Apr 19, 2016
Apr 18, 2016
Today's Quote
"I don't have time for anything that has no soul."
--Charles Bukowski
hat tip = Twitter buddies @Paulus_vv & @gnousdz
Apr 17, 2016
New One For Me
From a guy named Chauncey DeVega, Tim Wise talking about Brain Studies and Trump voters - starting at about 33 minutes:
Today's Tweet
If this retractable tape measure snaps back & cuts my hand just one more time, I may be forced to stand up & get the remote control myself.— Annie (@HatfieldAnne) July 23, 2015
Apr 16, 2016
Today's Tweet
Tech Support https://t.co/kRKkh3trgr pic.twitter.com/UDA5gD0jJs— Cynical Spunkferret (@namtien92) April 16, 2016
Please, Mr Kasich
The danger is that what some folks have been hoping will happen is still a possibility - ie: positioning Kasich as 'the moderate choice'. He's trying to take advantage of the media narrative of Trump being out on one extreme and Bernie being out there on the other extreme, with Kasich in the middle. And never mind Hillary or Ted because they're both kookie too, just in a different way. What ya really need is a kindly conservative like Plain Ol' Gee-Golly John.
Kasich's record is pretty easy to characterize as Authoritarian and Austerian, along with Privatizing and (at least Semi-) Theocratic. And, with that video, we could add Tone Deaf or maybe even Brain Dead. It's pretty easy to find lotsa criticism for that record online.
A lot of weird shit could happen in Cleveland - Kasich's back yard btw. Right now, there's a GOP rule (I think it's #40b) that's being interpreted as saying you don't get nominated if you haven't won a majority of delegates in at least 8 primaries. Lotsa speculation and wrangling over that one. Parties almost always open their national conventions with a few sessions of their Rules Committees, so we'll just hafta wait to see what silliness pops up this time around.
I think Kasich's pretty sure he's out, but that doesn't mean he can't be King-Maker; and it doesn't mean he won't make a play for Party Savior etc etc etc. So Kasich's job right now is to put himself somewhere between Trump and Cruz, and to re-paper the GOP with a plausible veneer that lets 'em Etch-A-Sketch their way back to the 90s when they were a big steamin' pile of freakzoid zealots, but they were all a lot better at pretending they weren't.
Here's the thing: Don't be fooled by all this Moderate-By-Comparison bullshit that the PR guys are peddling - a smiling hyena will still eat your kids.
This shit prob'ly gets worse before it gets better.
Apr 15, 2016
Caribou Barbie
Former Alaska governor and 2008 Republican vice presidential hopeful Sarah Palin argued Thursday that Bill Nye is not actually a scientist.
“Bill Nye is as much a scientist as I am,” Palin said at an event in Washington, D.C., according to The Hill. “He’s a kids’ show actor; he’s not a scientist.”Now, at first blush, I have to ask - does she really not know how to spell 'google' or what? Or is she just really sure that nobody in the audience is gonna check on anything, so she can Slap-Chop her way thru a few page-fuls of about 1500 randomly selected (and barely related words), knowing it doesn't fucking matter?
So I just have to wonder - no, seriously now - I do. She's not really all that dumb. There's something going on in whatever it is she's using as a brain, but it's like she's internalized the process of Deliberate Ignorance to the point where she's convinced herself that being stoopid is how 'being smart' works. And maybe it is, in her own special way - because she's got a following. She has a group of people who practically hang on her every word. And you don't build that kinda loyalty just being dumb - even tho' (obviously) it helps a lot if you can get the crowds to believe you're as stoopid as you think they are. Or something.
It makes my head hurt.
Too Many Dots
Just thinking a little semi-randomly.
There's an empty seat at SCOTUS, and many empty seats thru the Federal Judiciary, and practically no discernible intent coming from Mitch McConnell to get any of that filled any time soon.
Also, after shitloads of Anti-Abortion laws coming out of the states, plus the Anti-Voting stuff, now we have this growing tide of Anti-Equal Rights legislation.
Recently, a very nice lady told me her thinking is that the GOP / "Conservatives" have been pushing all this malarkey knowing it serves a function beyond the usual thing of whipping the wingnut voters into a rich creamy lather. She says they know most of the shit they're putting into the law is ridiculous, and it'll be struck down, but that the little extras that go along with these new statutes stand a good chance to stick.
So first - yes it's true - one of the best things for a man is the company of a smart woman.
Second, I need to look a little closer at what else is included with the bullshit in Georgia and North Carolina and may be coming up in Michigan.
