Mark Twain

Mark Twain:

"Look at the tyranny of party -- at what is called party allegiance, party loyalty -- a snare invented by designing men for selfish purposes -- and which turns voters into chattels, slaves, rabbits, and all the while their masters, and they themselves, are shouting rubbish about liberty, independence, freedom of opinion, freedom of speech, honestly unconscious of the fantastic contradiction; and forgetting or ignoring that their fathers and the churches shouted the same blasphemies a generation earlier when they were closing their doors against the hunted slave, beating his handful of humane defenders with Bible texts and billies, and pocketing the insults and licking the shoes of his Southern master." - The Character of Man

"The Damage Is Already Deep"

Michael Gerson:




"But the durability of Trump’s appeal creates a conundrum for many Republicans. For decades, some of us have argued that the liberal stereotype of Republicans as extreme, dim and intolerant is inaccurate and unfair. 

But here is a candidate for president who fully embodies the liberal stereotype of Republicans — who thinks this is the way a conservative should sound — and has found support from a committed plurality of the party. 

 If the worst enemies of conservatism were to construct a Frankenstein figure that represents the worst elements of right-wing politics, Donald Trump would be it. 

But it is Republicans who are giving him life. And the damage is already deep. "

What if...

Ocean Perch for Dinner

Our local fishmonger had fresh whole ocean perch for sale the other day. I bought one (surprisingly inexpensive -- $8.00) and roasted it -- first brushing it with olive oil, a pad of melted butter, and herb-seasoned sea salt from Italy, and served it with roasted potatoes, homemade roasted red peppers, fresh peas, fresh herbs and a squeeze of lemon.



Here's the fish before it was roasted:

Here's the presentation:

And here's the fillet after I carved it, deboned it, placed it and the vegetables on the dinner plate and served it with a 2012 Louis Jadot Pouilly-Fuissé.

The fillet was sweet and succulent. The roasted potatoes and veggies and herbs complemented the fish, and everyone was happy with the meal.

Buon appitito!

And Then There's This

Like the narrator in this video, I, too, find these food processing clips weirdly soothing and entertaining:

April 1, 2016

Seth Myers:

'Donald Trump is running as a Republican, which is funny because I had just assumed he was a joke.


“Donald Trump often appears on Fox News, which is ironic because a fox often appears on Donald Trump’s head.”


“Donald Trump says he’s a friend of the blacks, but unless the Blacks are a family of white people, I bet he’s mistaken.”

HuffPost Headlines:on Trump, April 1, 2016: 

Disliked By Demographics Across The Board... Would Be Least-Popular Major Party Nominee In Modern Times... 'Never Seen An Individual With A Higher Negative'... Comparable To Former KKK Leader!... Set For Turbulence In Wisconsin... Strongest Defenders Are Turning Against Him...

h/t D.K.J.

Continuing With Trump Hump Day...

...a look into Trump World, where Trump believes Supreme Court justices "investigate" American citizens to see if they've broken any laws.

Yes.

Trump really said that in an interview today.

This is the guy who also said he would consult himself on foreign policy issues because he has "a good brain" and knows a lot of stuff.

That good brain of his sure showed up today when he told the country that the SCOTUS should become investigators into Hillary Clinton's emails.

Trump certainly reflects the intelligence of the people who support him if the only reason they're supporting this colossal jerk is to piss off The Establishment.  



Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump told Good Morning America on Wednesday that he would appoint Supreme Court justices who would investigate Hillary Clinton’s emails. \

At the very end of the interview, ABC News host David Muir asked Trump to respond to a comment Hillary Clinton made this week. “As scary as it might be, ask yourself, ‘What kind of justice would a President Trump appoint?'” she said during a speech at the University of Wisconsin-Madison on Monday.

 Trump replied:

“Well, I probably would appoint people who would look very seriously at her email disaster because it’s a criminal activity and I would appoint people who would look very seriously at that to start off with. What she is getting away with is absolutely murder. You talk about a case, now that’s a real case.”




That's the stupidest thing he said today; this was the second stupidest thing:

On his way to attracting women voters to his campaign The Trumper went there:


Donald Trump scrambled to clarify his position on abortion and put out a firestorm of criticism Wednesday after he initially said women who obtain abortions should be punished. 

