Be inspired, America. The Constitution protects the right of a low-information blowhard like Larry Klayman and the wayward souls who rely on him for information to gather across from the White House and call for the government to be overthrown. Not a single skull was cracked.
If only Occupy rallies could’ve been extended the same courtesy.
More: Oligarchs United States of America The Telegraph
Major Study Finds The US Is An Oligarchy
Zachary Davies Boren, The Telegraph
Apr. 16, 2014, 8:16 AM
The U.S. government does not represent the interests of the majority of the country’s citizens, but is instead ruled by those of the rich and powerful, a new study from Princeton and Northwestern Universities has concluded.
The report, “Testing Theories of American Politics: Elites, Interest Groups, and Average Citizens,” used extensive policy data collected between 1981 and 2002 to empirically determine the state of the U.S. political system.
After sifting through nearly 1,800 U.S. policies enacted in that period and comparing them to the expressed preferences of average Americans (50th percentile of income), affluent Americans (90th percentile), and large special interests groups, researchers concluded that the U.S. is dominated by its economic elite.
The peer-reviewed study, which will be taught at these universities in September, says: “The central point that emerges from our research is that economic elites and organized groups representing business interests have substantial independent impacts on US government policy, while mass-based interest groups and average citizens have little or no independent influence.”
“The best one since the first one!”
– Sam Snorde, USA Today
10.
Bill Arnold
What’s with the arrows between “Ft Hood” –> “Fast and Furious” and “Benghazi –> Gun Control”.
Is there a wingnut-theoretical relationship between the the members of each pair?
Also, what’s with the starry flag?
@Amir Khalid: I’m familiar with wingnut dialects. I think it is two signs. One just says treason. The other says “Justice 4 Bengazi (sp) 4”. The only dead people that matter, obviously.
13.
beltane
I’m impressed by their sign. The lettering in most teabagger signs used to look like something from a ransom note, now they have adopted a kind of Russian Futurist note. Despite the aesthetic advancement, however, the spelling issues remain.
Usually the connection alleged is “Fast & Furious -> Gun Control” with the idea being that the Feds deliberately ran a program in which lots of weapons were allowed to flow into criminal hands in order to gin up public outrage so the Obamamonster could outlaw guns.
17.
jewelbomb
While the coverage is interesting, isn’t this a bit dated since it was posted in November of last year? Why are we talking about these kooks now?
18.
shelly
I’m surprised they’ve kept this Benghazi thing up this long
And yet I think if you asked the random teabagger at that rally to explain just what was treasonous about the Benghazi incident, they’d probably sputter incoherently.
********
“Obama misses WH Easter egg roll—-Treason!”
19.
Lurking Canadian
Finally, some common ground. I certainly agree that collecting an armed posse to drive off federal law enforcement constitutes treason! Way to go wingnuts!
Also, and OT, but relevant to the current NewsMax headlines, Dick Morris is a dick.
20.
jl
I see they have some goofballs dressed up in Founding Father costumes.
I wonder which Founders they are playing? Tom Paine, who advocated in social insurance schemes that make the current one in the U.S. look weak, or Franklin, who believed in debauched paper currency, and gummint run services like the U.S. Postal Service (in fact founded it).
Or maybe Madison and Jefferson who fervently believed in gumming run public education.
Or Madison, who was so fervently for separation of church and state that he would probably be unelectable today.
Or maybe Hamilton, a fervent and early RADICAL RACE EQUALIZER.
Or maybe a Jefferson and Hamilton Combo, who would believe that franchise should be easily available and as wide as possible. In fact, Hamilton at the Constitutional Convention said that laws requiring compulsory voting were an appropriate recourse if turnout was too low for elections (though proper frequency and ready access to polls were preferable).
(yes, it is true that Jefferson believed that only landholders should vote, but he solved that problem by working up schemes to give people available public lands, which admittedly, he did not try real hard to get passed, but still…).
Anyway, I wonder which Founders those goofs dressed up in the costumes are playing.
All too true, and not necessarily news. When congressmen (and women) spend half their time or more in fundraising, with the possible exception of Bernie Sanders, it stands to reason they’re going to spend most of their time talking to people who have the wherewithal to make substantial contributions to the solon in question’s coffers. That does not include most of us. Neglect of lower and middle income voters’ concerns is, moreover, a bipartisan tendency:
The study brought out two important points while accumulating data from five Congresses from the 107th through the 111th. Hayes found first that “the voting records of Senators were consistently aligned with the opinions of their wealthiest constituents. The opinions of lower-class constituents, however, never appeared to influence the Senators’ voting behavior.” Secondly, “The neglect of lower income groups was a bipartisan affair. Democrats were not any more responsive to the poor than Republicans.”
Granted that the Dems are more inclined to let a few crumbs fall from the table, while the Republicans tend to piss down their constituents’ backs and tell them it’s raining. Unfortunately, all too often those Republican constituents believe it, especially when it comes from those wearing the Tea Party label. On that score…
There Is No Tea Party. There is only the Republican Party, and its number one concern is protecting the interests of its wealthiest backers, those being people who spend more money on vacations and possessions than most people make in their lives. If you want to know what Republicans are going to do on any given issue, follow the fuckin’ money. Leading us back to the starting point, that being that the U.S. has become an oligarchy and nothing else but.
@shelly: I’ve tried, the most coherent answer (relatively speaking) is that Obama could have sent in some additional troops from somewhere to help defend the embassy. He didn’t do this because his Libya policy looking like a success was VERY IMPORTANT to his re-election and having to send more troops would have been proof that his policy failed. I’m just reporting what I heard.
