The Washington Post offers tips on how to keep your EV battery running in frigid temperatures. The link at the end of this graf is supposed to be a "gift link" (from me, Marie Burns, the giftor!), meaning that non-subscribers can read the article. Hope it works: https://wapo.st/3u8Z705
Thursday
Jan082015
The Commentariat -- January 9, 2015
Internal links removed.
Obama Pushes Socialist Plan to Grant Hoi Polloi Two Free Years of College. Christi Parsons of the Los Angeles Times: "President Obama rolled out a new plan Thursday to make two years of community college free, or nearly so, for millions of students across the country, a major investment that the White House cast as changing the face of higher education. The program, inspired by new initiatives in Tennessee and Chicago, could benefit up to 9 million students, advisors said. At its heart is dedicated federal funding to cover 75% of tuition, with the states picking up the rest of the tab":
... As contributor James S. wrote in yesterday's thread, " I think he wants to drive the repugs nuts." CW: More easily done than said. ...
... In addition, as Akhilleus suggested in the same thread (by extension), the Obama proposal, if implemented, would just lead to more college date rape since it gives more women the option to attend college. Phyllis Schlafly: "The imbalance of far more women than men at colleges has been a factor in the various sex scandals that have made news in the last couple of years." One of her solutions: quit granting college loans altogether. Seems to me that by Schlafly's standard, President Obama favors campus rape.
Neil Irwin of the New York Times: "The latest jobs numbers, released Friday,show that this basic story of a strengthening economy remains very much intact..... This is all excellent news for the people holding one of the 2.95 million jobs that did not exist at the beginning of 2014 (the strongest year of job growth since 1999)..... The big disappointment was on wages.... In Friday's revisions, November wages rose only 0.2 percent. And even worse, in December they fell 0.2 percent.... One mild curiosity in the report is that the size of the labor force actually fell.... When employers are so reluctant to raise pay, it shouldn't be shocking that more Americans choose to sit at home and remain out of the labor force."
The Party of Voodoo. Paul Krugman: "... we're looking at a political subculture in which ideological tenets are simply not to be questioned, no matter what. Supply-side economics is valid no matter what actually happens to the economy, guaranteed health insurance must be a failure even if it's working, and anyone who points out the troubling facts is ipso facto an enemy. And we're not talking about marginal figures. You sometimes hear claims that the old-fashioned Republican establishment is making a comeback, that Tea Party extremists are on the run and we can get back to bipartisan cooperation. But that is a fantasy. We can't have meaningful cooperation when we can't agree on reality, when even establishment figures in the Republican Party essentially believe that facts have a liberal bias."
Louis Jacobson of PolitiFact: "In remarks from the Senate floor, newly elevated Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., suggested that his party's takeover of Senate control 'appears to coincide' with recent good economic news.... McConnell stopped short of saying the Republican Senate takeover actually caused an economic improvement, though many observers assumed that was what he was trying to imply.... Even leaving aside the question of causation, key statistics show that the economic recovery was under way well before September, which is our best estimate for when the "expectation" of a GOP Senate solidified. We rate the statement False." ....
... Happily, James Carroll of the Louisville Courier-Journal (Mitch's homestate paper) picked up the PolitiFact analysis & even threw in the Democratic National Committee's response to Mitch's claim, which began, "Hahahahahahahahahahaha." ...
... Greg Sargent: "... the humor value of this aside, the serious point is that McConnell is actually talking about what's to come, and previewing how Republicans will justify their coming policy agenda.... The idea is that the increased confidence generated by the impending GOP takeover of Congress is responsible for the recovery -- which is exactly why we should now go forward with implementing a Republican economic agenda." ...
... ** Whenever you get confused about "dynamic scoring" or forget why the Congressional Budget Office has heretofore been important, read or re-read this piece by Jonathan Chait, published January 7.
