LIES, LIES, LIES. AND WORSE.

Stephen Miller appears on CNN's State of the Union (screen grab).

Stephen Miller appears on CNN’s State of the Union (screen grab).

Although White House adviser Stephen Miller has quickly emerged as a fall guy for this past weekend’s chaos at major American airports, he nonetheless appeared on CBS’s This Morning to paint the Trump administration’s travel ban on seven Muslim-majority countries as a massive success.

Oh sure. Absolute chaos, people trapped in airports, crying, wondering if they will ever be able to see their families again, people trying to commit suicide out of despair, yeah, that’s success alright! Godsdamned evil fucking nazis, who call this orgy of hate a “success”. :spits: As noted in a previous thread:

So many people in this country are just fine with this evil. They can’t even manage to think for 5 fucking seconds – who in the hell wants to be a refugee? No one, that’s who. Leaving your home, uprooting your whole life, struggling, facing bias and hatred, having to start all over again? Yeah, sure, people do that sort of thing just for fucking fun.

If you’re one of the people okay with this demonstration of stupidity and cruelty, congratulations, you’re officially a fuckwit.

Miller also said that the Trump administration will, over the next month, develop screening procedures to ensure that only foreigners who “love” America are allowed into the country.

“We’re going to take the next 30 days to develop a new set of screening protocols to try and ensure that people entering our country, particularly on a permanent basis, truly love and support the United States of America,” he said. “There’ll be a 60-day period where countries will be asked to comply with the new directives. Countries that are in compliance will have regular, ordinary and routine migration with the United States.”

Oh, well that’s not Orwellian at all, no. “I do declare I love America in the most bigly, yugely way possible! I love America more than anything!” Talk about sickening. If you’re not up on your history, I suggest you do some reading, stat. Fascists and Nazis just adore this sort of disgusting bullshit. Note that little “comply” up above, too. When dictators and tyrants start tossing “comply” around…Yeah.

Miller then went on to say that the administration’s overall goal is to make sure people who are intolerant of others’ differences shouldn’t be granted entry to the United States.

“It only makes sense that we engage in some kind of selections process that prioritizes the entry of people who, as the order stated, don’t hold bigotry, hatred or violence against any sexual orientation, against any race, or against any particular class of people,” he said.

:chokes; sputter: Oh please! Christ, I can’t take this sort of shit first thing. uStates, a country founded on intolerance, hatred, greed, genocide and theft, and hasn’t gotten any better. Now we’re the country of love and tolerance? We have now surpassed Orwell, and that is no mean feat. FFS, I can’t even, I oh fuck. This godsdamned country, where hate and bigotry reign supreme, where cops murder people of colour at will, where the government is still trying to finish the genocide of Indians, where a host of stupid white people spew toxic bigotry every moment of the day, where half the states still defend fucking slavery, and the flag symbolizing it’s glories, a country where LGBTQ peoples are assaulted and murdered, and where the government tries at every turn to legislate their bigotry and hate, *deep breath* a country that is so damn stupid they still try to teach creationism, a country where half of the people are attempting to legislate all women into the untrustworthy, subhuman slut category, shoving their damn noses into our pants at every turn, vile, evil, immoral, fanatical christians who think they have the right to oppress and glory in hate, and that barely covers it.

Aaaaaaauuuuuuugh. I will be screaming in fury all damn day. Unfuckingbelievable.

Via Raw Story.

NO DAPL Roundup.

Malia Obama (Pinterest)

Malia Obama (Pinterest)

Malia Obama has chosen to stand with Standing Rock.

A group of 100 people gathered in Park City to protest the revival of the project by new U.S. President Donald Trump. Despite freezing temperatures and heavy snowfall, Malia Obama joined the protester who were holding up signs that read: “Exist. Resist. Rise.” and “Impeach corporate control,” according to the Daily Mail.

Along with protesting the construction of the pipeline, which will disturb sacred grounds and introduce contaminants into the local water supply, the group was protesting the festival sponsorship by Chase Bank, which is invested in the pipeline. The rally was held in front of the Chase Sapphire on Main lounge.

Courtesy MSNBC via YouTube.

Courtesy MSNBC via YouTube.

Chairman Archambault on MSNBC: ‘President Is Circumventing Federal Law’.

Standing Rock Sioux Chairman David Archambault II was more surprised at the rapidity with which Donald Trump signed presidential memoranda purporting to speed up the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) and reinstate the Keystone XL pipeline than he was by the act itself.

“We were prepared for President Trump take a run at everything we have accomplished in the last two years,” Archambault told Tamron Hall on MSNBC on Wednesday January 25, the day after Trump signed a Presidential Memorandum attempting to move DAPL along. “This nation better start bracing itself for what’s to come if in the first four days we’re witnessing him using an executive order to circumvent federal laws. It’s not right, and it’s something we better get ready for. I was disappointed that it came this soon, because we had worked so hard for the last two years.”

The tribe wants closer study of the pipeline’s potential effects on water supply, sacred sites and treaty rights, he said, and Trump is trying to do an end run around such statutes as the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA).

“The troubling thing is that this president is circumventing federal law,” Archambault said. “We have Treaty rights, we have water rights with our Winter’s Doctrine, we have NEPA.”

The Keystone XL Pipeline Will Create Just 35 Permanent Jobs. Don’t Believe the Lies.

For those who still insist fossil fuels are the future, the Trump administration represents a new day for some old ideas. In an early sign of things to come, the president showed his faith in big oil when he signed documents Tuesday pressuring federal agencies to support construction of the Dakota Access and Keystone XL oil pipelines. Each of these projects faced enormous protests and was put on hold by the Obama administration because of legitimate environmental and due process concerns.

Congressional Republicans frequently howled at far less heavy-handed exercises of executive power under the previous administration. Today, they applaud Trump’s move on the mistaken premise that these pipelines are good investments. Not only will these projects not create long-lasting jobs – as CNBC, not exactly an anti-corporate mouthpiece, has noted: “Pipelines do not require much labor to operate in the long term” – they will further delay the inevitable transition to clean, renewable energy our economy needs and the American people demand.

Standing Rock Chairman Archambault Sends Strong Letter to Trump.

Editor’s note: Reaction was swift and strong when President Donald Trump signed a series of Presidential Memoranda and Executive Orders designed to move the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) forward and revive the Keystone XL pipeline. The Standing Rock Sioux Tribe responded immediately, and on January 25 Standing Rock Chairman Archambault wrote a letter to Trump explaining the legal constraints, the support that the Environmental Impact Statement and the tribe have, and the need for a leader-to-leader meeting. The full text is below.

DAPL Profiteers Steal Marty Two Bulls Designs.

You’ve probably seen and shared at least one of the many brilliant political cartoons by Marty Two Bulls at some point in time. Marty Two Bulls—an artist from the Oglala Lakota Nation—has been drawing political cartoons with great success for many years. His work has long been a staple on the pages of ICTMN. He’s known for bringing clever humor and hilarious imagery to hot, controversial issues: most recently the anti-DAPL movement in Standing Rock.

But now, you might see his work in places it shouldn’t be: dozens of t-shirt sellers who are hoping to make a buck from the #NoDAPL campaigns have ripped off Marty Two Bulls designs and been using them to sell t-shirts of their own with no credit, profit, or acknowledgement offered to the artist. Now, Two Bulls has taken the matter into his own hands. In addition to filing dozens of reports to stop production of the rip-offs, he has decided to sell t-shirts of his own.

The design thieves are mostly from overseas with no connection to Native country.
“So far I caught over 20,” Two Bulls said, “I go online, I search terms like #NoDAPL and Water is Life on Facebook, and there they are.”

Marty is an amazingly talented artist, and one of the best political cartoonists in the world, he’s brilliant. Please, if you want to show support for Standing Rock, take the time to make sure your item is coming from the actual artist. Most artists aren’t rolling in money, and this theft hurts, one more than one level. Marty is trying to do something for his people, and if you want to help, and like his artwork, please buy from Marty Two Bulls.

South Dakota: New Attack on Transgender Kids.

South Dakota Gov. Dennis Daugaard (R). CREDIT: AP Photo/James Nord.

South Dakota Gov. Dennis Daugaard (R). CREDIT: AP Photo/James Nord.

Last year, Gov. Daugaard vetoed an anti-transgender bill, after meeting with a number of transgender persons. Unsurprisingly, the bigoted bill is back on the table, with a new twist.

The 2017 bill, SB 115, has the same purpose as last year’s: blocking schools from letting transgender students from accessing bathrooms and locker rooms that match their gender identity. But there’s a new word included in the bill — one not seen in other anti-transgender bills — that could set a dangerous new precedent for legislation designed to discriminate against transgender people.

“The term, biological sex, as used in this Act, means a person’s immutable biological sex as objectively determined by anatomy and genetics existing at the time of birth,” the bill reads. “A person’s original birth certificate may be relied upon as definitive evidence of the person’s biological sex.”

That word “original” means there would be no way for any transgender person to ever obtain legal recognition.

Currently, in South Dakota, transgender people can obtain court orders to amend their birth certificates to reflect their gender identity without any specific medical requirements.

[…]

But if anti-trans legislation starts referring to “original birth certificates” like South Dakota’s new bill does, that would further limit the already-few ways trans people have to protect their gender identities under the law. Indeed, it would eliminate the relevance of any legal documentation they obtain that confirms their gender identity.

[…]

Given South Dakota’s otherwise-identical bill made it all the way to the governor’s desk last year, this year’s version could similarly have legs. And there’s nothing to stop the many other states considering various anti-trans bills from incorporating the same change or propose new bills with this extra rejection of transgender identities.

This is absolutely evil, and so unnecessary. I’m tired of saying it should not be alright to legislate hate and bigotry. I would hope that Daugaard find the spine to do the right thing again, but I’m doubtful. Even if he does, this will be picked up by spiteful, bigoted, hateful, christian asses in many other states.

Full story at Think Progress.

Some People and Their Kids…

Retired Lt. Gen Michael Flynn, left, his son Michael G. Flynn, second from left, and Boris Epshteyn, a spokesman for President-elect Donald Trump, third from left, board an elevator at Trump Tower in New York on November 17, 2016. CREDIT: AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster, File.

Retired Lt. Gen Michael Flynn, left, his son Michael G. Flynn, second from left, and Boris Epshteyn, a spokesman for President-elect Donald Trump, third from left, board an elevator at Trump Tower in New York on November 17, 2016. CREDIT: AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster, File.

On Monday night, Michael Flynn Jr. — son of and former chief of staff for President-elect Donald Trump’s pick for national security adviser, retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn — tweeted out a story published on Voltaire Network entitled, “General Flynn’s Proposals to Reform Intelligence.”

The story, published last month with a Damascus dateline and authored by Thierry Meyssan — a 9/11 truther who published a book in 2002 entitled, “The Big Lie” — previews how Flynn plans to rollback “the big reforms that took place during the Bush and Obama years.”

Perhaps most significantly, the story says the “radical overhaul” Flynn is planning involves the elimination of the office of the Director of National Intelligence, an office created by President Bush in 2004, with power centralized under Flynn instead.

“The 16 agencies should no longer be accountable to the National Intelligence Director but only to the National Security Adviser,” Meyssan writes. “In other words, they will be accountable to General Flynn personally.”

The story cites anonymous sources, which some informed observers believe include Flynn Jr. himself.

[…]

In recent weeks, Trump has repeatedly bashed reputable outlets like CNN as “FAKE NEWS” while linking to content from staunchly pro-Trump sites like One America News and LifeZette. In his most recent post on Gab, a social media platform that caters to white nationalists, Flynn Jr. struck a similarly anti-mainstream media tone, writing, “Im sick of these fake news media a$$holes pulling at strings, trying to pit Trumps cabinet against each other. Piece of advice, good number of his cabinet sat across from (in @GenFlynn case interrogated) members of Al Qaeda so nothing LSM can OR WILL EVER do to shake these TRUE PATRIOTS!!”

The full, depressing story is at Think Progress. We are in so much trouble.

I believe in a BIG god.

Mike Farris.

Mike Farris.

The Alliance Defending Freedom, a Christian hate group, has a new prez, Mike Farris. Mike is intent on “winning”, meaning he’s all fired up to make sure that certain people are not accorded full human rights, what with their being subhuman and all. Primarily, this means all who fall under the LGBT+ umbrella, and women. Mike believes in a BIG god, so he’s confident. Just once, I’d like to see any of you Christian assholes actually leave something up to that god of yours. We both know you can’t do that though, because there is no god out there just waiting to stomp all over people. Unfortunately, this sort of wishful thinking is capable of a great deal of harm, not that these sanctimonious, so-called lovers of life care about that. Unwanted children? Eh, who cares. Dead women? Eh, who cares. Queer people subjected to violence and discrimination? Eh, who cares.

Farris described himself as a problem-solver by nature, and said ADF was founded to address “the general erosion of religious freedom” as well as “attacks” on marriage, human life, and the right to “preach the gospel” and “live the gospel.”

There has not been one single instance of erosion in regard to religious freedom. Religious freedom has expanded, in truth, and you don’t like that at all, no sir. You can’t stand the fact that secular people are allowed to have their own little scenes up in public, you can’t stand that the narrative isn’t just yours anymore. So, say what you really mean: we aren’t a fuckin’ dictatorship anymore, and we want that back! There’s been no attack on marriage. Again, that has been expanded to be more inclusive. No one is knocking on your door announcing “marriage dissolved!” and glitter bombing you. Although that’s a tempting thought. Since when don’t you have the right to preach the gospel and live the gospel? Just who in the fuck is stopping you? From my perspective, you asses never manage to shut up, and your gospelish lives aren’t terribly impressive, so there’s not much there to keep one’s attention. In short form, no one cares. Live your bloody life however you like. All that’s asked in return is that you allow others the same. Oh, but can’t have that, can we?

Winning means religious freedom is robustly protected. Winning means Roe versus Wade is reversed. Winning means that same-sex marriage by judicial edict is reversed, and we go back to the states and let the states make their own policy on this.

Religious freedom is already protected. That’s not what you want. You want to rule, much like Lucifer did. Is it really all that much to ask that you jackasses pay mind to your own fairy stories? Roe v Wade, yes, because viewing women as autonomous human beings who have a right to make their own personal medical decisions is unthinkable, someone must think of the wonders of misogyny, yes? After all, what’s the point of being a patriarch if you don’t get to make women miserable, that’s one of those perks, ennit? Oh, and marriage. Marriage is marriage is marriage. Marriage is a legal contract, it only has to do with a god if you decide that matters. So, some people have church a/o god based weddings, and some people have civil ones. Me, I went civil. It’s all marriage. Mine is not invalid because it did not invoke a god. It’s not invalid because I chose to not have children, even those of your view do consider childfree marriages to be invalid. Basically, it’s none of your business. The right to marry is a basic human right, you don’t get to withhold it from those you don’t like. If we could do that, I’d certainly never approve of you being married or breeding, Mr. Farris. You’re much too busy passing on hate for my tastes. However, that is not the case, so I have to accept your marriage. That’s how these little social contract thingies work.

The “left elites” want to restrict religious freedom, he said, and “that battle is at a pitched fever [sic] right now.” Farris said winning won’t be easy because “the other side is well funded, well organized, smart, and they don’t play fair.” But, he said, “I believe we can win because I believe in a big God and I’ve seen Him deliver before.”

Oh ffs. This idiocy again. I’m left, yes. Elite, no. I’m certainly not swimming in the same money pool as all you Christian hustlers and swindlers. A con, every single one of you, fleecing money left and right from those who can most ill afford it, while you live the high life, busy spoonfeeding lies and hate into those who think the sun shines out your arse.

Mostly, I’d like you to shut up and mind your own business. That’s all. You live your life, and let the rest of us live ours. I’m perfectly willing to make peace, but you aren’t. No, you must rule, you must destroy, you must always be at war of some fucking kind or other. Without your hate, you have nothing. Ugh. I just can’t go on, I feel like vomiting all over this awful excuse of a human being. The whole mess is at Right Wing Watch.

Sunday Facepalm.

facepalm_estatua

In the really bad news department, evangelicals have found themselves in government heaven. Last month, Right Wing Watch reported on the Pendejo-elect’s transition team giving religious right activists, specifically, the members of his evangelical advisory board unprecedented (sb. unpresidented?) input in shaping the new administration. A member of that board, Richard Land, was busy boasting in gleeful surprise about this recently.

Earlier this week, one of the members of that board, Richard Land of the Southern Evangelical Seminary, appeared on the “Point of View” radio program, where he told host Kerby Anderson that he has been shocked by how much influence he and other Religious Right activists have had over the make-up of Trump’s administration.

“Some of my conservative friends and I, we have been pinching ourselves, are we hallucinating or is this actually happening?” Land said. “I know a good number of people on the transition team and I can tell you right now, about half of them, Kerby, think I’m liberal. I mean, these are very conservative people.”

Indeed. Nazis and fascists in general are “ultra-conservative” by typical standards. One could phrase it more precisely as rigidly evil.

Land, a longtime activist and former Southern Baptist Convention official, said that he has “been solicited five times for personnel recommendations” by the Trump administration, which is something that never happened under any previous Republican president. As such, Land said, “this administration is going to have more conservative Christians, Catholic and evangelical, in it than any administration that I’ve been associated with or had contact with, and I’ve been doing this since Reagan.”

For those of us who eschew willful delusions, this is very bad news indeed. “When fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying a cross.” I would say they would soon be eyeing suitable candidates for kindling, to set that cross ablaze, but there’s no soon about it. Already happening.

Via Right Wing Watch.

The Federal Heartbeat.

CREDIT: sebk/iStock.

CREDIT: sebk/iStock.

There’s an interesting article at Think Progress, demonstrating that the majority of Americans favour pro-choice.

Recent research from the Pew Research Center indicates that 69 percent of Americans — or 7 in 10 — say Roe v. Wade should not be completely overturned. This represents a 6-point increase in the number of individuals who expressed this sentiment just a few years ago.

It’s unfortunate, to say the least, that coinciding with this change is the illegal election which has placed every manner of fanatic into high office.

During the campaign, Trump promised to ban abortion, punish women who got abortions and doctors who perform them, and appoint Supreme Court justices who would overturn Roe v. Wade. What’s more, his cabinet picks read like the Who’s Who of anti-abortion zealots.

Our elected officials are now at complete odds with what the American public wants when it comes to abortion.

It’s fairly clear that what the majority of Americans want is not of import; it’s what the minority want which will rule the day. The attempt to de-fund Planned Parenthood is still on, and one of the very first things gutted from ACA was contraceptive coverage, because of course if you want to lessen the amount of terminations, eliminating access to contraception is the way to go. Fucking idiots.

Continuing in this vein, for the past couple of weeks, I’ve been reading about an attempt to pass a federal heartbeat bill. Mostly, this story has been covered by Right Wing Watch. Not anymore! The lunatics are running the asylum, and the federal heartbeat bill is a reality. A vicious one.

Rep. Steve King (R-IA) Thursday introduced a bill that would implement a nationwide abortion ban, modeling it after the “heartbeat bills” already found unconstitutional in federal court.

Under HR 490, an abortion provider who performs an abortion without “determining … whether the fetus has a detectable heartbeat,” “informing the mother of the results of that determination,: or “after determining … that the fetus has a detectable heartbeat,” will face fines and up to five years in federal prison.

In a press release, King called Roe v. Wade “unconstitutional,” arguing, “lives have been ended by the abortion industry, all with a rubber stamp by the federal government.”

“Human life, beginning at the moment of conception, is sacred in all of its forms and today, I introduced a bill that will protect the lives of voiceless innocents,” he said.

“America was founded on the concept that our rights come from God…” the press release continues. “I believe our most important responsibility that God has bestowed upon us is to protect innocent human life, and I will continue to dedicate my life to that responsibility.”

King worked with anti-choice activist Janet Porter on the bill.

This isn’t a war on women. It’s an obliteration. It’s a refusal to accept women as full human beings, who are capable of making their own decisions. Sort of an alternate version of The Handmaid’s Tale. This will, of course, impact just as hard on some transgender men. This is also an insistence on forcing a specific religious belief, which is against the constitution, but these so-called lovers of the constitution don’t give a flying fuck about that, oh no. They are finally in a position to drop the bomb of misogynistic control on our heads, and they can’t wait to do it. Who cares if women end up dead? Small price to pay as far as they are concerned.

“I gave him a packet and he has agreed to introduce a federal Heartbeat Bill, which would protect every baby whose heartbeat can be detected,” Porter told Rewire in an interview. “That will actually end abortion in nearly every case. Ninety to 95 percent of the abortions will be ended with that bill.”

And you don’t give one little shit about all the lives which would be negatively impacted, either. As long as you get to be smug about stomping all over other women.

Via Raw Story.

Healthcare Specifics.

Vice President-elect Mike Pence, flanked by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Sen. John Barrasso CREDIT: AP Photo/Cliff Owen.

Vice President-elect Mike Pence, flanked by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Sen. John Barrasso CREDIT: AP Photo/Cliff Owen.

Or, rightly said, lack of healthcare specifics. The dirty work done in the small hours specifically gutted these features of ACA:

1. Protect people with pre-existing conditions.

2. Let young adults stay on their parents’ plan.

3. Maintain access to contraceptive coverage.

4. Ensure Medicaid expansion stays in place.

5. Protect children on Medicaid or CHIP.

6. Protect veterans’ health care.

Think Progress has all the details on each one of these, and how the rethuglicans just yanked the rug out from under everyone.

“Clovergender”

CG

While I’ve been dozing under my rock, yet another type of insidious bigotry is drenching the ‘net, based on the time immemorial pastime of linking LGBT peoples with pedophilia.

Martin Shkreli has given the LGBT community another reason to despise him.

The pharmaceutical executive, who rose to infamy by hiking the price of a drug used for an AIDS-related condition by more than 5,000 percent, is now promoting “clovergender,” an identity concocted by trolls to mock LGBT people.

Before his Twitter account was suspended for harassing a Teen Vogue writer, Shkreli urged his followers January 4 to “please spread clovergender awareness.” The term, which has sprung up on several social media accounts early this year, appeared to be used by adult individuals claiming to be “a child trapped in a man’s body who is attracted to other children.”

However, “clovergender” is a hoax. Snopes debunked it, tracing the birth of “clovergender” and this definition, which ridicules the identity of transgender and gender-nonbinary people, to a 4chan thread from December 31.

“We’re creating a new gender to trolls SJWs with,” posted an anonymous user, in a reference to “social justice warriors.” They then coined “clovergender” and ascribed fake preferred pronouns like “cl / clir /climself.”

“We will be trolling on Tumblr and Facebook,” the user stated. Another replied, “I see potential in this.”

Just what this sociopathic asshole has to gain from this, I don’t know, and it really doesn’t matter. I guess it’s just his way of getting his kicks. The potential for damage is overwhelming though, and it’s not like people in general don’t already have a whole lot of hatred for LGBT peoples anyway. They do, and those who are always looking for any reason to fire up that hate will grab this garbage and run with it. We have one state after another attempting to legislate bigotry and hate, and I imagine there will legislators who will seize on this as well, in order to shore up their always faulty reasoning.

After gaining momentum on the message boards of 4chan and Reddit, the term did indeed find its way to broader social media. A new Facebook page claimed to be created in response to “the horrible pain and backlash somee [sic] Clovergender people receive. We are against that. We think a kid should do what he wants.”

[…]

Several Twitter accounts, which follow and retweet LGBT outlets and influencers, are also attempting to intertwine the fake cause with the real-life movement. At least one has attributed Shkreli’s Twitter ban to clovergender discrimination.

The ruse duped some folks on social media, who reacted with disgust to the “clovergender” community.

The myth of the sexual predator has dogged the LGBT community since time immemorial. The call for “bathroom bills,” which prohibit transgender people from using restrooms that correspond with their gender identity, is the most recent example of how conservatives are painting queer people as perverts. “Clovergender,” if it perpetuates, will only continue to stoke these mistruths and biases.

So. We find ourselves back at the beginning again, folks, having to fight this blatant lie again, over and over. Be aware of this, spread the word, get the truth out there, we all know the drill.

Full story at The Advocate.

The Red Wave.

Creatas Images / Getty Images.

Creatas Images / Getty Images.

Another journalist has gone running to the nazi side, in this case, the co-founder of Politico, Mike Allen, who is described as one of the most powerful journalists in D.C. Allen has apparently decided to do everything in his power to normalise the fascist state we now find ourselves in, to the point of praising Breitbart’s journalism to the skies. Why yes, made up bullshit is just great journalism, didn’t you know? Just this tiny snippet, because the whole damn things sickens me.

Describing how he approached a speaking engagement in front of a Trump-friendly audience in Wyoming shortly after the election, Allen said he decided to “shut up” so he could “listen to you about what you liked about Trump, how you came to your decision, what your inputs were.”

“A lot of it is also psychic and sociological and social. The anti-PC thing I think is a huge part of it,” he said, before going on to recount a conversation he had with a Trump-supporting friend on a train shortly after the election.

“People in America [were] just living their lives as they always have, and things were just changing too fast. ‘I’m living my life the way I always have and all of the sudden I’m the bigot, I’m a bad guy,’ and I think that was a huge part of this red wave.”

All of a sudden you’re the bigot, the bad guy. Well, if you are a bigot, yes, that makes you a bad guy. Right here in the open is why people voted for Trump – they want to be able to stay on top of the people pile, being bigoted assholes with the ability to make other people miserable. It’s disgusting. Repulsive. Sickening. Bad guy isn’t enough. Evil asshole, perhaps.

Full story at Think Progress.

ALEC: We Can Do Whatever We Want.

Scott Walker, ALEC marionette. Credit: Donkey

Scott Walker, ALEC marionette. Credit: DonkeyHotey.

The American Legislative Exchange Council — a nonprofit better known as ALEC — briefed its members and allied groups on the bright future for its agenda now that Republicans will effectively control 68 of the nation’s 99 state legislative bodies, as well as 33 governor’s mansions. Among other things, group members said they would push bills to reduce corporate taxes, weaken unions, privatize schooling and influence the ideological debate on college campuses.

“We can pretty much do whatever we want to right now,” said Rep. Jim DeCesare, a Republican state legislator in Kentucky, where the party gained the state House for the first time in nearly a century.

DeCesare, who had been minority whip, described plans for “a pretty intense agenda” including a so-called right-to-work law allowing employees who are covered by collective bargaining agreements to opt out of joining labor unions. Another, he said, would be repealing rules that require government contractors to pay employees more than the minimum wage. Neighboring states competing for new businesses, he said, had already gutted such regulations.

“We’ve got some catching up to do, but we plan to make up a lot of ground in a very short time,” DeCesare said. “This is our time to shine.”

[…]

Inez Feltscher, director of ALEC’s education task force, outlined plans to advocate for legislation giving money to parents who take their children out of public schools — stipends they could use for private schooling or other educational expenses. Critics of these “education savings accounts” say they’re a drain on public-school funding, while proponents argue they give parents a chance to pick the best situation for their kids.

Feltscher acknowledged another motivation: “To break the monopoly on one of the most important institutions in America.” Conservatives have long been at odds with teachers unions over the structure and curriculum of public schools. “We’ve let the left take over almost all of the cultural institutions of this country,” she said.

Another ALEC target, Feltscher said, would be the state of “free debate on American universities,” which conservatives say are largely dominated by left-leaning faculty, courses and speakers. For example, she said, lawmakers could use a range of tactics to press administrators to include multiple ideologies during on-campus public policy talks, such as demanding an annual count of campus events that included more than one perspective. Simply requiring measurement and public reporting would apply pressure, she said, but legislators could also take it to “the nuclear level” and threaten to pull funding from schools that are perceived to be limiting discourse.

“There’s going to be a lot more aggression on this,” Feltscher said.

Corporate rule. Oh, joy. They’ll get all the money and cozy breaks, friendly legislation, and all the people working? Screwed. And no more education, we prefer ignorant dumbfucks!  Oh, we are beyond fucked.

ProPublica has the full story.

Ethics? We don’t need no stinkin’ ethics!

ethics

In a secret vote held behind closed doors Monday night, House Republicans voted to cripple the Office of Congressional Ethics, an independent body created in 2008 to rein in corruption and other misconduct by members of Congress.

