Quick Check

I've been wondering why nobody's squawking about the effects the Iran Deal might have on oil prices - 

Oil prices fell further Thursday a day after U.S. benchmark crude tumbled below $50 a barrel for the first time since April as bloated U.S. inventories and the prospect of increased Iranian crude shipments fueled concerns about swelling supplies even as demand is waning.

"We've had a lot of supply," says Tom Kloza, global head of energy analysis for the Oil Price Information Service. "Now the worry is that demand is going lower."

West Texas crude for September delivery fell 67 cents, or 1.4%, to $48.53 a barrel after dropping 2.3% on Wednesday. That's down about 20% from a recent peak of $61.01 in late June.

The Obama administration's proposed nuclear deal with Iran would lift sanctions and could allow that country to ship significantly more oil, adding to a recent surge in supplies from Saudi Arabia and Iraq. A Senate hearing on the agreement is scheduled for Thursday.

- and there it is.

(hat tip = Democratic Underground)

Scott Walker's been the most adamant about how the deal's so bad he's trying to figure out how to start bombing Iran the day after he's elected.  I guess maybe all that Koch money really is speaking pretty loudly.  Who doesn't see that BTW?

So now the notion pops into my feverish little noggin - Obama (and Kerry - full props for a guy I never tho't was the real thing, but anyway) Obama more or less neutralizes Iran basically by bringing them over to the good guys' side and getting them to promise they'll play nice for now; he precludes (at least for a while) that we'll get suckered into another clusterfuck war in western Asia, which makes it harder for War Incorporated to make money; and he puts the mechanism into motion that should drive Big Oil's profits down; which makes it a little less profitable for Wall Street; etc etc etc.

It just seems like it all adds up to one big old-fashioned bitchslap for an extraordinarily shitty system of legalized bribery that's had a stranglehold on our little experiment in self-government and produced a dumb-n-numb electorate that keeps sending Coin-Operated Politicians back to the trough at the expense of the people who keep saying they're fed up with sending Coin-Operated Politicians back to the trough...

Or maybe it's just a one-off stop-gap thing, and Obama's not the fucking genius I'd like to think he might actually be.

A guy can dream tho'

And just remember - ya heard it here first, muhthuhfuckuhs.

Still Not Back Yet

But I had to put up this passing thought:

Lil Donny Trump gets lotsa left-handed love from the Repub gurus - at least he does from the consultants who show up on certain TV shows to give us the appearance of "balance" (which is really just the standard Both-Sides-Baloney), even tho' most of these people sound like they're auditioning for a slot on somebody's campaign staff rather than offering anything of substance for us to contemplate.

Anyway, the theme seems to be that whatever passes for GOP leadership these days is not thrilled to hear Trump say the ass-wipe things he's been saying about Mexico or Latinos or Immigration in general, but that hey, he brings up some things that the Republican Base wants us to talk about blah blah blah.

No, guys. Not really.  Cuz here's what that sounds like to normal people: "Last Sunday at dinner after church, little Billy said 'Fuck you, Grandma', and you know - bless his heart - at least he had the courage to say what was on his mind..."

Not every thought is worthy of expression - especially all the weird shit that comes straight outa your id.  Learn something; grow the fuck up; you're not 9 years old, and you're not the only one in the fucking room - at the very least try to pretend you have enough higher brain function to be allowed out in public.

The Professional Left Podcast

There is no GOP.

And there is no actual news content in your newscast.

More from driftglass

You can find Blue Gal mostly at Crooks & Liars

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Milbank On Trump

Dana Milbank seems to be partially recovering from his long bout with the kind of wishy-washy crap that's deeply infected Chuck Todd and most of the Both-Sides-They're-All-The-Same-Yeah-But-The-Democrats bunch of weak-minded 'librul' Press Poodles.

No - I'm Not Back Yet

...I just had to post a coupla videos.

