Today's Cartoon - Another Moment Of Silence, Please

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(Steve Benson, via gocomics.com)

See also post below.

Today's Empty Platitude Shaming Tweet

Empty Platitude Shaming is not Prayer Shaming.

— John Fugelsang (@JohnFugelsang) December 4, 2015

As we noted in the aftermath of the San Bernardino shootings,  N.R.A.- paid- for right- wing pols were getting push back on their rote "thoughts and prayers" reaction to the frequent manifestations of gun violence in America, the same pols who continue to block even the most modest gun control measures, even after San Bernardino. The usual Republican hacks have tried to turn this into "prayer shaming," occasionally joined by embedded Republicans and "both siderists" in the "mainstream media."  Fugelsang's tweet is the most direct and accurate response to their false public piety and to those who would try to make this an issue of "prayer shaming."

BONUS:  Nice long read at Disaffected And It Feels So Good.

Weekend Imaginary Friend Song

Evan Dando, front man and constant force for Boston- based alt rock band The Lemonheads, wrote  "If I Could Talk I'd Tell You (Imaginary Friend)," a song Dando says is "deceptively bright sounding" with somewhat "sour" lyrics (why they're "lemon" heads, of course).  We just like the aural power of it, so we'll take the "bright" part into the weekend.  Here it is, from their 1996 album "Car Button Cloth."

Poll Answers The Question "Why Can't We Have Nice Things In This Country?"

Results of the latest CNN/ ORC poll show that apparently -- adding the numbers of Donald "Rump" Trump,  Sen. "Tailgunner Ted" Cruz, Dr. Ben Carson, and Sen. Marco "Glug Glug" Rubio together tap tap click click -- at least 78 percent of Republicans play with their toes.

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As for the "second tier" candidates (Christie, J.E.B.!, Fiorina, Huckabee, Kasich, and Paul), we offer an appropriate musical salute.

Why Do People Loathe Ted Cruz?

The Daily Show's Trevor Noah counts the ways, with invaluable assistance from "Tailgunner Ted" himself (and his college roommate - LOL):

The Daily Show with Trevor Noah
Get More: The Daily Show Full Episodes,The Daily Show on Facebook,The Daily Show Video Archive

Misdemeanor Conviction For 29 Miner Deaths

After a long trial, former West Virginia coal executive Don "Big Shit" Blankenship was convicted today on a single misdemeanor charge of conspiracy to commit mine safety violations.  The conviction carries a maximum penalty of one year in prison.  The former Massey Energy Co. CEO had faced decades in prison for multiple counts stemming from the Upper Big Branch mine disaster in which claimed the lives of 29 miners.  Naturally, the human turd pile plans to appeal and may very well get away with, well, murder.

Back in 2010, Digby had this wonderful sketch ("Sociopathic Plutocrat") of the viciously anti- union, well- heeled Big Shit after he stirred up a crowd of benighted miners and their families (the kind who commonly vote against their self- interest) in his trademark American flag regalia:

I honestly can't think of a better illustration of plutocratic arrogance. He's literally killing them, but because he looks like a patriotic good old boy and mutters corn pone gibberish in vaguely soothing tones, they cheer wildly and consider him one of them. He climbed back into his personal helicopter that day and had a good laugh having just been reassured once again that there's a sucker born every minute.

Today, he's probably climbing back into his personal helicopter and having a good laugh with his lawyers having just been reassured once again that there's at least 12 suckers who can serve on a jury in West Virginia.  He'll beat this rap yet, mark our words.

(Photo: The last refuge of a scoundrel - "Big Shit" Blankenship's a killer patriot.)

It Wasn't Always Like This

Remember when this happened in 1994?

... a United States federal law [was enacted] that included a prohibition on the manufacture for civilian use of certain semi-automatic firearms it defined as assault weapons, as well as certain ammunition magazines it defined as "large capacity."

The ten-year ban was passed by the U.S. Congress on September 13, 1994, and signed into law by President Bill Clinton the same day. The ban only applied to weapons manufactured after the date of the ban's enactment, and it expired on September 13, 2004, in accordance with its sunset provision.

Several constitutional challenges were filed against provisions of the ban, but all were rejected by reviewing courts. There were multiple attempts to renew the ban, but none succeeded.

During the decade since the ban expired, Congress has become all the more beholden to/ afraid of the National Rifle Gun Manufacturers Association, perhaps the single most evil advocacy organization in the world.  The N.R.A.'s Republican/ New Confederate/ Stupid/ Shooter's Party has a lock on the House of Representatives that may last another generation.  So what are the odds even the most minimal, common sense legislation -- on background checks or limiting assault weapons or magazine capacity -- will emerge from Congress?

It's all the more frustrating and bittersweet knowing we had something reasonable and good, and it slipped away.

