Tea Party Doomers and Gloomers are Wrong -- AGAIN

Visit any TeaPublican news site or blog and all you'll read is that the U.S. under President Obama has been destroyed, that America has seen its best days, and that a reality show entertainer or a retired surgeon, who shilled for a discredited vitamin company and who believes Evolution is the work of the Devil, will make America great again. The people who read and write such nonsense believe it, and who's surprised? They're the same people who believe global warming is a hoax and that President Obama is a secret Muslim who's going to confiscate their guns and imprison them in FEMA death camps.

The report below will create in theTeaPublicans what is known as "cognitive dissonance," because it challenges all the "false facts" they've repeated to each other over the past 7 years. One shouldn't be angry with these people; one should pity them. They truly believe that Americans see our country through their dung-colored glasses.



Bill Maher on how stupendously WRONG the TeaPublicans are -- AGAIN:

 Everyone knows that under President Obama the nation has suffered a horrendous setback. Meanwhile, other nations are laughing at us. They don’t respect us. That’s why we need to restore this country and become the leaders of the world that we used to be. …

That’s the refrain we hear from the Republican candidates, and one that is believed by the Republican Party. That’s why they say we need to vote a Republican into office, so we can put in place some pro-growth policies that get this country back on top again.

 Well, the World Economic Forum just released their world competitive ranking, which measures a host of economic data and determines which countries are the most economically competitive. And among countries with populations of 10 million or more the United States was, oh, #1.

Among all countries, we’re #3 behind Switzerland and Singapore. Yes, we’re beating China and Japan all the time.

NOTE:  Donald Trump in his stump speeches has asked "When did we beat Japan at anything?" That stupid statement alone should have disqualified the empty-headed blowhard, because it is proof that he's nothing more than a history moron and a bloviating demagogue.  Apparently he and his followers forgot about that World War II thingy. But facts don't matter to his followers.  Bluster and show-business antics are what they crave, and Donnie feeds them to his supporters by the pantload.






From the report:


Accelerating a Robust Recovery to Create Productive Jobs and Support Inclusive Growth


World Economic Forum 

This new edition of The Global Competitiveness Report is launched at a time when the world seems to be finally emerging from the worst financial and economic crisis of the past 80 years and returning to a pre-crisis situation: large interest rate spreads for public debt in hard-hit countries are falling; banking systems seem more robust, even if financial reform has not yet been completed; and access to credit, while still limited, is slowly recovering. 

 Overall, growth prospects in advanced economies are better than they have been in recent years, albeit very unevenly distributed. The recovery in the United States seems to be comfortably grounded with strong output and employment figures.

Dr. Ben Carson Embarrasses Himself and the Medical Profession

The "Adversary" Dr. Carson speaks of in the video is religious term for "Satan."








Kindly Dr. Ben Carson, who wants to be the leader of the free world, calls Evolution "political correctness," and then says Darwin was under the influence of Satan when he wrote about it.  We understand candidates tell half truths and even lie when they run for president, but this nonsense coming from a supposed "man of science" is inexplicable. There isn't a "significant number of scientists" who do not "believe" in Evolution; that's a lie:


"...98% of scientists connected to the American Association for the Advancement of Science say they believe that humans evolved over time..."



Carson's statement on Sir Isaac Newton is simplistic:


Isaac Newton on Religion Isaac Newton (1642-1727) was a deeply religious person who wrote far more words on religion than he did on science. 

Early on, as an undergraduate at Trinity College Cambridge, he wrote a list of sins, itself a mark of his religious convictions. Many of these since relate to his non-attendance at church on Sunday. 

At some point he moved away from the orthodox (conventional) thinking of the Church of England and became a radical heretic, denying that Jesus Christ shared any essential characteristics of God. Because he denied the existence of the Holy Trinity that was believed by all orthodox Catholics and Protestants, Newton's position is characterized as antitrinitarian. Because there were severe legal and social penalties for holding such beliefs, he was forced to keep his views quiet and they became known only after he had died.




Carson's statement on Albert Einstein is not true:

So what did Einstein have to say in his letters about God?


"In a book titled Albert Einstein, the Human Side: New Glimpses from His Archives by Helen Dukas and Banesh Hoffman, the authors quoted another letter Einstein wrote in 1954:… 

"It was, of course, a lie what you read about my religious convictions, a lie which is being systematically repeated. I do not believe in a personal God and I have never denied this but have expressed it clearly. If something is in me which can be called religious then it is the unbounded admiration for the structure of the world so far as our science can reveal it." 

Another letter:

“I have repeatedly said that in my opinion the idea of a personal God is a childlike one,” he wrote to a man who corresponded with him on the subject twice in the 1940s.

“You may call me an agnostic, but I do not share the crusading spirit of the professional atheist. … I prefer an attitude of humility corresponding to the weakness of our intellectual understanding of nature and of our own being.” 


Nice try, Dr. Carson, at perpetuating a falsehood about Einstein, but it only took a second to Google your statement and find out it is pure horsecrap.


