Right Wing World: The Downfall of Milo Yiannopoulos

I know the whole world knows that twerpy alt-right troll, Milo Yiannopoulous has suffered a career setback or three. But since I last wrote about him on Saturday, I just had to comment on how far little Milo has fallen. As I said in the previous post, there is little redeeming value in Milo's oeuvre. He's a self-admitted troll. He played Ann Coulter's game, a game even she has at times come close to setting onfire. And he really got burned.

He went from the start of a book tour, on the heels of a career-boosting liberal protest/riot at Berkeley, to headline the most recent episode of Real Time with Bill Maher. He succeeded in getting liberals pissed at Maher, just for the appearance. He got a distinguished former spy Malcom Nance to tell him to fuck off! And Milo lives for that kind of thing. And since then, he's:

To borrow a question from BoyCulture.com,
"Why the long face, Milo?"

- Had a lucrative book deal cancelled
- Been announced as keynote speaker of 2017 CPAC and then immediately have the offer withdrawn; and
- Resigned/been fired from Breitbart.com, both his claim-to-fame, and his Visa qualifying job

Conceivably, Milo could get a new publisher, could turn his misfortune into tour fodder, get a new job, and possibly get to stay in the country. Britain probably doesn't really want him back. But it is doubtful that he'll ever be on top of the heap as he surely felt he was. See, he has always been awful. And his awfulness has never been a secret, not even the thing--seemingly endorsing sex between men and boys--that brought him down. It's just that he became instantly more famous, the trashier parts of his escapades were more publicized, and it was conservatives leading the charge. The very ones he was catering to, and those who made him a "star."

Milo, ultimately, is irrelevant to anything that matters much in the world. He's an unfortunate symptom of how politics works right now. He's further evidence that conservatives will elevate anyone to star status in their charisma-starved ranks. And he would seemingly show that there are certain lines you can't cross, even in today's Right Wing World. But not so fast.

Remember the Duggar family? In this era of a reality TV "celebrity" somehow becoming president, even those who decry the genre have a thing for a particular kind of reality show. 19 Kids and Counting was right up there with Duck Dynasty in conservative "culture," such as it is. The "wholesome" Duggars had an absurd number of of kids, and a fuzzily odd religion, but conservatives loved 'em.  And then older son Josh really got any particular treatment for his disturbing issue.

Image from source, Washington Post

was found to have been a repeated sex offender, who preyed upon a couple of his sisters (among others). Worse, Mom and Dad not only didn't turn him in, he never

The public outcry eventually got the show canned. But the conservative wave of support was loud, public, and very disturbing. Clearly, even child sex abuse and incest can be glossed over if you swear that Jesus has cleansed your soul. Or something. So, don't be so quick to congratulate right wingers for any kind of moral aptness.

It was always a matter of time with Milo. No way an effeminate gay man gets to stay a right wing star after a while. His time ran out.

One more thing: I've said it before, and I'll say it again, conservatives, find better heroes!

[Excerpt]

Milo learns the First Amendment isn’t a get-out-of-jail-free card for foolishness

Speech is free, but not consequence-free. Milo Yiannopoulos managed to skirt this reality for years, but eventually it comes for us all. A quick recap for those who have not been following this sordid tale: MILO, as he’s best known (all-caps his own), is an Internet personality and now-former Breitbart News senior editor best known for his glibly offensive remarks about minority groups, his hatred of “political correctness” and his support of Donald Trump. . .

Read more at: Washington Post

Right Wing World: Presidential Politics Off The Rails

If this were my first or second year of blogging, I'd probably be typing my fingers into stumps, trying to keep up with the utter insanity overtaking Republican politics right now. But it isn't. I'm actually in my ninth year, and no longer feel compelled to hit this stuff quite so hard. I'm actually kind of glad I don't. It's making me crazy enough as it is.

Listen, I am aware that a lot of what's going on in the world is scary, confusing, complicated and difficult to process. It's just as hard as a hobbyist blogger (i.e., no more professional training than your average talk radio boob or FOX "News"-babe) to figure out what to write. The president spoke from the Oval Office last night, ordinarily something I'd write about. But I listened to the conservative response, which was uniformly negative, naturally, and just threw up my hands. Because, surely the president knows nothing and we really should be following what Joe Scarborough or Sean Hannity thinks we should do, right?

