The Daily Drift

Hey, wingnuts, yeah we're talking to you ...!  

 

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Today is - Manatee Appreciation Day
 

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As you can tell we are a wee bit later than normal in our postings today. We had friends ring us up for an unscheduled dinner and hangout at their place night.
And we forgot to set the automatic posting schedule - we thought we did but we evidently did not depress the 'save' button to complete the process before we turned off the computer and had a wonderful evening with friends.
So imagine our surprise when we turned on the machine to edit tomorrow's posts ...
Anyway, better late than never.
Enjoy.

Editorial Comment

My, my, my.
How the wingnuts lie, deny reality and facts.
And, of course you know they accuse everyone else of their own foibles and that they are always 'correct' and everyone else is always wrong .
Sorry to disappoint the wingnuts but they are never 'correct' about anything and they never will be.
It has been that way since before recorded history.

Regressive Thinking, i.e., exactly what wingnuts engage in  (if you want to call it thinking at all) - has been the downfall of every culture and civilization man has wrought.
Wingnuts/regressives do not remember history but believe in a delusional fantasy as to what history was and will do anything to destroy the present to 'go back' to their mythical 'Eden' which only exists in their mentally ill minds.

Do not call them 'Conservatives'. They do not conserve anything. They would use up everything and tell the future generations to go fuck themselves ... something they do as a matter of course, anyway.
The real 'Conservatives' are Progressive Thinking people who DO remember history as it was (or at least as close as History's recorders recorded it) from ALL cultures not just the 'Western European Tradition' as the regressives do.

Progressives look to conserve resources for future use while expanding in diverse areas to improve the quality of life for everyone, not just a dwindling few. This is why rules, regulations and taxes are in place - you know those things that are anathema to wingnuts - to govern the use of resources for today AND tomorrow.
Progressive believe governing should not be determining who, what, where and how an individual lives their lives.
Whereas, regressives 'know' that they have to demand that all individuals toe their dogmatic line so that their fantasy will not be challenged by reality .... but if you are a business entity, by all means do as you damn well please.

Wingnuts howl and moan about how the 'Liberal Media' distorts their view, which is a joke because the 'mainstream' media is only as Liberal as the wingnuts that own it allow it to be - the exception being the Internet.

The internet is filled with news sites and blogs that publish the truth or reality - whichever you prefer - that are not subjected to wingnut influence in the slightest so they are targets for the wingnut trolls who seek to pervert, divert, obfuscate, and deny reality.
The only trouble with that is Reality has a Liberal Bias. It always has and always will (remember the the statement above about 'before recorded history').

As new as this particular blog is we have been under an all out assault by the wingnut trolls from day one.
The great thing about that is it means we are hitting them were it hurts - right in their delusions.
It also makes it a lot easier to collect their data and turn it over to the authorities for prosecution.

From the "Public Enemies" Department:

5 Reasons the GOP Will Never Win Over Young People

Well millennials, the GOP is at it again, trying to connect with us by talking on our level. In a desperate attempt to ignite youth voters behind their attempts…

Obamacare Makes A Stunning Economic Impact: New Companies, More Jobs

In spite of all the obstacles imposed by the GOP, the Affordable Care Act has given the economy one helluva boost.

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Wingnuts Say $15 Minimum Wage Is Killing Seattle Restaurant Scene, Restaurateurs Disagree

Wingnuts Say $15 Minimum Wage Is Killing Seattle Restaurant Scene, Restaurateurs Disagree

In Blistering New Report Bernie Sanders Exposes The Gimmicks And Fraud In The GOP Budget

Sen. Bernie Sanders has exposed the gimmicks, fraud, and tricks that Republicans are using in their budget via a blistering new ten page report from the Democrats on the Senate Budget Committee.

The Senate Democratic report exposed the real goals of the Republican budget:

Many of the Republicans’ cuts are left intentionally vague – clearly because they do not want to be associated with a budget that eviscerates programs that define who we are as a nation. In fact, some of the Budget Committee’s Republican members have told reporters in recent days that they want their plan to be deliberately vague, allowing them to avoid the criticism that was leveled on the Ryan budget when it was released last Congress. These members don’t want to own a budget that proposes tax reform that would dramatically shift wealth from the middle class to the ultra-rich. And they don’t want to be forced to defend a budget that strips health insurance from tens of millions of Americans, putting working families one illness away from financial collapse.

