Yes, Megynia, There Is A White Santa Claus

“Dear Editor: I am 8 years old. I was watching Fox News the other night, as I’m known to do, and they said there is only a white Santa Claus, but MSNBC says that’s not true. Papa says, ‘If you see it in The Daily Banter, it’s so.’ Please tell me the truth; is there a white Santa Claus?” – Megynia O’Kelly

MEGYNIA (which is a lovely, yet oddly familiar, name), your favorite news channel is wrong, and so is MSNBC. They have been affected by the skepticism of a skeptical age. They do not believe except they see. They think that nothing can be which is not comprehensible by their little minds. All minds, MEGYNIA, whether they be men’s or children’s, are little. In this great universe of ours man is a mere insect, an ant, in his intellect, as compared with the boundless world about him, as measured by the intelligence capable of grasping the whole of truth and knowledge. And don’t get me started on women.

Yes, MEGYNIA, there is a Santa Claus, and he is white. He exists as certainly as voter fraud and Friends of Hamas and Obama’s Muslim museum exist, and you know that they abound and give to your life its highest beauty and joy. Alas! how dreary would be the world if there were no white Santa Claus. It would be as dreary as if there were no MEGYNIAS. There would be no childlike faith then, no New Black Panthers, no Obama Baby Mama to make tolerable this existence. We should have no enjoyment, except in sense and sight. The eternal light with which childhood fills the world would be extinguished.

Not believe in white Santa Claus! You might as well not believe in traditional marriage! You might get your papa to hire men to watch in all the chimneys on Christmas Eve to catch Santa Claus, and if they did, and he was not white, what could this fanciful black Santa Claus do to avoid being shot by them?

But even if they did not see white Santa Claus coming down, what would that prove? They can report, but you decide! Nobody sees Santa Claus, but that is no sign that there is no Santa Claus. The most real things in the world are those that neither children nor men can see. Did you ever see a tax cut for a billionaire trickle hundred-dollar bills down onto your lawn? Of course not, but that’s no proof that they are not there. Nobody can conceive or imagine all the wonders there are unseen and unseeable in the world.

You may tear apart the baby’s rattle and see what makes the noise inside, but unless you also feature an expert who explains that the angels get scared away before you can see them, you are not being fair and balanced. You may catch a glimpse of Santa’s Long Form Birth Certificate, but if you do not believe, what would that prove? Only faith, fancy, poetry, love, romance, can push aside that curtain and view and picture the supernal beauty and glory beyond. Is it all real? Ah, MEGYNIA, in all this world there is nothing else real and abiding.

No white Santa Claus! Thank God! he lives, and he lives forever. A thousand years from now, MEGYNIA, nay, ten times ten thousand years from now, he will continue to make glad the heart of childhood, because global warming is a lie.

Read more at http://thedailybanter.com/2014/12/yes-megynia-white-santa-claus/#6zb612hYJqUMO64l.99

Rapprochement With Cuber Is A Good Thing. Here's Why.

First of all, let me say this. The Cuban gummit is crap. The Castro regime has repressed its civvies, supported terrorists around the world, and generally acted in a sucky manner. If the Cuban peeps rose up and overthrew their gummit today, well, that would be a good thing.

I'ma say this, too: our sanctions have done squat to end this repressive regime. Most likely, our sanctions have strengthened the hold of the Castro regime upon its people. The Cato Institute, a conservative think tank, states the following:

“Using trade as a weapon of foreign policy has harmed America’s economic interests in the world without significantly advancing national security.

“The proliferation of trade sanctions in the last decade has been accompanied by their declining effectiveness. From Cuba to Iran to Burma, sanctions have failed to achieve the goal of changing the behavior or the nature of target regimes. Sanctions have, however, deprived American companies of international business opportunities, punished domestic consumers, and hurt the poor and most vulnerable in the target countries.”

The Cato article, linked below, gives numerous reasons why sanctions fail to accomplish USA goals. Obviously, the goal of sanctions against Cuba is to lead the Cuban people to overthrow the Castro regime. Well, as Bert Woodall said today, “I hate to see the US abandon its Cuba embargo, just when it was only three or four decades away from starting to work.”

Consider China. A huge former Commie nation that had the potential to be a Gawd-awful enemy to the USA. Billions and billions of people (OK, 1.357 billion in (2013). A military that would resemble a horde of orcs from Lord of the Rings on the battlefield. Well, thanks to rapprochement, in the form of the USA being a consumer of Chinese goods, and China supplying employees for American corporations (GM, f'instance, which builds cars for local consumption there), China is not really a threat to the USA by any measure that counts. Sure, we have occasional issues with China misbehaving by hacking computer systems, but China would be ruining their own economy and harming their citizens should they ever decide to invade or otherwise seriously harm the USA. The growing Chinese middle and wealthy class would probably rise up and revolt against their gummit if China harmed the USA. As Forbes recently noted, “The Chinese economy increased its dependence on the United States last year (2011) according to recently released trade figures from Beijing and Washington.”

