Today's Bernie

Bernie really gets it sometimes.  We've allowed ourselves to be suckered into thinking that a kind of selective (if not arbitrary) authoritarian crap is what our Justice System is supposed to be about.

Be honest, @BernieSanders hated the Crime Bill. Spoke against it passionately & repeatedly.

Watch this.

POWERFULhttps://t.co/69F4R7IQkI

— Shaun King (@ShaunKing) February 27, 2016

And BTW - it's a pretty simple parlay to connect the fucked-up-edness of our legal system with the total FUBAR of the Corporate Prisons Industry.

Stay in line or they'll fuck you up - just because they can.

Today's Video

Tonight's #GOPDebate in a nutshell. Via @OccupyDemocrats pic.twitter.com/h6Wa0ljJ2v

— KHARY PENEBAKER (@kharyp) February 26, 2016

Today's GIF

Today's Tweet

#ThisMachineKillsFascists #BSDMS #BernieSanders #FeelTheBern #Bernie2016 pic.twitter.com/tvtw6QLYRT

— Sean Robertson (@seanr1978) February 25, 2016

One Last Shot

Conventional wisdom has it that tonight's shit fight at the monkey house GOP Debate could be the last time we see what's left of that ol' gang of our'n. 

And in keeping with the best of all possible traditions, Matt Taibbi has issued the following update on the rules of the game:

TAKE A SHOT:

1. The first time (and first time only) one of the candidates compares himself to St. Ronald Reagan.

2. When Ben Carson complains that nobody's calling on him.

3. At the phrases "Great state of Texas," "Don't mess with Texas," or "Everything's bigger in Texas." Double if that last one comes from Trump in a suggestive tone. Triple-shot if Trump says "Everything except Marco is bigger in Texas."

4. If Cruz mentions he's from Texas more than five times. Take an additional shot for each time after that.

5. Every time someone jokes about Jeb Bush no longer being there. Double if the essence of the joke is that it's hard to tell the difference.

6. When Kasich makes a speech or comment whose essence is, "Well, excuse me for being sane, but…" Drink also if a moderator calls Kasich a "moderate."

7. When anyone calls anyone else a "liar."

8. Whenever any of the non-Trump candidates calls him a "closet Democrat" or "not a conservative."

9. Whenever anyone mentions Cruz's "dirty tricks."

10. When Carson recites lines from the Bible or the Constitution.

11. When any candidate mentions being the son/grandson of a hardworking bartender/mail carrier/housecleaner/etc. and therefore is not just a believer in the American Dream, but a product of it.

12. Whenever Trump mocks someone's poll numbers.

BONUS DRINK:

Players may want to make side-bets as to what happens more often: Cruz reminding the audience that he's Texan, or Trump reminding them that Cruz is from Canada. We can have a bonus shot if Cruz mentions his Texan-ness only to have Trump immediately call him a Canadian Texan.

Lastly, I propose we create a toast in honor of the recently fallen. Instead of saying "Cheers" or "Prost," we might say, before drinking, "Chris Christie was a federal prosecutor."

(Read more: Rolling Stone)

Take It, Charlie

The inestimable national treasure that is Charles Pierce:

This is the essence of what he's about. He, Trump will tame the beast of government. He, Trump personally will bring back jobs. He, Trump personally will solve the immigration problem by building a wall and making other people pay for it. He, Trump personally will intimidate China and outmaneuver Russia into accepting American leadership in the world. And all we have to do to gain these little bits of paradise is to bestir our stumps in November, vote for He, Trump, and then sit back and watch the show. Jesus H. Christ on a white grand piano, and people say Bernie Sanders is offering "free stuff."

 

Today's Toon

Oh Those Obamas

I'm running dangerously close to the edge of a warm fuzzy feeling for POTUS and FLOTUS.

.@POTUS nominates the first woman and first African-American to be Librarian of Congress: https://t.co/5zQhYVj74jhttps://t.co/vkWq9IfqcU

— The White House (@WhiteHouse) February 24, 2016

Today marks the launch of @OpenEBks, bringing access to free books for students across the country. #ReachHigherhttps://t.co/1fRsZ9tFXv

— The First Lady (@FLOTUS) February 24, 2016

Book-learnin', bitches. Git some.