If only Occupy rallies could’ve been extended the same courtesy.
You can tell what The Powers are really afraid of by how violently they react. Old Republiclowns ranting about the Constitution don’t bother them much; they know these guys will fold like a Murphy Bed before corporate power (if not actively support it) at crunch time.
There’s a picture in the ‘worldwide news throughout the year’ section of my now yellowing high school yearbook of protesters at an anti-busing rally (in a different state altogether), one of whom brandishes a large sign reading, verbatim, “You’r Last Chance to Unite.”
He didn’t do this because his Libya policy looking like a success was VERY IMPORTANT to his re-election and having to send more troops would have been proof that his policy failed. I’m just reporting what I heard.
I wonder what color the sky is in their world.
I doubt one American in a thousand gave a crap about Libya once Gaddafi was offed and the major fighting over. Probably most people assumed there would be some residual post-civil-war turmoil with so many competing groups with guns still around, unless you were the kind of magical-thinking drone who thought Iraq would turn into Arizona at the drop of a hat.
Sending Special Forces to defend an embassy/consulate from trouble wouldn’t even have made the news.
@BarackObama @SenatorReid give me one of Bundy’s cows I will name it BenGrazey
30.
Culture of Truth
JuSTice 4 thE MaRinES in LEBBanoyn!
31.
maximiliano furtive, formerly known as dr. bloor
@Librarian: Silent “h”‘s in the middle of words is for Mooslims.
32.
Hal
I still cannot figure out what is impeachable about Benghazi. All these people do is screech impeach!! but they never seem to articulate what is actually impeachable.
(And as for Mr. Cole’s sibling’s dog Boghan, well…)
Eenuf.
;)
37.
Villago Delenda Est
These cretinous douchcanoes refuse to let go of their delusions.
Fuck them.
38.
Villago Delenda Est
@Hal: Obama is a ni*CLANG*. What greater impeachable offense can there be? Perhaps a blow job, but certainly not about spreading lies in support of a war of aggression.
39.
semperfi123
Must be an incredibly slow news day when accidental trolls on a backwoods swamp blogs like ball juice phone in a “look teabaggers are idiots” story.
40.
Villago Delenda Est
@Librarian: Well, to get the correct spelling, they’d have to Google it with the incorrect spelling, and that, I’m afraid, is quite beyond their intellectual capacity.
41.
Belafon
@semperfi123: Actually, we set this one up to attract certain people so that we can use the remaining unpatched OpenSSL servers to track people like you down.
In case anyone wants to play “who works in the wingnuttiest county,” here’s my entry:
SUPPORT THE BUNDY RANCH!!! Please take a moment to join our free group and post the latest Bundy news. We NEED to stand with the Bundy family!
That’s the subject line of an email from my work inbox, from XXX County Ohio ([email protected]). So at least one member of our county linkedin group though that would be a good topic.
Shouldn’t you be sending your wife out first to shield you from reading things you disagree with?
45.
Violet
Any non-white people attend? What was the percentage of people over 50 to people under 50? Looks to me like the usual crowd that made up Tea Party rallies a few years ago with a smattering of younger Paulite types.
There is no difference between a Republican, a Teabagger and these overthrow the government folks. None at all.
Libertarian-paid PULITZER-WINNING “journalist” promotes link from different Libertarian-paid “journalist” to show the kinder, hey-maybe-not-so-bad-well-not-as-bad-as-that-Obummer-loser, Libertarian billionaire nepotistic fascist. And so many “progressives” still support and defend this propagandist and his lying traitorous Russian sidekick. Looks like us Obots are going to have to save the day yet again in November and stop the complete takeover of the U.S. Constitution by the billionaire fascists, as we did the last two Presidential elections.
Poor people in the USA do not vote. Why should a politician deal with poor people, who have chosen to sit out the electoral process versus folks in the top 10%, who are politically engaged? The former group will not cost a politician his job, while the latter group can make a difference.
53.
MikeJ
Sunderland beating Man City 2 – 1 with only 7 minutes left. Wow.
54.
Mike in NC
@Southern Beale: As if anybody needed to know how worthless the Pulitzer Prize has become. Maybe next time they’ll give one to Jonah Goldberg or Matt Drudge.
55.
Villago Delenda Est
Surprise, surprise, surprise!
Noisemax reports:
Hank Aaron Bombarded With Hate Mail
The offices of the Atlanta Braves have been flooded with racist letters, emails, and phone calls attacking Hall of Famer Hank Aaron after his interview comparing the way Republicans treat President Barack Obama to the Ku Klux Klan.
I am just shocked, shocked that this would happen! An attack of the vapors is coming on!
@Mike in NC: The Pulitzer Prize became an utter joke when they awarded it to the utter scum that is Jeff Gerth…responsible for two journamalistic debacles, Whitewater and the Wen Ho Lee case.
60.
kc
GET A BRAIN, MORANS
61.
Higgs Boson's Mate
@Gene108:
Maybe the poor don’t vote because they know in their bones that we’re living in an oligarchy.
62.
scav
@semperfi123: Well, you are technically right. Teabaggers being visible manifest idiots is exactly the definition of a non-story. Situation Constant. Saint Ronald Still Dead.
Fox News will launch a new show called “Outnumbered” on April 28, which will feature four female hosts and one rotating male host, Mediaite reported Wednesday.
