Sunday Science Blog

The Element Helium

Germany Doesn't Like Him Either

Not long ago, the British Parliament spent three hours telling the world that Donald Trump is a buffoon, a jerk, a demagogue, and that he should be ridiculed.

Now comes another one of America's allies telling the world what it thinks of La Donald:

The title, “Wahnsinn: Amerikas Hetzer Donald Trump,” translates roughly to “Madness: America’s Agitator Donald Trump.”

Sarah's Choice, By (O)CT(O)PUS of The Swash Zone

Sarah’s Choice 
By (O)CT(O)PUS 

Responding to a domestic violence report last week, police officers arrested a 26-year old suspect for punching and kicking his girlfriend and brandishing a firearm while intoxicated. Is this your typical crime blotter from Any Town USA? Not this time! The alleged offender is Track Palin, oldest son of Sarah Palin. 

Whether Son of Sarah ends up in lockup, or receives a slap on his affluenza, is beside the point. Where was Mamma Pit Bull with Lipstick one day later? Was she arranging bail to spring her son from jail? Retaining legal counsel or family counsel? 

On Tuesday, the former half-term governor of Alaska had flown to Ames, Iowa, to stump for Donald Trump. Her strained voice screeching of chalk on blackboard, the family values mom betrayed no hint of the family mess back home. 

 Not until Wednesday during a campaign stop in Tulsa, Oklahoma, did she finally speak of the ‘elephant in the room:’ 

 “That starts from the top. It’s a shame that our military personnel even have to wonder, if they have to question, if they’re respected anymore. It starts from the top,” she insisted. 

Agreed! Accountability starts from the top, and family priorities always come first (at least in my book). Was it PTSD that derailed her hapless Track, or perhaps another elephant in the room as yet unnamed? Let’s take a Tripp (no pun intended) down Memory Lane: 

September 11, 2007 — Son of Sarah enlists in the U.S. Army. One year later, his Alaska-based 25th Infantry Division deploys to Iraq. His CIC is President George W. Bush. 

September 2, 2008 — In the same week John McCain names Sarah Palin as VP running mate, tabloids break the news: Teenage daughter Bristol is pregnant. 

September 6, 2014 — Let us recall the infamous Palin Family Brawl starring Papa Todd, Mama Grizzly, bristling Bristol, and punch-drunk Track. 

June 27, 2015 — After earning $262,500 as teen pregnancy ambassador for the Candie Foundation (an abstinence awareness charity), Bristol announces her second pregnancy out of wedlock — from another failed relationship. 

No doubt, tabloid journalism opens windows on the private lives of famous people but rarely prospects for meaningful clues behind the headlines. Are Palin family values behind closed doors the same as they appear in public? 

Ask any mental health professional. Repetitive patterns of unplanned pregnancies, failed relationships, drunken rage, and domestic violence do not arise spontaneously from a vacuum. Here is the profile of a troubled family; of disconsolate offspring acting badly; and of absentee parents inattentive to their needs. Tabloid accounts merely scratch the surface of a family mired in drama and controversy. 

Of course, Mamma Grizzly does what grizzlies do best: Shift blame. Accuse. Denounce. Ridicule. Play the victim card. And avoid mirrors. Blame the POTUS for the elephant in the room, but never admit responsibility. Behind these details, we catch a glimpse of misplaced priorities and erratic parenting. 

If Sarah Palin has achieved anything in life, she has raised denial and self-affirming victimhood to a fine art, and her firebrand populism appeals to millions of like-minded followers. Last week, a moment of personal anguish behind the public mask was the story inside the story. On this point, journalists, lawyers and mental health professionals can agree: Negligent parents are good for business.

Here's Some Stupid for Thursday

The T-GOP loves to bleat about how liberals are nauseatingly PC, and are Marxist, Commie, anti-American, Tree-Hugging, Healthy Food Forcing Down Our Throats, Libturds!

But give those pure-blooded, America-loving T-GOPublicans a chance to run every branch of government, and Lo! you get a TalibaMerica! 

The T-GOP never talk about how the Religicans want to impose their PC on the rest of us because they're true believers who advocate for their religio-ideology, believing, like any fanatical group, that they're righteous.

It's not PC when they're PCing!

Here's a peek into what an all Republican federal government would look like if a Republican captures the White House in 2016:




Oklahoma House passes bill restricting marriage to people of faith


A bill that would restrict the right to marry to people of faith and would mandate all marriage licenses be approved by a member of the clergy was approved by the Oklahoma state House on Tuesday. 

The bill, approved by a Republican majority, now goes to the state Senate for consideration.



Don't believe they'd do it? Read what one of their heroes, whacko, Glenn Beck, said about Ted Cruz:


'Everybody Was Born For A Reason': Glenn Beck Says Ted Cruz's Presidential Campaign Is 'Divine Providence'


Glenn Beck interviewed Rafael Cruz, father of GOP presidential candidate Ted Cruz, on his television program last night, where he declared that the elder Cruz's birth was "divine providence" because it resulted in his son Ted, who he says is now being raised up to save this nation. 

 "Everybody was born for a reason," Beck told Cruz while the two were seated in a scale replica set of the Oval Office. 

"As I learned your story and saw the fruit of that story, now in your son, I am more and more convinced in the hand of divine providence."





So we have Ted Cruz's father telling the world his son is just like God's son, Jesus Christ, here on Earth to save America.

Remember how the rabid righties claimed Liberals thought President Obama was the "Messiah?" (No one ever said he was -- that was all concocted by the right to make Obama look like a megalomaniac.)  Now comes Rafael Cruz telling the world (and batty Glenn Beck) that his son is divine and was sent to Earth to save us all! I'm waiting for photos of Ted walking on water.

