Donald Trump: Vulgar, Sensational and Buffoonish

Rational Nation USA has a post up on this article in The New Yorker by David Denby


The last paragraph of the article perfectly sums up Trump and why he's been so effective with the people who support him:



He lies all the time. But pointing out his lies, his contradictions, his illogical ideas, his nonsensical solutions—pointing out all of that, while noble and necessary work, is partly beside the point. 

Trump’s entire world picture, as he presents it to his voters, is an elaborate fiction—coherent in itself, like all such extreme fantasies, and therefore emotionally satisfying, but never required, either by Trump or by his audience, to meet the test of factuality and actuality. When he says that the country is in “terrible shape,” his listeners need only feel that their own situation is terrible to agree with him. 

In a similar way, the harrumphing attacks on him by such establishment Republicans as Jeb Bush, Tom Ridge, and Dick Cheney also miss the point. Those men are appealing to some common standard of allowable political discourse that Trump and his followers consider mere evasion. The movement’s standard of allowable behavior has been formed by popular culture—by standup comedy and, recently, by reality TV and by the snarking, trolling habits of the Internet. 

You can’t effectively say that Donald Trump is vulgar, sensational, and buffoonish when it’s exactly vulgar sensationalism and buffoonery that his audience is buying. Donald Trump has been produced by America, but I refuse to say, as some have, that he’s the demagogue that we deserve. 

He’s the demagogue the Republican Party deserves. The rest of us, including some Republicans, will resist him by holding on to whatever humanity and common sense we can command.

If Trump has "opened the windows" as some people believe, he's opened them to let out his toxic fumes of bigotry, racism, sexism, nativism, and all the other isms to stink up and pollute the common values our Founding Fathers gifted us in the Constitution. 

The angry, unhappy people who support him mistake vulgarity for plain speaking and bombastic bigotry for making America great again.  The only good thing that has come out of his deplorable candidacy is that we now know how many of his supporters there are who would sell out the ideals and values this country stands for for the cheap thrill of having a loud-mouth, short-fingered vulgarian speak for them.

Wednesday is Trump Hump Day

Two Americas:

Jonathan Chait: 

"It is hard to find any important accomplishment in history that completely solved a problem. The Emancipation Proclamation only temporarily and partially ended slavery; the 13th Amendment was required to abolish it permanently, and even that left many former slaves in a state of terrorized peonage closely resembling their former bondage. The Lend-Lease Act alone did not ensure Great Britain would survive against Nazi Germany; the Normandy invasion did not ensure the liberation of Europe. 

Victories are hardly ever immediate or complete. The fight continues and history marches on. 

The climate agreement in Paris should take its place as one of the great triumphs in history."

Trump:  The incomparable LIAR:

Donald J. Trump’s record on truth and accuracy is astonishingly poor. 

So far, we’ve fact-checked more than 70 Trump statements and rated fully three-quarters of them as Mostly False, False or “Pants on Fire” (we reserve this last designation for a claim that is not only inaccurate but also ridiculous). 

We haven’t checked the former neurosurgeon Ben Carson as often as Mr. Trump, but by the percentages Mr. Carson actually fares worse. 

 Carly Fiorina, another candidate in the Republican race who’s never held elective office, does slightly better on the Truth-O-Meter (which I sometimes feel the need to remind people is not an actual scientific instrument): 

Half of the statements we’ve checked have proved Mostly False or worse. Most of the professional politicians we fact-check don’t reach these depths of inaccuracy. They tend to choose their words more carefully.

Ron FournierVerified account‏@ron_fournier

My big question for GOP field: Why didn't more candidates join Bush and Graham in exposing Trump as a bigot and blow hard? Cowards

The Paris Climate Deal Is President Obama’s Biggest Accomplishment

Left behind? That's the Tea Party GOP on Climate Change -- Global Warming.


It would be comical if the subject weren't so critical. 

The intransigent Tea Party GOP is isolated in its stubborn refusal to acknowledge climate change and global warming. 

Idiots who trot out photos of cold winters as "proof" that there is no global warming are showing off their willful ignorance on what the rest of the world and an overwhelming majority of climate scientists and NASA know.   