Click right here right now

Today's Quote

Courage is an inner resolution to go forward despite obstacles. Cowardice is submissive surrender to circumstances. Courage breeds creativity; Cowardice represses fear and is mastered by it. Cowardice asks the question, is it safe? Expediency ask the question, is it politic? Vanity asks the question, is it popular?

But, conscience asks the question, is it right? And there comes a time when we must take a position that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular, but one must take it because it is right.” -- Dr Martin Luther King Jr

Today's Tweet

The last GOP "debate" was almost universally characterized as a train wreck, so I guess Las Vegas just couldn't stand to be outdone in the Nevada Caucus thingie so...yeah.

EXCLUSIVE: This is the scene of the Nevada GOP caucus. pic.twitter.com/ZNwB8Ns8im

— Sweet Meteor O'Death (@smod2016) February 24, 2016

Mr Deity And Da Man

I'm in.

Today's GIF

Really glad I don't do drugs anymore.

Pay It Heed, Dummy

And remember that while the Dems have been pretty much too quiet and too absent for too fucking long, the GOP is nothing but Guns-Everywhere-Kill-'Em-All-Let-God-Sort-It-Out.

You don't like it? Get up on your hind legs and do something about it.

Looking Forward

With the latest crap coming out of the Oddly-Tinted Pile Of Psychotic Symptoms (aka: The Great Trumpkin Himself), here's the one question I really want the Press Poodles to ask every candidate, but especially every GOP candidate, and especially especially Lil Donny:

"What behavior will you expect from your loyalest supporters if you lose the primary; and/or you go on to lose the general election?"

And just to be sure - please look straight into the camera and tell your voters you want them to be civilized Americans who understand that politics in this country is about argument, voting and then abiding by the results of that voting without violent protests.

Take it to the streets, and do a sit-down thing, and go on strike, and do whatever you think will get your grievances heard and addressed, but this is not where the mob rules.

Well, OK - except for that "Recent Unpleasantness" back when the Yankees invaded our homeland.

But yeah - Exceptionalism, motherfucker. Do you get it?

Today's Tweet

I am seriously considering making this my avatar on every site across the entire web.  It's just that fucking awesome.

pic.twitter.com/TFsY0g2IIx

— perfectly frank (@AmOhSoFrank) February 21, 2016

And There It Is

MoJo:

Trump didn't win in spite of being a boor, a bigot, and an analog internet troll; he won because he was proudly all those things. For all the diversions (who picks a fight with the pope, anyway?), he articulated a remarkably clear theory of politics: Other people are screwing you over, and I'm going to stop it.

In the 80s and through the 90s, it was Repubs making big strides by embracing the criticism of them for being Cold Greedy Self-Centered Assholes - saying straight up, "Why yes - yes I am. And proud of it too."

Now they can round it all out with that little extra self-delusion of Post-Racial Bigotry dressed up to look like the same old "return to American values", which btw has been re-rebranded as "Making America Great Again".

Really gotta wonder how the rubes just go along with it - until you stop and consider they've been going along with it for 400 years now - and that's just on this continent.

Down To Five

And Governor Dumpster Fire bites the dust, proving once again that as a political prognosticator, I make a pretty good floor wax.

With that in mind, I might as well let my freak flag fly:

Maybe I'm just die-hard and stubborn, but I can't stop thinking this isn't the end of it.  With very small (and fading fast) hopes that Trump won't get the nomination, and knowing pretty well what a monumental cluster fuck is brewing if he does, the GOP has to be scrambling behind the scenes to bring in a ringer.

And there seems to be way too many giddy Dems wandering around thinking the dissolution of the GOP isn't at least potentially a catastrophic systems-level failure.  With so many Repubs in charge of state and local governments, a thorough fracturing and break up of an entire political party could easily spell even bigger trouble for our little experiment in self-government.  We ain't seen nothin' yet, kids.

Hello, Sunday

Today's Quote

Here's a golden oldie.

Powell gave up his credibility when Bush/Cheney/Rumsfeld played him for a sucker and talked him into doing that extraordinarily stoopid dog-n-pony show at the UN as we were being pimped into the Iraq war.

But he did the right thing afterwards and just faded away, which restores at least a bit of his honor in my opinion.  And I think part of that restoration shows in his willingness to stand up and call out the bullshit in the GOP when he sees it.

