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| The Reign of the Morons |
WASHINGTON (The Borowitz Report)—Sixty-four unskilled workers will report to new jobs in Washington, D.C. on Tuesday as part of a federal jobs program that provides employment for people unable to find productive work elsewhere. The new hires, who have no talents or abilities that would make them employable in most workplaces, will be earning a first-year salary of $174,000. For that sum, the new employees will be expected to work a hundred and thirty-seven days a year, leaving them with two hundred and twenty-eight days of vacation. “Expensive as this program is, it is much better to have these people in jobs than out on the street,” he said.
Charlie Pierce:
"...the new Republican-majority Congress, which will open the Reign of the Morons II this coming Tuesday, really understands that it has to govern the country responsibly this time around, and that the grown-ups are in charge again, and that my new friend Joni Ernst of Iowa will be put through the Brainiac V and come out the other side as a United States Senator, and not a person concerned about the UN and its plan to steal all our golfs. And that this will all happen just as soon as the president agrees to be president the same way Mitt Romney should have been president."
Steve Scalise: The face of the incoming GOP leadership:
The scandal over Louisiana Rep. Steve Scalise’s 2002 speech to a white supremacist group has so badly damaged his image inside the House Republican Conference that he faces serious questions over his political future, according to interviews with multiple aides and lawmakers — including some Scalise allies.
Rightwing pols, pundits and bloggers dismiss what Scalise did oh so long ago, because it was oh so long ago. And they compare his honoring the modern KKK with his presence as a speaker with Rev. Jeremiah Wright's diatribes against America and racism.
No comparison. And let's not downplay this with labels like "white supremacist group" in describing the KKK. The KKK is a terrorist organization that tortured and murdered Americans with impunity, up until the 1980s. Question: Why is a terrorist organization with a long and brutal history of murdering Americans still tolerated in this country? Would southerners tolerate a Hamas or ISIS organization in their states? If not, why not?
Jeremiah Wright was within his 1st Amendment rights to criticize America, just as many members of the GOP use their 1st Amendment rights to photo-shop images of Mr. Obama as a black witch doctor with a bone through his nose or his wife as a gorilla, or to call his daughters sluts, and to call President Obama a Communist, Marxist, Fascist, Kenyan, Baby-killing America-hater as a way to criticize the President of the United States. The Rev. Wright never belonged to an organization that over decades routinely committed torture and murder against American citizens whose skin was not black. I see the difference, and no amount of trying to make an equivalency between Scalise and Rev. Wright works.
There is no question that the KKK represents terrorism against American citizens. The Republicans coming into office have chosen a man who honored that terrorist organization by speaking to them. As the president's spokesperson stated, that says a lot about their morals and values.
39 comments:
"The Reign of the Morons" otherwise known as Morans to their supporters.
The man wasn't speaking at a Klan rally
www.youtube.com/watch?v=tlRoyh5IOsg
Anon, no one claimed he spoke at a Klan rally.
Jerry, I forgot that. Thanks for the reminder.
The Klan is a terrorist organization, one which overall has probably killed more Americans than any other terrorist group. We should never be shy about calling things by their correct names.
The Republican excuse-making for Scalise is just the latest in a long line of reflexive actions that show where their real feelings lie, and will doom any efforts they make to improve their image with non-white voters (and white voters who aren't tone deaf about this stuff).
Eugene Robinson, WaPo:
"With Republican majorities in both houses, the new Congress should begin by focusing on traditional GOP priorities: improving the nation’s sagging infrastructure, reforming an unwieldy tax code and finding ways to boost middle-class opportunity.
When pigs fly, you say? Skepticism is definitely in order.
But Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and House Speaker John Boehner have a fundamental choice to make. They can acknowledge the obvious areas of common ground they share with President Obama — thus showing that the Republican Party can participate responsibly in government — or they can throw temper tantrums."
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and House Speaker John Boehner have a fundamental choice to make.
The problem is that that choice is not just theirs to make. The incoming Republicans on which the post focuses include a very high proportion of teabagger loons -- who will opt for temper tantrums every time -- and as Ted Cruz and his debt-ceiling brinkmanship showed a year ago, once they get going it's very hard to control them.
