Political Cartoons of the Week

And finally, more cray-cray from the Crazies:

h/t Stupid things Conservatives say.

Video of the Week

Tim Minchin

"In 2013, The University of Western Australia (UWA) awarded Minchin the honorary degree of Doctor of Letters, for his contribution to the arts, recognising his outstanding achievements and worldwide acclaim as a leading composer, lyricist, actor, writer and comedian."

Here's his address to the graduating seniors of UWA:

Forbes Magazine: The Most Corrupt States in the U.S.

Interesting list of the most corrupt states in the U.S. from Forbes:




"New research takes a look at decades of corruption convictions to find the crookedest states in the union. 

When we think of government corruption (as one tends to do), our biased minds often gravitate to thoughts of military juntas and third world governments. But, of course, corruption is everywhere, in one form or another. And it’s costing U.S. citizens big time. 

A new study from researchers at the University of Hong Kong and Indiana University estimates that corruption on the state level is costing Americans in the 10 most corrupt states an average of $1,308 per year, or 5.2% of those states’ average expenditures per year. 

The researchers studied more than 25,000 convictions of public officials for violation of federal corruption laws between 1976 and 2008 as well as patterns in state spending to develop a corruption index that estimates the most and least corrupt states in the union. Based on this method, the the most corrupt states are: 

1. Mississippi 
2. Louisiana 
3. Tennessee 
4. Illinois 
5. Pennsylvania 
6. Alabama 
7. Alaska 
8. South Dakota 
9. Kentucky 
10.Florida 

That these places landed on the list isn’t exactly surprising. Illinois, which has gain notoriety for its high-profile corruption cases in recent years, is paired with states like Mississippi and Louisiana, which are some of the least economically developed in the country. 

The researchers also found that for 9 out of the 10 of the most corrupt states, overall state spending was higher than in less corrupt states (South Dakota was the only exception). Attacking corruption, the researchers argue, could be a good way to bring down state spending without hurting services that people need. 

 Researchers also found that spending in these states was different than their less corrupt counterparts. According to the report, “states with higher levels of corruption are likely to favor construction, salaries, borrowing, correction, and police protection at the expense of social sectors such as education, health and hospitals.”


This post by a fellow blogger fits in appropiately with the above report.





And this recent column by Leonard Pitts, Jr.: 


 Why do red states lag economically?: Leonard Pitts Jr.

Ah, those heady days when U.S. policy was driven by an obscure astrologist!

How easily and quickly Americans forget!

And the righties are saying Mr. Obama is weak?  

Well what do you call a revered president whose wife (and he) listened to and trusted an astrologer to run his day-to-day activities?   

I'd call it dangerously nuts.

But, IOKIYAR!

Paranoids and Slanderers

Larry Klayman Sues Obama Again, Says He 'Views Himself Primarily As A Muslim And Acts Accordingly'


Nutty, eh?  Well Crazy Old Larry isn't alone in thinking, believing, and sharing these absurd ideas about our American president.

Lots of conservatives/baggers believe and obsess on these very special, very cockeyed notions about Mr. Obama ("Ovomit" or "Obummer" to them).  But these people have yet to look within their deeply troubled souls to understand why they so eagerly embrace this sort of idiocy.  

For a glimpse into their "Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul," read these actual statements by people who are offended by the term "bagger:"



August 29, 2014:  "Now we have managed to elect Barack Obama, who is one of the Moslems who seek to destroy America. 

Since 1992, we have been at war with people who wish to destroy America. That is 22 years of foolishness, courtesy of a people who vote with their heads up their asses. Now I grant you that it is difficult to criticize the people for electing George Bush when their alternative was Al Gore and John Kerry, but it does remind us that this country appears to be in a downward spiral. Frankly, I am not even sure we can save it. More than this, I am no longer certain America is worth saving. You see —the enemy is also us. 

We elected Barack Obama, who told us beforehand that he was an active communist —a man who fooled us into thinking that he was one of us. There is nothing American about Barack Obama.



