Summer Re-Run

Now dead, disappeared or actively aiding & abetting Fat Don in looting & destroying our nation. Wonderful people.

Freedom Of Speech: Wait For It

Representative Dave Brat, who ousted Majority Leader Eric Cantor (In the effing primary!) in 2014 w/ anti-immigration & anti-tax pandering to the cretins of Virginia's Seventh District, takes a call on C-SPAN.A shame we never hear Rep. Brat's response.

More Fun W/ Maps

Nation of Sheep, try to explain: Scab of a nation, driven insane!

Urbane sophisticates & rootless cosmopolitans vs. the no-info gerrymandered farmers & swineherds of the vast wasteland. Stay east of The Rockies, illiterate boring crackers!

Yuck Foo, Florida Republicans

Are you scared yet? The future of Florida is in the balance!

Florida Court Rules Legislature’s Redistricting Done With “Unconstitutional Intent To Favor Republican Party”

"The court has made it abundantly clear that partisan gerrymandering will not be tolerated."

Activist judges. How dare they? Eliminate the judiciary!! Bring America Back Stronger for The Future!!

Bigger Picture: In the medium-to-long run, F-L-A will go the way of Atlantis & none of it will matter. As far as Floridians, well, some, I assume, are good people.

[Reuters, via whence we stole the headline.]

'Bout Time Y'All Wised Up

Wised up that there is no hope.

[M]uch more widespread among the readers who shared their thoughts [was ...] in most cases [...] not tied to any personal experience but an impression of the society or world at large. Put simply, a lot of readers told me that 2014 was the year they began to or finally did lose hope.

I mentioned yesterday that since my friends and professional acquaintances are disproportionately Democrats maybe the party's November drubbing played a role. That clearly had some effect. But there was something much more general.

Again and again, people shared a sense that things they thought were fixed or getting better were actually not getting better. And many readers shared a pessimism that they would not ever get better.

If people haven't learned by now they never will. And they haven't, have they? Never underestimate the bestial fear, ignorance & stupidity of the species, either.

With pessimism about race relations or the economy, you might expect a sense of discontent married to a push toward activism. But the tone of many emails was a sense not only of pessimism but readers who felt they had been naive in their earlier optimism.

Case in point: Optimism. There is neither orthography nor punctuation to express adequately my disgust w/ & disdain for cheerful ninnies, but I'll give it a shot: WHAT IS WRONG W/ ALL OF YOU, AND WHY DOES IT TAKE SO LONG TO WISE UP TO THE GRIM REALITY OF THE LONG RUN??

Bitter Clinger Swan Song

Via all over the iNterfestation, a "G.O.P. Lifer" spells out the Elephant split so that even bitter clingers ("a declining electoral bloc of aging, white, rural voters") might get it:

This is an age built for Republican solutions. The global economy is undergoing a massive, accelerating transformation that promises massive new wealth and staggering challenges. We need heads-up, intelligent adaptations to capitalize on those challenges. Republicans, with their traditional leadership on commercial issues should be at the leading edge of planning to capitalize on this emerging environment.

Ha ha, funny huh? "Traditional leadership on commercial issues" is esp. good; note that business becomes "commercial interests" as they realize business is a filthy (Literally: Have you "done your business"? Did you wipe?) word & reframe it. "Commerce" just sounds so much more Main Street-y, doesn't it?

Noting the details of Newspeak is fun (& were it not for digression nothing new would ever be conceived) but wandering to the point, the illustration here is that even a glibertarian tax-fearer spouting the greed agenda knows better than to swallow the codswallop.

What are we getting from Republicans? Climate denial, theocracy, thinly veiled racism, paranoia, and Benghazi hearings. Lots and lots of hearings on Benghazi.

It is almost too late for Republicans to participate in shaping the next wave of our economic and political transformation. The opportunities we inherited coming out of the Reagan Era are blinking out of existence one by one while we chase so-called “issues” so stupid, so blindingly disconnected from our emerging needs that our grandchildren will look back on our performance in much the same way that we see the failures of the generation that fought desegregation.

Something, some force, some gathering of sane, rational, authentically concerned human beings generally at peace with reality must emerge in the next four to six years from the right, or our opportunity will be lost for a long generation. Needless to say, Greg Abbott and Jodi Ernst are not that force.

“Winning” this election did not help that force emerge. This was a dark week for Republicans, and for everyone who wants to see America remain the world’s most vibrant, most powerful nation.

Let this reporter know when a party official, office-holder or even a candidate or nominee of the Party of Lincoln (Hear that spinning sound?) makes any statement that reflects sanity, rationality, concern or even the vaguest connection to reality.