An Interesting Study...

from 2014 finds that a large percentage of southern whites carry black African DNA.

The states in which this is the most predominant are South Carolina and Louisiana.

This would lead one to think that a good percentage of the KKK terrorists who tortured and killed American blacks just because they could were committing murder against their own kind. And it's a good bet that many of the bigots who mock President Obama and his family have a lot of the same DNA in their makeup as do the Obamas, which would be an embarrassment for the First Family -- sharing the same DNA with repulsive racists who are proud of their "redneck" heritage.




Study proves Southern white people have more black DNA than those in the rest of the U.S


 "Many people who consider themselves 'white' would be surprised to discover they have African ancestry — especially those in the South. 

In an ironic twist, a new study has found that some of the states with the most racial tension are also the ones where the most white people have black ancestors. 

The findings published...in the American Journal of Human Genetics found that whites in the South were far more likely to have black ancestry than any other part of the country. 

 Researchers examined 145,000 DNA samples provided to genetic testing company 23andme for ancestry analysis. They have now determined that at least six million Americans who called themselves white had at least 1 percent African ancestry.

South Carolina and Louisiana ranked highest on the list. Researchers found that one in 20 people who called themselves white in those states had at least 2 percent African ancestry. And in a lot of the South, about 10 percent of people who identified as white turned out to have African DNA as well." 

Wednesday is Trump Hump Day

Let the Trumper become the nominee and let the videos show what a sincere conservative he is!











From Face The Nation:

John Dickerson asked the Trumper to define what a conservative is: 

"DICKERSON: What is your definition of conservative? 

 TRUMP: Well, I think it’s a person that doesn’t want to take overly risks. I think that’s a good thing. I think it’s a person that wants to — in terms of government I’m talking about, a person that wants to conserve.."




The Trumper breaks Ronald Reagan's 11th Commandment.  He calls fellow T-GOPer a "jerk."

No Evidence of Illegal Activity by Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast

UPDATE BELOW:



It's difficult for the fanatics who cheered the fraudulent sting operation by David Daleiden, et.al., to accept that THEY and not Planned Parenthood were breaking laws, but apparently that is what the grand jury found --that's where the evidence led, as the Harris County district attorney said.

Where's all the hoopla in the "liberal" media or from the T-GOP candidates on this?   

*crickets*

We'll follow the story to see what that the evidence is and what the outcome will be.

But don't hold your breath waiting for this subject to come up in the next GOP debate.  This subject was one of Carly Fiorina's biggest yelling points in past debates.  Even when she was confronted with facts that showed that the video had been tampered with, Fiorina did not back down in her assertion that living fetuses were hacked to pieces for profit. 

Good for Planned Parenthood to go after the perpetrators of this fraud.



From ABC News:

A Houston grand jury investigating undercover footage of Planned Parenthood found no wrongdoing Monday by the abortion provider, and instead indicted anti-abortion activists involved in making the videos that targeted the handling of fetal tissue in clinics and provoked outrage among Republican leaders nationwide. 

 David Daleiden, founder of the Center for Medical Progress, was indicted on a felony charge of tampering with a governmental record and a misdemeanor count related to purchasing human organs. 

Another activist, Sandra Merritt, was also indicted on a charge of tampering with a governmental record, which carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison. It's the first time anyone in the group has been charged criminally since the release of the videos, which began surfacing last year and alleged that Planned Parenthood sold fetal tissue to researchers for a profit in violation of federal law. 

Planned Parenthood officials have denied any wrongdoing and have said the videos were misleadingly edited. The footage from the clinic in Houston showed people pretending to be from a company called BioMax that procures fetal tissue for research touring the facility. Planned 

Parenthood has previously said that the fake company sent an agreement offering to pay the "astronomical amount" of $1,600 for organs from a fetus. The clinic said it never entered into the agreement and ceased contact with BioMax because it was "disturbed" by the overtures. 

 In a statement announcing the indictment, Harris County District Attorney Devon Anderson did not provide details on the charges, including what record or records were allegedly tampered with and why Daleiden faces a charge related to buying human organs. Her office said it could not disclose more information and a court spokesman said it was unclear whether copies of the indictments, which typically provide more insight, would be made public Monday. 

 "We were called upon to investigate allegations of criminal conduct by Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast," Anderson, an elected Republican, said in her statement. "As I stated at the outset of this investigation, we must go where the evidence leads us."





UPDATE:


From the blog "First Draft":


"Nothing. There was nothing there.

 Not only was there nothing there, but there was something less than nothing there, because people actually got themselves INDICTED for making out like there was something there. 

 Not only was there something less than nothing there, but anybody with two brain cells to rub together looked at the sterling credentials of the people making out like there was something there and said, there’s nothing there. 

 They were, of course, the exact kind of carnival barkers they seemed to be, and this news only surprises the people who make a living being surprised when the curtain gets pulled back and, instead of an alien life form, the freak show’s just one sad goat with a weird mark on its neck. 

 I don’t really blame the barkers. They’re doing their jobs, and people will do the same job after them just as people have done the same job before them."

Sarah Palin: A Morally Sloppy Person

This "morally sloppy" woman, who is admired by the evangelical Christian right, gave her blessing and endorsement to Donald Trump. And he happily accepted it, which shows how shallow and fraudulent those who pretend Sarah Palin and Donald Trump represent " Christian family values" are.

It is strikingly evident to anyone with a moral compass that, compared with the evangelical Christian right's heroes, Palin and Trump, the Obama family is far and away better at parenting than Palin would ever hope to be, and the Obamas are a far better model of marital fidelity and devotion than Trump is. 