The program, which will air weekdays at noon, will be similar to the network’s popular panel show, “The Five,” and the hosts will discuss the day’s news, according to Mediaite.
“The Five” hosts Kimberly Guilfoyle and Andrea Tantaros (pictured above) will participate in the show, along with “Fox Report Weekend” anchor Harris Faulkner and Fox Business Network’s Sandra Smith.
I love how a show with four women and one guy is framed from the man’s point of view–he’s “outnumbered”, the poor, poor guy. All those harpies women telling him what to do expressing their opinions. What’s a guy to do?
The problem with studies like that isn’t that the conclusions are incorrect, or that the methodology is open to question. The problem is that they reinforce a pernicious narrative.
The narrative they reinforce is that the system is rigged beyond reversal. And if you subscribe to that narrative, then it becomes far too easy to give up, as HBM notes in comment 60.
It’s a bit hyperbolic to frame it this way, but if the choice is to live on your knees or die on your feet, which do you choose?
@Violet: Next on Fox News, four african americans and a patriot engage in lively debates on domestic policy. Tune in for Lynchmob!
68.
Amir Khalid
@MikeJ:
Alas, City got a late equaliser thanks to Samir Nasri. Still, that leaves them six points behind us (Liverpool FC) with only one game in hand. Good enough for me. Bottom of the table Sunderland beating title contender Man City might have been too much to hope for.
69.
different-church-lady
You just used “winger rally” and “good” in the same sentence.
70.
LT
My god. Just imagine how many people might have been trampled to death had the crowd in that photo stampeded.
71.
Higgs Boson's Mate
@Violet:
C’mon Violet, it’s Fox. The show will consist of five people agreeing that the Democrats are scum, that Real Americans are under siege, and that rock music leads to teen pregnancy.
72.
japa21
@danielx: I was thinking of a real way to test that whole hypothesis.
My Senator is the esteemed and oh so moderate -cough, cough- Mark Kirk. Let’s pretend that I call his office and through nefarious means I actually know he is in his office at the time. I ask to speak to him. What are the chances that he will actually speak with me? 1%, 2%, 0%?
10 mintues later, the phone rings in his office and it is one of the Koch brothers calling. What is the likelihood the esteemed and oh so moderate Mark Kirk will accept that phone call? 97%, 99%, 100%.
They won’t even accept an email on their web sites unless you provide evidence you are one of their constituents. And they almost definitely won’t accept a phone call from one of the peons they represent (supposedly). But I am positive they would accept a phone call from one of the biggies, even though that person is not, technically, a member of their constituency. And I am not naive enough to think the same scenario wouldn’t apply with Dems, either.
73.
Villago Delenda Est
@Higgs Boson’s Mate: Pretty much my reaction. They’ll have four Faux Noisebimbos and one guy all agreeing that Obama is a Islamofascistatheistsocialstkenyan.
74.
Ash Can
@NotMax: Lol! Now I have the image in my mind of some schmo in a suit and tie sitting on the set, gagged and bound to a swivel chair with duct tape, and every time one of the female panelists makes a point or cracks a joke they all yell “Time to rotate the host!” And they give him a push to make his seat spin in one direction or the other.
I’m surprised they’ve kept this Benghazi thing up this long. It might outlast the Birther thing blowjob thing.
Hell, it might outlast the Kennedy stole Illinois thing.
76.
scav
@Villago Delenda Est: But they’ll be lots of psuedo faux bullying with strained laughter and pillow throws — subtext will utterly be pandering to bottoms and male fantasies of multiple partners. With still more Islamofascismsocialkenyanism and finger-waggly lectures on how real women want to earn less.
Probably won’t be long that manly sports-like terminology is utilized among the corner office residents, referring to each of those tapped as the ‘designated dick.’
It is a vicious cycle. Poor get ignored (at best) to maligned by government. Poor become poltically apathetic. Elected officials realize poor are not going to vote in sufficient numbers to hurt them politically. Elected officials continue to ignore and/or malign the poor reinforcing the apathy.
ACORN tried to get the poor engaged enough to vote. Their “problem” was that they mostly made sure to register new voters as Democrats. Republicans went out of their way to destroy them for that.
I don’t know how to make things better, but that is the cycle we are in.
81.
Cacti
Looky, looky here.
Turns out that Dan Clevenger, the Mayor of Marionville, Missouri, was a personal friend and ideological ally of accused shooter and neo-nazi Frazier Glenn Miller.
Missouri TV station KSPR has unearthed a 10-year old letter to the editor written by Clevenger, where he describes himself as “a friend of Frazier Miller, helping to spread his warnings”. He then proceeds to rail about the “Jew-run” medical and banking industries.
every time one of the female panelists makes a point or cracks a joke they all yell “Time to rotate the host!” And they give him a push to make his seat spin in one direction or the other.
If they have him at the middle of a circle with the letters of the alphabet radiating out and put one of those flippity-flop stopper things on the chair they can determine which Obama Conspiracy to discuss next.
The mayor of a small Missouri town has mostly nice things to say about the white supremacist accused of killing three people at Jewish facilities last weekend.
Marionville, Mo. Mayor Dan Clevenger spoke warmly this week of Frazier Glenn Miller, who allegedly went on a killing rampage on Sunday in Overland Park, Kan.
“He was always nice and friendly and respectful of elder people, you know, he respected his elders greatly. As long as they were the same color as him,” Clevenger said while laughing, according to television station KSPR. “Very fair and honest and never had a bit of problems out of him.”
