Republicans

by NoahI'm sure that Rafael's handlers thought that the above clip of their boy attempting to imitate Simpsons characters might serve to somehow humanize him to voters. Either that or they secretly hate him.However, after viewing this clip, my only other thought is the cold truth that repugs don't do the humor thing very well, especially when impersonations are involved.

TPP — the "free trade" deal that isn't about freedom and isn't about trade. What is it about? Higher prices, Internet watchdogs, fewer jobs. Watch to learn more.by Gaius PubliusAs you may know, the Fast Track legislation needed to force TPP, the next NAFTA-style trade deal, through the Congress has passed in the Senate. (Fast Track is officially called "Trade Promotion Authority" or TPA.

A struggle of some consequence is now being waged in Congress to keep on life support the NSA’s massive spying on the American people. And in this struggle the so-called progressives (more accurately referred to as liberals) are engaged in a massive betrayal of all they profess to believe in. Instead too many of them are scurrying about attacking Rand Paul, the libertarian, anti-interventionist, Republican Senator who is leading the charge against the Bush/Obama spying program. Among other things Senator Paul has engaged in a filibuster to stop this nefarious program.

UPDATE: Fast Track fails in the Senate, 52–45 (three senators not voting) U.S. Trade Deficit since 1960. NAFTA was signed in 1993.by Gaius PubliusAs we near critical votes in the House and Senate on Fast Track and TPP, I've been looking for a whip list, a list of who's likely to vote how.

How the Tea Party sees Fast Track (source)by Gaius PubliusIn covering the TPP battle between President Obama and the CEO class on the one side, and most of the rest of the country on the other, I've noted that the Tea Party right is as opposed as the "professional" left. (My own TPP coverage is collected here.)Now comes more evidence of that.

Welcome to our fourth episode of Probable Cause. Our topic for this episode is homeschooling. We will be discussing homeschooling as a major step towards independent and critical thinking, and of course, by doing so, challenging the system. I’ll be talking about how and why the government sees this ever-increasing trend, homeschooling, as a major threat, and various tactics and attack scenarios that will be implemented by the feds in its war against American homeschoolers.

Just when one believes Republican Speaker of the House John Boehner couldn’t possibly go any lower he proves all of his critics wrong by stooping so low his actions may bring charges of treason. 

Welcome to our third experimental episode of Probable Cause. I want to thank all of you who joined our interactive discussion in our previous two episodes. For this episode I am going to share with you my responses to the questions posed during our first episode: Do you believe we will have some sort of revolution here in the United States in the near future? If so, in your opinion, where will it come from? Which segment of our population do you see likely to revolt?

But wait, suddenly GOP candidates care!"Someone up the GOP food chain seems to have decided that inequality and poor people now belong in everyone’s talking points, class warfare be damned.

Welcome to our second experimental episode of Probable Cause. On this episode we will be delving deeper into our previous topic: clarifying which meaning of the word revolution we are basing this discussion on, using the Iranian Revolution of 1979 as an example and context to illustrate why revolution is not an end unto itself, discussing the upsides and pitfalls of uniting for a revolution both in the short and long term, and much more!