But those stubborn climate change deniers believe in tribalism more than they believe in facts and evidence. They actually tell themselves that they know more than NASA and other experts who've been studying this subject for years.  

They'll be left behind and will be remembered in the same way as those who denied that the internal combustion engine would replace the horse and buggy: 

LEFT BEHIND while the rest of the world went forward. 


From CNN:


History is littered with examples of thought leaders who did not embrace coming technological shifts. The consequence was simple: You get left behind and become less and less relevant. [...] According to financial analysts such as Citibank, Goldman Sachs, Deutsche Bank, HSBC, Bernstein Research, and leading investors, it's now very obvious: Creative destruction will inevitably flow through the energy economy in the coming decade, and innovation in renewables will do to coal and oil what cars did to the horse and carriage industry, what digital cameras did to Kodak, PCs to IBM, mobile phones to fixed-line telecoms, Amazon to bookstores and Netflix to Blockbuster.

 Republicans run a huge risk of being associated too closely with the old order, just as the IBM board did when it placed its faith in central mainframes. The psychology of such decision-making is well known. It arises from overconfidence in one's own position and something that psychologists refer to as confirmation bias: the tendency to gravitate toward facts that support one's existing viewpoint and ignore those that don't.



But Jay Bookman at The Atlanta Journal Constitution: 

But hey, maybe all that data are mere coincidence and the Republicans are right. Maybe the governments of more than 190 countries are wrong, and the Republicans are right. Maybe the overwhelming majority of climate scientists are wrong, and the Republicans are right. Maybe the folks at ExxonMobil and BP and other major oil companies are wrong, and the Republicans are right. 

Maybe earlier generations of Republicans that proposed to address the threat of manmade climate change were wrong, and the modern GOP with its cult-like insistence on ideological conformity is right. Maybe. 

But I don’t want to bet the planet I leave to my children and grandchildren on that unlikely event.


Here are some global warming -- climate change myths that the Tea Party ignorants trot out each time they pretend to argue with facts:

Global Warming and Climate Change Myths

This is just one area from an MIT study that addresses climate change. It is a detailed report on just one area of climate change -- global warming.  And it is a far more intelligent approach than throwing a snowball in the U.S. Senate or publishing an image of a snow storm in winter as an argument against facts.


Biogeochemistry of Greenhouse Gases and Reflective Aerosols



Plus this (which will really make climate change -- global warming deniers' heads explode): 


 Al Gore's film was "broadly accurate" according to an expert witness called when an attempt was made through the courts to prevent the film being shown in schools.

Would Donald Trump let this Jesus into the U.S.?

Would the anti-Middle Eastern hysterics of the usual fright wing news sites and blogs?

British scientists claim that this is the face of Jesus:

This is what Jesus looked like.

In order to create an accurate portrait of Jesus, the first step was to acquire skulls from near Jerusalem, the region where Jesus lived and preached, While this field of science, “forensic anthropology” is usually used to solve crimes, Richard Neave, a medical artist retired from the University of Manchester in England, realized it also could shed light on the appearance of Jesus.


Jesus may be shown as a Caucasian man with long, flowing, often blonde hair in many religious artworks, but Jesus would have likely had a darker complexion and short, curly hair, as [Neave] claims. Retired medical artist Neave has recreated the face of 'Jesus' by studying Semite skulls using modern-day forensic techniques. His portrait shows thaty [Jesus] may have had a wide face, dark eyes, a bushy beard and short curly hair, as well as a tanned complexion.

[skip]


Without a skeleton or remains that can be categorically confirmed as Jesus, and a lack of physical descriptions in the New Testament, many previous images have been based either on the society in which the painter or sculptor lived or hearsay. 

It's highly improbable that Jesus looked like this:

But it's highly probable, given today's anti-Middle Eastern racism running through the TGOP and other parts of American society, that the anthropologists' forensic version of what Jesus looked like, a dark-skinned, dark bearded Middle Easterner, would get him kicked off a flight to the U.S. from the Middle East and put on a "no-fly" list.

