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Wednesday, July 29, 2015

The Daily Drift

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Utah tribal cult cites ‘religious liberty’ in fight against ban on using peyote in ceremonies

'Peyote (Lophophora Williamsii)' [Shutterstock]
“People say it’s a hallucinogen, which it’s not,” cult member David Hamblin said during a protest in Salt Lake City. “It’s a plant portal to the spirit world."

Government Granted Patent Monopolies Are Not The Free Market

Those folks at the Wall Street Journal are really turning reality on its head. Today it ran a column by Robert Ingram, a former CEO of Glaxo Wellcome, complaining about efforts to pass "transparency" legislation in Massachusetts, New York, and a number of other states. This legislation would require drug companies to report their profits on certain expensive drugs as well as government funding that contributed to their development.Ingram sees such laws as a prelude to price controls. He then warns readers:
"There is no surer way to bring pharmaceutical innovation to a halt in the U.S. than letting governments decide how much companies can charge for their products or harassing them into lower prices. It also represents a fundamental misunderstanding of how pharmaceutical research works. Scientific discoveries involve trying and failing, learning from those failures and trying again and again, often for years."
Ingram bizarrely touts the "flowing pipeline of new wonder drugs spurred by a free market," which he warns will be stopped by "government price controls." This juxtaposition is bizarre, because patent monopolies are 180 degrees at odds with the free market. These monopolies are a government policy to provide incentives for innovation. Mr. Ingram obviously likes this policy, but that doesn't make it the free market.
Of course there are other ways that the government can finance research and development, such as paying for it directly. It already does this to a large extent. At the encouragement of the pharmaceutical industry it spends more than $30 billion a year on mostly basic research conducted through the National Institutes of Health. It could double or triple the amount of direct funding (which could be contracted with private firms like Glaxo Wellcome) with the condition that all findings are placed in the public domain.
This would eliminate all the distortions associated with patent monopolies, such as patent-protected prices that are can be more than one hundred times as much as the free market price. This would eliminate all the ethical dilemmas about whether the government or private insurers should pay for expensive drugs like Sovaldi, since the drugs would be cheap. It would also eliminate the incentive to mislead doctors and the public about the safety and effectiveness of drugs in order to benefit from monopoly profits.

These Never-Before-Seen Photos Of The White House Reaction On 9/11/01 Are Nauseating

These Never-Before-Seen Photos Of The White House Reaction On 9/11/01 Are Nauseating (IMAGES)
Cheney was the first in charge, and some of these images will make you sick to your stomach…

Reality Is Winning

Reality Is Winning: New Poll Finds Americans Increasingly Aren’t Buying Right-Wing Lies Fox News makes a big show of being the “most trusted” source of news, but that claim, like much of what we find on the wingnut network is a lie,...

Even Republicans Are Starting To Hate Republicans

New Poll: Even Republicans Are Starting To Hate Republicans A new poll proves that the circus they are calling the 2016 pretender race may be turning off Republicans more than anyone, but it’s also turning...

No, Wingnuts, The Teabagger Affiliated Mass Shooter Was Not A Liberal ‘Obama Supporter’


Another Mass Shooting, But The Republican Cabal Makes It Clear Some Lives Don’t Matter

Another Mass Shooting, but GOP Makes it Clear Some Lives Don’t MatterBill O'Reilly will not call for a law to protect movie-goers from white men carrying handguns in theaters. Because Second Amendment rights …

Trump May Be The Worst Thing To Happen To The Religio-Wingnuts

Trump doesn't seem impressed by the religio-wingnuts and has shown no signs that he feels the need to impress them, or even that they matter…
ted cruz donald trump