Today's Pix

Donito Trumpelini Speaks

Today's Shitty-Trump-Thing is basically about the standard Trump tactic of listening for somebody to say almost anything even the tiniest bit critical of him, and using it as justification for a massive counterattack - not to answer the criticism, but to pump up his own image as a strong leader.  If this isn't the behavior of a despot (aka: school bus bully turned "politician"), please tell me what is.

And just in case you missed it, at about the 1:45 mark, when Trump is blathering on about how tough he'll be on ISIS, he actually slags the US military as it is now.  I understand that he means it to be a charge of incompetence against Obama, but he says basically that all of our current military leaders are crap: "... if we had a General MacArthur; if we had a General George Patton - I mean, they'd be gone before they had time to go over and check it out. OK? It's a ridiculous situation."  If I'm a general officer in any branch of uniformed service, I'd be voting for just about anybody but this guy.

But wait - Generals and Colonels are more than egotistical enough to think that if they put this guy in power, they could manipulate him so they could run the joint from their own desks.  Which is almost exactly what happened with GW Bush, and why the GOP wants another Empty Vessel POTUS - like Rubio or Jeb.

I really hope they're not thinking Trump isn't smart enough, and unscrupulous enough, to turn the federal government into one big bloody knife fight.

In the end though, I still think this is the next step in Trump trying to find his exit.  He's finally gotten around to taking a big runny shit on the US Military's head - let's see if anybody actually notices, but then let's take a long look at anybody who steps up to say, "Thanks for the hat, Mr Trump."

Deep Thought

Try not to over-think it once you notice that the word "studying" seems like a mashup of "student" and "dying".

Today's Tweet

Not the most current, but hits it on the head where Ms Fiorina is concerned, and so it should be noted.

pic.twitter.com/ySAxhGZoST

— miles reed (@milesjreed) February 18, 2016

Canada For President

That Rubio Spot

Senator Big Gulp is trying so hard.

(This is the one that features a skyline shot of a Canadian city - oops)

Look, Marco, only one guy's allowed to be Ronald Reagan and that guy's been dead for a dozen years; almost a quarter of your life.  You gotta hitch up your short little pants, buckaroo.  Walking around in Daddy's shoes was pretty darn cute for a while, but it's time to stop pretending and start doing for yourself.  

I guess I'd just like to give you a knowing smile and send you out into the big beautiful world with a pat on the head - but I'm afraid your hair would break and I'd get slivers in my hand and it'd be a big mess and - well, just go on ahead, little man.  

But seriously, stop pimpin' Reagan's corpse like that; it's just kinda gross.

Today's Pix

Beyoncé Is Black!?!

And suddenly, SNL is good and funny again?

Today's Tweet

This is just plain fuckin' genius.

Oh Lord!
What I wouldn't give for this to happen!
Hahahaha!https://t.co/y9ma5Wunly#SCOTUS #ClarenceThomas #Scalia pic.twitter.com/CMpoKp2jR5

— Cornelia (@PaladinCornelia) February 15, 2016

It'd scare fuck-all outa Clarence Thomas, wouldn't it?  And it'd keep Senate amoeb-licans busy for months - especially if the White House made a show of bringing somebody in to shepherd the nominee thru the process; somebody like Alan Simpson maybe (not that he'd do it, but fuck me, that'd be fun). There's a knife-fighter out there somewhere looking for his shot at shoving something of substance up a few asses on the hill.

Half of the GOP might actually suspect that Obama's just fuckin' with 'em now and they'd  pull back a little, but ya gotta know the others would be happily scrambling to find ways to fuck her over which will let a bunch of them in for a nice little beating come November by providing some extra motivation the Dems can use to drive people out to the polls.  They'll need it to overcome the problems caused by voter ID.

Do it.

On A Sunday Evening

So Desiderata is making the rounds again, and I just can't let that shit go unchallenged - not when there's this:

Debate Tweets

I wonder if Carson started drinking before debate too. #GOPDebate #tytlive pic.twitter.com/T9TVN0Vsq0

— Adam Crutchfield (@A_Crutch) February 14, 2016

LOL, I missed this line! "Dr. Carson, I'm sorry we have to go to a commercial. The free market wants what it wants."