The Real Face Of Jesus

Native Americans, Africans, the Irish, Italians, Asians, Hispanics, Arabs: Same as it ever was.

American history:

From a newspaper article, Boston, Mass.:

by Anthony Petrosino

For those who now consider Itailian-Americans "white"--understand it wasn't always so. The largest mass lynching in U.S. history took place in New Orleans in 1891 — and the victims were Italian-Americans. What was the reaction of our country's leaders to these lynchings? Teddy Roosevelt, not yet president, famously said it was "a rather good thing." The response in The New York Times on March 16, 1891 referred to the victims of the lynchings as "... sneaking and cowardly Sicilians, the descendants of bandits and assassins." 

An editorial the next day argued that: "Lynch law was the only course open to the people of New Orleans. ..." John Parker, who helped organize the lynch mob, later went on to be governor of Louisiana. In 1911, he said of Italians that they were "just a little worse than the Negro, being if anything filthier in [their] habits, lawless, and treacherous."



THE STORY OF THE WORST SINGLE LYNCHING IN U.S. HISTORY

"When it was all over, 11 men who had not been found guilty of any crime were dead. Those responsible for the deaths proclaimed their action was a success and justice had been done. The city's business community and the daily newspapers supported the lynchings. A survey showed that 42 of the nation's newspapers approved of the action, while 58 disapproved. A grand jury indicated that if there was guilt, it was shared by the entire mob, estimated at between 6,000 and 8,000 people."




Racism against Native Americans


The Negro Holocaust: Lynching and Race Riots in the United States,1880-1950

Anti-Irish Racism in the United States

The Darkest anti-Semitic Period in U.S. History

Anti-Chinese Movement and Chinese Exclusion

Anti-Japanese Sentiment and Japanese Internment


Hispanics Face Most Discrimination In U.S. (POLL) 


Donald Trump's Anti-Muslim Rhetoric Will Live in Infamy in American History

Same as it ever was.

Takin' a break...

from the horror that is the neo-fascist, Donald J. Trump:

Trump Supporters

Every time we think Trump has hit rock bottom, the tycoon breaks out the jackhammer and keeps going. The only thing more alarming than The Donald? His supporters.





Storm Front, Aryan Nation, Neo-Nazis and other assorted bigots and racists, and let's not forget those Americans who believe neo-fascist Trump would make our country great again.  They're all in for this guy who appeals to the very worst in human nature. So is it surprising to discover who the human beings are who are enthralled with him?


The Post-Star editorial board: 

 Donald Trump has stepped over the line that separates politics and morality, and that doesn’t happen very often. [...] We as citizens need to face up to the enemy. Right now, you can make a good case it is Donald Trump. 

David Ignatius: 

 But the judgment of history should matter to other Republicans. Historians will look harshly on those who, for reasons of cowardice or opportunism, kept silent when Trump’s tirades put our constitutional values and the safety of Americans at risk — not to mention the political future of the GOP. [...] 

 How will history judge other prominent Republicans who have been onlookers and even cheerleaders as the Trump car wreck has ensued? Can Sen. Ted Cruz (Tex.) really continue to waffle on anti-Muslim statements? Is this former Supreme Court law clerk really so clueless about the Constitution? How about Sen. Marco Rubio (Fla.)? Does he have the backbone to take on the demagogue? All we can say is that historical reputations will be made and lost over the next few weeks.

TRUMP SUPPORTERS, THE DREGS OF AMERICAN SOCIETY

AMERICA'S SYMBOL ATTACKS THE TRUMPHALUMPUS!

Neo-Fascist Trump...

appeals to the very worst in human nature, and the Muslim neurologist appeals to the very best in us all.

Dr. Faisal Qazi is the embodiment of everything good America stands for.

Donald Trump?  Not so much. Actually, not much at all. 

And yet his supporters stay with this neo-fascist and his hateful ideas.

Bravo! Dr. Faisal Qazi.  

Meanwhile, neo-fascist Trump is piling up more heads of state telling him "Thanks but no thanks, we can do without your sort of hateful rhetoric. Save it for your own kind -- your supporters."