IOW, it is Barack and Michelle Obama who are the models of decent family values. Compare them to the brawling, messy Palins and Donald Trump's three marriages, the last to a center-fold model. (Not that there's anything wrong with that, but can you imagine the evangelicals' outrage if Michelle Obama had posed semi-nude then had the temerity to become America's FLOTUS?) They popped their corks when Michelle bared her arms but seem to be oh so tolerant with Melania baring her ta-tas and hoo-ha.

It shows, again, how the so-called "family values" right is not about family values at all, but all about political expediency and alliances to further their agendas.  They value morally sloppy candidates over the real deal.

18-Year Old Ted Cruz Tells Everyone What His Ambition Is...

To be:

Rich. Powerful. And have World Domination.

Perfect candidate for the Goopers.

Trump Admits His Supporters Are Mindless Dupes

"Boston Accent" Movie Trailer

For my Boston family and friends:

Don't miss Seth Meyers' "Boston Accent" movie trailer!

Seth Meyers does the Bahstin accent perfectly! 

The National Review: Anti-Trump Edition

PLEASE GO TO Infidel753's BLOG TO READ A GREAT ANALYSIS OF TRUMP'S MARCH TO THE REPUBLICAN PARTY'S NOMINATION.




Check out all the conservative bigwigs who are against a Trump nomination.  

Especially interesting is Thomas Sowell, a revered columnist and the TeaPublicans' favorite African-American conservative writer.  I've read many times on right wing news sites and blogs how brilliant and what a "true" conservative he is.

What do the rabid righties, so in love with the Trumper, think of Sowell's and the other conservatives' defection? 

The issue features a blistering editorial that labels Trump a threat to conservatism, as well as essays by 22 prominent conservative thinkers from various ideological factions, in opposition to Trump's candidacy. 


 "Donald Trump is a menace to American conservatism who would take the work of generations and trample it underfoot on behalf of a populism as heedless and crude as The Donald himself," the editorial states.

One of Trump's competitors, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, quickly tweeted out the cover Thursday night. "Welcome to the fight, all. Trump is not a conservative," he said.




What? Trump's not a conservative?  Then why is he so popular with so many of them? Trump is the embodiment of what the GOP has become: Angry, Loud, Petulant, Nasty, and Frightened of the Other.  

It's too late to jump off of the tiger's back.

Trump now IS the Republican Party

Hahahahahahahahaha!

On the anniversary (plus one) of President Obama's inauguration, a compilation of how wrong pundits can be: 

 Oct. 27, 2006: "[Obama] should run in '08. He will lose in '08. And the loss will put him irrevocably on a path to the presidency." For him to win in '08 would require a "miracle." -- Charles Krauthammer Dec. 17, 2006: 

"Barack Obama is not going to beat Hillary Clinton in a single Democratic primary. I'll predict that right now." -- William Kristol Dec. 22, 2006: 

"Obama's shot at the top will be short lived.... Hillary Inc. will grind up and spit out any Democratic challenger that gets in its way." -- Joe Scarborough Mar. 19, 2007: 

"The right knows Obama is unelectable except perhaps against Attila the Hun." -- Mark Penn Sep. 24, 2007: 

"Sen. Obama cannot possibly believe, and doesn't even act as if he believes, that he can be elected president of the United States next year." -- Christopher Hitchens Dec. 24, 2007: 

"A Bound Man: Why We Are Excited About Obama and Why He Can't Win." -- title of book by Shelby Steele Jan. 26, 2008: 

"The 'could we beat Obama?' conversation is purely academic. It's over. The Clintons have defeated him already, because he is leaving South Carolina as 'the black candidate.' He won't win another state." -- Michael Graham, National Review May 7, 2008: 

"[Obama] has shown he cannot get the votes Democrats need to win -- blue-collar, working class people. He can get effete snobs, he can get wealthy academics, he can get the young, and he can get the black vote, but Democrats do not win with that.... He will lose big." -- Rush Limbaugh June 3, 2008: 

"Obama can't possibly be elected." -- Dick Morris Aug. 4, 2008: 

"The Molten Core of Barack: Why Obama Can't Win." -- Alex Castellanos Aug. 11, 2008: 

"As I wrote last December, '[t]he pundits can talk until they are blue in the face about Obama's charisma and eloquence and cross-racial appeal. The fact of the matter is that Obama has no chance of being elected president in 2008.' I am more convinced of this conclusion than ever." -- Steven M. Warshawsky, The American Thinker Aug. 15, 2008: 

"Most people think Sen. Obama has this election in the bag, but in reality he stands very little chance of reaching the presidency because of the simple fact that he is far too liberal for America." -- Russ Duenow, Fredericksburg.com Aug. 31, 2008: 

"Mr. Obama is doomed to defeat.... Mr. McCain will win - and win big - in November." -- Jeffrey Kuhner, The Washington Times Sep. 22, 2008: 

"John McCain will win the presidential election, Kellyanne Conway, one of the country's most respected Republican pollsters, tells Newsmax." -- Ronald Kessler Oct. 9, 2008: 

"I have received numerous emails from Republicans and Democrats alike, asking whether I still think Obama will lose the election. Yes, I do. But what about the polls, they ask? The polls show that Obama is winning. No, they don't, as I will explain." -- Steven M. Warshawsky Oct. 25, 2008: 

"[T]here are real signs pointing to a McCain victory this year, whether or not the mainstream media wants to acknowledge them." -- Steven M. Warshawsky Oct. 28, 2008: 

