I retweeted a Mock Paper Scissors thing, and I put a tag on it inviting the inference that there was something way more to the story than what it actually is, and that was a very shitty and Breitbart-ey thing for me to have done, and I apologize; and yes I'm really really really not sincere about that at all. Fuck 'em. Fuck 'em both. Dig up Andrew Breitbart's dead moldy crumbling corpse, pack it in rancid lard and make Donald Trump wear it like a ski mask.
Politicians lie? Really? I don't think I want to believe she's just recently come to realize this harsh truth. I'd also like not to think she's another one of the jokers who just pop up out of nowhere, claiming they've never been "political" before, and then we find out she's been working for the county GOP back home for the last 3 years or whatever.
Anyway, somebody seems to be trying pretty hard to sell us on the idea that Ms DeLemus represents a kind of spontaneous political combustion - like we're rebooting The Tea Party rollout from years ago. Dunno enough about that yet, so I'll just stand over here and watch for a while. It does look a lot like monsters of the id, though. And maybe it is. And maybe I'm just still hoping it's something else.
During oral arguments on Wednesday in Fisher v. University of Texas, a contentious affirmative action case, the conservative justice seemed to call their abilities into question.
"There are those who contend that it does not benefit African-Americans to get them into the University of Texas, where they do not do well," Scalia said, "as opposed to having them go to a less-advanced school ... a slower-track school where they do well."
Scalia was engaging former U.S. Solicitor General Gregory Garre, who is now representing the University of Texas at Austin as the school defends its ongoing consideration of race as one of many factors in its admissions program.
Pointing to a brief the court received before oral arguments, Scalia noted "most of the black scientists in this country don't come from schools like the University of Texas."
Garre tried to interject, but the justice continued. "They come from lesser schools where they do not feel that ... they're being pushed ahead in classes that are too fast for them," Scalia said.
Standard GOP Logic.
We elected a black guy President
so we're Post Racial
so there's no such thing as "racism"
so if black folks are getting fucked over now, it must be because there really is something wrong with them
so I was right all along - we're just better than they are
so it's OK to talk shit about 'em again
These people have no soul and no honor.
The next president will likely have to make at least one nomination for SCOTUS. At least one - possibly as many as 3 in two terms. We don't need any more like Antonin Scalia on the court.
Trump: "I have to do what's right. And what's right is this: We have a problem. It's a serious problem. It's gotta be solved. And people that are Muslim; that are friends of mine are so happy that I brought it up."
I have to do what's right. And what's right is this: We have a problem.
Why is anybody pretending that's some kind of policy statement?
...for everybody who needs a quick rebuttal for all those cranks who can't stop eye-guzzling DumFux News - waiting for the annual tradition of bringing the usual and customary crapola about how Obummer and Moochell are alla time slaggin' poor ol' Christmas (and various shit like that right there). From whitehouse.gov:
Maybe I'm reading a little too much into it, but given our national pathology where guns and violent tendencies seem to link up for some kind of wishful Danse Macabre, that thing on the back of that car - the thing with the red lettering - it says what it says because... "My barely-sublimated potential for psychotic behavior could manifest itself at any minute, in a rather explosive display of road rage, during which your 1st amendment right to express yourself on the public thoroughfare will get the fuck 2nd-Amended out of it, because I'm afraid I have very little for you to respect in terms of maturity and reason, so all I can think of is to compensate for it by making you fearful of what I might do because of my toxically unresolved Daddy Issues and the resultant deep-seated feelings of inadequacy regarding the size of my penis"
Menacing is the name of a criminal offense in many US states. The wording and degrees of the offense vary from state to state. It often consists of displaying a weapon to a person with the intention of threatening them with bodily harm from the said weapon, or of criminally threatening another, or otherwise putting them in fear of physical harm. Depending on state, degrees of offense range from a misdemeanor for first time offenders, to low to mid level felonies for offenders with a prior menacing charge. The tangentially related crime of "Menacing By Stalking" was introduced as a new charge in some states following the popularization of laws specifically targeting stalking behavior, in which a perpetrator adopts a long-term pattern of actions designed to frighten and harass a victim while still adhering to the letter of existing harassment laws.
The word 'reconciliation' pops into my fevered little noggin a lot this time of year, but right now it has to go beyond the usual "spiritual-ey" stuff about making a special effort to recognize the things I've done or said or tho't that I shouldn't, and the things I should've done or said or tho't that I didn't. What it gets down to now is: How do we reconcile a call for this country to be more Christian while demanding government policies that are anything but Christian? Take in refugees who're trying to get free of the horrors of war and the bondage of poverty? Fuck 'em - they might be terrorists. People who don't like us because we're Christians have killed a bunch of us. So "turn the other cheek"? Fuck that - we will seek vengeance as if we've never even heard of this Jesus guy, much less his lessons of loving our enemies and forgiving those who trespass against us. Drug testing for Welfare and SNAP recipients - even though it has a much greater and more damaging impact on the totally blameless kids of those very few parents who get caught? Pretty sure your Jesus had more regard for people than that. Guys like John Fugelsang have been trying to point these things out for quite a while, Christians - when can we expect you to start answering the criticism?