Jonathan Weisman of the New York Times: "The House on Thursday easily passed legislation that would redefine a full-time worker under the Affordable Care Act, brushing aside qualms from conservatives and liberals who fear the bill would prompt employers to cut worker hours to avoid being forced to offer them health insurance. The Save American Workers Act, which passed the House by 252 to 172..., would change the definition of a full-time worker under the health law from one who works 30 hours a week to one who works 40 hours. A dozen Democrats joined all Republicans in support of the bill.... The legislation now goes to the Senate, where it has some Democratic support, possibly even enough to muster 60 votes to overcome a Democratic filibuster.... An official at the White House said this week that President Obama would veto it if it reached him. Representative Nancy Pelosi of California, the House minority leader, vowed to sustain the president's veto.... This week, the Congressional Budget Office said the legislation would prompt 1 million people to be dropped from employer coverage, pushing from 500,000 to 1 million people onto government insurance and increasing the number with no insurance by hundreds of thousands. That would raise federal spending by $53.2 billion over the next decade."
Washington Post Editors: "The gas tax operates on a straightforward principle: Those who use the roads should pay for them. But over the past two decades, the value of the revenue the tax produces has dropped by about a third -- partly because of inflation and partly because cars have become more fuel-efficient.... Now, with lower oil prices, the politics of raising the gas tax should be easier...." ...
... Greg Sargent: "House Speaker John Boehner, speaking to reporters today, dumped a few gallons of cold water on the idea of a gas tax hike: 'I've never voted to raise the gas tax. Funding a highway bill is critically important, it's a priority for this year, how we'll fund it we're going to have to work our way through this. It's doubtful that the votes are here to raise the gas tax.' Asked for further clarification, Boehner spokesman Michael Steel emailed: 'The Speaker doesn't support a gas tax hike. Period.'... If we can't reach a deal to fund the HTF through higher gas taxes at this particular political moment, what possible deal can we reach that would involve new revenue for spending on infrastructure? It's hard to imagine that there is one." ...
... Steve Benen: "American investment in infrastructure has fallen to its lowest point since 1947. Making matters slightly worse, the Highway Trust Fund is on track to run out of money in May.... The United States used to be the world leader on infrastructure, and as Reagan's support for higher gas taxes makes clear, this used to be a bipartisan issue. Those days are over.... Boehner told reporters today, 'We've got to find a way to deal with America's crumbling infrastructure,' but the GOP leader simply hasn't the foggiest idea what that 'way' might be, and he's ruling out the one obvious solution that would fix the problem." ...
... CW: Likely GOP solution: cut programs for lazy poor people & use that money to repave roads & mend bridges, etc. It is only fitting for people who can't afford cars to pay for nicer roads for people who have cars. In the meantime, every time I hit a pothole, I will curse a poor person. Seems fair.
Orange Peal. Susan Cornwell of Reuters: John Boehner complains about his press & right-wing critics. Also, is comfortable in his own skin.
** Tim Egan: "The State Department has estimated that the total number of permanent new jobs created by the [Keystone XL] pipeline would be 35.... This, at a time when the world is awash in cheap oil.... The Keystone pipeline, though largely symbolic in the global scheme of things, does nothing for the American economy except set up the United States as a pass-through colony for foreign industrialists. Well, not all foreign: The Koch brothers are one of the largest outside leaseholders of acres in Canadian oil sands...."
Ian Millhiser of Think Progress: Gov. Scott Walker accidentally tells the Supreme Court he plans to allow the ACA to fail if the boys rule in favor of the plaintiffs in King v. Burwell. Millhiser believes some conservative Supremes (John Roberts??) may be less likely to rule for the plaintiffs if they think their ruling would have a significant effect on Americans' access to health care. CW: I'm afraid Millhiser is romanticizing the Supremes & attributing to them levels of emphathy & pragmatism that the men in black do not possess. I hope I'm wrong.
Kate Sheppard of the Huffington Post: "In a victory for proponents of the Keystone XL pipeline, the Nebraska Supreme Court ruled on Friday that the pipeline's proposed route through the state can go forward." ...
