The Cloud Over Bibi "Bomb Bomb" Netanyahu's Apparent Victory

It seems the last-minute demagoguery saved Israeli Prime Minister and Republican Senator from West Jerusalem, the odious Bibi "Bomb Bomb" Netanyahu's tuchas:

Benjamin Netanyahu was poised to return to power. But there was a cloud over his apparent turnaround, the result of an increasingly shrill campaign that raised questions about his ability to heal Israel’s internal wounds or better its standing in the world. 

He said there would be no Palestinian state under his watch. 

He railed against Israeli Arabs — because they had gone out to vote. 

From the capitals of Europe, to Washington, to the West Bank, to the streets of Israel, even while his critics said Mr. Netanyahu had reaffirmed his reputation as a cynical, calculating politician, it appeared that his approach succeeded in drawing votes from other right-leaning parties. 

But along the way he angered the president of the United States with a speech to Congress and infuriated European leaders eager to see the peace process move ahead to create a Palestinian state.

Proving the United States doesn't have a monopoly on Nixonian politicians or on intemperate, foolish voters.  Please refer to Galatians 6: 7-9.

BONUS:  Jonathan Alter says it all: "Netanyahu wins, Israel loses":

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin (Bibi) Netanyahu won a big election Tuesday, but he won ugly by staking out a new position on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict that is likely to harm his nation in the months ahead.  

A reckoning is coming—faster than expected—for Netanyahu, his Likud Party and maybe even for the State of Israel itself.

BONUS II:  Bibi Bomb Bomb sent this message out on election day: "Right-wing rule is in danger. Arab voters are streaming in huge quantities to the polling stations." Jeffrey Goldberg in The Atlantic has this to say about Bibi Bomb Bomb's demagoguery (emphasis added):

"In the past, I imagined him fitting in with the fiscally conservative, rhetorically responsible, socially tolerant, foreign-policy hawkish wing of the [Republican] party. What I didn't fully understand was just how much of Lee Atwater he had in him. Atwater, you'll remember, was the South Carolina Republican operative who was one of the prime innovators of racial dog-whistling, an approach used by a good number of Republicans to instill fear in white voters."

Aaron Schock, Fabulous "Downton Abbey" Republican Congressman Resigning

He gone (effective March 31).

To spend more time with his fabulous! abs?  Or on his pursuit of swag?  Or on his "personal photographer?"  To be the set designer for "Downton Abbey?" Ah, the burdens of a hypocritical, grifty Republican ex-Congressman!

(Photo:  Rep. Aaron Schock (R-Griftytown).  Fabulous!)

UPDATE:  (via Wonkette) Or perhaps even join the cast of Downton Abbey (click on image to enlarge):

Right-Wing Family Values

Alabama's State Supreme Court Chief "Justice" Roy "Unmoored" Moore has made a name for himself over his strident opposition to same-sex marriage, ordering state officials not to perform those marriages in Alabammy.  He's also known for his fight to retain a Ten Commandments monument in the State Supreme Court building over a decade ago, which cost him his judgeship.

One would think that Unmoored would have raised his children in the same God-fearin', stiff-collar style that he lives his own life.  One would be wrong.  Police in Troy, Alabama, arrested Caleb Moore, the 24 year-old son of Unmoored, on Sunday for drug possession (controlled substance and marijuana) near the scene of an attempted break-in.  This was the third arrest of the young Unmoored since 2011 on drug charges, so he's not unknown to the police.  We might have a small -- very small -- measure of sympathy for the young Unmoored, but for the fact that he lashed out at "crooked police officers" and "the media" for his latest arrest, which he claims is part of a plot to "destroy his family" and daddy's "career."

Why are we not surprised that a young, entitled wingnut would avoid personal responsibility and shift blame?  It's because his daddy has been too busy defending Christianity from the heathens and gays to notice the devilment in his own household.

(photo:  Troy, Alabama Police Department.  A criminal defense lawyer's dream client.)