This is nothing new, of course: Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council told a caller that dog would no longer protect the United States, thanks to marriage equality. Ever since the Manichaean Augustine of Hippo opened his mouth, religio-wingnuts have been looking for the city of dog, an effort which has left a morose dunghill in its place.
“Absolutely, absolutely,” Perkins replied, enthusiastically agreeing with the caller: “[We] put ourselves in a very vulnerable position” just like in “1973 when the court basically said it’s open season on the unborn, there were consequences to that and I believe it’s a part of removing dog’s hand of protection upon a nation.”
Right. Open season against blacks doesn’t presage anything dire, and that has been with us since the first slave arrived on these shores, centuries before Roe v. Wade. How about the genocide of the Native Americans, which began even before the first slave arrived? Or how about beating gays and transgenders? Or raping women? Or abusing the poor of any background? None of that bothered dog?
Or if none of that moves you, how about what we do to our own children in this country?
When jesus said, “Let the little children come to me” he didn’t mean hurry them on their way to heaven. But once they’re out of the womb, that is precisely what Republicans do.
Where is Perkins’ head that only the unborn matter to him, and not the living? jesus didn’t preach about or to fetuses. He preached to the living.
And Perkins is not alone. Take Santorum, Paul, or Cruz who insists freedom is tyranny.
Walker, for crying out loud, after doing his best to destroy Wisconsin, said its dog’s plan that he now destroy the entire 50 states by becoming pretender.
Trump is crass and boorish, but he may prove to be the dung-covered gem in the dunghill. He will not win, but for a moment, a whole bunch of Republicans are forgetting about this dog thing. Unlike Walker and Cruz, Trump hasn’t claimed dog wants him to run, or that he’s the messiah.
Trump says, “I’m a religious person. I go to cult. Do I do things that are wrong? I guess so.”
In fact, look what Trump told Frank Lutz last Saturday at the Iowa Family Leadership Summit, when asked, “Have you ever asked dog for forgiveness?”
Compare this to Jeb, who eagerly explains he does so often. (You think you’ve been cringing? Put yourself in the shoes of the religio-wingnuts):
I’m not sure I have. I just go on and try to do a better job from there. I don’t think so. I think if I do something wrong, I think, I just try and make it right. I don’t bring dog into that picture. I don’t.
We I take, when we go, and church and when I drink my little wine – which is about the only wine I drink – and have my little cracker, I guess that’s a form of asking for forgiveness, and I do that as often as possible because I feel cleansed, OK? But, you know, to me that’s important, I do that, but in terms of officially, I could say, ‘Absolutely!’ and everybody, I don’t think in terms of that. I think in terms of, let’s go on and let’s make it right.
We all missed this thanks to his next dissing John McCain, but think about how far off the reservation he has gone with this.
His little glass of wine and his cracker. And he got a standing ovation at the end of his talk.
Trump, alone of all the Republican candidates, isn’t acting like a frothing-at-the-mouth religious zealot. In fact, Ed Kilgore at the Washington Monthly said, “everything about Trump screamed the oafish tycoon speaking the unaccustomed language of delusion.”
And yet it is Trump who is leading at the polls. Attacking John McCain didn’t hurt him. Dismissing dog didn’t hurt him. Of the two, I would argue that the latter is the more important. It is an importance which cannot be overstated.
Erick Erickson claimed, over at Red State, where pregnant women are animals, that, “Donald Trump made a potentially fatal error yesterday in Iowa…. The media might not have noticed. But it was the talk of evangelicals yesterday and today at cult.”
But I don’t think anybody is listening to Erick Erickson. Certainly not enough to hurt Donald Trump’s polling numbers.
We can read at Right Wing Watch that “Russell Moore of the southern baptist coven’s 'ethics' and 'religious 'liberty' cabal and Samuel Rodriguez of the mational hispanic 'christian' 'leadership' coven said last week that they didn’t know a single evangelical who supports Trump…”
I don’t think anybody is listening to them either.
Is there actually a niche for a Republican pretender candidate who is not in the thrall of the likes of Tony Perkins?
Will all this come back to haunt Trump? Will the bubble burst? Sure, it’s possible. It is also possible he can provide wingnuts a moment of clarity, to show the Republican base that politics can be about something other than religion.
After all, Trump has yet to say a word about mantles of protection or divine snit fits dropping flocks of birds out of the sky. He just eats his little cracker and tries to do better.
This is not to make an argument for Trump. Rather, look at the significance of the moment. However far Trump may go in the 2016 presidential race, he may have shown a way forward for Republican candidates who are not in thrall to the religio-wingnuts, a sort of anti-Reagan, which is ironic given all the comparisons being made to Reagan by his adoring followers on Twitter.
For Trump, this isn’t a war of dog’s 'righteous' Republicans against Liberal Satan-worshipers, but a war of Trump against idiots and fools.
And you know what? That’s kind of refreshing.
***
Damn, who would have thought Trump could do any good for America, but putting the religio-wingnuts where they belong would be a great thing for America. They do not matter - they never have - they are just self-inflated perverted blowhards who's time it never was and it has passed.

Republicans Are Screwed As Trump Support Nearly Doubles After Attacking John McCain

The Republican attempt to get rid of Trump after he attacked John McCain has backfired, as Trump’s support has almost doubled with primary voters.
Donald Trump tantrumAccording to YouGov, Trump is still on the rise after attacking John McCain:
Trump’s rise in the Republican contest for the 2016 pretender nomination doesn’t appear to have been slowed much – at least not yet – by the recent controversy over his criticisms of Arizona idiot John McCain’s war record last weekend. In fact, although Trump’s favorable ratings among Republicans have declined, he is still ahead – and far ahead – when Republicans are asked to choose among the 16 currently announced candidates.

….

