Green Eagle

Over the weekend, Donald Trump came out with one of the most amazingly brazen lies of his entire campaign so far: "Donald Trump told voters in drought-plagued California on Friday that he had a solution to the water crisis: Open up the water for farmers, because “there is no drought.” “We’re going to solve your water problem. You have a water problem that is so insane,” the presumptive Republican presidential nominee told a crowd filled with farmers in Fresno. “It is so ridiculous where they’re taking the water and shoving it out to sea.” “They don’t understand it,” Trump said. “There is no drought, they turn the water out into the ocean.” Of course, no rational, decent person could possibly believe that, and in fact, neither do the people who support him.  Here, based on Green Eagle's decades-long experiencee at understanding what Conservatives are really saying, is a translation into plain English: "We all know that California, as well as other parts of the w...

Ryan Bundy is not happy in jail.  Well, I guess that's the idea of jail, but Ryan has some very specific complaints .  He can't hang out with his friends, which violates his constitutional right of assembly, he can't wear his Mormon underwear, and perhaps most notably, this: "He also argues that his Second Amendment rights have been violated, presumably because guns are not allowed in jails." Now, I know that, at first reading, that seems to be one of the most ludicrous things that you have ever heard in your life, but after thinking about it, I am not so sure.  I am basing my current thinking on Antonin Scalia's now infamous 2008 majority opinion in District of Columbia v. Heller, which found for the first time an individual right to own firearms. I have spoken before about this disingenuous court decision, but let me remind you: "The Court held that the first clause of the Second Amendment that references a “militia” is a prefatory clause that...

And let's just get going with perhaps the most colossally stupid conspiracy theory the right has ever come up with- if it can even be called that, it is so lacking in a shred of sense: Eric Owens, Daily Caller:  "Obama’s Fancy New Mansion Is Located 1,000 Feet From The Islamic Center Of Washington DC...The mammoth, multi-million-dollar mansion where President Barack Obama and his family will reportedly live after the first family exits the White House is located 1,096 feet from the Islamic Center of Washington — one of the largest mosques in the Western Hemisphere." And?  What exactly is that supposed to prove?  Well, maybe it's an excuse to bring this up: "Both Obama’s new digs and the Islamic Center are located in the fancypants northwest Washington, D.C. neighborhood of Kalorama." It is an abomination that a former President of the United States should live in a "fancypants" neighborhood, because...well, you know. Matt Vespa, Town Hal...

Just one more demonstration that the stupid people who think that the answer to the grip rich people have on our country is to elect a billionaire: "Republican presidential contender Donald Trump said on Thursday that he would approve TransCanada's Keystone XL pipeline proposal if elected, reversing a decision by the administration of President Barack Obama to block it over environmental concerns... Trump said at the press conference that if elected he would also seek to reduce regulation on the energy industry to make drillers and coal companies more competitive." How can they possibly think that, behind all the belligerent talk, and behind all the bullying, there is anything but the same old Republican policies, the same old party that sold out to rich sociopaths a century ago, and has never wavered, no matter how much damage they do? The Republican party has really accomplished something, by creating a whole generation of voters that respond to nothing but h...

Courtesy of Daily Kos, the following short video which, as they point out, is an absolute must see: Pretty much sums things up.  Nothing else to say about it, really.

Just how lost in the forest has Bernie Sanders gotten?  I would have thought that it was unnecessary to even comment on the grotesque stupidity that led Bernie to publicly announce that he is ready to have a "debate" with Donald Trump, but I see people taking the whole thing seriously, so I guess it needs a reply. There is no such thing as debating with Donald Trump, since what he does is not debating but an exercise in egomaniacal bullying. It is not a conversation, but a circus act, and everyone else on stage is nothing but a straight man in Trump's performance.  Bernie will find himself subjected to a combination of belittling derision, and the constant suggestion that Bernie run as a third party candidate, because Hillary is so bad.  The result: A win for Trump, who will get another chance to perform in front of a national audience. A loss for Bernie, who will be made to look like a total fool. And a loss for Hillary, who will end up being subjected to a na...