Here's another one of Dr. Carson's lies: (Remember during the last GOP debate how he giggled after being questioned about his support for this charlatan business that claims to cure prostate cancer with tree bark? Yeah. Kindly Dr. Ben "America is Just Like Nazi Germany" Carson shilled for that company, and lied about it at the recent GOP debate)  :


Ben Carson caught on video claiming Mannatech supplement magically cured his prostate cancer



Even his top staffer knows Kindly Dr. Ben is a liar:


Top Staffer Acknowledges Ben Carson Had 'Contract' With Supplement Maker



What's the point? 


The right wingers have been screeching about the Hildabeast and her lies, yet they're silent about this guy's weird, almost pathological ability to make stuff up and tell amazing whoppers. I guess it's not lying when their candidates lie. Isn't that cute?

The reality is that Dr. Carson is an outlier where science and rationality are concerned. He'll never be president because the American people do not want their country represented by a koo-koo bananas weirdo.

Remember how the TeaPublicans made so much over Barry Soetoro's childhood (4 years) in Southeast Asia going to school at a madrassa? Yeah. They used that as proof that he's a Mooslim.

Now comes Kindly Dr. Ben Carson to admit to the world that as a teenager (older than what Barry was when he attended the madrassa), Kindly Dr. Ben Carson wanted to KILL PEOPLE, STAB PEOPLE!  Will the weenies on the right loose their marbles over this self-confessed wannabe thug? Noooooooo!  He's their Blah. Anything in his past is fine, even his confessing that he acted like a street thug.








Now go read his koo-koo bananas supporters tell everyone how scared we are of him, just like we were scared of koo-koo bananas Sarah Palin.

Here's the woman...

who drives the Right insane.  Between the raunchy, sexist, misogynistic epithets they throw at her and their screaming BENGHAZI! LIAR! BENGHAZI! LIAR!, it's abundantly clear that this woman not only gets under their skin, but she lives rent-free in their heads, morning, noon, and night. She haunts them in every paranoid waking hour, and she fills their sweat-soaked dreams with anxiety and rage. Meanwhile, it is they who continue to give her the power to drive them mad! And they haven't the smarts to understand this. With every smear, insult, and attack the Tea Baggers throw her way, she grows in stature, respect, and power.

We Libruls are fortunate that this one woman can do what it normally takes an entire political party to do -- make the opposition howlingly monkey-shyte crazy.  If she has the Tea Baggers this poo-flingingly hysterical, this FRANTIC!, then she must be one amazing dudette. Whether you like Hillary or not, you have to give her credit for keeping the Baggers foaming at the mouth and being distracted from the damage they could be doing if they were engaged in something important.

Keep it up Hillz!

We normally judge a person's character by who her enemies are. Any sane person would welcome the hatred of a group of people who have consistently been on the wrong side of history and who actually believe Donald "Fat Mouth" Trump, and Kindly Dr. Ben "America's Just Like Nazi Germany" Carson are qualified to be POTUS; people who don't believe in Evolution or Global Warming/Climate Change; people who still call our gay citizens "sodomites" and believe they have a "gay agenda;" people who call all Muslims "vermin" and want American Muslims thrown out of their own country; and people who still believe President Obama is a Kenyan Muslim Commie, Marxist Kitten Killer. Those are the sort of losers you'd want as bellowing adversaries, because those who overreach in trying to take down a Clinton and those who underestimate a Clinton's ability to wipe their enemies' hatred off with a flick of the wrist will always be the last to understand what hit them.

Happy News for TeaPublicans!

Kindly Dr. Ben has assured the TeaPublicans that he'll police only Liberal speech on college campuses. He clarified his statements by saying he'll police, and possibly stop, only extreme and biased Liberal speech on our college and university campuses, because as everyone knows, only Liberals engage in extreme, biased political speech.

How assuring is this Nation!? We have a prezidenshul candidate promoting "Liberal Speech Control" and he'll probably appoint someone like, Michael Savage or Alex Jones to head up the new cabinet post to ferret out extremist speechifyin' Liberal Commie perfessers. Savage and Jones will do just fine in knowing what extreme speech is all about.

We salute you, Dr. Ben, for this great idea. Because fundamental religionist crackpots understand other crackpots, and folks like you know the ins and outs of getting around that pesky "Constatushunal" 1st Amendment thingy.




Ben Carson comforts conservatives: I will only police liberal speech on college campuses

Kindly Dr. Carson 'splainin' how great things were for the Black Folks during the Jim Crow Era in America.

This post will prove to the TeaPublican trolls that we Liberals are "askeerd" of the crackpot kindly Dr. Ben.

The Benghazites: They Failed in Every Attempted Strike

BENGHAZI HEADLINES around the 'net:

PM Carpenter Nails It: 

October 22, 2015:   Today I learned only one thing. Tomorrow, the tea party types will be angrier than ever. 

When listening to Republicans call in to C-Span3's line during recesses, I noticed they all sounded like the frantic, election-night Karl Rove in 2012: We're not losing, we're not losing, and the enemy is not winning. Well, of course the enemy had won, and today Hillary won. 

