PushBack Politics
US govt prevented drone strike victims from meeting with Congress, lawyer claims
The lawyer representing a family that survived of an alleged CIA drone strike in Pakistan has accused the US government of intentionally obstructing what would have been the first meeting between surviving drone strike victims and American lawmakers. Shahzad Akbar, the director of the Pakistan-based Foundation for Fundamental rights and a legal fellow with Reprieve, a British human rights group, told The Guardian he planned to travel with his clients to Washington next week but the US State Department failed to grant him a visa for political reasons, although the family was granted visas. Akbar represents Rafiq ur-Rehman, his son 13-year-old Zubair ur-Rehman, and daughter, nine-year-old Nabila ur-Rehman. The family hails from the tribal regions of north Waziristan and have asserted that the children were injured in a drone strike last year that killed their grandmother (Rehman’s mother) Mamana. The CIA does not publicly acknowledge specific drone strikes or the events surrounding them but recent estimates have determined that an estimated 3,105 people have been killed in drone strikes in Pakistan. While the official total remains murky, civilians are thought to make up at least 17% of that total, including at least 175 children, according to Pitch Interactive, a Berkley-based [...]
‘You’re F*cking With Us, Right?’ Jon Stewart Delivers Stinging Takedown of Ted Cruz Filibuster
After listening to part of Ted Cruz‘s 21-hour Nazi-invoking filibuster, Jon Stewart was convinced that whatever Cruz was speaking out against must be nothing less than the zombie apocalypse. So he was more than a little confused at how Cruz was going on about Obamacare, mocking Cruz’s constant tangents and his apparent lack of seriousness about really solving America’s health care crisis. And, of course, the Dr. Seuss. Cruz pledged to talk until he could stand no more. Stewart shot back, “Easy for you to take that kind of physical risk, you have government health care.” Stewart went through all the bizarre pop culture references Cruz made, from Ashton Kutcher and Duck Dynasty to White Castle and Star Wars. But what really killed Stewart was Cruz’s somewhat ironic invocation of Green Eggs and Ham. “So to express your opposition to Obamacare, you go to the book about a stubborn jerk who decides he hates something before he’s tried it, and when he finally gets a taste, he has to admit after he’s tasted it, ‘This is pretty fucking good.’” Stewart then went after Cruz on the specifics of his health care objections, and ended the segment with an epic reading [...]
Obama: ‘The Affordable Care Act Is Here To Stay’
Speaking from Largo, Md. Thursday morning, President Barack Obama promoted the benefits of his health care law before new insurance exchanges open for business next week.
President Bill Clinton Does Great Impersonation of U2′s Bono (full)
Note: the first part is a tiny bit of Bono doing Clinton – then the rest of the video is Bill Clinton doing Bono
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