Circling this back to SCOTUS and empty seats on Federal Benches, it's an interesting little game. Because a whole strategy has to emerge now for moving the challenges to existing law thru the courts. With a real probability of a prolonged 4-4 split at SCOTUS, each of the circuit appeals courts becomes a de facto mini-SCOTUS. And won't that be fun?
And now, kinda skipping to the chase, I've recently been thinking some of these newer developments are starting to make sense if I factor them into a wider strategy that looks a whole lot like a continuing assault on the Redress Clause of the 1st Amendment.
For quite a while, Conservatives and Neo-Libs have been pushing for things like Tort Reform and Mandatory Sentencing, and Forced Arbitration (instead of law suits) on everything from Cable Subscriptions to Employment-At-Will Agreements, and a variety of other things I'm sure I'm totally unaware of.
An awful lot of power is being brought to bear to make it harder for "Regular Joes" to seek relief thru the courts because LLC's (eg) are finding it easier to off-load or duck entirely their responsibilities under the law.
I have to consider it a pretty bad sign when so many people in positions of power and privilege seem to view our Justice System as something that's old and clunky and just too inconvenient; or they see the probability of having some judgement going against them as just another business expense.
And then add in a coupla hundred million people who can't or won't - or anyway don't - pay much attention to the whole thing because they're increasingly too busy keeping their last nostril above the water line, and holy fuck, Batman, how do I not think we're crazy stoopid close to Caesar crossing the Rubicon.
I really don't like myself when I get all alarmist like this, but honest, kids - this shit ain't good.
Somebody talk me down here.
There's an empty seat at SCOTUS, and many empty seats thru the Federal Judiciary, and practically no discernible intent coming from Mitch McConnell to get any of that filled any time soon.
Also, after shitloads of Anti-Abortion laws coming out of the states, plus the Anti-Voting stuff, now we have this growing tide of Anti-Equal Rights legislation.
Recently, a very nice lady told me her thinking is that the GOP / "Conservatives" have been pushing all this malarkey knowing it serves a function beyond the usual thing of whipping the wingnut voters into a rich creamy lather. She says they know most of the shit they're putting into the law is ridiculous, and it'll be struck down, but that the little extras that go along with these new statutes stand a good chance to stick.
So first - yes it's true - one of the best things for a man is the company of a smart woman.
Second, I need to look a little closer at what else is included with the bullshit in Georgia and North Carolina and may be coming up in Michigan.
Circling this back to SCOTUS and empty seats on Federal Benches, it's an interesting little game. Because a whole strategy has to emerge now for moving the challenges to existing law thru the courts. With a real probability of a prolonged 4-4 split at SCOTUS, each of the circuit appeals courts becomes a de facto mini-SCOTUS. And won't that be fun?
And now, kinda skipping to the chase, I've recently been thinking some of these newer developments are starting to make sense if I factor them into a wider strategy that looks a whole lot like a continuing assault on the Redress Clause of the 1st Amendment.
For quite a while, Conservatives and Neo-Libs have been pushing for things like Tort Reform and Mandatory Sentencing, and Forced Arbitration (instead of law suits) on everything from Cable Subscriptions to Employment-At-Will Agreements, and a variety of other things I'm sure I'm totally unaware of.
An awful lot of power is being brought to bear to make it harder for "Regular Joes" to seek relief thru the courts because LLC's (eg) are finding it easier to off-load or duck entirely their responsibilities under the law.
I have to consider it a pretty bad sign when so many people in positions of power and privilege seem to view our Justice System as something that's old and clunky and just too inconvenient; or they see the probability of having some judgement going against them as just another business expense.
And then add in a coupla hundred million people who can't or won't - or anyway don't - pay much attention to the whole thing because they're increasingly too busy keeping their last nostril above the water line, and holy fuck, Batman, how do I not think we're crazy stoopid close to Caesar crossing the Rubicon.
I really don't like myself when I get all alarmist like this, but honest, kids - this shit ain't good.
Somebody talk me down here.
Apr 14, 2016
Today's Tweet
Day-Before-Yesterday's Tweet actually. But hey - my blog, my rules - fuck off.
(whoa - that sounded way more like Debbie Wasserman-Schultz than anybody should be at all comfortable with. Sorry)
Anyway:
So - again - all you clear-eyed pragmatic super-genius "conservative" bidness folk, please tell me how you wouldn't completely lose your shit like a Cocoa-Puffs-Denied 4-year-old at Kroger if a customer expected you to deliver 100% of the goods and services while intending to pay 79% of the invoice.
