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Showing posts from January, 2016

Simple Facts That Are Still Too Complicated For Democrats

Daily Kos Edition: "I don't know what it means, but Obama's job approval numbers are jumping...What could be driving the president’s numbers upward?  Ultimately, I have no idea. Feel free to offer to your own." Okay, I will.  It's really pretty simple after all.  The Republcans have spent the last eight years and God only knows how many billion dollars on a campaign of smears, lies and outright sabotage directed solely at Obama.  Now, they have a new target, and the short-memoried, ignorant voters are already beginning to forget the endless attacks, as the Republican destruction machine focuses on Hillary. That's it.  Do you have one shred of doubt that this is the explanation of this phenomenon?  How can seemingly intelligent people be so clueless?

A Primary Question

Here's something I've wondered about for a long time.  Why is is that we don't hear a little more Democratic protest over the fact that the three States that hold the first primaries, Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina, which between them represent less than three percent of the American population, are among the most Conservative States in the country, and yet they effectively get the right to pick the issues on which the election will be fought? This has always seemed to me to be just one more way the Republicans are allowed to game the system, to give themselves an advantage in elections that they could never win fairly.  Shouldn't some Democrats be coming up with a way to change this unfair arrangement?

Trump's Gamble

I see even perceptive people like writers at Daily Kos falling for the press' wishful thinking that Donald Trump's dropping out of today's Republican debate because he was afraid to face that master interviewer, Megan Kelly.  What a pile of nonsense.  Here is what Trump is really up to:  He is making a bet that, without his presence, the voting public is basically going to ignore the other guys.  And it is a very good bet, too.  I've seen a poll indicating that over 80% of watchers of previous Republican debates have no interest in this one if Trump is not there. Well, what would that show?  It would prove that, basically, no one cares about the Republican pack of losers, except for Trump.  If he wins his bet, it will leave him with a stranglehold on the entire Republican nominating procedure. I am not even sure what it would take to make him "lose" the bet.  Even if the debate does okay, who thinks it will produce any real gains for the other...

The Revolution Has Been Postponed

I think there is a really good lesson in the recent humiliating collapse of the great Malheur range war- and the people who should be learning this lesson are the mainstream press, who took these guys seriously in the first place.  The truth is that the great national call for "patriots" to join them in their uprising against Obama's Communist tyranny resulted in about three dozen people showing up; yet it was an excuse for the press to treat them as a serious force for weeks, and to pretend that something is going on here.  In fact, almost no one on earth (except people like the Koch Brothers, of course, who plan on ending up owning all of the land that these jackasses could pry away from the government) supported their efforts.  The whole thing was an egomaniacal Kabuki act, which the press, like a stupid trout, couldn't resist swallowing, hook line and sinker. Longtime readers of this blog (both of you- thanks for the faithfulness, mother) will know that I have r...

Wingnut Wrapup

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I'm not even going to try to deal with the Bundy shootout today- I'll give the wingnuts a couple of days to stew in their fury, and then get back to you with the results.  So, onward, for what has been a sort of uninteresting time on the right.  Sorry- I can't make the crap up for you: Today's Wingnut Wrapup is in celebration of this glorious news: "World's Most Wanted Criminal Found Working at a Subway Restaurant in the UK" Busted! I never thought I'd live to see the day. ALEC :  "Govt failure, brought on by public employee pensions, poisoned Flint water." Oh, okay, then.  I guess it wasn't corrupt, greedy bastard Republicans that would rather give the State's  money to their rich backers than spend it keeping people safe.  My mistake. Todd Starnes, Town Hall:  "Todd Starnes: Florida: Christian Schools Can't Pray at Championship Game...Prayer is important at Floridas Cambridge Christian School." The...

News From Oregon

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Whoopee!  The Revolution has begun! More tomorrow, I am sure- much more.

They're Just Saying It Out Loud Now

They don't even care who knows what they are up to.  Here is a quote from an actual legal brief filed by the State of Texas, purportedly defending itself against a Supreme Court decision ruling against its electoral gerrymandering: "DOJ’s accusations of racial discrimination are baseless. In 2011, both houses of the Texas Legislature were controlled by large Republican majorities, and their redistricting decisions were designed to increase the Republican Party’s electoral prospects at the expense of the Democrats....The redistricting decisions of which DOJ complains were motivated by partisan rather than racial considerations, and the plaintiffs and DOJ have zero evidence to prove the contrary. It is perfectly constitutional for a Republican-controlled legislature to make partisan districting decisions, even if there are incidental effects on minority voters who support Democratic candidates." The Republicans in the State of Texas are openly claiming that it is perfec...

Our Heroes are Protecting Us

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This news, from Yahoo today: Glad to know there is someone we can still count on.

The Party of Personal Responsibility, Yeah!

Sarah Palin's son was arrested yesterday, as most of you probably know, for beating up his girlfriend and threatening her with an assault rifle. Today, we learn that Palin has publicly blamed his arrest on Obama.  Yes she did.  Look here,  or here,  or here, or a hundred other places. You couldn't make things like this up if you tried.  We often get a laugh out of Republicans blaming everything on Obama, but this has to be a new high.  Man, they are hopeless.

Obama- Close the Guantanamo Concentration Camp

I think it is clear that Obama could unilaterally close the concentration camp at Guantanamo tomorrow.  And here is the reason, which I have never seen anyone mention when discussing the issue. From the Agreement Between the United States and Cuba for the Lease of Lands for Coaling and Naval stations; February 23, 1903, Article 2: "The grant of the foregoing Article shall include the right to use and occupy the waters adjacent to said areas of land and water, and to improve and deepen the entrances thereto and the anchorages therein, and generally to do any and all things necessary to fit the premises for use as coaling or naval stations only, and for no other purpose." The use of Guantanamo bay as a prison is, and has always been, in violation of a treaty entered into by the United States, and should therefore be terminated immediately. And, for people who like to loudly proclaim their adherence to the Constitution (read Conservatives) without having a clue of mo...

