Open Scary: Here’s The “Gun” That Fox News Thinks Should Be Banned

Posted by Mark NC on July 3, 2015 at 4:07 pm. 9 Comments :

The public debate over gun safety has been raging for decades. It picked up steam during the Obama administration because NRA-theists and wingnut pundits set about deliberating trying to frighten the already chicken-hearted ammosexuals into believing that Obama was coming for their weaponized dildos. Never mind that in seven years the nightmare scenarios of these heat packers didn’t produce the widespread confiscations they prophesied. Or any reduction in gun rights whatsoever.

The foremost media advocate for this mouthy militia has been Fox News, who regularly feature firearms evangelicals like the NRA’s Wayne LaPierre and disgraced pistol polisher John Lott. The gun lobby gospel espoused by Fox is unqualified support for every kind of access to every kind of gun. They oppose universal background checks, gun show regulations, and any restrictions on assault weapons, cop-killer bullets, and open and/or concealed carry privileges. They have even argued for the Second Amendment rights of the mentally ill, the blind, and the dead (Seriously, those are not jokes).

Well, now these gun fetishists have found something that they are perfectly willing to ban from distribution. A new cell phone case was introduced that looks like a gun. Just slap in your iPhone and tuck it into your back pocket and you can answer those distress calls by putting the pistol-shaped piece up to your head. Charming, isn’t it?

Fox News broadcast a segment on their Fox & Friends program this morning that harshly criticized this blockheaded idea. And they were right to do so. Host Ainsley Earhardt said that “This could be the most dangerous cell phone case on the market.” While technically correct, it’s hard to imagine what other “dangerous” cell phone cases she was comparing it to. (Is there an electric drill iPhone attachment I haven’t seen yet?) Then her guest, John Rafferty, a retired NYPD officer, chimed in…

Considering that too many cops have recently been shooting people (mostly African-Americans) who are not armed at all, it’s hard to argue with that statement. Rafferty went on to highlight the risks of someone who might appear to pose a threat to an officer being tragically, but justifiably, shot as they go to answer their phone during a traffic stop. He and Earhardt both agreed that the product should not be sold and that responsibility for any harm should be shared by the user, the retailer, and the manufacturer. [Side Note: Rafferty has appeared on Fox News before to argue that citizens should be arrested for taking video of police officers]

However, this unusual departure into rational commentary on Fox News comes with a heaping dose of hypocrisy. The same network that fervently advocates for the proliferation of real guns in the hands of every patriotic citizen, is now pitching the notion that we should ban a fake product because it resembles a gun. They are arguing that its appearance creates an untenable risk of harm to both citizens and police. But real guns that shoot actual bullets don’t?

That’s the absurdity of the gun nut’s position. A cell phone case that looks like a gun makes the carrier a viable target for law enforcement and ought not to be available to the general public. On the other hand, someone marching around Wal-Mart with a semi-automatic rifle strapped to his/her back is perfectly acceptable, and any perceived risk should be dismissed in favor of permitting people to drape themselves with lethal firearms in public. In what dimension does this make any sense?

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To Kill A Meme: No Ted Cruz, Hillary Clinton Did Not Start The Birther BS

Posted by Mark NC on July 2, 2015 at 7:46 pm. 3 Comments :

There must be something in the DNA of right-wingers that prevents them from grasping simple truths and retaining them for periods longer than a Vine video. Case in point: Conservatives who for years have been suckling on the moronic accusations that President Obama is not legally qualified to serve because, they say, he was born in Kenya, have also disseminated a related bit of idiocy that Hillary Clinton was the first Birther. Despite the easily obtainable facts that prove that Clinton was not in any way involved in birthing Birtherism, wingnuts cling fiercely to the lie in an attempt to divert attention from the fact that they have been fully immersed in this nonsense from the beginning. And it isn’t just some fringe characters who have this trouble differentiating fantasy from reality.