So, my belief that you can catch more flies with honey than with vinegar has a basis in reality. Cuba is just offshore from Florida. If you want Cuba to be a good neighbor, to make some dough off of Cuban citizens, and lessen the danger from and effectiveness of a despotic dictator 90 miles away, then get 'em dependent upon trade with the huge economy that is the USA. That works elsewhere!

Links: http://www.cato.org/…/going-alone-economic-sanctions-hurts-…
http://www.cnn.com/2014/11/12/opinion/brown-china-apec/
http://www.forbes.com/…/china-is-175-6-dependent-on-the-u-s/

Bad Kitty.

Sign Of The Time

Is this where GWB got the idea?

Found this on the webs. Maybe this is where GWB got the idea?

Fux Fox Faux "news"

Fox News tried to blame Democrats for canceling a Super Bowl that hasn’t been canceled, because they didn’t pass a bill that will probably be passed. Fox News viewers are some of the most misinformed people in the United States, because when all else fails, Fox makes up the news.

Read aboudid here.

What Do Mindy Fischer Say?

So the economy is up.

Gas prices are down.

Stocks are up.

Unemployment is down.

Obamacare is successful.
Oh, and Bin Laden? yeah, he's still dead.
.....and the Conservative horror continues....

Just keep in mind that the same people who supported illegal torture are now the ones who say that President Obama is ruining the country's reputation by providing health care.

Watch: Crybaby Bachmann Whines that Obama Treated Her Like an ‘Idiot’

Outgoing congresswoman and Tea Party ‘darling’ Michele Bachmann sat down with Bill O’Reilly tonight to complain about the fact that Pres. Obama treated her like the “idiot” that she is during a Christmas party talk with President Obama, claiming that the president was “condescending and patronizing” to her.

As she recalls in the video, after she told Obama about how “seriously” she hopes he takes the threat from Iran, “The president smiled, and he was fairly condescending and patronizing and said, ‘Well, it’s not quite that easy, Michele. But that’s okay,’ like I’m just, you know, an idiot and I don’t know anything.”

Sorry, Michelle. When you act like a child for years and try to impress adults with your fake foreign policy “expertise” and intellect, don’t be surprised when you get laughed off and treated like a kid at a Tea Party.

The video is here.

Tea Partay "Logic"

Best reader comment: Sandee Molenda sez: They never trust the government to do anything right but kill people. War? Great! Death penalty? You bet! Cops shooting unarmed people? All for it! Delivering the mail? Government can't do anything right!

See it all at bettybowers.com

My Final Post On This Disgusting Topic

This will be my final posting regarding the terrorist-like behavior of some members of the CIA. I find it so disgusting that this Nation, that prides itself on being the greatest nation in the world, acted just like the terrorists who supposedly aren't moral and are doomed to an afterlife in Hell. Apologists for this immoral behavior seem to think that God will give the USA a pass because... USA USA USA!

It is my understanding that God considers immorality to be immorality. Period. Instead of getting all huffy at those of us who despise such behavior no matter who do it, folks who did the durdy deeds and those politicians who condone it should drop to their knees and beg Almighty God for forgiveness. So should the American People.

I've heard peeps say that we got valuable info from sticking tubes up people's butts. Yet we heard John Brennan of the CIA, who is just as mad as anyone about the release of this report, say that the value of such interrogation techniques is “UNKNOWABLE”. It isn't much of a stretch to understand that means “unprovable”. It then becomes evident that I might be correct to assume that the value of torture is non-existent.

For many years, the USA has gotten “actionable intel” from non-torture interrogation means. Heinous crimes are solved every day by police departments throughout the USA using non-torture interrogation means. These historical facts lead me to believe that the main function of our use of terror was revenge. Revenge. That is the one thing that has started many wars and kept warfare in certain parts of the world going on for nearly forever. Revenge keeps Israel and its neighbors killing each other year after year. And all that has been accomplished when we succumbed to the desire for revenge is that more Middle Easterners have joined the fight against us, more Americans have died and been subjected to torture themselves, and we as a Nation and a People have lost our moral authority in all matters. So folks, stop using that excuse. Torture is immoral and wrong even if it were “useful”.