However, it is clear the Republican budget would do all that and more. The Republican budget released this week would:

• Eliminate health insurance for tens of millions of Americans;

• Transfer wealth from hard-working working- and middle-class taxpayers to millionaires and billionaires;

• Prevent millions of jobs from being created by ignoring needed public investment in physical infrastructure and in education;

• Eviscerate the social safety net;

• Maintain the mindless sequestration spending cuts; and

• Halt our nation’s progress in transitioning to a 21st century energy economy that protects the short- and long-term welfare of our families.

Senate Budget Committee ranking member Sen. Bernie Sanders said, “Instead of being honest and upfront about their goals, the Republicans have used a number of budgetary gimmicks to cover-up the devastating impact that their budget will have on the lives of ordinary Americans,” Sanders said. “I find it particularly offensive that Republicans, who are demanding massive cuts in Medicaid, education, nutrition and health care in order to move toward a balanced budget, have no problem adding $38 billion to the deficit through the off-budget Overseas Contingency Operations fund. That is hypocrisy pure and simple.”

The report also listed four gimmicks that Republicans use to make their budget balance:

In order to claim that their budget will be balanced in 10 years, Republicans are using budget gimmicks such as:

• Using the Overseas Contingency Operations fund, which falls outside of the budget caps to significantly increase defense spending;

• Masking the true consequences of their policies under the guise of “unallocated” cuts and “government-wide” savings;

• Only achieving their goal of “balance” by using made-up “dynamic” numbers; and

• Dismantling health care reform, but keeping the savings and revenues that support it.

This report is another example of why Minority Leader Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV) made Sen. Sanders the top ranking member of the Senate Budget Committee on the Democratic side. Sanders and the Democrats have deconstructed the Republican budget to reveal that it is a deeply flawed ideological document that incapable of meeting the Republicans’ fiscal objectives without fraud and gimmicks.

Republicans don’t want to tell the American people what their budget really does. They don’t want to own the cuts to popular programs. Republicans can’t defend cutting taxes for the wealthy while economic well-being of ordinary Americans.

The Republican budget is a sham, and Bernie Sanders is telling the world the truth that Republicans don’t want the American people to hear.

Treasury Secretary Calls Out Republicans For Underfunding The IRS

Treasury Secretary Jack Lew let loose on Friday when he called out Congress for underfunding the Internal Revenue Service, or IRS.

"I think that over the last few years, you've seen a very distressing trend that Congress is cutting the funding of the IRS year after year, which limits our ability to both enforce our tax laws, but also to provide services to taxpayers," Lew said. "The first I think is just foolish.
The IRS is a favorite political punching bag for anti-government Republicans, who try to starve the agency responsible for collecting the revenue needed to fund critical Federal services.

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Chris Christie: The 'Problem-Solver' Who Left New Jersey A Mess

Chris Christie’s ties to “establishment” party figures have enabled him to become a prolific fundraiser and frequent campaign surrogate, and his heated and bombastic rhetoric has animated many conservatives. MORE

Jerry Brown Rips Ted Cruz A New One While Calling Him Unfit To Run For President

Gov. Jerry Brown (D-CA) told America that climate change denier Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) is unfit to run for president on Meet The Press.

Video:

Video Link

Gov. Brown responded to a clip of Cruz denying climate change by saying, “What he said is absolutely false. Over ninety percent of the scientists who deal with climate are absolutely convinced that the human activity, the industrial activity, the generation of CO2, methane, oxides, and nitrogen, all the rest of those greenhouse gasses are building up in the atmosphere. They’re heat trapping. They’re causing not just warm drought in California, but severe storms and cold in the East Coast, so it’s climate disruption of many different kinds and that man betokens such a level of ignorance and a direct falsification of the existing scientific data. It’s shocking, and I think that man has rated himself completely unfit to be running for office.”

