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
Sunday
Nov292015
The Commentariat -- Nov. 30, 2015
Internal links removed.
Afternoon Update:
Gardiner Harris of the New York Times: "President Obama told world leaders who gathered northeast of Paris on Monday for a climate conference that the United States is at least partly to blame for the life-threatening damage that environmental change has wrought, and he urged world leaders to join him in fixing the problem.... Mr. Obama also repeated an argument, lampooned by some Republicans, that the climate conference was a fitting response to the terrorist attacks that cost the lives of 130 people in and around Paris on Nov. 13. 'What greater rejection of those who would tear down our world than marshaling our best efforts to save it,' he said." CW: Can hardly wait for the GOP response to Obama's admitting U.S. culpability on climate change: "Weak!" "Hates America!" _______Fill in______
... The Times has a running commentary on the Paris talks.
Keith Bradsher of the New York Times: "The International Monetary Fund on Monday designated the Chinese renminbi as one of the world's elite currencies, a major milestone that underscores the country's rising financial and economic heft. The decision will help pave the way for broader use of the renminbi in trade and finance, securing China's standing as a global economic power. Just four other currencies -- the dollar, the euro, the pound and the yen -- have the I.M.F. designation."
Alan Rappeport of the New York Times: "Senator Bernie Sanders stepped off the campaign trail on Monday to have a procedure to repair a hernia. Mr. Sanders, the independent from Vermont and Democratic presidential candidate, had an outpatient procedure at George Washington University Hospital and was expected return to his Senate duties on Tuesday."
Maggie Haberman & John Corrales of the New York Times: "Donald J. Trump met privately on Monday with black pastors and religious figures at Trump Tower in Manhattan, where he was expected to hold preliminary discussions to seek their endorsements." See links to related news under Presidential Race below.
Nicky Woolf of the Guardian: "Officials have filed charges today against four men accused of shooting into a crowd of protesters in Minneapolis a week ago. Protests have been ongoing outside the precinct building since police shot Jamar Clark, an unarmed black man, just a few hundred yards down the road on 15 November. He died in hospital a day later."
*****
Maria St. Louis-Sanchez & Michelle Karas of the Colorado Springs Gazette: "Family members have confirmed to the Gazette's news partner KKTV that a man named Ke'Arre Stewart was one of the victims killed in Friday's Planned Parenthood shooting. On Facebook his sister, Leyonte Chandler, wrote that Stewart was an Army veteran who served a tour in Iraq. He leaves behind two young daughters." ...
... Jakob Rodgers of the Gazette: "Another civilian victim killed Friday in the attack at a Planned Parenthood clinic in west Colorado Springs has been identified as Jennifer Markovsky of Colorado Springs, her father confirmed to The Gazette. Markovsky was married and had a son and a daughter, said John Ah-King, Markovsky's father in a telephone conversation from his home in Honolulu, Hi." CW: Probably just a coincidence that both victims are racial minorities. ...
... Ashley Southall of the New York Times: "The governor of Colorado [John Hickenlooper (D)], where a gunman killed three people and wounded nine others in a rampage at a Planned Parenthood clinic last week, called the shooting a 'form of terrorism' on Sunday and said that the country needed to ask why such shootings were happening so frequently.... 'I think as a state, but as a country, we have got a lot more thinking about this,' Mr. Hickenlooper said, 'of how to make sure we keep guns out of the hands of people that are unstable.' Colorado has been the site of two other mass shootings.... Several other guests on Sunday talk shows called the shootings domestic terrorism, including Mike Huckabee...; the mayor of Colorado Springs; and the head of Planned Parenthood of the Rocky Mountains. Many, including Mr. Hickenlooper, also suggested that it was time to begin discussing how to tone down rhetoric that 'is inflaming people to the point where they can't stand it, and they go out and they lose connection with reality in some way and commit these acts of unthinkable violence.'" ...
This is so typical of the left to immediately begin demonizing a messenger because they don't agree with the message. The vast majority of Americans agree what Planned Parenthood is doing is wrong. -- Carly Fiorina ...