Running Our Foreign Policy

When Democrats are in charge: The supposedly biggest threat in the world to acquire nuclear weapons voluntarily agrees to stop trying to produce them, and keeps its promise in all details, without a shot being fired. Ten U.S. sailors caught in Iranian waters are released with their boats, within hours of being detained- a detention which was entirely legal. Four Americans held in Iran are released, in exchange for a number of Iranians who had violated the sanctions, which is a relatively moot point considering that the sanctions ended yesterday. When Republicans are in charge: No nuclear agreement with Iran, and a mindless march toward inevitable war, with a country many times stronger than Iraq. The ten sailors caught in an escalating round of threats and possible real violence, which could also give Republicans an excuse to go to war for something which Obama accomplished peacefully in one day. Four Americans still in prison in Iran, and we have the rather pathetic plea...

Wingnut Wrapup

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A little spotty today, because of my vision problems- solved and back to normal next week.  Anyway, here we go: Jonah Goldberg, Town Hall:   "Obama -- and FDR -- set Precedent for Trump's One-Man Rule " Trump? It's all Obama's fault.  Because. isn't it always?  Now,. a couple of choice excerpts from this miserable piece of right wing delusion: "The argument that Obama paved the way for Trump takes many forms. He "lowered the bar" for presidential qualifications, argues Peggy Noonan." No, that would be a Republican with pretty much exactly the same resume as Obama when elected President- one Abe Lincoln.  That guy turned out to be a failure too, I guess, or we would still be living in a fine slave country, where FREEDOM is everything. "Trump's Don Rickles act, writes Michael Barone, reflects "the coarseness of Obama's non-stop insults of Republicans and anyone who does not share his views and priorities." ...

Yes, He Is Just Like That Guy

I'm beginning to wonder if anything, no matter how despicable, can put people off Donald Trump.  And I don't just mean his ignorant, violent followers, but the mainstream press, which seems to be unwilling to call out anything he says or does, no matter how frightening. Here are the latest examples:  A couple of days ago, a Muslim woman who attended a Trump rally in a head scarf was forcibly thrown out.  She wasn't demonstrating against him; she wasn't heckling him; she was doing nothing but standing and listening to him.  But Trump's followers threw her out; and Trump had not a word of complaint, then or since.  This is the point where it is no longer possible to write these things off as factionalism, or fear of brown people- this is out and out racist hatred, of the sort that, left unchecked, leads directly to an American Kristallnacht. And I am neither exaggerating here nor breaking Godwin's law.  We all know that this is true, but the mainstream pre...

Green Eagle's Assessment of the Republican Race

It is perhaps the height of madness to make a prediction about the Republican Presidential nominee, given all the upheaval that has happened this year, but Green Eagle, always ready to step in where wiser people fear to tread,  is going to make his prediction about how things will turn out.  And if, as is perhaps inevitable, this is all comically wrong, well, it wont be the first time for me. I want to begin with an observation about the feelings of the Republican "mainstream," i.e. the majority of Republican leaders who have been bought and paid for by the 100 or so hyper rich families that have controlled the party for a couple of decades now.  Contrary to what just about everyone has been saying, I do not think they are opposed to the presence of Trump one bit; and here is why: I believe they see him performing a very useful task, which is to see that no other wacko right wing candidate can get any air at all, so that there is no danger of one of them (read Ted Cruz ...

A Brief Note

I've suffered a relatively minor eye problem, which is making it difficult for me to read or write at the moment.  I'll have a procedure to fix it in a week and a half or so, but until then, I may not be posting much.  No sympathy necessary- it is a minor and totally fixable issue, and more of an inconvenience than anything else, but it means that I have to get pretty riled up about things before I will write a post about them. I just didn't want you to think I'd given myself over to drink, or anything.  Back to normal soon.

News from Ted

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This just in , from Karoli at Crooks and Liars: "Ted Cruz Worries That Obama Will Chisel Crosses Off Arlington Headstones" Well, he needs some sort of hobby when he retires. There are about 400,000 grave markers at Arlington, so it should keep him busy for a while.

Green Eagle Rethinks the Situation in Oregon

I no longer advocate the encasing of the building held by the Bundys in concrete. I think there is far more fun to be had, just leaving them there until they figure out what total jackasses have made out of themselves, and try to slink away home. Then, convict them of one of the many felonies they have committed, which will prevent them from ever again legally owning a gun. That should be a pleasant spectacle.

When does the monstrosity end?

When does the idiocy of the American people stop?  When does the traitorous perfidy of the mainstream press lead us to destroy it? What is it this time, Green Eagle? Today, the Republicans in the House of Representatives are about to introduce a bill with the (as usual) disingenuous title " The Fairness in Class Action Litigation Act." Fair for whom, you may well ask?  The immediate effect of this miserable piece of legislation, assuming that Barack Obama is vicious and corrupt enough not to veto it (he's not, of course, but the next Republican we elect will be,) will be to prevent the over 500,000 owners of Volkswagen diesel cars, who have been swindled by the company into buying almost worthless vehicles, from filing a class action suit against the company to recover their losses.  This would mean that every one of them would have to file a suit on their own, to get back the money stolen from them by this German manuracturer, an obviously impossible task. In tak...

The Great Wildlife Refuge Seizure

Green Eagle advocates the Chernobyl solution:  Just cover the building in about eight feet of concrete, and forget about it for 75 years.