Several hours later, in a statement, he said that women who obtain abortions are victims and, if Congress passes laws outlawing abortion, doctors who provide them should be punished. "If Congress were to pass legislation making abortion illegal and the federal courts upheld this legislation, or any state were permitted to ban abortion under state and federal law, the doctor or any other person performing this illegal act upon a woman would be held legally responsible, not the woman," 

Trump said. "The woman is a victim in this case as is the life in her womb. My position has not changed -- like Ronald Reagan, I am pro-life with exceptions."

Trump is like New England weather: If you don't like what he says, wait a minute, and he'll change it. 

This is how Trump "sticks it to The Establishment:"

He tells the country and the world that he doesn't know anything about the U.S. Government, and he's been for abortion before he was against it -- and jail for girls and women who get them.

Wednesday is Trump Hump Day

The brilliant John Oliver deconstructs Trump's famous border wall:






 

Dear Tea Party Republicans

We support your choice for the Republican nominee for POTUS, Donald J. Trump.

Yes. We really do.

Please proceed.

The Only Thing That Never Fails

"The best thing for being sad," replied Merlyn…, "is to learn something. That is the only thing that never fails. You may grow old and trembling in your anatomies, you may lie awake at night listening to the disorder of your veins, you may miss your only love, you may see the world about you devastated by evil lunatics or know your honor trampled in the sewers of baser minds. There is only one thing for it then -- to learn. Learn why the world wags and what wags it. That is the only thing which the mind can never exhaust, never alienate, never be tortured by, never fear or distrust, and never dream of regretting." - T. H. White

Thanks Obama!

Here's a reality check for those who spend their lives in "Obama Is Doing Nothing About ISIS And Is A Weakling!" land:



"In the wake of this week’s terrorist attack in Brussels, President Obama’s critics raised familiar and predictable complaints. 

Why isn’t the Obama administration going after ISIS? When is the White House going to get tough on terror? We were reminded again this morning, however, that the gap between perceptions and reality is often significant. 

 ISIS’ second in command, Haji Imam, was killed during a raid this month, U.S. defense officials announced Friday. Imam was a finance minister who oversaw all the funding for ISIS’ operations, said Defense Secretary Ash Carter. 

 Imam’s death comes on the heels of a U.S. airstrike in Syria that reportedly killed another top ISIS commander, Omar al-Shishani. 

The combination of the two, NBC News reported, “are major scores for U.S.-led coalition forces in taking out the biggest names on the U.S.’s terror hit list.” --Steve Benen

Saturday Funnies

Donald Trump: Democratic Party Voters' BFF

The Trumper's supporters are not put off by any of the vile, puerile antics of the man they want to put in the White House.  And we liberals heartily encourage his supporters to stay with this buffoon and encourage the rest of the primary states to go all out for him to secure the T-GOP nomination for the presidency.

Why?  We'll let this writer and number cruncher from the conservative Weekly Standard, Jay Cost, tell you why:



"Let me state flatly and unequivocally that if Donald Trump is the nominee, Hillary Clinton’s floor in the electoral college is 400 votes. That’s the floor, number one. Number two, kiss the Senate goodbye. I mean, it’s not even going to be a close call. It will be a bloodbath. Number three, and this is a little more controversial at this point, but I would give the Republicans no better than 40 percent odds hold the House of Representatives. 

 This guy is an abject disaster for the Republican Party in November, there is no other way to put it. And the notion that he’s going to bring in some tranche of voters is just a complete fiction, for two reasons: number one, there aren’t enough of them, okay? 

 I live in Western Pennsylvania. I live right near places that, up until very recently, were voting Democratic. And yeah, can Trump bring some new voters in from Beaver County? Yeah, maybe he can. But I’m telling you what, I live in Butler County, which has been voting Republican since 1856, and he’s going to get killed in Butler County. He is going to get killed in the Cranberry Township suburbs in Butler County. Because people are going to look at him and they are going to think, “No Way.” You watch, suburban women in Cranberry Township are going to bolt [from] him in droves. And the same thing’s going to happen… replicate that times 100 in the Philadelphia suburbs. It’s going to be an absolute slaughter."  -- h/t The National Memo



So yes, please proceed, Mr. Trump. We've been telling the Goops for months that you are a disaster not just for the country, but for the Republican Party, however, your supporters and other disaffected, angry voters will have none of it.  Your supporters have said they want to burn the place down and destroy the party that's been lying to them and ignoring them for decades. So here's their chance to do that very thing by continuing to support a disaster like you.