Trump isn't going to Israel, he's postponing his trip until he becomes the POTUS.  Yeah. Right, Donald. We get it:



Trump Cancels Netanyahu Meeting After Israeli PM Denounces Muslim Ban




English Petition to Ban Trump Now Stands at 370,000 and Counting





Another country telling Trump how they feel about his rot:

Trump stripped of his role as a Scottish business ambassador by Nicola Sturgeon after she says 'obnoxious and offensive' presidential candidate is 'no longer fit' for the post .

Wednesday is Trump Hump Day

Where Donald Trump does business in Muslim countries, in 1 map


There is one clear downside to Donald Trump's desire to bar all Muslims from entering the United States: A lot of his company's meetings with its business partners will need to be held overseas. The extensive conglomeration of businesses that bear the Trump name — either because of his active involvement or thanks to one of his lucrative branding deals — spans the world. 

The sun may never have set on the British Empire, but on the rare occasions it sets in the empire of Trump, guests who are watching enjoy the classiest views and most luxurious cocktails. And that holds true for Trump's customers in the heavily Muslim countries of Indonesia, Turkey, Qatar, Dubai, the United Arab Emirates and even Azerbaijan. Multiple golf courses, hotels and housing projects bear the Trump name in those countries, as do consumer products in stores dotting the Arabian peninsula.

Trump to CNN: 'I love the Muslims' 

Would neo-fascist Trump ban his many Muslim friends and business associates from coming into the U.S.? Or does he want to ban just yours and mine, because his are the Good-for-Business Muslims and ours are just regular Muslims? Inquiring minds want to know. 

And don't forget -- the Trumper is going to show China and Mexico how tough he is on taking back our jobs, just as soon as he stops manufacturing his clothing lines in China and Mexico.




In Israel, Haaretz Columnist Chemi Shalev said she is sickened by the support Donald Trump is receiving by some of the American public, and this kind of hate speech poignantly familiar with many Jews. 

 “For some Jews, the sight of thousands of supporters waving their fists in anger as Trump incited against Muslims and urged a blanket ban on their entry to the United States could have evoked associations with beer halls in Munich a century ago”

I don't care anymore if it hurts neo-fascist Trump supporters' tender feelings when we read and report that his most ardent followers are mostly undereducated and racist. Read about this, and look at the charts in the link below. The stupidest of The Stupid Party are Trump's biggest supporters:

Donald Trump’s surge is all about less-educated Americans 

The guy's a real artist when it comes to bullshitting his followers. 

No really. Neo-fascist Trump should be given a MacArthur award and live out the rest of his repulsive life showing people how to be the world's most talented manure spreader.  
 

Neo-Fascist, Donald Trump, Calls for Total Ban on Muslims Entering the U.S., Including U.S. Citizens Returning From Abroad

Donald J. Trump, Neo-Fascist

Trump Calls For Total Ban On Muslims Entering The U.S.



I've made a decision to call him what he is, a Neo-Fascist and a danger to everything America stands for.


Neo-Fascist Trump calls for banning ALL Muslims entering the country, even Americans who have traveled abroad and are returning to their homeland, even Muslim-Americans serving in our armed forces -- Muslims who put their lives on the line to protect us.





This Neo-Nazi Response To Donald Trump's Anti-Muslim Plan Says It All



"Heil Donald Trump - THE ULTIMATE SAVIOR."

That's what Andrew Anglin, publisher of the neo-Nazi website Daily Stormer, had to say in response to Republican presidential hopeful Donald Trump's call for a "total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States."

 "Finally: someone speaks sense," Anglin wrote, pasting Trump's new proposal under the headline

"Glorious Leader Calls For Complete Ban on All Moslems."

"Make America White Again!" his post concludes.

Anglin is not new to the white supremacy scene. In 2012, he launched a website called Total Fascism, where he also wrote about racist concepts, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center's Hatewatch blog. Earlier this year,

The Daily Stormer endorsed Trump for president.

A number of other white supremacist groups have also thrown their support behind the billionaire reality TV star's candidacy.

