The Hollywood Liberal

Right-Wing Blogger Fakes CT Scan of Cop’s Skull
The conservative blogger Jim Hoft has been caught faking a CT scan to make it appear as if it belonged to Darren Wilson, the Ferguson, Missouri, cop who shot Michael Brown to death after claiming the unarmed teen charged him. The CT scan Hoft published in a blog post claiming Wilson’s eye socket was fractured originally had the text “Univ. of Iowa” — indicating it was not of Wilson at all — but it was removed and republished. Charles Johnson of LGF writes, “Jim Hoft is busted. Exposed as a fraudster. He should apologize and retract this post, but I know he won’t — because that’s not how the Dumbest (and Most Dishonest) Man on the Internet rolls.”

GAO: Pentagon violated law with Bergdahl swap
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Pentagon broke the law when it swapped Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, a prisoner in Afghanistan for five years, for five Taliban leaders, congressional investigators said Thursday.

Vermont dignitaries expected for Jeffords funeral
RUTLAND, Vt. (AP) — Vermont’s congressional delegation and other dignitaries from across the state are due in Rutland for the funeral of former U.S. Sen. Jim Jeffords.

Did the protesters and police in Ferguson go too far?
Americans weigh in on the protests and the police response following the shooting of Michael Brown, in a new CBS News/New York Times poll

On MSNBC’s The Ed Show, Eric Boehlert Denounces Right-Wing Media’s “Contemptuous, Shallow” Obsession With Obama’s Vacations

From the August 21 edition of MSNBC’s The Ed Show:

Previously: 

Bush Speechwriter Thiessen’s Hypocrisy On Presidential Vacations

Chris Wallace’s Double Standard On Presidential Vacations During A Russian Crisis

Media Criticize Obama’s Florida Trip, Ignore Bush Vacation During 2008 Invasion Of Georgia

Is Ferguson a Social Media Victim?
Froma Harrop, RealClearPolitics
Soon the cameras, protesters, gawkers and tweeters will depart Ferguson, Missouri, leaving the question: What will be left of this embattled city when the smoke clears? We’ve seen predominantly African-American communities caught up in such turmoil before. We’ve seen the people’s buildings, stores, places of employment and reputation wrecked for decades — Watts in 1965 and Newark in 1967. In both cases, demonstrations set off by long-simmering grievances attracted violence and those who feasted on it. What’s different this time is the role of social media in changing both how the story is…

Sullivan’s Alaska Win: Another GOP Establishment Triumph
Scott Conroy, RealClearPolitics
There may not have been an incumbent on the ballot in Tuesday’s Republican U.S. Senate primary in Alaska, but the national GOP establishment had a favored horse in the race in former state attorney general Dan Sullivan. And as has happened time and again this primary season, the establishment candidate triumphed over a Tea Party foe whom Washington Republicans feared would be unelectable in November. With 99 percent of precincts reporting, Sullivan won 40.1 percent of the vote, besting Tea Party favorite Joe Miller (32 percent) and Lt. Gov. Mead Treadwell (24.9). Miller had been running a…

The Media and the Mob
Thomas Sowell, RealClearPolitics
Those of us who admit that we were not there, and do not know what happened when Michael Brown was shot by a policeman in Ferguson, Missouri, seem to be in the minority. We all know what has happened since then — and it has been a complete disgrace by politicians, the media and mobs of rioters and looters. Despite all the people who act as if they know exactly what happened, nevertheless when the full facts come out, that can change everything. This is why we have courts of law, instead of relying on the media or mobs. But politics is undermining law. On the eve of a grand jury being…

Obituary: Albert Reynolds
Self-made businessman who became Ireland’s prime minister

Health experts’ food poverty warning
More people are suffering from malnutrition as a result of worsening food poverty, health experts warn.

Labour to ‘remove’ bad energy firms
Labour pledges to give a new regulator the power to remove energy firms’ licences, if it wins the next election.

From Missouri to Syria, Journalists Are Becoming Targets
Reporters, editors and those who monitor the freedom of the press describe a harsh environment for reporters, in the United States and abroad.

A Fast-Food Symbol of America Falls in Moscow
Many Muscovites believe the Russian government’s decision to close four McDonald’s locations, ostensibly for sanitary reasons, was a political move related to the conflict in Ukraine.

Sinosphere Blog: New Map Shows China’s True Expanse, General Says
China has issued two new country maps this summer that are stirring debate across Asia.

Afghanistan Defends Expulsion of a Times Reporter
The government lashed out at criticism from the United Nations and the American envoy over the expulsion of Matthew Rosenberg, saying a report by him was an act of espionage.