... Sandhya Somashekhar of the Washington Post: "During his arrest, Dear referred to 'baby parts,' a law enforcement official said. Abortion rights advocates say the connection is clear. Over the summer, a little-known antiabortion group called the Center for Medical Progress released a series of covertly filmed videos purporting to show that Planned Parenthood illegally sells fetal tissue, or 'baby parts,' as abortion foes refer to it, for research.... State and congressional investigations have so far failed to produce proof supporting the allegations.... On 'Fox News Sunday'..., Carly Fiorina [said,] 'nothing justifies this.' In the past, she has accused Planned Parenthood of 'butchering babies for body parts.'... 'Politicians need to stop escalating the rhetoric against Planned Parenthood, and that means by and large the Republican Party," said Laura Chapin, a pro-abortion rights ... consultant and former press secretary to former Colorado governor Bill Ritter (D). 'Right-wing politicians need to back off.'" CW: Thanks for the she-said/she-said report, WashPo! ...
... Still, we might want to give Jackie Calmes of the New York Times First Prize in Both-Siderism: "Congressional supporters and opponents of Planned Parenthood were uncharacteristically subdued over the weekend." And so forth. "On Saturday, one Democrat, Senator Barbara Boxer of California, called on Mr. Ryan to disband the special House committee investigating Planned Parenthood. 'It is time to stop the demonizing and witch hunts against Planned Parenthood, its staff and patients, and the lifesaving health care it provides to millions every day,' she said." Cue Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), chair of the "Select Investigative Panel on Infant Lives": Boxer "should stop 'playing politics with this tragedy.'" You have to read Calmes' report with a fine-toothed-comb & a commitment to Planned Parenthood to find any suggestion -- other than the organizations own denials -- that Planned Parenthood is not guilty of "selling baby parts for profit." ...
... Calmes does manage to illustrate why Foxbots & their ilk are ready to kill anyone associated with Planned Parenthood: "Representative Trey Gowdy ... on Fox News in July said the videos showed Planned Parenthood to be 'barbaric,' 'depraved' and 'right on the precipice of discussing homicide.'"
... Sabrina Siddiqui of the Guardian: "... Donald Trump said the shooting was 'terrible' but focused on the mental state of the alleged gunman. Ben Carson deplored the killings but said, when asked if the attack was a form of domestic terrorism, as a Planned Parenthood official has claimed, 'there is no saint in this equation'." CW: That is, Planned Parenthood is partially (or equally?) at fault. ...
... Karen Tumulty of the Washington Post: "The Republican presidential field, which for much of the year has been full-throated in its denunciations of Planned Parenthood, has been nearly silent about the shooting in Colorado at one of its facilities that left a police officer and two others dead.... It was suspected, according to a law enforcement official, that heated rhetoric surrounding the issue of abortion influenced Dear's actions.... Many Republicans have also accused Planned Parenthood of selling such tissue, which would be illegal and which the organization vehemently denies.... Republican [Sen.] Cory Gardner [Colorado] -- who defeated incumbent Mark Udall last year in an election that Democrats tried to make a referendum on reproductive rights -- issued a statement Saturday night that did not mention the site of the killings." (Published prior to airing of the Sunday showz.) ...
... Patrick Svitek of the Texas Tribune: Ted "Cruz rejected a potential connection between anti-abortion activism and the shooting, instead taking issue with 'some vicious rhetoric on the left blaming those who are pro-life.'... When a reporter reminded Cruz it has been reported Dear made a comment about 'baby parts' while being apprehended, Cruz retorted, 'It's also been reported that he was registered as an independent and a woman and a transgendered leftist activist. If that's what he is, I don't think it's fair to blame on the rhetoric on the left. This is a murderer.'"
... Steve M.: "There was an ever-thinning line between the GOP and the lunatic fringe, and Ted Cruz just erased it." ...
... Steve has a nice catch, too, on how Fox "News" is covering the "no more body parts" remark by the (alleged) killer. Instead of attributing the leaked quote to officials, their headline is "Planned Parenthood Official Claims Colo. Gunman Opposed Abortion." Way down in the story, Foxbots who read that far will find that an official relayed to media that Dear had made the "no more body parts statement." More careless readers, quite naturally, will assume that Planned Parenthood is offering up an unfounded opinion.
Joe Davidson of the Washington Post: "The Obama administration is preparing an executive order designed to bolster the government's Senior Executive Service (SES) with increased compensation, a streamlined hiring process and greater diversity in assignments."
Curt Stager in a New York Times op-ed: "Roughly one-eighth of the carbon in your flesh, hair and bones recently emerged from smokestacks and tailpipes. We are not only a source of air pollution -- we are air pollution, and our waste fumes will henceforth be woven into the bodies of our descendants, too.... By running our civilization on fossil fuels, we are both creating and destroying climates that our descendants will live in tens, if not hundreds, of thousands of years from now."
