Today's Tomorrow Cartoon

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Former (Vice) President and man ducking international criminal court Dick "The Dick" Cheney's weekend was spent defiantly and dishonestly pushing back on the Senate torture report, which details the methods used by the CIA and ordered by the Bush/Cheney White House.  "I'd do it again in a minute," The Dick snarled, after refusing to apologize for the torture of an innocent man who later died, and who hid behind the White House-ordered "finding" from the Bush Justice Department that gave cover to water boarding and other torture methods.

UPDATE:  Even one of The Dick's co-conspirators thinks the rectal feeding of some detainees went beyond the scope of the authorization.  Ya think?

(cartoon: Tom Tomorrow, via DailyKos)

Tailgunner Ted Shoots Down Own Plane

Teabagger icon and rising demagogue in the Rethuglican / New Confederate / Stupid Party Sen. Ted "Tailgunner Ted" Cruz is the kind of arrogant putz that always thinks he's the smartest person in the room.  The flurry of activity in the Senate to deal with the budget, however, may have overloaded Tailgunner Ted's brain circuitry.  In trying to throw a procedural wrench into the budget vote, so as to stage a tantrum over the President's immigration reform actions, Tailgunner Ted opened the door for Senate Dems to vote on a number of Presidential appointees and judges that had been held up.  D'oh!  That removed a key bargaining chip for Senate Rethugs to use in the waning days of this Congress.

Tailgunner Ted is fast becoming an outcast even among his Senate Republican colleagues, who see the Texas extremist as a reckless opportunist bent on the 2016 Presidential nomination.  With performances like this weekend's, Tailgunner Ted may have hastened his isolation among his Republican colleagues, but we have to give him "thanks" for his boneheaded move that helped the Dems move some appointments.

Today's Cartoon Twofer (Or Enhanced Cartooning)

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(Mike Luckovich, Atlanta Journal-Constitution)

(Nick Anderson, Houston Chronicle)

What You Get When You Don't Vote - A Continuing Series

Maryland Gov.-elect Larry "Bulk" Hogan recently met with local (Montgomery County) Maryland business and civic leaders, and decided to get things off on the good foot:

“Now, I realize that Montgomery County was one of the three lonely counties that unfortunately voted the wrong way from the entire rest of the state,” said Hogan (R), referring to Maryland’s two other Democratic strongholds, Prince George’s County and the city of Baltimore, carried by his opponent, Lt. Gov. Anthony Brown (D).

Why be a humble winner when you can be a dick?

First, a reality check.  Brown actually carried 4 of the most populous jurisdictions in the State: Montgomery, Prince George's and Charles Counties and the City of Baltimore.  Bulk cleaned up in rural, yokel Maryland. Also, Bulk's total vote (844,400, or a "landslide" 51%) represented approximately 19 percent of registered voters in Maryland.  "The entire rest of the state," indeed.

This is a wonderful object lesson for what happens when Democrats don't get out to vote.  You get a smug Chamber of Commerce Republican in the Governor's Mansion.

(Photo: Maryland Gov.-elect Larry "Bulk" Hogan - oink.)

Pot, Meet Kettle

The Fux Channel's resident mustachioed narcissist Geraldo "Selfie" Rivera shared his advice to the protesters wearing the "I Can't Breathe" t-shirts that echo Eric Garner's last words as a Staten Island, NY police officer put him in a fatal chokehold:  Selfie wants them to change the slogan to "We're The Problem."  Oh Selfie, you provocative gusano you!

Actually, if Selfie could get the Fux Channel's entire on-air crew to wear that slogan on a t-shirt for a week, we'd never say another unkind word about him, new half-naked selfies or not.

Weekend Music

It's becoming a bit of a pre-holiday December tradition for us to offer this wonderfully evocative piece of music from Sergei Prokofiev, "Troika" from the Lieutenant Kije Suite.  We love it and we hope you do, too.

Answer: Wall Street

Last night's vote in the House of Representatives on the so-called "cromnibus" -- for continuing resolution and omnibus appropriation bill -- was ostensibly to keep the government running beyond midnight.  But it represented all that is foul about our political system that is awash in special interest money and influence.  One of the provisions attached to the bill was pushed by the banking and finance industry, and it demolishes a key regulatory reform relating to banks using taxpayer money to make risky financial deals known as "swaps."  It was one of the provisions of the Dodd-Frank legislation that passed after the Wall Street meltdown in 2008, and which infuriated the high rollers on Wall Street.

Sadly, enough Democrats -- at the urging of the White House -- joined eager Republicans to pass the legislation with the big favor to the investment banks.  JPMorgan CEO Jaime Dimon personally lobbied House members to vote for the "cromnibus" with the gift to his industry included.  Many Dems were furious at the White House and other Dems for what Sen. Elizabeth Warren called "a vote for future taxpayer bailouts of Wall Street."  House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi added that she was "enormously disappointed" at the White House's decision not to fight the bankers' power play.  As Sen. Warren asked of her colleagues on the floor of the Senate this week, "Who do you work for—Wall Street or the American people?"  We have the answer.

BONUS:  Andy Borowitz frames it perfectly: "Citigroup To Move Headquarters to U.S. Capitol Building."

Dumb And Dumber

Gimlet-eyed Fox & Friends co-host Brian Kilmeade pipes up during a discussion on why people have irrational fears (btw, like climate change, according to guest, the execrable John Stossel, who poo-poo's climate "alarmists"):

“As I remember in that series Land of the Lost,” Kilmeade remarked. “Do you remember that? That’s when the — yeah, Land of the Lost was afternoons on Saturdays… It was crazy to see men try to survive in times of dinosaurs.” (our emphasis)

Crazy, yes, but also profoundly stupid.  Ken Ham has a job as Creation Museum curator waiting for Kilmeade should he ever leave Fox "News."  The man has the brains of a dust bunny.

