Parenting with your rapist

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OK, right-wingers think that aborting your rapist's baby should be illegal, then they saddle you with custody battles? How disgusting is that?

I understand Samantha Bee's problem here. Of course, I feel that way about most of the stuff they report.

Incidentally, to our shame, Nebraska is one of the states on that list. Hey, Unicameral, can you leave off the crazy stuff for awhile and fix this?

Tehran, if Republicans had their way

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This is hilarious, isn't it? Also, depressingly true.

OK, here's the first part of the show - good, but I really wanted to post this bit with Hasan Minhaj. He's got the Republicans down pat.

Five stupid things for April 6, 2015

What a country, huh? What a country!

This is part of a series, too, of course. Unfortunately, the stupid things just get stupider all the time.

Things Jesus never said

Funny, isn't it? I couldn't post things that Jesus did say, since we have no idea about that. We don't even know if a historical, rather than fictional, Jesus actually existed.

But you have to wonder if right-wing Christians believe in their Jesus either, don't you? I mean, the prosperity gospel? Jesus as a gun nut? Jesus as a war-monger?

And then there's this: "If I had a book written by the supreme creator of the universe, I'd at least skim it." Heh, heh. Yeah, but doesn't that also make you wonder? Do Christians actually believe what they claim they believe? They certainly don't act like it.

Of course, that's faith-based thinking. What's the point of believing by faith if you can't just believe whatever the hell you want to believe? Heck, if you cared about the truth of your beliefs, you might as well be evidence-based.

Here's another video which demonstrates that:



All of you liberal believers, this is why faith-based thinking is wrong, even if you happen to get the right answer. That's because your method is wrong, so your right answer was purely coincidental, and you can have no expectation that you'll get the right answer on the next question.

Anyone can be wrong, but there are ways we can be more confident of getting the right answer, and faith certainly isn't one of them.

Celebrate the true meaning of Easter

(Jesus and Mo)

Give me that old-time religion!

Warren Buffett: Citizens United pushing us towards a plutocracy

Warren Buffett and I think alike - in this particular instance, at least.

Fox News lies about Iran nuclear deal

You knew this was going to happen, though, didn't you? There's absolutely no way that Fox 'News' would support anything from the Obama Administration. It makes absolutely no difference what it was, they'd still oppose it.

And note that 47 Republican senators committed treason by trying to sabotage America's side in these negotiations before they even knew what kind of settlement we'd get. They opposed it before they even knew what it was.

So of course they're going to oppose it now. Undoubtedly, they've been working on their opposition for weeks. The reality of the deal makes absolutely no difference to them, since they would oppose it no matter what it was.

And what do they propose in return? If this agreement fails, then what? The only alternative is war. Now, Republicans love war, because defense industry lobbyists love war. But you can bet that they won't be fighting in it, and you can bet that they won't want to pay for it (except maybe with cuts to Social Security).

But they live in their own little fantasy realm, where war is good. Republican neo-cons have been pushing for war with Iran for years, just as they pushed for war with Iraq for years. Just look at the mess that left us.

They were wrong about everything when it came to Iraq, but being wrong isn't a downside for Republicans. Being wrong is never going to dent their faith, no matter how many times it happens.

Five stupid things about white genocide

Sadly, this video is getting some down-votes - not anywhere near a majority, but still a significant number. And there are angry racists commenting (anonymously, of course). It's a bit depressing.

On the other hand, they're greatly outnumbered by rational people, so it's not all that depressing.

Steve Shives produces a lot of these "Five Stupid Things" videos. They're entertaining, they're perceptive, and they're short.

Atheist fundamentalist

Is he wrong about any part of this?

Robot horror

(Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal)

Republicans fight new White House initiative

"Germie," the loveable new children's toy from Koch Industries

From the Washington Post:

The White House announced an aggressive plan Friday to combat antibiotic-resistant bacteria, a mounting problem that causes an estimated 2 million illnesses and 23,000 deaths every year in the United States.

In related news, Republican Party leaders have stopped washing their hands. If Barack Obama is against germs, they're now strongly pro-germ.