Paul Krugman: "... in this age of [urban] gentrification, housing policy has become much more important than most people realize.... New York City can't do much if anything about soaring inequality of incomes, but it could do a lot to increase the supply of housing, and thereby ensure that the inward migration of the elite doesn't drive out everyone else."
Presidential Race
Abby Phillip of the Washington Post: "To unionized workers, Boston Mayor Marty Walsh is one of their own. And so his endorsement of ... Hillary Clinton on Sunday at a rally in his city's historic Faneuil Hall served as a call to action for union members nationwide who are the foot soldiers of the Democratic Party.
Ben Schreckinger of Politico: "After prematurely announcing the endorsements of 100 black pastors -- prompting several to protest they were not, in fact, supporters -- Donald Trump's campaign abruptly cancelled a press conference with the group scheduled for Monday afternoon at Trump Tower.... Some of those listed as invitees quickly took to social media to condemn the billionaire businessman. Detroit pastor Corletta Vaughn called Trump 'an insult and embarrassment' in a Wednesday Facebook post. On Friday, Los Angeles-based Bishop Clarence McClendon announced that he would not attend the meeting, writing on Facebook, 'The meeting was presented not as a meeting to endorse but as a meeting to engage in dialogue.'" ...
... Reuters: "Donald Trump insisted on Sunday he was '100% right' when he said he saw Muslims in Jersey City, New Jersey, cheering the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center -- even though fact-checkers have debunked his claim.... He quickly rejected NBC anchor Chuck Todd's assertion that 'this didn't happen in New Jersey'. 'It did happen in New Jersey,' Trump said. 'I have hundreds of people that agree with me.'" ...
... Bradford Richardson of the Hill: "Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) said Donald Trump's divisive rhetoric is only serving to turn the international Muslim community against the U.S. 'Oh, I think it has an interesting effect of turning Muslims all over the world against the United States of America, which is 99.44 percent people who practice an honorable religion,' the Arizona senator said of Trump on CBS's 'Face the Nation' on Sunday."
A Nice Place to Visit.... Sabrina Siddiqui: "After spending Thanksgiving weekend visiting refugees in Jordan, Ben Carson called on the US to support Syrians displaced by the war there, where he said facilities in the camps were 'really quite nice', rather than bring them to America." CW: I wonder how much Doc Ben would enjoy living there, what with their being few walls to on which to hang his plaques & Jesus-Loves-Ben pictures. ...
AP photo, September 2015.
... Omar Akour & Steve Peoples of the AP: "'I did not detect any great desire for them to come to the United States,' Carson told The Associated Press in a phone interview from Jordan. 'You've got these refugee camps that aren't completely full. And all you need is the resources to be able to run them. Why do you need to create something else?'"
Martin Pengelly of the Guardian (via the Raw Story): "Jeb Bush would support Donald Trump if the real-estate billionaire were to win the Republican presidential nomination, 'because anybody is better than Hillary Clinton'."
Beyond the Beltway
Mitch Smith of the New York Times: "Lawyers for the family of Tamir Rice, the 12-year-old boy fatally shot last year by the Cleveland police, have presented Ohio prosecutors with two outside reports that call an officer's decision to shoot the boy 'unreasonable.' The reports, made public on Saturday night, are at odds with three previous investigations commissioned by the prosecutor's office that labeled the shooting as tragic but reasonable. Grand jurors are expected to consider all those reports in deciding whether the police should face criminal charges."
Way Beyond
Karia Adam of the Washington Post: "... tens of thousands of people worldwide hit the streets [of London, England,] this weekend for a global climate march, pressing world leaders to push for a bold international agreement at the upcoming climate summit in Paris. The center for the demonstrations was supposed to be Paris, where nearly 150 world leaders are gathering for a U.N. global summit on climate change that kicks off Monday. But after the terrorist attacks there more than two weeks ago that killed at least 130 people, French police banned large protests.... On Sunday, they sought to enforce that ban, firing tear gas in the afternoon on an unauthorized gathering at Place de la Republique, a focal point for protests, and detaining about 100 people."
James Kanter & Andrew Higgins of the New York Times: "Under heavy pressure from Germany to get a grip on the migrant crisis in the Continent after months of dithering, the European Union agreed to a deal on Sunday with Turkey that aims to slow the chaotic flood of asylum seekers into the 28-nation bloc. Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany, speaking to reporters late Sunday, acknowledged that the agreement, under which Europe will provide 3 billion euros, about $3.2 billion, and other inducements in return for Turkish help on migrants, would not immediately halt the flow of asylum seekers from the Middle East and elsewhere. But Ms. Merkel said it would help 'keep people in the region' and out of Europe."