"The Seven Reasons McCain-Palin Are a Lock to Win." -- Dan Perrin Nov. 2, 2008: 

Obama will win the popular vote but lose the election -- Fred Barnes Nov. 3, 2008: 

"I think John McCain will win a squeaker over Barack Obama." -- Ed Morrissey Nov. 3, 2008: 

"Throw out the polls. All of them.... The fact is that no pollster truly knows what is going on this election cycle, because this election is unlike any other in the nation's recent history.... The final Electoral Vote tally will be 275-263 for McCain." -- Mark Impomeni, Politics Daily Nov. 3, 2008: 

"The media could be the real mid-wife of the November 4th victory by Senator McCain and Governor Palin." -- Dan Perrin

Ted Cruz Is No Jack Kennedy

Recently, Ted Cruz absurdly claimed that if President John F. Kennedy were alive today, he'd be a Republican.

JFK's grandson, John Kennedy Schlossberg beautifully dismisses that preposterous claim with historical facts.

And here's a fact that is not in John Kennedy Schlossberg's article:  JFK's conservative haters in Texas distributed on that fateful day in Dallas a poster calling JFK traitor. This is the same tactic a number of conservatives have used during Barack Obama's presidency. 

Now comes another Texan, Ted Cruz, trying to pass himself off as someone who intimately knows to which political party JFK would belong were he alive today. He's wrong, of course, since in 2008, JFK's closest relatives, his daughter, Carolyn Kennedy Schlossberg, and his brother, the late Senator Ted Kennedy, wholeheartedly supported Barack Hussein Obama for the presidency. 

Ted Cruz has spent the better part of his career as a U.S. Senator denigrating and demonizing President Obama and his administration. It is laughable in the extreme that he now tries to use JFK's memory to claim kinship with the TeaPublicans. 

Nothing could be further from the truth.

Ted Cruz is a sleazebag for sullying JFK's memory with the idea that he'd be a TeaPublican today.

JFK's grandson explains why:

From Politico:


Senator Ted Cruz invoked President John F. Kennedy's name and legacy in a campaign appearance the other day, arguing that if he were alive today, Kennedy would be a Republican. Specifically, he said Kennedy “would be tarred and feathered by the modern Democratic Party.” 

As Kennedy’s grandson, and as a student of his life, legacy and administration, I find this notion—and the suggestion that Ted Cruz is somehow taking up his mantle—absurd. Were my grandfather alive today, he’d be excited about how far we have come as a nation since 1963, he would feel a sense of urgency about the challenges that lie ahead and he most certainly would not be a Republican.   
The contrast is stark. Kennedy gave science and technology the highest national priority with his expansion of the space program. Most of the Republican Party denies climate change and has fought all efforts to address it. 

Kennedy believed in religious liberty and the separation of church and state. He did not believe in the right of elected officials to impose their religious views on others. He was the first Catholic ever elected president, and he spent much of the 1960 campaign defending his religion and assuring voters he would not take orders from the Vatican. As someone whose faith was seen as a “hazardous risk” to his campaign, he would be horrified by the attacks made against Muslim-Americans by leading Republican candidates for president. 

He championed legislation to ensure that all Americans could exercise their right to vote. He did not spend his time devising ways to disenfranchise certain segments of the population. 

As a senator and president he supported immigration reform that would welcome more hopeful men and women to America’s shores. He did not try to close our borders, demonize foreign nationals or separate families by deporting parents with American children. 

His steady leadership and restraint prevented a nuclear war during the Cuban Missile Crisis. He didn't substitute bluster and bombast for statesmanship and resolve. He said that America would never start a war. He imagined an attainable peace and an evolution in global institutions. He did not propose a perpetual war footing or unilateral displays of force.  

In fact, Kennedy's rational and earnest diplomacy led to a Nuclear Test Ban Treaty with the Soviet Union. He didn't decry diplomatic achievements as catastrophe, negotiation as weakness and cooperation as betrayal. 

We just witnessed an historic deal with Iran, the restoration of diplomatic relations with Cuba and an international climate agreement. Each was the result of sustained, disciplined diplomatic efforts—the kind that Kennedy would admire. Kennedy believed government could help organize the best of America's energies and skills. He created new federal programs with ambitious goals, such as the Peace Corps. He did not spend his years in the House and Senate devoted to obstructing the opposition. 

He certainly did not lead an effort, as Cruz did, to shut down the federal government to score political points and deny health insurance to millions. Cruz described the Kennedy campaign as one for tax cuts, limited government and tough talk against the Soviets. And yet, accepting the nomination of the Democratic Party in 1960, Kennedy said this: 

“There may be those who wish to hear more—more promises to this group or that—more harsh rhetoric about the men in the Kremlin—more assurances of a golden future, where taxes are always low and subsidies ever high.” But he admitted he wasn’t that candidate. He outlined his vision for a New Frontier—a platform of challenges rather than promises, an appeal to public interest over private comfort. 

Clearly, Cruz hasn’t read that speech. Today, my grandfather would be 98 years old. He'd have no idea how to use a cell phone, and he'd be shocked by just how far the Republican Party has lost its way. He inspired a generation of Americans to believe in their country and their responsibilities as citizens. And his life symbolizes what America can achieve and all the work left undone. 

He isn't alive today, but he lives on in everyone who hopes for a better future, in everyone who asks what they can do for their country, and in the Democratic Party.


Unlike the mean-spirited haters who wish to see the Kennedy family wiped out, we hope to see young Jack Kennedy Schlossberg fulfill his ambition and enter politics. 

Vladimir Putin, TeaPublican Hero, Implicated in Murder

,
Vlad the Darling of the American Tea Party!

