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Showing posts from March, 2015

The Republican Suppression Act

A California ballot initiative to be voted on next year: a) The abominable crime against nature known as Republicanism, called also Conservatism, is a monstrous evil that Almighty God, giver of freedom and liberty, commands us to suppress on pain of our utter destruction even as he overthrew Sodom and Gomorrha. b) Seeing that it is better that offenders should die rather than that all of us should be killed by God's just wrath against us for the folly of tolerating-wickedness in our midst, the People of California wisely command, in the fear of God, that any person who willingly votes or campaigns for a Republican be put to death by bullets to the head or by any other convenient method. c) No person shall distribute, perform, or transmit Republican propaganda directly or indirectly by any means to any person under the age of majority. Republican propaganda is defined as anything aimed at creating an interest in or an acceptance of human political deviance in support of rich p...

Just Mentally Disturbed, I guess

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Steven Timothy Snyder: Yesterday, this guy robbed a bank, killed a bystander, hijacked a car, and then killed a young policeman, before being gunned down himself. Mr. Snyder had a twenty year long history as a white supremacist, including membership in the National Front, once the number one neo-Nazi group in the country, and having been arrested in a violent skinhead attack on blacks and Hispanics. I bet you can guess what word in the English language is conspicuously missing from any of the dozens of articles about this guy: yup, "terrorist."  It didn't occur to anyone at all of the news organizations reporting on this incident to question whether this person with twenty years of history as a right wing racist might be a terrorist.  Oh no, it was just a garden variety crime, which has no connection to his political past, and can therefore just be forgotten, along with the hundreds of other murders committed by skinheads, Sovereign Citizens, Christian Identity fol...

Sharia Law

Just a brief comment about the new Indiana law making it legal for employers to force their own religion on their workers and customers: We have heard, in the last decade or so, tens of thousands of ludicrous accusations from right wingers that Democrats are working to allow Sharia law to take over in this country.  Why will no Democrat stand up and state the obvious: laws like the one recently passed in Indiana and now being considered in a number of other Republican dominated States do exactly that: they legalized the forced imposition of Sharia law on customers and employees by Muslim business owners? Of course, the sort of people who enact disgusting laws like this are so stupid and short sighted that they cannot even conceive that anyone but members of their own religion would think that these laws apply to them too.  Religious freedom obviously applies only to Christians, and not just Christians, but the sort of closed-minded, angry, hate-filled Christians who go to ...

Wingnut Wrapup

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I've been uninterested in these right wing jackasses lately, but today I thought I'd take a look.  Maybe distance makes the heart grow fonder, or maybe they've gotten their idiotic groove back, but I thought there was a lot of good stuff today. First, of  course, there is the inevitable, and from the inevitable source, Jim Hoft of Gateway Pundit: I waited most of the day to add this item, to see if a single mainstream press organization would touch it with a barge pole.  You know that if they could, they'd be screaming about it nonstop, but no...only Jim and the usual assorted dimwits who repeat his lies (Pam Geller, Liberty News, et. al.) are reporting this.  Par for the course from these guys, except for this:  I feel lucky if I get 500 hits a day; Gateway Pundit gets 4-5 million hits a month. Update:  Jim Hoft has altered his article.  The headline now reads: "UPDATE: Germanwings Co-Pilot Andreas Lubitz Was Planning “Spectacular Gesture”...

Just How Sick Is The Right In This Country?

Here's a little story told by Duck Dynasty's Phil Robertson, recent winner of Breitbart's "Defender of the First Amendment" award, and beloved as a patriot throughout the right.  It's strong stuff, so if you are easily upset, maybe you should skip the rest of this post: “I’ll make a bet with you,” Robertson said. “Two guys break into an atheist’s home. He has a little atheist wife and two little atheist daughters. Two guys break into his home and tie him up in a chair and gag him. And then they take his two daughters in front of him and rape both of them and then shoot them and they take his wife and then decapitate her head off in front of him. And then they can look at him and say, ‘Isn’t it great that I don’t have to worry about being judged? Isn’t it great that there’s nothing wrong with this? There’s no right or wrong, now is it dude?’”   Robertson kept going: “Then you take a sharp knife and take his manhood and hold it in front of him and say, ‘Wou...