Yeah, it's Russia TV so we hafta to be maybe a touch more skeptical than usual, but I'll take a nugget of truth wherever I can find it:

Some Changes In The Works

Sorry I've been AWOL.

Selling a house, looking for a new one, DIY moving, angsty kid troubles etc etc etc - all of the standard bullshit that goes on in just about everybody's lives.

Details are of no real consequence, and I'll try to be back at it by early August.

You're Free To Obey

Some Freer Than Others

Today's Quote

From a listener identified only as - Raymond:

Republicans moan
Republicans bitch
The rich are too poor
And the poor are too rich

The Professional Left Podcast via Stitcher:

Show 'em some love, y'all  These two live their lives out in front of the world and while sometimes it sounds a little like an episode of Queen For A Day, they're not trying to pull anything - they're not trying to get over on anybody - they're trying to point up a few simple facts about life (as they experience it) here in USAmerica Inc when you're not the ones camped out in the Executive Suite.

In case you're not quite in the old-as-fuck demographic yet:

1. Give monthly to support the podcast: 

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Today's Quote

"Sometimes there are days like this, when that slow steady effort is rewarded with justice that arrives like a thunderbolt."  --President Barack Obama

SCOTUS says all the states must recognize the marriages from all other states.

I am left to wonder tho: How come something called Marriage Equality barely squeaks by with a one-vote margin here in the land of "..all men are created EQUAL..."?

hat tip = Crooks & Liars

Today's Cheap Shot

hat tip = Little Green Footballs

Bristol Palin, who’s been advocating abstinence as a spokeswoman for the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy, announced today that she’s pregnant out of wedlock for the second time.

And she doesn’t want any lectures from you people.

OK - no lecture, but c'mon - Abstinence Only didn't even work for GOD.  

What the fuck is wrong with you?

Just Thinking

Spit-ballin' may be a better word for what I'm doing, but no matter - this is just a silly blog that's practically invisible, so I get to blather away to my little heart's content.

Here in USAmerica Inc, we have an attention span roughly equivalent to the life expectancy of a meth-addicted fruit fly, so I'd better get this one bit of "thinking" out of my head and onto the InterToobz posthaste.

On the matter of The Confederate Battle Flag, and the various monuments and statues of the heroes of The CSA etc, here's the thing:

Ya gotta figure there were plenty of Tories left in this joint in about 1783, so I'm wondering why we don't see any statues or monuments in the USA commemorating George III.  And where are all those elementary schools named after Benastre Tarleton, and Charlie Cornwallis?  

It's a wonderment.

Check Your Fellow Travelers

Yo, "conservatives" - guess who knows exactly what your favorite symbol of "honor and heritage" actually means.

FACT: Nazi's in Germany are prohibited from flying a swastika so they use the confederate flag. #TakeDownTheFlag pic.twitter.com/gThUgXesna

— Bipartisan Report (@Bipartisanism) June 24, 2015

And BTW, fuck Godwin's Corollary.  Sometimes the Nazi reference is exactly the right thing.

Joe Morton Kills It

The Nightly Show
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Stick To The Point

With the moves to get rid of The American Swastika, I'm seeing plenty of the usual nonsense about "context", and (mostly white) people complaining about how mistreated they feel at the hands of the PC Libtard Bullies blah blah fucking blah.  

(Y'know, given all the barnyard shuffle-struttin' these jagoffs do; and all the constant crowing about how macho and manly they think they are, they sure sound like a buncha whiney-butt pussies when somebody finally stands up to 'em) 

But anyway...Ta-Nahisi Coates:

Roof’s belief that black life had no purpose beyond subjugation is “sick and twisted” in the exact same manner as the beliefs of those who created the Confederate flag were “sick and twisted.” The Confederate flag is directly tied to the Confederate cause, and the Confederate cause was white supremacy. This claim is not the result of revisionism. It does not require reading between the lines. It is the plain meaning of the words of those who bore the Confederate flag across history. These words must never be forgotten. Over the next few months the word “heritage” will be repeatedly invoked. It would be derelict to not examine the exact contents of that heritage.