TeaPublicans practically French kissed Russian strongman and former head of the Communist KGB, Vladimir Putin. They positively swooned over bare-chested photos of him riding his horsey. 

"Putin's a REAL leader," they claimed. A man they'd be proud of if he were the head of the United States government, "instead of that wimp, Obummer!"

This is the man they admire over our American POTUS. 



Vladimir Putin Probably Approved Killing Of Ex-Agent Alexander Litvinenko, UK Judge Says


LONDON (AP) — President Vladimir Putin probably approved a plan by Russia's FSB security service to kill former agent Alexander Litvinenko, who died three weeks after drinking tea laced with poison at a London hotel, a British judge said Thursday. 

 In a lengthy report, Judge Robert Owen said that he is certain Litvinenko was given tea with a fatal dose of polonium-210, a radioactive isotope that is deadly if ingested even in tiny quantities, in November 2006. 

 He said there is a "strong probability" that the FSB, successor to the Soviet spy agency the KGB, directed the killing, and the operation was "probably approved" by Putin. 

 Before he died, Litvinenko accused Putin of ordering his killing, but this appears to be the first time anyone has officially linked Putin to it.



Putin implicated in fatal poisoning of former KGB spy at posh London hotel


 LONDON — Russian President Vladimir Putin was likely personally responsible for approving the fatal poisoning at a posh London hotel of a former KGB operative-turned-U.K. intelligence agent, according to the findings of a highly anticipated British inquiry released Thursday. 

 The conclusion, which comes nearly a decade after Alexander Litvinenko succumbed to the effects of the radioactive polonium slipped into his cup of green tea at London’s Millennium Hotel, is sure to raise tensions between London and Moscow. Litvinenko's widow called Thursday for Britain to expel Russian intelligence officials and enact new sanctions in retaliation for the killing.


Jon Stewart showed how insane the TeaPublicans' hero-worshipping of the Russian dictator is:


During the first segment of The Daily Show..., Jon Stewart took Republicans and conservatives to school by highlighting their apparent crush on Russia’s President Vladimir Putin. 

In typical Stewart fashion, he used their own words against them to point out how they are showing cognitive dissonance by praising Putin for basically being a dictator and doing whatever he wants on the international stage, even though they’ve spent years complaining about how President Obama is acting like a dictator king and is using authoritarian rule in America.

Wednesday is Trump Hump Day

Our closest ally, Britain, just isn't that into the Trumper:






Hilariously, No one spoke in Trump’s defense during three hours of debate in the British Parliament about barring him from the country (The Donald can still go to the U.K.).

The British think he's a buffoon and a fool and hundreds of thousands of them wanted to ban him from entering their country. Just the sort of president to make all Americans proud! 

He's hated all over Europe!





Former Secretary of Defense, Republican Robert Gates on Trump's (and Cruz's) naive and reckless foreign policies:


Former Defense Secretary Robert Gates on Tuesday blasted the Republican field for their rhetoric on destroying the Islamic State. 

 “First of all they, they don’t know what they’re talking about,” Gates told MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.” 

Front-runner Donald Trump has said as president he would “bomb the s---” out of the Islamic State, while rival Ted Cruz has suggested carpet bombing them into oblivion. 

“Carpet bombing would be completely useless. It’s totally contrary to the American way of war,” said Gates, who was appointed by former President George W. Bush and also served under President Barack Obama. “Total disregard for civilians. So, I mean, part of the concern that I have with the campaign, particularly when it comes to national security, is that the solutions being offered are so simplistic and so at odds with the reality of the rest of the world, with the way the world really works.” 

Alluding to political outsiders Trump and retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson, Gates challenged their ability to be an effective president. “I will tell you this: I do think that politics is a profession,” he said. “And I think that if you don’t have any experience in how government works, if you have never been in government, your ability to make the government work is going to be significantly reduced." 

“It’s different than business,” he continued. “It’s different than surgery. It’s different than anything else. It’s a skill set that you bring based on experience and based on dealing with other people.”




In 2008, the Goopers were vein-popping enraged over the fact that Senator Barack Obama had so little government experience yet was seeking the highest office in the land.  But now the Goopers are supporting a TV personality and casino owner who's never served a day in any political office. And the thing they like the best about Trumper is that he's not pc!, which means he's a foul-mouthed baboon with no diplomatic skills whatsoever.




Trump is an Evangelical's dream:

Greg Sargent of the Washington Post takes a look at a campaign angle that is getting a lot of attention: why is Trump polling so well with white evangelicals? All this has deeply puzzled some evangelical leaders. 

The Post quotes one evangelical leader describing Trump as a “thrice married owner of casinos with strip clubs,” and adding that he is “the most immoral and ungodly man to ever run for President of the United States.” 





The Trumper's negatives are really, really high!


Donald Trump Is Really Unpopular With General Election Voters



Most Americans really don’t like the guy. 

 Contra Rupert Murdoch’s assertion about Trump having crossover appeal, Trump is extraordinarily unpopular with independent voters and Democrats. 

Gallup polling conducted over the past six weeks found Trump with a -27-percentage-point net favorability rating among independent voters, and a -70-point net rating among Democrats; both marks are easily the worst in the GOP field. (Trump also has less-than-spectacular favorable ratings among his fellow Republicans.)



And finally, the Trumper gets the Pancakehead Endorsement!

[Sarah Palin's] "net favorability rating among Republicans has declined more than 55 percentage points, from +83 percentage points to +27 points by mid-2013." 