GOP congressmen have proposed a new law for the protection and proliferation of antibiotic-resistant germs, and as the first stage of that, they've eliminated soap in congressional washrooms and turned off water to the sinks. And 47 Republican senators have just sent a letter to Pigpen, attempting to sabotage America's work in getting him to clean up.

In a press conference, Republican leaders accused the White House of perpetrating a hoax on the American people. "Germ theory is just a theory, not a fact," said one. "There's not one word about germs in the Bible. And why would God have made so many of them, if they were bad? Clearly, this is just a global conspiracy of medical scientists who don't recognize American exceptionalism."

Since the announcement, Fox News has been talking nonstop about Germgate, openly wondering why the "liberal media" have bought into all this germ nonsense. Meanwhile, Republicans in the House of Representatives are nearing all-out battle, as every committee chairman wants his committee to take point on this critical issue.

Republican politicians urged patriotic Americans to send them all the dirty money they could, promising to hide it away from the antibiotic properties of sunlight and fresh air.

Fox News is special, because Fox News says so

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Nothing makes me happier than to watch Jon Stewart give Fox 'News' everything they deserve. Partly, that's because they're so evil. Hmm,... no, that's pretty much the whole reason, I guess.

Fox gives journalism a bad name. They're a bad influence on the whole profession, showing how you can make lots and lots of money being everything a 'news network' should not be. And I majored in journalism in college, so I guess this really hits home for me.

And they're so smug about it. Lying doesn't embarrass them. They're just proud of how much money they make that way.

Do you ever wonder about scam artists, how people can live with themselves after taking money from particularly ignorant, lonely, and gullible old people? Fox 'News' demonstrates the mindset that scammers must have, don't you think?

They're not embarrassed, they're self-congratulatory. They're proud that they can fool the gullible, not ashamed of it. They don't feel bad about what they do, they feel superior, especially since money is the measure of everything for them. What matters is that you're rich, not how you got that way.

And they're entirely faith-based, so they see the world exactly as they want to see it. Just as lying for Jesus is justified, so is lying for the Republican Party. The end justifies the means, don't you know? Besides, it's not really lying. It's standing up for a deeper truth, the 'Truth' that only they can see,... since it only exists inside their fantasies.

When you're faith-based, your faith has to be real. Thus, everything which supports that faith is justified. And anything which doesn't must be denied, opposed, or rationalized away. Obviously, how you do it doesn't matter, as long as it works. That's because your faith can't be wrong.

And when you're making lots and lots of money from it,... well, clearly, the marketplace is demonstrating that you're right, huh?

Right-wing Christian rape and murder fantasies

(AP Photo / Bill Haber)

Please note: This is very disgusting stuff. Don't read further if you're squeamish.

From TPM:

"Duck Dynasty" star and conservative icon Phil Robertson told a gruesome, vivid story on Friday about the hypothetical rape and murder of a family to illustrate the perils of atheism, according to audio surfaced by Right Wing Watch.

The website reported that Robertson made the remarks during a speech at a Florida prayer breakfast that was later broadcast by the conservative radio program TruNews.

From the Right Wing Watch report on Robertson's speech:

“I’ll make a bet with you,” Robertson said. “Two guys break into an atheist’s home. He has a little atheist wife and two little atheist daughters. Two guys break into his home and tie him up in a chair and gag him. And then they take his two daughters in front of him and rape both of them and then shoot them and they take his wife and then decapitate her head off in front of him. And then they can look at him and say, ‘Isn’t it great that I don’t have to worry about being judged? Isn’t it great that there’s nothing wrong with this? There’s no right or wrong, now is it dude?’” Robertson kept going: “Then you take a sharp knife and take his manhood and hold it in front of him and say, ‘Wouldn’t it be something if this [sic] was something wrong with this? But you’re the one who says there is no God, there’s no right, there’s no wrong, so we’re just having fun. We’re sick in the head, have a nice day.’”

“If it happened to them,” Robertson continued, “they probably would say, ‘something about this just ain’t right.”

Yes, something about this "just ain't right," but Robertson doesn't seem to realize that it's him.

No atheist says that there's no right or wrong. How could Robertson even imagine such a thing? No atheist would say that there's nothing wrong with that scenario. Indeed, it's the Christian who seems to enjoy fantasizing about horrendous violence. What does that tell you?