In an interview with Katie Couric on Yahoo News, Sen. Ted Cruz, a candidate for the Republican nomination for president, was asked about critics who raise his Canadian birth as an obstacle to his candidacy. Rather than simply repudiating them as idiots who don’t understand the Constitution, he veered from Couric’s question to this wholly unrelated and irrelevant drivel:

If you think that a sitting U.S. senator and aspiring president should know better than to spew demonstrably false information like that, then you don’t know Ted Cruz (or most of the GOP). This charge against the Clinton campaign has been around for seven years now. And some proponents of the lie attribute the meme to Clinton herself (see the headline from Fox Nation above). However, a little research shows that the roots of Birtherism lie with an extremist group of hard-core Clinton supporters who were not affiliated with the campaign. As revealed by Daily Beast editor John Avlon:

The theme was then taken up by Philip Berg, a 9/11 Truther who filed the first Birther lawsuit. He also had no connection to Clinton or her campaign. Thereafter, it spiraled out of control online and in emails. And all the while it was Republicans furthering the fallacy. Many of of them were prominent figures in the party, notably another current candidate for the GOP nomination, Donald Trump. [Fun Fact: Cruz is, so far, the only Republican candidate who is defending Trump’s repulsive and bigoted comments about immigrants for which Cruz doesn’t think Trump has any need to apologize]

It is significant that Cruz employed this dodge to answer a question that had nothing to do with Hillary Clinton. He wants to duck allegations by the lunatics questioning his own national origin without calling them lunatics and alienating an important GOP constituency who still believe that Obama is a foreigner unlawfully squatting in the White House. This is how Republicans embrace ignorance and pass it along to their followers. And no one is a better representative of that mission than Ted Cruz.

Donald Trump Too Busy Filing Lawsuits To Run For President (with Classic Letterman Clip)

Posted by Mark NC on July 1, 2015 at 11:46 am. 12 Comments :

On the day that phony real estate magnate Donald Trump announced that he is running for president of the United States he made the first of what will surely be many boneheaded and offensive remarks. And ever since he maligned Mexican immigrants as rapists and criminals he has faced the wrath of decent Americans who find such bigotry unacceptable.

In less than two weeks Trump has seen his Miss USA/Universe beauty pageant bumped from broadcasts on both NBC and Univision. Other media enterprises including Telemundo and Televisa have also cut ties with Trump. The latest of his business relationships to collapse is his clothing line at Macy’s who, like the others, say that Trump’s values do not represent those of their company (or their species).

And in a hysterical display of delusion, Trump says that he broke off the relationship with Macy’s. He even criticized the fact that his products were largely manufactured in China, a fact which he defended a couple of weeks ago on CNN’s State of the Union by blaming China for his decision to do business there, rather than in the U.S. It’s an excuse he has been making for years, as evidenced by this hilarious two year old clip from The Late Show with David Letterman:

In response to his critics, Trump is demonstrating the sort of immaturity that disqualifies him for public office by throwing a temper tantrum as he refuses to apologize for his repulsive comments. In fact, he has spent the last couple of days reaffirming his rank prejudices. And now he claims to have filed a $500 million lawsuit against Univision. But is he also going to sue NBC and Telmundo and Televisa and Ricky Martin’s charity foundation (which has moved its golf tournament out of Trump’s course in Puerto Rico) and all of the celebrity participants who have quit his pageants and Macy’s too? You have to wonder when he will have time to run for president.

This is just the beginning. Fair-minded people and responsible businesses will continue to distance themselves from Trump. The next big player ought to be the PGA which is currently scheduled to host its PGA Grand Slam of Golf (October 2015), the 2022 PGA Championship, and the 2017 Senior PGA Championship (presented by KitchenAid) at Trump golf courses. There are plenty of other world-class facilities to hold these events. The Golf Channel (which is owned by NBC) should also reconsider whether to broadcast any event that originates from a Trump property. [See update below]

Of course, as the list of those who “Dump Trump” grows, so will the list of potential litigants for Trump to file against. The GOP already has three candidates who are the subjects of ongoing criminal investigations (Scott Walker, Rick Perry, and Chris Christie). Trump himself has been charged with criminal violations of defrauding students of his fake Trump University. It would be particularly unseemly for him to become embroiled in more litigious controversies of his own making. Yet that is exactly what Trump is doing, and it only took him two weeks into his campaign to achieve this distinction. I can’t wait to see what the next two weeks bring.

