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This week's podcast from driftglass and Blue Gal - Ep. 312, Trump No Trump

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Left Behind

What strikes me is that these people sound like children.  Whether they're 22 years old or 60 - when they speak, they sound like they think they know everything they need to know, and that there's just no way they could be trying to argue their point from a false premise.

The two Goober Squadlings in that report can't believe they won't get their way just because they think they're right and everybody else is wrong and, "Gee, Dad - it's just not fair - all the other kids did it".

And not to give ya too much of a whiplash, but we need to put some real schooling back into schools.  We need to teach kids about critical thinking, so they don't grow up to become easy marks for any random jagoff who can fool 'em into believing whatever he tells 'em in order to serve his own lust for power.

I'm not trying to set myself up as a paragon.  I've bought into all kinds of shit that ends up looking pretty stoopid in retrospect.  I owned a pair of Earth Shoes for fuck's sake - but c'mon, guys - at least I haven't let anybody convince me Article 1, Section 8, Clause 17 is the only thing in the US Constitution that matters.

Skepticism is our friend, kids.

Apply the same principles to everything anybody says about their "deeper understanding".

The arrogance that seems always to grow from deliberate ignorance can get your dumb ass killed.

Guerrilla Campaign

If this is real - and I'm hoping it is - it doesn't get much grass-rootsier than this right here.

Who's Foolin' Who?

So Paul Kantner died yesterday, and I went to YouTube to listen to Crown of Creation (which I hadn't heard in quite a while), and holy crap - Star Track comes on and I'm thinking that sounds really familiar, and holy crap again, I start singing Just Dropped In To See What Condition My Condition Was In - and it fits almost perfectly.

Everything recycles.  Everything is derived from something else.  So when something comes along that seems really new, try to understand how rare and exceptional it has to be to make us forget where it came from.

Star Track --Jefferson Airplane

Just Dropped In (cover) --Kenny Rogers & The First Edition

I Have Found God

... oh - sorry, it's just Charlie Pierce - and that's close enough for me.

It seems that, over at The Washington Post, a once-great newspaper now doing business as an adjunct to the home delivery industry, Fred Hiatt's Workshop For Ghastly Writing is getting a little run for this editorial in which Bernie Sanders is posed as the Lord Mayor Of Munchkinland. There's nothing like the scorn of the Church Of The Savvy. To borrow a comparison from the late Molly Ivins, it's like being gummed by a newt. Folks, leave the snark to the professionals, OK? Anyway, it seems that Fred and his minions find Sanders' proposals to be unrealistic, an insight now shared by almost every putatively liberal pundit, as well as every gas station attendant between Des Moines and Ottumwa. Let's look at the argument, shall we?

 

Winning Debate Tweet

Jeb "Goldilocks" Bush: My dad invaded Iraq too little. My brother invaded Iraq too much. I will invade Iraq just right.

— LOLGOP (@LOLGOP) January 29, 2016

"Ammon" Speaks

Marc Maron's WTF Podcast

You can skip the first 20 or so minutes where Marc gets a little nutty (surprise surprise) trying to get the whole "Amy Schumer controversy" straightened out.  Deep inside baseball stuff.

Anyway Maron gets some really good stuff outa the big dude.

Episode 675 - Michael Moore

Go, Barry Bams, Go

I guess we'll see what we see when we see it, but dang.

Politcus.com:

The President is in the midst of a very serious plan to issue an executive order that requires companies doing business with the federal government to disclose their political contributions. Just think; with a stroke of his pen the President will make “dark money” donors receiving billions of taxpayer money reveal who they contribute to or lose out on those highly-profitable federal government contracts.

Now, of course this does not, in any way, shape or form “overturn” Citizens United. But it is a major step in prompting some companies and corporations doing business with the federal government to rein in some of their dark money efforts to buy influence over the government. The directive, a so-called ‘dark money‘ executive order would mandate that “all government contractors publicly report their contributions to groups that spend money to influence campaigns and elections.”

Yeah yeah - it's Politcus.  But wow - if this is really the plan, and he pulls it off, there's gonna be some folks workin' overtime trying to figure how to love what he's doin' while still hatin' his ass for doin' it. 

 

And BTW - every governor of every state should be doing exactly the same thing.

How Do You Spell "Entitlement"?

... I spell it a-s-s-h-o-l-e-w-i-t-h-a-g-u-n.

via Raw Story:

A Pennsylvania woman was murdered after she rejected the romantic overtures of a man she encountered at a Pittsburgh bar.