August 29, 2014:  “I believe the destruction of America is eminent because we no longer have the will to defend that which we have fought and died to preserve for more than 238 years.” Maybe it is eminent, but I believe there are still millions of us willing to stand shoulder to shoulder in defiance of this inevitability with no quit in us. “Let’s roll!”


August 29, 2014 - 16:36 · Right. I used to think that too, ***** … but then Barack Obama was either overwhelmingly reelected (when no one thought his reelection was possible), or the Obama machine effectively stole the election away from the American people —and all those people who are ready to roll did absolutely nothing; not even a single demonstration."


August 29, 2014:  The cowardly “potus” tells us that the border is secure. DHS tells us the same lies. The BP themselves say it’s BS too. Inasmuch as Ovomit has already given ISIL the go ahead and green lighted an attack on us, by telling them and the entire world….we don’t have any specific plans to deal with ISIL…He should have just picked up his damn phone and called them himself. Don’t kid yourselves any longer that this quisling isn’t a danger to the country. Not with CAIR and the MV entrenched in the WH. He needs a high school in Detroit or Ferguson named after him…but nothing else to remember this dirt bag by. He and Carter ought to come out of the closet and get married. And Moochele can tell us that’s she really a tranny and can bench press 300 pounds with her adams apple.



Ah, free speech!   The freedom to be uncompromising paranoids and slanderers!

And then there's this from one of FAUX NOOZ's "fair and balanced" racist talking hair-dos.: 

 Fox News commentator calls Obama a 'skinny, ghetto crackhead' on air 

Aux Etats Sunnis, by (O)CT(O)PUS of The Swash Zone

By (O)CT(O)PUS

Let us recall this quote from the film classic, Lawrence of Arabia:

“So long as the Arabs fight tribe against tribe, so long will they be 

a little people, a silly people - greedy, barbarous, and cruel …”

Arabs or Americans ... sometimes I wonder which of the two are the little people, the silly people. If anything, Americans are a meddlesome people - provincial, opinionated, arrogant, yet exceptionally ignorant of Middle Eastern culture and history.

How many Americans recall the coup that overthrew Mohammed Moseddegh, the first democratically elected leader of Iran? In 1953, our own CIA aided and abetted the British in toppling a nascent democracy over access to Persian oil. “A cruel and imperialistic country” stealing from a “needy and naked people” were the words spoken by Mosaddegh at the International Court of Justice in the Hague. These words have informed Middle Eastern attitudes for more than half a century.

Does terrorism represent the face of Islam? Not according to the highest religious authority of Saudi Arabia, who said: “Extremist and militant ideas and terrorism which spread decay on Earth, destroying human civilisation, are not in any way part of Islam, but are enemy number one of Islam, and Muslims are their first victims” (The Grand Mufti Sheik Abdulaziz Al al-Sheik).

Not according to the highest religious authority of Egypt, who said: “An extremist and bloody group such as this poses a danger to Islam and Muslims, tarnishing its image as well as shedding blood and spreading corruption” (The Grand Mufti Shawqi Allam).

Not according to the Egyptian military, which overthrew the government of Mohamed Morsi and banned the fundamentalist Muslim Brotherhood. Nor the monarchy of Saudi Arabia, which purged and banished al-Qaeda - whose affiliated groups now operate in remote regions of Yemen and North Africa. Yet, how many Americans pay attention?

Consider the impact of successive Western interventions in the Middle East over time - over oil. European colonialism is partly to blame. As colonial empires crumbled in the aftermath of WWI, European powers gave little thought to the historical schism between the Shiite and Sunni branches of Islam. Britain drew borders around rival ethnic enclaves and formed the modern nation state of Iraq - thus creating a recipe for future volatility.

Failing to take these historical antecedents into account, America blundered into an occupation of Iraq that worsened an already unstable situation. In short order, the American regency of Paul Bremer swept away a long established order. Regime change brought in a new Shiite government that promptly disenfranchised the formerly dominant Sunnis. Thus began a cycle of sectarian conflict and civil war – rife with insurgencies, ethnic militias, car bombings, kidnappings, massacres, and more. Thus, the American misadventure started a sequence of events leading directly to the rise of ISIS.