Steve King Tells Jews How To Be Jews

So, it's well established that Rep. Steve King is just about as big an asshole as you could ever find in Congress (which is, after all, a den of assholes, so that is an achievement) but he has really set a new standard with this one. "Rep. Steve King (R-IA) criticized "Jews in America" who, in an effort to align themselves with President Obama's stance on Israel, are "Democrats first and Jewish second," BuzzFeed reported on Friday.  King's comments were made during an interview on Friday with Boston Herald Radio about the members of Congress who refused to attend Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's speech to Congress on March 3. "Well, there were some 50 or so Democrats that, that decided they would boycott the president's speech," King said. "Here's what I don't understand, I don't understand how Jews in America can be Democrats first and Jewish second and support Israel along the line of ...

TED!

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Ted, Ted, Ted! All I want to know is how Saturday Night Live is going to get Bill Murray back, to play him:

Bibi Changes My Mind

Anyone who has read this blog knows that I have always been a strong supporter of Israel, and have spent a fair amount of time there.  This was the result of a job there, not for religious reasons, just to be clear; but I have seen things in Israel for myself, and have been to parts of Israel and the West Bank that most foreigners would never see. I have to say, though, that supporting the country's right to exist is not the same as supporting any one of its politicians.  As an American, I certainly don't support the warmonger McCain, or the terminally dishonest sociopath Mitt Romney, and I would have continued to oppose them if the American people had been stupid enough to send them to the White House.   This is not because (as is the case with Republican hatred for Obama) it is a partisan duty to destroy opposition parties, or because I hate their race, but because their policies, at every step of the way, are destructive to this nation.  And for the same reason,...

Obama: I Should Have Closed Gitmo My First Day

No shit, Sherlock.  So, why didn't you?

A Little More Right Wing Violence

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Some of you may have heard about an incident today in Mesa, Arizona, in which a jerk went on a rampage, shooting six people, thankfully killing only one of them.  This guy turns out to be a 41 year old idiot named Ryan E. Giroux, who I'm showing below: I do not think I need to explain to you what end of the political spectrum this guy comes from, given the very fashionable skin head eyebrow tattoos and other suggestive disfigurements. Of course, he will be portrayed in the media as just a crazy guy, or maybe he was driven over the edge by playing warcraft. And while I am on the subject, I'd like to mention some new news about another jackass, Larry Steve McQuilliams, who was killed by the police after shooting about a hundred shots at government buildings.  At the time of the shooting, it was reported that McQuilliams was an atheist who was active in the local Renaissance Faires, so he was quickly characterized as some sort of left winger.  Now it turns out that he...

Winning the Old Fashioned Way

You know that I have said recently that to understand Bibi Netanyahu, you need to think of him as an American Republican (where he started his political involvement) rather than as a product of Israeli political culture.  Well, here is another thing which, I think, will reinforce that:  Bibi won far bigger than anyone was predicting, even though Israeli exit polls showed the election tied.  Well, there it is- if it works in Texas and Florida, why not in Israel? 

The Rise of a Republican Star

Tom Cotton...he has been in the Senate for  a little more than two months, but, in the fashion of Ted Cruz, he is more than qualified to take it over and run it as his domain.  And he's been a busy little beaver the last week or so, leading to all sorts of right wing luminaries declaring him to be the reigning star of the Republican party: The National Journal:  "Is This 36-Year-Old Veteran the Future of the GOP?"   Red State:  "Tom Cotton: The Most Powerful Man in Washington"   The New Republic:  "Tom Cotton 2016?  This Dark Horse Could Blow Up the 2016 Republican Primary"   Washington Examiner:  "Tom Cotton touted as 2016 veep for Walker, Bush, Rubio..."He fills the only real qualification of the job: he can take office if POTUS dies or is killed, and can lead in a crisis immediately. Tom would be a real asset to just about any Republican ticket," said one key Republican."   Allen West:  "Eureka! Tom Cotton proves ...

Were There People...

...in the world during the 1930's who watched with horror as they saw and understood what was going on in Germany?  Sure there were; just not enough of them to do what was necessary to avoid 50 million deaths.  I suspect that an awful lot of people around the world are watching the United States these days with the same sense of impending doom. Nice thought, huh?

The Outrages Merge Into One Giant Outrage That Never Stops

I've been awfully busy at work this week (those vampire castles don't design themselves, you know) so I'm most appreciative when someone brings things to my attention that are really worth reading, as Infidel753 has again done, this time a comment on the Republican treason letter by P. M. Carpenter: "There is no cheap political trick beneath them, no honor they refuse to trespass, no skullduggery unworthy of exploitation, and quite simply no bottom to their infamy and deceit. Every day we suspect they have finally hit some imaginary bottom, but they always surprise us.   I no longer believe there is a bottom for these hooligans. Their disgraces are as endless as they are unfathomable. Indeed, their rolling disgraces are so predictable, I no longer even find merit in itemizing at any length the transgressions entailed or detailing the absurdities." Those of you who have read enough of my complaining to know about Wingnut Wrapup will understand how fully I ...