... Charles Pierce: "The only thing left is the State Department review, which can now resume after having been suspended pending a ruling by the Nebraska court. If the State Department recommends the project, which I think it will, the president then will have the final decision on the pipeline, one way or the other." Also "Joe Manchin (D-Bituminous)" is unaware that the POTUS has Constitutional rights & duties. AND Glenn Kessler, the Washington Post's "fact"-checker, is totally dedicated to both-sides-do-it "journalism."
Bill Cosby continues to think drugging & raping women is a good topic for jokes. As I recall (and I may be wrong) some Reality Chex readers still think the original, extended joke -- Cosby's 1968 Spanish fly story -- is pretty funny anyway.
American "Justice," Ctd. Cory Shaffer of Northeast Ohio Media Group: "Cleveland police officers forced Tamir Rice's 14-year-old sister to the ground, handcuffed her and placed in the back of a Cleveland police car steps away from her wounded 12-year-old brother. The scene plays out within the first two minutes of the 30 minute video taken from the Cudell Recreation Center surveillance camera that captured the shooting. The additional video was obtained by Northeast Ohio Media Group after protracted talks with city officials, who initially refused to release it.... The video confirmed earlier claims made by Tamir's mother, Samaria Rice, and her legal team at a Dec. 8 press conference that an officer cuffed her daughter as she ran to check on her brother and that officers waited several minutes before administering first aid....
Officers then stood around Tamir as he lay wounded. One officer had his hands on his hips when a man, identified by police as an FBI agent who was in the neighborhood, entered the frame and administered first aid. It was the first medical care the boy received in the four minutes that followed the shooting.
... (Emphasis added.) Report includes surveillance video. CW: The way police behave after these killings often speak more to their racial bias than do the actual killings. In some cases (but certainly not in all), the killings/murders might be attributed to "involuntary" bias -- the killers are more fearful of young black men than they are of other groups of people -- but their callous treatment of the victims of police shootings & others in the area demonstrate a deep-seated, institutional bias: leaving Michael Brown's body exposed for four hours, chatting as Eric Garner lay dying, milling about as child victim Tamir Rice was dying while brutalizing his young sister. These are not heat-of-the-moment lapses; they are in-your-face, purposeful, public shows of racist hatred. They are warnings to the black community: do anything to cross us, & we'll make you and yours very, very sorry.
L'Hotel du Grinch. Robin Brown of the Delaware New Journal: "Sparked in part by a social media frenzy, two local hotels are allowing some homeless people to stay for free during the intense cold weather. The episode began with the revelation, first reported by WDEL, that on Christmas night a group of six or seven homeless people had been refused a room at the Hotel du Pont in Wilmington. The $639 room had been reserved and was to be paid for by a local couple hoping to help the less fortunate." CW: If you live sous le pont, you can't stay in the Du Pont. ...
... CW: Here's a thought. I've read numerous analyses -- like the one reported here -- that indicate it's cheaper to house the homeless (no, not in luxury hotels) than to care for them while they're in the streets. AND thanks to Victoria D. & Janice for their links to this "Daily Show" segment about housing the homeless in Salt Lake City.
Alexandrea Boguhn, et al., of Media Matters: "Right-wing media rushed to exploit the deadly terrorist attack on a French satirical newspaper in Paris, placing blame on Democrats and citing the tragedy to push for renewed surveillance of U.S. Muslims, discriminatory profiling, looser gun regulations, and stricter immigration laws." The reporters run down some of the exploitative remarks voiced. ...
... For instance, Fox "News"'s "Outnumbered hosts agreed that Americans 'are being hunted' by terrorists, and network host Kennedy added that 'I think the best thing that Americans can do is arm themselves.'" ...
... CW: I agree. I'm sure there would be less carnage in the U.S. if most "responsible gun owners" were armed at all times with "Kalashnikov assault rifles [AK-47s] and a rocket launcher." ...
... Helene Fouquet of Bloomberg News: "Semi-automatic and automatic firearms are banned, but that hasn't stopped drug dealers and terrorists from acquiring them in increasing numbers.... Semi-automatic military-style rifles, including the AK-47, are widely and legally available in the U.S. Equipped with large-capacity magazines, such rifles can fire scores of rounds in a minute or two. AK-47s have been used in American mass killings in Omaha, Nebraska, and Wakefield, Massachusetts, in recent years." ...