Image from source, Washington Post

Trouble is, the people auditioning for the actual president's job are quite arguably worse than the idiots in the conservative media. Any pretense at looking "presidential" is out the window. Any caution for how their words are perceived internationally is ignored. Even reality itself seems rather malleable in Right Wing World. You've got Trump ready to ignore Muslim Americans' civil rights, you've got Ted Cruz talking about nuking and "carpet bombing" (a war crime) swaths of the Middle East. Conservative standard-bearers--allegedly strict constitutional constructionists--want to throw out religious freedom (unless it's made-up Christian "persecution"). Everything has gone topsy-turvy. And it just keeps getting worse.

I get really bummed when I read internet polls or comments sections, and see these "conservatives" on board with this shit! This is allegedly the cautious party, the party afraid of change, the ones about "rule of law" and "personal responsibility" saying and doing whatever it is that their frothing-at-the-mouth, batshit crazy base will eat with a spoon. Regardless of whether or not it's the most anti-American, potentially unconstitutional, often internationally illegal and quite literally illogical claptrap ever spewed in politics.

Maybe I need to come back to this thing more often.

[Excerpt]

Donald Trump is a disaster for Republicans. And they can’t do a thing about it.

Donald Trump seemed to signal a new -- and even darker -- phase of his front-running campaign for the Republican presidential nomination Monday when he released a statement insisting that Muslims should be banned from entering the country under any circumstances "until our country's representatives can figure out what is going on. . ."

Read more at: Washington Post

Right Wing World: Ben Carson Caught an Unspinnable Lie, Now What?

Ben Carson has told a series of whoppers that had little effect on his sudden rise past longtime, improbable juggernaut Donald Trump. But just as Trump could seemingly say or do nothing to dent his support, Carson shrugged most of them off, in that borderline narcoleptic way he's got. The base didn't care. But this latest one? They care. I checked.

Some choice quotes from FreeRepublic.com, Right Wing World's bell weather.

 

"This is the end for Carson. Where will his white guilt GOP supporters go?"

 

"This ones bad for Carson... We have 'rights' to our own opinions, but NOT to 'our own' facts."

"This will be his undoing."

 

Image from source, Poltico

"You lie, you wither and die. Bye bye Ben."

Before you give them too much credit, realize that it's not the fact that he lied, so much. He's done that before. It's that he lied about a core section of his biography. And there wasn't a nifty way to spin it.

Now, the question is, who will reap the spoils? Back to Trump, or onto the next hot thing?

[Excerpt]
 
Ben Carson admits fabricating West Point scholarship
 
Ben Carson’s campaign on Friday admitted, in a response to an inquiry from POLITICO, that a central point in his inspirational personal story was fabricated: his application and acceptance into the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. . .

Read more at: Politico

Right Wing World Duggared: A Picture Speaks a Thousand (Yucky) Words

Something tells me there are a whole lot of conservatives purging their various social media, blog and website archives for anything  to do with a Duggar. But the internet is forever, and these photos will always exist.
 

 

And yes, I'm doing my part to make "Duggared" a verb. A really awful verb.

Right Wing World: Politicians Pander to Fearful GOP Fringe in Texas

I hesitated when writing "Fringe" in the headline. Because, clearly, the fringe has been wholly assimilated into the Republican mainstream these days. What would you have to believe to be considered a fringe right-winger these days? I mean, when you've got a batshit crazy conspiracy theory being given promotion and credence by elected officials and presidential candidates? You've gone around the bend, and I don't think you're coming back. So, please spare me the "both sides are the same." They really aren't. Find me a left-wing Louie Gohmert. You can't do it.

[Excerpt]

Conservatives Keep Pouring Fuel On The Texas Takeover Fire

The Pentagon has no plans to stage a military takeover of the Lone Star state. There are no tunnels covertly being constructed under West Texas' shuttered Wal-Mart stores.
So why are the fringes of the Internet still abuzz with rumors that the U.S. military is on the cusp of imposing martial law in "hostile" Texas under the guise of a training exercise dubbed "Jade Helm 15"? Representatives of the military and Utah Gov. Gary Herbert (R), whose state is expected to host part of the planned training exercise, have sought to tamp down speculation that "Jade Helm 15" is anything other than a standard training exercise. . .

Read more at: Talking Points Memo

Right Wing World On an Anti-Gay Legislating Blitz (And Why it's B.S.)