David Kirkpatrick, et al., of the New York Times: "When the Libyan arm of the Islamic State first raised the group's black flag over the coastal city of Surt[, Libya,] almost one year ago, it was just a bunch of local militants trying to look tough. Today Surt is an actively managed colony of the central Islamic State, crowded with foreign fighters from around the region, according to residents, local militia leaders and hostages recently released from the city's main prison."
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Reader Comments (21)
I recently received my year-end mailing from Planned Parenthood.
And I'm in a quandary:
Shall I dedicate my donation to Snarly Fiorina?
Or to Ole Doc Carcinogen?
Perhaps I can enclose two smaller checks - one for each?
Or go for a Triple Play with Mike Huckasleaze?
(Sigh) Feels so good to (still) have a "choice".
How do they do it ? Has Fiorina ever heard of Google? I don't know what constitutes a 'vast' majority but I do know that the Oct. 2015 Gallup poll found 59 percent of Americans support PP and another poll shows 65 percent oppose defunding. What bothers me the most is not that these candidates lie, it is that they never bother with facts. And in America among one group facts do not exist.
Fiorina is a pathological liar. Her campaign is moribund, so why she receives any attention at all is beyond me.
Admittedly my sample is small, based only on incidents of violent political statements made over the last twenty years or so with guns or bombs, statements which have been directed predominantly against minorities, the government or Planned Parenthood, but it seems the Right's cowardly and common ploy to duck responsibility for such unpardonable acts by calling the perpetrator deranged loudly begs a further question or two.
What is it about today's Republicans that attracts lunatics and makes them feel so much at home?
Even if there is no direct and discernible A to B causative link between Right Wing rhetoric and violent actions that follow, that the targets of the words and the deeds are identical suggests that the words spoken by party leaders and the rightist media convey if not advance encouragement, at least acceptance of such violence afterwards.
And if that weren't enough, why does it seem that the Democrats aren't doing all that much shooting?
Should we conclude they're not crazy enough? Or, if just a little daffy, harmless in fact. Or, if not wholly harmless, shunned because they are not welcome in our liberal midst?
Not yet anyway.
(But listening to the likes of Cruz and Trump does make one's head spin a bit. Maybe even begin to doubt one's own sanity...)
"What is it about today's Republicans that attracts lunatics and makes them feel so much at home? " -- Ken Winkes
I think mostly what it is is that the core belief of conservatism is fear. In its sane form, this fear merely suggests that we should be careful of rapid change in any arena because such change is going to destabilize something. I don't find that fear unreasonable. It isn't fear so much as caution.
But if we oppose change, then we kind of have to assume/pretend that things are not so bad as they are or at least are "getting better on their own." That need to promote the status quo can easily morph into a fear of everything that goes bump in the night. Anything that moves, or sounds like it moves, is scary -- it upsets the what-is. It upsets the known world.
Nonetheless, to most people, standing in one place is not all that appealing. We each have tastes & ideas, & we each think something should be different. The job of government, & of conservative government in particular, is to tamp down that individuality -- to get everyone to behave predictably & in accordance with a set of "established standards & practices."
A swell way to keep people in line is to play to their fears. Catatonic people are so much less trouble, you know. If people have a mild fear of change, they might be able to overcome it. Better ramp up that fear so few go off the reservation. "Other-ize" everybody & everything. Abandon reason, abandon decency, abandon truth -- all in the service of petrification. The means justifies the ends.
So a reasonable discussion about abortion & other reproductive rights -- or anything else -- is useless, because it produces no fear. Reason is almost antithetical to the conservative cause because it implies & almost guarantees that people will change their views. And change is bad.
The trouble with a philosophy based on fear, however, gets back to that individuality. Yes, a lot of people are going to sit in quiet rooms & come out only on election day to record their stamps of approval. But that "individual" thing means that another bunch of people are going to react irrationally to any perceived threat. And why not? They've never heard a rational discussion, a nuanced take on the issues. If something exists that they think is "wrong," they have to eradicate it. They have to get things back to "the good old days." And right away! Before something worse happens!
Most politicians are probably phonies. I don't think Trey Gowdy necessarily believes what he says, but he says it for self-preservation & for preservation of the status quo. He says it the way he says it, partly because for him everything that falls even slightly beyond his own conception of rectitude calls for a battle of the Titans. Oh, also because he's a combative, selfish bastard.