The ideological Benghazites positively exhausted themselves trying to hit her, and they failed in every attempted strike. I could hear the panic in the Republican callers' voices. They knew the day and this battle were lost — and reality, as you know, doesn't sit well with these people. 

They were pissed. 

There was no rejoining whatsoever in their dial-ups. They'll want fresh meat tomorrow to satisfy their bloodlust. And from what I saw of the committee's Republican members today (and let's recall, these are the more "responsible" Republicans that the chairman wanted, to avoid a Gohmertlike freakshow), the GOP will be desperate to provide … whatever. 

Today settled nothing for Gowdy & Friends. It only made things worse for them. 

The Angry Screamer TGOPers of the Benghazi Witch Hunt Jungle

The Louder the [TGOPer], the Smaller Its Balls, Study Finds 

This is something we can learn from today's BENGHAZI! screaming TGOPers: 

[TGOP witch hunters of the BENGHAZI! jungle] are the loudest land animals on Earth, capable of bellowing at volumes of 140 decibels, which is on the level of gunshots or firecrackers. Not surprisingly, male [TGOP] howlers frequently use this power to advertise their [political] fitness, catcalling [Hillary Rodham Clinton] with their ear-splitting roars. But in a beautiful twist of expectations, scientists have now found that the louder the [TGOPer] calls, the smaller the [TGOPers'] balls.


After 11 hours of questioning, Trey Gowdy admits the BENGHAZI! Committee learned nothing new!



Conservative Reviews Are In: Benghazi Hearing A Bust 

Even Conservatives Realize Hillary Clinton's Benghazi Committee Hearing Was Ridiculous

The 11 hours of questions were "a waste of time," one pundit wrote.

 LOL!

 Matt Lewis ✔ @mattklewis Unless something happens, it's starting to look like Hillary Clinton won't merely survive this hearing -- she will have come out on top. 3:18 PM - 22 Oct 2015 286 286 Retweets 310 310 favorites

Donald Trump is Your Drunk Neighbor

(Wednesday's Trump Hump Day is a day early because I'll be traveling over the next few days, but I'll be checking in for comments.)

Let's begin with the headline in The Hill:


October 20, 2015, 07:45 amTrump: Obama mulling how to 'take your guns away'



GOP presidential front-runner Donald Trump said late Monday that President Obama is working on an executive order to take Americans’ guns away. “You know, the president is thinking about signing an executive order where he wants to take your guns away,” he told listeners during a rally in Anderson, S.C., according to CNN.

“You hear about this?” Trump asked supporters. "[It is] not gonna happen [and] that won’t happen. I think that’s a tough one for him to do.” “There’s plenty of executive orders being signed, you know that,” the outspoken billionaire added. "And we can’t let that go on.”


Donnie's ardent followers hooted and hollered over that stupendous lie, because they haven't the intelligence to know that when Donnie barks out stupidity like that, he's pandering to their ignorance, and he absolutely sounds like their drunken neighbor who'll brag about stuff he's never done and will never do. The people supporting Donnie love lies they way flies love dung.

Here's a great video on what Donnie has said in the past and how dumb his statements sound when heard through someone acting like a boorish drunk. 

For People Who Believe Just Because He Was A Brain Surgeon...

Ben Carson would make a fabulous preznit.

His foolish statements on gays, Evolution, and comparing the ACA to slavery and the Obama Administration to Nazi Germany are glaring examples of how being very smart and skillful in one area doesn't necessarily mean one can be smart and skillful in a completely different area.

We understand why the TeaPublicans are so enthralled with Dr. Carson. He has a compelling story: raised by a single mother and in poverty, he realized the American dream of a wildly successful career where he was respected and admired. The TeaPublicans, of course, fail to give any credit to the government programs that rescued Dr. Carson and his family from grinding poverty and failure. He benefitted from programs that he now claims keep African-Americans lazy and with no motivation.

The TeaPublicans, hypocrites that they are, pretend that Dr. Carson attained his phenomenal success all by himself when the fact is without government help, it is unlikely he would have been able to make the most of his talents.  Dr. Carson and the TeaPublicans want to deprive other young men and women like him of that help.

When people admire Dr. Carson, they admire how government programs can and do benefit those who have talent, which in turn benefits America. It's a shame he and his party are afraid to admit this truth. Perhaps they know that would destroy the myths they perpetuate about the poor and helpless.

What Can We Learn from Ben Carson's Brain?Intelligence and education no guarantee of 'good thinking.'Posted Oct 15, 2015


Pay attention to Dr. Ben Carson’s campaign for the Republican presidential nomination. He is presenting America and the world an invaluable lesson on critical thinking. Contrary to a popular assumption, a sharp mind and extensive education do not guarantee good thinking skills. Carson is a glaring example of this.


One can hardly imagine a better case of inconsistent thinking and misapplied brain power in the public arena today. Carson, a successful brain surgeon and Yale graduate, is obviously intelligent and well educated.

