Good for Elizabeth Warren.

Warren announced she would not attend the speech in a statement issued by her office Monday evening.

“I strongly support Israel, and I remain deeply concerned about the prospect of an Iranian nuclear weapon, which I discussed in detail with Prime Minister Netanyahu when we met in Jerusalem last November,” the Democratic senator said in a statement. “It’s unfortunate that Speaker Boehner’s actions on the eve of a national election in Israel have made Tuesday’s event more political and less helpful for addressing the critical issue of nuclear nonproliferation and the safety of our most important ally in the Middle East.”

I’m also a supporter of Israel who’s appalled at this nakedly political move by the Republican Party, obviously intended to undermine President Obama. And I sincerely hope it backfires on them, as it should.

Ah, CPAC — the conservative movement’s primary action conference, attended by most of the major Republican politicians and prospective front runners for the Presidential nomination.

The conservative conference where religious fanatic and overt racist Phil Robertson gets a “First Amendment” award from Breitbart “News.”

And the conservative conference that gave press credentials and free access to the Tennessee white supremacist radio show Political Cesspool.

Yes, they really did.

SoundCloud

Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu is giving a very controversial address to Congress tomorrow, as you’ve probably heard; some Democrats are reportedly considering boycotting the speech, because it’s an egregious violation of the usual diplomatic protocols. And it’s not just US Democrats who think John Boehner’s invitation to Netanyahu was a terrible idea — nearly 200 Israeli intelligence and security officials have also expressed their opposition, saying it would do serious damage to US-Israel relations. But Netanyahu is unmoved, and the speech is going ahead.

But the most insane reaction to Netanyahu’s speech (so far) comes from World Net Daily crackpot Andrea Shea King, who says any elected officials who skip the speech should be “hanging from a noose.”

Especially members of the Congressional Black Caucus.

Via Right Wing Watch:

King specifically suggested hanging members of the Congressional Black Caucus, saying “their districts are all dumb clucks because these dumb clucks wouldn’t be electing these people if they knew better.”

“How do people like this get to represent us in Congress?” she asked. “Because there are stupid people out there in those congressional districts who are so ignorant it’s dangerous…. Stupid, stupid people. Our lives are on the line and all they can think of is skin color. All of us will turn black if we end up in a cage on fire.”

Oh brother. RT @JamesOKeefeIII: Thanks to all for applying for @Project_Veritas at #CPAC2015. pic.twitter.com/jLLnGXoy9z

— Charles Johnson (@Green_Footballs) March 2, 2015

YouTube

As a Todd Rundgren fan from way way back, I was ecstatic to find this absolutely amazing video of the full concert he performed in 2012 with Amsterdam’s Metropole Orchestra. He does all of his greatest songs, and is in exceptionally good voice throughout, and the audio quality is outstanding. A real treat, and worth watching all the way through.

The following presentation is a crowd sourced video production.
More info, interview and show notes AND the 2011 concert here: keezer.nl

Footage collected from consumer videocameras and HD mobile phones in the audience -12 in total- brought together in a real time full length concert registration.

The performance of the artists, combined with superb sound quality from the radio broadcast, makes the viewer forget that camera work and picture quality are not always up to modern broadcast standards.

However this sense of reality adds an extra dimension to the concert experience, making it most enjoyable to watch this unique concert, seen entirely through the eyes of Todd Rundgren fans.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Todd Rundgren and The Metropole Orchestra

Paradiso, Amsterdam Holland
November 11, 2012

Conductor: Steve Sidwell

Orchestrations: Tom Trapp

Intitiator: Co de Kloet

All songs written by Todd Rundgren
itunes.apple.com

The Metropole Orchestra, featuring:

Lex Bolderdijk- guitars
Hans Vroomans - piano and synthesizer
Boudewijn Lucas - bass guitar
Arno van Nieuwenhuize - drums

metropoleorkest.nl

Backing vocals by

Mathilde Santing (production)
Mariske Hekkenberg
Wouter Penris (backing vocal arrangements)

Painting by Bert Wouters
bertwouters.nl

Crowd sourced video production:

iPhones (camera 1 and 2) - Lion Keezer (front stage left)

Original HD and SD video footage kindly provided by

Peter Mader (HD balcony front)
Jack Moerman (balcony right)
Jaqueline Poortvliet (balcony left)
Dirk-Jan Booy (mobile)

Additional YouTube video footage shared from:

Paul Berkholst ‘Unicapb21’ - (CU’s front stage)
Bart Brugman - (front middle)
‘Toddmania1856’ - (balcony right)
‘casiomusic.nl’ - (top balcony)
Bart Versteeg - (opening total, balcony right)
‘Boddgla’ - (balcony right)
‘ModestyXX’ - (front)

Thank you all for making this possible.