Palin, noted 538, had become so politically irrelevant that pollsters stopped polling about her. No one cared any longer. Until today -- until she decided to endorse Donald Trump, which will put her back in the headlines for 24 or maybe 48 hours. Which, probably, is the entire point of Palin's endorsement: anything for some lipstick on a pig. - PmCarpenter



From Politico:

“It’s just classless,” said a former senior adviser to McCain of the endorsement, predicting it would backfire. “It’s undermining to a key Trump message which is one of competency. 

What Trump has said is that he’s going to hire the very best people and bring in men of Carl Icahn’s ilk … and he’s appearing with someone who’s viewed as one of America’s most astounding morons.”

Palin Endorsement Widens Trump’s Lead Among Idiots

Yes, the U.S. Government Gave Away FREE STUFF!...

to white Americans.

How many times have the ignoranti -- people who know little to nothing about U.S. history -- accused African-Americans of wanting and getting "free stuff" from the U.S. government?  

The trouble with what the ignoranti claim is that they don't know about or fail to acknowledge the millions and millions of dollars of "free stuff" white people got from the government.  I would say that it's white privilege that allows white people to accuse African-Americans of seeking hand-outs from their government while completely ignoring the enormous hand-outs their forebears received that helped them get a head start in creating wealth for their future generations.  



Economic Justice

"As he states in the rare 1968 footage below, after listing a slew of subsidies and handouts white people have lavished upon themselves since the United States was founded, from the land itself to the means of cultivating that land, Dr. King was organizing the Poor People’s Campaign to march to Washington. “We’re coming to get our check,” King says."

Martin Luther King Day

From Salon, an interesting comparison between Dr. King and President Obama and the racial hatred directed at them by their own countrymen and women:




They’ll never escape white rage: The world embraced Obama and MLK — their countrymen would not 

 by Jason Sokol


"...a comparison of the anti-King rhetoric of 1968 with the anti-Obama rhetoric in 2016 makes for some chilling parallels. 

 Then as now, a deep racial animus underpinned much of the white hatred. It was rarely discussed yet always lurking. Even in 1968, whites understood that they had to frame their malice toward King as something other than racism. They did not oppose King because he struggled for black freedom and equality, said many whites. They detested him because he was a “rabble-rouser,” a Communist, and a law-breaker. 

It might be harder to label as simple racism today, but the opposition to Obama is often entangled with racial fear. White men account for the vast majority of Obama haters. Some are ideological conservatives who simply reject his policies. Some think that he wants their guns. For many others, a corrosive and convoluted fear drives it all: a fear of racial minorities, a fear of religions other than Christianity, a fear of immigrants with brown skins. Trump stokes these fears and plays to the idea that white workers have lost their cherished place in American life. Obama stands as the ultimate symbol of a changing nation. 

 In 1964, Ralph McGill wrote that Atlanta citizens had become “befogged by emotions and prejudices” in their attitudes toward Martin Luther King. Europeans who awarded him the Nobel prize could see more clearly – indeed, Europeans anticipated how history would remember King. In the last five decades, Americans have witnessed a stunning transformation. Martin Luther King has changed from an outlaw to a saint, from the target of enmity to the subject of a monument on the Washington Mall. He now occupies a cherished place among the nation’s heroes. We celebrate a national holiday in King’s honor, yet the controversy that dogged him is part of the not-so-distant past. It was not until the year 2000 that the state of New Hampshire finally recognized Martin Luther King Day as a paid holiday. 

Today, Americans have forgotten the hatred for King. Which begs the question: How will Americans remember Obama? As a divisive leader? Or as one who broke the greatest barrier in American politics, and who left a long list of accomplishments – who rescued the economy, provided health care for the underinsured, and helped pave the way for same-sex marriage? 

Before foaming at the mouth at the mention of Obama, today’s haters might consider how we now view those who scorned Martin Luther King."


"Foaming at the mouth" is an apt description of the anti-Obama haters. In their cramped and racist minds, Mr. Obama represents all that is evil and anti-American. And why has his presidency caused them to think in such terms?  Read the entire Salon piece and discover the depressing similar attitudes their distractors held against these two men.

Thankfully, those who hold such animus toward Mr. Obama and his family, and who did so toward Dr. King as well, will be in the minority very soon. 

Dr. King's dream that the American people will judge men and women on the content of their character, not the color of their skin, will ultimately prevail.

Sunday Video Blog

An oldie but goodie. 

I hear Donald Trump has hired her to sing at his inaugural ball:





 

Governor Nikki Haley...

exposes her ignorance.


Her STotU rebuttal was better than the other past T-GOP rebuttals but then WHOOPS! while being interviewed shortly after that, she let loose with this whooper:



Nikki Haley: America Has Never 'Passed Any Laws Based on Race or Religion'

Speaking about Donald Trump:

I don't think she intentionally lied, she's just grossly ignorant of American history, which is damning in itself.  She's the governor of South Carolina, FFS! How could she not know about the Jim Crow laws? the Lynching laws of the south?   Her clueless statement that America has never passed any laws or done anything based on race or religion confirms what many people already know -- that the present T-GOP lives in a bubble filled with half-truths, delusions, and outright lies, which they eagerly swallow as long as those half-truths, delusions, and lies conform to their version of American history.

Meanwhile, we suggest Governor Haley read some American history so that she won't make a fool of herself the next time she comments on race or anything else that the T-GOP receives as "truth."



JIM CROW LAWS


THE CHINESE EXCLUSION ACT


INTERNMENT OF JAPANESE AMERICANS

BLACK CODES

ANTI-ATHEIST LAWS IN AMERICAN STATES:


In the United States, seven state constitutions include religious tests that would effectively prevent atheists from holding public office, and in some cases being a juror/witness, though these have not generally been enforced since the early twentieth century:


Governor Haley doesn't know what her own state constitution says:


South Carolina:


South Carolina: Article 17, Section 4 "No person who denies the existence of a Supreme Being shall hold any office under this Constitution."