We need to stop making excuses for our immoral behavior. We sound like the criminals we claim not to be. In the words of Wayne Tucker, ordained Elder in the United Methodist Church, “In God's eyes, according to the scriptural revelation, sin is just sin. Any sin, no matter how small we might think it to be, is serious enough to sever our intended eternal relationship with God. But the faithful have an out where sin is concerned. We can and must confess our sin, and ask forgiveness for it.” So, rather than make excuses for the sinful behavior known as torture, do the right thing, America, and ask forgiveness and vow never to do it again. Our very ethical and moral doctrines demand it.

Quote source is here.

Yes, a significant number of CIA tortured prisoners were proven to be innocent of anything.

The Reith Lectures

Important lectures by The former director-general of the Security Service (MI5), Eliza Manningham-Buller, on terror and security.

Found here.

I am aghast at the perverted sexual torture conducted by the CIA in my name, as an American. I am also aghast that many peeps who lecture us AGAINST what they perceive to be perverted sexual behavior are perfectly happy with OUR GOVERNMENT PERFORMING PERVERTED SEXUAL TORTURE! The question o' the day should not be "How dare they release this torture report?" The question o' the day should be "How dare anyone in our government, representative of the greatest nation on earth, be allowed to use torture that would cause medieval torturers to blush?"

Our government has violated human rights, international laws, and the trust and morality of the American people. We're as bad as our enemies. Ain't that something to be proud about!

No Wonder Righties Wanted To Keep This Secret

AMERICAN EXCEPTIONALISM: TORTURE! FUCK YEAH!!!

Yup.

Answer to ridiculous rightwing meme...

Right wingers were using this map (red for counties voting for Mitt Rmoney, blue for counties voting for Barack O'Bama) as some sort of proof that Rmoney should have been elected President in 2012.  

This map, which shows that half of the population of the USA lives in the blue counties, explains why O'Bama won the Presidency, as most of these blue counties also show up as counties voting for O'Bama in 2012. What the idiotic right wing meme map fails to show is that most of the population of the USA lives in the blue states on that map. 

The USA elects Presidents based upon the votes of PERSONS, not COUNTIES. But I'm sure this meme will show up again in 2016.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHEEHEEHEEHEEHEEHOHOHOHOHOHO....

I GOT MINE, FUCQUE YOU!

Truth About Corporate Taxes

Robert Reich sez:

Corporate tax "reform" is high on the Republican agenda because the GOP's corporate patrons are demanding payoff from their investments in the 2014 election. Watch your wallets. Here are the four biggest right-wing whoppers about corporate taxes:

1. The U.S. corporate tax rate of 35% is one of the highest among advanced countries. True but misleading. The effective corporate income-tax rate – what corporations actually pay after all deductions, credits, and loopholes – is 27.7%, close to the average of all rich countries (27.2%).

2. Today's corporate tax rate is high by historic standards. Baloney. In the 1950s it was over 50%.

3. The corporate tax reduces corporate profits, which makes it harder for corporations to hire. Wrong. Corporate profits today are the highest they've been since World War II as a percentage of the economy.

4. Lowering the corporate income-tax would spur economic growth. Baloney. There's no relation between corporate tax rates and growth. In the 1950s and 60s, when the corporate tax was over 50%, the economy grew faster (at an annual average rate of 3.9%) than it has since the rate was reduced.

Don't let the right get away with their whoppers about corporate taxes. Spread the truth.

GOP Anxious To Screw The White Working Class That Elected Them

Earlier this month, white working class Americans provided the margin for GOP victory in the election and now, as those Republicans prepare to take office, the screwing of those working class Americans is about to begin. 

A deal is in the works between house Republicans and aides of outgoing majority leader, Harry Reid for a tax package totaling $440 billion in breaks to businesses. The Republican will legitimately call it a tax cut, but for millions of working people, it is anything but. The deal which focuses on renewing existing tax breaks, leaves out renewal of the Earned Income Tax Credit and a child tax credit for working families.

The outrage is here.

Voters totally ignored reality and voted in these cretins. One has to wonder if these voters will realize what is being done to them by their "heroes". I won't hold my breath. Middle class voters often vote against their own best interests.

Obama Threatens to Veto GOP Plan to Screw Middle Class and Give More Huge Tax Breaks to Corporations

Congress has nearly reached bipartisan agreement on a tax bill that would retroactively renew tax breaks that expired at the end of last year, making them permanent. But President Obama has said that he will veto the bill if it reaches his desk because it heavily favors business while ignoring middle and lower-income families. "The president…

Chuck Hagel "Resigns"

San Francisco Public Defenders Office Slams Ferguson Grand Jury Decision/Process

Link.

WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 26, 2014 · BY TAMARA APARTON

San Francisco, CA — After reviewing the transcripts and evidence released Tuesday, San Francisco Public Defender Jeff Adachi released the following statement today on the grand jury’s decision against indicting police officer Darren Wilson in the shooting death of Michael Brown.

“As San Francisco Public Defender, I am deeply disappointed with the grand jury’s failure to indict Darren Wilson for the fatal shooting of unarmed teenager Michael Brown. A series of questionable, and in my opinion, biased legal and ethical decisions in the investigation and prosecution of the case presented to the grand jury led to this unjust result, most notably allowing a local prosecutor with strong family connections to police supervise the investigation and presentation of the evidence. This ethical failure resulted in the exceedingly rare step of the prosecuting attorney refusing to recommend an indictment against the police officer he was prosecuting.   The police investigation and inquiry itself were rife with problems:

• Because it was a grand jury inquiry and not a trial, Wilson took the stand in secrecy and without benefit of a cross-examination. Prosecutors not only failed to probe his incredible testimony but frequently appeared to be bolstering his claim of self-defense. Transcripts reveal that witnesses whose accounts contradicted Wilson’s were rigorously questioned by prosecutors.
• Dorian Johnson, the key witness who was standing next to Brown during the encounter, provided strong testimony that called into question Wilson’s claim that he was defending his life against a deranged aggressor. Johnson testified that Wilson, enraged that the young men did not obey his order to get on the sidewalk, threw his patrol car into reverse. While Wilson claimed Brown prevented him from opening his door, Johnson testified that the officer smacked them with the door after nearly hitting the pair. Johnson described the ensuing struggle as Wilson attempting to pull Brown through the car window by his neck and shirt, and Brown pulling away. Johnson never saw Brown reach for Wilson’s gun or punch the officer. Johnson testified that he watched a wounded Brown partially raise his hands and say, “I don’t have a gun” before being fatally shot.
• Wilson’s description of Brown as a “demon” with superhuman strength and unremitting rage, and his description of the neighborhood as “hostile,” illustrate implicit racial bias that taints use-of-force decisions. These biases surely contribute to the fact that African Americans are 21 times more likely to be shot by police than whites in the U.S., but the statement’s racial implications remained unexamined.
• Prosecutors never asked Wilson why he did not attempt to drive away while Brown was allegedly reaching through his vehicle window or to reconcile the contradiction between his claim that Brown punched the left side of his face and the documented injuries which appear on his right side.Wilson, who is 6 feet 4 inches tall and 210 pounds, is never asked to explain why he “felt like a five-year-old holding on to Hulk Hogan” during his struggle with Brown, who is Wilson’s height and 290 pounds.
• The police investigation itself revealed strong biases toward the police officer and against Michael Brown, leading to an ongoing federal investigation into the police department’s history of discriminatory policing practices, use of excessive force and violations of detainees’ constitutional rights.

It is important that communities throughout this country re-evaluate and reform our processes by which justice is determined. We must work to ferret out biases that threaten the very foundation of society and taint decisions rendered by our justice system.

It is also critical that we acknowledge the impact of implicit bias in decisions regarding stopping, investigating, arresting and prosecuting citizens, and in gauging whether deadly force is necessary. We must also demand that law enforcement agencies begin using available technology, such as police body cameras, to improve transparency and accountability to the public they are sworn to serve. And we must pledge to honor the request of Michael Brown’s family to work together to ensure that this tragedy is not repeated as it has been in the past.”

Right Wing Primer: Thug vs. Patriot, The Diffy

THUG:

PATRIOT:

GOT IT?

Right Wing Primer: Thugs vs. Patriots, The Diffy

THUGS:

PATRIOTS:

GOT IT?

EXECUTIVE ACTION...

Hospitals seek a Texas Way to expand Medicaid

Expanding Medicaid may be anathema to Texas political leaders. For hospitals, though, it would be a godsend.

Baylor University Medical Center lost $172.8 million on uncompensated care last year.

Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital Dallas reported uncompensated care of $86.5 million. Methodist Dallas Medical Center reported $154.7 million.

And Parkland Health and Hospital System reported $1.488 billion of uncompensated care. […]

The Texas Hospital Association is trying to remedy that, at least in part. It wants to coax Governor-elect Greg Abbott and the Legislature to use federal funds available through the Affordable Care Act to expand Medicaid with a private insurance model.

Story's in The Dallas News.

Same ol' same ol'...