Fixing Things

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Yesterday's mass shooting in San Bernardino, which took 14 lives, is the second in less than a week.  The motives of the two shooters, a husband and wife, aren't yet known, but Federal and local authorities haven't ruled out a domestic "jihadi"- inspired attack, or a workplace-related dispute (the husband worked for the organization that was targeted), or a combination. The couple's rampage also wounded 14 more.

The New York Daily News' front page today comments on the canned "thoughts and prayers" statements that we hear routinely from politicians Republicans, who make excuses for not considering even the most benign gun safety reforms (i.e., background check requirements for high volume dealers in private sales). Of course, there are also the calls by the gun manufacturers lobby and their politicians to let things "cool down" before any actions are taken, knowing that no action will be taken as a result. Thoughts and prayers aren't doing the job, and neither are our elected officials.

UPDATE:  Many are issuing statements and tweeting along the same lines as the Daily News.  Here's just one example, from Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT):

Your "thoughts" should be about steps to take to stop this carnage. Your "prayers" should be for forgiveness if you do nothing - again.

— Chris Murphy (@ChrisMurphyCT) December 2, 2015

"Anyone But Ted Cruz"

In today's New York Times, columnist Frank Bruni executes a hard takedown of smarmy demagogue Sen. "Tailgunner Ted" Cruz that's going to leave a mark. Bruni details Tailgunner Ted's nihilistic, spotlight-seeking behavior, going back to his service in Dumbya's 2000 Presidential campaign, as well as his days at Princeton, traits which have not endeared him to anyone that he's served with.  Says one veteran of Dumbya's campaign:

“Why do people take such an instant dislike to Ted Cruz? It just saves time.”

Tailgunner Ted (so named for his similarity in appearance and style to Joe McCarthy) is loathed by his Republican colleagues in the Senate, who have observed his pattern of self-aggrandizement and incendiary rhetoric.  He thought nothing of engineering the Government shutdown  in 2013 in a clearly futile attempt to repeal the Affordable Care Act, which angered the general public. His McCarthyite smear of former Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel and Vietnam veteran-- himself a Republican -- disgusted even hardliners like Sens. Lindsey Graham and John McCain. His Princeton roommate has said on the record that anyone would be preferable to Tailgunner Ted as President (back in 2013, we noted the Tailgunner's reputation as a creep while at Princeton).

Tailgunner Ted will face increasing scrutiny -- and attacks from his nearest competitors -- as his poll numbers rise. His coming face-off with fellow Cubano gusano Sen. Marco "Glug Glug" Rubio will likely damage both, but Glug Glug has Senate Rethugs  and their organizations lining up against the Tailgunner, which still counts for something despite the rabid base's distrust of them.

(photo: Tailgunner Joe and Tailgunner Ted, made for each other)

Today's Read - The Media And Trump

Want to understand why some in the "mainstream media" are beginning to focus on Donald "Rump" Trump's ugly lies and raw racism?  David Roberts at Vox has a must- read article analyzing the political media's self- perceived role in political campaigns and why Rump threatens that role. After tracing a history of Republican "truthiness," Roberts focuses on why Rump makes these faint- hearted guardians of "both sides do it" so anxious, and concludes:

Thus the dilemma. The old-guard political media has always seen itself as a disinterested referee. But what they confront now is aggressive, unapologetic nonsense, piped up from a nationalist, ethnocentric, revanchist conservative base through the mouth of one Donald J. Trump. He is forcing them to choose sides, to accept his bare assertions and make a mockery of their purported allegiance to accuracy ... or to call him out and, in the eyes of his supporters, formally align against him.

The conceptual space for neutrality has all but disappeared. Media outlets are being forced to take sides, and facing the grim possibility that even if they do, they have no power to affect the outcome. Their twin idols — objectivity and influence — are being exposed as illusions. That's what has them so anxious about Donald Trump.

Well, at least Mad Magazine has taken sides.

Cover Boy

Mad Magazine's cover boy on its December 15 "20 Dumbest" edition is who you might expect it to be, but, c'mon, that's not fair to the other riders on the Rethug clown bus. Equal time!

BONUS:  Narcissistic demagogue Donald "Rump" Trump's poll numbers are going up, according to the latest Quinnipiac poll, which makes one wonder if his supporters collectively should be #1 in Mad's list. (We believe that's Rethuglican Party chair weasel Reince "Prepuce" Priebus disguised as Alfred E. Newman:  "what, me worry?")

BONUS II:  Blind squirrel emeritus Dana Milbank finally comes out and says it:  "Donald Trump is a bigot and a racist."  There, was that so hard?

(illustration: Mark Fredrickson, Mad Magazine)

Mid-Week Joy Song

Australian singer-songwriter Vance Joy had a big international hit 18 months ago with "Riptide." We're celebrating his 27th birthday yesterday by featuring his latest single,"Fire and the Flood," which is moving up on the alternative/pop chart.  Enjoy.

Rump to CNN: Stick 'Em Up!

