KinderGuardians

Watch a clip of Republicans endorsing the arming of preschoolers on Sacha Baron Cohen’s new show: #WhoIsAmerica. pic.twitter.com/rnc9MWqmOV

— TW Polk (@twpolk) July 15, 2018

 

In the age of Poe's Law, it gets harder and harder to know what we're laughing at.

And that's kinda the point for the Daddy Staters.

Fake lord have mercy.

Today's Tweet

Don't look at me - I just find it and post it.

Spotted a Wite Suburian woman in the wild😂😂😂

She must have a degree from Trump University 🤔🤔🤔 pic.twitter.com/5lg6jDmKAg

— Maggie Resists Trump (@Stop_Trump20) July 14, 2018

Today's Pix

Today's Tweet

Divide-n-Conquer.

Split this faction from that one; turn them against each other; destroy both.

Trump uses 5 tactics to create a fog of confusion and bewilderment, so don't we see all the damage he's actually doing. Be aware. Don't allow this fog to cloud the truth. pic.twitter.com/L5pTwNs7SL

— Robert Reich (@RBReich) July 14, 2018

From a little while back:



Starting at about 7:10, thru about 9:00. Pitting one small faction against the others - to the point where everybody is "other".

The Podcast

We won a big one yesterday - but don't think it's over. Because it's never over. 

Even if there's a Blue Wave in November that swamps the GOP so they disappear like morning frost under a burning noonday sun - it won't be over.

The darkness is always there. So we have to be the light - always. 

This will never be fucking over.

The Professional Left Podcast

Take care of yourselves.

WaPo Gets One Right

...partly right anyway.

Publishers' Editorial:

Tempers boiled over on Capitol Hill Thursday as Peter Strzok, the FBI official at the center of President Trump’s attempts to discredit special counsel Robert S. Mueller III, testified before a joint meeting of two House oversight committees. With all its yelling and interruptions, the hearing was a fitting coda to the hyperpartisan farce of an investigation that House Republicans have conducted into the FBI and Mr. Mueller’s Russia probe.

Republicans spent hours parsing text messages and waving documents in the air. But all of it, just like most of the broader House investigation, was a distraction from this central point about the conspiracy narratives the president and his defenders have been cooking up about the FBI: If the agency had been trying to harm Mr. Trump’s campaign, agents could have released damaging information on pro-Trump Russian interference before Election Day — and they did not.
- and -

Mr. Strzok is not the perfect messenger, but he was right about this message: “Russian interference in our elections constitutes a grave attack on our democracy,” he said. “Most disturbingly, it has been wildly successful — sowing discord in our nation and shaking faith in our institutions. I have the utmost respect for Congress’s oversight role, but I truly believe that today’s hearing is just another victory notch in [Russian President Vladimir] Putin’s belt and another milestone in our enemies’ campaign to tear America apart.”


Republican rhetorical attacks are typically self-contradictory:

"Obama's a commie stooge bent on destroying capitalism, which is why the stock market is up 18,000 points since he took office."

"Obamacare is a total waste of tax money, and a brilliant plot to take over the entire healthcare system and kill the insurance companies, which is why those companies are posting record profits since the passage of ACA, while Medicare and Medicaid have shown significant savings."

You get the picture.

So here we are with the bullshit about how the mighty forces of darkness (eg: The Deep State) plotted against our Noble Donald, and now are planning a coup.

It's the same shit over and over and over: 

"The enemy is invincible - and we're beating them at every turn."

Today's Tweet

Follow the thread. There's gold in there - including a few great examples of Stick-Up-The-Butt-Liberal replies.

You Trumpsters better pray that liberals never gain control of the WH again because we are going to pay you back so fucking hard for all of this shit. Planned Parenthoods on every damn corner. We're going to repaint Air Force One, pussy hat pink and fly it over your beloved Bible

— Renee Torres (@ReneeLTorres) July 12, 2018

Quick - Get Me Re-Write

Cult45 is relentless in its quest to put on a show that creates a "reality" that fits whatever they choose as Today's Theme.

Paula White and the rest of 45*'s team are all part of the production crew.

(White is one of several evangelical leaders who regularly meet with Trump. She has been a friend and counselor to him for more than 16 years.)

The Hill:

President Trump’s spiritual adviser Paula White said this week that Jesus would have been sinful and “would not have been our Messiah” if he had broken immigration laws.

White, who recently toured an immigrant detention center in Virginia, said during an interview with the Christian Broadcasting Network (CBN) on Monday that there was a difference between the immigrants being detained for illegally entering the U.S. and Jesus being a refugee in Egypt.
First - Trump has a 'spiritual adviser'?