.@bradcundiff Muslims will never destroy Christianity but fake Christians are already doing it.
And this next one doesn't have anything to do with Jesus really - even though (I just found out) there's lotsa "Christians" who think Jesus commanded the apostles to arm themselves, citing Luke 22:36. I'd never heard such silliness, and of course it turns out the American Ammosexuals (like all the other hyper jagoff-ey god-knobbers in the whole fucking world), who always need some "higher" authority to rationalize their douchery are missing the whole fucking point, as Benjamin Corey explains. And btw, how do you not reconcile that one? How do you not see that your appeal to an ultimate authority is exactly the same as everybody else's appeal to their version of an ultimate authority? Anyway, if we all carry loaded guns at all times, the whole country gets really safe - but we'll have to insist that there be no loaded guns at the Gun Shows because we need to ensure the safety of our vendors and attendees. And we'll lock up all the weapons on all the military bases in the interest of safety for our service members. And you don't get to carry a loaded gun in a police station because safety is uppermost in our minds. And no guns on airplanes for the safety of the flying public. And no guns at the football game for the safety of the fans. And no guns in the courtroom for the safety of the people there. And no guns at school for the safety of the kids and their teachers. And no guns and no guns and no guns. It's all outa sync. Get this shit reconciled, and let's go to work.
For that hard-to-shop-for got-it-all-anyway gal who's on everybody's list every year, how's about some clothing and accessories featuring skin, hair, nipples and even some puckered bungholes - all human, and all in the name of staying current and fashionable while doing something about over-population. Let the wild rumpus begin!
And I don't have a problem with anybody making fun of anybody for praying.
The problem I have is when we fall for the same old shit - again - by getting hung up bitchin' about people praying vs people bitchin' about people praying instead of concentrating on what's actually happened for about the 350th time in about 340 days just this year.
I got caught up in it too in the last coupla days. I, of course, made some awesomely awesome points, but... fuck - never mind that. Work the fucking problem.
"Some people say" that the Miracles of Zappadan stuff is a buncha hooey, but I disagree. During the first Zappadan in 2006, John Bolton resigned. Then the year after that, Sandy Underpants went to the registry of motor vehicles during Zappadan and got a new license plate with no lines, no waiting, and free donuts. All I can say is, it's Zappadan - Expect Miracles.
I'm not wondering where Trump gets his ideas. It seems obvious these "position statements" are the products of Policy Formulation By Lynch Mob. You do a quick little poll or (more likely) a focus group of "regular people", and you get ideas that reflect the shallowest thinking, fueled by the darkest fears of the biggest paranoiac in the room at the time. Whoever imagines the worst of all possible worsts holds sway, and drives the discussion.
I'm only wondering why it seems like Lil Donny of the Mega-Brain just runs with it every time. In this latest instance, I have great difficulty believing he truly thinks Killing Your Way To Lasting Peace And Security is the way to go. Maybe, but no - prob'ly not.
So I am not moved off of my position that he's looking for his exit. If he can find that one thing that's just too fuckin' much - say the thing that makes enough of us turn away - then he can claim we don't deserve him and blah blah blah, and he can go back to being just another leech on the national nutsack.
In light of the San Bernardino Blood Fest, I can't help but wonder if the Trumpkins will hook anything up between that and the crap Trump always throws into the pile about "beautiful Kate - murdered by an immigrant." It'll be interesting to watch; to see if they fold that into the mix, or if they Etch-A-Sketch it away.
Try not to get too silly worrying about shit that's not gonna happen (prob'ly). I'm referring to Donald Trump and how way too many people are getting way too nutty - I'm not saying there's absolutely no chance for anybody but Hillary, but c'mon. Pretty much top to bottom, side to side, and front to back, we're looking at President Hillary Clinton.
That's Mort Zuckerman saying Wayne LaPierre is a terrorist. I don't really know what all it could mean, but it can't be shrugged off when the paper with the 4th biggest readership in USAmerica Inc makes that kinda commitment to something.
I got out from under the god thing a long time ago - or more accurately, I started pushing back against it as a teenager in the late 60s. It still took me a very long time to come to the realization that I am actually atheistic - I guess I just got an earlier start than most. Anyway, it's always seemed to me that it should be relatively simple for anybody else to break away as well, but when I put aside my own ego and I stop and listen to the stories people tell of what it's taken for them to get free, I have to count myself lucky to have been afforded the space to make my own decisions. From John Pavlovitz, here's the story of a guy who's starting to get it. At the very least, he understands that way too often, religion is just another political straightjacket.