Yet he continually says things that any clear-thinking high school kid would cringe at. He mocks the Big Bang Theory as absurd. (Like all theories, the Big Bang Theory is a work in progress, of course, but it is based on solid scientific evidence.) He says Charles Darwin was under Satan’s control when he developed the Theory of Evolution. ( (And what’s your evidence for this extraordinary claim, Dr. Carson?)

He thinks moral behavior in humans somehow proves the existence of his particular god. (This is a popular but silly notion. Bonobo chimps exhibit moral behavior, too. Does this prove the existence of a little hairy bonobo god?) He claims to believe in micro-evolution but not macro-evolution. (This seems to me like believing in house fires but not forest fires.)

[Last] week Bill O’Reilly asked Carson whether or not he believes the Earth is 6,000 years old. Carson replied, “I don’t know how old the Earth is.” (Look it up! Have you so little curiosity about your home? Overwhelming evidence points to an age of about 4.6 billion years, as every middle school student with a competent science teacher knows.)

SUNDAY SCIENCE BLOG

What Bernie Says; What TeaPublicans Hear

Bill Maher's staff must read comments on all the Tea Bagger blogs.

This video does them perfectly!

The Winner of Nikon's Small World Photomicrography

Winner:  Australian Ralph Claus Grimm

Photo by Ralph Claus Grimm:  Eye of a honeybee covered in dandelion pollen.

From LiveScience:

"A photo contest that pays tribute to the tiny wonders of the world has a particularly buzzworthy winning image this year: a close-up of a bee's eye, covered in dandelion pollen. More than 2,000 photographers submitted images to the 2015 Nikon Small World Photomicrography Competition, but just 20 of those images were chosen as winners. The first-place picture of the bee's eye was taken by Australian photomicrographer Ralph Grimm, who spent 4 hours mounting the eye under a microscope and focusing the instrument to capture the stunning shot. Grimm, a high school teacher and former beekeeper, said that, in light of the ongoing collapse of bee colonies worldwide, he hopes his imageis a reminder of the important role these pollinators play in local ecosystems."

GO HERE to see the other photos.

Conservatives Keep Losing to Progressivism

UPDATE BELOW


I found this great post @Infidel753, who in turn got it from The Freethinker.


"While we naturally get very invested in whatever election or issue is most salient at the given moment, it's also of value to take the long view and remember the overall direction of history. The other day I ran across this overview of the last 154 years in the struggle between conservatism and progressivism: 

 • Conservatives tried to retain slavery, but they lost. 
• They tried to block voting by women, but they lost. 
• They tried to prevent couples from using birth control, but they lost. 
• They tried to obstruct Social Security pensions for oldsters, but they lost. 
• They tried to outlaw labor unions, but they lost. 
• They tried to prevent unemployment compensation for the jobless, but they lost. 
• They tried to keep stores closed on the Sabbath, but they lost. 
• They banned alcohol during Prohibition, but they eventually lost. 
• They tried to sustain racial segregation, but they lost. 
• They supported government-mandated prayer in school, but they lost. 
• They tried to continue throwing gays in prison, but they lost. 
• They tried to defeat Medicare and Medicaid, but they lost. 
• They tried to halt the sexual revolution, but they lost. 
• They opposed food stamps for the poor, but they lost. 
• They fought against equal human rights laws, but they lost. 
• They tried to censor sexy magazines, books and movies, but they lost. 
• They sought to jail girls and doctors who end pregnancies, but they lost. 
• They tried to block liquor clubs and lotteries, but they lost. 
• They tried to prevent expansion of health insurance through the Affordable Care Act, but they lost. 
• They tried to halt same-sex marriage, but they lost. 



As long-term readers know, I take a very long view of things -- I would add the conservative campaign against lightning rods, the forced recantation of Galileo, and the centuries of torture and burning of religious dissidents, heretics, and "witches". They scored some successes each time, but in the end, they always lost. 

 And in the end, they always will."

**********

This list explains a lot. Visit any of the right wing blogs and you'll read a litany of what is wrong with America: 

Its best days are over; America has lost its "moral compass;" Men have become spineless, emasculated wimps; women delight in slaughtering their innocent blastocysts; God has been kicked out of schools and replaced by "the gay agenda;" so therefore, our children have become unmanageable beasts. Everything is going to hell and it's all the fault of the godless, immoral progressives/liberals. 

 The list explains their apocalyptic view of America: They keep losing; the country keeps progressing, and they haven't a clue. They don't learn, and they never will. They dream of a stagnant culture where nothing moves forward, where we never improve and grow in understanding and tolerance (they HATE that word) for the other. Also "diversity" they hate that even more.

The Democratic Party was the first party to:

Nominate a woman for U.S. vice president
Appoint a woman, Madeleine Albright, as U.S. Secretary of State
Elect a bi-racial president
Appoint an African-American as U.S. Attorney General
Appoint an African-American woman as U.S. Attorney General
Nominate a Hispanic woman as a Supreme Court Justice
Elect an African-American woman, Shirley Chisholm, to the U.S. House of Representatives
Have TWO women, Shirley Chisholm, the first, and Hillary Clinton, the second, run for POTUS


Also, the overwhelming majority of African-American representatives in the U.S. House are affiliated with the Democratic Party.

