DumFux Lies

Jon Stewart ran a bit on last nite's show that everybody's been reposting - so why should I be any different:

The Daily Show
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Here's the Vine Video:

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Surprise Surprise

Turns out, Racial Bias actually is a thing.  Which makes Race-based Privilege into a thing as well.

Not that anybody who needs to hear this will actually hear it - much less put any stock in it because of course it's just more academic mumbo jumbo from people who've spent the better part of their lives studying such things, and who gives a fuck about Australia anyway!?! - but anyhoo.

From Univ of Queensland via NYT: 

With more than 1,500 observations, the study uncovered substantial, statistically significant race discrimination. Bus drivers were twice as willing to let white testers ride free as black testers (72 percent versus 36 percent of the time). Bus drivers showed some relative favoritism toward testers who shared their own race, but even black drivers still favored white testers over black testers (allowing free rides 83 percent versus 68 percent of the time).

The study also found that racial disparities persisted when the testers wore business attire or dressed in army uniforms. For example, testers wearing army uniforms were allowed to ride free 97 percent of the time if they were white, but only 77 percent of the time if they were black.

This elegant experiment follows in a tradition of audit testing, in which social scientists have sent testers of different races to, for example, bargain over the price of new cars or old baseball cards. But the Australian study is the first, to my knowledge, to focus on discretionary accommodations. It’s less likely these days to find people in positions of authority, even at lower levels of decision making, consciously denying minorities rights. But it is easier to imagine decision makers, like the bus drivers, granting extra privileges and accommodations to nonminorities. Discriminatory gifts are more likely than discriminatory denials.

A police officer is an out-and-out bigot if she targets innocent blacks for speeding tickets. But an officer who is more likely to give a pass to white motorists who exceed the speed limit than to black ones is also discriminating, even if with little or no conscious awareness. This is one reason the Twitter hashtag #crimingwhilewhite is so powerful: It draws attention to the racially biased exercise of discretion by police officers, prosecutors and judges, which results in whites getting a pass for the kinds of offenses for which minorities are punished.

So the discrimination is there; the biogtry is there; it's just behind a slightly less thoroughly disgusting mask.  It's about the "positive" of granting a little favor for the White Folk so it looks and sounds a little better, but it's still the same old "negative" of denying that favor (ie: privilege) to Black Folk.  I'm willing to call it as having made some progress, but we're still pretty well stuck with a problem of unequal treatment, and having that inequality based on the color of somebody's skin.

It's just not enough.  We gotta do better.

Rudy Rudy Rudy

Rick Ungar at Forbes on Giuliani's fail which turned into a fourple fail when Rudy doubled down twice - most recently by getting space in the OpEd section of Rupert's Vanity Street Journal.

“My blunt language suggesting that the president doesn’t love America notwithstanding, I didn’t intend to question President Obama’s motives or the content of his heart. My intended focus really was the effect his words and his actions have on the morale of the country, and how that effect may damage his performance.”

Really?

When you boldly and directly state that a President doesn’t love his country, while suggesting that this lack of affection is the result of not being like "us", you have to be something of a fool to imagine that you can return to the fray pretending that what you meant to say was you don’t like how the President speaks on the subject of American exceptionalism.

The Hate Parade

Wanna know what Repubs really really REALLY hate?  

Well, it would seem there's enough GOP Hatred to spread a rich and creamy slathering over a pretty good sampling of just about everything.

A user called Scuba at Democratic Underground put together this handy (and partial) list:

Immigrants
Unions
ACLU
Muslims
Gays
Liberals
Medicare
Harry Reid
NOAA
Professors
Thinking people
Public & Indian Housing
Canadians
Sewer systems
Journalists
Jesus' teachings
Europe
Whistleblowers
Social Security
Progress
Scientists
President Obama
Peace Corps
Lesbians
Social justice
Mosques
Laws
Media
Truth
Creative people
14 year old rapist victims
Housing & Urban Development Dept
Government healthcare
Illegal aliens
United Nations
Diplomacy
Smart people
NEA
Bureaucrats
Postal Service
Empathy
Government
1st Amendment
Any Arabic person
Economic justice
Consumer protections
Artists
Democrats
Social programs
All democratic leaders
14 year old incest victims
Sanity
Public education
14th Amendment
Actors
Wildlife
Federal government
Food stamps
Worker's rights
Change
Student aid programs
Environment
Hate crime laws
The Poor
Department of Education
The vulnerable
Nancy Pelosi
Environmental Protection Agency
Logic
The weak
State government
Unemployed
Food banks
4th Amendment
Progressives
Thinking
Tree huggers
Abortion
Hollywood
Teachers
Census workers
Federal Trade Commission
Endangered species
Reason
Homeless people
Consumer Product Safety Commission
Women's rights
City government
Food & Drug Administration
Intelligence
Environmentalists
Any liberal leader
Movies
College professors
5th Amendment
Regulations
Blacks
Soccer
Compassion
Facts

