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Monday, August 10, 2015

The Daily Drift

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Republicans - The Smithsonian is a museum ... something you know nothing about... !
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Obama Has Led The Nation’s Unemployment Rate Back To Full Recovery From the shrub’s Recession

obama-feet-desk
The July jobs report contained a major victory for President Obama. Statistically speaking the nation’s unemployment rate has fully recovered from the shrub’s Great Recession.
Jason Furman, Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers, said in a statement:
With today’s report, the headline unemployment rate (on an unrounded basis) moved below its pre-recession average for the first time in the recovery. While this milestone is a testament to the strength of the labor market recovery so far, several alternative measures of labor market strength have not fully recovered, and some level of slack remains. For example, the long-term unemployment rate is 34 percent above its pre-recession average. The slower recovery in the long-term unemployment rate is offset by the short-term unemployment rate, which is now below its pre-recession average. More noticeably, the U-6 “underemployment rate”—a broader measure than headline unemployment that includes discouraged workers and those employed part time while preferring to work full time—remains 14 percent above its pre-recession average. The female and Hispanic populations’ unemployment rates are not yet fully recovered, but unemployment rates for male, black, white, and Asian American workers are now below their pre-recession averages.
As Furman noted, the long-term unemployment rate is still higher than pre-recession levels, and remains above the pre-recession average for Hispanic and female workers. This means that there is still work to be done on the jobs front. The next president could send the economy into overdrive if he/she could address the plight of the long-term unemployed. President Obama has made numerous attempts over the last few years to tackle long-term unemployment with proposals that have ranged from job retraining programs to employer incentives for hiring the long-term unemployed, but Republicans in Congress refuse to seriously discuss the issue.
Congressional Republicans would rather dedicate their resources to pointless Benghazi and Hillary Clinton email investigations than take action for the nation’s workers who still have not recovered from the recession.
The good news is that the economic recovery is sustaining itself, and under President Obama businesses have created 200,000 or more jobs in 15 of the last 17 months. More private sector jobs have been created over the last two years than at any period since 1997-1999. Overall, the private sector has added 13 million jobs over 65 straight months of growth.
The failed trickle-down policies being championed by the Republican pretender candidates can’t touch what President Obama has accomplished. Obama is proving once again that if voters want jobs and a booming economy, the need a Democratic president in the White House.

Two leaders, two countries, two international standings

For Republicans, President Obama isn't respected abroad, but Vladimir Putin is. 
As usual, it turns out, the Republican cabal has it backwards.
by
US President Barack Obama and Russian President Vladimir Putin hold a bilateral meeting in Northern Ireland, June 17, 2013.For many Republicans, there are some basic truths about international perceptions. President Obama, they assume, is not well respected abroad, while Russia’s Vladimir Putin is seen as tough and impressive.
Last year, Republican pretender hopeful Ben Carson wrote a column on how impressed he is with Putin, and argued, “Russians seem to be gaining prestige and influence throughout the world as we are losing ours.”
With this in mind, the Pew Research Center has published a couple of helpful reports of late. In June, Pew’s “Global Attitudes & Trends” study found that impressions of the United States are up around the world – much improved over the findings from the Bush/Cheney era – and President Obama is an especially popular figure across much of the globe.
And this week, the Pew Research Center released related findings on Russia and Putin. Ben Carson may want to pay particular attention to the results.
Outside its own borders, neither Russia nor its president, Vladimir Putin, receives much respect or support, according to a new Pew Research Center survey. A median of only 30% see Russia favorably in the nations outside of Russia. Its image trails that of the United States in nearly every region of the world.
At the same time, a median of only 24% in the countries surveyed have confidence in Putin to do the right thing in world affairs, and there is far less faith in the Russian leader than there is in U.S. President Barack Obama.
If this makes it sound as if Republicans have described the entire dynamic backwards, that’s because they have.
Remember, it was just last year when American wingnuts effectively adopted Putin as one of their own. Rudy Giuliani said of the Russian autocrat, “That’s what you call a leader.” Mitt Romney proclaimed, “I think Putin has outperformed our president time and time again on the world stage.” A Fox News personality went so far as to say she wanted Putin to temporarily serve as “head of the United States.”
But by international standards, the Republican cabal rhetoric seems quite foolish.
In all regions of the world, Putin’s image fares quite poorly compared with public perception of U.S. President Barack Obama. Three-quarters of Europeans have confidence in Obama to do the right thing in world affairs. Only 15% have such faith in Putin. By more than two-to-one, the public in Africa, Asia and Latin America trust Obama more than Putin.
So, what do you say, wingnuts? Ready to admit your Putin adulation was misplaced?