Clevenger said he sympathized with some of Miller’s views, but didn’t like to broadcast that.
“Kind of agreed with him on some things but, I don’t like to express that too much,” Clevenger, the owner of a local repair shop, said.
Small town values, y’all. Real respectful to the elder folks, as long as they’re, y’know, white and none of that Jewy stuff. Way to go America! You’ve come a long way.
I don’t know how to make things better, but that is the cycle we are in.
We’re stuck. The gradual accretion of influence by the wealthy and the corporations has, to my mind, passed the tipping point. Just glad I’m old.
85.
MikeJ
@Amir Khalid: Did you see the pic circulating of the Fulham players calling all of the season ticket holders to thank them?
86.
mai naem mobile
It’s guM control. Don’t understand the wingnut mind but maybe it has something to do with Obama being from Chicago like Wrigley gum. Or them being old and they have gum disease? I got more important stuff to occupy my little brain.
During Holy Week, of all times. Remind me, what is Easter all about again?
89.
Gex
@Violet: And just because they’re women doesn’t mean they aren’t as misogynistic as the men on Fox News. But like Fox typically does, they fail in multiple ways all at once.
@trollhattan: It’s already got a name: “Outnumbered”. As I pointed out above, that’s completely a male framing—the poor guy is “outnumbered.”
92.
Violet
@Southern Beale: Easter is about “Who Would Jesus Kill?” Didn’t you get that memo?
@Gex: Yeah, the women at Fox know what they have to do to get paid. And they do it. I’m sure there’s a word to describe that behavior….
93.
elmo
This whole “Benghazi” thing really makes my brain twist. Often it’s accompanied by howls of outrage about the media double standard that go something like: “if such a horrific terrorist attack had happened while Bush was President,” and then I have to go have a drink and lie down.
Back in 1967 I spent some time in Santa Cruz, CA. There was a restaurant just outside of town that had a “No Hippies” sign in the window.
95.
muddy
@Southern Beale: If they are holy like Jesus then they will rise again in 3 days. There couldn’t possibly be a more appropriate time to execute people.
Well, last I checked, it’s at least in part about a bloody, torturous execution. So they’ve got that going for them.
97.
muddy
@Violet: I like that they have to rotate the guy. A mere man is not supposed to be able to take it for long, I guess.
98.
Higgs Boson's Mate
@muddy:
Maybe they can rotate him to 90 degrees from the plain of the universe.
99.
Violet
@muddy: What man can stand to be yelled at by four harpies every day of the week? No wonder they have to switch out the guys–what torture that would be! What poor, poor delicate flowers those white guys are. So fragile. No wonder they can’t take it too long. Have to protect them from the women.
But, but, conservatives are always besieged. They’re besieged by the government, by the liberal media, by gays, by people who believe in church-state separation. It’s only right and fitting that one, lone, white male should be besieged by women. Paychecks are at stake here.
ETA: Back in my bar fighting days we had an expression; “Yeah, you’re tough – tough around the mouth.” That’s your modern con.
@Southern Beale: You’ve read the David Sedaris essay on Easter, right? Link. (PDF)
109.
Lurking Buffoon
@Southern Beale: It’s the old pagan fertility symbols for this time of year. Eggs are self explanatory for that, and the bunnies cause well, there’s a reason “fucking like bunnies” is a phrase. You know, as opposed to the May Pole standing tall and proud during other fertility holidays like Beltane. muddy’s link is a much better explanation though.
The story I’d always heard was that the Daley machine stole Chicago for Kennedy, but since Nixon had people doing the same ballot-stuffy things in downstate Illinois, he wasn’t particularly interested in having anything investigated.
111.
Origuy
@different-church-lady: Nobody makes sodium thiopental in the US anymore. European drug manufacturers don’t want, or aren’t allowed by law, to furnish it for executions. It’s an anesthetic still used in veterinary medicine. A large dose is used to induce a coma.
Amir Khalid
“Treason Justice 4 Bengazi”? What the fish does that even mean?
rikyrah
For Mad Men fans, Mad Men as Blaxploitation:
http://youtu.be/MxpkEehUd88
Chris
If only Occupy rallies could’ve been extended the same courtesy.
Anoniminous
@Amir Khalid:
Forget it Amir, it’s Alaska.
ranchandsyrup
i particularly enjoy asking impeachment supporters to lay out the “high crimes and misdemeanors” committed.
Librarian
They’re so fucking dumb, they can’t even spell Benghazi right.
c u n d gulag
SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO many stooges!!!!!!!!
And yet, no comedy…
rikyrah
More: Oligarchs United States of America The Telegraph
Major Study Finds The US Is An Oligarchy
Zachary Davies Boren, The Telegraph
Apr. 16, 2014, 8:16 AM
The U.S. government does not represent the interests of the majority of the country’s citizens, but is instead ruled by those of the rich and powerful, a new study from Princeton and Northwestern Universities has concluded.
The report, “Testing Theories of American Politics: Elites, Interest Groups, and Average Citizens,” used extensive policy data collected between 1981 and 2002 to empirically determine the state of the U.S. political system.
After sifting through nearly 1,800 U.S. policies enacted in that period and comparing them to the expressed preferences of average Americans (50th percentile of income), affluent Americans (90th percentile), and large special interests groups, researchers concluded that the U.S. is dominated by its economic elite.
The peer-reviewed study, which will be taught at these universities in September, says: “The central point that emerges from our research is that economic elites and organized groups representing business interests have substantial independent impacts on US government policy, while mass-based interest groups and average citizens have little or no independent influence.”
Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/major-study-finds-that-the-us-is-an-oligarchy-2014-4#ixzz2z4pmmw4t
Chyron HR
Treason…
…Justice
BENGAZi 4
“The best one since the first one!”
– Sam Snorde, USA Today
Bill Arnold
What’s with the arrows between “Ft Hood” –> “Fast and Furious” and “Benghazi –> Gun Control”.
Is there a wingnut-theoretical relationship between the the members of each pair?
Also, what’s with the starry flag?
Chris
@rikyrah:
Water is wet, but I’m glad they did the study all the same.
ETA: this deserves a thread all of its own, also too.
ranchandsyrup
@Amir Khalid: I’m familiar with wingnut dialects. I think it is two signs. One just says treason. The other says “Justice 4 Bengazi (sp) 4”. The only dead people that matter, obviously.
beltane
I’m impressed by their sign. The lettering in most teabagger signs used to look like something from a ransom note, now they have adopted a kind of Russian Futurist note. Despite the aesthetic advancement, however, the spelling issues remain.
Higgs Boson's Mate
@Chris:
Agreed, even though nothing will change for the better.
SatanicPanic
I’m surprised they’ve kept this Benghazi thing up this long. It might outlast the Birther thing
Rob in CT
@Bill Arnold:
Usually the connection alleged is “Fast & Furious -> Gun Control” with the idea being that the Feds deliberately ran a program in which lots of weapons were allowed to flow into criminal hands in order to gin up public outrage so the Obamamonster could outlaw guns.
jewelbomb
While the coverage is interesting, isn’t this a bit dated since it was posted in November of last year? Why are we talking about these kooks now?
shelly
And yet I think if you asked the random teabagger at that rally to explain just what was treasonous about the Benghazi incident, they’d probably sputter incoherently.
********
“Obama misses WH Easter egg roll—-Treason!”
Lurking Canadian
Finally, some common ground. I certainly agree that collecting an armed posse to drive off federal law enforcement constitutes treason! Way to go wingnuts!
Also, and OT, but relevant to the current NewsMax headlines, Dick Morris is a dick.
jl
I see they have some goofballs dressed up in Founding Father costumes.
I wonder which Founders they are playing? Tom Paine, who advocated in social insurance schemes that make the current one in the U.S. look weak, or Franklin, who believed in debauched paper currency, and gummint run services like the U.S. Postal Service (in fact founded it).
Or maybe Madison and Jefferson who fervently believed in gumming run public education.
Or Madison, who was so fervently for separation of church and state that he would probably be unelectable today.
Or maybe Hamilton, a fervent and early RADICAL RACE EQUALIZER.
Or maybe a Jefferson and Hamilton Combo, who would believe that franchise should be easily available and as wide as possible. In fact, Hamilton at the Constitutional Convention said that laws requiring compulsory voting were an appropriate recourse if turnout was too low for elections (though proper frequency and ready access to polls were preferable).
(yes, it is true that Jefferson believed that only landholders should vote, but he solved that problem by working up schemes to give people available public lands, which admittedly, he did not try real hard to get passed, but still…).
Anyway, I wonder which Founders those goofs dressed up in the costumes are playing.
danielx
@Bill Arnold:
What, you expected some sort of logical consistency?
@rikyrah:
All too true, and not necessarily news. When congressmen (and women) spend half their time or more in fundraising, with the possible exception of Bernie Sanders, it stands to reason they’re going to spend most of their time talking to people who have the wherewithal to make substantial contributions to the solon in question’s coffers. That does not include most of us. Neglect of lower and middle income voters’ concerns is, moreover, a bipartisan tendency:
Granted that the Dems are more inclined to let a few crumbs fall from the table, while the Republicans tend to piss down their constituents’ backs and tell them it’s raining. Unfortunately, all too often those Republican constituents believe it, especially when it comes from those wearing the Tea Party label. On that score…
There Is No Tea Party. There is only the Republican Party, and its number one concern is protecting the interests of its wealthiest backers, those being people who spend more money on vacations and possessions than most people make in their lives. If you want to know what Republicans are going to do on any given issue, follow the fuckin’ money. Leading us back to the starting point, that being that the U.S. has become an oligarchy and nothing else but.
SatanicPanic
@shelly: I’ve tried, the most coherent answer (relatively speaking) is that Obama could have sent in some additional troops from somewhere to help defend the embassy. He didn’t do this because his Libya policy looking like a success was VERY IMPORTANT to his re-election and having to send more troops would have been proof that his policy failed. I’m just reporting what I heard.
Mike G
@Chris:
You can tell what The Powers are really afraid of by how violently they react. Old Republiclowns ranting about the Constitution don’t bother them much; they know these guys will fold like a Murphy Bed before corporate power (if not actively support it) at crunch time.
NotMax
@beltane
Twas ever thus.
There’s a picture in the ‘worldwide news throughout the year’ section of my now yellowing high school yearbook of protesters at an anti-busing rally (in a different state altogether), one of whom brandishes a large sign reading, verbatim, “You’r Last Chance to Unite.”
Kyle
@SatanicPanic:
I wonder what color the sky is in their world.
I doubt one American in a thousand gave a crap about Libya once Gaddafi was offed and the major fighting over. Probably most people assumed there would be some residual post-civil-war turmoil with so many competing groups with guns still around, unless you were the kind of magical-thinking drone who thought Iraq would turn into Arizona at the drop of a hat.