(whoa - that sounded way more like Debbie Wasserman-Schultz than anybody should be at all comfortable with. Sorry)
Anyway:
I think women should protest pay inequality by showing up to work 79% of the time.— Jim Capie (@Jim_Capie) April 12, 2016
Be here full time? Gimme full pay.#EqualPayDay
So - again - all you clear-eyed pragmatic super-genius "conservative" bidness folk, please tell me how you wouldn't completely lose your shit like a Cocoa-Puffs-Denied 4-year-old at Kroger if a customer expected you to deliver 100% of the goods and services while intending to pay 79% of the invoice.
Today's GIF
...is possibly the best GIF ever. I may hafta post this one every week or so, and retire the GIF posts altogether.
Apr 13, 2016
Today's Tweet
Please take a moment to feel a little compassion for the people whose biggest problem is that gay people want to pay them to do their jobs.— LOLGOP (@LOLGOP) April 11, 2016
Cuz when you're a clear-eyed pragmatic business super-genius (as are all "conservatives"), you have an innate understanding that the way you grow your enterprise into a thriving overarching success is to make sure your Prospective Customer Base is as narrow and shallow as possible - just like your dumb-as-a-fucking-stump attitudes.
Apr 12, 2016
Lest We Forget
Joe Biden is the first US Vice President in over 10 years not to have shot somebody in the face.
True story.
hat tip = Twitter pal Miles
True story.
hat tip = Twitter pal Miles
C'Mon You Guys
And I'll keep asking: Why does a once-a-week comedy show have better reporters and better investigators and better writers - and producers with more balls - than every fucking news organization on the air!?!
Apr 11, 2016
Today's Tweet
God is supposedly everywhere and yet doesn't seem to do anything. My point is, I think he might be a Kardashian.— Sarcasticsapien (@Sarcasticsapien) April 11, 2016
Dots
Fun fact reminder: the American economy took a 12-14 Trillion-Dollar hit starting in 2008.
And tax-payers had to borrow that much (paying interest, of course) from our buddies around the world, and that means - lemme see - about 13 Trillion plus about 2-and-a-half percent interest - gosh, it seems we might have a number that fairly closely resembles the horribleness of the $15 - 18 Trillion added to our national debt that "Conservatives" love to bitch about.
Or maybe it's purely coincidental. I suck at math, and I'm often real wrong about a lotta things. But my Spidey Sense tells me the guys who make billions off of Other People's Money aren't likely to become saintly and altruistic just because their shit hits somebody else's fan. They'll do what they know how to do - which always comes down to making sure they're not the ones left holding the bag.
And oh yeah - I want Elizabeth Warren to stay where she is, doing exactly what she's doing for a good long time. Dang - the mad crush on that woman continues unabated.
And oh yeah - I want Elizabeth Warren to stay where she is, doing exactly what she's doing for a good long time. Dang - the mad crush on that woman continues unabated.
"Breaking"
Wow. Hey look - breaking news. Corporatized Lobbyists don't just write the legislation; and they don't just bribe our Coin-Operated Politicians to vote for or against it - they also tell us what our opinions are.
OPINION COLUMNS PUBLISHED in California newspapers over the last year in support of the Trans-Pacific Partnership use language nearly identical to drafts written and distributed by public relations professionals who were retained by the Japanese government to build U.S. support for the controversial trade agreement.
Take this column by former San Diego mayor Jerry Sanders, who now serves as the president and CEO of the San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce, in the San Diego Union-Tribune, titled: “Trans-Pacific trade pact benefits San Diego.”
Much of the language in Sanders’ op-ed also appears in a “San Diego Draft op-ed” distributed by Southwest Strategies, a consulting firm paid by the Japanese government to promote the TPP:And somehow, this is news. Full circle. The loop is closed. Has been for a while, actually. Nothing to see here. Get back to work; or go back to sleep; or watch some more of the Daily Freak Circus on TV.
Jerry Sanders: “Notably, the TPP includes Japan, which is significant”
Southwest Strategies: “Notably, the TPP includes Japan, which is critical”
They pretend to tell us what's going on, and we pretend that none of it really matters.
Isn't it great to live in a free society like USAmerica Inc?
Apr 10, 2016
Things We Dare Not Do
Public schools
End slavery
Trust-Busting
Federal income tax
Allow labor to organize
Child labor laws
Voting rights for women
Regulate banks
Federalize the currency
Minimum wage
Social Security
Desegregation
Voting rights for 'blacks'
Medicare
Head Start
Childhood nutrition
Permit interracial marriage
Pollution prevention
A woman's right to choose
AIDS research
Sex Education
Stem cell research
Marriage equality
and on and on and on.