Audio live radio mix by NTR Radio

Concert video production and video editing:

Lion Keezer
lion@keezer.nl

More info: keezer.nl

For Todd, his fans and all involved in this project

You may have heard that the moderator for the first Republican presidential debate will be right wing talk radio host Hugh Hewitt, which makes total sense from the GOP’s point of view — because he’s guaranteed not to ask any questions that might be embarrassing. For example, whether they reject the scientific theory of evolution.

Hugh Hewitt will not be asking questions about contraceptives at CNN’s Republican presidential debate.

In an interview with radio host Aaron Klein that will air Sunday night on New York’s AM 970 The Answer, Hewitt ruled out certain types of questions completely.

“I don’t care what people think about evolution,” he told Klein. “I don’t care. I never cared. I don’t care if they know how old the earth is and I just have never cared about personal religious beliefs.”

This is the latest Republican talking point on evolution, of course; who cares? What does it matter?

It matters because Republican politicians at every level of government are still, in 2015, trying to find ways to sneak the teaching of creationism into public school science classes. In Louisiana, for example, where Gov. Bobby Jindal signed into law a “teach the controversy” bill sponsored and written by the creationist Discovery Institute.

It would be especially embarrassing this time around, too, because it looks like this may be the first GOP presidential race in which all of the candidates are creationists.

And this is why they’re now pretending it doesn’t matter. Classic dishonest misdirection from the anti-science party that specializes in it.

We should also note, by the way, that Hugh Hewitt himself is a creationist. (h/t: Timothy Sandefur.)

“Doubt is our product”

YouTube

In March 2015, Robert Kenner, the Director of “Food Inc” and other acclaimed documentaries, will debut his newest, “Merchants of Doubt”.
Based on the book by Naomi Oreskes and Eric Conway, the film follows the development of sophisticated methods for distorting science, used by the Tobacco industry to hide the poisonous nature of their products, and adapted by the Fossil Fuel industry to distort the science around climate change.

Note: the documentary has had limited showings in the UK and US at festivals and limited venues, the Official release is in March.

YouTube

From Bob Schneider’s King Kong Vol. 1 EP :: Released Feb 10, 2015

Video shot/edited/directed by: Bob Schneider

facebook.com
Twitter: twitter.com
Website: bobschneider.com

Here they are, folks, the straw poll results you’ve been waiting for! (What, you haven’t been waiting for these?)

These are the loons most admired by CPAC attendees this year:

President:
1. Rand Paul
2. Scott Walker
3. Ted Cruz
4. Ben Carson
5. Jeb Bush

Here are the complete results of the clown car vote:

@Green_Footballs Well, 5th out of 17 anyway: pic.twitter.com/OqCEACZjnw

— Craig Montuori (@craig_montuori) February 28, 2015

Russian Liberal politician Boris Nemtsov was assassinated across the street from the Kremlin today:

He was shot four times late on Friday night, not far from the Kremlin in the center of Moscow. Police cars blocked the street where he was shot. An ambulance was also nearby.

“Nemtsov B.E. died at 2340 hours as a result of four shots in the back,” an Interior Ministry spokeswoman said by telephone.

#Nemtsov 's body lies 200 meters away from the very #Kremlin he fought against #Assasination #Putin v @howardamos pic.twitter.com/grEFQuky2F

— Amr No 2 CC (@Cairo67Unedited) February 27, 2015

Nemstov was a long time Putin critic. He was shot on his way home from conducting a TV interview. He had been scheduled to be part of a major anti-war rally on March 1st
More: Russian Opposition Leader Nemtsov Shot Dead in Moscow
————
More of Nemtsov’s background:

Boris Yefimovich Nemtsov (Russian: Борис Ефимович Немцóв; 9 October 1959 - 27 February 2015[1]) was a Russian statesman and liberal politician, a co-chair of the RPR-PARNAS political party, one of the leaders of the Solidarnost movement and an outspoken critic of Vladimir Putin.