He goes on to post the official policy statements from the official officials of the various official governments of the official Confederacy.

South Carolina:

...A geographical line has been drawn across the Union, and all the States north of that line have united in the election of a man to the high office of President of the United States, whose opinions and purposes are hostile to slavery. He is to be entrusted with the administration of the common Government, because he has declared that that “Government cannot endure permanently half slave, half free,” and that the public mind must rest in the belief that slavery is in the course of ultimate extinction. This sectional combination for the submersion of the Constitution, has been aided in some of the States by elevating to citizenship, persons who, by the supreme law of the land, are incapable of becoming citizens; and their votes have been used to inaugurate a new policy, hostile to the South, and destructive of its beliefs and safety.

Mississippi:

Our position is thoroughly identified with the institution of slavery—the greatest material interest of the world. Its labor supplies the product which constitutes by far the largest and most important portions of commerce of the earth. These products are peculiar to the climate verging on the tropical regions, and by an imperious law of nature, none but the black race can bear exposure to the tropical sun.

Louisiana:

The people of the slave holding States are bound together by the same necessity and determination to preserve African slavery.

Alabama:

Upon the principles then announced by Mr. Lincoln and his leading friends, we are bound to expect his administration to be conducted. Hence it is, that in high places, among the Republi­can party, the election of Mr. Lincoln is hailed, not simply as it change of Administration, but as the inauguration of new princi­ples, and a new theory of Government, and even as the downfall of slavery. Therefore it is that the election of Mr. Lincoln cannot be regarded otherwise than a solemn declaration, on the part of a great majority of the Northern people, of hostility to the South, her property and her institutions—nothing less than an open declaration of war—for the triumph of this new theory of Government destroys the property of the South...

Texas:

...in this free government all white men are and of right ought to be entitled to equal civil and political rights; that the servitude of the African race, as existing in these States, is mutually beneficial to both bond and free, and is abundantly authorized and justified by the experience of mankind, and the revealed will of the Almighty Creator, as recognized by all Christian nations; while the destruction of the existing relations between the two races, as advocated by our sectional enemies, would bring inevitable calamities upon both and desolation upon the fifteen slave-holding states....

Look, guys - if the symbol you choose to embrace and revere today is the same symbol embraced and revered by racist assholes over the last 150 years, then it almost has to mean you're something of a racist asshole too - even when you insist on ignoring the obviously factual connections by cherry-picking the history of what that symbol really meant to the original racist assholes 150 years ago when they started the shit.  

So guess what, Skeezix - you can make up whatever reasons you wanna make up for why you dig that flag, but when somebody points out that it was meant to symbolize something that was all-kinds-of-fucked-up in the first place, you don't get to blow it all off and selectively ignore the facts.  Cuz you're not 14 years old and you're not living in a fucking vacuum where there're no other people.

Today's Tweet

I've created a new cocktail called the Trickle-Down. Bartender takes your money,then gives a drink to the richest guy at the bar.

— John Fugelsang (@JohnFugelsang) June 20, 2015

Today's Rude

The Rude Pundit brings it:

6/22/2015

In Brief: A Glimpse of South Carolina in the Wake of the Call for the Confederate Flag to Be Shit-Canned

Here's what the Rude Pundit imagines happened in South Carolina right when word leaked out that Gov. Nikki Haley would call for the removal of the Confederate flag from its padlocked place on a pole on the grounds of the capitol:

94.9% of the white people in the state breathed a sigh of relief. Even if they had never expressed it before, they hated that the flag was still there, mocking any attempts for the state to seem like it was progressing past its horrific racist past and its position as the birth canal of the Civil War. This doesn't mean that a good many of them won't tell others they think it's a tragedy and what about their pride in their ancestors who fought for states' rights and bullshit lie upon bullshit delusion. 'Cause, you know, they still have to fit in with their loudest friends.