A headline de jour fails to capture the broader perspectives of history. What our news media never told us: Every bungled misadventure by a Western power has upset the status quo and upped the ante on radicalism and savagery.

We broke it. Now our defense and diplomatic establishments exhort us to fix it. How ironic! Ethnic and religious divisions of the Middle East mirror our partisan divisions at home, as the current state of the debate in Washington demonstrates:

A war-weary American public says: “No boots on the ground.” Neo-Cons in Congress demand military action. 

Iraqi President al-Maliki disenfranchises the Sunnis and creates a window of opportunity for ISIS. The Cringe Fringe blames the crisis on the president. 

Al-Malady refuses to sign a Residual Force Agreement; The Cringe Fringe blames the president. 

Our military says ISIS cannot be defeated without a Syrian incursion. Last year, Congress failed to reach agreement on a similar authorization.

Follow the trail of duplicity amongst our allies in the region: ISIS trades Syrian oil for money and arms in Turkey, our NATO ally. Our military maintains vital strategic strike capabilities at al Udeid Air Base in Qatar, Ali al Salem Air Base in Kuwait, and al Dhafra Air Base in the United Arab Emirates even as the wealthy citizens of Qatar, Kuwait, and the UAE underwrite radical jihadi groups throughout the Middle East – from al-Qaeda to ISIS.

How can the enemy of your enemy be your friend when you can no longer distinguish enemies from friends?

Meanwhile, partisans in Congress criticize the President over an honest admission: “We don't have a strategy yet” for dealing with the "existential threat" of ISIS. Perhaps the time is long overdue to rethink the complexities, duplicities and past failures - to avoid yet another national repetition compulsion - before we leap again into the Middle Eastern abyss.

Labor Day 2014

The history of Labor Day






Fox News Morons Call American Unions and Workers ‘Fascist Parasites’

Sunday Night Poetry

A few years ago, this poem was triggered by my reading about 'sailing stones' and the mystery of how they moved from one place to another.  That made me think about a young relative who was very dear to me who went from "one place to another," when she died.  The poem is a meditation on the mystery of death, and some of the details in the poem describe the room in which she died and her personal effects. The mirror image is there to suggest another dimension.  I won't say more than that, except hers was an untimely 'sailing' from this place to the other.

Sailing Stone

No one knows how a glacier moved you                           

                                                                         

                                                             into the mirror.

Ruined petals by a glass door, coreopsis

                           

                                                             disintegrates in lantern light.

What is leaving?

My twin,

                                                                      

                                                          where are your rugged clothes

                                                           your enameled lip’s lustrous cantata?

This mysterious rut in desert sand,

                                                           a scientist’s mare, ice-riding stone,

perhaps,

                                                           how you sailed there?

                                                                                                      --S.K.

Sunday Science Blog

Mystery of Death Valley's 'Sailing Stones' Solved

I've always been fascinated by the mysterious sailing stones of Death Valley and have followed any news about them.  Finally, thanks to science, we have a better understanding of what causes the phenomenon.

"For years, enormous stones have been moving across the Racetrack Playa of Death Valley National Park, leaving engraved trails in the muddy surface behind. No one understood how, though there was plenty of speculation, according to researchers at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at University of California San Diego. 

 Last year the researchers, Richard Norris and James Norris, placed stones equipped with GPS devices on the same stretch of land, then waited and watched."



"We recorded the first direct scientific observation of rock movements using GPS-instrumented rocks and photography, in conjunction with a weather station and time-lapse cameras," the authors wrote in a study published in the journal PLOS One. On Dec. 20, 2013, they witnessed 60 rocks move across the land."

GO HERE to see the video and learn more.


 h/t Infidel753 for THIS LINK that better explains the sailing stones phenomena.

TAN SUIT CHRONICLES!

By now you've read or heard about the chattering classes who went all Edith Head over President Obama's sartorial choice the day he gave a press conference to discuss ISIS.  Some people even went so far as to suggest he was thumbing his nose at the American people by wearing this perfectly normal and, may I add, natty attire.  