On Monday, Trump released a proposal on his website calling for a ban on Muslims entering the U.S. and including American Muslim citizens who have traveled abroad and wish to return home to America.

The idea was quickly condemned by Democratic presidential candidates and others. The proposal, via Trump's website:

Donald J. Trump is calling for a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States until our country's representatives can figure out what is going on. According to Pew Research, among others, there is great hatred towards Americans by large segments of the Muslim population. Most recently, a poll from the Center for Security Policy released data showing "25% of those polled agreed that violence against Americans here in the United States is justified as a part of the global jihad" and 51% of those polled, "agreed that Muslims in America should have the choice of being governed according to Shariah." Shariah authorizes such atrocities as murder against non-believers who won't convert, beheadings and more unthinkable acts that pose great harm to Americans, especially women. 

Mr. Trump stated, "Without looking at the various polling data, it is obvious to anybody the hatred is beyond comprehension. Where this hatred comes from and why we will have to determine. Until we are able to determine and understand this problem and the dangerous threat it poses, our country cannot be the victims of horrendous attacks by people that believe only in Jihad, and have no sense of reason or respect for human life. If I win the election for President, we are going to Make America Great Again." - Donald J. Trump

I'm not surprised to hear Trump demagoguing this fascistic proposal to the cheers and enthusiastic approval of his audience in South Carolina.

For months I've read on the usual far right blogs terms like "vermin" when referring to all Muslims and calls for deporting all Muslims, even Americans who are Muslims. So Trump's admirers, those who have been promoting this fascism, will eagerly endorse Trump in his latest insult to America and her Constitution.

Fear does awful things to people. It's obvious in this instance that it has made Trump and his supporters lose their collective sanity.

Donald Trump is a neo-fascist.  He's not going to make America great again; he's on a mission to make America into Germany, 1930, again.

More on Trump at The Swash Zone

Here's what a real American and a real leader has to say about Muslims:

"It is our responsibility to reject religious tests on who we admit into this country. It's our responsibility to reject proposals that Muslim Americans should somehow be treated differently. Because when we travel down that road, we lose. That kind of divisiveness, that betrayal of our values plays into the hands of groups like ISIL. Muslim Americans are our friends and our neighbors, our co-workers, our sports heroes -- and, yes, they are our men and women in uniform who are willing to die in defense of our country. We have to remember that."  --President Barack Hussein Obama 



And here's why Governor Charlie Baker, a sane Republican, is so popular in liberal Massachusetts. Unlike other Republicans, he's not afraid to speak out against Trump's fascism. 

Massachusetts Leads the Nation

10 Best (and Worst) States To Live In:


Best States To Live In:

1.   Massachusetts
2.   Connecticut
3.   New Hampshire
4.   New Jersey
5.   Minnesota
6.   Colorado
7.   Maryland
8.   Vermont
9.   Hawaii
10. Virginia






Massachusetts, home to one of the nation’s wealthiest and most highly educated populations, leads the nation. 
Thomas C. Frohlich and Michael B. Sauter
24/7 Wall St. 


Life satisfaction in a given state is often based on highly subjective measures — whether the climate is nice, whether friends and family are present, and other factors. While a connection to a place can often be based on intangibles, a good quality of life in a given state is largely predicated upon a few key factors.

The levels of poverty, education, and health can largely capture living conditions in a state, which tend to vary considerably across the country.

24/7 Wall St. reviewed statewide social and economic measures to rank each state’s living conditions. Massachusetts, home to one of the nation’s wealthiest and most highly educated populations, leads the nation.

Mississippi, the poorest state in the country, trails the other 49 states.



As in many of the other best states to live in, Massachusetts residents are quite wealthy. A typical household earns $69,160 each year, the sixth highest annual median household income in the nation. 

Similarly, the state’s poverty rate of 11.6% is one of the lowest in the nation. As in most states with low poverty rates and high incomes, the average Massachusetts resident will enjoy a relatively long life. The life expectancy at birth in Massachusetts is 80.5 years, versus the national life expectancy of 79 years. 

