich's Greatest Hits

Some of his more volatile political moves.

The Humanist

Community Dividers: Why Ohio’s Faith-Based Program for Public Schools Won’t Work

The program originally started as collaboration between schools and the private sector, but then the Governor changed the rules.

The Humanist

The Craziest Abortion Laws in Ohio and Texas

Trans-Abdominal Ultrasounds and support for "Pregnancy Crisis Centers" run by religious organizations.

Alternet

Seach Results for Kasich

I really have no words for what showed up here.

Ohio Governor John Kasich recently has been missing from my collection of news sources on Facebook, including the comments. Did he drop out of the race? I'm not sure, but the Alternative Media apparently has said all they need to say about the Ohio Governor long ago. This doesn't bode well for keeping voters informed about the candidates, especially those that don't bother to search the Internet.

Are Trey Gowdy's Chickens Coming Home to Roost?

Trey Gowdy (R) South Carolina

BallotPedia

Trey Gowdy Profile

. These are all basically profile links, but there may be differences between them.

GovTrack

TreyGowdy Report Card

Open Secrets

Trey Gowdy's Campaign Finance Sources

Politifact

Trey Gowdy's Truthfulness

Vote Smart

Is Trey Gowdy the right candidate for you?

The Washington Post

Inside the mind of Trey Gowdy, the Republicans’ Benghazi prosecutor

Representative Trey Gowdy, the lead on the Benghazi investigation, is getting a little more attention in the Press, so here's some info.

American Politics Apocalypse

Reverb Press

The Republican Party Is Quite Officially F'd

Reno Gazette-Journal

Letter: GOP may be finished with or without Trump

The Daily Beast

McCarthy Bails, GOP Dumpster Fire Ensues

CBS News

Political Outsiders through the Ages

Huffington Post

Is This the End of the GOP?

Penn Live

Does the rise of Trump mean the end times are nigh for the GOP?: Tony May

The Washington Examiner

Press sounds the alarm: Is this the end of the GOP?

The Wall Street Journal

A Chance to End Republican Dysfunction

American Enterprise Institute

The end of polling as we know it?

King 5

Rare move forces Export Import Vote

CNN

Donald Trump and Jeb Bush aren't on the same planet

Huffington Post

If Nominated, Bernie Will Win

It's not quite Sunday morning but the Sunday morning news shows should be interesting this weekend. It's becoming trendy to opine the demise of the Republican Party due to certain recent activity.

Now Darrel Issa is considering Run for Speaker of the House.

Darrell Issa (R) - CA
Wants to run for House Speaker

BallotPedia

Darrell Issa Profile

GovTrack

Rep. Darrell Issa

Opem Secrets

Rep. Darrell Issa

Politifact

Ouch! All False Statements(subject to change)

Vote Smart

Darrell Issa's Biography

Raw Story

Darrell Issa considers run for House Speaker

Yet another contender for House Speaker. Here's some data.

Paul Ryan Next Speaker of the House?

Paul Ryan (R) - WI
Next potential Speaker of the House

BallotPedia

Paul Ryan Ballotpedia Profile

GovTrack

Paul Ryan GovTrack Profile

Open Secrets

Paul Ryan's Open Secrets Profile

Politifact

Paul Ryan's Politifact File

Vote Smart

Paul Ryan's Vote Smart Bio

Raw Story

Speaker Paul Ryan? Here’s what you need to know about his biggest influence — the lunatic Ayn Rand

There is a unifying label for the agenda of the GOP, but it's a toss-up between Pure Natural Selection and Passive Eugenics. They both kind of mean the same thing. It could also be called Objectivism, a philosophy touted by Ayn Rand.

I sense that Ayn Rand wasn't really promoting the idea as much as she was really exposing the heart of true human behavior: An unmitigated sense of self preservation, a world without health care, where only the strong survive.

The problem with this idea is that people who are weakest of mind are self-aggrandizing sufferers of the Dunning Kruker Effect, and wouldn't last a day on the African Savannah.

So, Paul Ryan's voting record and social values are not really surprising.

Speaker of the House: Profile of Congressman Daniel Webster (R) Florida

Meet Congressman Daniel Webster (R-Florida)
The Next Potential Speaker of the House

LA Times

Kevin McCarthy bows out of speaker race, leaving House GOP in disarray

BallotPedia

Daniel Webster (Florida) Profile

Open Secrets

Daniel Webster (R-Floria) Campaign Finance Profile

Politifact

Daniel Webster's Politifact Profile

Source

Daniel Webster's Vote Smart Profile

Kevin McCarthy has pulled out of the race for Speaker of the House of Representatives. Many Republicans are interested in Congressman Daniel Webster from Florida for the seat, I thought I would collect some info on the potential Speaker.

Are you in the Democracy Club?

Edie Miller’s letter Wednesday in the Illinois State Journal Register about the ERC (Evening Republican Club) is perfectly, horribly typical of most organizations.

Let’s say that you consider yourself a Republican, a Democrat, Green, or Whatever. You join a local club because the other members most likely will understand you. You discover, quite by accident because someone slipped their tongue, that your club has a secret board of directors with special privileges.

Members of this mysterious board of directors often talk about their extravagant vacations, dress better than other members, have more expensive cars, or other things that the rest of the club members can only dream about.

No one else is allowed to join the Board of Directors, but the club members continue to pay their dues. They can’t stop paying their dues because they would be accused of being disloyal or “unpatriotic.”

Most of the club members either don’t realize or don’t care that they are being deliberately excluded from the luxurious benefits of the dues and profits from fundraiser for the very club to which they belong.

If you complain to the board, they would probably look askance at you and say “So start your own club. Pull yourself up by your own boot-straps.”

It fits into the definition of Fiefdom, but we’ve been pretending for the last two centuries or so that it’s a Democracy. Dream the American Dream!