But there is clearly a core group of registered voters who identify as Republicans that has coalesced around Trump’s tough talk and proposals. He is even more clearly in first place than he was two weeks ago when Republicans are asked to choose among the current candidates. Two weeks ago, in the Economist/YouGov Poll, 27% of registered voters who identified as Republicans chose Trump as their first or second choice for the nomination. This week, 28% say he is their first choice, and another 10% rank him second.
The number of Republicans who list Trump as their first choice has gone from 15% to 28%. Trump’s attack on McCain moved people who listed him as their second choice more firmly into his column. Republicans appear to have miscalculated and made Trump more appealing by affirming his outsider status with lunatic fringe wingnuts.
The party did lower Trump’s approval ratings, but it appears that Republican voters don’t care if their chosen candidate is popular. The Republican cabal threw everything they could at Trump, and the result is that the racist billionaire is even more popular with voters.
As long as Trump’s poll numbers remain high, the media will keep covering him and as long as the media keeps giving him attention, Trump’s poll numbers will remain high.
In other words, Republicans are screwed. Trump put his foot in his mouth, and his poll numbers have stayed high. The Republican cabal built Trump, and now he is destroying them.

Jeb And Walker Campaign To Impress the Koch Brothers, Not the People

Jeb Bush And Scott Walker Campaign To Impress the Koch Brothers, Not the PeopleIt would be difficult for even Fox News to argue against the idea that Republicans only campaign, and act, according to the will of the Koch brothers, and…

Senior Citizen Publicly Slams Jeb At Town Hall Event For Targeting Medicare

Via Flickr/GageSkidmoreIf there is one thing that senior citizens won’t tolerate it’s a hack politician who tries to take away their hard-earned Medicare.

Rick Perry Loses As Court Rules That He Must Face Felony Abuse Of Power Charge

Rick Perry Loses As Court Rules That He Must Face Felony Abuse Of Power ChargeA Texas appeals court tossed one charge against Rick Perry but ruled that he must go to court to face a felony charge of abusing his power while…

Texas Supreme Court Suspends Houston’s Equal Rights Ordinance

Texas Supreme Court Suspends Houston’s Equal Rights OrdinanceThe Texas Supreme Court argued that "The legislative power reserved to the people of Houston is not being honored."…

Virginia newspaper apologizes after publishing racist ad ranting against ‘Democrats and black races’

'Angry businessman working at PC' [Shutterstock]
“What I hoped would be illuminating has instead proven to be merely offensive to many of our readers,” News-Gazette publisher Matt Paxton wrote.

Republican Cabal Chairwimp Tells State To Ignore Roe v. Wade


The events that would follow, if Oklahoma refused to obey a federal court order commanding them to release an incarcerated abortion doctor, could resemble a miniature Civil War.

Arizona’s Welfare Drug Testing Screened 140,000 - And Found 3 Positive Cases

An essential part of the Republican cabal’s war against America’s poor has been to drug-test welfare recipients, as part of their relentless campaign to paint the poor as lazy, as moochers, as drug-addicts with no incentive to seek real employment. It’s very far from the truth; the American poor are victims of Wall Street-engineered income inequality and the plots of wealthy oligarchs to keep the poor repressed and maintain a permanent underclass of exploitable labor.New data shows just how wasteful and insulting the welfare drug testing program is. USA Today reports that the state of Arizona screened 142,000 welfare recipients- and found only THREE failed tests over a five year program. This saved the state around $3500 from going into the hands of “drug addicts” – out of $45 million distributed through the Temporary Assistance For Needy Families program.
Collectively, seven states have spent a $1 million on drug testing their welfare recipients- and together have netted under 500 positive cases. Virginia just abandoned plans to test their citizens after realizing it would cost $1.5 million and save only $229,000. It’s a disgraceful waste of taxpayer dollars in an insulting and presumptuous program that the date shows only serves to give credibility to the anti-poor narrative that FOX News pundits love to talk up so much.

Police Force Only Hired Cops Who Said They Wouldn’t Arrest Other Cops

Featured image credit: cityofmethuen.net
A recent investigation into the hiring practices of a Massachusetts-based police department revealed that officers in charge of the hiring process gave...

'Christian' Pastor Ousted By His Cult For Standing Up For Women And Children

Christian Pastor Ousted By His Church For Standing Up For Women And ChildrenThese Missouri 'christians' have a hard time allowing women to be considered equals and children learning reality.

Deranged Couple Sets Homeless Man On Fire In Front Of Kids, Thought It Was ‘Okay’

Deranged Couple Sets Homeless Man On Fire In Front Of Kids, Thought It Was ‘Okay’ (VIDEO) Surveillance footage has led to the arrest of an Albuquerque couple who set a homeless man on fire with fireworks on July 11. Joshua Benavidez and Irene...