Charles P. Pierce, at Esquire.com, has advice for our soft-spined corporate media heads concerning vulgarian narcissist Donald "Rump" Trump, whom they allow to call into their gab fests, rather than appear in person:

"No more phone calls. If he wants to be on your air—which is actually air that belongs to all of us, but this is no time to get into that—then he has to sit his ass down in your studio and take questions face-to-face. I know of no other candidate for any office anywhere who's gotten away with just being a voice on the telephone. It's one baby step away from Hal Philip Walker, the candidate in Robert Altman's Nashville who campaigned only as a voice on a sound truck. In your cowardice and your insecurity, you've allowed him to rewrite rules that you have every right and duty to enforce. He is getting away with murder, figuratively, at least at the moment, and you're letting him do it. Good god, what's next?"

Pierce answers the "what's next?" in the next breath:  Rump is thinking of extorting $5 million from host CNN in order for him to appear in the next Rethuglican poo-fling on December 15. We'd like to think that Rump's competitors on the clown bus would chip in double that amount to CNN to keep him off the stage.

The Cubano Gusano Fight

As the Rethuglican primaries in Iowa and New Hampshire approach, far-right candidates and cynical opportunists Sen. Marco "Glug Glug" Rubio (R- Adelson) and Sen. "Tailgunner Ted" Cruz (R-Calgary) are taking harder shots at each other, angling to be the eventual "alternative" candidate to vulgarian hate spewer Donald "Rump" Trump. The latest volley comes from Tailgunner Ted, who in an interview with Bloomberg News, accused Glug Glug of promoting "military adventurisn" in the Middle East, and linked him to former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton (ouch!) in his support for toppling the Qaddafi regime in Libya.  Tailgunner Ted also went on to oppose U.S. military intervention in Syria, a clear break with neocon policies, and something that will keep neocon donors like gambling mogul Sheldon "Smelly Shelly" Adelson and hedge fund vulture Paul Singer on Glug Glug's team. Trying to appeal to "libertarian" voters, Tailgunner Ted has also taken shots at Glug Glug's support of the NSA's mass collection of phone data.

We'll watch the intra-Cuban primary between these two reactionaries with amusement and fascination, as the rhetoric escalates and the stakes rise. Let's hope that, during the growing fracas, they bloody themselves so badly that it sinks their 2016 hopes, and both say "no mas."

(photo: Watch your back)

Violent Rhetoric On Planned Parenthood Is "Republican Kool-Aid"

Now that more is known of Robert Lewis Dear, the conservative white "Christian" domestic terrorist who killed three people in his assault on a Planned Parenthood facility in Colorado Springs, the media is finally focusing its fitful attention on the hate speech that's been unleashed on Planned Parenthood for months by right- wing Republicans.  Here's what they're finally noticing:

Frequent blind squirrel Dana Milbank (in the great "mainstream media" tradition of infantilizing the crackpot right) first wonders if the violent imagery used by "conservative leaders" is "unwittingly" giving justification to people like Dear to commit violent acts.  "Unwittingly?"  These are adults who have spent enough time in the public arena to know that demagogic, inflammatory rhetoric inflames --  and they simply don't care because it benefits them.  They can blame it on a "transgender leftist" or misdirect attention to Black Lives Matter (see video below), or claim they had nothing to do with the violence.  That's usually enough for their credulous base.

Then Milbank finally gets to his aha moment:

There will always be the irrational and the unstable. But when political leaders turn disagreements into all-out war, demonize opponents as enemies and accuse those on the other side of being subhuman killers, the unbalanced can hear messages that were never intended.

"... that were never intended."  Karnak Milbank then goes on to briefly catalog the hate speech of the various Republican candidates and their cheerleaders at Fox "News" that have contributed to the violent atmosphere surrounding Planned Parenthood.  All "unwittingly" and "never intended," of course!

Emily Bazelon in the New York Times has a deeper, spot- on dive into the connection between the right's hate speech and the results seen in Colorado:

Abortion opponents have every right to lobby to take the funding away, and to use whatever language they choose in doing so. The First Amendment protects them. But that doesn’t mean that the killings necessarily came from nowhere, or that no one cautioned that the recent burst of angry accusations carried a physical risk. In September, the F.B.I. warned of an uptick in attacks against abortion facilities, singling out “lone offenders” using tactics “typical of the pro-life extremist movement.” After the shooting, Vicki Saporta, president of the National Abortion Federation,said in a statement: “We have seen an unprecedented increase in hate speech and threats against abortion providers. We have been quite worried that this increase in threats would lead to a violent attack like we saw today.”  [snip] 

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

Finally, we turn to Larry Wilmore, who shows us how Republicans have been mixing the violent Kool-Aid ("Haterade") for their base. (h/t Crooks and Liars):




BONUS:  Cliff Schecter says "guttersnipes" like Tailgunner Ted Cruz and Snarly Carly Fiorina "built this."

BONUS II:  Here's Planned Parenthood's statement on the domestic terrorism perpetrated on their Colorado Springs facility and the false and violent rhetoric that preceded and followed.