I could add: Public Lands and Clean Water and Breathable Air and Redress Through The Courts and a Livable Wage and and and.  

Dear GOP,
It's more than a little nutty trying to think you 'love America' when you hate so much of what  America actually is.

God Love Wonkette

This week's installment of Weekend Stock Photo Report

Today's TED Talk

Today's Pix

Winter Sucks Now

I'm thinkin' I might hafta skip Leg Day tomorrow.  

And Cardio on Tuesday?  Yeah - that's lookin' a little iffy too.

What Bill Said

I'm not much of a Bill Clinton fan anymore, but here's a good one from a few years ago:

"It's arithmetic.  The top 25 Hedge Fund Managers made $14.14 Billion in 2012. They pay a 15% tax rate.  That's equivalent to 314,222 workers earning $45,000 a year.  And they pay a 35% tax rate.

It takes all of the income tax paid by 180,000 of these workers just to pay for the tax loophole for these 25 Hedge Fund Managers.

And that, my friends is only $2.8 Billion of the approximate $660 Billion in tax cuts that go each year to make the wealthy wealthier.

 Get up on your hind legs and push back - vote against this shit.

Bando del Diablo

We always tho't the kids in band were a little strange in high school.  Took all 45 years since then for me to learn how cool strange can turn out to be.

hat tip = Little Green Footballs

The Bullying Of America

Stand up.  Stand together.  Push back.

To borrow and paraphrase the old saw - getting bullied doesn't build good character in the victim, it reveals a lack of character in the bully.

Obama Roll

I used to call him President Lawnchair - mostly because I tho't he folded completely instead of really sticking it out on ACA (Public Option in particular).  And I continued that criticism for quite a while because it just looked like the guy wasn't all that willing to smack the Repubs around the way I tho't he should.

I can tell y'all now that I've changed my tune a bit lately, and while it'll take some study from an historical distance to see what all is what, I gotta say there might actually be something to the meme about how this guy plays a mean game of Fourple Dimension Chess; and we may be seeing a pretty good example of just how far into the future he's able to play.

I guess it's also possible he's been playing for this point in time all along, and he's about to kick over that one pawn that puts things in motion like a political Mouse Trap Game. (hey - let an old guy dream)

Obama wants to do something meaningful on Immigration, but he knows the Teabillies insist on forcing Baron von Boner and Mitchy-Mac to give guys like Chuckles Koch a loud sloppy blowjob in public, which makes it nigh-onto impossible for them to do anything else but stand in the way (or kneel if they're feeling particularly adept at multi-tasking), so Obama decides to use his authority as the boss of DHS to move ever so slightly forward.

Which means Boehner has only one tool, which is to threaten to withhold the funding for DHS, which means the "National Security Party" is saying "we're willing to drop all this pretentious chest-thumping bullshit about keeping America safe just so we can fuck over the Mexicans - and Obama".  Oops - Im betting they didn't mean to let it slip that DHS really is mostly pretentious chest-thumping bullshit, but for most of us, that cat's been outa the bag for quite a while - so maybe it's just time to let it go(?)  And as for "fuckin' over the Mexicans" - who doesn't know by now that that's what they wanna do?  Fuckin' somebody over is always what they wanna do, is it not?

Obama kinda has 'em by the nuts on that one.  

Now, add that to this:  The pentagon's latest assessment (QDR 2014) has concluded (again) that Climate Change (ie: congressional paralysis due to Climate Change Denial - hint hint) poses a significant threat to US National Security.  And that's across the board; from "Threat Multiplier" to just plain "making our job harder than it has to be".

