Posts filed under ‘WingNutO’Sphere’
Beware the Government’s “Weather Weapon”
What happens when an insane person has a radio show:
(Image via Wikipedia)
Conspiracy theorist radio host Alex Jones explained to his audience today how the government could have been behind the devastating May 20 tornado in Oklahoma.
On the May 21 edition of The Alex Jones Show, a caller asked Jones whether he was planning to cover how government technology may be behind a recent spate of sinkholes. After laying out how insurance companies use weather modification to avoid having to pay ski resorts for lack of snow, Jones said that “of course there’s weather weapon stuff going on — we had floods in Texas like fifteen years ago, killed thirty-something people in one night. Turned out it was the Air Force.”
Following a long tangent, Jones returned to the caller’s subject. While he explained that “natural tornadoes” do exist and that he’s not sure if a government ”weather weapon” was involved in the Oklahoma disaster, Jones warned nonetheless that the government “can create and steer groups of tornadoes.”
According to Jones, this possibility hinges on whether people spotted helicopters and small aircraft “in and around the clouds, spraying and doing things.” He added, “if you saw that, you better bet your bottom dollar they did this, but who knows if they did. You know, that’s the thing, we don’t know.”
Wow. Just wow.
Sarah Palin: You Ain’t Got Room to Talk
Sarah Palin adding her two cents to the right-wing freak out about a marine holding an umbrella for President Obama yesterday during his Rose Garden press conference:
Like this Sarah?
(Image via DemocraticUnderground.com)
Or this?
(Image via TheBigotBasher.com)
Huh? Yo Sarah, huh?
The Craziest of the Crazies Gets a Gig on Fox
OMG:
Former congressman Allen West has found a new home on Fox News, where he has been signed on as a contributor.
“Representative West’s congressional and military experience along with his fearless approach to voicing key issues will provide a valuable point of view to the FOX News lineup,” Fox News Vice President Bill Shine said in a statement. West served in the army before running for Congress in 2010.
Go here to read some of the crazier things West has said. This is my fave:
I believe there’s about 78 to 81 members of the Democrat party who are members of the Communist Party. It’s called the Congressional Progressive Caucus.
Spinning Head Syndrome
My Tweet of the Day from Greg Sargent over at the Washington Post (he knows everything about everything that’s going on in D.C.):
So, per Republicans, since Benghazi is the biggest scandal of all time, Obama concocted the IRS scandal to detract from it? Okaaay.
Aye yie yie.
Oh Okay, I Understand the Fuss Over Benghazi Now
This, apparently, is what Republicans are having a fit over when it comes to Benghazi:
Yeah, it’s all so clear huh? Fools.
Republicans Chasing Their Tail on Benghazi
So, according to Republicans, Benghazi is the biggest political scandal in history. Now that’s funny and to their credit, most Americans disagree:
While voters overall may think Congress’ focus should be elsewhere there’s no doubt about how mad Republicans are about Benghazi. 41% say they consider this to be the biggest political scandal in American history to only 43% who disagree with that sentiment. Only 10% of Democrats and 20% of independents share that feeling. Republicans think by a 74/19 margin than Benghazi is a worse political scandal than Watergate, by a 74/12 margin that it’s worse than Teapot Dome, and by a 70/20 margin that it’s worse than Iran Contra.
And then there’s this bit of hilarity:
One interesting thing about the voters who think Benghazi is the biggest political scandal in American history is that 39% of them don’t actually know where it is. 10% think it’s in Egypt, 9% in Iran, 6% in Cuba, 5% in Syria, 4% in Iraq, and 1% each in North Korea and Liberia with 4% not willing to venture a guess.
I wish they’d asked respondents who think this is such a big deal if they actually know what Watergate or the Teapot Dome or Iran Contra were all about. I’m willing to bet they don’t. These are folks who watch Fox and who believe everything they hear there.
Back At You Ted Cruz
Texas Senator Ted Cruz tweeted this out this morning ahead of President Obama’s visit to Texas today:
(Image via Ted Cruz (R-TX) on Twitter)
So cute huh? This from a guy whose party is set to hold its 31st+ vote on repealing Obamacare next week…not exactly creating jobs themselves. Geezus. What a dick.