Governor Haley is seen as a rising star in the T-GOP, and she was courageous when she ordered the take-down of the Confederate flag in the state capital.  But she is woefully uninformed on important American history (history that all my foreign friends know).  If she's the best and brightest the T-GOP can offer, that only shows how wedded to ignorance the party is.

Republican Governors (in no particular order) at Work -- From the Recent Past to the Present

My opinion on last night's T-GOP debacle is perfectly expressed by P.m.Carpenter:

A GOP DEBATE FROM HELL

Maine:  Republican Governor Paul LePage


PORTLAND, Maine — Long before Donald Trump laid waste to political correctness, there was Maine Gov. Paul LePage.

 For five years now, the Republican has hurled crude insults, heaped abuse on the media and offended many with his brass-knuckle tactics and off-the-cuff remarks — most recently last week, when he complained that out-of-state drug dealers with names like "D-Money, Smoothie and Shifty" are getting Maine's white girls pregnant.

 On Thursday, lawmakers take up a longshot bid to impeach him, and while the chief allegation against LePage is abuse of power, not lack of civility, it is clear there is a lot of ill will toward the governor in both parties over what many regard as his bull-in-a-china-shop manner.


Louisiana:  Former Republican GovernorBobby Jindal

From The American Conservative:

I keep telling my friends in the national media that if you think Bobby Jindal [had] a chance in hell of becoming president, send a reporter down to spend a few days in Louisiana, seeing what condition he’s leaving his state in. 

In today’s NYT, Campbell Robertson tells the country about the current mess. Excerpts: “Since I’ve been in Louisiana I’ve never seen a budget cycle as desperate as this one,” said Robert Travis Scott, the president of the Public Affairs Research Council, a nonpartisan group based in Baton Rouge. Louisiana’s budget shortfall is projected to reach $1.6 billion next year and to remain in that ballpark for a while. The downturn in oil prices has undoubtedly worsened the problem, forcing midyear cuts to the current budget. But economists, policy experts and lawmakers of both parties, pointing out that next year’s projected shortfall was well over a billion dollars even when oil prices were riding high, turn to a primary culprit: the fiscal policy pushed by the Jindal administration and backed by the State Legislature.  

In a state the size of Louisiana, the shortfall is huge. But it is all the more daunting considering that the governor has unequivocally ruled out any plans for new revenue, bone-deep cuts have already been made to health care and higher education, ad hoc revenue sources that could be found to fill the gap have been all but drained and that robust economic growth, which might cushion the blow, has yet to materialize.


Virginia:  Former Republican Governor Bob McDonnell


Supreme Court lets McDonnell stay out of jail 


Former Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell won a reprieve from the Supreme Court on Monday, as the justices issued an order allowing him to stay out of jail while his lawyers try to persuade the high court to hear his challenge to his convictions last year on a slew of corruption charges. 

Without the action from the Supreme Court, McDonnell would likely have had to report to federal prison in the coming weeks or months to begin serving a two-year sentence. The justices acted without any recorded dissent and did not offer any rationale for their action. 

The Justice Department had urged the court to deny McDonnell's request for a stay. 

A jury in Richmond convicted McDonnell in 2014 on 11 counts of corruption after finding that the former governor did a series of favors for businessman Jonnie Williams in exchange for loans and gifts the dietary supplement promoter lavished on McDonnell and his family. 


Kansas Republican Governor Sam Brownback

From The Kansas City Star:

"...an appetite for high risk doesn’t fully explain Sam Brownback. Anyone who wants to understand him must combine risk with faith: Brownback’s absolute belief that the path he has chosen for Kansas will succeed. “He does believe he is doing God’s work,” said author Jeff Sharlet, who once spoke at length with the governor. 

 Both traits — the absolutism of faith, the enthusiasm for risk — first emerged when Brownback entered public life more than 20 years ago. They took him from a central Kansas farm to a credible campaign for president. 

 Now the governor finds himself in another place, with a cratering budget, national humiliation and the potential end of his presidential dreams. 

 Perhaps it was inevitable. “He’s really a good man. I can’t emphasize that enough,” a longtime associate and supporter said. “He’s willing to make the big moves. I think the public likes that about him. “What he is not able to do is admit when he’s done something wrong.” 


From The Topeka Capital-Journal:

The unexpectedly deep swoon in tax collections and resulting budget deficits of 2014 and 2015 appear to have undercut optimism the 2012 tax changes alone were capable of delivering a surplus to the state treasury. 

After winning re-election to a second term, Brownback proposed in January escalation of the liquor, cigarette and sales taxes. He recommended modification of other tax policies to close a $700 million budget gap. 

 The GOP-led House and Senate, following months of political acrimony, voted to impose the largest tax increase in state history and pull the plug on a march to zero income tax. Brownback signed legislation raising taxes about $400 million annually. 

In June, the governor and legislative leaders on the Kansas Finance Council agreed to borrow a record $840 million to cover the state government’s cash-flow issues in the current fiscal year.


Michigan: Republican Governor Rick Snyder

Something is rotten in the state of Michigan. 

 One city neglected to inform its residents that its water supply was laced with cancerous chemicals. Another dissolved its public school district and replaced it with a charter school system, only to witness the for-profit management company it hired flee the scene after determining it couldn’t turn a profit. 