[Update: (This was fast)] Donald Trump was interviewed on the Golf Channel today and told them that “I’ve had tremendous support from the golf world, because they all know I’m right.” Well, not exactly. Shortly thereafter the four major golf organizations issued a joint statement contradicting Trump’s arrogant assertion of support:

The statement does not make clear whether these organizations will cancel tournaments scheduled for Trump courses, but the pressure is on. The National Hispanic Media Coalition says it will call for a boycott of PGA events if they do not end their business relationship with Trump.

[Update: 7/7/2015] The PGA has severed ties with Trump on their Grand Slam of Golf which was scheduled to be held at Trump’s Los Angeles course in July. Also, ESPN is moving their Celebrity tournament from Trump’s L.A. course to another one nearby. And Trump continues to refuse to reconsider his bigoted comments, or to apologize.

Chris Christie: Telling It Like It Is – If “IT” is Vulgar, Tactless, And Rude

Posted by Mark NC on June 30, 2015 at 10:27 am. 7 Comments :

The Republican Party has its fourteenth official candidate to be their nominee for President of the United States. This morning Chris Christie made his announcement from his hometown in New Jersey. Christie joins a parade of hopefuls, none of whom have succeeded in igniting much enthusiasm on the part of GOP voters. Christie enters the race at 2% (according to a Fox News poll) in a field whose leader, Jeb Bush, has a pitiful 15%. And he has some weighty baggage.

Most of Christie’s speech was focused on his family history and the struggles faced by his two single-parent grandmothers who raised his parents. Other than that, he spoke of his mythical reputation as a frank-speaking truth-teller. He didn’t offer a single specific regarding the platform for a Christie administration. And he left out the fact that his state has had a record nine credit rating downgrades during his tenure.

Christie’s campaign theme of “Telling it like it is,” is ironically one of the most dishonest presentations in modern politics. There is very little to substantiate the claim of straight-talk attributed to Christie. What the media seems to be mistaking for candor is actually Christie’s tendency to be crude, vulgar, and insensitive to common civil behavior. But insulting constituents, berating reporters, and in general being verbally abusive in public is not the same thing as telling it like it is.

The arrogant brutishness evident in Christie’s so-called personality makes it easy to believe that he would order a major bridge closure to retaliate against a mayor who was not sufficiently obsequious. Why would someone like Christie care about who was harmed? And while he still denies any role in that unlawful and potentially dangerous act of revenge, the fact that so many close members of his staff were involved can only mean that he is either lying or incompetent.

Currently Christie does not meet the requirements established by Fox News to participate in the upcoming GOP debate. That leaves him out of a group that includes Donald Trump, Carly Fiorina, and Ben Carson. It’s hard to see a path to victory for Christie if some his party’s biggest jokes are pushing him out of contention. And he has his work cut out for him anyway since the Tea Party fruitcakes still haven’t forgiven him for embracing President Obama following the hurricane that devastated much of his state. That is what likely has resulted in his polling second only to Trump on the question of “Who would you never vote for?”

That’s a far fall from grace for candidate who once topped the polls and was personally solicited to run by Fox News CEO Roger Ailes. Setting aside that gross ethical breach by an alleged “news” operation, Christie will still enjoy Fox’s favor when he visits Sean Hannity tonight for his first post-announcement interview, just as Ted Cruz, Rand Paul, and Marco Rubio did before him. So welcome to the Clown Car, Gov. Christie. And as they, buckle up, it’s gonna be a bumpy ride.

Stupid Congressional Tricks: ScotusCare Act To Force Supreme Court Justices Into ObamaCare

Posted by Mark NC on June 29, 2015 at 6:32 pm. 3 Comments :

Maybe it’s not fair, but candidates for president often suck up most of the air during the campaign season. This often results in embarrassing displays of ignorance or incompetence or just plain lunatic notions that are part and parcel of the wingnut agenda. A few weeks ago Jeb Bush provided an example by being unable to answer a question on whether or not he would have invaded Iraq knowing what we know today. And Donald Trump served up an example with his bitterly derogatory remarks about immigrants. Other examples abound from folks like Rick Santorum, Ted Cruz, Ben Carson, Rick Perry, etc.