Let's get this out of the way right at the beginning: The argument that salespeople, shopkeepers, cashiers, clerks, bakers, photographers, caterers, florists, dress sellers, tuxedo renters and the like should have the "religious freedom" to refuse service to a class of people in order to protect their right to "sincerely held beliefs" is bullshit. Straight up bullshit. We've been down this legal path before, with religious justifications behind attempts to wiggle out of civil rights era legislation. It didn't work then, it shouldn't work now. The similarities are unmistakable, and unsurprisingly, those behind these arguments are doing their best to point out why that kind of discrimination was wrong, but this kind of discrimination is legitimate and necessary.

But think about that for a second. Proclaiming your religion and beliefs in cherished, sacrosanct terms, and then using them to justify discriminating against a group of people. What a thing to hang your religion on.

Now that marriage equality is poised to become a 50-state-wide reality (assuming the Supreme Court rules in that direction), religious conservatives have been in a full-blown, desperate panic over how to limit or stall it. Two major legal strategies are spreading like wildfire. One of those is to initiate legislation that effectively ignores or attempts to trump the Supreme Court, but refusing to--and in some cases punishing other legislators and judges who--follow the law. This tack is virtually assured to fail, and serves only to cast  major doubt on these legislators' grasp of the Constitution, and on any claims they may have of "fiscal conservatism." Quite simply, they're going to lose, and they're going to cost their states lots of money in legal fees.

The other tack is to create legal exemptions and loopholes for religious people. This tells the religious person: you don't have to follow Law X because it is against your religion. And this is where writing about this subject starts to get difficult. This is where it hits a tangent prism that confounds me as a writer, as to which direction of wrong to tackle first, and how to tie it all into a bow. So, I'm going to try a bullet-pointed list of problems with why this sort of legal strategy is fraught with problems. This is by no means a comprehensive list, either.

• Religious beliefs need no evidence or justification. They don't even need scriptural citation. For example, there is no implicit Biblical commandment for being against abortion or against selling products or services to gay people. A person could claim a "sincerely held belief" to almost anything. In Hobby Lobby, the beliefs in question didn't even need to match scientific fact that contradicted the beliefs, all that mattered was the belief.
• Though so far, the topic has pretty much been limited to the wedding industry, and the subject of marriage itself, what legal reasoning could restrict these exemptions (or this complaint) to marriage? Why would it only apply to weddings? It isn't hard to conceive that granting special exemptions to this industry and subject would be a foot in the door for exemptions for all sorts of other things. And while this may sound like a slippery slope logical fallacy, I have seen no argument that would restrict these laws in any way to this specific subject.
• Christianity is not the only religion whose beliefs would need to be respected if such a set of laws were passed. It would apply to all religions, presumably major established ones, as well as cults, and brand new, just-born religions. Given that no evidence or scripture is even needed to claim religious belief, an enterprising individual could invent his own religion on the spot, in an attempt to skirt the law.
• Gay marriage, homosexuality and the wedding industry are by no means the only category of law that could be claimed in conflict with "sincerely held belief." The fact that this category is claiming most of the attention in the news right now shows the transparent nature of the push: though they'll go to great pains to avoid mentioning gay people or same-sex marriage in legislation, it's that purposeful avoidance of naked animus that will make these exemptions so vague as to have trucks driven through them.
• The obvious cause of this new flurry of legislation is religious opposition to same-sex marriage. But these are civil marriages, legal contracts. Not "holy matrimony." These are not marriages in the name of the religions objector's church, or in the name of the objector's God. They are, legally, no more religious in nature than a business contract or a building permit, unless the participants attach their religious beliefs to it. The religion of the formal occasion professional, or the government clerk servicing the civil contract are utterly irrelevant.
• Selling goods or services to a wedding party have not--prior to the advent of same-sex marriage--been seen as endorsement of, or participation in the event the goods or services were used for. If they had been, we'd have already seen "sin checklists" that quiz brides and grooms about infidelity, religious compatibility, prior divorces, and countless other attempts to root out sin. Such a thing would have been seen as outrageous and preposterous in the industry, until now. Which should be telling.
• There is an inherent irony involved in a religious push that simultaneously attempts to shield one group of people from violating their "sincerely held beliefs," while barring other people from following their own. These laws would ignore the customer's beliefs, by trumping them with the business person's (or civil clerk's) beliefs. It forces the customer to follow the seller's religion, or to be refused service. That the people behind such laws are very likely the same people who would be most paranoid about "Sharia Law" ought to be another red flag.
• All of this legislation effectively ignores religions that are in favor of same-sex marriage, and/or gay people in general. These religions do exist, and are growing in number.

 

Anti-gay Texas legislator and cartoon

character, Cecil Bell.