When Government Succeeds

Paul Krugmann has an interesting article in the New York Times where he explains how wrong many conservative commentators have been regarding the government that has been voted in by the American people

He points out that "cures" to the Ebola freakout demanded by conservatives were not needed, and in fact, judging by the lack of Ebola cases originating in the USA, scientists from the CDC and the HIH do know their bidness, while politicians only know hyperbolic bloviating.

Recent polling shows the vast majority of Americans are happy with their health insurance, especially those who have it for the first time thanks to the ACA. People are paying their premiums, which have risen less than they normally do historically.

The government investment program that lost some dough on Solyndra is raking in profits of $5 billion or more. Conservatives would have killed the whole thing, costing Americans billions of $$. Not smart.

Then there's the deficit. Conservatives have been wrong again. In actuality, "... the deficit has indeed come down rapidly, and as a share of G.D.P. it’s back down to pre-crisis levels."

Republicans are so bad for America.

"Fondly" looking back at mourning in America...

Police want to manufacture child porn as evidence in child porn manufacturing case!

Oh dear.

Well, thank God he didn't wear a tan suit.

Story's here.

America The Stupid

Boy, 8, accidentally shot by sister, 9, in critical condition, police say

Mom often leaves kids unattended, oh, of course there are guns in the house to play with.

Yes folks, yet more proof that stupid people should not have guns. And there seem to be plenty of stupid people in the USA.

“Impeachment would be a consideration.”

Conservative commentator Charles Krauthammer says any executive action from the president on the issue of immigration would constitute “an impeachable offense.” Republican Rep. Joe Barton (R-Texas) says “impeachment would be a consideration.” Republican Walter Jones (R-North Carolina) says “we have the option of impeachment.”

Can they please get a grip? A president has the constitutional responsibility to decide how to enforce laws and focus scarce enforcement resources. If the Republicans want to impeach Obama for using his enforcement discretion over deportations of undocumented people in America, let them try. The American public doesn’t want the U.S. government turned into a partisan doormat. Bill Clinton’s popularity soared after the House impeached him in 1998. ~ Robert Reich

Charles Krauthammer Calls Potential Obama Immigration Action 'An Impeachable Offense'

Story's here.

O'Bamacare More Popular Than Republicans, So Naturally Republicans Say "Repeal It!"

 Republican Party Favorable/Unfavorable Ratings

Healthcare/Healthcare Coverage Ratings

Sources: 

http://www.addictinginfo.org/2014/11/14/study-people-who-have-obamacare-overwhelmingly-like-it-republicans-vow-to-repeal-anyway/

http://elections.huffingtonpost.com/pollster/republican-party-favorable-rating

WAR ON CHRISTMAS 20014™ IS ON!

O'Reilly Blames "The First Salvo This Season In The Ongoing War On Christmas" On Muslims For Requesting School Holidays

America The Stupid

Yes, some peeps are too stupid to own firearms.

West Virginia Man Shoots Himself While Playing Russian Roulette

Thanks To The Chickens Voting In Foxes To Guard Their Henhouses, We Get This...

Gushing over Republican victories in last week’s election, WorldNetDaily columnist Lord Christopher Monckton hopes that the GOP will immediately go after President Obama’s “bogus ‘birth certificate’ on the crime scene that is the White House website.’”

Monckton, clinging to long-discredited birther conspiracy theories, writes today that “Congress must at once announce an investigation into the forgery” and “take on Mr. Obama and the army of vicious leftists with whom he surrounds.”

See more here.

Revealed: Ronald Reagan Apologized For America

Barack Obama gets falsely accused of apologizing for America, but a newly-released recording of a conversation between Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher reveals a contrite and apologetic Ronald Reagan.

Would-be president Mitt Romney once said: “I will not and I will never apologize for America. I don’t apologize for America, because I believe in America.” Factcheck.org goes through the various times President Obama “apologized” and concludes no such apologies ever occurred.

Story's here.

Today O'Bama Called On Regulators To Protect The Internets Pipeline. The Usual Subjects Objected

Net neutrality is defined as the principle that Internet service providers should enable access to all content and applications regardless of the source, and without favoring or blocking particular products or websites.

Always looking to make the additional bucks, many service providers are trying to change laws to allow themselves to charge services like Netflix higher fees to carry their content. The service providers would throttle the speed of anyone who would not pay the higher fees. Of course, ultimately, it would be the consumer who would have to pay extra as these fees would be passed on to the customer.

Today, O'Bama called on regulators to treat internet service as a public utility, keeping net neutrality in effect. You can imagine who would like that: millions of consumers who utilize the interwebs. You can also imagine who would be against net neutrality: internet service providers (such as Verizon) and, of course, most Republican politicians.