How do you revise history and turn past lies into plausible claims? When is a racist no longer a racist? How do you spin the words of a self-avowed Nazi sympathizer and turn him into a defender of the Faith and the American way?
Simple! Just say it. Words alone will change reality. Heated denials make a lovely reduction sauce. It helps to throw a little red meat at the hungry mobs. Add a pinch of tribalism. And presto! The devil has become your Savior. Happy New Year! And welcome to the new GOP Congressional majority.
American Zio Media and ZioGov Vicious Attack on Family Values:
“Anyone who doubted that the American government, media and “culture” has not been completely colonized and taken over by Jewish Supremacists and their sick ideological worldview, need look no further than …”
David Duke, Steve Scalise, and their Zio-Apologist and Zio-Revisionist-in-Chief - John Boehner. Since it is no longer fashionable to be a racist, you can trade in your old bigotry for a real collectors’ item - the oldest ritual scapegoat of them all - anti-Semitism! Which reminds me. Here is a comment from a notorious bigot who no longer plies these waters.
"Yes, indeed! But they he failed to mention the nearly absolute control Jews exert upon A) the ENEMEDIA, B) the Entertainment Industry, and C) the Educational Establishment, and the hugely disproportionate influence Jews enjoy over The Courts, The Law in general, and their ever-growing numbers in the U.S. Congress. (Schumer, Boxer, Feinstein, Franken, Sanders, et al.)”
No need to name names, but you can still smell the stench of zio-taunts and zio-gloats from the Cringe Fringe.
You want to see some temper tantrums? Just wait until Obama pulls out his veto pen. In fact, I predict that the republicans will pass some crap bills just so Obama will veto them. Then they can claim that Obama is an obstructionist. Remember, republicans always accuse others of what they are.
Since when is infrastructure, boosting the middle class, or a fair tax code, traditional GOP issues Mr. Robinson?
Sandra said...
Since when is infrastructure, boosting the middle class, or a fair tax code, traditional GOP issues Mr. Robinson?
I don't know how old you are, Sandra, or if you're interested in history, but here are partial statements from the Eisenhower-era Republican platform:
"On its Centennial, the Republican Party again calls to the minds of all Americans the great truth first spoken by Abraham Lincoln:
"The legitimate object of Government is to do for a community of people whatever they need to have done but cannot do at all, or cannot so well do, for themselves in their separate and individual capacities. But in all that people can individually do as well for themselves, Government ought not to interfere."
Those things that the "community of people" need to have done, but cannot do for themselves can include infrastructure, the repairing of bridges, tunnels, highways, and other areas that are used by all the people.
More:
"Our great President Dwight D. Eisenhower has counseled us further: "In all those things which deal with people, be liberal, be human. In all those things which deal with people's money, or their economy, or their form of government, be conservative."
Being "liberal and human" means giving people a living wage. Who can live on $7.25 an hour? How cn we turn away young people whose undocumented parents brought them into this country and who have grown up here, knowing no other country or culture? Why shouldn't we be "human" and let them stay, so long as they pass the requirements set out by Mr. Obama?
More:
"We are proud of and shall continue our far-reaching and sound advances in matters of basic human needs—expansion of social security—broadened coverage in unemployment insurance —improved housing—and better health protection for all our people."
All of the above is EXACTLY what the present day Democrats believe in and what Mr. Obama has worked to achieve.
And, finally, this:
"We are determined that our government remain warmly responsive to the urgent social and economic problems of our people."
When we liberals say the GOP is not your grandfather's GOP, we know what we're talking about. And those pundits who say Mr. Obama is this country's best Republican since Dwight Eisenhower, they know what they're talking about as well.
"Just wait until Obama pulls out his veto pen."
I hope the first one is the Keystone pipeline.
(O)CT(O), political tribalism is a pox on this nation. It has made people who should know better stand with the basest and most degenerate sorts just because they call themselves "Republicans" or "conservatives."
David Duke's "Zio Media" and "Zio Gov" link is stomach turning.
Stephanie Grace of The New Orleans Advocate" reported that Scalise bragged that he was "David Duke without the baggage."
But David Duke has nothing on the person who wrote the anti-Semitic rant you quoted at the end of your comment.