Janese Talton-Jackson, the 29 year-old mother of three children, was at Cliff’s Bar as closing time neared on January 22. A man, identified by police as Charles McKinney, approached Talton-Jackson and asked her out on a date, according to CBS Pittsburgh. She rejected the man’s advances and he then followed her outside and eventually shot her in the chest. She was pronounced dead at the scene.

 

Goober Squad Busted

First - I'm sorry Mr Finicum is dead.  I think that's what he wanted - he said as much - but I'm hoping Mrs Finicum and all the little Finicums find good ways to get past it.

Meanwhile, we might have some fun watching as these militia rubes fall to squabbling internally due to the rumors (aka: bullshit) and false reports about how Finicum was killed.

Eyewitnesses knock down conspiracy theories about LaVoy Finicum dying with his hands up https://t.co/Db3dahU4m2 https://t.co/l5Q0dAaEfa

— Raw Story (@RawStory) January 27, 2016

These nuts maintain a diet rich in paranoid conspiracy and an awful lot of 'em are absolutely determined to believe anything they're told as long as it fits the framing of "Gubmint always bad - Camo Goobers always good."  

Makes me wonder what happens now that "two of their own", Mark McConnell and Melvin Lee, are saying 'calm down' and 'let's be sensible' and 'what you've heard about the feds murdering Lavoy isn't true', etc. 

 

If their own guys are seen as failing the "purity test" (which of course was never clearly defined, because it can't actually be defined because who the fuck died and made you the fuckin' pope?), factional splits get real big real quick, and they get to runnin' in tighter and tighter circles chasing each other's tails, and before ya know it, they disappear up each other's assholes. (sounds like a certain political party don't it?) 

It's nice to think the rest of these Y'all-Qaeda cells will just disintegrate and reabsorb.  And some of that should happen - there are some people in this "movement" who can think, and generally, when those people are shown that some of the folks in positions of leadership are very obviously bug-fucking crazy, they tend to split.  And if they really can think for themselves, they'll know the fight's over; they lost; and they were on the wrong side anyway. 

There's also some probability that the remaining Goober Leaders are trying to figure how best to use Finicum's death.  

"See?  The Gubmint is big and dangerous. If we're gonna win this thing, we have to fight smart.  Lavoy Finicum didn't fight smart.  Lavoy Finicum is fuckin' dead now."

Lotsa moves left to play out.  This shit ain't over.

Today's Quote

A man's worth is popularly determined by his intellect. And his intellect - unfortunately - is thought to be proportional to the distance between the front and back covers of his autobiography. --me (with a nod to Ambrose Bierce)

Today's Wingnut

Meet Joe Stetsen

Joe seems like a fun date.  I'm sure he'll be the belle o' the ball in the county lockup.

Now, here's Harney County Judge Steve Grasty.

My guess is that Steve is wondering (like a lot of us are wondering) how the fuck we got from the pretty good kinda moderate conservatism of John Lindsay and Nellie Rockefeller in the 60s and 70s to this rabid, slaverin'-dog, kill-'em-all-let-god-sort-'em-out, radical bullshit.

Didn't just happen last night; not gonna un-happen by tomorrow.

For me, the lights came on in 1992, listening to Pat Buchanan at the GOP convention in Houston.  I'd been feeling a little antsy about my preferences for Repubs for a few years, but that speech made a very loud, very uncomfortable noise in my head, and I just kinda knew I'd been wrong for too long, and it was time for a rethink.

Minds can be changed.  Sometimes for the better.

Today's Pix

Today's Eternal Sadness

hat tip = Nick (that's my Mookie) Nacho

From NBC News:

A gun-store owner and his son were killed in a shootout with two customers after an argument over a $25 firearm repair fee, police told NBC station WDSU.

The patrons were also taken to hospital with serious injuries following Saturday's incident at the store near Picayune, Mississippi, which is 130 miles south of Jackson.

The only thing that stops a law-abiding citizen with a gun - I can't make the joke work, even for me.  

And I can't get cute with, "Well, as long as they're killing each other, I'll call that an improvement".

Fuck that, and fuck me for thinking it.

We've been trying hard to tell you for a long time.  It's up to you now, ammosexuals.  Those were your guys.  Get off your ass and do something about it.  Step up or step aside.

Trouble At The Top

Keeper of the flame

Defender of the faith

Guardian of standing athwart and yelling STOP

John Fowler, National Review Publisher, telling us basically that the GOP "establishment" has become the new Surrender Monkeys.

But BTW - "GOP Establishment"?  Is that even still a thing?  And yes, of course it is, even though they've been striving all these many long years to trick people into thinking there isn't really an "establishment" because that goes against all of that rugged individualism bullshit they've been peddling for those same many long years.