Massachusetts’ nation-leading college attainment rate of 41.2% — it is the only state where more than two in five adults have a bachelor’s degree — is a major driver of the state’s strong economy and high quality of life. 

Students in the state also score well above average on standardized tests. In states with the best living conditions, demand for housing is often very high, which tends to drive up home values. A typical home in Massachusetts is valued at $338,900, well above the national median home value of $181,200.

(Massachusetts isn't even in the top ten highest in taxes states)



A comparison of 2015 tax rates compiled by the Federation of Tax Administrators ranks California as the top taxer with a 12.3 percent rate, unless you make more than $1 million and have to pay 13.3 percent. 

 Each of these states has a personal income tax floor, deductions, exemptions, credits and varying definitions of taxable income that determine what a citizen actually pays. 

The 10 highest income tax states on the FTA's 2012 list were: 

California 13.3% 
Hawaii 11.0% 
Oregon 9.9% 
Minnesota 9.85% 
Iowa 8.98% 
New Jersey 8.97% 
Vermont 8.95% 
District of Columbia 8.95% 
New York 8.82% 
Maine 7.95%

THE INCREDIBLE STUPIDITY OF BEING ERICK ERICKSON

Or as Driftglass so aptly put it:  "Tantrum Throwing Meatbag Throws Tantrum."

Sunday Science Blog

Tiny Real-Life 'Dragon' Makes A Stunning Rare Appearance



Meet the blue dragon — probably among the most beautiful animals on the planet. And he's a sea slug, no less.

The blue glaucus, blue sea slug, blue ocean slug, blue dragon

If you heard about a tiny, funny-looking animal that spends its life floating upside-down on the surface of the Pacific, Atlantic, or Indian Ocean thanks to an air bubble which it swallows and keeps inside its belly, going wherever the currents and the wind take it, you would probably think it was just a harmless creature that likes to relax in the water. But this slender, up-to-3-centimeter-long animal, which is called the blue glaucus, blue sea slug, or blue ocean slug, is not nearly as innocent as it seems. 

The first trick it’s got up its sleeve is a form of camouflage called countershading that protects it from both flying and swimming predators while it floats. The underside of the blue glaucus, which faces upward, is blue, helping it blend into the water’s surface when seen from above, while its back, which faces downward, is a more grayish color, helping it blend into the ocean when seen from below. 

The second tricky feature of the blue glaucus is even more amazing. It feeds on hydrozoans (a group of animals in the same phylum as jellyfish), especially the highly poisonous Portuguese Man-O’-War. Although a sting by a Portuguese Man-O’-War is very painful to a human, the blue glaucus, like some other sea slugs, can swallow its prey’s stinging cells (known as nematocysts) without hurting itself. It may keep itself safe from the poison by releasing protective mucus and by hard barrier-like discs inside its skin.

But the blue glaucus does more than simply protect itself against these stings. It stores the swallowed poison inside the up to 84 finger-like structures or cerata sticking out of its body, and then uses this poison to defend itself against other predators!


Thanks for the link in your email, JB!
















ON ANOTHER SUBJECT:


For those who prefer messages of "Peace on Earth, Goodwill Toward Men," here's a message from a Christian, Jerry Falwell, Jr., who's the head of a Christian University, Liberty U.  

Isn't this just the sort of message Jesus would want his followers to be spreading as they celebrate the coming birthday of the Prince of Peace?:


“It just blows my mind that the president of the United States [says] that the answer to circumstances like that is more gun control,” he said to applause. 

 “If some of those people in that community center had what I have in my back pocket right now …,” he said while being interrupted by louder cheers and clapping. 

“Is it illegal to pull it out? I don’t know,” he said, chuckling. 

“I’ve always thought that if more good people had concealed-carry permits, then we could end those Muslims before they walked in,” he says, the rest of his sentence drowned out by loud applause while he said, “and killed them.” 

The Holy Quran Experiment

Comments?  Thoughts?

h/t Patheos

Congressional Republicans Overwhelmingly Support Selling Firearms to People on the U.S. Terrorist Watch List, As Well As Felons and the Mentally Ill

From today's New York Times editorial:


While the nation suffered through the shock of another bloody massacre, on Thursday every Senate Republican except Mark Kirk of Illinois voted against legislation to prevent people on the F.B.I.’s consolidated terrorist watchlist from purchasing guns or explosives. 