... CW: Read a few of the comments. Obviously, gun-lobby puppets are trolling Bloomberg. The comments re: the Newtown, Connecticut, grade-school shootings are surreal in their stupidity. Of course the really scary part is that certain gunowners are adept at tricking themselves into believing absurdities. In this country, it isn't just avowed terrorists & other criminals who are armed and dangerous. ...
... Annals of Journalism, Ctd. A British headline writer shows American journalists how to get around false both-sides-do-it journalism. Here's the headline, published in the Telegraph & highlighted by contributor safari: "'Moron' Donald Trump sparks anger with Charlie Hebdo Twitter rant on gun laws." No, the Telegraph didn't call Trump a moron; the headline writer let Trump's critics do it. But the reader gets the idea. ...
... Annals of "Journalism," Ctd. Erik Wemple of the Washington Post: "The New York Times has premised its refusal to republish the most controversial Charlie Hebdo cartoons on the sensibilities of its readers:. 'Under Times standards, we do not normally publish images or other material deliberately intended to offend religious sensibilities....' Echoes of the 'deliberately' offensive rationale ring out from top managers at the Associated Press and The Post.... How does the [NYT] know what's 'deliberately' offensive? Would it publish 'accidentally' offensive drawings? Yet the deliberately-offensive rationale is more defensible than the one offered this morning by CNN Worldwide President Jeff Zucker..., which amounts to an admission that fear of terrorism is driving CNN's editorial decisions.... Yet his capitulation to fear doesn't withstand scrutiny on any level." ...
... Annals of "Journalism," Ctd. Steve M.: David Brooks doesn't seem to understand the difference between (1) refusing to provide a platform for disagreeable speakers & (2) mowing down objectionable writers & artists with AK-47s. ...
... Re: our discussion of yesterday, here the evidence that Secretary of State John Kerry spoke in French of the Charlie Hebdo terrorist attack. (Kerry made more extended remarks about the attack in English during the same press appearance with the Polish secretary of state.) I don't have a very good ear, but if I can understand someone's speaking French, his accent probably sucks. I can pretty much understand Kerry here:
... Nonetheless, Rushbo is disgusted: "Anyway, there he is, Jean-Francois Kerry, and that is, by the way, one of his prime qualifications to be secretary of state. He can speak French and Europeans really love this bilingual stuff. That's how you really prove you're educated." CW: Rush's French-to-English translation, BTW, is excellent.
Dana Milbank on House Majority Whip Steve Scalise (R-La.): "... it's worth celebrating that the overt racism tolerated by public officials just a decade ago has been banished from civilized discourse." ...
... CW: Milbank is right about that, of course; the problem, as I see it, is that it isn't racism that has been banished but "overtly racist discourse." Meanwhile, & perhaps not particularly sub rosa in some parts, wink-wink racism continues apace & maintains a huge effect on conservative policy.
Terrence McCoy of the Washington Post on "Boko Haram's 'most horrific act of terrorism yet.'" CW: I understand that the military in the countries Boko Haram is targeting are not up to the task of defeating the killing group, but Boko Haram is an international offender. It calls for an international military response.
Congressional Races 2016
Ed O'Keefe of the Washington Post: "Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) announced on Thursday that she will not seek reelection in 2016, the first retirement announcement from a Democratic senator ahead of the 2016 political cycle that will spark a major political contest in California. Boxer made the announcement in a video co-starring her grandson, who played the role of reporter":
... Boxer's grandson there, Zach Rodman, is the son of Hillary Clinton's serially sleazy brother Tony Rodman. Tony is no longer married to Boxer's daughter Nicole. ...
... Presidential Election 2016 ...
... From a 2001 New York Daily News story: "Tony Rodham ... said he couldn't remember whether he shared a few illicit puffs with Daniel Coyne, who later caught Rodham having sex with his girlfriend. 'I might have, but I don't recall,' Rodham said." CW: For the good of the nation, I must actively encourage & abet another Relative of Hillary's to roam the White House halls schmoozing the interns.