Maybe you thought, as I did, that it would take Donald Trump a while longer to descend far enough into the sewer to seriously bring up the insane claim that Hillary murdered Vince Foster.  Well, you'd be wrong.  In one of the most disingenuous statements I have ever heard a candidate make, here he goes: "When asked in an interview last week about the Foster case, Trump dealt with it as he has with many edgy topics — raising doubts about the official version of events even as he says he does not plan to talk about it on the campaign trail. He called theories of possible foul play “very serious” and the circumstances of Foster’s death “very fishy.” “He had intimate knowledge of what was going on,” Trump said, speaking of Foster’s relationship with the Clintons at the time. “He knew everything that was going on, and then all of a sudden he committed suicide.” He added, “I don’t bring [Foster’s death] up because I don’t know enough to really discuss it. I will say ther...

Just the usual output in this era of the voluntary destruction of the American dream: Meghan McCain:   "Hillary Clinton is truly evil, and she's truly a liar and she's been responsible in my opinion for getting people killed." Maybe you should look to your own party for that.  They kill them by the thousands and millions, not four at a time. Alex Jones:  " I think Michelle Obama is a man. I really do. I really do. I believe it...her daughters don’t look like her — I really think this is some weird hoax they did again,” he said, “just like he didn’t get sworn in on the Bible, it was the Quran. All this weirdness, I mean, I used to laugh at this stuff, but man, it’s all about rubbing our noses in it. I think it’s all an arranged marriage, it’s all completely fake and it’s this big sick joke because he’s obsessed with transgender, just like some weird cult or something." Well. at least we know Trump's wife is not a man.  She's posed naked plen...

Driftglass, today: "Nothing will change until the Very Serious People who are set the parameters of our national debate are compelled to start acknowledging out loud and in public that the biggest reason our country is in trouble is that the Republican party is a dangerous madhouse, and the reason is got that way is because Conservative elites and oligarchs and media corporations designed it that way." That's the message.  That's the only message, the only one that counts.  And it's the message that will not be told because, as the man says, "Conservative elites and oligarchs and media corporations designed it that way." There was a time, you know, when these oligarchs could not have gotten their hands on the entire mainstream media.  That was before Saint Ronnie Reagan got his hands on things, and that is one reason why, despite Bush being the utterly colossal public failure that he was, he will not be remembered as the worst, most corrupt Presi...

The New York Times has a story today about the Glen Canyon dam, erected in the West in 1963: "When Glen Canyon Dam was built in the middle of the last century, giant dam projects promised to elevate the American West above its greatest handicap — a perennial shortage of water. These monolithic wonders of engineering would bring wild rivers to heel, produce cheap, clean power and stockpile water necessary to grow a thriving economy in the desert. And because they were often remotely located, they were rarely questioned.   But today, there are signs that the promise of this great dam and others has run its course. Climate change is fundamentally altering the environment, making the West hotter and drier. There is less water to store, and few remaining good sites for new dams.   Many of the West’s big dams, meanwhile, have proved far less efficient and effective than their champions had hoped. They have altered ecosystems and disrupted fisheries. They have left taxpayers ...

I rarely have any occasion to link approvingly to anything in the Washington Post, as it has served for years as little more than a conduit for the most bankrupt beltway "wisdom."  The following opinion piece by Robert Kagan is a rare exception.  Perhaps the Post's new owner, Jeff Bezos, actually believes that there is room in his newspaper for a little actual journalism.  If so, it is a great thing; in any case it is amazing to see this in the mainstream press: "This is how fascism comes to America The Republican Party’s attempt to treat Donald Trump as a normal political candidate would be laughable were it not so perilous to the republic. If only he would mouth the party’s “conservative” principles, all would be well. But of course the entire Trump phenomenon has nothing to do with policy or ideology. It has nothing to do with the Republican Party, either, except in its historic role as incubator of this singular threat to our democracy...This phenomenon...