Scientific Studies and Fox Pretender Debate Proves Republican Voters Are Stupid

Wingnuts are innately stupid and frightened, so Republicans know their absurd and mendacious statements will resonate with their base…
never-underestimate-the-power-of-stupid-people-in-large-groupsFor several years liberals have wondered why any American would purposely support Republican policies when they are contrary to their own best interests. It cannot possibly be due to their racial animosity toward an African American President, or because they enjoy being an integral part of their own pain and suffering. What also flummoxes many Americans is why in dog’s name Republican politicians make absurd, hateful, and blatantly mendacious statements that their base accepts as gospel truth. One would think that even a half-wit would use a semblance of intelligence to determine the lack of veracity and logic of Republican pronouncements, but that never happens and science explains why.
If the mountain of lies, hate and fear-mongering at the Fox News Republican pretender debate did not convince any American that Republicans are confident their base is stupid enough to believe any ridiculous statement, there are several scientific, peer-reviewed studies reinforcing the belief that Republicans are inherently stupid. It is not to say that liberals are incredibly smarter than wingnuts, but it is a fact that Democratic states have higher graduation rates than Republican-misled states, and that Americans seeking higher education definitely embrace liberal ideologies. But those facts alone do not tell the whole story; that is the purview of scientific research.
If one wonders why Republicans succeed in openly supporting and perpetuating white privilege, a study conducted at Brock University reveals that low IQ, wingnuttery, and racism are intricately linked. According to the study titled “Bright Minds and Dark Attitudes,” researchers discovered that having lower intelligence as a child is a reliable predictor of wingnut and racist ideas as an adult. That low IQ also predicts the wingnut hatred of immigrants, non-christians, non-wingnuts, and the researchers stated categorically that coupled with religious authoritarianism, low intellect driving Republicans’ unwarranted hatred of “the other” is expressed through wingnut ideology. The Republican cabal is well-aware of their base’s low intelligence and it is why they pander to their hatred to convince them to vote against their own best interests in every election cycle.
In another study by researchers at the University of Arkansas, “Low-Effort Thought Promotes Political Wingnuttery,” researchers found that the reason Republicans easily convince their base that all people of color are terrorists, and that all non-European immigrants should be deported is due to what is called “low effort thought;” something the scientists concluded leads to “wingnut simplistic thought.”
The researchers actually performed four different tests to “reduce subjects’ ability to use effortful, deliberate thought” and they discovered that situations causing low-effort thought resulted in more wingnut delusions. In one of the studies, researchers even found that the more intoxicated on alcohol an individual becomes the more their belief in wingnut ideology increases. It is why normal human beings believe Republican voters have to be hammered to accept and support wingnut policies that adversely affect them and their families personally; or they watch too much Fox News.
It is not a revelation by any means, but there are several studies proving that watching Fox News makes people stupid. In fact many studies “suggest that excessive exposure to false news coverage is every bit as toxic and avoiding open-minded attitudes, abstract reasoning skills, and non-wingnut ideals.” It is why Fox is so successful feeding closed-minded wingnuts who lack cognitive ability to grasp the complexities of the world gravitate toward lunatic fringe, simplistic, and concrete ideologies. Dr. Brian Nosek explained that like evangelical 'christianity', “wingnut ideologies get rid of the messiness of having to think critically and impose a simple wingnut 'solution'. It is not surprising that people with less cognitive capacity are attracted to simplistic ideologies.” It is why evangelical 'christianity' and Republican neo-wingnuttery go hand-in-hand and appeal to frightened and simple-minded people who support Republicans.
