Where IS Farris Wilks?

The Monthly wonders what happened to Farris Wilks.  Reportedly, there's been some sort of break with fellow bazillionaire nutbar Tim Dunn, but it doesn't say what that might be about?

Maybe a gay relationship on the down low imploded? "Just asking questions," wingnuts. Deal with it.

Semi-seriously, or more than that, the piece says that the two started shorting out over the Nick Fuentes' brouhaha in late 2023, a meeting with Wilks and Dunn operatives that also included Matt Rinaldi and Former Fetus Forever Fuckwad Jonathan Stickland. (Ahh, who can forget him? The Texas GOP pretty much has.)

Apparently this got deeper in June 2024 when Wilks may have been the unnamed Daddy Warbucks to cut funding to the True Texas Project. Amarillo's not-totally-wingnut bazillionaire Alex Fairly notes that it was about this time that Tim Dunn first recruited him. Surely no coincidence. 

Maybe, per the end of the story, there was a gay threesome involving the Forever Fuckwad? Did I just make you throw up in your mouth with that scenario? Per Stickland's own language, and my sense of alliteration, that would then make him Former Fetus Future Faggot Forever Fuckwad. If only this could be true. (I can throw Fuentes in for a foursome if you want.)

HD-68 race has a true whackadoodle

Cooke County Republican Women had another candidate forum Feb. 1, and it was a doozy. The House District 68 race features a wingnut incumbent vs a wingnuts squared, wingnuts on steroids or whatever, challenger.

Challenger Kerri Kingsbery, on HD-68, is an idiot, pure and simple. All she could do was attack Dade Phelan for being too kind to Democrats, and then claim that incumbent David Spiller is a pawn of Democrats. I felt like I needed a shower after her drivel. And, I know that people believe this bullshit.

This is the David Spiller who is a lawyer, and as a lawyer, willingly rammed the unconstitutional special session SB-4 through the House.

This tied in with one of three candidate questions, based on SD-30 state Sen. Drew Springer's recent open letter to Lite Guv Danny Goeb, asking about the possibility of reopening the impeachment proceedings against Ken Paxton, discussed by me here.

Kingsbery didn't actually use the word “illegal,” though she did kind of beat around the bush on that, and did claim it was all partisan. Because Dade Phelan's Demo-love, of course.

INNNterestingly, whoever drafted the questions, which were NOT taken from the audience, did not ask about vouchers and Spiller's flip-flop on that.

Sidebar: One county commission race's candidates were also at the forum. Showing the anti-tax nuttery of the GOP, challenger Anderle said he opposed possible future bond issues “while we're raising the tax rate,” which the county is not.

Sidebar 2: WHY didn't the GOP Wimmin take questions from the floor? They did in 2020 and 2022. Are even county-level GOP organizational folks afraid of the wingnuttery level of the rank and file?

Tim Boyd symbolized everything wrong with Texas Rethuglican wingnuts

We've seen not just political damage control, but plain political damage, in the wake of the Great Texas Freezeout.

Contra The Hill and elsewhere, Cancun Ted will survive here in Tex-ass, but, his presidential aspirations (which probably aren't as high in 2024 as he thought before this) may take a hit.

Former Colorado City Mayor Tim Boyd, though? Dug himself a mile-deep Randian pothole, as well as showing cluelessness about what government is supposed to do, before resigning. More here. And, we can't bag on him on Twitter cuz he's not there and he appears to have deleted his Facebook. That's sad, because in a follow-up post, he never apologized, and claimed not to be speaking as mayor, though he had not resigned as mayor at the time he had made that comment. Nor do I feel sorry for his wife. If she's been so gaslighted by him to continue to defend him so ardently that she got fired IN A RIGHT TO GET FIRED STATE, WHICH WINGNUTS CLAIM TO LOVE then that is what it is.

Of course, there's a whup-ass level of hypocrisy behind his wife getting hoist by her and her hubby's joint petards. Now, if she got physical threats? That's uncalled for. But, getting fired? She brought it on, and surely supports other people getting fired by implementation of conservative cancel culture.

There's additional hypocrisy going on here, too.

The likes of Tim Boyd love to talk about "personal responsibility." They love to apply that ... only to others. (Like Cancun Ted, there.)

But, when personal responsibility bites them in the ass or kicks them in the nads? Different story. Then it's all about "stop picking on me."

In addition, in a relatively small place like Colorado City, in a county, Mitchell County, that went nearly 85 percent Trump, local folks hearing themselves called weak, lazy or socialist were probably pissed off. Probably royally pissed off.