This state of affairs must be making members of Congress uncontrollably jealous. After all, most of the time they have a free reign of the idiotic terrain. Now one congressman has been driven to do something about it and has taken a bold step to restore the reputation for dumbfuckery that the Republican-run Congress has always treasured. GOP Rep. Brian Babin of Texas (where else?) introduced what he calls the ScotusCare Act of 2015. It’s purpose is to force the Justices of the Supreme Court and their staff to acquire health insurance policies available on an ObamaCare exchange.

Babin’s obvious intention is to inflict what he regards as punishment on the Court for doing their job, which in this case was to rule in favor of the availability of ObamaCare subsidies nationwide. Babin thinks that by making the Court live under ObamaCare it will teach them a lesson, and thus influence their behavior in the future. There are a couple of reasons this qualifies as being hysterically stupid.

First of all, it is a violation of the Constitution for Congress to use its law-making authority to retaliate against, coerce, or threaten another branch of government or its personnel.

Secondly, Babin’s intention to “force” people unto ObamaCare reveals his ignorance about what the Affordable Care Act actually does. The objective of the legislation is to make health insurance available to all Americans. That means that if you are not covered by your employer, or as part of a family policy, or by Medicare, or some other means, you can sign up for a policy on an exchange. However, the Supreme Court justices and their staff do have an employer who provides health insurance: the Federal government. So what Babin is proposing is to amend ObamaCare so that these specific Americans are treated differently and are denied the insurance that other federal employees get. Thus making the ObamaCare exchange their only option. That is brazenly punitive.

The absurdity of this is evident when considering what would prevent a similar bill from prohibiting people in some other profession, lawyers or plumbers, from getting insurance from their employers. It is an arbitrary burden that serves no purpose. The ObamaCare exchange is the solution for people who have no other access to health insurance. For them it is a valuable benefit that gives them the opportunity get insurance as part of pool that lowers their costs and assures effective, comprehensive coverage. But for people who have employers who provide insurance the exchange isn’t necessary.

The ScotusCare Act, therefore, is a poorly thought out, vindictive prank that is intended to hurt a perceived political adversary. And it isn’t the first time that Congress has sunk this low. In an even stupider display of irrational vengeance, Congress did the very same thing to themselves. And now members of Congress and their poor, innocent staff, are denied access to the health insurance that other federal employees get. All because some idiots wanted to lash out at something, oblivious to the harm it would cause or to whom.

What this tells us above all is that Republicans are completely incapable of governing. They are proving once again that their hostility to government is an impenetrable obstacle to acting responsibly, or even maturely. And furthermore, their professed aversion to big government is a facade, otherwise they wouldn’t use the tools of government to arbitrarily punish people. These are the same people who voted more than fifty times to repeal ObamaCare. And even with those failures, and two decisions from the Supreme Court, they continue to insist that they will fight to make sure that millions of American lose their health insurance. What a brilliant campaign platform.

These Republican cretins seem to get a perverse pleasure from putting people’s lives, health, and financial well being in jeopardy. And yet, they still manage to con some dimwitted, tea-sotted people into voting for them. And that’s really stupid.

Boycott Trump: The Donald Declares A War On Latinos That He Can’t Possibly Win

Posted by Mark NC on June 27, 2015 at 4:35 pm. 26 Comments :

Well, there can be no more doubt about. Donald Trump is the most pathetic ignoramus in the Republican Presidential Clown Car Primary. If it wasn’t bad enough that his laughably embarrassing announcement speech was riddled with falsehoods, or he claims to have a foolproof plan that will “bring ISIS to the table or, beyond that, defeat ISIS very quickly,” but he refuses to say what it is, he is now launching a trade war against Latinos, the fastest growing demographic in the American electorate.

The war was instigated after Trump insulted Mexican immigrants by saying that “they’re bringing drugs, they’re bringing crime, they’re rapists. And some, I assume, are good people.” And although he probably thinks that he was being complimentary with his appended assumption, it certainly wasn’t taken that way by those he was insulting. Subsequent to his remarks, the Spanish-language TV network, Univision, announced that they would no longer partner with Trump on his Miss USA Pageant, and would cease all business relationships with Trump.

Univision was not alone in condemning Trump. Many other Latino celebrities, executives, and politicians cited Trump’s vile comments and pledged to avoid associations with him. In one instance that crossed the line of civility, a Univision exec retweeted a photo juxtaposing Trump with Charleston killer, Dylann Roof. The Tweet was quickly deleted despite the obvious similarities in appearance and expression. But not before the poor attempt at humor pierced The Donald’s thin skin.