They're sticking with you like a Man-O-War sticks to its victim.

We wish you well, and we hope you get your way and lead the Goopers to the electoral humiliation they will so richly deserve.

I will make America Grrrrrrrrrrrrreat!

Dear America...

this is the best the TGOP is offering you for POTUS.

Seriously.

We're all embarrassed that the Republican Party keeps sinking lower and lower in the sewer.  Now the two front runners for T-GOP POTUS nomination are engaged in...

WIFE WARS!

What did you think would happen when a reality teevee billionaire with no class and a loud mouth went one-on-one with an "Anointed-by-Daddy-To-Bring-The-Spoils-Of-War-To-The-Chosen" political hack?

WIFE WARS!

"The Republican primary has become a national disgrace. It is humiliating for the country for this bad soap opera to be unfolding in one of the nation’s two major political parties. The Republican primary is now centered on Donald Trump’s attacks on Ted Cruz’s wife. Republicans have abandoned any illusions of talking about policy, and how they would run the country if elected." --Jason Easley, PoliticusUSA

 

Doubling Down, Donald Trump Tweets a My-Wife's-Prettier-Than Yours Meme Featuring Heidi Cruz – and Ted Fires Back




Donald Trump says he'll "spill the beans" about Ted Cruz's wife 

Melania Trump and Heidi Cruz are the latest victims in 2016 presidential campaign mudslinging.



Nation! This is the sort of behavior -- slut-shaming and name-calling  --  you'd expect to see on low-class, slimey blogs where they trash Mrs. Obama for fun, not from two men who are both hoping to be the leader of the most powerful country in the world!

But who could have guessed that Donald Trump and Rafael "Ted" Cruz would wallow in the same sort of slime like certain T-GOP bloggers do?

Oh, wait.



Superman, after reading the Trump/Cruz wifey cat fight during the presidential campaign of 2016:

Thursday Tango and Educating Rafael Cruz

President Obama dances the tango, the national dance of Argentina, during a state dinner:











 President Obama educates Sen. Cruz on his harebrained idea of patrolling Muslim neighborhoods.

Wednesday is Trump Hump Day

If you haven't read any of the transcript from the Trumper's interview with the Washington Post, you should do so asap.  Why? Because it will reinforce what we already know:  Donald Trump isn't fit for any elective office, and certainly not the presidency. When asked serious questions about serious subjects, The Trumper dissembles, redirects, or talks about himself.  He has no grasp of facts on any crucial matter.  He's had plenty of time to read up on the issues, foreign and domestic, but is obviously too lazy to do so, or he believes the power of his personality is all that's need to govern a country as vast and diverse as this one is, and he must also believe our enemies are shaking in their boots thinking about a Trump presidency. In fact, our allies are the ones who are fearful at that prospect. Our enemies would relish the thought of this narcissistic buffoon leading America.

Here are parts of the Washington Post interview -- a miasma of self-aggrandizement, childish ignorance, and embarrassing egotism:

Fred Hiatt, editor of the WaPo editorial page, Ruth Marcus, columnist for the WaPo:


[FRED] HIATT: Just back to the campaign. You are smart and you went to a good school. Yet you are up there and talking about your hands and the size of private …

TRUMP: No …

 HIATT: … your private parts.

TRUMP: No, no. No, no. I am not doing that. 

HIATT: Do you regret having engaged in that?

TRUMP: No, I had to do it. Look, this guy. Here’s my hands. Now I have my hands, I hear, on the New Yorker, a picture of my hands.

 MARCUS: You’re on the cover.