"Conservatives" have always argued against these things, saying they'll cause the collapse of industry, or the ruination of the family, or the end of America.
"Conservatives" have railed against policies that are in keeping with a basic rock-solid American value of doing what we can in order to form a more perfect union. They've argued against doing the right thing; against doing what's best for the most. They argue against keeping the promises we've made to ourselves, and to each other, and to generations beyond what we can see from where are now.
Every time. Every issue. The argument is always overblown, and it's always wrong.
How does anybody with pubic hair stay with these clods?
End slavery
Trust-Busting
Federal income tax
Allow labor to organize
Child labor laws
Voting rights for women
Regulate banks
Federalize the currency
Minimum wage
Social Security
Desegregation
Voting rights for 'blacks'
Medicare
Head Start
Childhood nutrition
Permit interracial marriage
Pollution prevention
A woman's right to choose
AIDS research
Sex Education
Stem cell research
Marriage equality
and on and on and on.
"Conservatives" have always argued against these things, saying they'll cause the collapse of industry, or the ruination of the family, or the end of America.
"Conservatives" have railed against policies that are in keeping with a basic rock-solid American value of doing what we can in order to form a more perfect union. They've argued against doing the right thing; against doing what's best for the most. They argue against keeping the promises we've made to ourselves, and to each other, and to generations beyond what we can see from where are now.
Every time. Every issue. The argument is always overblown, and it's always wrong.
How does anybody with pubic hair stay with these clods?
Apr 9, 2016
Why I Love it
Well, to be a little clearer, I love parts of the silly season - I'm gettin' pretty tired of the Silly Season That Won't Fucking End, but there are certain things about it that I do still truly love.
This for instance:
This for instance:
Somebody always comes out with a version of this, and I love that part of the silly season a lot.
It might be a repeat - don't know and don't care.
Apr 8, 2016
GOP Ain't Shit
So I'm thinking there has to be something wrong with the GOP - no really, something way wronger than the usual junk we see every day. Something fundamental. There's a serious rot problem in the heartwood.
They're always telling us that the only polling that counts is the polling that happens on Election Day, and we hafta let the people decide. Well first, how come Repubs are working so hard to keep people from voting? And second, why are Repub leaders in Congress so sure the people didn't decide they wanted Obama to appoint a Justice to SCOTUS (eg) if need be? They say all these high-sounding things about democracy and then ignore the decisions people make when those decisions don't jive with GOP thinking? If that thinking is so obviously superior, why is it so often a direct contradiction of what so many people are telling them? Elitist much?
Here's the kicker - Repubs and "Conservatives" (and Neo-Liberals too) love to link themselves to Business; they preach at us every day that we have to run the joint like a business; "the free market" - that magical marketplace of ideas - provides all the truly great pronouncements about quality and truth and America-ness because we're "letting the market make the call".
But it's largely an upside down bullshit little game. People have been polling and voting in favor of (eg) Zero-Emmission Cars and Solar Energy and a Greener Planet for a coupla generations now, but the (mostly) Republicans have perverted that message and have been telling us that what we're really saying is that we want more Ford Pintos and Coal Mining Jobs and 8-Dollar Toasters.
Gotta remember that popular doesn't necessarily mean good and unpopular doesn't necessarily mean bad, but over a period of time, when millions of your "customers" are trying hard to send you the message that your product stinks because your company's been taken over by people who can't be trusted to run a high school car wash, ya gotta brighten the fuck up a little and make some changes.
That's the "Marketplace", guys - it's speaking in loud clear ways; has been for years. You can't take all that feedback and pretend forever that it doesn't say what it says. And you can't just throw some pixie glitter in the air and wish for a whole new set of customers.
You have to make some changes.
(And BTW: let's not hear any more about "conservatism hasn't failed us, we've failed to be conservative enough". Cut that shit out. The Soviets sounded stoopid when they were singing their version of it in the late 80s and you don't sound any smarter now. So just stop it.)
They're always telling us that the only polling that counts is the polling that happens on Election Day, and we hafta let the people decide. Well first, how come Repubs are working so hard to keep people from voting? And second, why are Repub leaders in Congress so sure the people didn't decide they wanted Obama to appoint a Justice to SCOTUS (eg) if need be? They say all these high-sounding things about democracy and then ignore the decisions people make when those decisions don't jive with GOP thinking? If that thinking is so obviously superior, why is it so often a direct contradiction of what so many people are telling them? Elitist much?