So, he's a political Dum Fuq even at the local level. How did he get elected in the first place?

Trump names hack Ratcliffe as spy boss

Having formerly lived in the First Congressional District, I can say from experience that John Ratcliffe surely ranks somewhere in the No. 2-4 range of biggest hacks among Texas GOP Housecritters.

(Gohmert Pyle is in a league of his own, of course, and remains No. 1 until dethroned.)

How big a hack?

Well, some Senate Republicans aren't fully comfortable with his nomination as spy boss.

I'm wondering how the "not only was there no Russiagate, Russia is generally OK" types, and "the DNC rigged the primaries" lawsuit types, with at least some members of both groups ranking in my mind among Jeff St. Clair's "more credulous precincts of the left," will react to Ratcliffe's nomination after he too said "Russia is generally OK" during the Mueller hearings and that Obama crimes need to be investigated.

(Sadly, St. Clair, along with managing editor Joshua Frank, have crappy editorial control in general over free[lance] submissions that they publish, as he's let his own site fuel this bullshit.)

Now, Ratcliffe is NOT talking about actual war crimes committed by Obama (because neither duopoly party is ever touching that shit), but rather, anything related to the original FBI look-see into Trump during the 2016 campaign.

And, on actual crimes, shock me that the duopoly's Ratcliffe stressed leaking is a crime. At least he didn't (yet) talk about investigating any media that received those leaks.

Dallasites, #ConfederateStatues, mountains, molehills and gnat-straining

The Lee statue in Dallas, the day of the big downtown protest at the Confederate monuments site.

OK, some Dallas, or Dallas-area, residents, are reportedly complaining about the $450K or so it cost to remove the Bobby Lee statue from Oak Lawn Park.

(Note to Dallas City Council — keep that temporary reversion to the park's original name and make it permanent.)

You know what?

That $450K is out of a city budget that will spend nearly $1.3 billion next year just out of the general fund. In other words, we have people gnat-straining over THREE-ONE HUNDREDTHS of a percent, written decimally as 0.03 percent.

But, really, it's not Dallas residents who are gnat-straining. It's wingnut talking heads like Tyler O'Neil at PJ Media. As for O'Neil's "but the other driver"?

Big red herring.

The driver of the semi could have crashed into somebody else. After all, HE ran a red light.

Second, shouldn't O'Neil be, instead, repeating the wingnut mantra of "personal responsibility" and lambasting the semi driver? Shouldn't he laud the crane driver for blocking the red-light runner from instead possibly hitting a car and killing other people instead of himself?

Yes, he "should" on the first. And serious, the second would have been quite likely had Murray, the semi driver, not hit the crane.

And, speaking of, contra O'Neil, but vis a vis the federal regulatory state? Was Murray driving over hours or committing other violations? O'Neil never asks.

That's in line with not telling you who died, and that Murray, who did die, was at fault.

See, the likes of O'Neil don't actually care about Murray. He's just a tool, or a "tool," in that sense, to create red herrings and straw men in situation like this.

#Hypocrisy alert: Flag desecration OK for #BackTheBlue, #BlueLivesMatter

Flag Desecration 101, wingnut style

Note: If you're a wingnut who wants to comment here? First, I moderate comments. I usually approve them, but I still moderate. If you live down to stereotype, though, that one comment will be your only one.

I love when wingnuts get huffy not only over flag burning, but actual or alleged desecration short of that.

Then, they do what's pictured at left. (I had been wondering what these flags were, then finally saw "Back the Blue" with one of them, and got my answer.)

Desecration?

Absolutely yes, I say. And, with official legal warrant. Namely, the U.S. Flag Code, or to put it again ...

Quite arguably hellz YES, per Wikipedia:

The flag should never have any mark, insignia, letter, word, number, figure, or drawing of any kind placed on it or attached to it.

Sounds pretty simple.

I'd argue that fading the whole flag to black-and-white is a "mark." Certainly, putting the one blue stripe on top of it is certainly a "mark," or "figure," or "drawing" — take your pick. And, in the above, the words most most certainly are desecration, as each one is a "word."

So, besides the one I linked above, this whole shitload of Google images, for Back the Blue, Thin Blue Line or whatever one will call it, is flag desecration.

So, why?

I think a mix of several things:
1. For some, the end justifies the means, and they have at least a vague inkling they shouldn't do this, but they're going to "show" Black Lives Matter the reality — even with blue lives allegedly so vile to commit bestiality AND own child porn! And, while not THAT bad, and doing nothing illegal, Texas cop hero Darren Goforth of two years ago had a mistress, followed by the investigator of Goforth's murder having his OWN relationship with that same woman/mistress.
2. For others, it's thinking "cops right or wrong" just like "my country right or wrong," whether they think about the Flag Code or even know it exists.
3. For yet others, it's "any conservative campaign is better with a U.S. flag," even though the Flag Code also expressly prohibits it in advertising AND says that for PR-type stuff, bunting should be used instead.
4. Per No. 2, other wingers are flag-illiterate.

That said, in reality, I find wingers whining about flag desecration to be hilarious. And, just another example of "free speech for me but not for thee," as Nat Hentoff titled a book. Of course, the U.S. Flag Code, wingers' ignorance or disregard for it aside, is unconstitutional, and has been ever since Texas v Johnson; indeed, Wiki notes that SCOTUS struck down a 1989 Flag Desecration Act, passed on the basis of its ruling on the Texas v Johnson, a year later. And that's why the criminal penalties in the Flag Code have never been enforced.

But, as long as wingers are going to selectively whine about flag desecration, burning or whatever, I'm going to give it back to them, both barrels.

But, I have no problems with "Back the Blue," as long as it's not a veil for an attack on Black Lives Matter. I've known a couple of good to great police chiefs, one hard-nosed one, one allegedly sleeping around with multiple women in his small town (he's now dead, fatally shot while doing off-duty security to help pay the bills for his about 10 acknowledged kids). I've known great beat cops, OK ones, goofball ones, and one definite bad apple.

Cops are human beings. They do a job with above-average (though not the highest in America) levels of both danger and stress. And, yes, both were illustrated Tuesday by the Little Elm, Texas cop fatally shot by a suspect from his home.

As far as stress, though, as far as I know, no wingnut said "Back the Wings" before Reagan fired the stressed-out striking air traffic controllers.

GOP Speaker's race a replay of GOP prez race if Bill Flores is in

Bill Flores: Grade A
wingnut, egotist, more,
all from the back bench

If Rep. Bill Flores ("my" Congresscritter in my previous residence, swapped for the even more idiotic Louie Gohmert, aka Gohmert Pyle) is running for Speaker, then yeah, we are just like the GOP presidential race. Not only do we have wingnuts and nutbars, we've got second-rate backbench ones now in the mix.

I've blogged about Flores before, including his undercutting Wacoans' efforts to get the Columbian mammoth site made a national monument, then glory-hogging when Obama used the Antiquities Act to make it so.

Beyond that, I've also called him out for telling outright lies. Mammoth-sized lies, if we count his Waco-related ones.

Well, now, he's running for Speaker.

And, based on that mammoth-sized brouhaha, his staff Twittermeister has blocked me. (Which is OK. I emailed him this, too.)

I told him that, per the old "snowball in hell" cliche, he stood about a mammoth's chance in Waco of being elected Speaker.

And, you know what? Besides this election, like the presidential contest, being an effort at Republicans out-wingnutting each other, it's become a vanity contest. Flores is in his third term. Yes, the man's been in Congress less than 5 full years and thinks he's qualified to be Speaker.

Bill Flores has as much chance of being elected Speaker as George Pataki or Rick Santorum do of being elected president.

Sadly, and weirdly, the Waco Trib, talking about his "measured, often thoughtful" background, knows a different Bill Flores than I do.

Stop with the fake apologies, wingnuts

Elizabeth Lauten, 2-timing House aide,
likely future Faux News hostess.
(Ditch the glasses, though.)

I may have written a blog post about this before, but even if I did, it needs to be written again, and the fake apology plus resignation of Elizabeth Lauten, communications director for Rep. Stephen Fincher, is the perfect opportunity to do so again.

First, let's remember what she said:

"Dear Sasha and Malia, I get you’re both in those awful teen years, but you’re a part of the First Family, try showing a little class.

"At least respect the part you play. Then again your mother and father don’t respect their positions very much, or the nation for that matter, so I’m guessing you’re coming up a little short in the ‘good role model’ department. Nevertheless, stretch yourself. Rise to the occasion. Act like being in the White House matters to you. Dress like you deserve respect, not a spot at a bar. And certainly don’t make faces during televised public events."

Got it.

Then, the text of the fake apology:

"After many hours of prayer, talking to my parents, and re-reading my words online I can see more clearly just how hurtful my words were," Lauten wrote. "I'd like to apologize to all of those who I have hurt and offended with my words, and I pledge to learn and grow (and I assure you I have)from this experience."

Got that.

This whole thing is a pack of mixed straight-up lies, hypocrisy, and exposure of moral failings of the Religious Right.

First, Ms. Lauten, you are (or rather, were) a Congressman's communications director. Theoretically, that means you know something about ... communicating.

Therefore, the idea that communications might affect another person's emotions only occurring to you long after your Facebook post (which took at least as long to write as three Tweets) is laughable, unless you were highly ODed on cheap turkey tryptophan, and maybe some cheap Tokay, from Thanksgiving.

Second, that you had to talk to your parents and do many hours of prayer? Puhleeze. You Religious Rightists are always boasting about good Christian parents raising their kids on the straight and narrow, and how this supposedly "sticks."

Well, what you're saying is that it didn't stick, and your parents weren't such good parents.

Third, we know that you didn't talk to your parents, just like we know your words aren't real, for the same reason you're not talking about your "resignation.

You actually talked to your boss, Rep. Stephen Fincher, who explained how you were ruining his reputation, and that you therefore needed to resign.

A real apology, as I sent to what used to be (I didn't know if it still is) Lauten's Twitter account would start with the honesty of admitting it was a cheap political stunt, one that she knew could be hurtful, and one that she didn't care or not whether it was hurtful.

In line with that, the WaPost reminds us that this is far from the first time that wingnuts have gone after presidential daughters. It just mentions Chelsea Clinton and Amy Carter, in addition to the Obama daughters. But, Harry Truman could tell you about the attacks on Margaret.

Also, it's not like you're only 21 yourself, Ms. Lauten.

Per your LinkedIn account, it's been at least 7 years since you graduated college. Also, Fincher is the second Congresscritter for whom you've worked.

That said, crocodile tears, fake apology, blond hair, late 20s?

Six months at the outside before you're on Faux News.

6 ways this #wingnut bumper sticker is about the craziest you've ever seen

I'm not exactly sure what the message is here. Maybe there are multiple messages packed inside the one bumper sticker.

I do see that it's from American Life League, which definitely, definitely gets a "no follow" on that link, so, on paper, it's theoretically a pro-life bumper sticker.

First, in that case, the message seems 117 percent hysterical. Is ALL, which doesn't get stains out of laundry, nor teh stupidz out of wingnut thinking, trying to make us believe that a woman from Planned Parenthood is carrying around a butcher knife to do streetside butcher-shop abortions?

Second, is ALL now allied with some Minuteman/Militia group, warning us about "anchor babies"? And, speaking of that, do militia groups themselves support streetside butcher-shop abortions for stinking Mezcan Ill Eagles? Should we ask this of The Stinking Anglo Formerly Known as Danny Goeb™?

Third, is ALL allying with Open Carry Texas, saying that fetus (I'm sorry, unborn gun nuts) should be packing heat inside the womb? After all, that was the schtick of the late (metaphorically and politically), not-so-great Steve Stockman. I guess it would be harder to pull that M-16 out of a stubborn pro-lifer's uterus than about anything else, just on bulk, compared to an actual unborn gun nut.

Fourth, is ALL lining up with the neocons? "Women, if you have to have sex, make sure it's not with a Mooslim!" Speaking of, what do neocon pro-lifers think? Dunno what the Arabic is for "anchor baby," but I'll bet Pam Geller does.

Fifth, does the woman have a husband who's an executive at Raytheon? "Anchor baby" is perfectly fine if you're giving birth to a bouncing baby defense contractor whose daddy actually makes anchors. It's kind of OK if your husband is active duty in the military; just don't expect fiscal conservatives to pay the military hubby, or baby-bearing military wife, enough salary for the best in child rearing.

Sixth, is ALL worried that the pre-born might actually be targets in the War on Drugs? You know, like the picture at left?

Yep, that's your typical preborn baby smoking a bong made out of an automatic pistol. Now, if you're Steve Stockman, how do you tell if that's a real gun that baby's packing, or just a devil's tool of that devil drug, marijuana?

Toughie, isn't it?

So, ALL, why are you trying to confuse your loyal, humble, wingnut followers?

Technology hating, Heritage and #CFL and #incandescent lights

Traditional 60- and 40-watt incandescent light bulbs can no longer be sold in the U.S. after Jan. 1, though stores can sell what they have in stock until they run out.

And, this bit of government regulation, helping do a small bit of fighting global warming and saving consumers money, has wingnuts going bat-shit crazy, of course.

So, what else to do but respond to the lies and distortions behind the crazy-making?

I just had to do some quick blogging about a new level of technology ignorance, and even more, willful twisting of public policy, by the Heritage Foundation.

Here's what I replied to Nicholas Loris' inanity on this issue, and more.

Ohh, per your link to your previous column?

CFLs now work fine with dimmers. (But, I guess linking to a column nearly seven years old, without checking on how technological or other changes might have affected things, is par for the course.)

Here's the details on that:

Most screw-base CFLs do not work with dimmers designed for use with incandescent lamps. These CFLs will have a label on the lamp and/or the packaging stating "not for use with dimmers. However, certain special screw-base CFLs are designed to work with standard incandescent lamp dimmers. These CFLs will be labeled "dimmable" or similar language on the lamp and/or the packaging. However, due to small differences between different brands of dimmers, not all dimmable CFLs work with all types of incandescent dimmers. Some dimmable CFLs, however, will work with all major brands of incandescent lamp dimmers.

And, if they're still somewhat problematic?
You can change dimmer switches to CFL-designed ones, without doing entirely new wiring. Of course, given the anti-tech ranting of Loris, it's no surprise he doesn't mention that, either.

The idea of them working poorly in cold is overblown. And, since the average American runs heat on high and AC on low anyway, it's even more overblown. And, again, it's probably out-of-date information, too.

Beyond this, on these two issues, the future is LEDs, not CFLs, in all likelihood, anyway.

On the matter of choice and budget constraints for people on tight budgets, when was Heritage ever concerned about poor people? Oh, I forgot. NEVER!

(This one always makes me laugh, whenever a conservative individual or think tank trots out the "thinking about the poor" argument. I guess it's red meat for the followers, who think they:
A. Have to keep up appearances and
B. Are actually fooling somebody when they do this.)

Besides, at an estimated electricity savings of $6 per year per bulb, actually CFIs save families money. (And Loris has that story linked, showing how narrowly the wingnuts can cherry-pick.)

Ditto on his claims about CFLs destroying jobs. When did conservative (or neoliberal) free traders ever worry about a few hundred jobs being sent over to China? What a laugh.

And, of course, CFLs aren't the only alternative to traditional incandescents.

Finally, per your energy efficiency? Actually, wrong again. The EIA graphic he links to shows the rate of energy efficiency increasing after 1970, which is when government regulations started coming into play.

Of course, CFLs are really all part of the Agenda 21 plot to steal our precious bodily fluids and our golf courses, Mandrake.

#BostonMarathon, Eric Rudolph, Tim McVeigh, #AlexJones, #falseflag #wingnuts

The wingnut New York Post, with its claim a Saudi national is a suspect in the Boston Marathon bombing, appears to be ... likely wrong. Or at a minimum, very premature, with perhaps being a blind hog and an acorn later. Boston Police are telling multiple media sites, from the New York Times to news-blog Talking Points Memo, that that info didn't come from them.

President Obama has said we don't know at this time who's involved.

Of course, wingnuts will claim "not in custody" doesn't mean not a suspect. But Boston PD have so far swatted down even the "suspect" angle.

NBC's claim of a suspect appears to be nothing more than cribbing the NYPost via Twitter. Don't believe that is an independent source. (That's a "command," not a personal speculation.) It's got no attribution, no links to independent reporting. Of course, this is the network that's so in the toilet it's doing a second run of Saturday Night Live in prime time.

So, per speculation on the blast, there's only one "original source" that has any alleged info so far. And that highlights another problem with the Internet era -- 90 percent of people online think there's 100 separate sources confirming this.

Meanwhile, could be plenty of non-Mooslim angles as far as possible suspects.

An anti-abortion terrorist, like Eric Rudolph at the Atlanta Olympics?

Or a white supremacist like Tim McVeigh at Oklahoma City?

What if an anti-gay rights person, more specifically, an anti-gay marriage person, were wanting to borrow a page, and targeted Boston because of its alleged liberalism? (Don't forget Rudolph was anti-gay, too.)

Or a gun nut, knowing that people were running for charity for the Newtown massacre, had such an idea?

I'm not saying such types of people caused it, any more than a Saudi national. But, it's just as plausible from where I sit.

Hell, given his recent new levels of paranoia, Alex Jones is as likely a suspect.

After all, here's what he's Tweeted:

"Explosions at the Boston Marathon. Don't that the FBI has been behind virtually every domestic terror plot in the US, as NY Times reported."

If true, how would he know? 

Meanwhile, one hallmark of Islamic terrorists has been, in general, to immediately claim responsibility, albeit sometimes indirectly, for their actions. The fact that we've heard nothing says this is someone else.

So, even if a Saudi national at a Boston hospital but not in policy custody is the culprit, he likely acted alone.

Second, a bystander tackled him because "he looked suspicious." Did he look suspicious? Or did he look foreign? Or Mooslim? 

===

Updates, April 16: The Saudi student is officially not a subject; in fact, he's officially being called a witness.

More reason why would could say domestic wingnuts are reasonable suspects: 

April 19, 1985 — federal agents arrested the leaders of the Covenant, Sword, and the Arm of the Lord, an extremist group in Arkansas. April 19, 1993 — federal agents chose to lay siege to the Branch Davidian compound in Waco, Texas. April 19, 1995 — Timothy McVeigh bombed the Murrah Federal building in Oklahoma City. All three of these events dealt with gun rights and federal agencies confronting groups with extreme beliefs on the issue. It is Tax Day and Patriot Day, a celebration of the first shots fired in the Revolutionary War. Controversial gun legislation is currently being debated in Congress. 

Again, no guarantee of anything, but anybody who wants to support the idea of a Mooslim being tackled ... well because he looked like a Mooslim running in fear ... needs to either admit how biased they are, or, if they want to separate themselves a few degrees from total irrationality, admit that other possibilities do exist.


The Pakistani Taliban have denied responsibility, too. This gets back to what I said on my day-of-event thoughts, that usually Muslim terrorist groups claim responsibility right away. That's especially important because it readily admitted responsibility, at the time, for a botched 2010 attempt to bomb Times Square, whether it was actually responsible or not. 

And, an Indiana man's 20-year sentence for burning a mosque reminds us that these types of homegrown terrorists are out there. 

Further reminder of that is here in this CNN piece. Only one left-wing/environmentalist terrorist of note in the last decade. The rest have all been either radical Islamists or else radical domestic rightist wingnuts. 

While the perpetrator or perpetrators of the Boston bombing are as yet unknown, an analysis of the 77 people based in the United States who have assembled bomb-making materials or tried to carry out a bombing for political purposes since 9/11 shows they have overwhelmingly been motivated either by al Qaeda-like ideas or right-wing extremist ideology.

So, there you go.

And, that's just bombs. Don't forget Andrew Joseph Stack, who in 2010 flew his airplane into the IRS building in Austin, Texas, as a, well, as a kamikaze pilot.

The Saudi student being a witness, not a suspect, and gloating aside, no Islamist group stepping up to claim responsibility, the look needs to turn inward and rightward. 

April 17: Nothing new to report so far, other than noting that generally irresponsible people, mixed with wingnuts, are claiming a teen/young adult in a backpack is now a suspect. Once again, not true says the FBI. And, even the pressure cooker design of the explosives has been touted by domestic as well as Islamicist terrorists.

Louie Gohmert has once again claimed the crown of king of all Texas nutbars over the explosions. 

And CNN, which is not (yet?) the NY Post, is claiming an arrest has been made. 

And, let's end this day by saying that it was actually the Associated Press, of no more "illegal immigrant" fame that apparently first started spreading this false story. Even though I have defended legitimate use of social media by the traditional mainstream media, one has to say that it's becoming more and more irresponsible about it all the time in tragedies. Even putatively reputable sources like CNN and AP are blackening their own eyes, and will probably continue to do so. 

But we're all at fault for this in some ways.

To the degree we're disaster porn junkies, and we expect the MSM to deliver an ever-quicker fix, we're at fault. That's doubly true the more and more we expect to get our online news for free.

The MSM is at fault for not fixing broken financial models much earlier. The AP, for underpricing itself to news aggregators, is also at fault.

The "lean hypercapitalism" of modern big biz America in general is also at fault.

These are all mixed up in some sort of vicious circle that may not die down for years, if at all, until the current media system is a hollow shell, one ever more dependent on a mix of private and government PR to fill news holes with little critical editing or actual reporting. 

April 18: Not much new here. Well, other than the NY Post doubling down on anti-Mooslim racism, and similar stupidity. (And Rupert Murdoch from lying about it.) That's while the apparently actual suspect looks nothing like all the people wingnuts have been favoring. Indeed, he looks very Caucasian.

And, a Saudi facing deportation is NOT the one who was interviewed as a witness at the hospital.

But, the doorknobs are out in full force on Kenneth Clark's arrest for mailing the ricin letters.

Now the wingnuts are asking if the mainstream media is going to "hide" the fact that an obviously mentally ill man who mailed the ricin letters is a Democrat. Dear old college friends - I've got you hidden, by and large, because I'm not who I was then, and a lot of you have moved further rightward. It pains me not to unfriend you, if I need to.

April 19: As for the real suspects, let's not we the people jump to too many conclusions yet, either. Contra Boston's police commissioner, if by "came here," he meant they emigrated to the U.S., I doubt either of the brothers came here to commit terrorist acts a decade ago, when the younger was just 9 years old. Hardly "sleeper cell" material.

Beyond that, I used the word "anomie" about people like this. They become disillusioned, detached, and feel separate. Cults and sects of all sorts (Scientology, anybody) prey on people like this. Many of said sects, it's true, aren't violent. But they all operate on similar principles Scott Atran wrote a book in part about reaching out to people like this, before they become radicalized Muslims.

That said, in Chechnya, how much of the terrorism is Islamism, and how much of that is the Islamic equivalent of caesaropapism, Islam being used in the service of nationalist separatism? 

 And, related to that, isn't the word "terrorism" often politicized? Tea Partiers go ape shit when Boston Tea Party participants are described as being, in part, terrorists, even though it fits, at least from the British Crown's point of view.

At the same time, as Daily Kos reminds us, arguably, a neolib like Dear Leader could have gone nutbar with drones had he had a hankering. 

Boston blasts show depths of #wingnut #racism

There's no other way to put it, starting from when the wingnut New York Post made its claim a Saudi national was a suspect in the Boston Marathon bombing, something that was hugely wrong.

Two days later then, other wingnuts claimed said Saudi was facing deportation. But, a Saudi facing deportation is NOT the one who was interviewed as a witness at the hospital (who never was a "suspect"). In this case, the wingnuttery extended to at least one member of Congress.

That all didn't stop the New York Post from doubling down on anti-Mooslim racism with more non-suspects. (And Rupert Murdoch from lying about it.)

However, actual still photos and the video immediately below show one of the two actual potential suspects is pretty damned Caucasian looking.



Meanwhile, could be plenty of non-Mooslim angles as far as possible suspects.

An anti-abortion terrorist, like Eric Rudolph at the Atlanta Olympics?

Or a white supremacist like Tim McVeigh at Oklahoma City?

Or a lone nut like the Unabomber.

But, this isn't all about organized wingnuts. On the original non-suspect, a bystander tackled him because "he looked suspicious." Did he look suspicious? Or did he look foreign? Or Mooslim? 

And, sometimes, the wingnuttery is just focused on the Democratic party. But, did you know that Barack Obama, the Democratic president of the United States, is an African-American?

So, we also get stuff like this.

The doorknobs are out in full force on Kenneth Curtis's arrest for mailing the ricin letters.

Now some  wingnuts are asking if the mainstream media is going to "hide" the fact that an obviously mentally ill man who mailed the ricin letters is a Democrat. (So far, no pix of him in blackface.)

Yes, because one's political affiliation causes paranoid schizophrenia. If true, then Chris Mooney would have schizophrenia to add to a second book on Republican brains.

This is one issue where Obama himself should be singing Kumbaya.

But not all Democrats.

Only half-joking — why doesn't somebody liquor up JoePa Biden and get him to deliver a stemwinder about this? It's what's needed. 

And, now we know who the real suspects are.

As for the real suspects, let's not we the people jump to too many conclusions yet, either. Contra Boston's police commissioner, if by "came here," he meant they emigrated to the U.S., I doubt either of the brothers came here to commit terrorist acts a decade ago, when the younger was just 9 years old. Hardly "sleeper cell" material. Theoretically, big city police departments of modern America are a step or two advanced beyond "Untouchables" days, but sometimes, I still wonder.

Beyond that, I have used the word "anomie" about people like this. They become disillusioned, detached, and feel separate. Cults and sects of all sorts (Scientology, anybody) prey on people like this. Many of said sects, it's true, aren't violent. But they all operate on similar principles Scott Atran wrote a book in part about reaching out to people like this, before they become radicalized Muslims.

That said, in Chechnya, how much of the terrorism is Islamism, and how much of that is the Islamic equivalent of caesaropapism, Islam being used in the service of nationalist separatism? 

 And, related to that, isn't the word "terrorism" often politicized? Tea Partiers go ape shit when Boston Tea Party participants are described as being, in part, terrorists, even though it fits, at least from the British Crown's point of view.

At the same time, as Daily Kos reminds us, arguably, a neolib like Dear Leader could have gone nutbar with drones had he had a hankering. And claimed it was all legal.

Obama and Biden ‘indicted’ by Larry Klayman

-->

Apparently, with Election Day so close, beyond the pools of unspent money, there’s a competition for worst wingnut.

Well, Larry Klayman, billing himself as “citizen prosecutor,” is definitely in the running, having gotten a “citizen grand jury” to indict Obama and Biden.

No, really.

So, I have emailed him, at leklayman@yahoo.com, to indict HIM!

Dear Mr. Larry Klayman:

I, citizens' prosecutor Steve Snyder, do hereby convene my Internet-based citizens' grand jury to indict you, Larry Klayman, for treason against the Constitution of the United States.

A duly notarized warrant for your arrest by the appropriate citizens authorities will be coming shortly.

Email him yourself. Use my name as “citizen prosecutor” or plug in your own.

Wingers' top 10 reactions to Obama 50th

What do you get the Dear Leader of the Free World, who has said that he already gave himself a special present, namely, the debt ceiling deal? (He got the ceiling, we got the basement.)

Well, here's a few options:
1. A bill for repaying the federal government from House Republicans, who insist that any White House events must be privately funded.
2. Birthers scramble to check Obama's real Kenyan Soviet Union Martian birth certificate to see if he's actually under 35 and therefore ineligible for office.
3. Glenn Beck hangs him in effigy on TV.
4. Pam Gellar, noting the Muslim lunar year, asks if his age is in solar months or lunar ones.
5. Rush Limbaugh says its a socialist plot to brainwash anybody under the age of 50.
6. John Boehner gives him a certificate for a free round of golf ... if he supports a balanced budget amendment.
7. Congressman Joe Wilson repeats his "You lie" claim as to the truth of Obama turning 50.
8. Rick Perry offers to shoot him like a coyote.
9. The Koch Bros. start the new astroturf group: "Obama: The Real Birthday Truth."
10. Michele Bachmann claims that the birthday party is a gay socialistic plot to overthrow America as we know it.

KUDOS to NBC on "godless" pregolf Pledge

Before the start of the U.S. Open golf tournament's final round, NBC ran a special video segment of patriotic images and previous tournament winners, with a Pledge of Allegiance voiceover.

One "problem," which Red State wingnuttia immediately noticed. The Pledge was the original, pre-1954, pre-Red Scare version without the added phrase of "under god."

Here it is:



Unfortunately, corporate media NBC/Comcast then felt the need to apologize for this.

Gohmert Pyle strikes again

Arguably Texas' most nutbar emissary to the Congress of the United States, Rep. Louis Gohmert appears determined to top himself, time and time again.

The latest? President Obama's military action against Libya is possibly part of a nefarious Obamacare plot.

It's a bad bill. And then when you find out that the prior Congress not only passed that 2,800 page bill with all kinds of things in it, including a new president's commissioned officer corps and non-commissioned officer corps. Do we really need that? I wondered when I read that in the bill. But then when you find out we're being sent to Libya to use our treasure and American lives there, maybe there's intention to so deplete the military that we're going to need that presidential reserve officer commissioned corps and non-commissioned corps that the president can call up on a moment's notice involuntarily, according to the Obamacare bill.

No, really.

Don't believe the pull quote? Here's Gohmert Pyle in his own words.



And, as we see him in gear-churning action, this isn't surprising ....

Wingnuts on Wis - trolls? deliberate stupids? Slavery advocates?

OK, a Forbes blogger gives a basic thumbnail of David Kay Johnson's excellent piece at tax.com (which I originally thought was a wingnut site itself just because of the URL) explaining that Wisconsin public workers who have a pension fund it 100 percent with their own contributions.

Their own money. 100 percent. NO state $$ contributed. Period. End of story.

So, Gov. Scott Walker is wrong.

Well, in commenting on the blog, wingnuts insist because the salaries are paid by taxpayers, Walker is still right to want to cut the pension funds.

Either wingnuts have reached a new level of stupid, or they've reached a new level of trollery. Or both. They're not mutually exclusive.

Or, they want the public workers to be reduced to lower and lower pay.

Look, folks, you need to bitch at the right-wing CEOs at private sector companies who won't give you raises. Redirect your anger to where it should be focused.