Second - these assholes still haven't explained how exactly a (eg) four-year-old kid can be held responsible for breaking the law. Then maybe they could tackle the explanation for making that 4-year-old appear in court all alone - no parents; no lawyer; no representation at all.

This whole thing is so fully-stuffed with Just-Make-Shit-Up, it'd choke a fuckin' hippo.

Overheard On The Toobz

From a bunch of posts across Twitter and Facebook and Reddit et al:

Out of the blue, I asked, "Have you ever read Reinhold Niebuhr?"

Obama's tone changed. "I love him. He's one of my favorite philosophers."

So I asked, "What do you take away from his writing?"

"I take away," answered Obama, "the compelling idea that there's serious evil in the world; and hardship; and pain. And we should be humble and modest in believing we can eliminate those things. But we shouldn't use that as an excuse for cynicism and inaction. I take away ... the sense that we have to make these efforts knowing they are hard, and not swing from naive idealism to bitter realism."

We've had presidents who think about - and can articulate - some great notions.

We've had some great presidents. And we can have them again, but not without a fight.

Today's Cartoon

Non Sequitur 07-09-18

Music Break

Mike Dawes, w/ Nick Johnston - Slow Dancing In A Burning Room (John Mayer)

Today's Tweet

Moving the Overton Window back to where it belongs - make "the middle" the middle again.

But see, if we move so far to the left that we throw confetti about abortions, conservatives all of a sudden love contraception. It's that 50-yard line argument the Right figured out long ago. @Mr_Electrico @thebreaknetflix https://t.co/MPeCutT1F0

— Frances Langum (@bluegal) July 10, 2018

Fuck, I'm Tired

Trying to keep up with the shit storm is exhausting. Which is partly the point - I get that - you get that - nobody doesn't get that.

Sometimes, ya gotta take a day or two and run the fuck away from it.

Here I am, back at it, and the truly worrying part for me right now is this:

Repubs don't care about anything but SCOTUS. They seem to believe that if they can get the courts, they don't really need their guy in the White House. They'll have him anyway - at least they'll have their Empty Vessel du Jour.  Reagan & Poppy Bush were proof-of-concept; Bush43 was the Beta Test, and now Cult45 is the Rig Roll-Out.

There are bugs, but once they're done pouring the foundation, they'll be able to install Grover Norquist's latest wet dream of a guy with just enough on the ball to sign his name to whatever bullshit gets the American Kleptocrats paid enough to hire the goons necessary to keep the rest of us in line.

Let's review briefly - SCOTUS reinforced Corporations-Are-People, and then decided Money = Speech. 

So now, we have exactly what the Big Bad Left warned us about.

If money is speech, then the biggest money is the loudest speech; and eventually, it becomes the only speech.

These 2 things:

Corporations are not people
Fuck Citizens United

And vote, dammit.

Keepin' Him Honest

Invisibility is the ultimate super power. Anonymity is the next best thing.

Wait For It.... from r/yesyesyesyesno

Today's Eternal Sadness

Raw Story:

A white man in Austin has been charged with first-degree murder after shooting and killing a black teen over a fireworks dispute early on Independence Day.

The Austin-American Statesmen reported Friday that 41-year-old Jason Roche claimed he shot 19-year-old Devonte Ortiz in self-defense after the young man allegedly reached for his gun. According to police, video evidence taken at the scene of the crime proved otherwise.
Roche told police in his sworn affidavit that he shot Ortiz after coming outside for a second time early on the morning of July 4 to ask him and his friends to stop shooting fireworks. In his testimony, the older man claimed he saw the teen reach for a gun that he’d taken out of his car. The Statesmen‘s report noted that although police did find a rifle and a handgun at the scene, cell phone video shows that Ortiz was not holding a gun when Roche shot him.

“Jason Roche is observed displaying a firearm at Ortiz, re-holstering the firearm then displaying the firearm multiple times,” the affidavit, as quoted by Austin’s KXAN, stated. “During this point of the video footage, Ortiz was not holding a firearm.”

The affidavit also noted that the older man was seen in cell phone video following Ortiz around a car, and that “police believe Ortiz was moving away from the firearm and not lunging toward it like Roche had told detectives.”
So tell me again how you just don't get "Black Lives Matter" - or that you can't understand why so many (eg) NFL players are willing to risk financial penalties and outright career assassination by kneeling during a national anthem that celebrates a history that's partly about the murder of people with brown skin?