Besides, Robertson's little story, as sick as it is, doesn't demonstrate that there's a magical judge somewhere in the sky who'll punish such crimes. It only demonstrates that Robertson, and people like him, really, really want to believe that.

Christians imagine an ultimate judge, because they want to think that people they don't like will be punished, eventually, whatever happens to them in this world. And they want to think that deserving people - themselves, of course, and people like them - will be rewarded,... eventually.

Maybe that's a nice fantasy, but so what? Atheists aren't competing over fantasies, to see who can invent the nicest one.

And in the real world, it's useful to recognize that justice, if it's to come at all, must come from us. We must work to defend the innocent and determine justice, because there's no magical solution if we fail to do that ourselves.

We must work to protect our environment, to save ourselves from ourselves, because this is the only Earth we've got, this is the only life we've got, and if we don't do it, no one will.

And we must determine right from wrong, because there are no shortcuts. There is no magic book to tell us that slavery is good and women's rights are bad. (Thankfully, the faith-based are very good at ignoring what they don't want to believe, even when it's written in their own Bible.) There is no magic man in the sky telling us to kill people who work on the Sabbath or burn women alive for having sex.

Sure, when tragedy strikes a Christian family, they might believe something which will make them feel better. (Or not. Often, Christians are led to believe that it's their fault, somehow, because otherwise 'God' would have defended them.) But whether comforting or not, is there any reason to believe that it's true?

Some of us think that the truth matters.

Squirrel plan

(xkcd)

Actually, I'm a little worried that my squirrels are starting to think this about me. "Sure, he gives us peanuts from his pocket, occasionally. But why not chew a hole in him and get all of the peanuts?"

I've been telling them stories about the goose that laid the golden eggs, but I don't think they're getting the point.

First clown emerges from the 2016 clown car

Yup, the 2016 circus has officially arrived, and the first clown out of the clown car is... Ted Cruz!

Is it possible that the Republican candidates for president in 2016 are going to be an even crazier bunch of clowns than they were in 2012? That's hard to believe, given the loony tunes running for office last time, but it does seem to be starting off that way.

Incidentally, here's the article from Think Progress that Cenk is talking about in that video clip. And here's Jaclyn Glenn, for a different perspective (as I want to be as 'fair and balanced' as they are at Fox):



Ted Cruz is a clown, but he's a clown with a real chance to be the next President of the United States. Not a good chance, I'd say, but after George W. Bush - and after the complete ass-whipping the Democrats suffered in November - how can you count him out?

Unfortunately, like many clowns, Cruz is actually much more frightening than he is funny.

John Oliver: municipal violations

I wish John Oliver could take over The Daily Show when Jon Stewart leaves, but I know that's not going to happen. He's a worthy successor, certainly.

Playing God: The Loving Psychopath

Creepy, isn't it? It gives me goosebumps.

One nation under Allah

Right-wingers at Fox 'News' are furious - their word - about saying the Pledge of Allegiance in an American high-school. Are they upset about violating the separation of church and state? Not exactly:

Students at Pine Bush High School in Pine Bush, New York, knew right away there was something not quite right about the Pledge of Allegiance. That’s because the pledge was being recited in Arabic.

“One nation under Allah,” the student body president announced over the intercom system on Wednesday.

But you can understand why they're so angry, right?

The school said the pledge was recited in Arabic as a way to honor National Foreign Language Week “and in an effort to celebrate the many races, cultures and religions that make up this great country.” It said the pledge had been recited in other languages throughout the week. ...

“Thanks to the illegal invasion and the concept of ‘celebrate diversity,’ English is becoming a foreign language in America,” one critic wrote on the local newspaper’s website.

What? Don't they know that English is God's language? Obviously, that's why he wrote the Bible in English. Duh!

All those other languages in the world? Who care's about them? America is exceptional, after all. If you don't believe it, just ask us.

And, of course, "English is becoming a foreign language in America." Yup. Why, just the other day, I saw a business with "taco" written all over it - blatantly, with no shame at all, apparently.