Ben Gazi
My Tweet of the Day:
(I titled this “Ben Gazi” because a few weeks ago there were a high number of Google searches for a guy named Ben Gazi, which gives us an idea of how fringe this GOP witch hunt is.)
Imagine: 10,000 People Marching on D.C. With Loaded Rifles Slung Across Their Back
What could possibly go wrong:
(Image via AmericaBlog.com)
Independence Day in Washington, D.C. may see bigger fireworks if the “Open Carry March” put forth by a Marine veteran turned libertarian activist actually goes forward.
Adam Kokesh, 31, is planning a July 4 rally of pro-gun activists openly carrying rifles from Virginia to Washington as an act of “civil disobedience.” The plan, according to his Facebook event page, is to march across Memorial Bridge with rifles loaded and slung across the back “to put the government on notice that we will not be intimidated [and] cower in submission to tyranny.”
The invite continues, stating, ” … This will be a non-violent event, unless the government chooses to make it violent.”
Kind of sad to think of the possibility that this could materialized based solely on lies (the government is coming to get your guns!) told by the wingnut talk show crowd, Republicans who are trying to whip up their base oh, and Faux News.
No Women Allowed
(Image via NRCruise.com)
The conservative publication National Review is sponsoring a cruise aboard the MS Eurodam “in the Norwegian Fiords” on August 1 – 8, 2013 so folks can hobnob with their favorite pundits. The thing is, of the 22 pundits currently scheduled, there are zero, zip, nada women.
Ah yes. Conservativeland.
Check out the lineup here.
Sarah Palin Jealous She Wasn’t Invited to the White House Correspondents’ Dinner
The 2013 White House Correspondents’ Dinner was held last night at the Washington Hilton, but let’s back up to 2011:
April 30, 2011 — Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin attends the MSNBC party after the annual White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner in Washington. (Image via the WashingtonPost.com)
Sarah Palin wasn’t invited to last night’s event, and it’s pretty obvious her widdle fewings were hurt. This is what she wrote on her Facebook page about that “prom” she happily attended two years ago:
Awe.
(I happen to agree with her BTW.)
Wingnuts Driving the Bus in North Carolina
The folks who came up with this hugely unconstitutional, anti-American idea probably think of themselves as uber patriots:
Proposal Would Allow State Religion in North Carolina
Raleigh, N.C. — A bill filed by Republican lawmakers would allow North Carolina to declare an official religion, in violation of the Establishment Clause of the U.S. Bill of Rights, and seeks to nullify any federal ruling against Christian prayer by public bodies statewide.
I can hear the Founding Fathers yelling Nooooooo! from their graves.
The “Establishment Clause” of the Bill of Rights is in the First Amendment. It was the first thing the founders wrote down when they were thinking about what should be in that document. It was really, really important to them. It reads:
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
Didn’t we all learn this in fourth grade?
Democrats Go Wingnut
My Tweet of the Day:
Democrats actually took this wingnut conspiracy theory seriously last night and voted for it. They should have stormed out of the Capitol en masse* and held a press conference to denounce this insanity. But no, they’re sheeple…
More here: Democrats control the Senate right? Senate votes 53-46 to stop US from joining UN Arms Trade Treaty.
Did You Know Obama Just Instituted 13 New Tax Increases?
I just got this email from Tea Party Nation:
Obama’s Latest Screw Up May Lead to Impeachment.
Dear Concerned Reader,
Fearing the very worst, the nation’s super-rich are unloading their stocks at an alarming rate.
Even more troubling, the wealthiest 1% of Americans, who typically know the most, are the ones most anxious to sell.
You see, Obama just allowed 13 new tax increases to further slow the economy, wreck the stock market and make it even harder on the 12 million Americans already looking for work.
The bigger question is this…Is Obama’s Latest Tax Screw Up Grounds For Impeachment?
The poll results are likely to shock you.
Cast your vote now to see what America thinks.Yes, impeach President Obama? Or No, higher taxes were necessary?
Thanks for your time on this urgent matter.
When you click on the link to vote, you’re taken to a website called the, ahem, Wall Street Daily. Nowhere (that I could find) are the “13 new tax increases” outlined or explained. There is no information whatsoever about them. Yet, 92% of the respondents think Obama should be impeached for these phantom tax increases.
