Among Other Indicators...

“…The moment the politicians start saying they are in denial of what the scientists are telling them, of what the consensus of scientific experiments demonstrates, that is the beginning of the end of an informed democracy.”  - Astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson

Republican Jesus

Republican Jesus says anything Republicans want him to say.

Republican Jesus hates anyone Republicans want him to hate.

Republican Jesus says, "Verily, the GOP is the way, the truth, and the life".

Republican Jesus says, “Thou shalt not bake cake for gays”.

Republican Jesus says, “No more food stamps and ‘free stuff’ for the poor”. 

Republican Jesus says, "Thou shalt hate Liberals, for they are commies".

 Republican Jesus says, "Thou shalt further hate Liberals, for they hate America".

Republican Jesus says, "Thou shalt hate Obama, for he is a Marxist Kenyan."

Republican Jesus says, "Thou shalt further hate Obama, for he is the 'Anti-Me'". 

Republican Jesus says, "Blessed are the greedy, for they shall take all they desire".

Republican Jesus says, "Blessed are the Koch brothers, for they have inherited wealth".

Republican Jesus changed his mind about serving Mammon.

Republican Jesus changed his mind about the rich getting into Heaven.

Republican Jesus changed his mind about "rendering unto Caesar that which is Caesar’s”.

Republican Jesus desires more tax cuts for the Rich to fulfill Saint Ronnie's "Prophecy of the Sacred Trickle Down".

Now Republican Jesus wants war with Iran.

Nifty cult they have there.

The Great "Lie Off"

FOX(R) is picking a fight with Jon Stewart just before he leaves the Daily Show. 

The fools. All they have is their glaringly false "fair and balanced" take on what Stephen Colbert coined as "truthiness", that is, what you feel to be true, not what's supported by any kind of facts.

Stewart also has their number, though. Last night he had this to say about them:

“They purport to want to fix things, but conservatives are not looking to make education more rigorous and informative, or science more empirical or verifiable, or voting more representative, or the government more efficient or effective. They just want all those things to reinforce their partisan ideological conservative viewpoint. Because in their minds, the opposite of ‘bad’ isn’t ‘good.’ The opposite of ‘bad’ is ‘conservative.’ The opposite of ‘wrong’ isn’t ‘right’ — it’s ‘right-wing.’”  - Jon Stewart

Nailed it. Truer words have never been said of the Radical Right Bubble Cult. 

He showed clips of FOX(R) Republican hosts whining and accusing him of deceptively editing videos to make them look like liars. (Projection, anyone?)

So to settle the score, Stewart challenged FOX (R) to a “lie-off”. 

What fun! 

“To start off, here are 50 of yours in a six second Vine,” Stewart said 

 50 Fox News lies in 6 seconds.

“Plenty more where that came from. We only have a 22-minute show,” Stewart added

Once again we learn the fundamental truth famously proclaimed back in 2006 at a failed President's White House Correspondents Dinner . 

"Reality has a well-known liberal bias." -  Stephen Colbert

Sniping Crybabies

First point. Clint Eastwood has won the Academy Award, just not this year. He won an Oscar each for Unforgiven and Million Dollar Baby.

It wasn’t enough that “Hollywood liberals” nominated Eastwood’s film American Sniper for best film, and in several other categories as well. It even won an Oscar for sound editing.

But who cares? “Good American” con-servatives are pissed off. (Yeah, what else is new?)

They pouted and whined all over Twitter.

Here are some samples of their classy reactions:

@theacademy can suck a dick really it's rigged! Bradley Cooper deserved his Oscar for playing Chris Kyle & American Sniper gets pimped!

As an American, I feel snubbed by the snubbing of American Sniper for best picture #Oscars2015

American Sniper snubbed. Libtard hollywood cocksuckers. You should be in an ISIS cage. #Oscars2015

American Sniper should've been awarded every oscar it was nominated for because of the sacrifices Chris Kyle gave to our country

The Oscars are a sad joke, very much like our President. So many things are wrong! – Donald Trump

AMERICAN Sniper snubbed by liberal hwood Predictable. #CluelessOscars – Sean Hannity

A great movie American Sniper loses because camel fucking towel headed assholes will get upset the filthy things that they are – William

Yes “William”, along with Hannity and Trump, clearly shows us what kind of assholes really get upset over movies not awarded Best Picture. 

Exception to the Rule

By most indicators, and opinions, our democratic representative republic is on the down slide. As a rule, things aren't getting better for most Americans. Both the Left and Right seem to sense this, but for different reasons, of course.

Those on the Right will say we are being destroyed by “Big Government” regulations, social programs and safety nets. The GOP is now attacking Social Security, food stamps, minimum wage and unemployment compensation. Republicans are pushing to further unleash Wall Street from rules and oversight. Their base is also furious with marriage equality and their perception that we are losing our “values” as a nation.

Democracy and equality seem off their radar as part of those values.

Most Americans disagree, and again, as with the GOP takeover of the House, most Americans voted for a democrat senator. Such are the anti-democratic flaws of gerrymandering and disproportionate representation in both Houses.