Seriously, America?  You, well not all of you, went bonkers over a tan suit?  Please.  Do yourself a favor and go out and live.  You're embarrassing yourself over this.

BTW, when it comes to wearing of the tan, Mr. Reagan takes the title of Mr. Tan Suit President. Not nice of him to thumb his nose at the American people!  And so many times!

Barry Wears It Better!

Is President Reagan Thumbing His Nose At Australia's Prime Minister?

Doesn't he respect Justice O"Connor?  He's wearing TAN!

Uh-Oh!  Again?  And in the Oval Office!  Quick where's the fainting couch!

Signing the VERY SERIOUS legislation for Japanese reparation.  IN A TAN SUIT!!!
THE EFFRONTERY!

That's it for the silliness.  

Now back to serious  chocolate and wine.

Just another day...

in gun-stupid America.


Yes.  Gun stupid.   Because how else could one describe a culture that thinks it's cute to allow children as young as 8 years to have fun with an Uzi?

Our culture is so saturated in guns and in the belief in an unrestrained, unrestricted 2nd Amendment that we've come to accept as normal children, CHILDREN, having access to submachine guns as a wholesome and fun thing to do. 

I have yet to hear one reason from a rational person on why we allow this colossal stupidity, yet the only reaction to this gross idiocy will be to shake our heads then wait for the next stomach-turning tragedy involving children and firearms to happen again.  And, dammit, we know it will as sure as we know the NRA's thug leadership will bully our congressional leaders into doing nothing.

And speaking of the criminal leadership of the NRA, it reacted as we all knew it would with a flippant tweet just after the 9-year old girl accidentally shot and killed her instructor.  But can we actually label this sort of criminal negligence an accident?  The instructor was ex-military. He would have known the perils of a kick-back when a 60 pound child pulls the trigger on an automatic weapon such as an Uzi. We'll never know what he was thinking, because his life is over, and the poor child who shot him dead has to live with the horror of that day for the rest of her life.   I call that child abuse.


The shooting range owner and her parents, and everyone else who does not see this as insane, need to have some deep psychological counseling to help them find out why their normal human instinct to protect innocent and vulnerable children failed them.  They need to find out why their love of automatic weapons overrode what most humans would consider common sense:  i.e., not letting children near submachine guns as a form of play!

Just another day in gun-stupid America!

From Mother Jones:

How hard is it to handle one of these guns? 

Quartz's Gwynn Guilford did the math: With the average American nine-year-old girl weighing about 60 pounds, and the average Uzi weighing seven to nine pounds, "That would be roughly equal to a 40-year-old man firing a 25-pound gun like, say, the Hotchkiss M1909 used in trench warfare in World Wars I and II—a weapon so heavy it sat on a tripod." (Ironically, the Uzi is designed to be relatively light in the hands of an adult, which can also make handling its powerful recoil more tricky.)

The shooting range's manager said that the girl's parents had signed waivers and understood the range's rules. Still, he told the Associated Press, "I have regret we let this child shoot, and I have regret that [Vacca] was killed in the incident."

Has anything like this happened before and what might it mean for the national gun debate? 

Sadly, this tragedy is not the first of its kind. An eight-year-old Massachusetts boy died at a gun show in 2008, when an Uzi he was firing at pumpkins kicked back and he shot himself in the head. The former police chief who organized the show and provided the child with the weapon was acquitted of involuntary manslaughter. That incident did have one positive outcome, in Cutilletta's view: It inspired neighboring Connecticut to pass a law banning anyone under 16 from using a machine gun at a shooting range.

Demented Gun Culture

GOP STUDY ON WOMEN'S ISSUES: "STUCK IN THE PAST" and "INTOLERANT"

Hey ladies!  Would you like to go back to the 1950s of your mothers' and grandmothers' era when:

1)  professional jobs were still largely closed off to women and it was not unusual for companies to have a written policy that stated that women should be paid less than men?