House Republicans' 2016 "Slumlord's Budget"

The Crackpot Caucus in the House of Representatives (i.e., Republicans) are out with their FY 2016 budget and, hoo-boy, it's a nasty piece of work (surprise!).  Here to briefly summarize is the estimable Charles Pierce:

The Republican majority in the House of Representatives has revealed its budget plan, and that plan has as its apparent goal the cruel, blasted dystopia of Paul Ryan's fondest dreams. This budget is in no way either sensible or patriotic. It is not patriotism to throw so many of your fellow citizens out On The Road, as the old Irish used to say. This is a gombeen's budget, a slumlord's budget, an evictor's budget, an auctioneer's budget of a kind that emptied towns all over the Great Plains. It assumes the existence of a propertied class and a servile class, both of them eternal and immutable. It is as democratic as a brick through a window.

Repeal Obamacare.  Check.

Repeal Medicare expansion under Obamacare.  Check.

Partially privatize Medicare.  Check.

Block grant Medicaid to the states.  Check.

Repeal parts of Dodd-Frank financial institution reforms.  Check.

Convert Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program ("food stamps") into state-run programs. Check.

Lower taxes for corporations and the wealthy.  Check.

That covers the Ultra-Right Wingnut Agenda pretty well.  More Charles Pierce:

There should be no compromise from the Democratic minority on any of this. It should be rejected, root and branch, because it is based on an economic philosophy, and an overall view of the relationship between people and their government, that has failed the country and its people savagely in the past and inevitably will do so again. But, even if this budget goes nowhere, it should doom the Republican party as a serious governing party for the next two decades, but it won't. Its basic philosophical foundation has been treated as a serious intellectual exercise for so long that it is now beside the point that it stands revealed (again) as a plutocratic charade. Pieces of it will be debated gravely. Some of them may even survive as "compromises" because Americans want "the government to work again." (I just saved Joe Manchin's press staff a ton of work right there.) But the philosophy itself is so deeply embedded in our politics that I'm not sure that enough people can sicken and/or die before we pry it out again. 

That basic Republican/ plutocratic philosophy being, "I've got mine, to hell with anyone else."  So we have yet another Republican budget that enshrines that dystopian philosophy for all to see, if they have eyes and are willing to see.

Israel Goes To The Polls

Today is election day in Israel, when Israelis decide whether a fourth term of Likudnik Bibi "Bomb Bomb" Netanyahu is in their country's best interest.  Netanyahu has pulled out all of the stops in encouraging the most rabid elements of Israel's right to turn out, including a pledge that there won't be progress toward a Palestinian state on his watch.

Interestingly -- and ominously for Bibi Bomb Bomb -- we have this report in Haaretz indicating that Arab Israelis (who make up 21% of Israel's population) are turning out in large numbers, and are likely voting for the opposition Zionist Union or other center/left parties.  However, given the horse-trading nature of parliamentary government, where governing coalitions are often made up of strange bedfellows, Bibi Bomb Bomb's ouster isn't certain, even if the Likud Party loses seats.  Stay tuned.

Morning Reading - What Republican War On Women?!

More chicanery from the Old White Man's Republican Party, this time on what should have been a non-controversial, bipartisan human trafficking bill:

An overwhelmingly bipartisan Senate bill to combat human trafficking hit a wall last week after Democrats said they discovered a provision to impose new limits on abortion rights, and threatened to filibuster the bill unless the provision is removed. 

Senate Republican leaders now find themselves caught between wanting to show they can pass even the most noncontroversial legislation and the passions of the pro-life base they roped into the battle by making it a high-stakes proxy war over abortion. 

The provision expands the restrictions on government funding of abortions beyond those contained in the decades-old Hyde Amendment... [snip]

That the Democrats didn't notice the provision for nearly two months reflects an extraordinary failure on their own side to read and understand the bill before voting unanimously to approve it in committee and allowing it to come before the full Senate. Republicans didn't inform them of the provision, Democrats say, arguing that they made a mistake by "trusting" the GOP. 