The Logan Act

We've heard a lot about the Logan act lately, which is from the early days of the country, and defines what contacts with foreign governments are not permitted.  I thought it would be useful to reprint the entirety of this very short law, given as I certainly had no idea what was actually in it.  So, here it is: "Any citizen of the United States, wherever he may be, who, without authority of the United States, directly or indirectly commences or carries on any correspondence or intercourse with any foreign government or any officer or agent thereof, with intent to influence the measures or conduct of any foreign government or of any officer or agent thereof, in relation to any disputes or controversies with the United States, or to defeat the measures of the United States, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than three years, or both. This section shall not abridge the right of a citizen to apply, himself or his agent, to any foreign gove...

Have They Really Gone Into The Twilight Zone

Or, more frighteningly, do they think their goal of destroying popular government in the US is so close that they can now abandon any pretense of ever having wanted anything else? Today's example, the perennial bed-wetter Lindsay Graham: "In brief audio obtained by BenSwann.com, Sen. Graham purportedly suggests he would use the military to restrict the movement of Congress until they complied: …[A]nd here is the first thing I would do if I were President of the United States: I wouldn’t let Congress leave town until we fix this. I would literally use the military to keep them in if I had to. We’re not leaving town until we restore these defense cuts. We’re not leaving town until we restore the intel cuts. Asked for comment or clarification, Graham responded to the right-leaning website with this boilerplate: “Due to the large volume of mail I receive, I regret that I am only able to respond personally to inquiries from South Carolinians." Does it not occur to Mr....

Hey, It Was Nothing But A Joke

No, I am not willing to give up talking about the 47 Republican Senators (that's 87% of the 54 Republicans in the Senate, in case you were wondering) who sent a letter to the leaders of Iran which was so disloyal to this country that they even had the right wing New York Daily News calling it treason on its front page.  For once, the Republicans seem to have so revealed their true nature, that people all over the country are outraged at their betrayal.  Let's hope it lasts long enough to really sink in, and make people face what is going on in this country. My ire was inspired this evening by an article in the Daily Beast, which deals with Republicans' attempts to put this ugly genie back into its bottle.  Here are some excerpts, with Green Eagle's usual rude interruptions: "...even among Republicans whose offices have signed the letter, there is some trepidation that the Iran letter injects partisanship into the Iran negotiations" Some trepidation t...

Just How Crazy Are They?

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More crazy than you ever thought: "WASHINGTON -- Rep. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) on Wednesday offered legislative language that would "automatically" punish family members of people who violate U.S. sanctions against Iran, levying sentences of up to 20 years in prison. Cotton also seeks to punish any family member of those people, "to include a spouse and any relative to the third degree," including, "parents, children, aunts, uncles, nephews, nieces, grandparents, great grandparents, grandkids, great grandkids," Cotton said. "There would be no investigation," Cotton said during Wednesday's markup hearing before the House Foreign Affairs Committee. "If the prime malefactor of the family is identified as on the list for sanctions, then everyone within their family would automatically come within the sanctions regime as well. It'd be very hard to demonstrate and investigate to conclusive proof." Putting people in prison for 20...

The Two Americas

I have wanted to assemble a set of maps showing the many ways that Republican areas of the country are just worse off than Democratic areas.  And I have actually collected several of those maps, but Rosa Rubicondor beat me to it.   I want to strongly urge you to take a couple of minutes to take a look at this excellent collection.  It really shows the delusion that right wingers live in when they continue to believe that they have it so great.  They are determined to bring us down to their third-world level, and so far are meeting with a fair degree of success. This post found via Infidel753's weekly link roundup , a high point of my internet week.