2)  in many states women's property rights were still restricted. In some states women could not make contracts, including wills. They also could not sell property and in many cases they could not control their own earnings. All of these were the legal right of the woman's husband or father;

3)  in almost every state, men had the right to have sex with their wife any time they wanted to, with or without her consent. There was, in other words, no such thing as rape if a couple was married, and any form of birth control was still illegal in many places. The combination of these two meant that a woman was almost legally obligated to have children if her husband wanted them.


 Women were not much better off than the women in today's Muslim countries who are subject to repressive religious rules made by men.  American women are far better off today because of PROGRESSIVE/LIBERAL policies that gave them autonomy over their finances, careers, and reproductive rights.

That leads us to this report on what women think of GOP and how that political party sees them:


Women Don't Think The GOP Cares About Them, Internal Report Confirms


A new internal Republican report confirmed that women are not fans of the GOP, and Republicans have more work to do if they want the female vote. 

 The report, which was obtained by Politico, found that although Republicans have tried to improve outreach to female voters, women still believe the party is "stuck in the past" and "intolerant." 

Forty-nine percent of women polled for the report looked on the GOP unfavorably. Only 39 percent felt that way about the Democratic Party. 

The study was commissioned by two conservative groups: Karl Rove's Crossroads GPS and the American Action Network. It offered a stark picture of how women view the Republican Party as a whole. 

Women are "barely receptive" to the party's policy proposals, the report said, in part because Republicans "fail to speak to women in the different circumstances in which they live."

All one has to do is witness how brutally the conservatives treated Sandra Fluke to understand how a majority of women reject their ideology where it concerns their well-being and their issues. Change has to come in the GOP if they want women's votes.  But it will be a difficult job as long as the GOP continues to elect the sort of men who believe a woman's place is in an apron with a mop in her hand.

President Obama: America does not forget.

The American Legion cheers Mr. Obama.  They know the brutality of war.






President Obama speaks to The American  Legion’s 96th convention in Charlotte:


The reception that the president received at the American Legion is interesting when contrasted with the Republican reaction to Obama’s foreign policy. The people who know the horrors of war most intimately are the ones who are supporting a policy of not sending ground troops back to Iraq. 

There is a reason why the president’s pledge not to send ground troops back in draws applause from each audience that it is delivered to. The American people are tired of war, specifically war in the Middle East. 

Republicans and their media lapdogs have been labeling President Obama’s foreign policy a failure, but judged by the criteria of what the majority of Americans say they want, it has been a success. Most people wanted the troops out of Iraq and Afghanistan. This is exactly what Obama has done. 

The Republican definition of foreign policy success is a continuation of George W. Bush’s all war all of the time view of the world. Republicans are still trying to vindicate the invasion of Iraq. 

Their claim of Obama foreign policy failure is flavored with a refusal to admit their own failures and defeats. It is telling that those who have a personal understanding of war cheered President Obama’s foreign policy.

White Opinions Bingo: Ferguson Edition

via Squatlo Rant

 And let's bury this dumb GOP meme that Mr. Obama is the vacation president:

PRESIDENTIAL GOLFING:

New Gun Legislation Signed by Massachusetts Governor Patrick

The events in Ferguson, Missouri, and the Middle East took precedent over this important piece of legislation that Governor Patrick signed two weeks ago.  

Good for him and good for Massachusetts.





Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick signs gun bill into law saying, 'It's a good bill, an important bill'



BOSTON - Gov. Deval Patrick signed into law on Wednesday a bill reforming the state's gun laws, with provisions focused on school safety, mental health, background checks and enhanced criminal penalties for gun crimes.

"This bill was more complicated ... more difficult, more challenging than many of us thought, but it's a good bill, an important bill, an important step forward, and it reflects a truth that we all ... have a stake in safe neighborhoods," Patrick, a Democrat, said during a signing ceremony.

"In very sensible ways and in compromise, this bill helps us all toward that goal." The bill was the result of a lengthy process. After a 2012 mass school shooting in Newtown, Conn., state lawmakers filed 60 bills related to gun violence. A task force held hearings around the state then made recommendations to the legislature, where House Speaker Robert DeLeo, a Winthrop Democrat, proposed a comprehensive gun violence bill.