Informative writeup on Gohmert
It looks bad for Boner and unfortunately since he'll be replaced by someone more extreme, the nation.
The repubs are going to be out of control for a couple years and Obama better have the veto stamp ready.
Anyone making book on the top incoming crazy?
Someone who can out "Gohmert", Gohmert?
I'm picking Joni Ernst.
******* BREAKING NEWS *******
President Barack Obama won't sign legislation approving the Keystone XL oil pipeline, the White House said Tuesday.
Hey Jerry!
Ducky, the House asparagus will NOT be the new Speaker:
From the HuffPost:
John Boehner Retains Position As House Speaker Despite Some GOP Opposition
Posted: 01/06/2015 1:52 pm EST Updated: 3 minutes ago
Excuse me but Eisenhower was 60 years ago and that doesn't make a tradition. And before Eisenhower they did not take those positions either. Eisenhower was a fluke for the Republicans. There is no tradition of Republicans backing those issues.
Well, that is good news, Shaw.
It seems that the batshite crazy wing of the party has less power than they thought.
Watch it Louie, you know what they say about trying to kill the king.
I would agree that Obama is the most conservative Democratic president ever.
The crazy is still strong in them
We can assume this is a preview?
BTW, speaking of 'morans,' someone should inform former Texas Governor, Rick Perry, that the proper Hanukkah greeting is ‘Mazel Tov,’ NOT ‘Molotov!’
Sandra said...
Excuse me but Eisenhower was 60 years ago and that doesn't make a tradition. And before Eisenhower they did not take those positions either. Eisenhower was a fluke for the Republicans. There is no tradition of Republicans backing those issues.
Richard Nixon advocating universal health care:
"Without adequate health care, no one can make full use of his or her talents and opportunities. It is thus just as important that economic, racial and social barriers not stand in the way of good health care as it is to eliminate those barriers to a good education and a good job.
Three years ago, I proposed a major health insurance program to the Congress, seeking to guarantee adequate financing of health care on a nationwide basis. That proposal generated widespread discussion and useful debate. But no legislation reached my desk."
It took a Democrat, Barack Obama, to fulfill Nixon's hope for universal health care coverage.
There is no doubt that Republicans saw this as right for every American.
Oh, and here's another Progressive Republican:
Teddy Roosevelt: Progressivism also meant moving beyond the “shopworn” protection of individual rights, especially property rights. Because these rights were grounded in a permanent view of human nature as essentially self-interested, Roosevelt concluded that the whole idea of natural rights was scientifically wrong and morally obsolete.
Evolution meant that there was no such thing as a fixed human nature; human beings could progress beyond their selfish individualism. Roosevelt’s goal was to move Americans beyond purely “legal” justice toward a higher, more “ethical” justice where citizens thought less about their individual rights and more about rights “developed in duty.”
In his landmark “New Nationalism” speech, delivered at Osawatomie, Kansas, in 1910, TR explained what this meant for property rights. In contrast to the Founders, who believed that the right to property was rooted in the natural right to the fruits of one’s labor, Roosevelt argued that the right to property could be justified only if it benefited the community, and the only way to benefit the community was to redistribute the wealth."
Redistribute the wealth? That came from a REPUBLICAN!
OT, shaw, but this is how excruciatingly stupid they are:
"I wonder what Rudy Giuliani thinks when he remembers how much he did for NYC, bringing crime way down, cleaner, etc etc...that's all gone.
And he had a good relationship with the NYPD."
The idiot who wrote that is unaware that the NYPD hated Julie Annie as well. But facts never get in the way of their stupidity.
From the NY Daily News:
"New Yorkers were shocked and many were appalled when a petition circulated among NYC cops asking them to sign a pledge demanding that the mayor and police commissioner “be denied attendance of any memorial service in my honor as their attendance would only bring disgrace to my memory.”
No, it wasn’t addressed to Mayor de Blasio in 2014, it was addressed to Rudy Giuliani and his then-police commissioner, (Hollywood) Howard Safir in 1997.
As much of a national story the de Blasio vs. the NYPD story is, the truth is that our cops always end up hating our mayor."
They get angry when we call them morons, but they prove time and again that they deserve being called that!