The Grand Unified Field Theory of Conservatism

In which every element of right wing insanity finds its place.  I've had an idea of writing an article about this for a while, but could never convince myself that my mind could stretch to contain that much delusion.  Thank heaven, Laurie Roth, a repeat visitor to Wingnut Wrapup, and very possibly the Stephen Hawking of paranoid delusion, has done it for me, so I guess I need to let her reveal what reality is like on the planet where these miserable sons of bitches live. Rip Your Fingers Off Our Neck Obama By Laurie Roth   "The ‘progressive’ agenda is more than clear. Long ago it morphed into a hybrid monster that eats the flesh off of patriotic, Christian and conservative Americans. It demands redistribution of wealth and loan shark style taxation – known and hidden. It controls freedom of speech for anyone who doesn’t agree with the Obama-New World Order transformation plan." Apparently, Laurie agrees with Obama completely, since she seems to have way more freedo...

Bye Bye, Bibi

Back home now?  That's nice.  Because here's the truth: probably three quarters of the American people have still never heard of you, and if asked, would probably think that Bibi is the name of some sort of clown; and three quarters of the rest have already forgotten every single thing about your speech. That's America today, and if it wasn't that way, they would have never tolerated your interference in our politics to begin with.  So, hope you had a nice trip.  Bye now.

King v. Burwell After the Oral Arguments

This is a short comment, because if you want to tell the truth there is very little to say, unlike the diatribes of the thousands of pundits who are just trying to drown the obvious in an ocean of disingenuous verbiage. At this point, this lawsuit, and the people behind it, have been so discredited that no one is even arguing about whether there is any legal basis to their argument- we all know there isn't.  The only issue is whether all five corrupt Republican Justices (because that is what they are, not justices for all of us) can find enough cover to make a ruling that is counter to both judicial precedent, and the plain statement of intent of the authors of this 900 page bill, on the basis of one short sentence that can be twisted to mean something that was never foreseen; or whether one of them might somehow break with the other four and actually do the right thing.  Note that this speculation involves Justices Kennedy and Roberts- the most optimistic of observers know ...

Wingnut Wrapup

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Two things I don't care about today:  Bibi's big mouth and Hillary's e-mails.  Just to let you know. And first the Really Important News: Major coup!  And now, on we go! Michelle Malkin, Town Hall:  "The Department of Homeland Security refuses to release a report on "right-wing" terrorism that somehow found its way into CNN's hands last week during the farcical White House summit on Don't Say Islamic Extremism." "Somehow."  Maybe when the government released it to them?  But of course, it is an abomination when anything telling the truth is released for public view. John Stossel, Town Hall:  "Lots of people sure hate the Koch brothers." Gee, I wonder why that is.  John helpfully points out that the Koch brothers are pro-immigration (more workers means lower pay) and anti-drug war (government money that is not just given to them.)  He forgot to mention that they are anti-democracy and pro-fascist dictatorship, ...

I Will Never, Ever Forgive the Republicans and the Press for Bringing This Guy Back From the Dead

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So, the idiotic acts of a foreign right wing Jew are enough of an excuse to force us to remember that this guy ever existed?  Screw you, mainstream press.  Screw you, Republicans.  Is there any damage to this country that is beneath you?

Welcome to Town, Bibi

So here it is- the week that Bibi Netanyahu, having sold his soul to his long time compadres in the Republican party, arrives to do whatever gratuitous damage he can to the foreign policy apparatus of the United States.  In a brilliant stroke of timing, the Republican subversives in Congress, who are bringing him over to perform his circus act in front of Congress, have seen, through the mechanism of last Friday's act of funding the Department of Homeland Security for exactly one week, that he shows up in the middle of the worst example of Republican-generated Constitutional crises since the last time they shut the government down, a year and a half ago.  I'm hoping that this innocent accident of timing will give Netanyahu an opportunity to reflect on exactly what sort of government leaders he has chosen to be his allies. In any event, I think it is very important for Americans to remember that this is not about Netanyahu, who is, in the end, perfectly entitled to speak wher...

John Boehner is not The Worst Speaker in History

As the Republican congressional collapse continues, I see articles every day, from both sides of the political fence, claiming that John Boehner is the worst Speaker of the House in history.  This is complete nonsense and just shows how shallow the American art of political observation is. The truth is that, ever since Ronald Reagan, the Republican party has worked night and day, year after year, to breed a base which is absolutely impervious to any sort of reason or fact, and which has a built-in hatred of Democrats so strong that it overwhelms every other thought or emotion they may feel. Well, it worked.  Did Boehner contribute to giving birth to this monster?  Yes, he did, but no more that virtually every Republican leader in the past 40 years, and far less than Rove, Cheney, Palin and a hundred more I could mention. The Republican party that these people sent to Congress is, like its base, motivated by hatred and greed, a toxic combination in which reason plays...