The war, now raging, saw Trump escalate to threats of lawsuits against Univision. But even more frightening, Trump declared that Univision execs would not be permitted on Trump’s golf courses. That’s a pleasant bit of imagery. Trump is now running restricted country clubs that prohibit Latinos. Somehow, I don’t think that any of them are losing any sleep over not being able to play on Trump’s lawn.

Perhaps the most absurd volley in this battle is Trump’s attempt to get the Republican National Committee to cancel the GOP presidential primary debate on Univision. It’s absurdity rests on the fact that Univision is not scheduled to be hosting a debate, and was explicitly snubbed when the RNC put together their debate plans. RNC Chair Reince Priebus called Univision “a long-term enemy of the Republican Party.” Instead, the RNC went with the number two Spanish-language network, Telemundo, which has half the viewers of Univision and is owned by the GOP-friendly (?) NBC network. So Trump’s temper tantrum to terminate Univision is just another figment of his dementia.

Not surprisingly, Trump has gotten some support from the Wingnut Echo Chamber. One of those digging deep to defend him, Breitbart News, leaped face first into the dump Univision shallow end. An article by their editor, John Nolte, began by agreeing with Trump’s insult to Mexicans saying that “What Donald Trump said about illegal aliens and rape and crime was not untrue.” So Nolte is also a racist who believes that there are eleven million Mexican criminals and rapists in America. As for the Univision debate, Nolte agrees that the broadcast should be removed from the schedule that it already isn’t on. But his brilliant alternative is to have the fictional debate moved to Fox’s Spanish-language network, MundoFox. Nolte apparently thinks that the MundoFox audience of about 170,000 is a better platform for the GOP Comedy Hour than Univision’s 2.1 million (more than ten times greater).

With Trump banishing Univision from his country clubs and trying to get his party to nix a debate that doesn’t exist, he is begging for retaliation. This is something that he would surely regret if Latinos en masse responded by ditching the Trump brand. They could all boycott his golf courses, and his hotels as well. They could refuse to buy his ties, cologne, or other cheesy consumer goods. That includes the Trump line at Macy’s (who should also feel the heat of partnering with a racist). They could shun his real estate properties. And this economic backlash could extend to anyone who is repulsed by Trump’s overt racism. Asians, Saudis, Europeans, and American consumers can and should withhold patronage from him on the basis of his prejudice. And if he thinks he can prevail by blackballing all of them from his golf course, then his reality blind-spot is even bigger than his ego (and that may not be possible according to the laws of physics).

[Update 6/29/15: NBC has announced that they have cut all business ties with Trump. This includes the Apprentice programs and the pageant broadcasts. And while Univision is not a debate host, NBC’s Telumundo is. Will Trump now lobby the RNC to cancel that debate? Stay tuned]

Donald has always been a fraud who is more adept at promoting himself than any business venture. For a sampling of his tendency to fail, take a look at these 12 Donald Trump businesses that no longer exist. There is a reason he embarrasses himself by hosting a TV game show. Can you think of any other billionaire who has the time to do that? Obviously he needs the money. He is no more a businessman than Kim Kardashian.

What’s more, Trump is a way too obnoxious to get anywhere in politics. It is simply idiotic to say that Mexico “is not out friend,” when they are one of America’s biggest trading partners (second biggest market for exports and third biggest for imports).

The fact that he suffers from Doofus Tourettes Syndrome doesn’t help either. How else do you explain his birtherism, or his recent declarations that “America is a hell hole,” and that “the American dream is dead?” These are not the bumper-stickers of a winner. But they do define the cretinous, narcissistic, anti-personality of Donald Trump. And Democrats couldn’t be more thrilled that he is among those who want to be the banner carriers for the Republican Party in 2016.

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God Didn’t Destroy America For Slavery. But Married Gays On ObamaCare?

Posted by Mark NC on June 26, 2015 at 8:06 pm. 82 Comments :

The Supreme Court ruling that same-sex marriage must be recognized as legal in all fifty states has set off a right-wing, evangelical hysteria complete with warnings of civil war, natural disasters, and a general descent into the End Times. Anti-gay extremists have declared what amounts to a Teabagger Apocalypse.