Jerry Brown summed up Ted Cruz with one sentence. Sen. Cruz has built his brief national political career on spreading ignorance and falsifications. Sen. Cruz himself is not ignorant or stupid. What Cruz is doing is practicing a cynical political strategy of lending voice to the collective ignorance of the Republican rank and file. Ted Cruz is unfit to run for president.

Sen. Cruz also has virtually no chance of winning the Republican nomination, which is why his big announcement tomorrow that is running for president is generating so little buzz with a corporate media that normally trips over itself to breathlessly cover Republicans. The recent NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll revealed that the only candidate less popular than Ted Cruz with “values voters” was Chris Christie.

Cruz is disliked on both the Republican and Democratic sides of the aisle. His most noteworthy accomplishment in the Senate was the government shutdown. Cruz doesn’t have a natural constituency among Republican primary voters, and he will struggle to raise money. Cruz’s campaign looks like an exercise in egoism, and Jerry Brown was completely correct about his fitness for office.

Ted Cruz Announced Run For Pretender.

Here’s What You Need To Know About Him.

by Josh Israel:

The Houston Chronicle reported Sunday that first-term Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) will announce a presidential bid on Monday. He is expected to do so in a speech at Liberty University, a Lynchburg, Virginia-based Evangelical University founded by the late televangelist Jerry Falwell and known for its far-right social policies.
Cruz has been an outspoken critic of those in the GOP who he says want to “abandon” the “Judeo-Christian values” on which the country was founded. At Liberty, those values include prohibitions on out-of-wedlock sex and entertainment that might “incite behaviors that are contrary to the Bible and/or the Liberty Way” such as “promiscuity” or “gratuitous crass language/behavior.”
Like Falwell’s campus, Cruz has espoused some rather controversial views. Among them:
1. Denies that humans are contributing to climate change because it snowed in New Hampshire.
Cruz has repeatedly rejected overwhelming scientific consensus on climate change, making the debunked claims that recent weather and non-oceanic temperatures create great doubt. Moreover, by pushing the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline, a ban on fracking regulation, the repeal of EPA regulations that he says “kill jobs,” increased drilling, and greater fossil fuel exports, his energy agenda would increase CO2 emissions and hasten climate change.
2. Calls same-sex marriage “tragic and indefensible.”
Nearly a decade since Congress rejected a federal constitutional amendment to prohibit same-sex marriages, public sentiment has hugely shifted to the point that 60 percent of Americans indicated support for marriage equality in a recent poll. But Cruz continues to fight against equal protection for same-sex couples, pushing for legislation and a federal constitutional amendment to allow states to deny them the freedom to marry. He denounced 2014 court rulings overturning state same-sex marriage bans as “judicial activism at its worst,” calling them “tragic and indefensible.” “Traditional marriage is an institution whose integrity and vitality are critical to the health of any society. We should remain faithful to our moral heritage and never hesitate to defend it,” he said.
3. Refers to emergency contraception as “abortifacients.”
Cruz is a strong opponent of abortion rights, but also has opposed access to contraception. He backed the Blunt Amendment to decimate the Affordable Care Act’s guarantee of contraception coverage and denounced emergency contraception as “abortifacients,” incorrectly suggesting that Plan B causes abortions.
4. Believes Social Security is a “Ponzi scheme.”
Cruz, in a 2011 interview with the Texas Tribune, agreed that Social Security was indeed a “Ponzi scheme.” While he called it a “vital bulwark of our society,” he also proposed a three-part plan to raise the Social Security retirement age, cut future benefits, and privatize much of the program. A similar privatization proposal by President George W. Bush died at the hands of a solidly-Republican Congress in 2005.
5. Worried about Sharia Law being imposed on America.
Although the U.S. constitution expressly prohibits the establishment of a national religion, Cruz has expressed concern that a religious group that makes up only about 1 percent of the nation’s population might do just that. At a 2012 candidate forum, Cruz warned “Sharia law is an enormous problem” in the United States.
6. Fears a United Nations plot to ban golf courses.
In a 2012 article on his Senate campaign site, Cruz sounded the alarm that “Agenda 21 is wrong, and it must be stopped.” Cruz wanted that George Soros and others backed a 1992 United Nations agenda to “abolish ‘unsustainable’ environments, including golf courses, grazing pastures, and paved roads.” The non-binding resolution, signed by 178 nations including the United States (under then-President George H. W.Bush), was nothing more than a general statement about reducing policy and building sustainable environments — and has, more than two decades later, not been used to eliminate golf courses.