Amazing.
Oh, and as to those billionaires unloading their stocks? Really? March 5: Dow Hits Highest Close Ever.
Republicans in Big, BIG Disarray
First, there’s this from Politico:
That headline cracks me up. The RNC is off the edge to the right but the folks to the right of the right of the RNC are blasting it?
Okaay.
Then there’s this from a new CNN/ORC Poll: The Tea Party: Favorable 28% / Unfavorable 48%.
So what does the RNC do? Cave to the folks to their right, i.e, the 28%ers or tack to the left like their newly unveiled “Growth and Opportunity” outreach report says they should?
They created the Tea Party as an anti-Obama faction and now look where they’re at.
Man oh man. Are they ever in a hell of a fix.
Sarah Palin Gives Advice to Barack Obama
My Tweet of the Day a day late: Sarah Palin yesterday at the CPAC conference:
Republicans. They’re a laugh a minute.
Crazies Gather at CPAC
“Conservatives” have gathered in Washington, D.C. this weekend for their annual Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC):
In 1973, a small group of conservative activists met in Washington to discuss the future of the conservative movement.
This meeting, convened by the American Conservative Union, resolved that an annual event was needed to rally conservatives, share strategies and promulgate and crystallize the best of the conservative thought in America. This meeting was thus the birth of the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC).
[...]
Taking place in Washington, D.C. each year, and now in regions across the country, CPAC educates, brings together and energizes thousands of attendees and all of the leading conservative organizations and speakers who impact conservative thought in the nation. From Presidents of the United States to college students, CPACs have become the place to find our nation’s current and future leaders and sets the conservative agenda each year.
Substitute Republican for the word conservative in the paragraphs above and you have a clearer picture of what CPAC is. It isn’t just for a certain segment of the right-wing crowd, CPAC is where Republicans go to establish their cred as a “real” Republicans. I.e., they kiss the ring of the gang that controls the party these days: The Tea Party. The award goes to the person who says the nuttiest things.
If you aren’t following the hastag #CPAC (or #CPAC2013) on twitter, you’re missing a real show. Folks covering the gathering are sending out priceless bits of information about what’s being said there and man oh man, does it ever give a clear picture of just how nuts Republicans are.
Here’s a sample:
And here are some of the bumper stickers for sale at the pow wow:
(Image via Don Irvine on Twitter)
Too bad this conference isn’t being broadcast live on every single news channel in the country. The world needs to see just how whacked out Republicans have become.
Red Meat
Even though it’s early, here’s my Tweet of the Day.
The operative word here is “fantasy.” Obamacare isn’t going to be repealed and Paul Ryan knows. But in order to maintain his street cred with the Tea Partiers, he’s got to play this game and throw them some red meat, even though he’s wasting everyone’s time doing it.
Record Number of Militia and Hate Groups in the U.S.
This from the Southern Poverty Law Center (fantastic group):
(Image via SPLCenter.org)
The Year in Hate and Extremism
Capping four years of explosive growth sparked by the election of America’s first black president and anger over the economy, the number of conspiracy-minded antigovernment “Patriot” groups reached an all-time high of 1,360 in 2012, while the number of hard-core hate groups remained above 1,000. As President Obama enters his second term with an agenda of gun control and immigration reform, the rage on the right is likely to intensify.
[...]
While the number of hate groups remained essentially unchanged last year — going from 1,018 in 2011 to 1,007 in 2012 — the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) count of 1,360 Patriot groups in 2012 was up about 7% from the 1,274 active in 2011. And that was only the latest growth spurt in the Patriot movement, which generally believes that the federal government is conspiring to take Americans’ guns and destroy their liberties as it paves the way for a global “one-world government.” From a mere 149 organizations in 2008, the number of Patriot groups shot up to 512 in 2009, jumped again to 824 in 2010, and then skyrocketed to 1,274 in 2011 before hitting their all-time high last year.
Now, in the wake of the mass murder of 26 children and adults at a Connecticut school and the Obama-led gun control efforts that followed, it seems likely that that growth will pick up speed once again.
[...]