Republican presidential candidates are vowing to ignore the Court’s ruling. They insist that it is unconstitutional, proving that they have no idea what “constitutional” means. They continue to press their religious argument that the United States should adhere to the principles of faith that they hold, rather than honoring America’s religious freedom. They are convinced that this decision will result in their arrest and incarceration, which the decision explicitly forbids.

Christianist activists go even further to assert that America has now gone past the point of no return. They say that God will smite our nation and its people for permitting the freedom to love one another in the way that nature made them. They believe that Christians will be subject to a horror worse than the Holocaust.

The question that none of them can answer is: Why is God so upset about marriage equality when he seems to have let other atrocities go by unpunished? If God were going to destroy America why didn’t he do it when we enslaved, brutalized, and murdered thousands of his children shipped over from Africa? Why didn’t he smite our young nation as it marched westward slaughtering the native inhabitants along the way? Why didn’t God get mad when we murdered hundreds of thousands of Japanese civilians with nuclear bombs? Even from the Christianist perspective, how could God let America survive after legalizing abortion, which they believe is child murder? Apparently their God is tolerant of dead babies, but the thought of two consenting adults committing themselves to one another for life is deserving of total annihilation. (Or maybe God just has a more rational view with regard to when life begins).

In addition, God has also given immunity to Germany, which continues to thrive despite their abhorrent past; and Russia, the nation led by Stalin whose regime killed millions; and Mao’s China. And today he lets ISIS march through the Middle East leaving untold corpses and misery it its path. If God is judging us humans, and punishing us when we do wrong, what the hell is he waiting for?

The Christian extremists can’t answer that question. They can’t explain why God is itching to turn America to dust, but doesn’t seem to care much about Syria. They just continue to spew their foreboding messages of doom based on nothing but their imaginary fears and whatever they believe will fill the collection plate. That’s why they are now settling on marriage equality as history’s greatest abomination when there is no logic or reason to support such a claim.

In the conservative media there is a rush to idiocy, as Fox News wonders whether people will now be allowed to marry in groups, or to marry their pets, or to engage in pedophilia or incest. Glenn Beck is worried that this decision will result in him being thrown off of radio by Feds who he thinks can now regulate speech. Others vow to defy the law and, if necessary, resort to revolution.

Reminder: We’re talking about the legal status of a state of cohabitation, not killing babies, gassing Jews, or owning human beings. What kind of God do these people believe in who regards the definition of marriage as worthy of eternal damnation, but not those other atrocities? And what are they so worried about anyway? Isn’t Armageddon the final stage of man’s tribulations on Earth, after which the righteous rise to Heaven to sit at God’s side in paradise for eternity? Don’t they want that to happen, the sooner the better?

Given the absurdity of their thought processes, you have to wonder why anyone is taking them seriously. They can’t justify their outrage. They can’t even make sense of their own beliefs. If there is a judgmental God who values intelligence and reason, then the human race may actually have something to worry about.

[Addendum:] Much of the discourse that has developed in comments is focused on the question of whether the Bible or Jesus condemns, or even mentions homosexuality. That’s an interesting question, but it is not the one posed in this article. Near the beginning of the article the question is asked: “Why is God so upset about marriage equality when he seems to have let other atrocities go by unpunished?” And none of those posting their interpretations of scripture regarding the Bible’s stance on being gay answers that. Even if we were to accept the position that being gay is a sin, it still doesn’t explain why God would destroy America and its 360 million residents because a law honoring religious freedom (which is a founding principle of the country) is upheld by the high court to protect a minority of the population, when far worse atrocities went unpunished. Clearly the ultra-pious among us are feverishly struggling to find an argument that makes them feel comfortable holding a position that is patently irrational, even if it’s an argument that has nothing to do with topic at hand.

Republicans Despondent Over ObamaCare Should Be Sending The Supreme Court Fruit Baskets

Posted by Mark NC on June 25, 2015 at 2:50 pm. 1 Comments :

Today’s ruling by the Supreme Court upholding the subsidies in the Affordable Care Act (aka ObamaCare) is being portrayed in the media as an historic victory for President Obama. And, to be sure, the ruling does affirm the constitutionality of the law and prevents the cancellation of more than six million health insurance policies nationwide.