Climate change poses another significant challenge for the United States and the world at large. As greenhouse gas emissions increase, sea levels are rising, average global temperatures are increasing, and severe weather patterns are accelerating. These changes, coupled with other global dynamics, including growing, urbanizing, more affluent populations, and substantial economic growth in India, China, Brazil, and other nations, will devastate homes, land, and infrastructure. Climate change may exacerbate water scarcity and lead to sharp increases in food costs. The pressures caused by climate change will influence resource competition while placing additional burdens on economies, societies, and governance institutions around the world. These effects are threat multipliers that will aggravate stressors abroad such as poverty, environmental degradation, political instability, and social tensions – conditions that can enable terrorist activity and other forms of violence.

CHAPTER I: FUTURE SECURITY ENVIRONMENT 8 

(quick little note - this kind of straight-up declarative statement doesn't make the final cut without the approval of a lotta people who wear some very heavy hats)

So what's a poor Boehner to do?  

Obama is saying he wants DHS to do something about immigration and the Repubs are saying they'd rather close DHS down altogether than take the risk of getting something done on one of the GOP's favorite issues. (say wut now?)

Obama and DoD want to do something about Climate Change (even if it's just some attempt to mitigate the negative effects), while the Repubs insist first on doing nothing about Climate Change, and oh by the way, then insist again on doing nothing while Sequestration strips away the tax dollars that get poured into Defense Contractors' pockets; then laundered thru PACs; and then eventually find their way back into the campaign war chests of Coin-Operated Politicians - like John Boehner.

So who's all about the security of the homeland, and who's not?
Who's all about supporting the mission of our exalted military, and who's not?

From where I sit, I'm just wondering if there's ever been a Speaker of the House who ended up switching parties.  That dude is fucked 9 ways from Sunday.

But wait - do we need to talk about how maybe Boehner's playing the role of Sacrificial Savior of the Party?  Maybe he's whipping this thing into a rich creamy lather on purpose, making all the bubble brains float to the top so they can be skimmed off into the shitter(?)

Yeah, OK.  We'll call that one Low Probability #37, but I purely do like to hedge my bets.

Get 'Em, Charlie

Charlie Pierce is a fucking hero:

William Kristol is what you find at the bottom of a dumpster outside of a think tank on a hot day in July. Nobody has been more wrong about more important things with more devastating consequences, and somehow remained out of jail or a locked ward. A chickenhawk's chickenhawk, he slaves constantly to send other people's children off to be maimed and to die, and he still gets invited to all the best places as a "public intellectual." Yeah, and Charlie Manson taught thoracic surgery. But, against all possible odds, he may have outdone even himself this time.

Searching for new ways to call the president a coward -- And we'll get to the obvious joke in a minute -- he fastens on the two-fisted youth of Benjamin Netanyahu, the prime minister of Israel who has been invited by John Boehner to come over here and heckle the president as part of Netanyahu's campaign to compromise the president's foreign policy intiatives regarding Iran. The sneer behind the words is what you see on the face of a jackal that has found an apex predator to hide behind. 

Today's Pix And A Few Toons Too

Expanding The Narrative

And we're back for a bit longer look at some aspects of "Black History" that we (ie: I) never even thought about thinking about.

I got outa school a very long time ago, but the way I recall it, we were taught American History as The History of White People in North America.  And then once in a very long while, we also got this other thing - Native-Americans or Afro-Americans or Spanish-Americans or even on very rare occasions, Sino-Americans.  But nobody ever referred to Franklin or Jefferson or Lincoln or Calhoun or Lee or Davis or TR or FDR or or or;  as Euro-Americans.  Ever.

"Our" history of "our" country in "our" terms from "our" perspective, as told to "us" by "us".

Exclusive.  Restricted.  WASPs Only.

Here's a peek via HuffPo:

Every February during Black History Month, we recognize pioneers like Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King who have pushed the civil rights agenda forward. However, the integral work of other activists is often ignored.

Rutgers University assistant professor Brittney Cooper joined HuffPost Live on Monday to discuss the exclusion of prominent black LGBT activists like Pauli Murray, who helped in the the progression of the civil rights movement.

From her campaign to matriculate into the University of North Carolina to her countless articles on race relations, Murray was an influential civil rights activist. Even with her list of accomplishments, Murray, who was of mixed-race heritage, saw her complex gender and sexual identity muted in favor of "respectability politics," Cooper said. Murray’s queer identity likely pushed the NAACP to ignore her case after she was arrested for refusing to move to the rear of a Virginia bus 15 years before Rosa Parks did the same thing in Alabama.

And here's a bit more on Pauli Murray: black, woman, LGBT.  Pretty much the trifecta.