"The Big-Daddy Conservatives" have inveighed against Central Planning forever (working feverishly to make sure the rubes ignore the fact that the strategy comes from a committee at GOP HQ), but now that their party has broken up into a thousand little independent franchising operations, they're all clutching their pearls tight enough to choke a RINO (buh-dum-chssh - sorry).

Anyway, if any of these jokers had ever really bothered to read Ayn Rand, they'd know that the main tenet of Objectivsm is that while a contradiction can exist, it can't prevail.  Which means they'd understand that what's happening to the GOP now is what they've actually been saying should happen.

They've wanted everybody standing alone.  If we're all separated from each other, we can't very well act in concert with each other, and that way, the people who're already in power get to stay in power, and the rest of us get to pay rent to them.

But then, here comes Trump-o-mania.  I can't think of a clearer example of the almost instinctual inclination of people to get together and push back once they realize they're being fucked over.  Why, it's almost like they're - dare I say it? - Unionizing.

What I think is going on now is that the old GOP bosses are finding it a lot more difficult to co-opt the Trumpkins like they co-opted the TeaBaggers.  The more the GOP tries to play nice and get the rubes to come home, the harder Trump pushes them towards the extreme.  Whatever else he is or appears to be, the guy's no dummy.  He knows how to hijack a proxy fight at a stockholders' meeting.

And yes, there are some very close parallels with The Bernie Mensches.  But don't be stoopid enough to think I'm joining the Both-Siders.  If you can't tell the difference between Bernie and Trump, you need to put down the spray paint and go outside for a while.

So - common cause, anyone?  Bernie makes a lot of sense for the Trumpkins - all the good stuff about truth-telling and fair deals and solid American values, but without the brown shirts and protester beatings.

Today's Quote

I don't know if god exists, but it would be better for his reputation if he didn't. --Jules Renard

hat tip = Twitter feed from Pascals' Bookie 

How To Protest

Today's Tweet

Who's your best friend? https://t.co/mX6jWihM3J

— Kevin Pang (@pang) January 18, 2016

 

Today's Meme

hat tip = twitter pal perfectly frank

Today's Tweet

UPDATE: DeKalb officer, indicted in shooting death of unarmed, naked vet, booked into jail. https://t.co/5X1IeozbqG pic.twitter.com/XgdsnJ7YV2

— AJC (@ajc) January 22, 2016

So which way do we go on this one?  

Blue Lives Matter? 
Khaki Lives Matter?  
Support The Troops?
Save Our Vets?

One faction of Uber-Patriots fighting against other factions of Uber-Patriots, and all of a sudden, it's like we don't even have a fucking country anymore.

Today's Anniversary

Roe v Wade - Jan 22, 1973

And may I say for the record:

I am pro-life.

I believe strongly that abortion should be tightly restricted

to women

who are pregnant

and don't wanna be pregnant anymore.

Also, I have a penis, so whatever I say on this subject may be safely disregarded entirely.

Thank you.

Might Be Worth A Look

If anybody can make it work, these guys can make it work.

Today's Pix

Today's Tweet

The Narcissus Borealis (thanks tengrain) ponies up and endorses Donito Trumpelini - and history rhymes again in the 2016 personification of Churchill's lament about "when tyrants embrace".

Palin: "self-made" Trump doesn't rely on Other People's Money. Trump co-wrote book saying his success built on OPM pic.twitter.com/X3SfP148tW

— Richard Hine (@richardhine) January 20, 2016

Still not gettin' my panties in a bunch over this one tho', because I'm still not convinced Trump really wants to be Prez.  He starts getting a little too close to winning something, he has to do something outrageous that pulls in a few more rubes while pushing the establishment a little farther away. 

The plan is to boost his brand, but always always always - sit on your ass collecting rent while somebody else does the work.

The wise ones tell us he got Palin's endorsement to prop him up in Iowa - but then she's a no-show at a Trump event the very next day?

This is "USAmerica Inc - Campaigning For Fun and Profit". Palin got the paycheck for the one night stand, but it doesn't look like she'll be joining the tour.  Or maybe she's just waiting for her own bus again.

Now take a look at what pops up from the GOP Establishment - "Movement Conservatism" -  about what they think of Trump voters:

(btw - watch Joy Reid's expression starting around the 1:30 mark)

And also too - Rick Wilson's prob'ly looking for clients, and so saying what he said in that clip is part of the blurb - it's his prospecting letter, going out to potential customers.

Everybody gets a chance to cash in when the carnival's in town.