I may have left out some other "firsts," but this partial list is posted to counter the inane meme going around that portrays the Democratic Party as running only old white people for the presidency.

This presidential cycle, the TGOP has Ben Carson and Carly Fiorina, years after the Democratic Party led the way. They're still trying to catch up to the trail blazing that the Liberals have made in the "diversity" category. It's about time.



October 16, 2015

UPDATE: 

I thought Bill Richardson, a Democrat and an American of Hispanic heritage, was the first Hispanic to run for the presidency, but after some research, I found that the first person of Hispanic heritage to run for the presidency was a Republican -- Ben Fernandez.

Benjamin "Ben" Fernandez (February 24, 1925 – April 25, 2000) was an American politician, financial consultant and special ambassador. He was a member of the Republican Party. He ran for President of the United States three times, seriously in 1980 and with more perfunctory campaigns in 1984 and 1988, making him America's first major-party presidential contender of Hispanic origin. 

Fernandez was born in Kansas to Mexican parents who were illegal immigrants.

(Today, the TGOP would kick him and his parents out of this country!) 

Isn't it interesting that the GOP could not claim Mr. Hernandez as their own and as the FIRST American of Hispanic heritage to run for POTUS had his parents not come to the U.S. ILLEGALLY and had him as an "anchor baby?"

Of course, Mr. Hernandez aligned with the Republican Party BEFORE it was taken over by the completely nutty Tea Party wrecking balls. 

"When a reporter asked him why he was a Republican, Fernandez recalled a story from his college days in California when someone told him that the Republican Party was the party of rich people. 'Sign me up!' Fernandez replied. 'I've had enough of poverty. ' " 

You wouldn't be welcome in the TGOP today, Mr. Hernandez. 

The leading presidential candidate in the Republican Party, Donald Trump, says you and your kind are not the best that Mexico is sending over the border, instead, you're criminals and rapists. The second presidential contender, kindly Dr. Ben, suggested that if he were president, he would bomb the caves where you and your family might be hiding.

The grownups take the stage.....so refreshing!

photo via Politicususa

The Democratic Party's debate/question/answer forum showed how men and women can talk about substantive issues without stomping their feet in anger. This was quite a change from the GOP debates/q&a sessions where Donald Trump kept reminding his fellow candidates and the American people how great he is but offered nothing more, and the rest of that crowd were seething with anger. 

To be fair, last night's debate was more substantive because each candidate had longer to present his/her answers. The Democratic candidates were not afraid to talk about serious issues facing this country; and with one exception, Lincoln Chaffee, IMO, they all did a very good job discussing them.

The moderators were fair; they didn't let any of the candidates get by with squishy answers.


(If you want to fact check the candidates, GO HERE.)

The clear winners, IMO, were Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders, followed by Martin O'Malley and Jim Webb.

What do you think?





9 Issues Democrats Just Debated That Have Been Almost Completely Ignored By Republicans




 1. Race 

 2. Campaign finance reform and Citizens United 

 3. Domestic surveillance 

 4. Wall Street reform 

 5. "The 1 percent" 

 6. College affordability 

 7. "Diplomacy" 

 8. Paid family leave, health care and insurance 

 9. Benghazi and Clinton's emails 




FORBES Magazine backs up Hillary Clinton's claim that the economy does better with the Democrats in office.  Here are some highlights of the Forbes article:


Personal disposable income has grown nearly 6 times more under Democratic presidents 

Gross Domestic Product (GDP) has grown 7 times more under Democratic presidents 

Corporate profits have grown over 16% more per year under Democratic presidents (they actually declined under Republicans by an average of 4.53%/year) 

Average annual compound return on the stock market has been 18 times greater under Democratic presidents (If you invested $100k for 40 years of Republican administrations you had $126k at the end, if you invested $100k for 40 years of Democrat administrations you had $3.9M at the end) 

Republican presidents added 2.5 times more to the national debt than Democratic presidents 

The two times the economy steered into the ditch (Great Depression and Great Recession) were during Republican, laissez faire administrations


Facts are stubborn things.
Read the entire article for FACTS, not the TGOP's denial of them. 

It is an incontrovertible fact that under Democratic administrations the economy THRIVES; under Republican administrations, it DECLINES.

From The Embarrassing State of Texas

UPDATE BELOW

The criminal NRA leadership slogan is "An Armed Society is a Polite Society."

And Americans, but especially this time, Texans, are proving that horse manure wrong every day:





It’s rare that the state of Texas goes a day without being a national embarrassment, and Sunday just wasn’t one of those days.

After the Dallas Cowboys suffered an embarrassing 30-6 loss against the New England Patriots, one of the NRA’s “responsible gun owners” got into a fistfight with another man while tailgating after the almost assuredly depressing game.