Many interesting (& entertainingschadenfreude-y) bullet points (& an electoral map of the hopelessness):

- Almost half of the Republican Congressional delegation now comes from the former Confederacy. Total coincidence, just pointing that out.

- In Congress, there are no more white Democrats from the South. The long flight of the Dixiecrats has concluded.

- Democrats have consolidated their power behind the sections of the country that generate the overwhelming bulk of America’s wealth outside the energy industry. That’s only ironic if you buy into far-right propaganda, but it’s interesting nonetheless.

The fossils in the fossil-fuel industry are the last hold-outs. Come 2020, President Hillarity will have outlawed guns, banned cars & taxed the carbon-polluters out of existence by executive order, right?

Two yrs. of trial & tribulation, comrades, then the New Socialist Dawn!

Today In Bronze Age Thinking

Jesus Gawd-damn fucking Kee-rist shit, hadn't heard freak-show escapee Lankford was elected to even higher office.

“I come from a biblical worldview in the way I address issues,” Lankford said. “I look at Nehemiah and how he handled things when he stepped into Jerusalem. It was that the people were in disgrace and the wall was broken down, but the two things that he focused in on was the constructive side of things and the debt. Half of the Book of Nehemiah is just getting the people out of debt, so they could actually take on the other things.”

“We can’t handle national defense right now, we can’t handle a lot of things that we need to and that need to be driven by the states because we have so much debt… We have proved that our nation really is slave to the lender.”

Lankford added that people should pray as much as they complain.

“We are all pretty frustrated with what is happening in government, let’s lean in, let’s pray through, and let’s do this.”

Bronze Age worldview from today's Republican office-holders. "Nehemiah?" Jesus Gawd-damn fucking Kee-rist shit.

Today In Republican Responsibility & Accountability

Iowa Intoxication Info:

Gretchen Hamel, a campaign spokeswoman for Joni Ernst's U.S. Senate campaign, was arrested on Oct. 29 for operating while intoxicated and resigned the morning after the incident.

West Des Moines police found Hamel passed out behind the wheel of her vehicle after crossing lanes and driving her car over a curb on the 6100 block of Beachtree Drive at about 10:30 p.m., according to a police report.

An Ernst campaign aide on Thursday said that Hamel resigned the morning after the incident.

"This is a personnel matter which we will not discuss in the press. We wish Gretchen nothing but the best and appreciate her efforts," said Ernst campaign manager Jon Kohan in a statement.

I'm sure the people of Iowa appreciate her efforts to drive over any or all of them because she won't lose consciousness in a motel room instead of behind the wheel.

A bit later: Oh my goodness gracious, look at the rest of the story:

The driving offense was not the first in Iowa for Hamel, who is a Washington, D.C.-based political strategist.

At 10:30 p.m. on Oct. 13, Hamel crashed her Ford Explorer into a sign post at the intersection of 142nd and Meredith streets in Urbandale. She was in the passenger seat when Urbandale police arrived. She claimed a man named "Robert" was driving the vehicle and "took off running" after striking the post, according to an Urbandale police report.

"Hamel later admitted that she lied and that she was the one driving the vehicle," the report states.

Hamel blew a .164 on a preliminary breathalyzer test but wasn't arrested "because she wasn't operating the vehicle when officers arrived," the report states. She told officers she had had three drinks but had not eaten anything.

Hamel was charged with failure to maintain control of her vehicle, and having an invalid driver's license and expired car insurance.

Capt. Rob Johansen of the Urbandale Police Department said officials are investigating whether all details of that incident were included in the officer's report.

"I would say we missed an opportunity to make an arrest," Johansen said. "We had an admission and I don't know if there was a witness or other things that should have been taken into account. I think based on what was written in the report, the first question that came to my mind was, why wasn't she arrested?"

After the second incident, Hamel refused medical care after a West Des Moines emergency medical services arrived. During field sobriety tests, the officers noted she was "swaying" and lost her balance during a walk and turn test. The officer stopped her from completing another test, where she was asked to stand on one leg, fearing her safety.

Hamel told officers she was driving home from a girlfriend's house and was heading back to her apartment on Prairie View Drive. Based on the position of her car, officers asked if she was heading toward the Jordan Creek mall, to which Hamel affirmed.

"I had to explain to her that her residence was the opposite direction she was heading," the officer wrote in the report.

Redundant, but: Lying & dangerously criminal Republican. And typical consuming sheep; gets blotto & heads for the mall on alcohol auto-pilot. We're circling the drain, people!