Nemtsov was the first governor of the Nizhny Novgorod Oblast (1991-97). Later he worked in Government of Russia as Minister of fuel and energy (1997), Vice Premier of Russia and Security Council member from 1997 to 1998. In 1998 he founded the Young Russia movement. In 1998, he co-founded the coalition group Right Cause and in 1999, he co-formed Union of Right Forces, electoral bloc and subsequently political party. He was elected several times as Russian parliament member. Nemtsov was a member of Congress of People’s Deputies (1990), Federation Council (1993-1997) and State Duma (1999-2003). He also worked as Vice Speaker of the State Duma and the leader of parliamentary group of Union of Right Forces. After a split in the Union of Right Forces in 2008, he co-founded Solidarnost. In 2010, he co-formed coalition For Russia without Lawlessness and Corruption (was refused in registration as party). Since 2012 Nemtsov has been co-chair of Republican Party of Russia - People’s Freedom Party (RPR-PARNAS), a registered political party.[2][3]

He was a candidate of physico-mathematical sciences, was as an author of several publications criticising the Putin administration, and was an active organizer and participant of Dissenters’ Marches, Strategy-31 and rallies «For Fair Elections»

———

“I'm afraid #Putin will kill me,” Boris Nemtsov told an independent Belarusian television channel two weeks ago. http://t.co/s5FHbLeYUV

— Polly Mosendz (@pollyNYC) February 27, 2015

Boris Nemtsov, shot in Moscow tonight, speaking about Putin in yesterday's @FT http://t.co/flzFmvOabb pic.twitter.com/fDvu5uzY59

— Lorcan Roche Kelly (@LorcanRK) February 27, 2015

——-
Putin is of course deeply concerned

Putin is already floating his own theory of what happened, according to Dmitry Zaks of AFP:

#BREAKING #Putin thinks #Nemtsov killed by hired assasin, views it as a (political) “provocation”: #Kremlin spokesman Peskov via state TV
- Dmitry Zaks (@dmitryzaksAFP) February 27, 2015

Less than an hour after Nemtsov death was reported, Putin entered into the controvsery around his death in a second way. Putin is “taking personal control of the investigation into Nemtsov’s murder,” according to a Kremlin spokesperson, someting that will not be reassuring to Putin’s opponents.

—-

Obituary from Radio Free Europe

Boris Nemtsov, A Russian Political ‘Golden Boy’ Who Battled Putin, Dead At 55

Once dubbed the “golden boy” of Russian politics in the media, Nemtsov was later named first deputy prime minister by Yeltsin, a move that many interpreted as the Russian leader’s bid to groom his heir to the Kremlin.

After Yeltsin handed over power to Putin, who was elected president in 2000, Nemtsov became a vocal critic of the new Russian leader as the Kremlin moved to stifle critical media outlets and launched a campaign against wealthy Yeltsin-era oligarchs who refused to toe the government’s line.

Nemtsov served as a deputy in Russia’s lower house of parliament, the State Duma, during Putin’s first term. He lost his seat in 2003 parliamentary elections that saw the pro-Kremlin party United Russia seize an overwhelming majority.

In the ensuing years, he led an array of liberal-minded opposition movements and parties, and authored reports accusing Putin’s government of massive corruption.

In 2013, Nemtsov released a report alleging that officials and businessmen had stolen up to $30 billion in funds earmarked to finance the 2014 Winter Olympics in his hometown, Russia’s Black Sea resort of Sochi.

“It is obvious that Putin’s friends are running the preparations for the Olympic Games,” Nemtsov told RFE/RL at the time. “It is also obvious that one is reluctant to put his own friends behind bars. However, we cannot look at all this passively because the scale [of their activities] will only grow bigger. The embezzlement they are presiding over is not just some kind of children’s game but a real threat to Russia’s national security.”