That Republicans are for the most part lying, untrustworthy ideologues should not have come as a surprise to Democrats;  perhaps they'll make sure they curry-comb any bills in committee from now on to avoid this happening in the future.  Shame on them.

At the same time, there was a gathering of right-wing interest groups in Washington to try to dispel the notion that the Old White Man's Republican Party is engaged in a War on Women.  Dana Milbank covered the event and saw a few (=cough= huge =cough=) problems :

Alas for the GOP, the gender gap preceded Senate candidate Todd Akin, and the comments have continued since then: the Idaho legislator who asked last month whether a gynecological exam on a woman could be conducted by having her swallow a camera; the New Hampshire legislator who said a Democratic congresswoman would lose because she’s “ugly as sin”; another New Hampshire legislator who argued that men make more than women because “they don’t mind working nights and weekends” or “overtime or outdoors”; the Arizona GOP official who said women on Medicaid should be sterilized; and the New Mexico congressman who endorsed this biblical view: “The wife is to voluntarily submit, just as the husband is to lovingly lead and sacrifice.” 

At the same time, Republicans have taken up hundreds of bills in state legislatures restricting abortion, and Democrats have sought to highlight Republican opposition in Congress to the Violence Against Women Act, the Paycheck Fairness Act and other bills.

So women, who are you going to believe:  Republicans or your lying eyes?

L'il Danny the Censor?

Former Washington Post Bezos Bugle sports writer Jason Reid was known for his biting -- and accurate -- columns on the Washington football team's lousy play and even lousier management, by which we mean the vertically-challenged team owner (and Republican contributor) Daniel "L'il Danny" Snyder.  When he was with the Bezos Bugle, Reid would ask probing and critical questions of the team's management, particularly General Manager Bruce Allen, in press conferences, which annoyed him and L'il Danny to no end.

Now, according to reports, L'il Danny is strongly suspected to have directed the squashing of Reid's debut on "The Man Cave," a new show on the local radio station that he owns.  If true, it wouldn't be the first time that L'il Danny elbowed the local press to try to shape his image or that of his team.  Several years ago, L'il Danny tried to shut down a small paper in D.C. that had run an unflattering story about him, and it was only after the community expressed its outrage that L'il Danny backed down.  Time will tell if this latest effort at censorship blow up in his face, too.

(Image:  L'il Danny with his best friends)

Happy St. Patrick's Day

To the Irish, the part Irish, and everyone who wishes they were Irish, Erin go bragh!

Sweaty Palms Quote of the Day

"No one runs for president anymore unencumbered by invasions of their private life and electronically generated, sensation-producing gossip and conspiratorial hints.  And the media will, all the while, pretend that what drives the day’s reporting are their attempts to uncover where the candidates stand on the issues.  Watching the 2016 campaign will take us all closer to being part of a video game, with the sweaty palms of the media at its controls."-- (emphasis added) Andrew Burstein and Nancy Isenberg, history professors at LSU, in Salon,  explaining the Republican and media frenzy over manufactured "scandals" from a historical perspective.  A good read.

Today's Tomorrow Cartoon -- Just Kidding!

(click to enlarge)

Republicans are ready to govern responsibly…..just kidding!

(cartoon:  Tom Tomorrow, via Daily Kos)

Wanted: $65 Million Jet To Keep Up With The Dollars

News Item: "Prosperity Gospel" huckster televangelist Creflo "Give Me Your Last" Dollar (yes) is asking his sheeple flock for a "love gift" (no, not that kind).  It seems the pastor of the World Changers (Moneychangers? The Dollar Store?) Church in Georgia is in need of a jet that will set his 200,000 followers back $65 million.  Here's the appeal:

"We believe it is time to replace this aircraft so that our Pastors and staff can continue to safely and swiftly share the Good News of the Gospel worldwide," the copy read. 