 The measure has been introduced repeatedly since 2007. The Government Accountability Office has documented that over years of congressional blockage, hundreds of suspected terrorists on the watchlist bought guns. 

 Another bill that would have expanded background checks to gun show and online firearms sales to screen out convicted felons and the mentally ill also failed on Thursday. The four Republican senators running for president — Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio, Rand Paul and Lindsey Graham — all turned up to vote against these common-sense measures. 

 “If you need proof that Congress is a hostage to the gun lobby, look no further than today’s vote,” said Senator Dianne Feinstein, who sponsored the terror watchlist measure.



Let that sink in. Every Republican but ONE and every Republican in Congress running for the GOP presidential nomination want people on the U.S. terrorist watch list -- POTENTIAL MASS KILLERS (as well as felons and the mentally unstable) -- to be able to purchase firearms, with no restraints. 

These cowards, and the people who support them, are the same people who never shut up about President Obama being a "secret Muslim," who isn't doing enough to keep the US safe, so therefore he must be on the side of ISIS. But it isn't President Obama who voted to allow people on the terrorist watch list as well as felons and the mentally unstable to own firearms, it is the very people who believe Mr. Obama is siding with the terrorists.

Can someone explain that insanity?

Don't forget, the people who support the GOP are the same whose heads explode whenever a mass shooter turns out to have a Muslim name, or background. 

IMO by supporting the legislators who vote to allow people on the US terrorist watch list, felons, and the mentally ill to freely purchase all the firearms they want is to support more mass murders -- domestic terrorism. 

It doesn't take a brain surgeon to figure that out.



Eugene Robinson at the Washington Post:


The common denominator in mass shootings is the use of firearms. Variables such as political ideology, religious fervor and mental illness are motivating factors, but death comes from the gun. Until our society recognizes that simple truth, the list of place names to which Colorado Springs and San Bernardino were recently added will have no end.


 It's abundantly clear that an overwhelming number Congressional Republicans and a small number of Democrats have no problem with the mass shootings in this country, their useless and phony "thoughts and prayers" notwithstanding.

GOD ISN'T FIXING THIS

Another Mass Shooting in San Bernadino, California

 Latest count:  14 dead and 14 wounded at a special needs facility.


Suspects apprehended: One dead, one or two captured. Unconfirmed.





In the midst of the San Bernardino mass shooting that killed at least 14 people and injured at least 14 more, we have reports of another shooting death. 

This one is at another medical facility, Clinica Hispana, which is a women’s clinic in Houston, Texas. Houston police have confirmed one death but have not confirmed if the dead is a victim or suspect. 

Local ABC13 reported that the Houston police are investigating a shooting death outside of Clinica Hispana: HPD homicide detectives are at the Clinica Hispana at 8410 Fondren. 

A police source says there was a shooting, and two people have been detained. Police have set up a large perimeter in the parking lot of the strip center as they investigate.

Wednesday is Trump Hump Day

"The Blacks Love Me!"

Black Pastor Calls Trump Meeting A 'Get-Played Moment'

"As soon as Donald Trump announced that he'd gained the endorsement of 100 black ministers from across the country on Monday, there were skeptics.

 The claim came just days after the presidential candidate said of an African-American Black Lives Matter protester who was beaten up at a Trump event, "Maybe he deserved to be roughed up."

[skip]

[Senior Pastor Corletta Vaughn of Holy Ghost Cathedral in Detroit]felt the event was, in a way, a setup. "This was a get-played moment," Vaughn said. "Just play the preachers. Put them in the same room, take pictures, and then you can put anything you want, in terms of content, with a picture."





Donald Trump Event With Black Pastors Takes on a Smaller Scale


Last week, Donald Trump’s campaign said the Republican would appear in public on Monday with “a coalition of 100 African-American Evangelical pastors and religious leaders who will endorse the GOP front-runner after a private meeting at Trump Tower” in New York. 