As the foolish Ted Cruz sed, "'Net Neutrality' is Obamacare for the Internet; the Internet should not operate at the speed of government." This idiotic tweet shows that Cruz, as most Republicans, is only interested in protecting the highest possible profits of corporate America at the expense of American consumers.

Congratulations, America, for voting these cretins into power. Don't complain when your votes backfires in your faces. I, on the other hand, didn't vote for these unAmerican assholes, so I can complain to my heart's content. 

Jehovah’s Witness leader complains: Gay people are plotting to put everyone in ‘tight pants’

'Ya can't worship God in tights.

A member of the ruling council for Jehovah’s Witnesses warned members during a recent sermon to avoid “metrosexual” fashion trends because they are part of a plan by gay designers to get people to wear what he considers indecent clothing, PinkNews reported.

“What’s happened now is that it’s really caught on more, the tight suit jacket and the tight pants,” Anthony Morris III says inan audio clip posted online on Saturday. “Better known as tight pants. They are tight all the way down to the ankles. It’s not appropriate. It’s not sound of mind.”

Morris, a member of the Governing Body of Jehovah’s Witnesses since 2005, reportedly delivered the remarks during a Nov. 8 sermon. He said that younger men were more prone to follow the “tight pants” trend than older members. He also accuses women who wear Spanx leggings or other tight exercise clothes in public of betraying their faith.

HOW VOTER SUPPRESSION HELPED PRODUCE THE LOWEST TURNOUT IN DECADES

On Tuesday, older, white voters — who traditionally support Republicans — went to the polls in droves, while turnout among traditionally Democratic groups — the young, the minoritized, and women — was down. Indeed, overall turnout declined to an estimated 36.6% of eligible voters, the lowest rate of participation since the 1940s, despite the $3 billion spent by candidates, political parties, and super PACs.

Yes, President Barack Obama’s poor performance and approval rating undoubtedly played a role in the lower turnout. But the evidence is piling up that systematic voter suppression, including voter ID laws and dubious vote-fraud prevention software, played a significant part in keeping people from casting ballots, as well.

Take the situation in Texas, where Democrat Wendy Davis lost badly to Republican Greg Abbott in the gubernatorial race. More important than her expected defeat is that the Lone Star State had the lowest voter turnout in the country at 33%, down from 38% four years earlier. It’s difficult to determine to what precise extent Texas’s new voter ID law is to blame for the poor turnout, but “there are somewhere between 600,000 and 1.4 million registered voters in Texas without state ID,” according to Kathleen Unger, whose nonprofit, VoteRiders, works to get people the documents they need to vote. Working through local organizations, two-year-old VoteRiders went into Houston’s Harris County this year in response to what Unger called its “very restrictive” voter ID law.

Despite such efforts, some Texans were still unable to vote. Think Progress’ Alice Ollstein recently documented how some Texas voters were dropped from the rolls or denied ballots because they couldn’t afford new IDs. Ollstein couldn’t quantify such incidents, but a recent Government Accountability Office report on voter ID laws in Tennessee and Kansasfound they decreased turnout in those two states in 2012. In Texas, there are indications the same thing happened this year, including the fact that provisional ballots increased by half on Tuesday to 16,463, an uptick from the 8,000 issued in 2010. Provisional ballots are given to voters who have difficulty proving their eligibility, and because some thwarted voters don’t even bother to cast them, they are a proxy for larger problems.

“THE GEORGIA SECRETARY OF STATE’S OFFICE HAD NO EXPLANATION AT ALL AS TO WHERE THOSE VOTERS WENT.”

In Georgia, meanwhile, nearly 40,000 new voters mysteriously vanished from the rolls, possibly due to scrubbing by a controversial software system known as Crosscheck. Turnout was only34%, which is down six percentage points from 2010.

Story's here.

America The Stupid

Floriduh is arresting people for feeding homeless folks. See, it's now legal to starve in Floriduh if you don't have a home.

Story's here.

America The Stupid

Some proof that many Americans are not suited to gun ownership...

5 YEAR OLD SHOT IN THE HEAD WHILE SITTING ON HER GRANDFATHER’S LAP

NY Pastor Thinks Starbucks' Secret Ingredient Is The 'Semen of Sodomites'

The right wing is insane. More proof:

Last week, James David Manning, pastor of ATLAH Worldwide Missionary Church in Harlem, posted a video claiming that semen is the secret ingredient in Starbuck's lattes.

Manning's flight from reality seems to have been brought on by the public's reaction to another bizarre claim he made last week, that "upscale sodomites" are spreading Ebola in Starbucks. In response, LGBT supporters gave away free Starbucks coffee outside Pastor Manning's church.