John Boehner Retains Position As House Speaker Despite Some GOP Opposition
And the baggers are foaming up like salted slugs over it. When even Erick Erickson is shocked at the level of vitriol his co-loonies are venting at moderate Republicans, you know things are bad. Anybody got any popcorn?
Shaw, I was unaware that Nixon had proposed universal health insurance.
I know that Truman had also.
The we did manage a measure of universal insurance with Medicare.
It had a measure of bipartisan support before the Teabags whipped a minority of crazies into a lather.
We simply cannot allow this magnificent system to deteriorate beyond repair. The time has come to preserve what past Americans spent so much time and effort to create, and that means a nationwide conservation effort in the best sense of the word. America can't afford throwaway roads or disposable transit systems. The bridges and highways we fail to repair today will have to be rebuilt tomorrow at many times the cost.
So I'm asking the Congress when it reconvenes next week to approve a new highway program that will enable us to complete construction of the interstate system and at the same time get on with the job of renovating existing highways. -Ronald Reagan. Nov. 27, 1982
He proposed raising the gas tax by 5 cents a gallon. Today's R's might agree to infrastructure spending but they'd want to pay for it by cutting EITC, SNAP, CHIP and Medicaid. Then, cut taxes on the rich. Tax cuts fix everything.
"Then, cut taxes on the rich. Tax cuts fix everything."
As has been so disastrously demonstrated by Sam Brownback in Kansas.
"Tax cuts fix everything."
It all depends on your definition of fix...or maybe everything.
TR had to start a 3rd party because his party (Republicans) did not want his ideology.
Amazing how you are falsely trying to prove Republicans are the party of "infrastructure, reforming an unwieldy tax code and finding ways to boost middle-class opportunity.
Presidents (both parties) have been for some kind of universal heath care for over 100 years.
Your pick and choose examples fail to prove the point. A false point you are trying to make just to boost your oppositional delusion.
David Duke, called the Jewish people "The ultimate racists, the Jewish, Zionist tribalists."
Duke, a former Grand Wizard of the KKK, was VERY popular in Louisiana and almost made it to the governor's mansion. That tells us somethin about the culture down there.
Sandra, please note:
REPUBLICAN PLATFORM
Restoring the American Dream: Economy & Jobs
Job Creation: Getting Americans Back to Work
Small Business and Entrepreneurship
Tax Relief to Grow the Economy and Create Jobs
American Competitiveness in a Global Economy
Fundamental Tax Principles
Reining in Out-of-Control Spending, Balancing the Budget, and Ensuring Sound Monetary Policy
Balancing the Budget
Inflation and the Federal Reserve
Ending the Housing Crisis and Expanding Opportunities for Homeownership
Rebuilding Homeownership
Infrastructure: Building the Future
Infrastructure:
"America’s infrastructure networks are critical for economic growth, international competitiveness, and national security. Infrastructure programs have traditionally been non-partisan; everyone recognized that we all need clean water and safe roads, rail, bridges, ports, and airports...Engineering surveys report crumbling drinking water systems, aging dams, and overwhelmed wastewater infrastructure. Investment in these areas, as well as with levees and inland waterways, can renew communities, attract businesses, and create jobs. Most importantly, it can assure the health and safety of the American people."
Sandra wrote: "Presidents (both parties) have been for some kind of universal heath care for over 100 years."
Sandra, please note:
The ONLY president that succeeded in getting some sort of universal health care insurance plan passed is Barack Hussein Obama, Democrat.
And the GOPers voted to repeal it over 50 times.
Instead of working with Mr. Obama to make the new health care initiative more bipartisan, the GOP leaders obstructed the administration in every way it could.
Saying both Democratic and Republican administrations wanted health care reform is meaningless now because the president who managed it (without any help from the GOP and the president who used a REPUBLICAN blueprint for it (See Romneycare and the Heritage Foundation) and got the job done is a Democrat.
Sandra wrote: "TR had to start a 3rd party because his party (Republicans) did not want his ideology."
Teddy Roosevelt started the Progressive Party, and although a majority of Republicans did not follow him, many of them did. Here is the Progressive Party's platform:
"The platform's main theme was reversing the domination of politics by business interests, which allegedly controlled the Republicans' and Democrats' parties, alike. The platform asserted that: To destroy this invisible Government, to dissolve the unholy alliance between corrupt business and corrupt politics is the first task of the statesmanship of the day.
