John Pilger: George Wallace: 'The Most Powerful Politician in America'

Source:John Pilger- From John Pilger's 1974 documentary about Governor George Wallace.

Source:The Daily Times

John Pilger: "The Most Powerful Politician in America"

Was Governor George Wallace ever the most powerful politician in America? I have my doubts, but he probably was the most powerful Southern governor during his time as far as the amount of power he had in his state. The Kennedy Administration at least in the early 1960s didn’t know how to deal with him, because President Kennedy believed he needed the South and even Alabama to get reelected in 1964. But also wanted to pass civil rights laws that Governor Wallace was obviously against. A horrible innocent with civil rights marchers being killed by law enforcement in 1963, brought President Kennedy to the point where he believed he had to get behind the civil rights movement in full. And makes his great civil rights speech to the country in the summer of 1963.

But the Johnson Administration knew how to deal with him which was by enforcing the Federal court orders and even doing it in public and making the Governor look weak by comparison. And of course that famous Lyndon Johnson treatment where he brings the Governor into the Oval Office and has Wallace saying that: “if he stayed any longer, LBJ would’ve had him coming out in favor of civil rights”. Governor Wallace was a threat, but how powerful he was is at best an open question. Because the Federal Government whipped him in every court battle. Wallace was a threat to the Democratic Party in the sense that there were Democrats back then who believed they still needed the South to get reelected and gain more political power.

And I mean there were Anglo-Saxon Southerners people whose families came from Britain, that powerful Democrats believed they had to have to get reelected and to gain more power. Lyndon Johnson our civil rights President, was a strong supporter of civil rights and equal rights, until he became President. And made civil rights part of his carrying out President Kennedy’s agenda and fulfilling his legacy as part of his own administration. So there were still Democrats in the 1960s and early 1970s, who believed they had to have racist Southerners as part of their electoral coalition. And these voters were George Wallace voters in the 1960s and 1970s. So in that sense George Wallace was very powerful in the South, because of all the Southern Democrats that he represented.

The Young Turks: Cenk Uygur & Anna Kasparien: 'The Establishment Should Fear Elizabeth Warren'

Source:The Young Turks- Cenk Uygur.

Source:The New Democrat 

"Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) went to bat for a fellow Democrat's underdog Senate campaign here Monday, railing against Rep. Shelley Moore Capito's (R-W.Va.) financial industry connections. The historic Shepherdstown, chartered in 1762, played host to Warren's upbeat rally in support of West Virginia Secretary of State Natalie Tennant.

Tennant and Capito are vying to succeed the retiring Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.) in a race that will produce the Mountain State's first-ever female senator. Warren, who has campaigned this cycle for Senate candidates across the Democratic political spectrum, gave a scathing criticism of Capito's record on financial issues. 

"When [Wall Street] needs her, [Capito's] been there," Warren said in a packed hotel ballroom. "She's out there for Wall Street, she's leading the charge. ... We need some more people who are willing to work on the side of America's families.""* The Young Turks hosts Cenk Uygur and Ana Kasparian break it down. 

*Read more here from Samantha Lachman:The Huffington Post." 

From The Young Turks 

What are the real political differences between Senator Barack Obama from 2005 to late 2008 and Senator Elizabeth Warren now? They both used and use great rhetoric in the sense that they know how to move their bases and the so-called progressive wing (if you want to call it that) of the Democratic Party. But if you look at their voting records in the Senate, they were and are both with their leadership in the Senate that would put them with center-left of the party. But certainly not leftist, radical, Green Party, so-called Progressive Caucus types, the Dennis Kucinich and Ralph Nader types that The Young Turks tend to follow and love. 

I don't know if Senator Warren is going to run for president or not and what I've seen from her so far doesn't give me much to vote for. Long on rhetoric and short on policy. But keep in mind, U.S. Senate is not only her first experience in Congress, but in public office in general at least as an elected official and she's only been on the job for eighteen months. 

But the only people that should fear the Senator if she runs for president are the Hillary Clinton establishment Democrats. Because if Senator Warren does run, she'll take real stances and force Hillary Clinton to officially go on the record on things that she would rather keep a big secret at least until the general election in 2016.

Chris Brandt: Representative Steve Cohen: 'Schools DEA Official About Marijuana & The Quality of Life'

Source:Chris Brandt- U.S. Representative Steve Cohen (Democrat, Tennessee)

Source:The New Democrat

I agree with Representative Steve Cohen that marijuana prohibition is definitely a joke and overwhelmingly hurts ethnic and racial minorities compared with Anglos and Caucasians.  It is a war on freedom to criminalize what people do to themselves, especially when we are talking about a drug that can't kill you immediately, unlike heroin or cocaine. We are really talking about a drug as it relates to health aspects like alcohol.  It is actually far less dangerous than tobacco, which is legal.

I would have a lot more respect for Republicans and so-called Conservatives today who preach about the value of individual freedom, if they applied that belief to personal freedom, freedom of choice, and civil liberties. Instead of just calling for individual freedom as it relates to economic policy, especially for wealthy people, but not the working class as it relates to the right to organize and other working class issues. And freedom of religion, but really just for Christians, with everyone else being subjected to big government on the grounds of national security.