Sending Special Forces to defend an embassy/consulate from trouble wouldn’t even have made the news.
SatanicPanic
@Kyle: If anything their obsession with it helped Obama, providing the most memorable moment in the debates.
NorthLeft12
@Librarian: Just another reason to hate on the Mooslims and other furriners……..silent Hs and other difficult to spell words.
Why do you think they came up with thru, nite, kwik,…..etc.
chopper
@rikyrah:
“mutha fuckin’ mayonnaise: keepin’ it all together”. i’d buy it.
sharl
Here is a creative merger of a couple wingnut memes:
Culture of Truth
JuSTice 4 thE MaRinES in LEBBanoyn!
maximiliano furtive, formerly known as dr. bloor
@Librarian: Silent “h”‘s in the middle of words is for Mooslims.
Hal
I still cannot figure out what is impeachable about Benghazi. All these people do is screech impeach!! but they never seem to articulate what is actually impeachable.
SatanicPanic
@Culture of Truth: Carter’s fault!
/wingnut
Suffern ACE
@Bill Arnold: Yes. All of those are “false flag” operations staged by the government to discredit gun owners and take away guns.
Cassidy
Watching Running Man. Maria Conchita Alonso used to be really, really hot. Too bad she went full metal teabagger.
NotMax
@maximiliano furtive, formerly known as dr. bloor
Gastly, simply gastly.
(And as for Mr. Cole’s sibling’s dog Boghan, well…)
Eenuf.
;)
Villago Delenda Est
These cretinous douchcanoes refuse to let go of their delusions.
Fuck them.
Villago Delenda Est
@Hal: Obama is a ni*CLANG*. What greater impeachable offense can there be? Perhaps a blow job, but certainly not about spreading lies in support of a war of aggression.
semperfi123
Must be an incredibly slow news day when accidental trolls on a backwoods swamp blogs like ball juice phone in a “look teabaggers are idiots” story.
Villago Delenda Est
@Librarian: Well, to get the correct spelling, they’d have to Google it with the incorrect spelling, and that, I’m afraid, is quite beyond their intellectual capacity.
Belafon
@semperfi123: Actually, we set this one up to attract certain people so that we can use the remaining unpatched OpenSSL servers to track people like you down.
GregB
@semperfi123:
Ever douchebaggy. Start you’re own blog.
a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)
In case anyone wants to play “who works in the wingnuttiest county,” here’s my entry:
That’s the subject line of an email from my work inbox, from XXX County Ohio ([email protected]). So at least one member of our county linkedin group though that would be a good topic.
Chyron HR
@semperfi123:
Shouldn’t you be sending your wife out first to shield you from reading things you disagree with?
Violet
Any non-white people attend? What was the percentage of people over 50 to people under 50? Looks to me like the usual crowd that made up Tea Party rallies a few years ago with a smattering of younger Paulite types.
There is no difference between a Republican, a Teabagger and these overthrow the government folks. None at all.
rda909
And onto the next phase of the propaganda plan:
https://twitter.com/ggreenwald/status/456423872095866880
Libertarian-paid PULITZER-WINNING “journalist” promotes link from different Libertarian-paid “journalist” to show the kinder, hey-maybe-not-so-bad-well-not-as-bad-as-that-Obummer-loser, Libertarian billionaire nepotistic fascist. And so many “progressives” still support and defend this propagandist and his lying traitorous Russian sidekick. Looks like us Obots are going to have to save the day yet again in November and stop the complete takeover of the U.S. Constitution by the billionaire fascists, as we did the last two Presidential elections.
Southern Beale
Kathleen Parker whitesplains about how race really isn’t a thing.
Sigh.
Lurking Buffoon
It bears repeating. These assholes think crap like this is realistic: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tyHgGWFwDbg
They’re convinced it’s all true. Right down to everything being 2 dimensional and all colors flat.
Villago Delenda Est
@Lurking Buffoon: Damn, I wish the Culture Warriors were real. Then we’d be kicking godbothered ass on a 24/7 basis.
Belafon
@rda909: You know, I haven’t been supportive of Greenwald or Snowden, but your comment hurt my brain.
Villago Delenda Est
Noisemax strikes again:
Herman Cain: I Don’t Buy Obamacare Projections
Like anyone cares what you think about anything, asswipe.
Gene108
@danielx:
Poor people in the USA do not vote. Why should a politician deal with poor people, who have chosen to sit out the electoral process versus folks in the top 10%, who are politically engaged? The former group will not cost a politician his job, while the latter group can make a difference.
MikeJ
Sunderland beating Man City 2 – 1 with only 7 minutes left. Wow.
Mike in NC
@Southern Beale: As if anybody needed to know how worthless the Pulitzer Prize has become. Maybe next time they’ll give one to Jonah Goldberg or Matt Drudge.
Villago Delenda Est
Surprise, surprise, surprise!
Noisemax reports:
Hank Aaron Bombarded With Hate Mail
I am just shocked, shocked that this would happen! An attack of the vapors is coming on!
Whaddaya know? Hank is on to something, isn’t he?
FlyingToaster
@Gene108:
Tell that to the people standing in hours for 9 hours down in Florida, jackass.
Violet
@Gene108: TPM had a chart on that the other day–voting rates by income level.