To that end, the platform called for
Strict limits and disclosure requirements on political campaign contributions
Registration of lobbyists
Recording and publication of Congressional committee proceedings
In the social sphere the platform called for
A National Health Service to include all existing government medical agencies.
Social insurance, to provide for the elderly, the unemployed, and the disabled
Limited injunctions in strikes
A minimum wage law for women
An eight hour workday
A federal securities commission
Farm relief
Workers' compensation for work-related injuries
An inheritance tax
A Constitutional amendment to allow a Federal income tax
The political reforms proposed included
Women's suffrage
Direct election of Senators
Primary elections for state and federal nominations
The platform also urged states to adopt measures for "direct democracy", including:
The recall election (citizens may remove an elected official before the end of his term)
The referendum (citizens may decide on a law by popular vote)
The initiative (citizens may propose a law by petition and enact it by popular vote)
Judicial recall (when a court declares a law unconstitutional, the citizens may override that ruling by popular vote)."
Pretty damn farsighted and progressive. Many of those platform items are now the law. That's why a great Progressive, Teddy Roosevelt, is on Mt. Rushmore, and not Robert Taft.
"Sandra" sounds like one of the Smut Hut's regs.
"Tax cuts fix everything."
I hope y'all know I was being facetious. Shaw, Kansans, in their wisdom, re-elected Brownback. They only give a shit about debt and deficits if a Dem is in charge.
An explosion of economic activity is just around the corner in Kansas. The job craters have been unleashed. (Sarcasm)
"The ONLY president that succeeded in getting some sort of universal health care insurance plan passed is Barack Hussein Obama, Democrat. And the GOPers voted to repeal it over 50 times."
My point exactly!
Nice of you to allow name calling of your commenters, but I won't respond in kind to your childishness and low intellect.
"Since when is infrastructure, boosting the middle class, or a fair tax code, traditional GOP issues Mr. Robinson?"
My original point still stands and you have shown nothing to to prove otherwise.
Now on with your delusion that Republican tradition is to foster infrastructure, boosting the middle class, or a fair tax code.
Sandra wrote: "Nice of you to allow name calling of your commenters, but I won't respond in kind to your childishness and low intellect."
No one here called you a name. Your accusation is wrong.
Sandra wrote: "Since when is infrastructure, boosting the middle class, or a fair tax code, traditional GOP issues Mr. Robinson?"
My original point still stands and you have shown nothing to to prove otherwise.
Now on with your delusion that Republican tradition is to foster infrastructure, boosting the middle class, or a fair tax code."
I gave you plenty of evidence to show that the GOP has been concerned with infrastructure. The GOP certainly wants to change the tax code, and it continually whines about the middle class losing economic power all the time.
That you keep pretending otherwise shows your goal here is to taunt and and not engage in a discussion. You refuse to see what I've presented and you pretend those facts do not exist.
""Sandra" sounds like one of the Smut Hut's regs."
Not wrong.
What you gave was single incidents, you did not show a "tradition" of Republicans backing those issues, which was my point. What you show is that you refuse to accept you are wrong. A stubborn, brick wall mind. I never said those facts did not exsist, just that they didn't prove a "tradition." Now on with your lies.
Sandra, we here aren't responsible for your not knowing what "regs" means. But I'll help you out. "Regs" is short for "regulars." Now if you think that calling you a "regular" is an insult, there's no help for you.
Saying someone is "A stubborn, brick wall mind," and implying that she is a "liar," ["Now on with your lies.) are REAL insults, which show not only an appalling lack of good breeding but a cartload of hypocrisy.
I'm done with your silly, petulant school girl taunts.
Tax cuts increase revenue! This is now such an accepted fact that the new Republican Congress has introduced "dynamic scoring".
Regarding dynamic scoring, WH Budget Director Shaun Donovan said "it could allow Congress to adopt legislation that increases federal deficits, while masking its costs" (source).
Proof the GOP's reputation as the party of "fiscal responsibility" is well earned? Now they've corrupted the CBO with Reagan's voodoo economics.
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