In a manner that is typical of ammosexuals, the highly-aggressive gun owner brought his penile extension to a fistfight. According to witnesses, the two men got into an argument that turned into a fistfight.

Eventually, the gunman drew his weapon and held it to the head of his victim. Rather than tackle the armed man, the crowd did the unthinkable: Bystanders urged the crazed NRA poster child for gun safety to shoot his helpless and unarmed victim.

And he did.

“Per eye witness, suspect was egged on by a crowd of people to kill the victim,” Star-Tribune writer Clarence Hill wrote on Twitter Sunday.


The publication posted a video of a witness explaining that happened. The witness explained that he didn’t think the gunman was going to pull the trigger, but tells of the mob mentality that took over once the gun came into play.

[skip]

Numerous reputable studies have concluded that the presence of guns — not just ownership or possession — increases aggression in those around them. This “weapons effect” has been a well-known psychological concept since at least the 1960’s when a study by Leonard Berkowitz and Anthony LePaige noted the “aggression-eliciting stimuli” presented by guns. 

In the study, volunteers were given electrical shocks by research assistants and then given the chance to “return fire.” During the experiments, a table was present that was stacked with guns, badminton equipment, or nothing. 

Researchers found that those who were in the presence of guns increased the number of return-shocks the subjects gave to the research assistants because the mere presence of weapons made them more willing to hurt others.


An armed society is a barbaric society. Texas just proved it on Sunday.

UPDATE:

Angry driver shoots Georgia woman in the back because she was driving too slow

More proof, again, that an armed society is a barbaric society.

LOVE YOUR GUNS, AMERICA!

ARE YOU SERIOUS, DR. CARSON?

Ben Carson: If You Accept Evolution, “You Dismiss Ethics,” Can’t Believe In God And Evolution





Or was he testing out a new comedy act after his political career is over when he stated the above?

The Catholic Church (which has approximately 1.2 billion followers) has, through Pope John Paul II, acknowledged that Evolution is real. And if Dr. Carson hasn't noticed, the RCC and its popes believe in God. Also, every Protestant minister I've met and known acknowledges that Evolution is real, as do Rabbis and other people of faith.

I don't know what Dr. Carson's motive is in making ridiculously stupid statements, but his claim about Evolution is as nutty as saying the theory of gravity is not real and believing in it would be dismissive of ethics. It's as harebrained as saying "You can't believe in God and the theory of gravity, or the general theory of relativity."

Why is this important in a presidential candidate? Because when a president is presented with mountains of evidence for a particular, say, military theory or any situation backed up with facts, and that president willfully dismisses it because of his or her religious conditioning, that president would be a real and present danger to the safety of this country. America cannot afford to have its leader, who has his finger on the doomsday button, believing in absurdities and cockamamie ideas based on no evidence.



Republican presidential candidate and retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson, a noted creationist, once said those who believe in evolution “dismiss ethics” and believe you don’t have to abide by a moral code. 

“Ultimately, if you accept the evolutionary theory, you dismiss ethics, you don’t have to abide by a set of moral codes, you determine your own conscience based on your own desires,” Carson told Adventist Review, the magazine of the Seventh-day Adventist Church of which Carson is a member for a 2004 cover story. The interview can be read online via the Web Archive.

“You have no reason for things such as selfless love, when a father dives in to save his son from drowning,” Carson continued. 

“You can trash the Bible as irrelevant, just silly fables, since you believe that it does not conform to scientific thought. You can be like Lucifer, who said, ‘I will make myself like the Most High.’” 

BuzzFeed News reported last week that Carson in a 2012 speech said the big bang theory was part of the “fairy tales” pushed by “highfalutin scientists” as a story of creation and he believed the theory of evolution was encouraged by the devil.



Dr. Carson, in his confusion, also claimed:

"...the consequences for accepting the theory of evolution would be an abandonment of the human moral compass."



Sorry, Dr. Carson, but an overwhelming majority of scientists and other humans, not infected with nonsensical ideas, believe what you have claimed is the work, not of the Devil (who doesn't exist), but of a very confused and superstitious mind.






OFF TOPIC:

I have been alerted, via email from a P.E. reader, that another impostor pretending to be Sue of Helloooo...Mr. President is posting on conservative blogs using Sue's name and avatar. These people infect those particular blogs by plagiarizing people's comments as well. Click on the name "The Stupid things..." and see that this impostor changed its name to "Sue," and it's posting all over the conservative blogs. It's one thing to parody a blogger, but to actually steal a blogger's name and avatar is what a slimeball does, and it reflects on that person's political beliefs. Slime attracts slime.

The Stupid things Conservatives Say and DoNovember 4, 2013 at 7:17:00 PM EST

We call ourselves “progressive” and thereby avoid the notorious “liberal” label. According to one definition, progressive means “favoring progress toward better conditions”. Gee, who could be against that? But then what do we do when the Republicans or the corporate media make “progressive” a term of derision? Change names again? I believe that running away from the “progressive” label is somewhat similar to that: By running away from that label we are tacitly admitting that the conservatives are right to denigrate the term. So what? I’ll tell you So What! Jesus was the ultimate liberal progressive revolutionary of all history. The conservative religious and social structure that He defied hated and crucified Him. That’s What!