In another study, researchers connected overwhelming animus toward the LGBT community with “low abstract reasoning skills” that is yet another affliction rampant among conservatives and Republican voters; particularly religious Republican voters. Homophobia is primarily a religio-wingnut disease and although anti-gay sentiment is not reserved to “social wingnuts,” it is incontrovertible that bible-lunatic fringe Republicans express the most violent homophobic attitudes as evidenced by their never-ending fight against marriage equality. In a Kent State University study researchers titled, “Abstract Reasoning as a Predictor of Attitudes Toward Gay Men,” the report revealed that people with lower abstract reasoning skills experience and express higher levels of anti-gay prejudice.
Abstract reasoning involves flexible thinking, creativity, judgment, and logical problem solving. It is why “wingnut religious and authoritarian concepts related to concrete, black-and-white, religious-like edicts” sate the simple-minded religious Republican voter. Those voters intrinsic inability to think abstractly, coupled with their deeply entrenched wingnut ideology, only serves to increase their bigotry and hatred against gays. Typically, lower abstract reasoning skills are indicative of very young children who are developmentally unable to problem solve, think creatively, or solve problems using simple logic.
All of the aforementioned scientific research proves Republican voters are severely cognitively challenged, but there is definitive pathological proof that wingnuts are innately stupid, and frightened, which is why Republicans are confident their absurd and blatantly mendacious statements will resonate with their base. According to researchers investigating why being stupid makes one likely to be a wingnut, and why watching Fox News is a path to being dumber than dirt, one scientific study’s results cannot be attributed to professional interpretation or liberal bias. The study, “Political Orientations Are Correlated With Brain Structure in Young Adults,” was based on the results of MRI scans on participants and it is noteworthy that the results of an MRI cannot possibly be biased, but they can reveal pathological anomalies in the human brain.
The results of the MRI studies show that “wingnut students had a larger amygdala than liberals. Conversely, the anterior cingulate cortex of liberal students had more gray matter than wingnuts.” According to biological facts, “The amygdala is active during states of fear and anxiety, and the anterior cingulate cortex is the region of the brain that helps humans cope with complexity and use abstract reasoning.” What that means is that specifically speaking, “Liberals’ brains are biologically more able to handle complex thought, and wingnuts base their beliefs on fear.” It is why Republicans are so successful stoking wingnuts’ fear of immigrants, muslims, minorities and anything feeding into their hate and bigotry.
The study’s authors noted that the neuroscience clearly demonstrates there are pathological brain deformities in conservatives that clarifies why they willingly accept bizarre and self-defeating conservative agendas, and why Republicans lie, fear-monger, and stoke their base’s hatred and bigotry. The researchers also said the pathology proves why wingnuts are typically terrified of change and embrace anti-intellectualism, and why Democrats embrace changing the status quo to advance the well-being of all Americans. That “larger amygdala” in wingnuts' brains, that larger center of fear of everything, is why Republicans are successful calling for more taxpayer dollars for the war to combat imagined threats and aggressors, and why the Republican base naturally fears and hates immigrants, Americans with healthcare, gays marrying, environmental protections, women using contraceptives and an African American President; all things Republicans claim make America an extremely scary place that only they can combat.
It is depressing to learn that there are scientific studies and mounds of empirical data proving why Republican voters are so incredibly stupid if for no other reason than there is no apparent remedy. It is as impossible to debate, or have reasonable discourse, with wingnut adults suffering from intrinsic low intellect, inability to reason abstractly, and pathology (brain anomalies) as it is a newborn infant. Republican politicians are smart enough to take advantage of that simple fact with every lie and absurd statement they make whether they are speaking in Congress, on political talk shows, or during Republicans pretender debates on Fox News. They know their base is too stupid to ever realize they are being manipulated; something any normal eight-year-old comprehends unless their low intellect dooms them to be a wingnut.

Unknown Truck Driver Wins Democratic Nomination For Mississippi Governor

Unknown Truck Driver Wins Democratic Nomination For Mississippi Governor

The Five Most Damaging Ideas Republican Cabal Candidates Have For Social Security

Social Security became a heated topic at the first Republican debate, but many candidates have backed cuts and other extreme reforms.