The Hysteria Mounts
Even before the Dec. 14 shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary School, gun and ammunition sales shot up in the wake of the re-election of the country’s first black president, the result of shrill conspiracy theories about Obama’s secret plans to confiscate Americans’ guns. When the killings actually did spark gun control efforts that clearly had not been in the Obama administration’s plans, the reaction on the political right was so harsh that it seemed to border on hysteria.
I know the dates and numbers on the graph are hard to read. Apologies. Go to the “More…” link immediately above to see a larger version.
ROFLMAO
Texas, natch:
Using taxpayer dollars to finance family-planning services has become politically thorny in Texas, largely because of Republican lawmakers’ assertions that the women’s health clinics providing that care are affiliated with abortion providers. In the fiscal crunch of 2011, the Legislature cut the state’s family-planning budget by two-thirds, with some lawmakers claiming that they were defunding the “abortion industry.” Researchers at the University of Texas at Austin, found that more than 50 family-planning clinics had closed statewide as a result.
Now, amid estimates that the cuts could lead to 24,000 additional 2014-15 births at a cost to taxpayers of $273 million, lawmakers are seeking a way to restore financing without ruffling feathers.
(H/t C.J.)
Gee. Who could have ever predicted.
Tea Party: Only Fund the Parts of Government We “Really Need”
I’m on the Tea Party Nation’s email list and I just got this email from them.
Poor things. Obamacare isn’t going to be defunded because Republicans already feel it’s too popular.
And my one question for the Tea Party is: Which parts of the government do we “really need” as they say repeatedly?
M. –In the next few days, the Republicans in the House of Representatives will meet with Barack Obama and Harry Reid to discuss and ultimately pass a continuing budget resolution to fund the government for the rest of this year.
Guess what is not in that Continuing Resolution? Perhaps we should say, guess what is in there?
Included, at least as of right now, is full funding for Obamacare.
That’s right, the Republicans who have promised repeatedly to repeal or at least defund Obamacare, are fully funding it.
We the people have every right to be angry about this.
The Republicans lied to us. They passed a couple of meaningless resolutions they knew would go nowhere. Then when the time came, they fully funded Obamacare.
We should accept our portion of responsibility for this too.
When was the last time we were out telling the Republicans to defund Obamacare?
It is not too late.
If the Republican Leadership in the House and the Senate hear from the people, we can still get them to change their minds.
Take a minute to sign our petition.
When the Navy cannot sail because of budget cuts, Obamacare is the first thing that should be defunded. When the government is releasing criminal illegal aliens because there is allegedly no money to hold them, Obamacare should be defunded and the savings used to cut our debt and pay for really important things. When we are told we will see travel delays because the government is cutting air traffic controllers, we must defund Obamacare to fund the parts of government we really need.
Take a moment to tell the Republican leadership to stand up for the people who put them where they are. Tell them to honor their promises and defund Obamacare in the upcoming Continuing Budget Resolution.
Share this email with your friends and members of your Tea Party group and ask them to sign this petition too. Washington must hear from us now!
Tea Party Nation
Our Tax Dollars Are Going Toward Teaching Creationism in Schools
If schools want to teach creationism, fine (though I pity the kids). Go ahead, but don’t use my tax dollars to do it. Public funds should not be used to promote any religion or religious point of view.
Interactive Map: Voucher Schools Teaching Creationism
This week on Moyers & Company, 19-year-old education activist Zack Kopplin joins Bill to talk about his campaign to get creationism out of science classes in publicly funded schools. He discovered that students attending private and parochial schools in states with school voucher programs were taught creationism in addition to — or, in some classrooms, instead of — the theory of evolution.
Using data compiled by Kopplin, this map shows private schools that accept state vouchers [taxpayer dollars] and teach creationism. Hover over each dot to read Kopplin’s findings on that school. To zoom in, double click on the map or use the map tools that appear in the upper left corner.
Go here to access the interactive map. Below is a screenshot of the home page (oy, Florida)
(Image via BillMoyers.com)
Republicans Really Believe This S*it
This is shake-my-head, there-are-no-words odious:
(Image via SCVGOP.ning.com)
The president of California’s oldest and largest GOP volunteer group took a wrong turn while trying to criticize GOP candidates’ missteps on women’s reproductive rights when she argued that pregnancies resulting from rape are rare “because the body is traumatized.”