I think the main ingredient of antipathy to a woman's right to control her own body is fear &/or hatred of women (we are still the "other" to Trey Gowdy -- and even to Carly Fiorina, because we are not women just like her).
There are other factors that contribute to the virulence of anti-abortion politicians. One is the "kissing babies" syndrome. Where once politicians kissed babies to show -- however falsely -- they were nice guys who just loved people, now they pretend that fetuses are babies whom they are defending -- because they're such nice guys. Kissing babies is not enough; they have to kiss little blobs of tissue. Remember, these anti-abortion politicians are the same people, for the most part, who are doing horrible things to the general public & to the earth itself. They have to invent some redeeming social qualities. "Saving babies" is one they came up with. ("Protecting" us by waging wars is another.)
I think I get where Trey Gowdy's head is, & Carly Fiorina's. The right-wing mindset is not a happy place. It cannot be when fear is both a guiding principle and a tactic.
Marie
From the AP story on Dr. Carson's excellent DP camp adventure:
"He also suggested that it would be best for Middle Eastern host countries to absorb most of the millions of Syrian refugees that have fled their civil war-torn homeland.
In a separate statement, he described Syrians as "as very hard working, determined people, which should only enhance the overall economic health of the neighboring Arab countries that accept and integrate them into the general population."
Because that has worked out so well for the Palestinian refugee camps, the earlier camps in Lebanon, the Palestinian diaspora to the Gulf, etc. over the past 60 years.
Creating stateless semi-permanent ghettos seems OK to Dr. Ben. He definitely has a hard time knowing the past or anticipating the future. This man is seriously handicapped.
Marie, I think you summed it up well. Add guns. As I said before, the core cause of this problem was the Wright Bros. who opened the world to people who don't look or act like those folks down on the farm.
It looks like the lack of info on the PP attack victims is an attempt to keep it all quiet. Notice we also don't know who is in the hospital.
I mean the idea that two nice normal people were killed just hurts the cause. And don't forget that the fact that it all happened in the clinic is just a coincidence. He was really aiming for the nearby bank.
And lastly, the NJ Star Ledger has another excellent Adolf Trump editorial.
http://www.nj.com/opinion/index.ssf/2015/11/life_in_trumps_america_a_dystopian_nightmare_edito.html
The print version is titled: "President Trump: Be afraid America, be very afraid."
And they describe it as a 'reality check'!
The conversation around abortion has become so terribly warped. Marie hits it on the head with this underlying hatred ––which is really fear of––women. Public discussion of abortion has come to inexorably privilege fetal life over female life. The whole person-hood rhetoric has taken moral precedence over the adult women in whose bodies they grow. And until more women can claim ( and many have) this choice as a moral good rather than feeling guilt ––that old self- flagellation–-"it was the hardest decision of my life"–-"something I still think about"–––we will continue to get mired in this slog. I used to be so puzzled that conservatives would get so riled over fetus's, but would send millions to their deaths in war after war and want to stop any "entitlements" they could, would halt gun legislation, halt climate controls, paid leave, etc., but now the puzzle is pretty complete–-fear and loathing in not a very "happy place."
@Ophelia: Re: our comments on Highsmith ––-the information that Rich gave us –– "The misanthropy was well earned. Her mother, a commercial illustrator who divorced Pat’s father nine days before her birth and married a stepfather she hated three years later, took it upon herself to inform her daughter that she had tried to abort her mid-pregnancy by drinking turpentine. “It’s funny, you adore the smell of turpentine, Pat,” she added."
So given this could we concur that Pat, through her writings, was actually killing her mother (and perhaps that awful step-dad) over and over?
Reminds me of what Stephen Sondheim's mother, Foxy, told him when he was forty that the only regret she had in life was giving birth to him. He's been paying her back ever since.
Yes, that article in the New Yorker–-plan to get to it today.
Re: the abortion issue
Crooks and Liars has an article with the headline Abortion Rates Highest Among Christians According To Groundbreaking Study." This study was conducted by the Christian research group Lifeway that asked over 1000 women that have had abortions to identify with which religion they are affiliated. There's a nice little chart showing the percentages by religions. Their findings show that 70% of these women identify themselves as being Christian.
Seems pretty hypocritical, no?
It got me thinking though about what the distribution by religion is for the overall US population. The Pew Research Center has a breakdown comparing affiliations for 2007 and 2014.