I suspect that, if I'd actually been willing to patronize such a satanic place, I might have heard the word spoken there, too! As it is, I didn't heard anyone actually speaking anything but God's good English that day, but clearly, America is under attack when people are allowed to put four-letter words like that - who knows what it might mean? - right out in public view.

...

Sorry. I tend to think I'm funny, but others seldom agree. I guess they just have no sense of humor, huh? :)

Anyway, the really funny thing about this is that "under God" - which wasn't added to America's Pledge of Allegiance until 1954 - has generally been permitted by U.S. courts, despite our constitutionally-mandated separation of church and state, by claiming that it's not about Christianity, or about religion at all, but only "ceremonial" and "patriotic" in nature.

Of course, that's complete bullshit. "God" is not religious? Well, this right-wing freak-out shows just how stupid that really is. "Allah" is just the Arab word for "God." Ironically, it's even supposed to be the same god that Christians worship!

So how can right-wing Christians get hysterical about "one nation under Allah" while completely dismissing atheist objections to "one nation under God"? Only by being complete hypocrites, obviously.

And how in the world could anyone get upset at reciting the Pledge of Allegiance in other languages? We're a nation of immigrants! Nothing could be more American than that, you'd think.

Oh, well. I don't know why I'm bothering to write this, anyway. No one understands English in America anymore, right? LOL

The Fox 'News' double-standard

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This is why I love Jon Stewart. This is why we're really, really going to miss him.

Unfortunately, this kind of deliberate distortion of the news doesn't happen just at Fox. Here in Nebraska, you're likely to hear only one side of the news in the local media, too.

Every morning, I browse the websites of two local television stations (ever since my local newspaper went behind a paywall). They present some national news, too, of course - but it's interesting what they cover and what they don't.

When it comes to the troubles in Ferguson, Missouri, every bit of violence, rioting, and... spitting on the sidewalk was noted in news articles. Well, Missouri is a neighbor, right? But I haven't seen one word about the absolutely shocking Justice Department report on endemic racism - as a financial tool, no less - in the government there.

That act of treason by 47 Republican senators - including both of Nebraska's senators? Nothing. Complete silence. Wouldn't you think that Nebraska's own senators being a part of that would make it newsworthy in Nebraska?

Of course, Nebraska's news media jumped all over the Benghazi allegations - and also participated fully in the politically-manufactured Ebola hysteria that mysteriously stopped the minute elections were over in November. And Republican politicians are always handled with kid gloves. (That email 'scandal' of Hillary Clinton? Completely different.)

Sometimes, I'm astonished at how ignorant many Nebraskans are at what's going on in their own country, but this is why. By and large, they only get the right-wing side of the news - either because they self-select (watching Fox, but nothing else) or because that's all that's fed to them by their local media.

And the right-wing seems to have absolutely no shame about any of this. (Bill O'Reilly's serial lies? Fox 'News' didn't care in the slightest about that. Heck, they pay him to lie.)

But that comes with being faith-based, I suppose. When you know you're right, that makes any tactic justifiable. 'Lying for Jesus' is an established pattern of behavior that's easily stretched to politics, too - especially when you think it's the same thing.

Scenes from post-racial America

(TPM)

From TPM:

A vendor at a gun show this weekend in Sioux Falls, S.D. was spotted selling shooting targets with a cartoonish depiction of a black man and bearing the words "Official Runnin' N****r Target," television station KSFY reported on Sunday.

While a crew from KSFY was reporting on the "Collector's Classic Gun Show," one of the station's photographers noticed the targets showing the cartoonish silhouette. The KSFY photographer confronted the unidentified vendor who was selling the targets for 10 cents each and who was unfazed by the photographer's questions.

"Why are those on there?" KSFY's photographer asked.

"Why aren't they?" the vendor said. "They're just targets."

"Aren't they offensive in nature?" the photographer asked.

"To who? Are you a negro?" the vendor said. "You know there's some black people and then there's some negroes."

The unidentified vendor also added that he'd "sold 500 of them this weekend so what difference does it make?"

I'm sure glad racism in America is over, aren't you? I mean, except for white men, of course. We poor white men are the real victims of bigotry, right?  LOL