Celeste Greig leads the California Republican Assembly, which former President Ronald Reagan once called “the conscience of the Republican Party.” It works to elect conservative Republicans to public office.
Greig spoke to the Daily Democrat in Woodland, Calif., while in Sacramento for the GOP’s spring convention on Friday. She criticized former U.S. Rep. Todd Akin’s (R-Mo.) comment that it is “rare” for a woman to get pregnant after a “legitimate rape” because “the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down.”
“That was an insensitive remark,” Greig said. “I’m sure he regretted it. He should have come back and apologized.”
She then went on, however, to agree with Akin’s premise that such pregnancies are uncommon.
“Granted, the percentage of pregnancies due to rape is small because it’s an act of violence, because the body is traumatized,” she added.
I guess it’s fair to say Republicans really believe this s*it. Otherwise they, ahem, wouldn’t keep making one “insensitive” remark after another.
Hey Boehner, Maybe the House Should Get Off Its Ass
This morning Speaker of the House John Boehner (R-Useless), trying (but failing) to look tough, told the Senate to get off its ass and get a move on in their work to avoid the sequester.
So funny, because there’s this:
A meat cleaver hangs over the federal government, but the unflappable men and women of the House majority [Republicans] remain cool and poised.
With just four days left to stop automatic spending cuts from affecting everything from air travel to food inspections, House Republicans had but one item on their agenda Monday: renaming a NASA facility in California.
H.R. 667, as this urgently needed legislation is known, would “redesignate the Dryden Flight Research Center as the Neil A. Armstrong Flight Research Center.”
[...]
The naming proposal, sponsored by Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), was taken up at a time when House Republicans are pursuing a considered strategy of deliberate idleness.
[...]
Of the 56 days so far in 2013, the House has been in session for 20 — and a large chunk of those have been pro-forma sessions without votes, or with ceremonial bills. After a week’s recess, the chamber returned Monday with just a few items on the calendar.
Just infuriating.
Michigan Republicans Focusing on Jobs, Jobs, Jobs
That “Republican makeover” isn’t going so well in Michigan.
My God they’re insane:
From abortion limitations to expanded pistol carrying rights, lawmakers have kicked off a new session with recycled issues and proposals that sparked some of the most contentious debates in last year’s Legislature, but failed to become law.
There are eight abortion-related bills and seven that ease handgun restrictions. Most aim to overcome or circumvent one or another of the few vetoes Gov. Rick Snyder issued last year.
Also in the hopper are several bills the governor was happy didn’t land on his desk in 2012. Among those is one that would outlaw prevailing wage requirements on public works projects.
Another would reduce the sales tax on motor vehicle and watercraft purchases, gradually cutting into state revenue.
More…
Buyer’s Remorse in Tea Party Florida
Voters in Florida are realizing that when Tea Party ideology is implemented in real life, it sucks:
Obamacare is a particular target of tea party wrath in Florida, but it’s hardly the only one in a state where the movement’s ideology has permeated every layer of government. In just one year, Scott and his conservative allies slashed state spending by $4 billion even as they cut corporate taxes. They’ve rejected billions in federal funds in one of the states hardest hit by the recession. They’ve axed everything from health care and public transportation initiatives to mosquito control and water supply programs. “Florida is where the rhetoric becomes the reality. It’s kind of the tea party on steroids,” says state Rep. Mark Pafford, a Democrat. “We’ve lost all navigation in terms of finding that middle ground.”
[...]
Now, the Sunshine State may be a harbinger of another realignment: Support for Scott and the GOP is plummeting as Floridians see anti-government governance at work. But it may be too late for buyer’s remorse. After two years at the helm, the tea party’s legacy is likely to far outlast the movement.
Here are “a few” of the federal grants Florida has turned down under its balance-the-budget-at-all-cost, Tea Party government. Amazing.
Tim Tebow — Descending Into Irrelevance
I live in “Bronco Country” as in Boulder, Colorado, just up the road from Denver. As you probably know, Tim Tebow spent a year (2010 – 2011) quarterbacking with the Broncos before he was traded to the New York Jets.