Lo and behold, the breakdowns in both charts are within a few percentage points, essentially within or less than the usual statistical margin of error.
My take away is that it doesn't really matter what the religion is of women having abortions. The common thread is that they are women, they got pregnant, and they chose to have an abortion for whatever their reason/need may have been. End of story.
Marie writes,"You have to read Calmes' report with a fine-toothed-comb & a commitment to Planned Parenthood to find any suggestion -- other than the organizations own denials -- that Planned Parenthood is not guilty of "selling baby parts for profit." "
In my opinion, this kind of approach from the mainstream press is a huge part of the problem. As I commented a few days ago, the Times in one of their lead stories on the Colorado Springs massacre referred to the "surreptitious" tapings of conversations, ""The shooting came at a time when Planned Parenthood has been criticized because of surreptitious videos of officials discussing using fetal organs for research." " Nothing in the article clarified that the tapes were heavily edited and thus promoted a false impression, and that all states that have investigated claims of selling fetal tissue have exonerated PP.
This kind of obfuscation by the press, this willingness to accord the extremists equal dignity is, in my opinion, a huge part of the problem. Violence won't stop until the enablers are called out in public.
If I Owned a Gun.
I don't, but if I did, I'd probably have it for one of two reasons, either protection (I know, I know), or sport (and not hunting--that's not a sport). I'd want to get some training, become familiar with it, learn how to handle it properly, and even perhaps become good at using it, which would mean visiting a gun range. Why own something like a weapon if you're not going to be good at using it? We'll leave aside the problem of hitting what you're aiming at under extreme stress, in the dark, or when someone else is shooting back.
It would make sense to become proficient with it. I mean, why buy a guitar if you're gonna leave it in the case under the bed? And we'll also leave aside the issue that guitars don't kill people. Over the years I've heard more than a few guitarists whose playing was at least an indictable offense.
But here's what I wouldn't do, especially in the wake of yet another mass murder (and another, and another, and another...): I wouldn't take home one of those targets from the range, full of holes from my weapon, sign it, and offer it for sale online to demonstrate my excellent ability to shoot things. I especially wouldn't do that if I were running for president.
But then again, I'm not Li'l Randy (thank god).
You may recall a while back, that the Littlest Idiot was promising contributors to his campaign that he'd provide them with their very own flip flops. A Rand Paul flip flop. For twenty bucks, if memory serves. Such a deal!
So, okay, that was pretty tone deaf and humorously stupid. But now he wants a thousand bucks for proof of his ability to shoot people through the eyes. Or at least pictures of a "zombie clown". (" We have some cool autographed items, but nothing quite like this practice target." says the text next to a picture of this smirking, self-satisfied little assshole.)
One thousand smackeroos.
Tone deaf doesn't even come close.
In the wake of another shooting prompted by GOP hate speech* and wildly inflammatory rhetoric based on doctored videos that have been roundly discredited, this little runt is doubling down on Gun Culture USA.
"Hey, gang, help me make money off my connection to Gun Culture while the country is being ravaged by gun violence and bodies litter our streets!"
But this is all of a piece with Marie's pointed description of the alternate world these people inhabit. Rand Paul has no fear of looking like an insensitive douchebag because no one who will vote for him in a primary would, in a million years, connect the hate speech he and his fellow candidates, the rest of the GOP, and GOP media have been spouting, with the murders in Colorado.
So really, it's not only not tone deaf (except to sane people), it's right in tune with the songs being sung in Right Wing World (no, no, not "Deutschland über alles", that's Trump's song...one of the other ones...)
This is the sort of thing that would have spelt doom for candidates in the past.
Before Confederates promoted mental illness as an acceptable world view.
*Normally, I would have described the actions of the Planned Parenthood terrorist as having been "likely prompted" by GOP hate speech, but there's no likely involved here. The guy used almost the exact same words we've heard coming out of the mouths of Confederate candidates and media droolers.
As we talk about Planned Parenthood lets remember some science and medicine. My second most annoying word is "miscarriage" (my first is 'elderly'). The correct medical term is spontaneous abortion. It occurs in 15-20% of pregnancies and the most common cause is genetic defects (about 70%). In other words the evangelical god has created a system to prevent the births of people with disorders such as Down syndrome.
As far as using fetal tissue for research, it does a much better job for long term growth, viruses love it and the fact that it has not fully expressed its genes provides a number of openings for all kinds of medical research. But feel free to screw humanity if telling a lie gets you one vote.