"... Therefore, we are asking members, partners, and supporters of this ministry to assist us in acquiring a Gulfstream G650 airplane so that Pastors Creflo and Taffi and World Changers Church International can continue to blanket the globe with the Gospel of grace." [snip]

And while the video asks specifically for $300 from 200,000 donors, the written appeal noted: "Your love gift of any amount will be greatly appreciated." 

Dollar, by the way, is also remembered for his ostentatious appeals to parishoners to support and pray for then-President George "Dumbya" Bush ("a man of wisdom" who is "strengthened and guided by the Holy Spirit") =cough= Republican =cough=.  He's also had a run-in with the law in a family violence case ("spare the rod...!"). So, nice!

So as not to be shamed by coming up short in the jet purchase/ prosperity stakes by  Pastor "Give Me Your Last" Dollar, we at the Hackwhackers Church of the Fleeced Flock humbly ask that you give whatever you can so we can jet around the country following the Pastor in order to swiftly share the Good News that a person would be better off burying his/ her "love gift" in a can in his/ her backyard than giving it unto this pharisee.  Can we get an "amen"?

To A Great Lady

Happy 82nd birthday to Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg, who has become a hero to new generations of progressives with her voice and passion.  She's captured the attention and imagination of people far younger who admire her strength, intellect and wit in not only her court opinions, but in her many public appearances.  May she have many, many healthy years ahead.

Scottie's Excellent New Hampshire Adventure

Apparently thinking that he has what it takes to be President, Wisconsin Governor and Koch Industries' Employee of the Year Scott "Koch Head" Walker is spending this weekend campaigning in the early primary state of New Hampshire.  After being called out last week on his worshipful account about holding the family bible of Rethug demigod St. Ronnie of Hollywood, Koch Head was no doubt hoping that his foray into New Hampshire would go smoothly.  Speaking to friendly audiences of wingnuts, Koch Head nevertheless gave opponents some rich material to use in the primaries, including a comparison of ISIS to a computer virus.  Paging Norton Antivirus, paging Norton Antivirus!

To say that this hack isn't ready for prime time is like saying elephant dung isn't ready to be served as a main course in American restaurants.

(photo:  Was he separated from his Cub Scout troop?)

The Dishonor Roll

By popular demand, here's the list of the 47 traitors Republican Senators who sent the letter to the mullahs in Iran in an attempt to sabotage the on-going nuclear talks:

Richard Shelby (AL), Jeff Sessions (AL), Dan Sullivan (AK), John McCain (AZ), John Boozman (AR), Tom Cotton (AR), Cory Gardner (CO), Marco Rubio (FL), Johnny Isakson (GA), David Perdue (GA), Mike Crapo (ID), Jim Risch (ID), Mark Kirk (IL), Chuck Grassley (IA), Joni Ernst (IA), Pat Roberts (KS), Jerry Moran (KS), Mitch McConnell (KY), Rand Paul (KY), David Vitter (LA), Bill Cassidy (LA), Roger Wicker (MS), Roy Blunt (MO), Steve Daines (MT), Deb Fischer (NE), Ben Sasse (NE), Dean Heller (NV), Kelly Ayotte (NH), Richard Burr (NC), Thom Tillis (NC), John Hoeven (ND),  Rob Portman (OH), Jim Inhofe (OK), James Lankford (OK), Pat Toomey (PA), Lindsey Graham (SC), Tim Scott (SC), John Thune (SD), Mike Rounds (SD), John Cornyn (TX), Ted Cruz (TX), Orin Hatch (UT), Mike Lee (UT), Shelley Moore Capito (WV), Ron Johnson (WI), Mike Enzi (WY), John Barrasso (WY).

By the way, to date just over 290,000 people have signed a petition at "We The People," the White House's public petition website, to ask that charges be filed against the 47 traitors Republican Senators for violating the Logan Act.  We concede, unfortunately, that's not going to happen now or any time in the future, but it's a good measure of the outrage that's been caused by this malicious attempt to blow up the talks with Iran while undercutting and humiliating the President.

Today's Cartoon - Not Cottoning To Him

(click on image to enlarge)

(Jeff Danziger, via gocomics.com)