Michael Bender & Jonathan Allen of Bloomberg Politics: "Jeb Bush's allies are setting a fundraising goal of $100 million in the first three months of this year -- including a whopping $25 million haul in Florida -- in an effort to winnow the potential Republican presidential primary field with an audacious display of financial strength."
News Ledes
AFP: "A top sharia official from Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) threatened France with fresh attacks following those at the Charlie Hebdo magazine and at a Jewish supermarket, SITE monitoring group said Friday." ...
... New York Times: "French security services confronted two dangerous hostage situations on Friday, one outside Paris involving the two suspects in Wednesday's rampage at a satirical newspaper, and another that suddenly erupted Friday afternoon at a kosher supermarket on the eastern edge of the capital. Christophe Tirante, a senior police official, said that two people had been killed in the supermarket siege and that at least five hostages had been taken. The Interior Ministry denied the report of deaths." ...
... The Times' liveblog is here. The Guardian's liveblog is here. ...
... NYT UPDATED Lede: "French police on Friday killed the two brothers suspected of massacring 12 people at a Paris newspaper on Wednesday and freed a hostage they had been holding unharmed, the authorities said. The police launched a simultaneous raid on a kosher supermarket in Paris where an alleged associate of the brothers was holding an unnamed number of hostages. That hostage taker was also killed, according to a senior French police official, and at least five hostages were freed." ...
... The NYT has UPDATED the story again.
... The New York Daily News publishes "A dramatic video [which] captured the chaotic last stand of the cop-killing terror suspect gunned down Friday as police stormed a Paris kosher deli."
New York Times: "Capping the best year for the job market since the recession began eight years ago, employers added 252,000 jobs in December, the Labor Department reported Friday, and unemployment fell to 5.6 percent. The unemployment rate was last that low in June 2008. The number of new people put on payrolls last month was above what economists had forecast, consistent with the view that recovery is finally gaining traction after years of only modest growth. In addition, the number of jobs created in November was revised upward to 353,000, from 321,000. That month, the unemployment rate was 5.8 percent."
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Reader Comments (22)
It's not fantasy if it works; rather, it's hard-nosed reality.
If you're working for the plutocrats and keeping taxes regressive and low allows the infrastructure to crumble that you either do not use or can easily fly over, your policies are working--for you.
It's the test of what works that has changed since and in large part because of Reagan. What the Repugs might once have graded a c+ or b-, measured by the good of the whole, has become an F. Its opposite, caring not a whit for the nation at large, an A.
As for the gas tax in particular, until the recent drop in gas prices, it has never been so low in either revenue generated per mile of use or in its percentage of the price/gallon of fuel. If we take the price of petroleum--the material we bake, make and repair highways with as an indicator of highway construction costs--which has been on the rise for decades, the federal highway fund has been losing ground for years...and that's not a fantasy that will prove easy to wish away.
Sigh.....having Hillary in the White House is going to be a major bummer--especially with her scummy brothers and horny husband.
Oh wait....Supreme Court! I take it all back.
Having Hillary in the White House will be lovely because--ah--breaking the glass ceiling. How does that sound? Err... How about first Granny to be President? Well she does have a high IQ. Oh shit! I give up. Supreme Court! Sigh...
Re: housing the homeless
In yesterday's comments, Victoria D. referenced this excellent clip from the Daily Show:
http://thedailyshow.cc.com/videos/lntv3q/the-homeless-homed
I thought the Salt Lake City official playing the straight man to Hasan Minhaj was perfect.
I'm sure the same logic could be applied to health care, education, and fair wages.
What if we saw all of our fellow citizens/residents - no matter where they live, what they look like, where they come from, etc. - as "actual people"? You know, "do unto others" and all that jazz.