Confederate To-Do List (partial)
Black church members taught a lesson by South Carolina white supremacist, a guy like many of our supporters who revels in our hate speech.
Check.
Blame the victims.
Check.
Uppity women and Planned Parenthood feminazis taught a lesson by gun nut bigot, a guy like many, many of our supporters, who revels in our hate speech.
Check.
Blame Planned Parenthood for the attack.
Check.
Turn House Science Committee into national joke. Appoint as committee chair, guy whose knowledge of science is dwarfed by average third grade child. Disrupt scientific research, subpoena anyone who doesn't go along with our medieval world view.
Check.
Call expression of concern for the fate of the planet "One of the dumbest things ever said."
Check. (Even better if it comes from someone whose every third sentence is "one of the dumbest things ever said.")
Make sure support for gun culture and authoritarian, militarized rule ensures regular and continued murder of unarmed black men.
Check.
Characterize anyone who disagrees as a traitor.
Check.
Get newly elected governor of Kentucky to promise to change the law so Christianists don't have to fulfill their pledge to work for all residents.
Check.
Get Confederates on Supreme Court to ensure that billionaires control the political process.
Check.
Get Confederates on Supreme Court to change the law for Christianist corporations.
Check.
Change the laws in as many states as possible to make voting by non-Confederates a hopeless task.
Check.
Gerrymander the shit out of states controlled by us so that a halfwit, philandering, lying racist who couldn't spell "constitution" with an open dictionary next to him could beat Thomas Jefferson by double digits, if they went head to head.
Check.
Continue to attack parents of small children slaughtered by gun nut, a guy like many, many of our supporters, as an opportunistic exploitation of the deaths of their sons and daughters just to hurt those same gun nuts.
Double check.
Outlaw reason, facts, and truth.
Check, check, and check.
Akhilleus,
I do own firearms, am a combat veteran, and former competitive target shooter. I would be happy to send you a silhouette target that I have personally riddled with bullet holes, autographed, and inscribed to you: ‘Sane people shoot straight too.’ No charge, except a tax deductible contribution to the gun control advocacy group of your choice. Offer extends to all CWs.
D.C.,
Sounds like a great offer. Too bad it's the old silhouette bad guy and not the very cool, full color, snarling, "zombie clown" that tough guy Bad Toupée shot in the face. Those Confederates, you know, they have to make sure they're shooting really, really bad guys. They're all manly hee-roes, doncha know.
But I would really prefer one of these targets.
Akhilleus,
No problem, happy to riddle any type of target you wish. I'll try to get to the range before Christmas. Just after, it will be crowded with all the lads trying out the presents they've received in celebration of the birth of the Prince of Peace.
Ted Cruz.....
Sorry. I just experienced a thing. Synaptic manhole covers are rocketing into the sky. Just typing his name does that now.
I'm sorry, but there just has to be and alternate explanation, some kind of Confederate underground, deep cover contest in which wingers try to one up each other and past winners to see who can spout the most categorically ludicrous nonsense and still keep a straight face.
Because if that's not the answer, then Cruz is a babbling idiot.
But he may have pointed out something I hadn't considered. Some new kind of conspiracy afoot.
"It’s also been reported that he was registered as an independent and a woman and a transgendered leftist activist."
So this guy Dear registered as a woman AND a transgendered leftist activist? Did I miss this checkbox when I registered to vote? For all I know, there's a super-secret section of the voter registration paperwork that allows people to register as all sorts of crazy things.
"Registered as a Democrat, a male, AND a metrosexual Nazi bondage porn activist."
"Registered as a Republican, a woman, AND a lobbyist for Tinfoil Hat Testers, LLC."
Who knew?
It couldn't possibly be that his own "vicious rhetoric" is partially responsible for the deaths of innocent people, could it? Well, if it was, manly Ted certainly would never accept that responsibility. It must be the fault of transgendered leftist activists.
Why? Because Ted Cruz, that's why.
Identity politics:
My youthful identity crises was triggered by Spiro Agnew. I couldn't decide whether I wanted to be a "nattering nabob of negativity" or "an effete intellectual snob." Eventually, I realized that the two are not mutually exclusive. Didn't know I could register to vote as such.
D.C.,
Remind me again, was Jesus a fan of single shot or automatic weapons?
I think you got his title wrong. In modern Confederate Christianist parlance, Christ is the Prince of Pieces. Especially Glocks, Sig Sauers, and Smith and Wessons.