5% of the white people in the state got enraged, thinking that Haley was giving in to the bleeding heart liberals that didn't understand that the flag stood for pride in their ancestors who fought for states' rights and bullshit lie upon bullshit delusion.

In fact, Haley addressed them directly, saying, "Those South Carolinians view the flag as a symbol of respect, integrity, and duty. They also see it as a memorial, a way to honor ancestors who came to the service of their state during time of conflict. That is not hate. Nor is it racism." And that'd be awesome, except for the fact that it is racist and it is hate and their ancestors fought and many died for a racist, hateful cause. It's fucking perverse, like a gang honoring a fallen member for all the cops he killed. Believe it or not, sometimes your dead relatives are pieces of shit who only deserve contempt.

A tenth of a percent of white people are angry at the niggers and nigger-lovers for desecrating their symbol and want to start a race war. But, you know, that's pretty much what those fucknuts were thinking before today.

Most of the black people of the state are more than likely thinking, "That's a nice step. Now how about not shooting up or burning our churches?"

Kind Of A Weird Amalgam

Today's Term Coining

"Trumpkins"

A very special thanks to National Review (yeah, I know - seems a little weird coming from me, eh?)

“But he speaks his mind!” shout the Trumpkins. Indeed, he does, in a practically stream-of-consciousness fashion: His announcement speech was like Finnegans Wake as reimagined by an unlettered person with a short attention span. The value of speaking one’s mind depends heavily on the mind in question, and Trump’s is second-rate. “He’s the candidate who will take the fight to Hillary!” protest the Trumpkins. Maybe, maybe not: He is on record as a supporter of Herself, and he’s not on record as a presidential candidate, having not bothered to file the FEC paperwork making his candidacy official. “He’ll build a wall on the border and make the Mexicans pay for it!” Unlikely, but even if he did, half of illegal immigrants arrive not on the banks of the Rio Grande but in the airports. Trumpkins: “He’ll show the political elites who’s boss!” They already know, because they already own him: You don’t get into Trump’s game without being a creature of the ruling class. Neither casino licenses nor Manhattan building permits find their way into the hands of the unconnected, in this case the heir to — not the creator of — a New York City real-estate empire.

--and--

Trump may be made out of cookie dough — he has a lot more in common with Paris Hilton than with Henry Ford — but he plays an iron man on television, and a certain sort of man — forgive me for pointing this out — finds the theatrical preening of Trump’s alpha-male act erotically compelling. (Properly understood, The Apprentice and its ilk constitute a subgenre of pornography.) That is not entirely surprising: We live in an age of economic insecurity, and it is attractive to imagine having Trump’s wealth and confidence, even if neither of those rests on as sure a foundation as Trump would have us believe. It’s better to be the boss — to be the man who says, “You’re fired!” — than the man who has to go home emasculated and face his wife’s disappointment.

I would normally have to take the National Review calling Trump a blowhard phony and make the connection for myself regarding what they must be implying about anybody who believes what Trump is saying - but they've left very little room for doubt on that one this time.  So...thanks, guys - uhmm...I'll have to hold off thinking you might make a habit of it for now, but yeah - way to go.  I guess.

Today's Podcast

...is actually from last Thursday: 

And I have to paraphrase George Carlin: "Think about how stoopid the average DumFux News viewer must be - now consider the fact that 50% of 'em are even stoopider than that.

And also too - the rebuttal for the standard bullshit argument, "...a good guy with a gun..." gets pretty simple: What if the good guy with a gun is the first one to be shot and killed?

And then of course, everybody should have a gun because "an armed society is a polite society".  Yeah - everybody knows what a Paradise of Courtesy they've got going in places like Somalia and Syria and Yemen and Nigeria and Sudan.  Pick any truly fucked up joint anywhere in the world and tell me the ubiquity of guns isn't at least a top 3 factor contributing to the fucked-up-ed-ness.