Marie, you did happen to miss a good article by The Telegraph re: the Charlie Hebdo shootings. The title explains it well enough:
"‘Moron’ Donald Trump sparks anger with Charlie Hebdo Twitter rant on gun laws"
His Tweets pushing the NRA deregulation line are completing idiotic. And he even manages to blame Obama on the shootings because he's releasing the Gitmo savages into the world.
The fact that the paper would label him as a 'moron' given his rant shows the enormous gap between gun regulation reality in the US and Europe. No one can peddle the 'more guns more safety' shit here without getting ridiculed. But in the US you're taken more than seriously, you're given legislative action.
And to add insult to injury, the picture they chose to show Trump is hilarious in itself.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/france/11332948/Moron-Donald-Trump-sparks-anger-with-Charlie-Hebdo-Twitter-rant-on-gun-laws.html
...and The Telegraph used the perfect Trump photo!
Since France has very strict gun laws, how and where did a former pizza delivery guy and his brother obtain the Kalashnikov and a rocket grenade launcher? There's obviously more than two involved here (not counting the 18-year old driver who turned himself in)!
So glad we are back in business. Within a few short days the world can fall apart––amazing the news that's fit to print! So besides the scandals, the horrific French shootings, Phyllis Shafley shooting off her mouth along with Donald Duck, Mitch McConnell pretending that the good economic and job news somehow is attributed to the GOP, and the list goes on–––the President announced that the war in Afghanistan is officially over. But we will still be there, won't we? I said aloud. Our foray into the middle east seems to be never ending and I'm afraid we are stuck in a way that is hurting us and the other countries that feel compelled to join us. Below is a link to a piece by William Pfaff that speaks to my concerns. He uses the Joel Chandler tale of Brer Rabbit and Brer Fox and the Tar Baby to illustrate his message. I think it's a worthwhile read.
href="http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/brer_rabbit_and_brer_fox_20150107">http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/brer_rabbit_and_brer_fox_20150107
Per the New York Times, baggage handlers in Atlanta and elsewhere have been involve in a gun running scheme featuring smuggling of weapons into airline cabins to get them from Georgia (lax gun laws) to New York (stricter) for FIVE YEARS. Apparently airport workers largely do not have to pass security screening. The TSA has said it will "look into whether new safeguards were needed."
Speaking of guns: Last week I watched a Frontline program on the Sandy Hook shootings and the aftermath. Someone said that if this tragedy wouldn't change minds and hearts re: gun control, nothing would. And nothing did for the bulk of the GOP. I was curious as to whom in Congress voted for the Manchin/Toomey gun control bill. Here's the rundown––stats to keep in mind:
Democrats who voted Nay: the rest of all Dems voted yay
Max Baucus MT(who is now our ambassador in China)
Mark Begich AK
Hedi Heitkamp ND
Mark Pryor AR
Harry Reid NV
Republicans who voted Yay: The rest of all Rep.voted nay
Mark Kirk IL
John McCain AR
Pat Toomey PA
Susan Collins ME
This bill was a background check proposal. I simply cannot get my mind around the defeat of this bill-––and the parents of those slain children who worked so hard to convince legislators now know the futility of reaching those whose allegiance is to the gun lobbies and their constituents who will only vote for those that suck up to them there gun lovers.
@PDPepe, and this from, where else, South Carolina.
A pair of bills filed in each house of South Carolina’s legislature aim to eliminate the zero-tolerance attitude towards guns in schools by allowing or even mandating gun safety and Second Amendment-related curricula.
According to South Carolina State Rep. Alan Clemmons, who introduced the House bill, argues that "The zero-tolerance attitude towards guns in schools is undermining knowledge of, and respect for, the Second Amendment. "Because," he says, "... the right to bear arms is what helps to preserve all other constitutional rights.
Read more at http://joshuamark5.com/2015/01/south-carolina-considers-mandatory-gun-education-school/#BViERrrSgfvOS2Pg.99
And so, after a mere 12-hour respite, the Scalise saga continues:
“Black lawmakers say House GOP Whip Steve Scalise has to do more than say he’s sorry for addressing a white supremacist group when he was a Louisiana state lawmaker 12 years ago.
