A Quote

You won't find anything in the middle of the road but yellow stripes and dead armadillos.

--Jim Hightower

We have to figure out how to get past that thinking without believing we can make a compromise on facts that's worth a shit.

2+2=4. 

Not 5. 

And it serves no good purpose to "compromise" at 4½. In fact, it does us all harm.

The answer is 4, and no other answer will do.  Because if you start with a false premise, it's all but impossible to arrive at a true conclusion.

How Great I Art

Lawrence O'Donnell loves me.

Well - O'Donnell's tweet wrangler saw my mention and hit 'like'. This one time.

But that's how we do it now - so Yay Me!

Awareness Schmawareness

Last month it was Breast Cancer Awareness and this month it's Diabetes Awareness and March is MS month and June is Alzheimer's and on and on and on.

I have an idea - let's declare Where's-The-Goddamed-Cure-For-These-Diseases-And-Why-The-Fuck-Do-We-Have-Suicidal-Drug-Addicted-Homeless-Veterans-And-All-The-Rest-Of-This-Shit Awareness Month. And that month can start in January and end in December every year.

Can we try that for a while?

Charlie Pierce

Esquire's Charlie Pierce:

The only things one can be sure of regarding whatever it is that the Republican congressional majorities come up with for a tax plan is that it will shove more of the nation’s wealth upwards, that the math will be mostly magical thinking, and that there will be various strategies employed to keep the country from noticing these first two characteristics. From Politico, we learn that, yes, the Republicans are pretty much a mess on this front, too.
-and-

Look at this mess. Speaker Paul Ryan, the zombie-eyed granny starver from the state of Wisconsin, who is perhaps the worst legislative politician since the Five Minutes of Bob Livingston passed into history, desperately needs this win. Passage of this tax bill is the only reason he’s put up with the antics out of Camp Runamuck at the other end of Pennsylvania Avenue. But, unfortunately, those pesky 2018 midterms have put the gallows in everyone’s eyes, especially Ryan’s.
And let's not ignore this from some polling a coupla months ago:

Today's Tweet

“How could one of the most experienced politicians in history lose to the most unfit candidate ever?” Trump asked reporters (snark snark).

But it's a valid question - maybe somebody should look into it.

Trump Accuses Clinton of Deliberately Losing Election So He Could Be Impeached https://t.co/bcH3OKKEb2

— Gary McKnight (@TenDem) November 2, 2017

 

Keith

"...un-indicted co-conspirator..."

More Of This, Please

One of the real problems with 45* as POTUS is the phenomenon of the Drama du Jour. ie: every day, a new, and at least semi-outrageous bit of Sturm-und-Drang comes up that pushes yesterday's High School Fuckaround Bullshit off to the side, forcing us to address this new crap, leaving no time to deal with much of anything, including the issues that really do require some thought and oughta get noticed.

And I'm really hoping nothing in that first paragraph comes as any kind of surprise to anybody.

The good news is that there's some good news once in a while.
WaPo:

The former chief of a small township in New Jersey has been arrested on federal hate crime and civil rights charges for what federal authorities described as a pattern of racist comments and behavior — including slamming an African American teen’s head into a metal door jamb and saying that black people are “like ISIS.”

Frank Nucera Jr., 60, who had been chief of the Bordentown Township Police Department, was arrested, and the charges against him were unsealed Wednesday. The allegations are notable for the blatant racism they describe in a law enforcement leader.

According to a criminal complaint in the case, filed in federal district court in New Jersey, Nucera frequently referred to African Americans by racial slurs and espoused violence toward them.

The Meme's The Thing

We get all het up because we're seeing something cool and new, and it's hard to slow it all down enough to consider what shitty things can be made to happen if the cool new thing is manipulated in an attempt to drive us in a direction not of our choosing.

Seems Odd Somehow

And now - greetings from catholic.org

Purgatory is necessary so that souls can be cleansed and perfected before they enter into heaven. There is scriptural basis for this belief. The primary reference is in 2 Maccabees, 12:26 and 12:32. "Turning to supplication, they prayed that the sinful deed might be fully blotted out... Thus made atonement for the dead that they might be free from sin."

Yeah - I don't get it either. Seems like you gotta be either forgiven or not forgiven. What's with this Self Service thing?  God does a shitty job; can't get that blessing all the way done? Sounds like god's a bait-n-switch used-car huckster who just teases you in and then drops the hammer on you. Thanks anyway. I think I'll stick to not believing any of that shit.

Good artwork tho' - I'll give you that much, god-knobbers.

Simon's Cat

Happy Halloween

More Pix For Today

I love this kinda shit

Keith

...but perhaps it's the end of the beginning.

Arguing The Real Shit

We need an honest debate, and we need to know how to conduct ourselves in an honest debate - a debate that stands a chance of moving things forward - we can expand a little on the rules and the weird shit we need to watch out for.

Here's a taste:

 

Get the whole infographic here (it's a beaut).

Let It Percolate

Last year, 139 million Americans voted.

129 million of them got at least a few Facebook memes from a ghost account that most likely originated in Russia.

100 million eligible voters stayed home.

45* "won" by less than 250,000 votes in a small handful of states.

Get up off your ass and go vote.

Today's Tweet

Nobody's better at this than driftglass.

#MorningJoe

Watch the puppets dance@realDonaldTrump pic.twitter.com/HpSOrK8h1n

— driftglass (@Mr_Electrico) October 30, 2017

 

@Mr_Electrico

driftglass.blogspot.com