However, from a political perspective, the big winners are the Republican Party. Chief Justice John Roberts really pulled their butts out of the fire with his decision finding that…

For the rest of the day, and throughout the 2016 presidential campaign, you will hear the moaning and gnashing of teeth of disingenuous Republicans pretending to be disappointed by the ruling. In fact, they could not be happier. This ruling allows them to run on a platform of repealing what they claim is a disastrous law that curtails all freedoms and sets the course of the nation toward Armageddon.

Had the Court ruled against the subsidies, millions of Americans would have lost their health insurance, and the the remainder would have been subject to higher premiums as the pool of the insured became smaller and sicker. In that scenario, Republicans would have had to run the gauntlet of enraged voters who were suffering the consequences of the GOP’s greedy self-interest. Most of those voters would have been from red states and the south where the most recipients of subsidies from federal exchanges reside.

As a result of the this ruling, the GOP will still run on a “repeal and replace” campaign, but they won’t have to do it with their own constituents breathing down their necks in disgust. Instead they will lament the corrupt socialists on the Court and promise to deliver something better if they win the White House and Congress in 2016. Never mind that they have made that promise for more than six years but have never produced a viable replacement. To their credit/shame, they have voted more than fifty times to repeal ObamaCare.

On the other hand, Democrats won the legal and logical battle with this ruling. But they lost the opportunity to run against a Republican Party that had stolen the health insurance from millions of Americans. One of the great ironies of democracy is that it is harder to run on your accomplishments than it is to run on your opponents’ failures. So while millions of voters who were rescued from the heartlessness of the GOP by this ruling should be grateful to Democrats for passing the legislation, their gratitude will be harder to translate into votes than if the Court had struck down the bill and they could vote their disapproval of Republicans.

In the final analysis, it is far better that the Court upheld the subsidies because, politics aside, real people’s real lives hang in the balance. For whatever period of time that ObamaCare may have been obstructed by a negative ruling, Americans would have suffered both financially and medically. Indeed, people without access to health care would have become sicker and even died. And those who survived would have lost much of their financial security, including their homes and retirement savings. So if Democrats have to try harder to get their message across, then so be it.

In light of that, every time you hear a Republican whining about the awful Supreme Court decision, remember these two things: 1) They are actually ecstatic that it takes them off the hook for all the outraged voters who would have lost their insurance had the decision gone the other way. And 2) Their feigned despair is actually an expression of disappointment that millions of people didn’t get shafted and forced to face poor health and bankruptcy, which is what they were ostensibly rooting for.

Off His Meds: Bill O’Reilly’s Lunatic Rant That Only “Lunatic Fringe” Are Racist

Posted by Mark NC on June 24, 2015 at 8:26 pm. 5 Comments :

Bill O’Reilly has a long history of refusing to acknowledge reality. He has adamantly denied that there are any homeless veterans in America. He has refused to accept that Christians are a privileged majority. And now he is staunchly insisting that racism is a nearly non-existent problem that is only represented by what he calls the “lunatic fringe.”

On last night’s episode of “The Factor” {video below) O’Reilly pressed that point until the veins on his forehead nearly burst. It was a vivid display of rancor, mostly aimed at his guest, Fox News contributor Kirsten Powers. Considering that Powers is generally a weak version of a Fox liberal, O’Reilly’s assault seemed grossly overplayed. He shouted, interrupted and barked orders at Powers as if she was his…slave? And all because Powers made the absurd claim that “racism is a serious issue in this country, and I don’t know why you are so unable to see that.”

Frustrated with Powers’ reasonableness, O’Reilly shifted to his other guest, wingnut pundit Monica Crowley. She was much more accommodating to O’Reilly’s forced perspective as she asserted that America’s enemies like ISIS and Russia are trying to take down the country from the outside, while the “left” is trying to take it down from the inside. This elicited some audible sighs from Powers which O’Reilly simply could not abide. He admonished her saying that “You’re snortin’ out there and I want you to knock it off.” That’s because only O’Reilly can interrupt people rudely, which he did repeatedly to Powers. Then he sought to brag about how magnanimous white folks have been over the years:

O’Reilly didn’t specify what legislation he was referring to, and he also didn’t mention the recent dilution of landmark civil rights laws by the right-wing Supreme Court. However, he did include fast track in his list, which has nothing to do with civil rights. Nor does entitlements, which are available for, and mostly received by, white citizens. Then O’Reilly contends that any racism in America is just the “lunatic fringe.” To which Powers responds…

Actually, as the video shows, Powers did not say that most Americans are racist. But that didn’t stop O’Reilly from shouting her down with his false allegation. And he continued to repeat his characterization of America’s racists as a trivial minority, despite the fact that there are over a thousand hate groups in the country and race-based crimes are committed every day. Certainly O’Reilly doesn’t have any personal experience with racism. After all, he’s the guy that went to Sylvia’s Restaurant in Harlem and was surprised that “There wasn’t one person in Sylvia’s who was screaming, ‘M-Fer, I want more iced tea.'”

This is just the most recent demonstration of the severe psychological defect that O’Reilly is suffering from. He is a bully and and liar and a purposeful distorter of reality. His sickness even extends to his supposed friends and colleagues, like Powers.

Despite how obviously wrong he was in this argument, he will neither acknowledge it nor apologize. That’s just the way tyrants and emotional terrorists operate. It may get him ratings, because there are enough meatheads in the Fox demographic who enjoy this sort of manufactured melodrama, but it doesn’t give him any credibility or dignity as a TV pundit or a person.

Update: O’Reilly defended his lunatic rant the following night with claims that the far left is advancing a narrative that all of America is awash in white supremacy. Of course, that is not what anyone on the left (far or otherwise) is saying. They are simply acknowledging the reality that there are some white supremacists in America, along with other garden variety bigots. O’Reilly goes on to glorify Fox News and lament the lack of fairness in the rest of the media because brazenly racist, wingnut websites like Daily Caller, Breitbart, WorldNetDaily, and Newsmax, don’t get enough attention. He says “You want a war, you got a war. I’m not gonna sit here anymore and take this garbage.” Something tells me he is gonna sit there, like he always does. He’s just gonna bitch about it louder.

Sarah Palin Fired From Fox News (Again)

Posted by Mark NC on June 24, 2015 at 12:57 pm. 4 Comments :

Politico is reporting that Fox News has declined to renew Sarah Palin’s contract which expired June 1. This development might have been predicted based on Palin’s recent history of appearances (or lack thereof) on the network. In fact, News Corpse did predict it back on June 3, in an article titled “Missing From Fox News: The Incredible Disappearing Sarah Palin,” that revealed her mysterious absence from her cable news home.

So the paucity of Palin’s bookings was no accident. She was unceremoniously dumped without a farewell or a tribute or even a press release offering best wishes for what ever she does to make a laughing stock of herself in the future. This should leave her more time to focus on her neglected web video channel. Or maybe not. Since her dismissal from Fox she has spent even less time there, having posted only five videos in June so far, for a total of less than seven minutes. And yet she still makes her glassy-eyed disciples pay the full $9.95 a month for her lame video selfies and stream of unconsciousness meanderings.

Palin’s last appearance on Fox seems to have been on June 8, where she defended the repulsive Duggar family. It was a typically dimwitted tirade of the sort that may have been the inspiration for her now ex-boss Roger Ailes calling her an idiot. Although there is no shortage of reasons to hold that opinion, including Palin’s campaign to impeach President Obama for both solving and not solving the debt crisis, or her infamous and mythical death panels.

No wonder Ailes had fired her once before. It was back in January of 2013, when the story was that Fox offered a low-ball contract renewal that she was certain to reject. Six months later they made up and Palin was back on Fox. The reasons for the reconciliation run from Ailes’ admission that he rehired her to “piss off the people that wanted her dead,” to the reality that her finances took a nosedive after she departed from her Fox News perch.

So what’s next for the Quitta from Wasilla? She still has her low-rated travelogue on the Sportsman Channel. She still has her Facebook page. And she still has an abundance of fans too stupid to grasp what the rest of America has already realized: That Palin is a grifter who has never had an original thought or an ambition that didn’t involve enriching herself. It is always comedians who are first to suffer when a cartoon character like Palin leaves the stage. But this couldn’t have happened at a better time, since Donald Trump just announced that he is running for the Republican nomination for president of the United States. Hallelujah.

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