Trump And The Koch-heads

Trump And The Koch-heads
While the hullabaloo about Donald and the debates were entertaining, the real powers controlling the Republican party were meeting last weekend in Orange County, CA. Their abuse of power covers many sins, including assault and battery…

Trump Goes On MSNBC And Declares War On Fox News

Fox News Tried To Destroy Donald Trump And They Failed Miserably

Fox News was clearly out to destroy Trump at the Republican debate, but they failed. 
donald trump fox news debateHere is what Fox News tried to do to Trump, and why it all went wrong.
Fox News made their intentions clear when the first question of the debate was a show of hands about pledging not to run as an Independent. Fox was trying to isolate Trump and ruin him with Republican voters.
Later came the Trump/Megyn Kelly exchange that demonstrated Republican voters love them some sexism.
Transcript of Kelly and Trump:
KELLY: Mr. Trump, one of the things people love about you is you speak your mind and you don’t use a politician’s filter. However, that is not without its downsides, in particular, when it comes to women.
You’ve called women you don’t like “fat pigs, dogs, slobs, and disgusting animals.”
(LAUGHTER)
Your Twitter account…
TRUMP: Only Rosie O’Donnell.
(LAUGHTER)
KELLY: No, it wasn’t.
(APPLAUSE)
Your Twitter account…
(APPLAUSE)
TRUMP: Thank you.
KELLY: For the record, it was well beyond Rosie O’Donnell.
TRUMP: Yes, I’m sure it was.
KELLY: Your Twitter account has several disparaging comments about women’s looks. You once told a contestant on Celebrity Apprentice it would be a pretty picture to see her on her knees. Does that sound to you like the temperament of a man we should elect as president, and how will you answer the charge from Hillary Clinton, who was likely to be the Democratic nominee, that you are part of the war on women?
TRUMP: I think the big problem this country has is being politically correct.
(APPLAUSE)
I’ve been challenged by so many people, and I don’t frankly have time for total political correctness. And to be honest with you, this country doesn’t have time either. This country is in big trouble. We don’t win anymore. We lose to China. We lose to Mexico both in trade and at the border. We lose to everybody.
And frankly, what I say, and oftentimes it’s fun, it’s kidding. We have a good time. What I say is what I say. And honestly Megyn, if you don’t like it, I’m sorry. I’ve been very nice to you, although I could probably maybe not be, based on the way you have treated me. But I wouldn’t do that.
The Republican audience laughed at Trump’s sexism, and he got loads of applause for attacking “political correctness.”
Chris Wallace tried to undermine Trump’s record in business by bringing up his bankruptcies:
The Wallace/Trump exchange ended in more laughter and applause for Trump.
It was clear that Fox News was targeting Trump, and the orders came from Fox management. Roger Ailes is desperate for a 2016 Republican 'win', and the establishment views Trump as destroying their cabal.
In the most classless way possible, Trump unloaded on Megyn Kelly after the debate on Twitter:
Trump also unloaded on perpetually losing Republican messaging guru Frank Luntz for his panel that gave the billionaire a bad review:
Immediate polling after the debate revealed that Trump was the clear winner:
Fox News had a plan to derail Trump, but they failed because Trump understands who their audience is better than they do. A large percentage of the Fox News audience agrees with the bigotry, sexism, and racism that Trump advocates. Republicans are drawn to his everyone is stupid but us rhetoric because that is what FOX NEWS has told them for years. Trump is in part a Fox News creation, and he has turned the network’s own audience against them.
Ailes and Murdoch made a gigantic mistake by going after Trump, and they just may have made the campaign that they were trying to destroy even stronger.