I’ve outgrown the furrowed-browed warnings of a sky that is perpetually falling.
I’ve outgrown the snarling brimstone preaching that brokers in damnation.
I’ve outgrown the vile war rhetoric that continually demands an encroaching enemy.
I’ve outgrown the expectation that my faith is the sole property of a political party.
I’ve outgrown violent bigotry and xenophobia disguised as Biblical obedience.
I’ve outgrown God wrapped in a flag and soaked in rabid nationalism.
I’ve outgrown the incessant attacks on the Gay, Muslim, and Atheist communities.
I’ve outgrown theology as a hammer always looking for a nail.
I’ve outgrown the cramped, creaky, rusting box that God never belonged in anyway.
Most of all though, I’ve outgrown something that simply no longer feels like love, something I no longer see much of Jesus in.
If religion it is to be worth holding on to, it should be the place were the marginalized feel the most visible, where the hurting receive the most tender care, where the outsiders find the safest refuge.
It should be the place where diversity is fiercely pursued and equality loudly championed; where all of humanity finds a permanent home and where justice runs the show.
That is not what this thing is. This is FoxNews and red cup protests and persecution complexes. It’s opulent, big box megachurches and coddled, untouchable celebrity pastors. It’s pop culture boycotts and manufactured outrage. It’s just wars and justified shootings. It’s all manner of bullying and intolerance in the name of Jesus.
Feeling estrangement from these things is a good thing.
Ripped from the blogosphere, the rawness of daily reality comes to life in the guise of Mock Paper Scissors:
The Death Of The Media, Bret Baier Edition
THE OTHER DUMB ONE has a mind like a steel trap… let’s be honest here: if video of dancing NJ Muslims existed, Fox would be playing it 24×7. The fact that they are NOT playing it 24×7 is pretty much proof that there is no documentary evidence that NJ Muslims ever danced in the streets.
But that’s not really the Death of the Media news. Let’s go to BRET BAIER’S response:
“The original statement is thousands and thousands of people in Jersey City celebrating. If you’re just going to get technical, that’s – I don’t know if that has been backed up. Yes, people were celebrating, in some number.”
If you’re going to get technical… that’s weasel speak for “I got nothing, but the boss doesn’t want us to concede.” A network news anchor just defended some BS with, if you’re going to get technical. Your job, Bret, is to get technical with everything, and that’s why YOU are today’s Death of the Media.
Tengrain nails it with: "If video of dancing Muslims existed, Fox would be playing it 24x7."
There were people in this country who celebrated JFK's assassination. I'm not dismissing the probability that there was something shittily celebratory going on somewhere in USAmerica Inc, and I'm not condoning the shittiness, but politics makes for some pretty shitty behavior - let's try to remember at least that much if not much else in terms of details.
And let's also try to remember that we all have the right to be asshole-ish enough to say "Yay" at exactly the wrong time in response to exactly the wrong occurrence.
And one more little thing: We have video of the first plane crashing into the WTC, and while Jersey City ain't Manhattan, if there was any truth to the statement about thousands and thousands - or hundreds, or dozens, or handfuls - if any of that was anything more than Munchausen level bullshit, we'd have the fuckin' video.
And one more one more thing: There's a weird aspect about that piece that makes me think DumFux News is trying to give me the impression that they're trying to be all introspective and self-examining; that maybe they're trying to walk back some of the crazier shit. What clues might that provide us as to the thinking of the apparatchiks there at the GOP Ministry of Misinformation?
On the 145th anniversary of my (occasional) home town. From Wikipedia:
In 1870, the Colorado Central Railroad laid tracks through the area on its route from Golden to link up with the Kansas Pacific Railroad and the Denver Pacific Railroad at Jersey Junction, 3 miles (5 km) north of Denver. On December 1, 1870, Benjamin F. Wadsworth and Louis A. Reno platted the Ralston Point townsite along the railroad. To avoid confusion with other communities along Ralston Creek, Ralston Point was soon renamed Arvada in honor of Hiram Arvada Haskin, brother-in-law of settler Mary Wadsworth.[11] Her husband, Benjamin Wadsworth, became the first postmaster of Arvada. Colorado was granted statehood on August 1, 1876, and the Town of Arvada was formally incorporated on August 14, 1904. A vibrant agricultural community, Arvada claimed the title "Celery Capital of the World."
I had a semi-crummy old farmhouse at 7898 Reno Dr. The landmark water tower was right next door. The water tower survives, but both the house and the street were erased to make way for "progress". So I guess Mr Wolff is to be taken quite literally in this case.
I held off as long as I could. Now let's get out there and shop our asses off, people. The planet's not gonna fuck up itself, y'know. We'll start with a nice assortment of ornaments for your Holiday Tree:
