Month: August 2016

 
From Wisconsin conservative James Wigderson:

Can Paul Nehlen unseat House Speaker Paul Ryan? Rarely has such a local election, the Republican primary in Wisconsin’s First Congressional District, had such importance. We’re not expecting a large turnout, but the impact could be enormous.

The odds favor Ryan. He has never been unpopular in his district, especially among Republicans. In the last Marquette Law School poll, Ryan’s favorable-unfavorable score among Wisconsin’s likely Republican voters was 85-8. That’s a hard number to overcome for any challenger.

– More –
 

 
From PZ Myers at Pharyngula:

Go to the Office of the Minnesota Secretary of State to get a sample ballot. Then show up and vote on Tuesday. I want to see a good turnout by responsible citizens on an election that is not presidential. You’ve got to build a collection of people working for your causes at all levels, and stop expecting that you’ll put a magic person in place at the top of the pyramid and make everything work.

And I will unabashedly recommend that if you really despise Trump, you have to vote a straight Democratic ticket.

– More –
 

 
From Frances Langum Crooks and Liars:

Someone should tell Fox News it’s not nice to make fun of seniors with memory loss.

Because clearly that is that is Bullsh*t Mountain’s motive in hauling out the master dealer of the Iran-Contra Scandal, Oliver North, to talk about anything to do with Iran.

– More –
 

• Yellow Dog at Blue in the Bluegrass refutes a common argument for faith that is also one of the dumbest.
   
• Capt. Fogg at Human Voices walks us through Arlington National Cemetary, pausing at symbols of dozens of religions, absorbing the common sacrifice for freedom. He imagines what Donald Trump would do on such a walk.
   
• At Talking Points Memo, Kristin Salaky reports that, despite video showing Donald Trump ordering a little baby out of a Trump rally for making noise, Mr. Trump insists the baby is a lying little kid. Okay, I made that last part up. He actually just denies responding as the video shows him responding in front of the cameras, the rally, God, and everybody.
   
• nojo at Stinque joins many Americans in gratitude to Mr. Trump.
   
• Jack Jodell at The Saturday Afternoon Post pretty much likes Hillary, and really, really doesn’t like Donald. On balance he is motivated most by a lack of balance between the candidates.
   
• Last Of The Millenniums agrees that Trump will make the country great again, and also mentions which country.
   
• Martin Longman at Political Animal reports that, faced with Mr. Trump’s flailing candidacy, Sean Hannity at Fox seems to be losing himself in rage and despair.
   

 

Mr. Trump’s Right to Attack

The father of a fallen soldier asks whether Donald Trump has even read the Constitution. Mr. Trump attacks. The man has no right to ask such a question.

Actually, the Constitution guarantees that right. It also gives Mr. Trump the right to attack two grieving parents.

And it gives the rest of us the right to call Mr. Trump a godawful jerk.

He should read about those rights.

Transcript

---

More – –

 
From Libertarian Michael A. LaFerrara at Principled Perspectives:

The purpose of the term “climate change denier” is to disparage and dismiss dissenters without a hearing and without grappling with the rational arguments against human-caused climate catastrophism and the proposed “solutions” put forth by the catastrophists. “Climate change denier” is also a not-so-veiled smear attempt to lump rational dissenters in with neo-Nazi holocaust deniers.

The “denier” charge is used liberally throughout a New Jersey Star-Ledger guest column by Doug O’Malley, the director of the advocacy group Environment New Jersey.

– More –
 

 
From PZ Myers at Pharyngula:

In 2001, a French anthropologist discovered some very interesting specimens in West Central Africa: the skulls of some 6-7 million year old apes that showed some chimpanzee-like features and some human-like features. He called it Sahelanthropus tchadensis.

In 2002, Mike Pence used the bully pulpit of the house of representatives to denounce Sahelanthropus and the entire theory of evolution, in a pointless exercise of flouting his ignorance. Why, I don’t know; perhaps he thought he could use a scientific discovery to somehow legislate against science? The performance has been caught on video.

– More –
 

 
From Frances Langum at CrooksAndLiars:

Yay! Donald Trump thinks Rick Scott, that Bat-Boy-resembling Governor of Florida (and Trump supporter so you KNOW he’s doing terrific amazing things that are fabulous and huge, I heard many people say so) is doing a terrific amazing job controlling the Zika Virus in his state.

– More –
 

 
From Ted McLaughlin at jobsanger:

Donald Trump has stepped in it again, and it doesn’t look like the stink will go away anytime soon. By attacking khazir and Ghazala Khan, the parents of a U.S. Army Captain who gave his life in Iraq saving his comrades (receiving a Bronze Star and a Purple Heart), Trump has earned the ire of nearly everyone. That includes the VFW (normally partial to GOP candidates), Gold Star families, and even his fellow Republicans. Here are what they had to say about Trump’s inexcusable statements:

– More –