? Martin
Rapper Andre Johnson severs penis, jumps off building, but survives
Boy, where do you begin…
Villago Delenda Est
@Mike in NC: The Pulitzer Prize became an utter joke when they awarded it to the utter scum that is Jeff Gerth…responsible for two journamalistic debacles, Whitewater and the Wen Ho Lee case.
kc
GET A BRAIN, MORANS
Higgs Boson's Mate
@Gene108:
Maybe the poor don’t vote because they know in their bones that we’re living in an oligarchy.
scav
@semperfi123: Well, you are technically right. Teabaggers being visible manifest idiots is exactly the definition of a non-story. Situation Constant. Saint Ronald Still Dead.
Violet
Republican outreach to women ramps up:
I love how a show with four women and one guy is framed from the man’s point of view–he’s “outnumbered”, the poor, poor guy. All those
harpieswomentelling him what to doexpressing their opinions. What’s a guy to do?Villago Delenda Est
@kc: Ah, classic wingnuttia.
burnspbesq
@rikyrah:
The problem with studies like that isn’t that the conclusions are incorrect, or that the methodology is open to question. The problem is that they reinforce a pernicious narrative.
The narrative they reinforce is that the system is rigged beyond reversal. And if you subscribe to that narrative, then it becomes far too easy to give up, as HBM notes in comment 60.
It’s a bit hyperbolic to frame it this way, but if the choice is to live on your knees or die on your feet, which do you choose?
NotMax
@Violet
The suspense lies in whether he’ll rotate clockwise or counter-clockwise, I suppose.
? Martin
@Violet: Next on Fox News, four african americans and a patriot engage in lively debates on domestic policy. Tune in for Lynchmob!
Amir Khalid
@MikeJ:
Alas, City got a late equaliser thanks to Samir Nasri. Still, that leaves them six points behind us (Liverpool FC) with only one game in hand. Good enough for me. Bottom of the table Sunderland beating title contender Man City might have been too much to hope for.
different-church-lady
You just used “winger rally” and “good” in the same sentence.
LT
My god. Just imagine how many people might have been trampled to death had the crowd in that photo stampeded.
Higgs Boson's Mate
@Violet:
C’mon Violet, it’s Fox. The show will consist of five people agreeing that the Democrats are scum, that Real Americans are under siege, and that rock music leads to teen pregnancy.
japa21
@danielx: I was thinking of a real way to test that whole hypothesis.
My Senator is the esteemed and oh so moderate -cough, cough- Mark Kirk. Let’s pretend that I call his office and through nefarious means I actually know he is in his office at the time. I ask to speak to him. What are the chances that he will actually speak with me? 1%, 2%, 0%?
10 mintues later, the phone rings in his office and it is one of the Koch brothers calling. What is the likelihood the esteemed and oh so moderate Mark Kirk will accept that phone call? 97%, 99%, 100%.
They won’t even accept an email on their web sites unless you provide evidence you are one of their constituents. And they almost definitely won’t accept a phone call from one of the peons they represent (supposedly). But I am positive they would accept a phone call from one of the biggies, even though that person is not, technically, a member of their constituency. And I am not naive enough to think the same scenario wouldn’t apply with Dems, either.
Villago Delenda Est
@Higgs Boson’s Mate: Pretty much my reaction. They’ll have four Faux Noisebimbos and one guy all agreeing that Obama is a Islamofascistatheistsocialstkenyan.
Ash Can
@NotMax: Lol! Now I have the image in my mind of some schmo in a suit and tie sitting on the set, gagged and bound to a swivel chair with duct tape, and every time one of the female panelists makes a point or cracks a joke they all yell “Time to rotate the host!” And they give him a push to make his seat spin in one direction or the other.
different-church-lady
@SatanicPanic:
Hell, it might outlast the Kennedy stole Illinois thing.
scav
@Villago Delenda Est: But they’ll be lots of psuedo faux bullying with strained laughter and pillow throws — subtext will utterly be pandering to bottoms and male fantasies of multiple partners. With still more Islamofascismsocialkenyanism and finger-waggly lectures on how real women want to earn less.
NotMax
@Ash Can
Probably won’t be long that manly sports-like terminology is utilized among the corner office residents, referring to each of those tapped as the ‘designated dick.’
burnspbesq
@japa21:
Chief Justice Roberts would tell you that your theory of constituency is inaccurate and outmoded.
burnspbesq
@different-church-lady:
Kennedy didn’t steal Illinois. Daley stole it for him.
Gene108
@Higgs Boson’s Mate:
It is a vicious cycle. Poor get ignored (at best) to maligned by government. Poor become poltically apathetic. Elected officials realize poor are not going to vote in sufficient numbers to hurt them politically. Elected officials continue to ignore and/or malign the poor reinforcing the apathy.
ACORN tried to get the poor engaged enough to vote. Their “problem” was that they mostly made sure to register new voters as Democrats. Republicans went out of their way to destroy them for that.
I don’t know how to make things better, but that is the cycle we are in.
Cacti
Looky, looky here.
Turns out that Dan Clevenger, the Mayor of Marionville, Missouri, was a personal friend and ideological ally of accused shooter and neo-nazi Frazier Glenn Miller.
Missouri TV station KSPR has unearthed a 10-year old letter to the editor written by Clevenger, where he describes himself as “a friend of Frazier Miller, helping to spread his warnings”. He then proceeds to rail about the “Jew-run” medical and banking industries.
Anoniminous
@Ash Can:
If they have him at the middle of a circle with the letters of the alphabet radiating out and put one of those flippity-flop stopper things on the chair they can determine which Obama Conspiracy to discuss next.