Get Ready For It

Storm comin'.  Time for the waves of panicked humanity to start crashing thru the walls of the neighborhood grocery.

hat tip = FB friend MM

Tiny Desk

Natalie Merchant

Today's Quote

I get the whole bit about "micro-agressions" and all, but I think I like it better in its original form:

Discrimination is a hellhound that gnaws at Negroes in every waking moment of their lives to remind them that the lie of their inferiority is accepted as truth in the society dominating them. --Martin Luther King, Jr

hat tip = @zimbabwekid

Today's Quote

On his birthday

"I have great faith in fools; self-confidence my friends call it." --Edgar Allan Poe

Today's Tweet

Trump is amazingly *unpopular* with general election voters. https://t.co/jmwl5uaR4Z pic.twitter.com/7SQfrsFaLp

— Nate Silver (@NateSilver538) January 18, 2016

Golden Oldie

hat tips = FB friends VW-E and LM-M 

Today's Tweet

"The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience..." #MLKDay2016 #MLK pic.twitter.com/Uq3JkU9KJ2

— The King Center (@TheKingCenter) January 18, 2016

MLK Day

Civil Disobedience is an honored tradition in USAmerica Inc.  As long as you do it right - with respect for the rule of law.  Even when you're resisting a law you believe is unjust, you still adhere to the greater concept of A Nation Of Laws.

He got arrested too😒🙄........ Happy Birthday Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. !!!!#MLK ✊🏾 pic.twitter.com/bEIOfAG0LK

— HBCU Buzz (@HBCUBuzz) January 15, 2016

And now for today's Check-Your-White-Privilege Quiz:

Here we see LBJ meeting with MLK and "other black leaders" in the run up to The Civil Rights Act in 1964 - can you name any of those 3 other guys?

Enjoy It While It Lasts

Choosing Sides?

A good look at the candidates from a slightly obtuse viewpoint(?) I dunno - worth considering.

From Bitter Empire:

(In reverse order, starting at)

14. Ted Cruz

Let’s be clear here: Ted Cruz is not just the worst presidential candidate to have on your side in a bar fight. He is the worst possible human being to have on your side in a bar fight. And it’s not only because when he speaks he sounds like Eddie Murphy doing his nerd character. It’s that everyone hates Ted Cruz, and they hate him for a reason. Not just Democrats, everyone. Ted Cruz is famously and vigorously loathed by everyone in his own party. Fellow Republican Bob Dole has been out of politics for like 20 years and even he takes the time to hate Ted Cruz.

hat tip = FB pal AF 

Ali's Birthday

"I handcuffed lightnin' and throwed thunder in jail"

Happy birthday to the greatest.

I grew up without benefit of color.  I don't remember even meeting anybody with dark brown skin for the first 12 or 15 years of my life.  But in 7th grade, I had a teacher/coach who showed us films of (then) Cassius Clay.  He taught us that a man's ability is where everything starts because that will show you what's in his heart.  If you get hung up on how he doesn't look like you or act like you or think like you - while you're busy with all the shit that doesn't matter, he'll be busy knockin' you on your dumb ass.  On a playing field. In a classroom. At a job.  Everybody's competing.  Everybody can learn to do what it takes to win. 

If you don't respect all of that because you refuse to see anybody else as your equal, you'll have a hard time being willing to do the work necessary to give yourself a shot.  Then the only way you win is if the game is rigged in your favor.  And that ain't winnin'.

Always A Little Perspective Please

Vox, addressing the panic pushers at the GOP "debate":

Again, this by no means obviates the real threat from terrorism generally or ISIS specifically, but it makes the rhetoric on the GOP stage seem a bit hysterical.

For even more perspective: The number of Americans killed per year by terrorism is the same as the number crushed to death by their own furniture.

Obviously one key difference here is that terrorist groups would like to kill many more Americans, and are surely trying to accomplish just that, whereas presumably your sofa is not plotting any major attacks. But the point is that the risk terrorism poses to everyday American lives is not where you might have thought it was from this debate.

America just doesn't have much of a domestic terrorism problem. Incidents like the shootings in San Bernardino are vanishingly rare, as violent extremist groups have very few adherents here. US intelligence operations make it very difficult for foreign terrorist groups to bring operatives into the US and plan an attack.

Today's Tweet

Trump to go all out for the Millennial vote in the general election. [pic via @figdrewton] pic.twitter.com/nRurK40h0X

— Steve Silberman (@stevesilberman) January 17, 2016

Testing My Embeds

Sorry - found it at Mock Paper Scissors and I just couldn't resist.

Senator Fecal Foam coming from behind