Author: Raymond

 
From driftglass:

Other than when he is on MSNBC promoting his book, “Holy Shit! The Republican Party Is Full Of Republicans!“ it is hard for me to know what my New Mandatory Republican Best Friend Charlie Sykes is thinking on an hour basis hour.

This is because my New Mandatory Republican Best Friend Charlie Sykes blocked me a long time ago for asking him impertinent questions about that Libtard four-letter word which we are never, ever supposed to mention in the presence of our new New Mandatory Republican Best Friends.

The P-A-S-T.

What was I thinking?!?!

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From jobsanger:

Trump is viewed more unfavorably than favorably by a 13 point margin.

The Democratic Party’s favorable and unfavorable percentages are even.

The Republican Party is viewed more unfavorably than favorably by a 12 point margin.

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From Andy Borowitz:

WASHINGTON (The Borowitz Report)—Facing the daunting challenge of appearing to pay attention to a woman’s utterances during a televised hearing, Senator Charles Grassley spent the weekend rehearsing what aides are calling his “pretending to listen” face.

In round-the-clock practice sessions that aides characterized as “excruciating,” the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee struggled to simulate even a trace of interest in what a woman had to say.

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From Gregory B. Gonzalez at MadMikesAmerica:

I guess it’s no surprise to anyone with an IQ above fifty that Donald J. Trump, is a flat-out moron. Most of us with a thimble-full of common sense knew going in that his Presidency would be a shit-show from the second he took office. The only people who thought otherwise were his basket of deplorables and the shiny, happy, clueless idiots who decided to give him a chance. Kinda makes you wonder, now that Trump is in the second year of his four-year term if those idiots still feel the same.

Based on the latest polls, I think not. At the rate he’s going, Trump is only a few points short of getting garbage thrown at him. Yet, unbelievably, he thinks he’s still universally loved. Yeah, in the way most people love getting a case of crabs.

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From Iron Knee at Political Irony:

Republicans claim to be against tax increases. They attack anyone who they believe wants to raise taxes. And yet, they have ignored Trump’s tax increases. What increases? Donald Trump has, by executive fiat, levied taxes of up to 50% on goods being imported into the US, with the most common tariffs being 25%.

How does this differ from a tax? I can’t think of any substantiative difference. If you buy anything from China or other foreign nations, you will be pay what is basically a sales tax to the federal government. Can you imagine the uproar if the government levied a sales tax of 25% on mobile phones, televisions, washing machines, solar panels, and other goods? Well, they have basically done that, and are threatening to tax those things even more.

And here’s the really interesting point. Sales taxes (including tariffs) are mainly paid by the middle class.

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From Eileen M. Ahlin, Assistant Professor of Criminal Justice at Pennsylvania State University, writing for The Moderate Voice:

Everyone makes mistakes they would rather leave in the past. Whether it’s a missed opportunity, a failed relationship or an unwise investment, many people move on and leave life’s regrets behind.

This is not always true if the mistake is a crime, and you are caught.

When a juvenile, a person under 18 years of age, is arrested and charged with a crime, prosecutors can decide to transfer the youth to an adult court or keep their case in juvenile court. This decision is based on several factors, including the seriousness of the offense, the offender’s age and prior criminal history. Some research indicates that race plays a role in this decision.

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From Infidel753:

The world-wide scandal over cover-ups of sexual abuse in the Catholic Church is nothing new. Revelations about the clergy in this or that country have been coming in a steady stream for over two decades, and the overall picture has long been clear — predator priests in substantial numbers sexually molesting boys and other victims, while the hierarchy covers up for them by moving them from place to place to avoid exposure, discouraging victims from speaking out, and trying to deal with the problem internally rather than by turning suspected abusers over to the police. It’s that practice of covering up the crimes, which is so widespread and so consistent across time and around the world that it must have long been a systematic policy, that marks the Catholic Church as an evil institution, rather than just an institution that happens to have a lot of evil people working in it.

Over the last month or so a dam seems to have burst, in terms both of public perception of the problem and of the authorities’ willingness to take serious action about it. In the US the trigger was the Pennsylvania grand jury report, which revealed about 300 predator priests and 1,000 victims within just that one state — with the understanding that even so, many further cases doubtless remain unknown. In several other states, Attorneys General are considering investigations of their own. There have been rumors of a possible federal RICO investigation.

Wake-up calls are sounding across the world.

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From Green Eagle:

The endless string of abominations by the Trump administration is so great that this one is essentially going unnoticed, but it is so grotesquely cynical that I cannot resist bringing it to your attention. From the Los Angeles Times, which does as good a job as any mainstream news source I know of in reporting on Latin America:

“A robust anti-corruption agency, seen as a model for Latin America, was created 12 years ago in Guatemala with strong U.S. support, and notched up an enviable record.

The International Commission Against Impunity in Guatemala has prosecuted and jailed a former president, vice president and hundreds of corrupt police officials, politicians and businessmen.

But Guatemalan President Jimmy Morales announced on Aug. 31 that he was shutting the acclaimed commission, citing vague national security concerns. The panel was investigating Morales for possible campaign fraud.”

A President shutting down a corruption commission which just happened to be investigating him. Anyone want to take any bets on what the response of the Trump White House has been?

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From The Life and Times of Bruce Gerencser:

Does God hate people? Liberal and progressive Christians say, ABSOLUTELY NOT! GOD LOVES EVERYONE! Much like their Evangelical brethren, they appeal to the Bible (and personal feelings) to prove their beliefs. In their minds, the essence of God is his love for his creation. Personally, I like this flavor of Christianity. Loving self and others is a good thing. The problem with it and all other peculiar interpretations of the Bible that it is come to by ignoring what other verses say. The Bible is a hopelessly contradictory book, and it can be used to prove almost anything. Take Tim Conway, pastor of Grace Community Church in San Antonio, Texas. I was Tim’s pastor for a time in the 1990s. He is a diehard, fire-breathing Fundamentalist Calvinist. Tim reads the same the Bible as liberals and progressives do and concludes that God not only hates sin, he hates those who do it. I will let Tim share with you his view on the matter. The video is short, so I hope you will take the time to watch it.

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From Iron Knee at Political Irony:

You can’t make this kind of stuff up. Can FEMA look any more incompetent?

With Hurricane Florence causing historically massive flooding on the east coast FEMA decided it was a good time to introduce a “Presidential alert” system, which would allow Donald Trump to send an emergency message to your mobile phone, which you cannot block and would interrupt phone calls and other usage of your phone. They announced that this system would be tested this Thursday, but then suddenly decided to delay that until October. Just what we need, Trump popping up on your phone unannounced and unavoidable. Still to be determined is how long will it take Trump to abuse this system by using it to brag about his beautiful accomplishments and attack people he doesn’t like.

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