My friend who alerted me this AM also alerted me to the fact that the above fake commenter who stole Sue's "Hello...Mr. President" name and avatar closed the link to his name. As my friend said, these little worms must monitor my blog 24/7, minute by minute, since just when I put up this information, "Just Richards Opinion" hid all evidence.  Worm is the perfect description of these cowardly fakers.

Here's the url address of the "Sue" faker:  https://www.blogger.com/blogin.g?blogspotURL=http://justrichardsopinion.blogspot.com/

And here's what the little faking worm just did:

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   SueOctober 12, 2015 at 8:05 AM

   This comment has been removed by the author.

   Reply

He/she/it ran away from another blog!

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2. SueOctober 12, 2015 at 4:55 AM

   This comment has been removed by the author.

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   1. 
      ThersitesOctober 12, 2015 at 6:16 AM

      They're going to execute him? Good!
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   4. Thank you "JRO" for informing us that this faker has also posted under the following names:
   5. "Discombobulated,"  "My Conservative Message," and he/she/it also stole RN USA's name as well,
      "Rational Nation USA"

SUNDAY NIGHT POETRY

Ode to Autumn
by John Keats 

Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness, 
Close bosom-friend of the maturing sun; 
Conspiring with him how to load and bless 
With fruit the vines that round the thatch-eaves run; 
To bend with apples the mossed cottage-trees, 
And fill all fruit with ripeness to the core; 
To swell the gourd, and plump the hazel shells 
With a sweet kernel; to set budding more, 
And still more, later flowers for the bees, 
Until they think warm days will never cease, 
For Summer has o'er-brimmed their clammy cell. 

Who hath not seen thee oft amid thy store? 
Sometimes whoever seeks abroad may find 
Thee sitting careless on a granary floor, 
Thy hair soft-lifted by the winnowing wind; 
Or on a half-reaped furrow sound asleep, 
Drowsed with the fume of poppies, while thy hook 
Spares the next swath and all its twined flowers; 
And sometimes like a gleaner thou dost keep 
Steady thy laden head across a brook; 
Or by a cider-press, with patient look, 
Thou watchest the last oozings, hours by hours. 

 Where are the songs of Spring? Ay, where are they? 
Think not of them, thou hast thy music too,--- 
While barred clouds bloom the soft-dying day, 
And touch the stubble-plains with rosy hue; 
Then in a wailful choir, the small gnats mourn 
Among the river sallows, borne aloft 
Or sinking as the light wind lives or dies; 
And full-grown lambs loud bleat from hilly bourn; 
Hedge-crickets sing; and now with treble soft 
The redbreast whistles from a garden-croft, 
And gathering swallows twitter in the skies.

SUNDAY SCIENCE BLOG

The Nobel Prize for Physics awarded to Japanese scientist Takaaki Kajita, and Canadian scientist, Arthur P. McDonald  “for the discovery of neutrino oscillations, which shows that neutrinos have mass”


I've always been fascinated by the idea that we are constantly being bombarded by these tiny neutrinos every day all day, and that they pass through us and the Earth every day all day.

Physicist Lawrence Krauss explains why Nobel Prize winning physicists, Takaaki Kajita's and Arthur B. McDonald's recent discovery, that neutrinos have mass, is so important:

"This is exotic and amazing stuff, but why should neutrino oscillations and neutrino masses be worthy of popular, or even scientific, interest? The reason is simple. In the standard model of particle physics, developed throughout the last fifty years of the twentieth century—the model which has correctly described every other observation that has been made in particle accelerators and other experiments, and which represents perhaps the greatest intellectual adventure that science has ever seen—neutrinos have to be massless. The discovery of a massive neutrino, therefore, tells us that something is missing. The standard model cannot be complete. There is new physics remaining to be discovered, perhaps at the Large Hadron Collider, or by means of another machine that has yet to be built."

WAY, WAY, WAY OFF TOPIC:

The students at UT-Austin have a wicked sense of humor!:

Dildos to replace guns at UT-Austin campus carry protest 
9:22 a.m. Oct. 10 via Houston Chronicle 

AUSTIN - Hundreds of students at the University of Texas at Austin will protest a new law that allows students to carry guns on campus not with signs or sit-ins, but by "strapping gigantic swinging dildos to our backpacks." Their mantra?

Cocks not Glocks!

SATURDAY NIGHT FUNNIES

GOP: We want to lead the country as soon as we figure out how to find a leader for ourselves! In the meantime, BENGHAZI!

P.M. Carpenter perfectly understands the TGOP mess: 

To survive, the GOP must kill a part of itself So far, Nancy Pelosi and Steny Hoyer are saying precisely what they should be saying: that electing a new speaker is a Republican problem, and a Republican problem it shall remain. 