 DeLeo's bill was opposed by gun rights opponents and went through multiple revisions before the House and Senate finally reached an agreement. The bill passed on the last night of the legislative session. The final compromise was over whether to give local police chiefs discretion when issuing firearms identification cards, which are required to buy a shotgun or rifle.

Until now, the police chiefs only had that discretion for licensing handguns. The new law allows police chiefs to go to court and petition a judge to find a license applicant unsuitable.

STATES WITH THE MOST DEATHS BY FIREARMS

(per capita) 

1)  Louisiana
2)   Mississipi
3)   Alaska
4)   Wyoming
5)   Oklahoma
6)   Montana
7)   Arkansas
8)   Alabama
9)   New Mexico
10) South Carolina 

 STATES WITH THE LEAST DEATHS BY FIREARMS 

 (per capita)

1)   Rhode Island
2)   Hawaii
3)   Massachusetts
4)   New York
5)   New Jersey
6)   Connecticut
7)   New Hampshire
8)   Iowa
9)   Minnesota
10) Wisconsin

 Meanwhile, this is a disgrace!

Sunday Night Poetry

Nude With Oranges

She walks into a room of titian walls,
Peels off her silky wrap. Her marigolds
Have dropped their petals on a rusted pail.
An oriole distracts her from the fruit

She’s peeled and sectioned on a copper plate.
Perhaps Château d’Amboise is where she found
Cezanne, or was it Soto’s lines that made
Her dream of coral flames in citrus trees?

The pumpkin of her rug, her marmalade
Cat have carroted the room, and yet she’s
Sick with longing for a salmon moon to
Fill this evening’s sunny melancholy.

Alone, unclothed upon her ocher couch
She wonders if the dimpled fruit’s too much.

                                                             --S.K.

Reclining Nude With Oranges by Rose Henry

Sunday Science Blog

How Do We See Color? 

 Stephanie Pappas, Live Science 

"Roses are red and violets are blue, but we only know that thanks to specialized cells in our eyes called cones. When light hits an object – say, a banana – the object absorbs some of the light and reflects the rest of it. Which wavelengths are reflected or absorbed depends on the properties of the object. 

 For a ripe banana, wavelengths of about 570 to 580 nanometers bounce back. These are the wavelengths of yellow light. When you look at a banana, the wavelengths of reflected light determine what color you see.  The light waves reflect off the banana's peel and hit the light-sensitive retina at the back of your eye. That's where cones come in. 

Cones are one type of photoreceptor, the tiny cells in the retina that respond to light. Most of us have 6 to 7 million cones, and almost all of them are concentrated on a 0.3 millimeter spot on the retina called the fovea centralis."

MORE...

Anonymous: An Assassin Among Us by (O)CT(O)PUS of The Swash Zone

By (O)CT(O)PUS

Let’s face it.  There are times when the blogosphere resembles a war zone.  Anonymous trolls, predators, stalkers, and comment assassins – they pop up sight unseen like whack-a-moles.  Some merely argue in bad faith; some rise to the level of road rage; others leave behind taunts and menacing comments. Some incidents are more memorable – meaning more disturbed and disturbing – than others. For over a year, a persistent predator has been stalking this community.

Years ago, I recall, another predatory troll visited my email box early one morning on Christmas Day. On a holiday celebrated by millions of families, here was one lone predator with malice on his mind.  How strange (and troubling), I thought.  After reporting this incident - among others - to law enforcement, the stalking ceased.

What are the signs and symptoms of a truly disturbed personality behind the anonymous moniker? Momentary outbursts of bad temper do not qualify as disturbed behavior. At various times, all of us have strong viewpoints and our moments.

The signature trait of disturbed behavior is simply this:  a pervasive, pernicious, and long-term pattern of predatory behaviors that rise to the level of obsession.  The predator who stalks this community meets these criteria. Consider the frequency and level of vitriol in comments received within the last 24 hours alone (edited for brevity):

6:59 PM, August 18, 2014:  “Not with all the Jew haters on here, smells like shit, group shit” 

7:48 PM, August 19, 2014:  “You are no liberal defender of civil rights when you help protect and hide antisemitism. You censer those ideas differ from yours and claim it was the troll aspects, or insults that you objected to, yet you allow your buddies to call names to anyone who differs from your thinking, and then you all have a good laugh. What a hypocritical jackass.” 