Well, it's now about a day since the downing of Egyptair flight 804.  If you do a Google search for "Egyptair 804 false flag Mossad," you will already get over 2500 hits. Another legend in the making.  I'm sure we will be finding references to this on anti-Semitic sites for decades. I just want to add that originally I said "right wing sites."  I changed this, because unfortunately, hating Jews has become quite the pastime on the left too.

From the New York Times today: "Florida Man Says He Killed Sick Wife Because He Couldn’t Afford Her Medicine, Sheriff Says" In Democratic America, on the other hand, thanks to Obamacare, the percent of uninsured Americans went down below 10%, the first time that has happened in decades despite Republicans fighting it every step of the way. God in Heaven above, people, which one of these countries do you want to live in?

Remember eight years ago, when every bit of news was Good For McCain?  Well, we're in for more of that, I guess.  Here's Stuart McVarney, on Fox News, commenting on the crash of Egyptair flight 804 yesterday: "I also think this may be good politically for Donald Trump" I am sure the 60 people on board flight 804 would have died happy, knowing they did their little bit to bring fascism to the United States.

This news, from the miserable Washington Times, because apparently no one else will cover it: "Constitutional protections afforded by the Second Amendment include the right to buy and sell firearms, a federal appeals court ruled Monday...Monday’s ruling did not strike down the local zoning ordinance, but it does declare that the right to buy and sell firearms “is part and parcel of the historically recognized right to keep and to bear arms." The "historically recognized" right to keep and bear arms.  Recognized by whom?  Of course, the second amendment does not even assert a right to own arms, only a right to "keep and bear" arms which, if you have read the Federalist papers, are to be supplied to the militias by the government. So much for the intent of the founding fathers, or strict constructionism, when it stands in the way of what right wingers want.  This is just one more of an infinite list of examples proving that these guys don't give a...

I have heard enough whining from the Bernie Bots about the Democratic primary process being rigged against him. Of course it is rigged.  It is rigged in favor of Democrats.  The people who are active in the primary process, particularly in caucus States, are most all life-long Democrats, who have always been loyal to the Democratic party.  So is Hillary.  Bernie is not.  He has spent his life refusing to join the Democratic party, only now grudgingly participating in Democratic primary contests, while still clinging to the title of independent.  Does he expect a reward for that?  Does he expect the party's loyalists to not favor other party loyalists, and extract a price from him for not being one? After all, these are the Democratic primaries, intended to pick a candidate for the Democratic party, not the Democratic party and whichever independents want in on the show this year.  Bernie has never demonstrated enough loyalty to the Democrats t...

Let's just start things rolling with a classic example of right wing denialism: Paul David Miller, The Federalist:  "The Left Created Donald Trump...Voters like Donald Trump not so much because they hate Mexicans and Muslims, but because they hate progressive bigotry." The Republican base's psychotic descent into hatred and racism?  Why, it's all your fault because you won't join in with us on the hatred.  And here's some more information that you probably didn't know: "You have to understand progressivism as a kind of religion—specifically, a fundamentalist religion." Sure you do, if you want to fall for Paul's stupid, contentious, patently ridiculous argument.  Here's Paul's idea of proof: "Lest you think I am exaggerating, one of the high priests of progressivism wrote:"  (well, let's just forget about what this high priest wrote, and continue) "These are, of course, statements of American ...

From the minute he announced he was running for President, Bernie Sanders has insisted that the major reason he was running was to move the Democratic party and our political discourse to the left. Unfortunately, as he showed a strength among Democrats that surprised everyone, he turned away from his long-held positions, to campaign more and more on attacks on Hillary, which do nothing but reinforce the lying Republican narrative that she has fought for a quarter century.  The result: an apparently growing bunch of "Bernie-bots" who hate Hillary as much as the Republicans do, and swear that they will never vote for her. So, we see the likes of this headline in the Los Angeles Times this morning: "Clinton zeroes in on moderates scared by Trump" In fear that Bernie is poisoning her chances with large numbers of left wingers and younger voters, Hillary has been forced to look for votes where she can find them; and those votes lie not to the left of her, but to t...