How & Why AmeriKKKa Votes

Please do not overreach.

How America Votes

And why it votes that way: "Exceptional" sadism, especially against the already weak & defenseless.

Blame Game

How Ronald Reagan and the Supreme Court Turned American Politics Into a Cesspool

Musical Takeover

Election Text Wrap-Up

Ridin' the underground post ballot off-dropping, noted new signage. Just in time for Election Day?

Interesting Tidbits From The Official Sample Ballot

New Rules: The top two vote-getters (to use the technical term) in the primary face off in the general, irregardless of party affiliation, resulting in these candidates in the wastelands surrounding the bunker:

And although the Republicans offered candidates for all state-wide offices (New run-off rules may be different for state office.)

they didn't show well in L.A. County. Barely placed, even.

Also noted: Third parties not doing well. George Wallace's American Independent Party simply endorses all but three state-wide Grand Obscene Patriarchy candidates, & a few random others locally. Must be the drooliest of Republicans to get the AIP endorsement. Did the AIPs even have any candidates of their own?

Peace & Freedom did get someone on the ballot though. Poor bastard was up against an incumbent, who combines the talents & abilities of the daughter of a forty-yr. County Supervisor w/ those of the sister of a former L.A. Mayor. Good luck, sacrificial hippie lamb! (Look at that resume: When do we start killing the aristocrats?)

Americans Elect? What th' eff? Izzat those centrist fucks? How'd they manage even to get on the ballot? And who the hell were they electing?

One more sign:

Nation In Confederate Toilet Where It Belongs

You'll be sor-ry!

Schadenfreude Alert: Nation of mentally ill & mentally retarded cretins essentially declares a fatwa on itself. Ha ha ha, just like you wanted it, & good & hard.

They'll soon be experiencing government of by & for the rich which will be useless to some & oppressive to others, to be followed by richly-deserved economic suffering. And then they'll die on the streets, penniless. Hurry up, already.

Bent Over/Doubled Up I Did The Vom In A Blind Guy's Cup

Voting shmoting, currently eight reactions on meme0randum to this sad schmuck, who apparently had the good fortune to be born w/o the sense of taste. (A lack that would certainly make my lifeexistence easier.)

Burlington man has eaten 95 meals at Olive Garden in 6 weeks using $100 ‘Pasta Pass’

(Guessing that The Onion has use of the phrase "Area Man" all to itself now.)

He's Right, You Know

Voting is a joke, as Thers testifies. A pathetic fucking joke.

DON'T ENCOURAGE THEM BY PARTICIPATING IN THIS MASS DELUSION! Political power comes from the barrel of a gun, not a fucking joke box.

Further evidence: It's not voters who determine electoral outcomes, it's those who count the vote. Ha ha ha.

You lose, sucker!

Most Interesting Event In Today's News (As Of ...)

Not really an event yet, but "Ebola" appears nowhere in it.

When President Obama "overnights in the Providence area this week, it will be the first time in more than 50 years that a sitting president has slept in the nation's smallest state," the AP reports.

[Entirely from P. Wire.]

On The Stump

Only another wk. of this yr.'s electoral idiocy & idiotic reporting thereon, 'though w/ the bastards screeching around the final turn the volume will be set at 11! & the idiocy at 12. (So dulled out w/ the urging to vote I may burn my mail-in ballot like a fucking draft card if I hear one more democracy-trusting sap repeat that crap. STOP PRETENDING!!)
Then the recounts & recriminations begin.

Manifestation of Cthulhu?

And after suffering that for a few wks. the 2016 babble & yap can begin in fucking earnest. (Although you can bet even your worthless ass there'll be many a spew next Weds. a.m. about who is & isn't in The Horse Race To Hell.)

Can't wait. For someone to put me out of this American misery.

What the Next Two Awful Years Will Look Like

Title lifted wholesale from a New Republic listicle of what frightens them about the possibility the Grotesque Offal Party will gain power in both Houses of the Congress.

In case you missed it (& I'm pretty sure I did) peep this.(What next? Silver crucifixes & strings of garlic? John the Conqueror Root? A mojo hand?)
WEB OF EVIL believes the next two awful yrs. will look like this: Animal sacrifice & worshipping of the Golden Calf on the House floor if the superstition-driven death cultists of the Republican Caucus

Kicks just keep gettin' harder to find.

can't get impeachment proceedings started, when Affordable Care isn't repealed, if someone is ever audited by the I.R.S. or if there is even one more Ebola infection in these United Snakes.

Test ....

"Privacy" is for those w/ something to hide.Voter Fraud Vigilantes from MarkFiore.