But on Sunday, the campaign canceled the news conference and said the celebrity businessman would instead hold a “private, informational meet and greet” with the religious leaders—some of them televangelists. The campaign didn’t explain why the event was changed. Mr. Trump’s campaign said Monday evening that the two-hour meeting was attended by dozens of clergy members and that he looked forward to meeting with ministers in the future.


Poll disputes Donald Trump claim on black voter support


Quinnipiac University released a national poll [in August] showing that while Trump is leading the Republican Party nationally, he is polling poorly with black Americans in the general election. 

 The poll found: When asked "Would you say that Donald Trump cares about the needs and problems of people like you or not?" 

92% of black people said no. 

52% of black people said Trump does not have strong leadership qualities. 

73% of black people said Trump is not strong or trustworthy. 

79% of black people said they have an unfavorable view of Trump.

Donald Trump is a bigot and a racist

Donald Trump is a liar

When "Pro-Life" Means Pro-Death, by (O)CT(O)PUS of The Swash Zone

(O)CT(O)PUS has a timely post up on The Swash Zone:

WHEN “PRO-LIFE” MEANS PRO DEATH

From The Baltimore Sun:

None of the GOP presidential candidates may have asked for volunteers to attack a Planned Parenthood clinic, but it's not just "left-wing tactics," as Ms. Fiorina alleges, to ask whether there is a connection between such overheated rhetoric and the rise of real threats against an organization that provides legal health care to millions of women. It hardly seems coincidental that Mr. Dear reportedly used the same kind of language to describe Planned Parenthood supposedly trafficking in "baby parts" that the organization's political critics have. But the sad truth is this: Just as tragedies like the Sandy Hook massacre failed to shame Congress into taking up meaningful gun control, this one won't stop Republican hard-liners from pushing for a federal government shutdown over Planned Parenthood funding. Rhetoric trumps reality and, sometimes, tragically becomes it.



One of the Tea Party's leading candidates, Ted Cruz, pals around with and welcomes the endorsement of a man who advocates the murder of doctors who perform a legal medical procedure. 

Cruz considers himself a "godly" man, but he has no problem accepting the endorsement of a man whose rhetoric would influence the unhinged to murder a policeman, a mother of two, and an Iraq war veteran:  

From Media Matters:

"Republican presidential candidate Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) is touting the endorsement of Troy Newman, the president of Operation Rescue and a board member for The Center for Medical Progress (CMP). Newman is one of the country's most notorious anti-choice activists. 

He was a 'driving force' behind CMP's series of misleading videos smearing Planned Parenthood and has a long history of incendiary remarks that include 'praising the killing of abortion doctors' and calling women who have abortions 'murderers.'" 


"I am grateful to receive the endorsement of Troy Newman," Cruz said. "He has served as a voice for the unborn for over 25 years, and works tirelessly every day for the pro-life cause. We need leaders like Troy Newman in this country who will stand up for those who do not have a voice."
Troy Newman calls for the murder of Americans and Ted Cruz welcomes his endorsement:


From Right Wing Watch:

Although he never explains exactly what he thinks the civil punishment for women who have abortions should be, Newman directly calls for the execution of “abortionists” as “convicted murderers” who are bringing God’s judgment on America:  

He explains that the only way to purify the land is through atonement…or the “lawful execution of the murderers, which is commanded by God in Scripture": The innocent blood of the New Covenant in Christ has the power to atone for all the innocent bloodshed from the beginning of time to the end, and to purify the whole earth - the land." 





Emily Bazelon of the New York Times:


"Questioned on Sunday about Dear’s reference to 'no more baby parts,' Cruz cited a claim that Dear was registered to vote as a woman and called him a 'transgendered leftist activist.' 

There’s no more evidence for this characterization than there was for Fiorina’s video claims. But it was handy, in the moment. 

In the past four years, Planned Parenthood’s opponents have concluded they can wage political warfare by creating a swirl of negativity around the organization with extreme rhetoric. The most vitriolic of them have marked off an increasingly narrow space for themselves, embracing the language of brutality and violence while disavowing real violence when it occurs.