We are all seeing endless stories trying to "explain" where Donald Trump came from and how he has managed to do what he has done this year.  I put that word "explain" in quotation marks, because almost none of these stories really goes much beyond trying to demonstrate that Trump is a unique phenomenon that really has nothing to do with true Republicans or true Conservatism.  In my opinion, Trump's rise is a perfectly logical step in the devolution of the Republican party,  a process which has been going on not merely since Obama was elected, not since George W. Bush, not since Reagan, but for at least a hundred years.  It is important to understand this, because Trump is by no means the end stage of this process; things will only get worse in the future. To explain this, I have to talk about economics.  In the last century, there have been basically two economic theories in the capitalist world: So-called "supply side" economics, also known as ...

Robert Dear, the Planned Parenthood mass murderer, was yesterday found unfit to stand trial, based on his 20 year history of asserting that the Federal Government was out to get him. This makes him just about as mentally incompetent as ninety percent of the people I cover at Wingnut Wrapup, and their millions of followers, including such national figures as Ted Cruz, Louie Gohmert, Sarah Palin and Michelle Bachmann. I have absolutely nothing to support what I am going to say now, but my life's experience.  This guy is no more "mentally incompetent" than the average Trump or Cruz supporter.  What really happened here was that the judicial process was rigged to prevent the real truth about the anti-abortion movement and its enablers from playing out in front of the American people, through his trial. The guy will now be locked away where nobody can get at him, and we can all forget about the incitement that led him to murder. Call this a conspiracy theory; I don...

Any delusions still remaining about whether there is a Republican on earth who is actually so principled as to refrain from supporting an ignorant racist would-be-dictator for President should now be dead, with the news that Paul Ryan, after a mere two weeks posturing, has announced that he and Donald Trump have taken a "positive first step" toward unity, i.e. joining together to once again deal a blow to American government. It is the greatest mistake to ever, ever assume that a single Republican has one shred of decency or morality.  The entire party sold itself to the hyper-rich a hundred years ago, and it has never looked back.  To fight the evil that they represent, we must always assume the worst of them, because their intentions, more often than not, are even worse than anything we could imagine.  This time around, it is flirting with out and out dictatorship, as a welcome alternative to the possibility that a Democrat might raise taxes on the rich. The America...

If history is any indication, there are two reactions from Democrats that are almost inevitable in the next few months, neither one of which we can afford. The first is to panic at every outlier poll and every attempt by the mainstream news to treat this race as a legitimate contest among equals.  The last vaguely competent Republican Presidential candidate was probably Bob Dole in 1996; before that it was the accidental candidacy of Gerald Ford.  The rest of them have been corrupt, ludicrous tools, which the Democrats should have never taken as serious choices to run the country.  But already the panic is spreading, with certain supposedly left-leaning characters already quivering in fear, and implicitly admitting that Trump has something going for him.  This must stop, and Trump must be treated as the patently impossible choice that he is.  A first step in this direction would be, as I have suggested, for Hillary to refuse to "debate" this clown.  The t...

And today's wingnut wrapup is specially pleased to honor Republican Congressman Todd Rokita, chair of the House Subcommittee on Early Childhood, Elementary, and Secondary Education, for introducing a bill which would eliminate over three million poor children from the nation's school lunch program.  That's just standard despicable behavior for a Republican, of course; what this award is really for is the name that Congressman Rokita attached to this bill:  the Improving Child Nutrition and Education Act of 2016.  Maybe he is just getting on board with Michelle Obama's campaign to cut childhood obesity, or maybe he is one of the most heartless, dishonest Congressmen, in a crowded Republican field.  Take your pick. Now, time to observe the Repubican party enjoying the prize it has worked so very many years to achieve.  And let's just start out with Jonah Goldberg, assuring us that this is just Great for the Repubicans: Jonah Goldberg, USA Today:  "If Tru...