Numerous cities and school districts in the state are now run by single, state-appointed technocrats, as permitted under an emergency financial manager law pushed through by Rick Snyder, Michigan’s austerity-promoting governor. This legislation not only strips residents of their local voting rights, but gives Snyder’s appointee the power to do just about anything, including dissolving the city itself — all (no matter how disastrous) in the name of “fiscal responsibility.” 

 If you’re thinking, “Who cares?” since what happens in Michigan stays in Michigan, think again. The state’s aggressive balance-the-books style of governance has already spread beyond its borders. In January, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie appointed bankruptcy lawyer and former Detroit emergency manager Kevyn Orr to be a “legal adviser” to Atlantic City. The Detroit Free Press described the move as “a state takeover similar to Gov. Rick Snyder’s state intervention in the Motor City.”


Florida:  Republican Governor Rick Scott

From the Orlando Sentinel:

IF someone accused Rick Scott of being a liar who abused the power of his office, I wouldn't normally call that big news. I might just call it Tuesday. 

Scott, after all, is one of the least popular governors in Florida history. And he's been dogged by critics since the day he stepped in office. But the latest accusations against Scott aren't coming from longtime critics. They're coming from one of Florida's top law-enforcement officials — a respected veteran who worked closely with the governor for the past four years. 

 And that, my friends, is a big deal ... and why Scott now has a full-fledged scandal on his hands. For those who missed it, the former head of the Florida Department of Law Enforcement — 35-year-veteran Gerald Bailey — has started spilling the beans. 

 Bailey portrays Scott and his staff as a group of unethical, hard-core politicos who would go to great lengths — willing even to fabricate a criminal investigation — to get themselves out of a jam.


Wisconsin Republican Governor Scott Walker

Scott Walker Corruption Case Threatens to Implicate Wisconsin Supreme Court JusticesProsecutors want the US Supreme Court to weigh in.

It's the campaign scandal that just won't die. For three years, prosecutors in Wisconsin tried to investigate what they believed was illegal campaign coordination between Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker and conservative outside groups. The investigation has become a political flash point in the state: Walker and conservatives claim it is a witch hunt led by liberal prosecutors, while liberals believe it is about the power of dark money in Wisconsin politics. 

 The Wisconsin Supreme Court dismissed the case, but on Friday, the case moved to the national stage when prosecutors signaled their intention to take it to the US Supreme Court. And the focus is now set to shift from the actions of Walker and his allies to potential ethical violations by the Wisconsin Supreme Court justices themselves.


New Jersey:   Republican Governor Chris Christie

From the New Jersey Star-Ledger:

For those trusting souls who still believe the governor's internal report on the Bridgegate scandal, there is unsettling news: A federal judge just kicked the guts out of it with a sweeping condemnation that will forever brand it as an expensive cover-up. 

 "The taxpayers of New Jersey paid ... millions of dollars to conduct a transparent and through investigation," wrote U.S. District Court Judge Susan Wigenton. "What they got instead was opacity and gamesmanship. They deserve better." Indeed, they do. Wigenton's 10-page bombardment focuses on the smarmy tactics that attorney Randy Mastro and his crew at Gibson Dunn used to block the release of findings that could damage Gov. Chris Christie. 

And we'll get to that. 

[skip]

Last week, Ohio Gov. John Kasich became the first to run a TV ad that knocks Christie's dreary record as governor. And in Tuesday's debate, Sen. Rand Paul used Bridgegate as a battering ram to attack Christie's judgment. 

 After Christie huffed again about shooting down Russian planes in Syria, Paul responded with this: "When we think about the judgment of someone who might want World War III, we might think about someone who might shut down a bridge because they don't like their friends."

Christie’s approval rating drops lower than ever, poll shows

Bad news for Gov. Chris Christie. The latest poll numbers show that New Jerseyans are more dissatisfied than ever with the job the governor is doing and they feel the state is headed in the wrong direction. 



Massachusetts:  Republican Governor Charlie Baker

The Most Popular Politician in America


Surprise! Surprise! In deep blue Massachusetts, our governor, Republican Charlie Baker, is wildly popular. He's an old fashioned Republican -- not a Tea Party ideological nut, and that's paid off for him in liberal Massachusetts. He has an enviable 70+% approval rating in a state where Democrats outnumber Republicans 3 to 1.

It is also interesting to note that deep blue Massachusetts has elected more Republican governors than Democrats. Again, that's because those governors worked WITH the Democratic legislature, not against it, and they showed a willingness to compromise to get things done.

Our other popular Republican governors in our recent past:  Frank Sargent, Bill Weld, even Mitt Romney, who brought us Romneycare; and as a result, Massachusetts has the lowest uninsured rate in the country -- 3%.

An example of Governor Baker working with popular Boston Democratic mayor, Marty Walsh:

A united front from Marty Walsh and Charlie Baker wins over General Electric

General Electric’s move to Boston is a political home run for both Gov. Charlie Baker and Mayor Martin J. Walsh, who put aside recent frictions to present a unified front that impressed the global powerhouse. “This opportunity would not have happened if we did not have a collaboration between the Republican governor of Massachusetts and the Democratic mayor of Boston,” Walsh told the Herald yesterday. 

 [skip]

 “The fact that there was no daylight between the administration at the state level and the administration at the city level,” Baker said, “certainly provided a significant amount of support for the notion that not only were we working together, but we would be able to continue to work together to actually implement and execute on the plan.”



Just imagine what could have been accomplished on a national level if the Congressional Republicans had cooperated with our Democratic president. Massachusetts scored big with General Electric's decision to move its headquarters here. This is the sort of thing that happens when politicians act like grown-ups and not petulant toddlers.