7:51 PM, August 19, 2014:  “I've seen Octo on the blogs for years. He is one of the biggest trolls and intentional instigators of blog disruption I've ever read. What a fucking hypocrite he is.” 

7:58 PM, August 19, 2014:  “To bad you have to lie to make your false points, but it does show your shit character, just as protecting your antisemite buddy does. Yes, your antisemite buddy, documented as such on Shaw's blog, yet you both protect him. Fuck you asshole”

For over a year, my Spam Box has filled with messages like these, presumably from the same anonymous commenter who stalks one of our readers across Cyberspace and accuses him of anti-Semitism.

Is subject reader, in the crosshairs of subject troll, really an anti-Semite?  The accusations are delusional and irrational – as manifest in all obsessive-compulsive behaviors of this type:

Recurrent and persistent thoughts and impulses that are experienced as intrusive and inappropriate and cause marked anxiety or distress;

Thoughts, impulses, or images are not simply excessive worries about real-life problems;

With poor insight: For most of the time, the person does not recognize that the obsessions and compulsions are excessive or unreasonable.

In these email missives, the anonymous stalker never offers a single citation -  no links, no quotes, not one shred of evidence, nothing!

The Internet should never be used as a medium for character assassination or as a venue for holding Kangaroo Court.  Even more offensive is when a nameless, faceless person levels unfounded accusations while hiding behind a mask as an anonymous stalker. When the accused never even has a chance to face his accuser, this is the most gutless, cowardly, and unethical act of all.

CNN Reported That Officer Wilson DID NOT Suffer An Injury To His Eye Socket

From Mediaite:

 "Earlier this week, Fox News reported that Darren Wilson, the Ferguson police officer who shot and killed 18-year-old unarmed Michael Brown, suffered a fractured eye socket following his confrontation with the teenager. The reporter, Hollie McKay, cited a “source close to the [police] department’s top brass” as providing that information to the network.

 However, on CNN Thursday, Don Lemon reported that Wilson did not suffer a fractured or broken eye socket and was rather treated at the hospital for swelling around his face and eyes. Noting that that specific injury has not been reported by CNN, “but is making its way around other media organization,” Lemon cited a “source close to the investigation” who told CNN that Wilson’s x-rays came back negative for a fractured eye socket.

 “That source says it is not true, at all, he did not have a torn eye socket,” Lemon said.

“Unequivocally.” Following Lemon’s report, Nancy Grace offered up her official position on the matter: “I really don’t know if we’re going to know what any of this is, or the truth of it, until it comes out in court.”


Good ole' FAUX NOOZ fulfilling its duty to keep as many people misinformed and agitated about wrong information as it possibly can.  Who watches this despicable cable "news" station?




No incident report was filed by the Ferguson Police Department, a standard operating procedure in cases like this, but here is why. 

It is instructive, however, to see how quickly certain people jumped on this rumor about a fractured eye socket  and spread it around the internet as though it were factual:


From Gateway Pundit, Jim Hoft (aka "The Stupidest Man On The Internet"):


Posted by Jim Hoft on Tuesday, August 19, 2014, 10:00 AM 

 The Gateway Pundit can now confirm from two local St. Louis sources that police Officer Darren Wilson suffered facial fractures during his confrontation with deceased 18 year-old Michael Brown. Officer Wilson clearly feared for his life during the incident that led to the shooting death of Brown. This was after Michael Brown and his accomplice Dorian Johnson robbed a local Ferguson convenience store.

More inaccurate reporting on rumor from the conservative blogsphere:

CONFIRMED: Officer Darren Wilson Badly Beaten Before Mike Brown Shooting – Punched In Face, Broken Eye Socket: “He was beaten very severely”…


On that particular site above, people reading it are urged to be more like Andrew Breitbart, y'know, the guy who used lies, smears, and slander as tools in his reporting on controversies. So, yes, that blog is certainly living up to what Breitbart stood for.