Republican Are Stupid

From The "How to Debunk and Idiot" Department:

‘It’s just not true’: Bob Woodward calls out Liz Cheney’s claim that Obama is ‘aligning’ with Iran

From The "Senile Idiots" Department:

McCain defends Netanyahu’s racial campaign ploy: Politicians can’t be ‘held to everything’ they say

McCain Disrespects Obama By Telling The President To Get Over His ‘Temper Tantrum’

John McCain disrespected the President Of The United States today by accusing President Obama of throwing a ‘temper tantrum’ over Netanyahu’s flip-flop on the two-state solution. McCain also told the president to ‘get over it.’

McCain said (R-AZ), “Look there was a free and fair democratic election. The only nation in the region that will have such a thing. The president should get over it. Get over your temper tantrum, Mr. President. It’s time that we work together with our Israeli friends and try to stem this tide of ISIS and Iranian movement throughout the region, which is threatening the very fabric of the region. The least of your problems is what Bibi Netanyahu said during a reelection campaign. If every politician were held to everything they say in a political campaign, obviously, that would be a topic of long discussion.”

John McCain’s whole attitude can be summed up as get over it. Candidates lie to get re-elected all of the time. McCain is glossing over the fact that Netanyahu unilaterally lied about his nation’s position on one of the most vital issues in the entire region. John McCain told plenty of lies during his presidential campaign. McCain lied when he claimed that Sarah Palin was competent and qualified to be vice president. Who can ever forget McCain’s statement that “the fundamentals of our economy are strong.”

Sen. McCain was one of the 47 Republican senators who signed the treasonous letter to Iran, but McCain didn’t have the guts to defend signing the letter. Instead, he blamed an approaching snowstorm for his signature. McCain is still bitter about losing the 2008 election, but his disrespect of President Obama is reaching new extremes as the president to continues to thwart his dream war with Iran.

It wasn’t a coincidence that McCain linked Iran and ISIS together in his comments. It was the same kind of verbal trickery that Bush/Cheney/McCain used to link Saddam Hussein to al-Qaeda before the invasion of Iraq.

The Republican lust for a new war has sent them to a frenzied level of contempt and disrespect that is unprecedented. “Country First” McCain has put his country last by disrespecting the Commander In Chief.

Wingnut Radio Hack: If You Oppose Netanyahu, You Oppose Dog

In “Obama Bypasses Dog and Netanyahu,” CPAC darling Dr. Laurie Roth (having that title sure doesn’t make them smarter does it?) argues that if you oppose Benjamin Netanyahu, you oppose Dog. Oh sweet little baby Jesus, no!

The “Annie Oakley of the Airwaves” writes at Matt Barber’s BarbWire that,

Anyone or anything connected with the Dog of the Holy Bible will be attacked and bypassed by Obama and his progressive robots. As we all know by now Obama had no congratulations or words of any kind for Benjamin Netanyahu though BiBi won huge. Funny how all the other ‘big boy’ leaders called to congratulate him but not Obama. John Kerry saying something pathetic from afar and too late doesn’t cut the cheese folks. Obama is most certainly against Netanyahu because he represents the Jews and Israel and won’t be intimidated into giving away more land or kissing up to the Islamic agenda….which is simply — destroy Israel.

That’s quite a leap (of faith, shall we say?). Not a word here about how her pal “Bibi” came to the United States and tried to wrest control of America’s foreign policy away from the man in whom that control is vested by the United States Constitution: the President of the United States.

That would be Barack H. Obama.

It was a coup attempt, pure and simple.

A simple appeal to human nature would be enough to tell most people Obama isn’t going to rush to a phone and congratulate the man who did this to him. Who would? The worst thing that could happen for the peace process was a Netanyahu victory. It makes Obama’s job of securing a nuclear weapons-free future with Iran that much more difficult.