World Briefing: Congo: Illness Kills at Least 70 People
At least 70 people have died in the northern part of the Democratic Republic of Congo from an outbreak of hemorrhagic gastroenteritis, the World Health Organization said Thursday.

The Growing GOP Push To Shut Down The Government Again

The comments come a day after Mitch McConnell hinted that more shutdowns could be on the way.

The post The Growing GOP Push To Shut Down The Government Again appeared first on ThinkProgress.

CREDIT: AP

A day after Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) hinted that he could force another government shutdown if Republicans win back the Senate in November, a senate hopeful suggested he would be on board with another shutdown, lauding the party’s decision to let the government close this past October.

Speaking at a candidates’ forum on Thursday, David Perdue responded to a moderator’s question about his backing for the 16-day shutdown led by Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), saying “that speaks for itself.” “I think it was the situation that we had in Washington was over Obamacare,” he added. “What I was saying was that we cannot default on our interest payments.”

In October, the candidate told reporters that he would not have voted to advance legislation in the Senate that would fund the government if included dollars for the Affordable Care Act, leading to a standoff that kept federal agencies closed for more than two weeks and impacted states across the country. The shuttering cost Georgia at least $324 million dollars, according to an estimate from Moody’s, a financial ratings company. Nationally, the shutdown and the uncertainty over whether lawmakers would vote to raise the country’s debt ceiling reduced economic output by 0.25 percent in the fourth quarter of 2013 and cost about 120,000 private sector jobs in the first two weeks of October.

On Wednesday, McConnell told reporters that the country could expect more shutdowns in the future, pledging to attach a host of Republican policy priorities to must-pass spending bills if the GOP takes back the senate in November. Perdue adopts a similar line at campaign rallies. On Tuesday, he told an audience in Cobb County, “We will win the Senate back. We will put forth an agenda that will force this president to either veto or get in line and let’s move forward.” Should the GOP prevail in November, its commitment to strong arming the president could lead to more high-stakes spending fights and possible government closures.

The post The Growing GOP Push To Shut Down The Government Again appeared first on ThinkProgress.

Immigrant Rights Groups Push Obama for Bolder Executive Action
From: Zoë Carpenter

Undocumented immigrants and their advocates are concerned that the president’s orders will be far more limited than the hype suggests—and they’re trying to raise the bar for what aggressive action really means.

The Most Important Political Figure in Europe Visits Kiev This Saturday
From: Nation in the News

When Chancellor Merkel meets with President Petro Poroshenko, she’s going to want something in return

When Dick Cheney Swatted an ‘Annoying Mosquito’ Named Paul Ryan
From: John Nichols

Ryan still doesn’t get that attacking Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid is political nonstarter.

How to End the Criminalization of America’s Mothers
From: The Curve

Other countries provide childcare and income supports for poor mothers; in the United States, we arrest them.

The Risks Journalists Take on Our Behalf
Ed Morrissey, Fiscal Times
The ghastly death of James Foley reminded us this week of those risks taken by journalists on our behalf. Foley had been captured in November 2012 while trying to cover the civil war in Syria, which at the time had not quite captured the American public’s rapt attention. The Obama administration had called for Bashar al-Assad’s resignation a year earlier, but the news media was much more focused at that time on the presidential election in the US and the attack on the US consulate in Benghazi. Ironically, Foley had only recently won his release from capture in Libya by loyalists…

Midterm Loss for Dems May Be Boon for Clinton
John Harwood, NY Times
WASHINGTON — President Obama’s international woes give his former secretary of state good reason to seek political distance. Hillary Rodham Clinton’s recent foreign policy criticisms made that clear.Domestically, their interests diverge in a different way. A Republican takeover of the Senate this fall would hurt Mr. Obama for the final two years of his presidency, but it might help Mrs. Clinton if she runs to succeed him.

Obamacare & Extreme Judicial Politics
Linda Greenhouse, NY Times
The Affordable Care Act — Obamacare — has endured so many near-death experiences that digging into the details of still another effort to demolish it is admittedly not an inviting prospect. (My own reaction, I confess, to hearing some months back about the latest legal challenge — this one aimed at the supposed effect of a single word in the 900-page statute — was something along the lines of “wake me when it’s over.”)

Ferguson Divides Us Less Than We Imagine
E.J. Dionne, Washington Post
WASHINGTON — African-Americans are not alone in being horrified by the killing of Michael Brown. They are not alone in their concern over the police’s behavior. And there’s evidence that a large number of white Americans have still not fully formed their views on this tragedy. This means that how we discuss and debate the events in Ferguson, Mo., in the coming weeks really matters.What you have probably heard up to now is how racially polarized the country is in its reaction to the shooting of Brown by a police officer — at least six times, including twice to the head. But polarization is…