It seems Pastor Manning is very suspect of that free coffee.

"My suspicion is they’re getting their semen from sodomites, Manning warns. 'The semen flavors up the latte and makes you think you are having a good time drinking it!"

Story's here.

Congratulations, America. You Just Became The United States of Dumbfuckistan

Well, There Is This...

Midterm Disaster: What Is It That Americans Want From President Obama?

I understand presidents lose seats in the House and Senate in midterm elections. People vote against the party in the White House. They want something different. What’s odd this time is how big the election went for the Republicans. What the Hell do people want?

Obama is very unpopular. I get it. Apparently people don’t like the deficit being reduced, Bin Laden being killed, keeping terrorism at bay, increasing employment, providing healthcare to every American, making the country a more tolerable and accepting place for everyone, and even reducing gas prices. What’s the problem? Does Obama have to make house calls for every single individual in this country and give them a neck massage?

Okay. The voters want change. So, take Iowa, for example. You got this Republican with a very annoying fake laugh that says Obama is a dictator who is apathetic. Wait. How can he be apathetic and a dictator? She also says he’s not doing anything. So he’s a lazy apathetic dictator. When told by a reporter that there was only one case of Ebola in the country right now she said that was his opinion. So obviously the voters are hungry for stupid.

Clay Jones in LIBERAL AMERICA.

ALWAYS READ THE FINE PRINT

THE CLOWN CAR HEADS TO WASHINGTON

Can You Blame Them?

Rumor has it Canada has begun construction of a border fence.

Best Interweb Comment I've Seen This Mornin'...

Kevin Kehres
5 November 2014 at 9:31 am

We live in a country where 42 percent of adults say they believe in ghosts, 36 percent say they believe in creationism, 36 percent say they believe in UFOs, 29 percent say they believe in astrology. And those people vote.

The people have the government they deserve.

Frankly, it won’t affect me much. The Republicans aren’t going to lower my taxes, nor raise them (my state legislature did that last year so that the really rich guys could get another solid gold toilet for their third yacht). My health insurance isn’t through the ACA. My community isn’t anywhere near where fracking would be profitable. And no one in my immediate circle is likely to need a therapeutic abortion (or an elective one) anytime soon. Global warming? I’ll be long dead by the time Miami drowns. So…I’m good.

The rest of y’all are fucked.

Freethought Blogs

The Insanity Of American Politics

The majority of voters like lefty stuff: legalizing mariajeuanny, supporting the rights of all people to marry the person they love, no more wars, access to contraception, no gridlock in gummit, yet they vote in the Party of War On Drugs, homophobia, boots on the ground, contraception is abortion (contraceptives OTC is a smokescreen), and gridlock (several Republican leaders met in secret a few years ago to agree to oppose everything O'Bama proposes, remember?)

Communists in the USA are more popular than Congress!

If you listened to the right-wing media in this country, the Democratic Party is a bunch of die-hard Marxists seeking to impose communism on the nation. Of course, conservatives seem to have no idea what Communism even is, but that is besides the point. They firmly believe that the Democratic Party is seeking to impose a Soviet style of hardline communism right here in the USA. This is, of course, rubbish. And, to shine even more light on what they are arguing over, there actually are real Communist parties — those founded on Marxism — in the United States, such as the Communist Party USA (founded in 1919), the Socialist Labor Party of America (founded in 1876), the Socialist Workers Party (founded in 1928), and the Socialist Party USA (founded in 1901). The right-wing only needs to turn their gaze upon real, self-admitting communists to see for themselves how insane they sound.

But then, realize, these parties are ancient, with multiple decades behind them, if not being over a century old, a feat surpassing almost any other contemporary third-party in the United States. The Libertarian Party only dates back to 1971, the Constitution Party having roots a bit further back to 1967. The only political party aside from the two major ones which can rightfully claim to be older is the single-issue Prohibition Party, which dates to 1869 and which won a grand total of 519 votes nationwide in 2012. And this is in spite of decades of concerted effort to stamp out Communism in the US, and even the collapse of the Soviet Union.

Yet today, these parties, and other, newer Marxist parties, are starting to grow. Ironically, this might be due to the right-wing’s continuing attack on Communism. Because the right-wing continues to attack Communism despite having few examples in the world which to attack; it has made the Marxist ideology attractive to a new generation disillusioned over the failures of trickle-down economics and the hard-right objectivist philosophies which failed today’s youth. This is likely why polls now find thatCommunism is more popular than Congress. In all fairness, however, so is Jar jar Binks.