“If Scalise wants to repair his battered image, he needs to put actions behind declarations that he’s no bigot, they say.
“Give a major address on race relations, or co-sponsor a bill restoring key provisions of the Voting Rights Act struck down by the Supreme Court, black lawmakers say.”
@PD Pepe.
Three men walk into a gun show....
The "show" is a big one & takes place in one of the majority of states which do not have laws eliminating the "gun show loophole."
Each of the three men is seeking to purchase an AK-47. For safety's sake, we'll make them actors. The first plays a good ole local boy who says he likes to go hunting & seeks protection against "those people." The second plays a stereotypical A-rab terrorist-type (or Black Panther); he vaguely implies he will use his purchase to "make things right for Allah" or something. The third plays a mentally-disturbed young white man; he tells the salespeople he hears voices, etc., & otherwise acts erractically.
How many walk out with AK-47s?
I can't answer the question, but I have a feeling it's three.
Marie
It seems, sometimes, as if Paul Krugman is the only one in the MSM who assiduously underlines the fact-free, ideologically controlled path of the Republican Party specifically and conservatives generally.
Few others even attempt it. Most can't be bothered. Talk of ideology for them rapidly descends into he-said, she-said, both-sides drudgery which has every possibility of masking their journalistic brilliance, ie, flogging the political flavor of the month.
Which is perfectly fine with the right.
But it strikes me that conservatives, especially given their immersion in the operation of fundamentalist religion, are particularly well suited to embrace doctrinal ideological assumptions.
Religion is a fact-free, non-rational pursuit. Facts aren't necessary, only faith. Faith is the belief in something or someone without benefit of any facts or rationality, so it shouldn't surprise anyone that inconvenient political or real world facts are routinely dismissed while new "facts" much more in line with their world view are manufactured and widely distributed throughout the length and breadth of right-wing world. A kind of political Papal Bull read from on high by the right's own Holy See on Fox and the many thousands of far-right media outlets.
Krugman points, with alarm and no inconsiderable amount of trepidation, at the lengths to which wingers will go to ignore startlingly clear evidence in favor of their obdurate ideology. Things MUST be the way they want them. And we must all agree.
In the 17th century, there were a fair number of churchmen, learned fellows, mathematicians and astronomers, who knew that Copernicus, Kepler, and after them, Galileo, were very likely correct. After all, it allowed them to discard the mucilaginous and unwieldy model of the solar system perpetrated by the Church. As astral observations enlarged their data sets, almost all inimical to the Aristotelian model adhered to by the Church, the information created an increasingly wild model that had to do all sorts of hippity hopping to account for retrograde motions of planets and stars. Rube of Goldbergia would have made a fortune keeping up with each updating of the Approved Model.
Nonetheless, no matter how out of sync with reality, the Church plowed forward, bringing Galileo before the Inquisition for his temerity in challenging its fact-free, non-rational views with undeniable truths.
The Modern GOP is no different, except for not being able to haul people before a deliberative body and being able to threaten them with death or imprisonment for not going along with their irrational views. (Yet.)
The problem for all of us is, as Krugman points out, we now have major centers of power in this country under the sway of ideologically controlled political prelates whose irrational views and fact-free faith in conservative religion threatens to sink us all, and force everyone to adopt their cloud cuckoo view of the world and the universe.
Get your very own Medieval Model of How Things Are, according to the Wingnuts. Step right up. Right this way.
Marie,
I think you're probably correct in the conclusion to your thought experiment. But you need to take it a step further.
Once outside, the good ol' boy shoots the Arab/Black Panther guy, the mentally disturbed guy shoots the good ol' boy, then goes back in to the gun show and kills as many people as can before shooting himself.
Fox deems it a victory for the Second Amendment, and flags fly at half staff for the good ol' boy He-roe in every red state capitol.
The end.
@Akhilleus: Say what? You mean all those heavily-armed gun-show participants don't immediately kill the perp before he can harm anyone? Wayne LaPierre is outraged by your supposition.