TRUMP: A hand with little fingers coming out of a stem. Like, little. Look at my hands. They’re fine. Nobody other than Graydon Carter years ago used to use that. My hands are normal hands. During a debate, he was losing, and he said, "Oh, he has small hands and therefore, you know what that means." This was not me. This was Rubio that said, "He has small hands and you know what that means." Okay? So, he started it. So, what I said a couple of days later … and what happened is I was on line shaking hands with supporters, and one of supporters got up and he said, "Mr. Trump, you have strong hands. You have good-sized hands." And then another one would say, "You have great hands, Mr. Trump, I had no idea." I said, "What do you mean?" He said, "I thought you were like deformed, and I thought you had small hands." I had fifty people … Is that a correct statement? I mean people were writing, "How are Mr. Trump’s hands?" My hands are fine. You know, my hands are normal. Slightly large, actually. In fact, I buy a slightly smaller than large glove, okay? No, but I did this because everybody was saying to me, "Oh, your hands are very nice. They are normal." So Rubio, in a debate, said, because he had nothing else to say … now I was hitting him pretty hard. He wanted to do his Don Rickles stuff and it didn’t work out. Obviously, it didn’t work too well. But one of the things he said was "He has small hands and therefore, you know what that means, he has small something else." You can look it up. I didn’t say it.

MARCUS: You chose to raise it …

TRUMP: No, I chose to respond.

MARCUS: You chose to respond.

TRUMP: I had no choice.

MARCUS: You chose to raise it during a debate. Can you explain why you had no choice?

TRUMP: I don’t want people to go around thinking that I have a problem. I’m telling you, Ruth, I had so many people. I would say 25, 30 people would tell me … every time I’d shake people’s hand, "Oh, you have nice hands." Why shouldn’t I? And, by the way, by saying that I solved the problem. Nobody questions … I even held up my hands, and said, "Look, take a look at that hand."

MARCUS: You told us in the debate ...

TRUMP: And by saying that, I solved the problem. Nobody questions. Everyone held my hand. I said look. Take a look at that hand.

MARCUS: You told us in the debate that you guaranteed there was not another problem. Was that presidential? And why did you decide to do that?

TRUMP: I don’t know if it was presidential, honestly, whether it is or not. He said, "Donald Trump has small hands and therefore he has small something else." I didn’t say that. And all I did is when he failed, when he was failing, when he was, when Christie made him look bad, I gave him the – a little recap and I said, and I said, and I had this big strong powerful hand ready to grab him, because I thought he was going to faint. And everybody took it fine. Whether it was presidential or not I can’t tell you. I can just say that what he said was a lie. And everybody, they wanted to do stories on my hands; after I said that, they never did. And then I held up the hand, I showed people the hand. You know, when I’ve got a big audience. So yeah, I think it’s not a question of presidential …




That passage is horrendous enough, but THIS is vomit inducing:


"Fred Ryan, the paper's publisher: 

[W]ould you use a battlefield nuclear weapon to take out ISIS? 

TRUMP: I don’t want to use, I don’t want to start the process of nuclear. Remember the one thing that everybody has said, I’m a counterpuncher. Rubio hit me. Bush hit me. When I said low energy, he’s a low-energy individual, he hit me first. I spent, by the way he spent 18 million dollars’ worth of negative ads on me. That’s putting … 

 Ryan interrupted, trying his best to get The Donald to focus. 

"This is about ISIS," he reminded Trump. "You would not use a tactical nuclear weapon against ISIS?" 

 TRUMP: I’ll tell you one thing, this is a very good-looking group of people here. Could I just go around so I know who the hell I’m talking to?"

Terrorist Attack in Belgium

At least 34 dead after suicide bomber detonates near American Airlines check-in desk at Brussels Airport before a SECOND blast hits Metro station just yards from EU headquarters 

Evangelicals and Trump

I'm amazed at the number of Evangelical Christians who support the vulgar, violent Trump -- a man who brags about loving the Bible but has demonstrated he knows nothing about it; a man who admitted that he doesn't like to ask God for forgiveness for transgressions, and who made jokes about eating crackers and drinking wine. 