(Image via ChaplainBill on Youtube)
The American Taliban tried to turn Tebow into a Jesus-like icon and an anti-women’s choice hero while he was here (it was intense) but it didn’t work. When people found out he was a failure as a quarterback, he wasn’t taken seriously.
Now there’s this:
While Tim Tebow is struggling to find an NFL team that is willing to sign him, he is apparently having no problem booking speaking gigs as the Jets’ backup quarterback is scheduled to address a Texas megachurch whose pastor is notorious for extremist statements about Roman Catholics, Mormons, Muslims, gays and lesbians and President Obama.
Bye Tim. I see you attending tent-style revival meetings in Arkansas in a few years.
Goats Whining Like Ted Cruz (R-TX)
Who’s Ted Cruz? Go here.
Tea Party Booster FreedomWorks Made Video of “Panda” Having Oral Sex with Pretend Hillary Clinton
The only way I an think to preface this is to say yes, there are people whose mind lives in the gutter. I mean, who thinks of something like this much less brings it to fruition? This is perversion:
An internal investigation of FreedomWorks—the prominent conservative advocacy group and super-PAC—has focused on president Matt Kibbe’s management of the organization, his use of its resources, and a controversial book deal he signed, according to former FreedomWorks officials who have met with the private lawyers conducting the probe.
One potential topic for the inquiry is a promotional video produced last year under the supervision of Adam Brandon, executive vice president of the group and a Kibbe loyalist. The video included a scene in which a female intern wearing a panda suit simulates performing oral sex on Hillary Clinton.
[...]
Some FreedomWorks staffers worried last year about a promotional video created ahead of FreePAC, a FreedomWorks conference held on July 26, 2012, where thousands of conservative grassroots activists nearly filled the American Airlines Center in Dallas to hear from tea party favorites, including Glenn Beck and Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah). The short film hailing FreedomWorks was intended to play on the large video screens inside the arena.
In one segment of the film, according to a former official who saw it, Brandon is seen waking from a nap at his desk. In what appears to be a dream or a nightmare, he wanders down a hallway and spots a giant panda on its knees with its head in the lap of a seated Hillary Clinton and apparently performing oral sex on the then-secretary of state. Two female interns at FreedomWorks were recruited to play the panda and Clinton. One intern wore a Hillary Clinton mask. The other wore a giant panda suit that FreedomWorks had used at protests to denounce progressives as panderers. (See here, here, and here.) Placing the panda in the video, a former FreedomWorks staffer says, was “an inside joke.”
Another FreedomWorks staffer who worked there at the time confirms that ”Yes, this video was created.”
[...]
Brandon, a former FreedomWorks official says, defended the film, insisting it was creative and funny.
Yeah, it sounds hilarious.
Geezus.
GOP Rep. Invites Racist Hater / Washed Up Musician Ted Nugent to Tomorrow’s State of the Union
I see Republicans are doing that moderation thing, you know, trying to appeal to middle-of-the-roaders (not):
(Image via ThinkProgress.org)
Lots of chatter about the news that GOP Rep. Steve Stockman, who threatened Obama with impeachment over guns, has invited Ted Nugent to the State of the Union address. Nugent has accepted:
“I am excited to have a patriot like Ted Nugent joining me in the House Chamber to hear from President Obama,” Stockman said in a press release. “After the Address I’m sure Ted will have plenty to say.”
That’s a good bet; apparently Stockman is encouraging reporters to interview Nugent after the speech. Nugent, of course, is best known for making this claim, which was investigated by the Secret Service:
“If Barack Obama becomes the president in November again, I will either be dead or in jail by this time next year,” Nugent said, according to a video that the NRA posted on YouTube. “If you can’t go home and get everybody in your lives to clean house in this vile, evil, America-hating administration, I don’t even know what you’re made out of.”
That’s bad, but if I were the GOP leadership, the prospect of further comments from Nugent after the speech would have me a bit worried. After all, there’s little doubt that reporters will seek him out, and there’s really no telling what Nugent will say. The GOP leadership has not commented on the news.
So this should be interesting. Nugent is so desperate for attention I wouldn’t be surprised if he yelled something out while Obama’s speaking. He’s a live wire but if you don’t believe me, check out some of his more memorable quotes here. He’s a real case.
But we can be sure, the 27%-ers will love Stockman for this!