Here's the kicker - Repubs and "Conservatives" (and Neo-Liberals too) love to link themselves to Business; they preach at us every day that we have to run the joint like a business; "the free market" - that magical marketplace of ideas - provides all the truly great pronouncements about quality and truth and America-ness because we're "letting the market make the call".
But it's largely an upside down bullshit little game. People have been polling and voting in favor of (eg) Zero-Emmission Cars and Solar Energy and a Greener Planet for a coupla generations now, but the (mostly) Republicans have perverted that message and have been telling us that what we're really saying is that we want more Ford Pintos and Coal Mining Jobs and 8-Dollar Toasters.
Gotta remember that popular doesn't necessarily mean good and unpopular doesn't necessarily mean bad, but over a period of time, when millions of your "customers" are trying hard to send you the message that your product stinks because your company's been taken over by people who can't be trusted to run a high school car wash, ya gotta brighten the fuck up a little and make some changes.
That's the "Marketplace", guys - it's speaking in loud clear ways; has been for years. You can't take all that feedback and pretend forever that it doesn't say what it says. And you can't just throw some pixie glitter in the air and wish for a whole new set of customers.
You have to make some changes.
(And BTW: let's not hear any more about "conservatism hasn't failed us, we've failed to be conservative enough". Cut that shit out. The Soviets sounded stoopid when they were singing their version of it in the late 80s and you don't sound any smarter now. So just stop it.)
Apr 7, 2016
Today's Cheap Shot
At the risk of showing my ignorance (and really, when has that ever stopped me?), please indulge me as I ask just one question:
Where the fuck has this guy been for 7 years?
Damn, Prez - this should've been an every-day thing from the beginning. And your staffers should've been hounding the Press Poodles for airtime to back it all up and hammer it all home. Every.Fucking.Day.
Honest, I'm really glad when you do this, Mr President, and yes, I'm aware that you've done it before. I just really really really wish you hadn't insisted on being so polite and humble and gee-whiz-maybe-if-I'm-courteous-they-won't-be-such-assholes-to-me-so-fucking-always.
Sorry.
Lotsa jobs is a good thing. 70+ months of expansion is a good thing. 60% reduction in the federal deficit is a good thing. Stock market up 65% is a good thing. Progress on equal rights is a good thing. Millions more with healthcare insurance. Winding down the wars. Lotsa good things.
But way too many people stuck in the poverty cycle is a bad thing. Hundreds of Banksters not in jail is a bad thing. 30,000 Americans killed every year with guns is a bad thing. 1000+ new laws restricting women's reproductive rights is a bad thing. Millions of 20-somethings living at or near the poverty level and needing their parents' help is a bad thing. Fucked up infrastructure is a bad thing. Voter suppression is a bad thing. Gitmo is a bad thing. Drones and extra-legal snuff lists are bad things. The complete crazy-fication of the GOP is a really bad thing. Lotsa and lotsa really bad things too.
Not that you're directly responsible for all that, I just think we needed you to be standing there every day telling us you're trying to do something about it, but somebody seems to be holding you back and getting in your way every time.
I think the pendulum isn't yet swinging the other way, but it's rightward motion has slowed enough to make it much more probable that it could be heading back to the left pretty soon. So maybe you get a lot of the credit for arresting that movement, and I should ease up a little. But I think you know as well as I do that if we don't constantly push for progress, very little gets done, and the natural tendency is to slip back into that Authoritarian Oligarchy thing, which happens to be what the current batch of Republicans always seem to be pushing for. And maybe you could articulate that little "elephant-in-the-room" thing too(?) Gotta push back.
And if we're looking at President Hillary Clinton, it's going to get real important real quick to push back hard against her Neo-Liberal bullshit.
Paraphrasing FDR - "I wanna do what you want me to do, but this is a democracy, so I need for you to make me do it."
So yay, Obama. But we gotta get off up our asses and make things happen if we want things to happen.
Apr 6, 2016
Today's Hero
There was a similar phenomenon when the whole TeaBagger thing erupted in 2010, but that was an astroturf operation that was fomented and nurtured and financed by guys like Chuckles Koch to make it look like some kinda populist uprising.
This woman didn't plan anything like showing up at a town hall meeting deliberately to disrupt the process - she saw her chance to make her voice heard and she took it. Good on her for that.
What she did seemed organic and spontaneous. And it was obviously not what Gov Scott was expecting or hoping for. But the best part is when she totally shuts down the staffers, and they all parade out of the joint looking very very glum, while Scott can't figure out how to react in any human way so he freezes that phony condescending Pageant Queen smile on his mug trying hard to pretend he was OK with it. He wasn't. That one stung pretty good, and it needs to happen a lot.
That young woman is a hero.
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