Southern Beale
@Cacti:
TPM has the goods on that. Love this part:
Small town values, y’all. Real respectful to the elder folks, as long as they’re, y’know, white and none of that Jewy stuff. Way to go America! You’ve come a long way.
/sarcasm
Higgs Boson's Mate
@Gene108:
We’re stuck. The gradual accretion of influence by the wealthy and the corporations has, to my mind, passed the tipping point. Just glad I’m old.
MikeJ
@Amir Khalid: Did you see the pic circulating of the Fulham players calling all of the season ticket holders to thank them?
mai naem mobile
It’s guM control. Don’t understand the wingnut mind but maybe it has something to do with Obama being from Chicago like Wrigley gum. Or them being old and they have gum disease? I got more important stuff to occupy my little brain.
trollhattan
@Violet:
Program name prediction: “Three Blondes and a Dumbfuck”
Southern Beale
The Tennessee state legislature is so pro-life they just voted to allow use of the electric chair if lethal injection drugs can’t be found.
During Holy Week, of all times. Remind me, what is Easter all about again?
Gex
@Violet: And just because they’re women doesn’t mean they aren’t as misogynistic as the men on Fox News. But like Fox typically does, they fail in multiple ways all at once.
Comrade Mary
For those of you too young to get the titular reference: “Long-haired freaky people need not apply …”
Absolutely Right was a gem, and I loved I’m a Stranger Here, too. Not one hit wonders!
Violet
@trollhattan: It’s already got a name: “Outnumbered”. As I pointed out above, that’s completely a male framing—the poor guy is “outnumbered.”
Violet
@Southern Beale: Easter is about “Who Would Jesus Kill?” Didn’t you get that memo?
@Gex: Yeah, the women at Fox know what they have to do to get paid. And they do it. I’m sure there’s a word to describe that behavior….
elmo
This whole “Benghazi” thing really makes my brain twist. Often it’s accompanied by howls of outrage about the media double standard that go something like: “if such a horrific terrorist attack had happened while Bush was President,” and then I have to go have a drink and lie down.
Higgs Boson's Mate
@Comrade Mary:
Back in 1967 I spent some time in Santa Cruz, CA. There was a restaurant just outside of town that had a “No Hippies” sign in the window.
muddy
@Southern Beale: If they are holy like Jesus then they will rise again in 3 days. There couldn’t possibly be a more appropriate time to execute people.
elmo
@Southern Beale:
Well, last I checked, it’s at least in part about a bloody, torturous execution. So they’ve got that going for them.
muddy
@Violet: I like that they have to rotate the guy. A mere man is not supposed to be able to take it for long, I guess.
Higgs Boson's Mate
@muddy:
Maybe they can rotate him to 90 degrees from the plain of the universe.
Violet
@muddy: What man can stand to be yelled at by four harpies every day of the week? No wonder they have to switch out the guys–what torture that would be! What poor, poor delicate flowers those white guys are. So fragile. No wonder they can’t take it too long. Have to protect them from the women.
Tone in DC
@Southern Beale:
They are so pro-life that the whole “thou shalt not kill” thing confuses the hell out of ’em. Makes their heads hurt. ;-)
Higgs Boson's Mate
@Violet:
But, but, conservatives are always besieged. They’re besieged by the government, by the liberal media, by gays, by people who believe in church-state separation. It’s only right and fitting that one, lone, white male should be besieged by women. Paychecks are at stake here.
ETA: Back in my bar fighting days we had an expression; “Yeah, you’re tough – tough around the mouth.” That’s your modern con.
Villago Delenda Est
@Southern Beale:
Chocolate bunnies and eggs.
mai naem mobile
@Southern Beale: duh it’s about pastels.
different-church-lady
@Southern Beale: Can’t be “found?” What are they doing, foraging the woods for the stuff?
John F
@jl: Could it be John Adams, who signed into law a federal government HMO for Americans who were employed as merchant sailors.
Southern Beale
@Villago Delenda Est:
Couple weeks ago my Muslim students were asking me about what bunnies and eggs had to do with Easter. I had nuthin’.
muddy
@Southern Beale: The very name (Eostre) is pagan, oops. http://www.patheos.com/blogs/panmankey/2013/03/eostre-easter-ostara-eggs-and-bunnies/
Violet
@Southern Beale: You’ve read the David Sedaris essay on Easter, right? Link. (PDF)
Lurking Buffoon
@Southern Beale: It’s the old pagan fertility symbols for this time of year. Eggs are self explanatory for that, and the bunnies cause well, there’s a reason “fucking like bunnies” is a phrase. You know, as opposed to the May Pole standing tall and proud during other fertility holidays like Beltane. muddy’s link is a much better explanation though.
EDIT: Oh, and a helpful comic strip to best illustrate the point about bunnies: http://www.pbfcomics.com/archive_b/PBF077-Bunny_Pit.jpg
Chris
@burnspbesq:
The story I’d always heard was that the Daley machine stole Chicago for Kennedy, but since Nixon had people doing the same ballot-stuffy things in downstate Illinois, he wasn’t particularly interested in having anything investigated.
Origuy
@different-church-lady: Nobody makes sodium thiopental in the US anymore. European drug manufacturers don’t want, or aren’t allowed by law, to furnish it for executions. It’s an anesthetic still used in veterinary medicine. A large dose is used to induce a coma.
SiubhanDuinne
@rikyrah:
This strikes me as a “No Shit, Sherlock” template.
brantl
Interestng enough, they don’t have enough people there to hold up the sign.