Turning to once- and- future failed Republican/ New Confederate/ Stupid Party candidate for president Gov. Rick "Oops" Perry (Secessionist-TX), he's confident his manifest stupidity will not be a deal breaker in another run for the highest office in the land:

Outgoing Texas governor and presumed 2016 Republican presidential candidate Rick Perry isn't worried about his perceived lack of book smarts because that's not, he says, what a presidential campaign is about. 

"Running for the presidency's not an IQ test," Perry said in an interview with NBC News.

Sadly, wearing "smart glasses" has not changed the impression reality that Perry is a small-bore dimwit. Sadly, also, this is almost a requirement for running for office in Republican primaries, because the Republican base likes to see itself reflected in its candidates.

Ratting Out Dumbya Quote of the Day

"Read his book, he talks about it extensively in his memoirs. He was in fact an integral part of the program, he had to approve it before we went forward with it….I think he knew everything he needed to know and wanted to know about the program….I think he knew certainly the techniques, we did discuss the techniques.  There was no effort on our part to keep him from that." (emphasis added) -- former (Vice) President and Dumbya's sociopathic sidekick Dick "The Dick" Cheney, disputing Dumbya's claim that he didn't find out about the torture program until many years afterward.  The Dick bears some animus toward his former pupil since Dumbya failed to pardon "Scooter" Libby as he left office, so it's not surprising that The Dick would slip the shiv into his hapless sidekick.  This will get better as time goes on, so get the popcorn ready.

Man of the One Percent

It's no secret that the elite power brokers in the Republican / New Confederate / Stupid Party want one of their own in the White House.  They temporarily let irascible "maverick" AZ Sen. John "Grampypants" McCain in their clubhouse door in 2008, but only because their man Dumbya screwed up so badly it was time to give the sagebrush yahoos their guy for once.

Now, the elites are romancing another Bush legacy, former Gov. John Ellis ("J.E.B.") Bush, who is everything a plutocrat could want:  blue blood going back several generations, independent wealth, and someone who talks their talk as an off-shore equity fund manager.  He's Willard "Mittens" Romney without the robot circuitry.  (Of course, Mittens is playing coy about another doomed run at the White House, causing many plutocrats to hedge their bets on J.E.B.).  It's not as though J.E.B. doesn't have a major obstacle to overcome (cough Dumbya), but, then again, millions of Americans are amnesiacs when it comes to politics, if they're paying attention at all.  Now, if we could only unearth a video of J.E.B. complaining about the 47% of Americans who mooch off of the Government….

(photo:  Guess which one's the "smarter" one?)

Season's Beatings To You, Gov!

"Thank you again and Molotov." -- Koch Industries mid-level manager and union-busting Governor of Wisconsin Scott "I'll Have A Koch" Walker, writing to a Jewish constituent while Milwaukee County Manager some years ago.  While Walker wasn't trying to wish a flaming cocktail for his constituent,  most politicians who had 30,000 constituents of the Jewish faith might have done better with "mazel tov."  Can't wait for him to join the 2016 Republican clown car Presidential race.

Cartoons of the Day

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The torturers will always claim that it was worth the "effort" because we gained valuable intelligence.  Credible evidence says we didn't, and the most egregious torture stopped in Dumbya and The Dick's second term…we're told.  The Dick, in particular, is very careful about traveling abroad, fearful of being detained and charged with war crimes.  The CIA action they should have paid attention to was the infamous August, 2001 briefing titled "Bin Laden Determined To Strike in U.S." delivered over a month before the 9/11 attack.  What a legacy.

(cartoons:  top, Steve Bell, bottom, Jeff Danziger, via Gocomics.com)

Mid-Week Song

Our featured song by Phil Collins reached #1 on the charts 25 years ago.  It's a fitting song for the Christmas season, because it reminds us that the relative "paradise" that we live in with food and shelter is not shared by hundreds of millions of people worldwide:

She calls out to the man on the street
'Sir, can you help me?
It's cold and I've nowhere to sleep
Is there somewhere you can tell me?'
He walks on, doesn't look back
He pretends he can't hear her
He starts to whistle as he crosses the street
Seems embarrassed to be there

News You Can Lose - Surprise! The Deficit's Shrinking

The results of a recent Bloomberg Politics poll show just how well the "mainstream media" has been disseminating information to the public (from Steve Benen, Maddow Blog -- click on graphs to enlarge):

That's 73% who incorrectly think the deficit's getting bigger, 22% who correctly think it's getting smaller, and 6% who might not have a pulse.

Of course, the deficit has been shrinking significantly for years.  How often have you seen that reported?  (What's that, Chuck Todd?  It's not your job?)

As a reality check, Benen provides the following graph showing how the deficit has been reduced since President Obama took office in 2009:

We're in large part a clueless country because we have a bought, cowardly, incompetent, corporate media that doesn't uphold the first principle of journalism:  report the facts.

Tortured Quote of the Day

"The committee reviewed 20 of the most frequent and prominent examples of purported 'successes' that the CIA has attributed to the use of its enhanced interrogation techniques. Each of those examples was found to be wrong." -- (emphasis added)  an excerpt from the Senate Select Committee on Intellegence report on the Bush/Cheney detention and interrogation program, which involved "enhanced interrogation techniques" -- torture under such codes as the Uniform Code of Military Justice, and the Geneva Conventions.  Such were the lies peddled by Dumbya and The Dick to shield themselves from domestic critics.  Their torture program didn't keep us safe, and likely inspired a new generation of terrorists to wage war against us.

UPDATE:  Kudos to the senior Senator from Arizona -- a frequent target of ours -- for standing up and defending the release of the report.