If people who call themselves Conservatives want my political respect, then they need to support personal freedom as well and civil liberties and apply those beliefs to all Americans and not just Anglo-Saxon Christians. And get behind issues that involve activities where they may not personally approve of, but where there are no victims involved. Like personal personal possession and usage of marijuana. Instead of preaching the value of individual freedom as it relates business's, the wealthy and Christians. But big government authoritarianism for everyone else.
Source:Chris Brandt

Steven Lahoe: Megyn Kelly Interviews Bill Ayers - A Leader of the Weather Underground

Source:The New Democrat

Bill Ayers was part of the antiwar movement in the mid and late 1960s protesting the Vietnam War and perhaps other United States national security policies. Which was also part of what became the New Left in the late 1960s that was a socialist anarchist movement. That believed the center-left in America wasn't moving fast enough the Democratic Party especially to address inequality, racial injustices, poverty the Military Industrial Complex. And this movement wanted to takeover the Democratic Party and move the country in a much different direction even through using violence.

The Young Turks: Cenk Uygur: Congress Does Nothing, Almost Literally & it's Not Just Republicans

Source:The New Democrat

Just to be serious for a minute and then go to being an asshole. Today's Progressives (lets say) especially MSNBC make the mistake in how they judge Congress. They also make the mistake in what they call Congress. They call it the Republican Congress even though Republicans only control the lower house of Congress. And they refer or our national legislature as the Congress and Senate. As if they are two different institutions apparently unaware that the Senate is not only part of Congress. But the official and actual upper chamber of Congress. Unlike a lot of other developed countries.

But the mistake that Cenk Uygur makes in this video even though he seems to be aware that the Senate is actually part of Congress along with the House of Representatives is how he judges Congress. You shouldn't judge Congress and that is what both chambers pass together after they work out the final bill, by how much legislation they pass. That would be like judging a cook by how many meals they prepare. Or a pitcher by how many pitches they throw. Or a teacher by how many students they teach.

You should judge Congress by what actual legislation they pass. The quality of legislation they pass, not the quantity of legislation they pass. A pitcher could throw 110 pitches in a game, but if he gives up six runs on ten hits and they are all earned. Or a cook makes a hundred meals one night and half of their customers comes down with food poisoning. Or a teacher with a hundred students, but half of them can't read at grade level and the teacher is an English teacher, well these people aren't doing their jobs even if they are doing a lot of work. They aren't doing a good job the job they were hired for.

The productivity of this Congress a divided Congress with a Republican House and a Democratic Senate (what the American people voted for) is as slow as a mule in a NASCAR race. They simply aren't acting on things that they should be doing. Like fixing the highway trust fund and passing a highway bill to use as an example. But it isn't a bad Congress because they aren't passing a lot of legislation. But what they are actually doing. Are they passing good legislation or not. Are they addressing the concerns of the country, or not and this Congress is clearly failing at that.

Movie Clips: Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939) 'Liberty is Too Precious of a Thing'

Source:Movie Clips- Jimmy Stewart, as U.S. Senator Jefferson Smith, in Mr. Smith Goes To Washington.

Source:The New Democrat

"CLIP DESCRIPTION:
Jefferson Smith (James Stewart) emphasizes the importance of liberty and the beauty of nature to Saunders (Jean Arthur)."

From Movie Clips

A lot things about Mr. Smith Goes to Washington are simply inaccurate: Rarely do you see even fifty senators on floor of the U.S. Senate let alone a hundred. Or back when this movie came out in 1939 we had ninety-six U.S. Senators because we had forty-eight states back then. The only time ever do you see a full Senate is when they are voting on amendments to bills or nominations. Or final passage of bills, or when there is some special ceremony going on in the chamber. And if you watch this movie you see basically a full Senate whenever it is in session.

But what Mr. Smith did very well (and I'm talking about the movie) is the writing and the speeches. The writing looked like stuff they got from the Founding Fathers (the first Liberals of America) when Jimmy Stewart's character Senator Jeff Smith is talking about the Constitution. And liberty and freedom for all. The line that is in the title of this post: "Liberty is too precious of a thing to be buried in text books". You probably would never see a line in a movie like that today. For one it would sound corny to Hollywood filmmakers. But also Hollywood has moved so far left they would probably see that line as conservative or libertarian or something and doesn't deserve mentioning.

But that is a great line and one of the best ever written with real meaning that should never be forgotten. Because once the concept of liberty is forgotten we then become slaves of either the state, or private organizations that want to control us and use us to make profits off of us. That liberty can never be forgotten as long as we want to be free people with the right to chart our own courses in life and live up to our own choices and responsibilities and not be under the control of anyone else.

PBS NewsHour: Shields & Brooks On Suing The President & The Texas Border Crisis

Source:The New Democrat

Is the President going too far with executive power? It depends on which party you are a member of and which party the President is a member of. Congressional Republicans didn't seem to have any problems with President Bush during the 2000s when it came to executive power. But now are going crazy over President Obama when it comes to executive power. And on the other side Democrats hated President Bush over his use of executive power, but don't seem to have many issues at least that they are raising publicly when it comes to President Obama's use of executive power.

As far as the Southern border and the situation with the immigrant smugglers and the children they brought. It is probably the worst crisis that President Obama has had to deal with at least since the BP oil spill in 2010. But at least he's prepared to deal with it and has already acted on it. And if Congressional Republicans are truly angry about the situation down there and the President's use of executive power and executive orders than they can work with President Obama and Senate and House Democrats to solve the problems down there. Like making sure our security and immigration services have the resources to end the crisis in a responsible manner.