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Republicans support war heroes (as long as they are Republican war heroes)

John McCain is “not a war hero,” Trump said. “He was a war hero because he was captured. I like people who weren’t captured.”trump loud

“Outrageous!” shouted Republican candidates who had no problem with Trump calling Mexican immigrants rapists and criminals. “Terrible!” said GOP operates who never questioned Trump’s insistence that Obama wasn’t born in America.

They all agreed: “Why, we can’t have one of our candidates saying politicians who are great war heroes don’t deserve our respect!”

Well, unless it’s multiple purple-heart winner John Kerry. We can call him a coward and anti-American and get people to say he didn’t earn those awards and never really was injured even though the evidence clearly shows otherwise.

Oh, and Representative Tammy Duckworth, who lost both her legs in Iraq. We can insult her all we want and say she’s not a ‘true hero.’

And let’s not forget Max Cleland, the former Senator who lost three limbs in Vietnam, who Republicans declared was no war hero either.

Those examples are completely different from McCain’s situation. Completely different!

All those people are Democrats!

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Editorial cartoon: Our evil plan

Nick Anderson

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Things are only worse because of the internet

Objectively, things keep improving. Seriously.

Crime is down. Life expectancy is up. Accidents are down.

Computers are doing more. Medical science is saving lives that would have been lost only ten years ago.

The air and water is cleaner. Our food is safer. Products we buy are safer.goodnews

More countries are democracies than ever before. People have more rights than ever before.

Graduation rates are up. Teenage pregnancies are down.

Things are better.

You’d never know this from watching the news, though, for two main reasons:

First, the news stations and the internet sites need you to watch so they blow everything out of proportion to get you to pay attention.

Second, news that never would have gotten attention outside of your local area now is known everywhere. That makes it look like there is something terrible happening every day and gosh darn it, I don’t remember that happening when I was younger! Clearly, things have gotten worse. No, you’re just more aware of it now.

It’s like reports about police brutality. Every day, there is another one, but I’m pretty sure this has always been going on and we’re just hearing about it more now, especially since everyone carries around a portable movie camera in their phones these days.

This is not to say everything is improving. Anti-science movements have censored schoolbooks and brought back diseases that had been practically eliminated. Gun deaths have increased thanks to the lessening of gun control. Income inequality is at the highest it has been since the Great Depression. Forest fires, storms and temperatures are more extreme and deadly thanks to climate change.

But when you sit back and wonder why there seems to be so much bad news these days, remember: There really isn’t. It just seems that way.

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Editorial cartoon: A flaw in the plan

Matt Bors 

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An old joke

There’s an old joke that goes like this:jadehelm2015-martial_law_or_invasion_training

“Why are you banging that drum so loud?”

“It’s to keep the tigers away.”

“There are no tigers within a thousand miles of here!”

“You’re welcome.”

You might have heard of the crazies in Texas who are convinced that a regular military exercise being performed there is actually Obama’s evil plan to have them take over Texas and instill martial law, because, after all, once Texas goes, the rest of the country is helpless. These people think that the military, which swears an oath to the Constitution and not the President, will simply ignore such an illegal order; that the Republicans who have never said “yes” to Obama on anything will simply roll over and agree; that the press won’t contest it; and that liberals — who by definition hate totalitarian governments — will be completely in favor of this scheme.

To make this paranoid delusion even more amazing, these people also believe that they, and they alone, have the power to stop this thanks to their God-given right to their guns — because they and their rifles will be able to hold back tanks, missiles, drones, and the most powerful, best trained military in the history of the world.

They’re really looking forward to it. Some have posted on the internet about how anxious they are to “kill liberals.”  I am not making this up.

But here’s what’s going to happen: Nothing.

And then these same people will bang their drums and brag:

“If it hadn’t been for us being so prepared, Obama would have taken over America by force!  

You’re welcome.”

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Editorial cartoon: The peace process

peaceDarrin Bell

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Iran (so far away)

By wanting to know what I was talking about, I have disqualified myself from ever being considered a Republican.

I guess that’s a good thing, really.

You see, when Obama announced the deal with Iran, I started reading articles about it to see exactly what it said. I went on my Facebook page and asked for advice from those who follow these things closer, and otherwise tried to educate myself before making an opinion.reagan

Not so the Republican party, whose motto is “If Obama is for it, we’re against it.” As soon as the 100-page treaty was announced, Marco Rubio had a commercial denouncing it for “allowing Iran to build a nuclear bomb.” From what I have read, it does the exact opposite, but hey, when have facts ever stood in the way of a good Republican rant?

Before the treaty, there was a policy of cutting Iran off from all trade. We had a lot of other countries working with us as well. The policy worked, because it got them to the negotiating table. The new treaty reinstates trade (good for business) and allows us to investigate and make sure they’re not building bombs (something we didn’t have the power to do before).

Now, did we get everything we wanted? No, of course not. That’s how negotiations work. That’s how treaties with other countries work. You get as much as you can, and it’s better to get 50% of what you want than 0% any day.

But that’s not how the GOP sees it: In their mind, it’s far better to go to war. (It’s also more profitable to the industries that bankroll the GOP.) And whatever is in the treaty doesn’t matter, because they’re against it, especially because they haven’t read it and think it does things it doesn’t do (“Don’t confuse my opinion with facts!”).

Keep in mind that the real reason they’re against it is because it was a treaty from Obama, who may have finally earned his Nobel Peace Prize. Had a Republican President made the exact same treaty, he’d be a great hero, like Nixon opening relationships with China.

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Editorial cartoon: War before diplomacy

day

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Presidential Polling This Early is Meaningless

We have 16 months until the Presidential election, but that won’t stop the pundits from making absolutely ridiculous predictions based on polling numbers.

“Donald Trump is ahead in the polls!” they say. Yeah, but to beat 14 other people in a poll, you only need to get what, 7% of the vote? Trump is ahead among Republicans only and even then in a small amount, and I’d be willing to bet that a lot of the support for Trump is because of name recognition. You think the average voter out there knows who Scott Walker is?

Remember 2012?  As the primary season approached, Romney was the clear front runner in the Republican polls. Then suddenly it was Gingrich, who famously declared that the race was over and he was the winner. That lasted about a week and then Herman Cain was the guy ahead. Then it was Santorum for a short period before moving back to Romney again. All that happened within a few months from November through February or so, and all of those polls only had meaning to people who needed something to talk about in order to fill the 24 hour news cycle.

So far, not one of the Republican candidates comes anywhere close to beating Hillary Clinton in the polls — in fact, Trump does the worst (out of the main candidates). There’s a reason Democrats are cheering on his campaign.

But even so, that polling is just as meaningless. Anything can happen between now and election day. At this point back in 2008, Hillary was way ahead in the polls against this new guy called Barack Obama …

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Editorial cartoon: Whitewashing History