IOW, he's everything one would think a devout Evangelical Christian would be repulsed by, yet they cling to him and his xenophobic, violent rhetoric as though he were the second coming. Apparently tribalism trumps deeply held values, especially religious values; and as long as Trump promises to smash and destroy the status quo and cause mayhem around the world, the Evangelicals -- (the majority, not all), who make up the base of the GOP, will continue to support him. By doing so they show the world that they are willing to betray everything their religion stands for to gain earthly power. None of this makes sense, unless one looks at this betrayal of their values as plain, old fashioned, hypocrisy.

Poll: Utah would vote for a Democrat for president over Trump


SALT LAKE CITY — If Donald Trump becomes the Republican Party's nominee, Utahns would vote for a Democrat for president in November for the first time in more than 50 years, according to a new Deseret News/KSL poll. \

"I believe Donald Trump could lose Utah. If you lose Utah as a Republican, there is no hope," said former Utah Gov. Mike Leavitt, a top campaign adviser to the GOP's 2012 nominee, Mitt Romney.



Conservative writer, Michael Gerson

Sometimes I want to shake people (intellectually,not physically) who favor political “disruption” and ask: Disruption in favor of what? Look at what you are doing!

Look at what you have done! The Republican Party is now firmly harnessed to the wild, uncontrollable horses of fear and exclusion. It has already sustained damage with Latino voters that may take a generation to undo.

And now many Republicans will find rationalizations to support Trump. That is natural — the reality of politics in every time. Many people simply go with the winner.

But this isn’t a normal time. I believe that the decision to support Trump, like an embarrassing tattoo, will follow them the rest of their lives. Republicans are not merely making a choice; they are looking into the abyss.

In a separate column at The Washington Post, to which Gerson also linked in the Facebook piece, he concluded that voting for Trump would be so immoral, he might even have to do something truly outrageous — vote for Hillary Clinton:

“All this leaves completely horrible options: sitting the election out, supporting a third-party candidate, contemplating a difficult vote for Clinton."





Meanwhile FEEL THE BERN!

Meanwhile, Bernie Sanders attracted huge crowds in Seattle, Washington, and didn't have to threaten to break anyone's head:



Thousands lined up in the drizzle at Seattle Center on Sunday to hear Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders bring his anti-billionaire message to Washington ahead of this week’s caucuses.


Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders brought his message of a “political revolution” to a boisterous rally at Seattle’s KeyArena on Sunday, avoiding mention of Hillary Clinton — his rival in this week’s Democratic caucuses — while trashing Republican front-runner Donald Trump. 

 Taking the stage at 5:40 p.m. to deafening cheers, Sanders immediately launched into an attack on Trump, saying the U.S. will never elect someone “who insults Mexicans, who insults women, who insults African Americans.” 

 “If we stand together and we don’t allow the Trumps of the world to divide us up, there is nothing we cannot accomplish,” Sanders said. 

“This campaign has enthusiasm and the energy to carry us to victory, because we are doing something very unusual in American politics: We are telling the truth.” 

 Crowds lined up early in the drizzle at Seattle Center to hear Sanders’ anti-billionaire message. 

Sunday Science Blog

HAPPY SPRING!

March 20, 12:30 AM, Boston, Mass.

The Vernal Equinox

The March equinox signals the beginning of spring in the Northern Hemisphere – earliest spring since 1896 – and autumn in the Southern Hemisphere. It marks that special moment when the sun crosses the celestial equator going from south to north. In 2016, this equinox arrives on March 20 at 4:30 UTC, or on March 19 at 11:30 p.m. Central Daylight Time. Here’s what we in the Northern Hemisphere know about this equinox. Our sunrise is earlier now, and nightfall comes later. Plants are sprouting. Winds are softening. For us in the Northern Hemisphere, people are enjoying the warmer days of spring. Meanwhile, south of the equator, autumn begins. Follow the links below to learn more about this vernal equinox. 

Here comes the sun:

Saturday Night Funnies

This is politically incorrect. And in very poor taste.

But Donald Trump and his supporters are sick to death of political correctness, and we can all agree that the Trumper has taken poor taste to its highest echelon.

So Trump and his supporters will love this and not think it a bit offensive or tasteless. 
This is for the Trumpistas and their devotion to political incorrectness.

Enjoy!