But, beyond the humor factor, there is an underlying discontent with the system, and unlike the Libertarian model, which ignores facts in order to push a fantasy, the Marxists actually are presenting solutions. They may not be the best solutions; they might not be the worst, but they actually are solutions to the problems we are facing which are rooted in reality. And as a result, they are starting to achieve electoral success. In Washington State, the incumbent Democratic candidate, Frank Chopp, had to debate socialist candidate Jess Spear last month, a debate in which it is widely reported that he won. But it remains a debate against a candidate who, twenty years ago, you would never imagine being up on stage in the first place.

Story's here.

When you vote for that Republican for Congress/Mayor/Governor, just think about this...

HallowThankMas season has begun!

Gasbags Who Complained About High Gas Prices Now Are Complaining About Lower Gas Prices

For the last 6-plus years, we’ve listened to conservatives whine about high gas prices, despite the fact that they were silent when gas prices reached $4 a gallonduring the summer of 2007 when George W. Bush was in office.

And along with the conservative whine-fest comes the obligatory blame game, which means all fingers pointed directly at the black guy occupying the White House. Because just like everything else bad that happens in America, high gas prices are all President Obama’s fault.

Conservatives blamed his energy policies and the thumbing of his nose at the “drill baby drill” charade that was started by half-term governor, full-term idiot Sarah Palin during the 2008 election campaign, and then continued after that, as gas prices rose. Why would President Obama not want to tear up our national parks and allow for the drilling of oil? Who really cares if a few trees get knocked over or if some scenic areas became defaced during the process, right?

At any rate, “drill baby drill” has thankfully not occurred, and whatever President Obama’s energy policies may be (I bet most conservatives cannot accurately define what those policies are), a funny thing has taken place: Gas prices are falling, and may continue to fall.

Why? Because of the capitalistic staple known as “supply and demand”, otherwise known as “market forces.” Right now, supply is higher than demand, so prices are falling. This is Economics 101 stuff.

But since conservatives were blaming President Obama for high gas prices, now they must find a way to spin the lower prices to make him look bad. One way to do so would be to suggest that lower prices at the tank would hurt the economy, as Fox News did this week. This concern trolling by the Fox gasbags runs contrary to all of the bellowing they did about high gas prices hurting the economy, back when prices were high. Either way, the President can’t win, can he?

Story's here.

Misinterpreting A Study To Wonder If Non Citizens Could Influence Elections

The article appears to be drawing conclusions, apparently incorrectly, from a flawed study.

A reader comment that illustrate the flaws in the study...

There are really 3 problems I see in how the authors presented their findings which make them very misleading. 
 
1) The authors make it appear that 6.4% of the sample voting electorate were non-citizens. This is NOT the case. Let's look at 2008. The authors say 6.4% turned out to vote. This is only 6.4% of the 339 non-citizens they say are listed as registered voters, NOT 6.4% of the entire sample of voters which total 32,800. So to put this into a more accurate (less misleading) context we take the 2008 “adjusted estimate” from their chart and divide it by the total sample 32,800 which comes out to 0.0006 or 0.06%. This means that non-citizens supposedly voting made up ONLY 0.06% of the total sample. This is even less in 2010, sitting at about 0.01% of the total were supposedly voting non-citizens. 
 
2) They don't even know how many of these “registered non-citizens” voted. By their own admission these are “best guesses”.  
 
3) Then they take those non-citizen estimated turnout percentages (already misleading) and apply them to particular races 2008. This, in of itself, is a very questionable application of the data because it makes the assumption that a significant portion of those non-citizens who voted lived in either North Carolina or Minnesota in 2008. The problem is that the total sample number (32,800) are a NATIONAL sampling, not samples taken in one state. To put this into perspective, for 2008 only 21 out of 32,800 people were supposedly voting non-citizens. That is 21 PEOPLE spread out across the nation. Most likely these non-citizens who supposedly voted were 1 in Texas, 3 in California, 2 in Minnesota. HARDLY significant.
~mpbt

Jim Crow Returns...

Story's here.

Jesse Ventura: Voter fraud is a myth, Election Day should be a national holiday

"There is not much voter fraud. When are people going to learn this? They did studies when I was governor of the state of Minnesota. voter fraud is like 1/10th of one percent. You are lucky if you find 5 votes in an election that were fraudulently cast. There is not this huge block electing anybody with voter fraud. It's a big red herring. It's much ado about nothing. You shouldn't need a passport to go vote. Voting is a right that every citizen in America, that our country and Constitution provides that right. Voting should not be difficult, it should be the opposite, it should be easy to do. I think, personally, that we should have one national election day a year and it should be a holiday. That way there is no excuse for not voting."

Story's here.