Those on the Left say our nation is being destroyed by deregulated capitalism, militarism, militarized law enforcement, and the surveillance state. They see the corporatism built by corporate “personhood” and the dominance of  their “free speech” money. They see corporate written trade agreements becoming law of the land. This has done more for trickle up wealth and off-shore jobs than for the American people. Both parties are playing this game.

The divide and conquer tactics utilized by the economically powerful have been a great success. Both major parties are largely bought and paid for, as a rule.

This brings us to a curious exception to the rule.

Before 9-11 and the fear-mongering behind the “war on terror” shook Americans from reason and judgment, the war on drugs was doing the same damage to our basic freedoms.

Besides the futility and brutality of the war on drugs, we saw the encroachments on civil liberties through “no-knock” laws, passive acceptance of intrusive random drug testing, and more frightening of all, civil asset forfeiture. Law enforcement was granted the power of “legal” piracy. They could take your money and property without proof of wrongdoing. All they had to say was they suspected the money or property was related to drug dealing.

It is an outrage that has nothing to do with justice. That’s what police states do.

So as a rule, the police state is expanding. Now a curious and welcome exception to the rule is unfolding. Voices from diverse perspectives are joining the effort to end the piracy.

Two dozen civil liberties activists, legal specialists and Capitol Hill staffers from across the political spectrum convened Thursday to discuss reforms for civil asset-forfeiture laws, which allow local and state police to take cash and property from Americans without proving a crime has occurred.

Representatives of the Institute for Justice, the American Civil Liberties Union, the American Bar Association, the Cato Institute and the Heritage Foundation, along with congressional staffers from both parties, strategized on possible legislative remedies to curb abuses.

Imagine that. Addressing blatant corruption and injustice by law enforcement has become a common cause.

Now it has come to this:
Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. on Friday barred local and state police from using federal law to seize cash, cars and other property without proving that a crime occurred.

Holder’s action represents the most sweeping check on police power to confiscate personal property since the seizures began three decades ago as part of the war on drugs.

But what about the elected officials?

Last Friday, Sens. Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa) and Mike Lee (R-Utah), along with Reps. F. James Sensenbrenner Jr. (R-Wis.) and John Conyers Jr. (D-Mich.), signed a letter calling on Holder to end Equitable Sharing.

A rare and stunning glimpse of bi-partisan sanity. 

Take a picture; it won’t last.

Unfortunately states still have asset forfeiture laws. The fact the revenue largely goes to a general fund instead of the law enforcement agencies is some disincentive for abuse.

It’s amazing what can happen when both sides see an issue unclouded by propaganda and corporate PR. This is what real progress looks like.

Republicans Retain Control Of Senate

The expected pattern has held. The opposition party makes the sixth year sweep. No surprise. 

The good news is is to found in the democracy part of the election, ballot proposals. They have met with progressive successes. The best example is voters have overruled the insane drug war by another increment, and legalized cannabis in Oregon and Washington DC.

One thing is clear, if the people want representation they can forget it. They need to get active and do it on their own. The Republicans and Democrats have show us again and again they do not represent the American people. Only the American people can do this now. 

In other news, same old, same old.

The Onion said it far better than the corporate media ever could:

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 Republicans Poised to Retain Control of the Senate

WASHINGTON—With precincts reporting GOP victories in key midterm election races nationwide, Beltway sources confirmed Tuesday that the Republican Party is poised to retain its complete control of the U.S. Senate. “If current polling projections are accurate, it appears as if Republican lawmakers will hold on to power in the Senate chamber and will continue to steer the legislative agenda with little resistance,” political analyst Michael Barone told reporters, noting that the likely election results will preserve the GOP’s singular authority over the direction of the Senate, allowing Republicans to go on stymieing judicial appointments, derailing or neutering any legislation they oppose, and obstructing President Obama at every turn. 

“With the Senate still firmly under their control, Mitch McConnell and his Republican colleagues will persist in refusing to cede an inch of political leverage to their Democratic rivals and will continue blocking Democratic initiatives just as they have been. Yet again, the GOP is in prime position to carry on dictating the course of the upper house of Congress.” Barone went on to say that Republicans would finally relinquish control of the Senate only when Democrats captured the 100 seats they require to govern.

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Hard to argue with that.

Latest Lesson on Free Speech

This seems to be a continuing learning process for those radical enough to believe free speech is not limited to corporate electioneering and lobbying cash. Americans better get with the program. Free speech is not free, and the price for the non-wealthy is steep.

An authoritarian personality, in a St. Louis area police uniform, decided to go after a woman's job because she dared to speak out against police brutality. This is what is seen as a threat to the authoritarian personalities in uniform, apart from being black, of course.  

The cop said she was "entitled" to her "opinion" against police brutality, but was not entitled to her job apparently, 

According to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch:

A woman who criticized police on Twitter says an officer called her boss in an attempt to get her fired, so she filed a formal complaint “to return the favor.”

Leigh Maibes, a real estate agent who tweets under the alias “Short Stack” and has been active on social media during the Ferguson protests, posted a link Wednesday to a YouTube video of a phone conversation with Officer Keith Novara.

It's good to know the corporate police state is on the job suppressing “bad speech” and protecting the interests and "good speech" of those who matter most to a corporate police state.

If you want to know who runs the place, notice the tolerance, and intolerance, to hate or criticism.