Now what “Doctor” Roth fails to understand is that while “Bibi” has a right to a foreign policy, so does the United States. If Roth is so eager for war, she should make sure she is first in line at the recruiting office the morning Israeli jets attack Iran.

And to automatically accuse Obama of being anti-Israel because he opposes Netanyahu is absurd. Not surprising, because the same defense was used of Bush’s attack on Iraq in 2003. If you oppose Bush you oppose the United States and if you oppose the United States you oppose God himself.

Then Roth gets all dramatic. “Let’s cut to the bottom line,” she says.

“Obama has invested, committed to and is passionate about completing his transformational plans for America,” and I guess we have to give her credit for recognizing that Congress is “behind in every area.”

She wants them to “fight Obama and his evil transformation plans” (good luck with that; they’re too busy fighting each other over how extreme they want to be):

That means, regular and thought out media statements…defunding all that Obama touches, such as Obamacare, the FCC Internet take over, amnesty for starters. “Use the power you have.”

A “thought-out” media statement? From a Republican?

Talk about not having a prayer…

So Obamacare, which gives healthcare to up to 20 million people (and incidentally, promises my son a future), is “evil and transformational.” The FCC “Internet take over” [sic] (Should be one word, ‘takeover’ Doc), which is actually just the preservation of the open Internet we’ve always had, and long overdue, is also “evil and transformational,” and amnesty! I’m not sure whatever happened to the much-vaunted Christian charity but it is nowhere in evidence at BarbWire.

But she’s not through drowning in nonsense, claiming that “Obama believes down to his bone marrow in a one world Government and that America must submit to the UN instead of our US Constitution, sovereignty and Judeo/Christian values” (she provides no evidence for this, of course).

As for Obama, well…

“His heart and mind set are all wrapped up in Communism, fascism, creating an Islamic caliphate, and Internationalism.”

She needs to plop that tinfoil hat down on her head right now. Try to wrap your head around somebody being all these things at once:

A. A communist
B. A fascist
C. A radical Islamist
D. An “internationalist”

There can be no “all of the above” so there is no choice “E.” Fascism was an early 20th century response TO communism and diametrically opposed to it, the extreme right vs. the extreme left. A theocrat, which is what a radical Islamist would have to be, is something completely different from the other two. And I’m not even sure how to response to the charge of being an “internationalist.” If it means no country is above the law, then I fail to see what her complaint is.

There follows the inevitable nonsense about being persecuted, and then come the inevitable threats:

The ‘poser’ type Christians are great. Obama loves them because they are useful idiots and pawns to manipulate around the game board to achieve his goals. Netanyahu and other patriots who understand the price of freedom and its preservation will always be hated by Obama.

What’s interesting here is the claim that Netanyahu, an Israeli, is somehow a “patriot.” He may be a patriot to Israel, but he’s no American patriot. I think Roth’s true colors are showing here. Her devotion is not to her own country, but to a foreign country.

American House and Senate, Governors in all 50 states, those running for state and federal elections and you who intend to run for President had better get in your prayer closets and take stock in who you are. What do you really stand for and are you for sale or not? We are taking on the stark face of evil and tyranny whether you want to believe it or not. Wake up America.

Oh, we’ve seen the face of tyranny clear enough. It IS for sale (in fact its bought and sold already, by the Kochs) and it’s wrapped in a flag and carrying a cross. In fact, it looks a lot like Dr. Laurie Roth.

Differences

Republican Fascists Want Pledge of Allegiance in English Only

If you want to hear one of the craziest things to come out of a Republican mouth this week, it’s the Republican objection to anyone reading the Pledge of Allegiance in Arabic. This apparently deplorable display of patriotism took place on March 18 during National Foreign Language Week, of all things.

Look, I’m all for stupidity carrying the day on Fox News. I mean, where better, and who better to recite it than the Queen of Dumb, Elisabeth Hasselbeck? But c’mon. Who knew that reciting the pledge of allegiance in Arabic could make kids want to join ISIL? I wonder, if I recite it in Latin, if I will want to become a new Mussolini and restore the Roman Empire (look out Carthage, I’m coming for you first!). Or if in Old Norse, I will seek to follow in the terroristic footsteps of that feared freebooter, Harald Hardrada and sack York, or in lieu of York, because it’s far away, New York. Or even Ragnar Lothbrok (Ragnarr Loðbrók, “Ragnar Hairy Breeches”) and sack just about everything I can get my hands on (starting with Fox News).

