If you want to form a new, radicalized government, start small.
It's cheaper.
When Brownback was elected governor in 2010, there was only one group of politicians standing in his way. Surprisingly, they were not Democrats – whose numbers in the Kansas legislature had dwindled so precipitously as to render them effectively impotent – but a small band of moderate Republicans, who balked at the most extreme elements of Brownback's agenda and still had enough power in the Kansas Senate to gum up the works. And so when the 2012 Republican primary rolled around, Brownback and his supporters recruited an army of right-wing challengers and targeted the moderates with unprecedented alacrity. Not to mention cash: During the primary, outside spending from groups like Americans for Prosperity (a lobbying group founded by the Koch brothers), the Kansas Chamber of Commerce (run by former Koch employees), the Club for Growth and Kansans for Life totalled, according to varying estimates, somewhere between $3 million and $8 million.
[…] Of the 22 moderate Senators targeted, only five survived. It was a wholesale rout, a bloodbath. After the primary, Brownback told reporters that voters made a "clear statement . . . I think what you had is, the market functioned on Tuesday."
"I think Brownback is fascinated by how easy it is to change things as governor, as opposed to being one of 100 U.S. senators," a Topeka insider with ties to both parties tells me. "The current Republican legislature watched the moderates get executed by the Brownback machine. They know, and are no doubt regularly reminded of, how Brownback destroyed the career of a solid conservative like Dick Kelsey. And they know he's capable of killing any one of them."
Blast from the Past. At Daily Kos on this date in 2002—
No charges against Padilla:
Once upon a time, security agencies needed things like "charges," or "probable cause" to arrest and detain someone. Thanks to the WOT, that's no longer necessary. Case in point: The alleged "dirty bomb" suspect that had the press in titters the last two days. While headlines trumpeted a victorious blow against terror, the government's case against gangbanger Jose Padilla was nothing more than vapor. The latest in this bizarre saga? Rumsfeld now admits that the US is not going to arrest Padilla. They just want to 'question him'.
Yet at the same time, in violation of everything this country and its Constitution stand for, he is being held "indefinitely". This is getting really scary.
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Tweet of the Day:
On today's
Kagro in the Morning show,
Greg Dworkin brings us a few non-NSA happenings, including the collapse of the IRS story, Bloomberg's move to cut off big donor funding for Dems against the gun bill, and the state of play on immigration reform.
Armando weighed in on NSA/Snowden legality and constitutionality (and "hero" versus "traitor" labeling, as well). Finally, Ted Cruz blocks budget progress, demanding assurances no debt ceiling increase will be added in conference. But is that even a thing that can happen? Well, yes and no. So is Ted Cruz off his rocker? Well, yes and no. But really, yes.
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