Would that Pelosi and Hoyer remain steadfast, for Democratic help in resolving Republicans' acute problem will only perpetuate the nation's biggest problem, which of course is the chronic problem of modern Republicanism. 

 The House (and to lesser extent the Senate) isn't divided in the traditional sense of that word. The House, rather, is divided and then divided again; it is subdivided within the majority, which is to say, there is no majority. And that's not the minority's problem. 

Divisions within majorities, whether Republican or Democratic, are common enough — but not like this one. This Republican divide is irreconcilable and thus unending. It is, as everyone can see, a civil war — and there is no war so violent as an internal one. In all their inglorious infighting, Republicans have not only paralyzed the American political system, they have betrayed and converted that system into a "banana republic" (Republican Peter King's words). 

This has got to stop, it has got to stop now, and that's where Democrats come in — or rather shouldn't, not for a while. Saving Republicans from themselves is what has perpetuated the abomination of modern Republicanism. 

Even Kevin McCarthy now recognizes that. In an interview yesterday with National Review Online, he rejected proposals for a bipartisan election of a new speaker. "We’ll find a Republican," said McCarthy. Asked further if his caucus is "governable," he replied, "I don’t know.


 Here's the TGOP's obsession with BENGHAZI! and the facts behind their Committee to Get Hillary!

Good Morning to Another Shooting: This Time at Northern Arizona University's Flagstaff Campus

UPDATE BELOW

ANOTHER MASS SHOOTING IN THE GREATEST COUNTRY IN THE WORLD.



ABC NEWS:

ONE DEAD, 3 INJURED 

A deadly shooting occurred on Northern Arizona University’s Flagstaff campus early this morning, and the suspected shooter is in custody, according to a university spokesperson.

 One person died and three others were wounded in the shooting, the spokesperson said.

 It's unclear what sparked the shooting, which took place near Mountain View Hall, a dormitory that houses most of the campus' students involved in Greek organizations.

 Residents in Mountain View Hall were asked to stay indoors, according to an emergency alert sent by the university.




FROM 2002, UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA AT TUSCON:


4 Dead In Univ. Of Arizona Shooting A student flunking out of the University of Arizona nursing school shot three of his professors to death Monday, then killed himself as dozens of terrified students rushed to get away. 


 JANUARY 8, 2011, TUSCON ARIZONA:

Rep. Giffords shot, judge and 5 others killed at Tucson event 

FEDERAL JUDGE, CHILD AMONG VICTIMS 


 U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords was shot point-blank in the head on Saturday at a northwest-side grocery store, but surgeons say they are optimistic about her recovery. 

 Meanwhile, Gov. Jan Brewer's office is confirming federal Judge John Roll was among the dead, as was Gabe Zimmerman, Giffords' director of community outreach. Sheriff Clarence Dupnik last night said there were six dead, including a child, among the 19 dead or injured.


MARCH 19, 2015 -- ONE DEAD, FIVE WOUNDED, MESA, ARIZONA:


When Is It Domestic Terrorism, and When Is It Uncontrolled Anger?The tough questions about mental health and guns raised by shootings in Arizona and North Carolina




IN OTHER NEWS ABOUT OTHER SHOOTINGS:


September 11, 2015, Phoenix, Arizona:

Phoenix Sniper Strikes Again: Arizona Cops Confirm 11th Freeway Shooting



 ARIZONA IS NUMBER 14 IN TOP 20 STATES WITH HIGHEST FIREARMS DEATH: 


 14. Arizona (TIED WITH IDAHO) 

Death by firearm per 100,000 population: 14. 

No permit required for purchase of a firearm. 

*********

In embarrassing news, Dr. Ben Carson, the Tea Party's very own "Sleepy" candidate for Preznit of the U.S. of A. talked about how brave he was when a gun was pulled on him while he was standing in line at a Popeye's fast food chain:


The Republican presidential candidate said Thursday morning that he had a gun drawn on him while visiting a Baltimore fried chicken restaurant, reported The Hill. 


“I have had a gun held on me when I was in a Popeyes,” Carson told host Karen Hunter on SiriusXM radio, referencing an incident at a Baltimore fast-food restaurant. 

“[A] guy comes in, put the gun in my ribs,” he added. “And I just said, ‘I believe that you want the guy behind the counter.’”




WAIT! 
  Why didn't Dr. Carson rush at the guy who was pointing the gun in his ribs -- you know, like he said the victims of the Roseberg shootings should have done? Instead, Dr. Carson fingered some other person for the gunman to go after.

Brave, brave, Sir Carson!


Dr. Carson admitted to the world that he didn't do what he told the victims' families the victims should have done:  Rushed at the guy with the gun.  Instead, Dr. Carson directed the gunman at an employee, thus saving his own brave, brave hide.  

(Dr. Carson didn't say what happened next, but giggled and then fell asleep.) 



BREAKING NEWS:  The Daily Show has footage of the time Dr. Carson told the gunman not to point his gun at him but at the dude behind the counter!

The Daily Show with Trevor Noah
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