Marie
Now that all of the Paris terrorists are dead my only regret is that they will never know that the entire basis of their actions does not even exist.
Well, isn't this special.
You would think that religious people might be kind, caring, generous spirits. You would think. Let's take preacher Mike Huckabee, a religious nutball of the first order.
A friend sent me a link to a review of his new book, "Guns, God, Guns, God, Guns, God, Guns, God and blah, blah, blah" What is it about guns and god? Does he have a lot of stock in the weapons industry?
So anyway, here are some of the highlights (*snicker*) just in case any of you were planning NOT to read "GGGGGGG and BBB".
Just in case you were wondering, Jay-Z is a pimp, and his wife, Beyonce, is a prostitute. Why? Don't ask. White preacher, black entertainers on TV, sex, sex, sex. And without his permission. But, not to worry, ol' Mike sees Jay-Z as a good businessman. Pimping out his wife, and all, I mean. Mighty white of Mike, I have to say.
And marriage equality, I mean, if those people are going to fuck everything up, might as well go all the way, right? So Mike suggests that we should now allow bisexual people to marry two people, a man and a woman, because you never what they'll be in the mood for one night to the next.
Okay, what next? Oh yeah. Anyone who doesn't back Mike to the hilt, because God, I suppose, is a terrorist. Not just any old terrorist, but a suicide bomber. He's referring to the Club for Growth, who harassed him during his last outing for pres, but you get the idea. Bad people. Bad, bad, bad.
But the best part of his book is a little joke about prison rape. Ha-ha-ha! Because sexual assault of inmates is such a knee-slapper.
So, says Mike, "Bend over and take it like a prisoner!" Tee-hee.
Those wingnuts, they're funny guys, no?
What was I saying about the kindness of religious people?
Marie,
Oh yeah, the gun nuts do try to kill the Arab/Black Panther, but they all miss because they've been indulging at the beer concessions booth. They end up killing each other while the other three walk outside.
Marvin,
The poor French. Now they know what we go through in this country every few weeks or so.
@Akhilleus: My mistake; I forgot we were talking about responsible gun owners here.
Marie
Oh GAWD!
I knew I shouldn't have done it, but I did.
I looked at today's mewlings of Our Miss Brooks. "Je ne suis pas Charlie Hebdo" (just trying to bait Rushbo here...) is Brooks' rallying cry. He places those who read and write satire--like the CH cartoonists and writers murdered earlier in the week--at the children's table, because they are "puerile", not serious adults like Brooksie.
But his entire argument is a mish-mash. Not to mention the fact that he doesn't seem to understand what "Je suis Charlie Hebdo" even means. I won't track that because it's stupid. He wants an end to censorship and "speech codes" but he doesn't want satirists involved because, they're just not serious people. Tell that to Jonathan Swift, Miss Brooks.
But back to those speech codes Brooks seems so concerned about, not to mention his reference to the "adult table". Clearly he is forgetting that 99.9% of those on his side, including nearly the entire GOP congressional contingent sit at the children's table. Oh, wait. I'm mistaken. The kids have booted them. They're outside in the sandbox throwing mud pies at each other and other people.
And "speech codes"? You mean the way conservatives talk about women, immigrants, minorities, Democrats, liberals, environmentalists? All those dog whistle words that are employed with a giant stage wink to let the haters and racists and other mud pie throwers know whose side they're really on?
And you don't even have to listen to hate radio or Fox to hear the speech codes of the right. Just listen to Mitch McConnell, Paul Ryan, Chris Christie, George Bush, Darth Cheney....
No, David. You're absolutely correct. You are NOT Charlie Hebdo.
Yea!
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/10/us/politics/prosecutors-said-to-recommend-charges-against-former-gen-david-petraeus.html?emc=edit_na_20150109&nlid=14046984
Maybe for the wrong reasons, like getting Chaney for tax evasion... but Yea!
And Jon Stewart makes a mistake:
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2015/01/08/1356392/-Jon-Stewart-mad-about-his-mistake-Fox-News-only-needs-to-be-right-once?detail=email