The move was spearheaded “by lawmakers who have come under investigation in recent years,” according to Politico. Among those speaking in favor of the changes were Rep. Blake Farenthold (R-TX), who was accused by a staffer of sexual harassment, and Rep. Peter Roskam (R-IL), who allegedly received “an impermissible gift when he and his wife traveled to Taiwan in October 2011.”

Under the new rules, the Office of Congressional Ethics would be renamed the Office of Congressional Complaint Review and, critically, lose its independence. It would be placed under the auspices of the House Ethics Committee, which famously has turned a blind eye to wrongdoing by members of Congress. It became clear that an independent body was necessary after scandals largely ignored by the the Ethics Committee sent several members of Congress, including Randy “Duke” Cunningham and Bob Ney, to jail.

Ooooh, a complaints department! We’re all so sure that will work wonderfully, right?

Many of the new restrictions on the body appear designed to make it easier to sweep misconduct under the rug.

The new Office of Congressional Complaint Review cannot make any of its findings public — or make any other public statement — without the approval of the House Ethics Committee.

Ah, how cozy. All the corrupt, unethical, immoral republicans now have a lovely shelter, and no one will ever tell them they are wrong.

Even if the Office of Congressional Complaint Review finds evidence of criminal conduct, it cannot report it to the police without prior approval.

Even better! If caught, they can’t be punished.

The rules also prohibit the new office from considering anonymous complaints or investigating any conduct that occurred before 2011.

Very convenient. That effectively prohibits any investigation via a complainant who might have every reason to be concerned about retaliation.

The House leadership will get a chance to prove their opposition Tuesday, when a public vote on a rules package that includes the changes to ethics oversight will occur on the House floor.

Yeah, I’m not gonna hold my breath. More American Greatness™ folks, Look Ma, no ethics! Via Think Progress.

The Wall Street Journal: We Will Not Call A Lie A Lie.

Credit: Screenshot

Credit: Screenshot.

Since President-elect Donald Trump won the election, he has continued his campaign habit of making inconsistent, unverifiable, or even just obviously false statements. The American public is left to rely on the media to learn the truth and make sense of his proclamations.

That’s exactly what the media is supposed to do with any politician—when the President lies, it is the press’ obligation to tell the public. But it’s doubly important with a politician like Trump, whose entire political career has often been punctuated by flagrant lies.

But when Trump lies, the Wall Street Journal—the second largest paper by circulation in the country—will not call it a lie, according to the its editor-in-chief Gerard Baker.

“I’d be careful about using the word, ‘lie.’ ‘Lie’ implies much more than just saying something that’s false. It implies a deliberate intent to mislead,” Baker told Chuck Todd on Meet the Press on Sunday.

Well no shit, Sherlock. A lie is a deliberate intent to mislead. That would be why it’s called a lie. A falsehood. A fabrication. For fuck’s sake, it truly is Nineteen Eighty Four, and Doublespeak is here.

Instead, Baker said the paper would investigate the claim, and then present both sides: What Trump said, and what the paper found. Then, the readers will be left to decide which account is correct.

As an example, Baker cited one of Trump’s more outrageous lies: When he claimed that thousands of Muslims in New Jersey gathered on rooftops to celebrate 9/11. Baker noted that the WSJ investigated his claim and found it baseless.

Right. That’s an excellent example of a lie, a deliberate intent to mislead people into thinking this made up bullshit was true. So, it’s a LIE. Big, yuuuuge LIE. It’s okay to say so.

“I think it’s then up to the reader to make up their own mind to say, ‘This is what Donald Trump says. This is what a reliable, trustworthy news organization reports. And you know what? I don’t think that’s true.’ I think if you start ascribing a moral intent, as it were, to someone by saying that they’ve lied, I think you run the risk that you look like you are, like you’re not being objective,” he said.

Oh fuck you, with bells on. You can leave it up to people to decide whether or not they are okay with someone lying, you can’t prevent that anyway. What you can do is call a LIE a LIE.  That’s not a moral judgement, it’s reporting the truth. Idiot. And fuck all this “both sides” bullshit, too. I’m not interested in being fair to tyrants, facsists, compulsive liars, or nazis, among others.

The full story is at Think Progress.