Rubio Thinks Rape Victims Who Become Pregnant Should Be Forced To Give Birth

Rubio supports government enforced childbirth for rape and incest victims who get pregnant through no fault of their own.…
Marco-RubioOn the debate stage last Thursday night, Rubio denied that he ever supported allowing rape victims access to abortions. After Fox News moderator Megyn Kelly noted that Rubio introduced a 2013 bill banning abortions after 20 weeks that included an exception for rape or incest victims, Rubio shot back:
I have never said that, and I have never advocated that. I have advocated that we pass a law that says all human life at every stage of development is worthy of protection.
Given a chance to clarify his stance on Friday, Rubio doubled down, telling CNN’s Chris Cuomo:
I think both of those instances [rape and incest] are horrifying, and fortunately, they’re extremely rare. It happens, and any time it happens, it’s horrifying, it’s a tragedy. But I personally and honestly and deeply believe that all human life is worthy of protection, irrespective of the circumstances in which that human life was created. I personally believe that you do not correct one tragedy with another.
Just to be clear, Rubio’s position is that if a woman who is raped becomes pregnant, she should be compelled by the state to give birth to the rapist’s child. If an incest victim becomes pregnant, Rubio believes she should be required by law to carry her pregnancy to term.
Rubio’s extreme stance on abortion put him firmly in the Todd Akin-Richard Mourdock lunatic fringe wing of the Republican cabal. In Rubio’s opinion, rape and incest are awful things, but no so awful that a woman should have the right to choose whether or not to terminate her pregnancy. No, for Rubio and other Republicans like him, it is the state’s job to decide that the woman has an obligation to give birth to the rapist’s baby.
Rubio’s “anti-choice even for rape and incest victims” position can be dressed up in pious rhetoric and syrupy bromides about the “sanctity of life”, but that doesn’t change the fact that he favors state mandated compulsory childbirth for rape victims who become pregnant.
Despite all his rhetoric in favor of limited government, Rubio supports government enforced childbirth for rape and incest victims who get pregnant through no fault of their own. Rubio’s position is extreme, but today’s Republican cabal is an extremist cabal, so his position is in line with that of republican cabal primary voters. Just understand what his position is, because if he wins the Republican cabal primary he will do his best to shift gears and hide his contempt for women in a general election.

Ex-Neo Nazi: wingnut extremists ‘on the verge of doing something horrible’ over same-sex marriage

In a candid interview, ex-skinhead Arno Michaelis told The Trace about how he joined the White Power movement at the at sixteen ...

Teabagger tried to smear himself with gay prostitute scandal to cover up his real affair

From the "What an Idiot" Department:
A teabagger from Michigan plotted to smear himself with a rumor of a hook-up with a gay prostitute behind a nightclub in order to soften the blow before word got out that he was having an affair with another teabagger.

Last Week In Wingnut Racism

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2725535/Times-Square-SHUT-DOWN-thousands-marching-Ferguson-protests-spin-country-fifth-night-tensions-gunned-teen.html
Cops’ Racist ‘Memorial’ To Mike Brown, Vile Obama Birthday Tweets
When you get to number one on this list, your stomach will literally turn. The racism just gets worse and worse every week.

Last Week In Wingnut Stupidity: The Republican Cabal Debate Edition

It’s that time again, folks! The day of the week where we recap all of the stupid the wingnuts have spewed from the holes in their faces ...

Weekly Tin Foil

This Week In Tinfoil: Obama Signs Executive Order Making All Food Property Of The Gov’t This Week In Tinfoil: Obama Signs Executive Order Making All Food Property Of The Government
This week’s tinfoil hat is being worn with pride by the idiots at “Patriot Net Daily.” Seriously, you gotta see this.

Last Week In Police Brutality And Corruption

Cops Out Of Control
Featured image credit: video screen capture via Victims of Police on youtube
How long are Americans going to tolerate these out of control cops?
Read more 

Wingnuts Tout New 'Poll' Pitting Religious Bigotry Against LGBT Equality

Wingnut media and religio-wingnut leaders and agitators are touting a new 'poll' that supposedly shows Americans “overwhelmingly” side with “religious liberty” over gay rights. The new 'poll', conducted by Fox News, adopts wingnut framing that...

Top 5 Stupid Things Pseudo-Christians Said Last Week

Top 5 Stupid Things Pseudo-Christians Said This Week
What pseudo-christians were saying last week.
Read more 

Last Week In Bad Christianity

What is bad christianity?
It’s using a religion that’s supposed to be about peace and love to justify hate.
It’s calling yourself a 'christian' and...

More religio-wingnut hate speech