All we know to date is that Michael Brown was shot 6 times, 2 of which were in his head, that Officer Darren Wilson is the policeman who shot Brown, and that Officer Wilson did not suffer a fracture to his orbital eye socket (if we can believe CNN.)

As a counter to the scolding and mockery Johnathan Gentry hurled at the people of Ferguson, Missouri, I offer this from Arianna Huffington of Th Huffington Post:


"That rallying spirit of coming together went beyond Ferguson. The Wisconsin Hope Lab helped secure college scholarships for the three siblings of Michael Brown. And since the first day of school for Ferguson kids has been moved back several days -- along with the lunches many of them depend on -- Raleigh, North Carolina, teacher Julianna Mendelsohn, in collaboration with a food bank in St. Louis, took to Fundly to raise money to fill in the food gap. 

And there were hundreds more expressions of the better angels of our nature, a sample of them captured by our reporters on Twitter: Ferguson residents helping clean up; giving out diapers and children's books; handing out water, cookies and juice; setting up a food station for the protesters; giving the protesters free pizza; helping protesters hit with tear gas; letting strangers stay in their homes; lending a cellphone so someone could call his mother; handing out free lunches to anyone in the community -- including the police; giving free coffee and wifi to members of the press covering the story; and protecting a store from being looted. 

 It's all part of a larger picture of Ferguson that hasn't been very much in evidence in the media. But for Ferguson committeewoman Patricia Bynes it's not unexpected. "I'm not surprised because I live here, and I know that we have great people here," she told HuffPost. "So during times like this, this is when those people just step up and just fill the need."

A Diatribe Against The Black Community By Johnathan Gentry

This video by Johnathan Gentry has gone viral in the conservative blog sphere, and it appears that for people who think it is a righteous answer to those who sympathize with the people of Ferguson, Missouri,  I would point out a glaring problem about half way through Mr. Gentry's rant. If you don't pay close attention, you'd almost miss it.  You can hear it around 3:19.








And what does Mr. Gentry say that belies his scolding and mockery of the black community?

This is what he freely admits in the video:

"I'm young and black and drive a brand new BMW and live in the Valley.  How many encounters have I had with th police? MANY!  How many times has it got out of ontrol?  NONE! NONE!  NONE!  So I wanna debunk that myth about us getting mistreated..."

Neither Mr. Gentry nor the people who are using this video to shame the African-American community for protesting what happened in Ferguson, Missouri, are bothered by what Mr. Gentry himself admitted:  that the police stopped him MANY TIMES while he, a law-abiding nice guy, drove around in his brand new BMW. 

Presumably Mr Gentry is unaware of this irony because driving while black is so common and so unremarkable that even he is used to and accepts the insulting harassment.

I have a husband, son, nephews, male cousins, sons-in-law, and brothers-in-law just as upstanding as the young man in the video is, and they have NOT been stopped by the police MANY TIMES, (while driving white in their new expensive cars) as this young man admits. And that is quite an admission by him -- one he conveniently glosses over so he can impress people with how nice he is to the police who have mistreated him by stopping him "many times."  (He never explains why he was stopped so often.)


The irony in Mr Gentry's admission while berating his own community is thick and sad and depressing.

Meanwhile the conservatives on FAUX NOOZ and in the blog sphere have found a new hero, a guy who is blind to his own mistreatment and rants about reactions to injustice while ignoring its causes.

Mr. Gentry also ignores the fact that the black community has come together many times to stop the violence and does care very much about crime within its communities. Mr. Gentry is just unaware of all this because it is easier to deal in histrionics and mock and blame your fellow citizens than it is to try to understand.

The video solves nothing, but it certainly makes a lot of people feel self-satisfied because Mr. Gentry told them that their own ideas and prejudices about African-Americans are justified and correct.

Poor Mr. Gentry.   He should look up the word "irony" and be more careful the next time he mocks a community in pain.