Oh, baby, just imagine the carnage on Good Friday if Jesus and his apostles pulled our their AKs and let those Romans have it. Turn the other cheek, my ass. Eat lead Pilate!
Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall all get a free subscription to Ancient Guns and Ammo and a free genu-ine leather ankle holster. Looks spiffy just above the sandals.
"CW: I think this is it for me today."
Hah! Reminds me of the picture I once saw in a professor's office, that of a distinguished philologist long since departed, placed just above a messy stack on books on the top shelf behind his desk, picturing a quizzical beaver with the line, "What does a beaver do on his day off?" scripted below.
I never asked him to answer the question, thinking I knew it. The beaver never has a day off. So with the CW it seems.
Thanks for the thoughtful response to my question. It does all come down to fear, and we all do fear some things. Maybe the distinguishing feature between Right and Left is, as you say, our response to those fears, but identifying the source of those responses takes us away from the objective, observable world to the much more mysterious inner workings of the human mind. Out of mind, out of sight, one might say.
I have long thought that one's psychology has more to do with political affiliation than do policy issues. Or maybe another way to approach the same thought might be to say that those whose mental makeup allows them to analyze policies and their consequences tend in one direction, while those who operate on a feeling level only (the distinction between maturity and infantilism has to be in play here, too) tend in the other.
The latter who don't just tend but move all the way to gut reaction lose any ability to think even minimally and thus, as you also say, become fertile ground for anyone who is evil enough to frighten them for personal political profit.
In this case, the one because they react thoughtlessly to every fright and the other because they keep a safe distance between themselves and the harm they wreak, both the manipulated and the manipulators share the psychology of cowards.
Guess it's time I read Moody's "The Republican Brain," a gift from a son, still on my bookshelf (messy, too, but absent the fondly remembered beaver portrait) where I placed it a few years ago.
I'll find out if Moody covers cowardice.
How is this different from Fox?
The idea that "words matter" is beyond debate, especially given the direct connection between the hate speech gleefully promulgated by the GOP across the board, and the manner in which that hate has been incarnated by a murderous messenger from the Confederacy.
But words also matter on a more subtle level.
Vide several news pieces that have been touting the rise of Donald Trump's popularity with Black pastors and an imminent endorsement by same.
The Times framed it this way: "Black Pastors Expected to Endorse Donald Trump." There is a quote from only one black pastor of an organization in Ohio. One. But reading down a ways (all the way to the penultimate sentence) you find that the 100 or so other pastors "were not immediately available...to comment".
But what the heck, print the story anyway. We'll run with a quote from a guy who represents less than one percent of possible attendees. We'll give Donald Trump's campaign the benefit of the doubt. After all. When has he ever lied to us?
But this "endorsement" victory party fell apart. Many black pastors would rather join the KKK than endorse a guy who refers to black Americans in such outrageously insulting terms and has black protesters beaten up, simply for being black. Trump had to backtrack and recast the meeting as just that, a get together, not an endorsement. Wah-wah. Sad trumpet.
Nonetheless, even after the thing went bust, here's how CNN described this embarrassing situation that was originally TRUMPeted with the usual lies, as a huge win for the Big Bigot:
"Trump on meeting with black pastors: "I saw love in that room!"
There is no way you could scan that headline and not think "Wow, that's a big score for Trump."
The public editor's journal in the Times tried to weasel out of the problems in their original piece by saying that "The Times was continuing to look into the back story, and was doing more reporting." Their excuse was that they were "Taking Trump at his word" with what amounts to zero corroboration. Because what could be wrong with that?
But back story? What back story? The article said, after talking to only one guy, that 100 black evangelical pastors were ready to toss Trumpy a big wet kiss. They weren't and they didn't. In fact, many were outraged at the thought. Others said they needed a lot more time to think about this. What back story?
Ridiculous. It goes right in step with the way the doctored Planned Parenthood videos are still being described as "videos showing Planned Parenthood's discussion of the selling of baby body parts" with no mention of the heavy editing and use of imagery that had nothing to do with either PP or abortions.
Low information voters, even if they ever managed to cast a free eyeball at this kind of shoddy MSM reporting, would have an even lower level of information on which to base vital decisions.
How is this that much different than Fox, which now "reports" that Trump claims these pastors have been pressured by dark, unnamed forces, not to endorse him?
It's the same misleading bullshit without the yelling and the obvious loonies, and with a different masthead.