— Karoli (@Karoli) February 14, 2016

I speak Spanish. I speak Spanish real bueno. #GOPDebate

— Speaker Cruz (@HavanaTed) February 14, 2016

Rubio: I don’t know what he said on Univision because he doesn’t speak Spanish.
Cruz: RESPONDS IN SPANISH #GOPDebate pic.twitter.com/5eAQeZekfx

— AJ+ (@ajplus) February 14, 2016

#GOPDebate Carson: We have all the government "regulators" enforcing "rules". Crazy, right? I mean, you leave one sponge in one skull...

— driftglass (@Mr_Electrico) February 14, 2016

Facts don't matter in GOPDebate https://t.co/JYIpcno5QK

— Karoli (@Karoli) February 14, 2016

@CitizenWonk #GOP Debate Arsenicand Old lace pic.twitter.com/tTP9CrQJN2

— Giovanni Benavides (@seterapia) February 14, 2016

@PaulBegala You are looking LIVE at the South Carolina Republican Debate pic.twitter.com/wVhoXMLwGm

— Zachary Kretchmer (@1970Bing) February 14, 2016

I hate this guy, but even he can be right once in a while... https://t.co/CzfrJxhhkB

— The Goat (@Mr_Jitters) February 14, 2016

@Mr_Electrico Carson is the Human Time Out from an NBA game

— Don P (@tractive_golfer) February 14, 2016

Bravo to the Disney Imagineers on the incredibly life like Rubio from the "Hall of Never Will Be Presidents." #GOPDebate

— Danny Zuker (@DannyZuker) February 14, 2016

I Wow, Cruz closes by claiming he's fighting for his little girls' liberties as he promises to abolish abortion. #GOPDebate

— The Vagina Demagogue (@eclecticbrotha) February 14, 2016

Ciao

"Conservative" icon Antonin Scalia dies, and we can absolutely count on at least one of his fellow "conservatives" to pay him great honor and respect by tweeting out a picture that's NOT Antonin Scalia.

In which a sitting US senator tweets out the photo of an actor to pay homage to Scalia pic.twitter.com/wnUfpE6Rpb

— Luke Brinker (@LukeBrinker) February 14, 2016

Senator Ron Johnson is a seriously doltish meathead who probably couldn't find his ass with a guide and a fucking GPS.

The good news is that Russ Feingold is back and could end up kicking this turd muffin to the curb.

Seriously - what the fuck is wrong with these guys?

Take Good Care Of Your Mother

The oceans on this planet comprise 99% of all livable habitat.

Inquiring Minds, featuring Marah Hardt

"I never drink water - have you any idea what fish do in water?" --(not really) WC Fields

Today's Toon

The Patriots

The pinnacle of historical esteem is when people write songs about you and your exploits.  I guess there's some kind of opposite thing happening when they do it as satire(?)

The Ballad Of The Malheur Patriots  --Laura Sams and Garrett Palm

hat tip = Little Green Footballs

Today's Tweet

Guests on Diane Rehm show talking about “enormity” of support for Trump. Hope they’re using the word on purpose.

— James Fallows (@JamesFallows) February 12, 2016

It takes a writer like Fallows to see the "enormity" of the problem and then express it in fewer words rather than more.

Today's GIF

Goober Squad Update

The last of the militia schmucks in Oregon gave it up today and surrendered to the FBI.

NY Times

So, of course, I had to bop over to Fox Nation to check on the reactions of the Guano Clan - and also too because trolling those mush-brains is just too damned fun.

Today's best troll comment:

The System Ain't Broke

...it's fixed.

The Real News Network

And Then There Were 7

And the question now is - will they let Jim Gilmore into the next debate?  I mean - gee whiz  - he was only 6300 votes outa 8th place in New Hampshire.  And you gotta have an odd number so you can make sure Trump's always at center stage.  C'mon, guys, think. 

Today's WIngnut

Some of these wackos are giving wackos a bad name.

pic.twitter.com/pDe3mp1bef. Saturday stuff!

— Doc Cooper, HM3 (@CMark1950) February 6, 2016

The Purge for Purity is just plain silly if you're concluding that a rapacious privatizing rent-seeking asshole like Paul Ryan doesn't quite measure up to your Assholery Specifications.