Who knows what reciting it in French might do to a kid…why, he might start putting plants and solar panels on everybody’s roof, and then where would we be? Egads, I can barely breathe. Somebody help me… I don’t know what sort of bizarre alchemy Republicans imagine, but neither it – nor they – are of this world. Unfortunately, we’re stuck with them because even if Jesus came back, he wouldn’t want them, and who can blame him, really?

Media Matters compiled some of the crazy remarks for our amusement (or horror):

Radio Host Laura Ingraham Compares Saying Pledge In Arabic To “Skinheads” Saying Pledge. On the March 20 edition of her radio program, Laura Ingraham said, “What if the skinheads want to do the Pledge of Allegiance? Are we going to do that too?” and, “Most people who love this country love it enough to speak the language [English].” [Courtside Entertainment Group, The Laura Ingraham Show, 3/20/15]

Fox’s Alex Ferrer: Pledge Should Not Be Read In Language “Tied To … Terrorist Attacks.” On the March 20 edition of Fox News’ Outnumbered, guest host Alex Ferrer said “the Pledge of Allegiance, I don’t think, should be read in a different language, but especially not — especially not — in a language that is so tied to the terrorist attacks that we’re seeing all the time.” [Fox News, Outnumbered, 3/20/15]

Fox Guest: Reciting Pledge In Arabic Inappropriate Because “We Are At War” With Many Who Speak Arabic. On the March 20 edition of Fox & Friends, President of the American Islamic Forum for Democracy Zuhdi Jasser suggested reciting the Pledge in Arabic could encourage young Muslims to join ISIS and said the Pledge should not be in the language of “communities or nations we’re at war with.” [Fox News, Fox & Friends,3/20/15]

Daily Caller: The School “Screw[ed] Up The Pledge Of Allegiance.” Reporting about the incident, the Daily Caller called the high school’s decision a “gimmick” and said the school “[managed] to screw up the Pledge of Allegiance.” [Daily Caller, 3/20/15]

Fox Host: School Should “Keep The Pledge Of Allegiance In English.” On the March 20 edition of Fox News’ America’s Newsroom, host Martha MacCallum said “I’m not sure it was the brightest idea to have them do the Pledge of Allegiance in any language except English.” MacCallum later added “maybe you ought to keep the Pledge of Allegiance in English.” [Fox News, America’s Newsroom, 3/20/15]

Fox’s Todd Starnes: Saying Pledge In Arabic Means “Islam Is Given Accommodation.” In a FoxNews.com opinion piece on the controversy over the Pledge being recited in Arabic, network radio host Todd Starnes claimed “our schoolhouses have become places where Christianity is marginalized and Islam is given accommodation”

What is far worse than all this nonsense from conservatives is that the school actually apologized:

The intention was to promote the fact that those who speak a language other than English still pledge to salute this great country. We sincerely apologize to any students, staff or community members who found this activity disrespectful.

Indeed. Apologize for a display of patriotism? In a foreign language in a nation of immigrants during a week celebrating foreign languages? What is our once great country coming to?

Wingnuts Fear Fox News

 

Mickey Kaus: Why Conservatives Fear To Criticize Fox News

Mickey Kaus explains the power Fox News holds over the entire conservative movement.

Racism is over, says Racist

  Nevada Republican Says Racism Is Over, Then Refers To Colleague As ‘Colored’

Missouri Lt. Governor: 'More Racism In The Justice Department' Than In Ferguson

Missouri Lt. Gov. Peter Kinder (R) on Monday said that the U.S. Justice Department is more racist than the St. Louis region and placed blame the Obama administration for the protests following the shooting death of Michael Brown.NewsMaxTV's Steve Malzberg asked Kinder about the reaction in Ferguson, Mo. to the shooting and said that the Obama administration had acted on the "false premise" of "Hands up, don't shoot." 

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