There is so much more that is wrong about what's going on here, that I could double or triple the length of this article. I'll continue to try to get more succinct in future attempts, believe me. Unfortunately, the "truthiness" behind this kind of legislation is succinct. It's simple, to be more precise, and strikes a chord. Or a cord, actually, a safety cord on a parachute that gets anti-gay religious conservatives safely around having to acknowledge that gay people are attaining civil equality in any area. People who have a knee-jerk desire to stamp out these kind of gains very often--nearly always--are blind to the unintended consequences of their proposed legislation. They simply want to stop it, or barring that, delay it as long as possible. But the reality is, this isn't just a Pandora's Box they're opening, it's a series of them. A series of nesting Pandora's Boxes. And it makes their opposition to Sharia Law untenable. A better writer than me should focus on that last part. Maybe then, we could show them why this path would be a huge mistake, not just for gay people, but for those with "sincerely held beliefs."

Here are a few stories going on right now, regarding attempts by religious conservatives to legally discriminate against gay people:

Texas: Anti-Gay Marriage Bill Scrutinized in Committee
Indiana: Tech leaders to Pence: Veto 'religious freedom' bill
California: California Seeks to Head Off Initiative to Execute Gays


 

Right Wing World: Climate Change Still Happening, Deniers Still Denying

Of all of the strange things I've blogged about over the years, probably the most frequent one is the bizarre fact that virtually every issue has become a left vs. right shouting match, even those things that don't have a logical, political divide. Climate change may be becoming an even bigger one than abortion or gay rights.

Let me start with what is strangest about it to me: conservatives should probably be on the conservation side of this one, but aren't. Given their heavy saturation with religion, you'd think that wantonly raping and pillaging the earth to wring every drop of fossil fuel out of it might bother them. You'd think potentially ruining the beauty of vast regions and making parts of the planet  inhospitable for "God's creation" would also spur a twinge of guilt. And you'd think the regimentation and repeatable nature of science would align with that rigid, upright (tight assed) reputation that conservatives always use to have. Nope.

Yeah, let's just ignore the scientists.
That never goes wrong.

Long ago, anything to do with nature, science, conservation, regulation, safety, caution, concern for future consequences (in anything beyond the national debt, or a nuclear Iran) all became dirty hippie, granola munching, kale and arugula eating liberal stuff. Somehow, a scientific consensus (and that is what there is among climatologists, a high 90-percentile on board with man-made global climate change) is just a liberal conspiracy, invented by Al Gore after he made the internet, just so he could put the screws to energy companies. Or something.

See, part of my problem is the motive. For a believable conspiracy, you need a motive, and "So Al Gore can feel important and get rich(er)" doesn't seem like enough to me. Sure, you'll hear some conservatives try to say there is a "climate change industry" that will allegedly get rich too, somehow, though I've seen no through-thread from climatologists to Solyndra. But even if a credible "truther" movement had gelled, HOW did it overtake the majority of conservatives' and Republicans' world view, from the layperson to high elected officials?

All of this ignores the fact that of course man can affect the ecology with pollution. We've seen acid rain, state-sized oil slicks and garbage patches, ozone holes, rivers and lakes and sometimes tap water that are combustible. We've seen earthquakes that coincide with fracking patterns. Smog in big cities to the point of severe health alerts. In China, the air is practically a solid. Go back to the early industrial revolution, there were blackened cities from coal. And hey, how 'bout Chernobyl? Clearly, it is possible for us to affect our immediate area, surrounding areas, down-river areas and beyond with the things we as humans do. Why the hell is it even remotely hard to believe that it could accumulate, grow, become something that is a global concern? Why? And how exactly is that left or right?

My guess is, conservatives think that if they're wrong, we will either
get a rapture or The Jetsons, so what's the problem?

The answer is kind of easy: huge monied interests, gigantic corporations with deep pockets would really rather not have a lot (or any) regulations. They'd rather not be forced to change at all until there is no fossil fuel left to exploit. Full speed ahead, dirtier and more dangerous methods of extraction, it doesn't matter as long as there is profit. So, anything that puts the brakes on hurts profits, any caution would anger shareholders. Corporations and their shareholders rarely plot out contingency plans beyond the next quarter(s). Their concern is profit, now. So forget that forging new, cleaner plans for energy could make them a bundle too. Forget even making plans to contain inevitable clean-up necessary for more difficult fossil fuel extraction. Profit, profit, profit.

So, they fund think tanks, they fund punditry, they fund their own "science," so they can latch onto anything that might throw a credible-sounding counter argument, so that they can continue raking it in. And if there's one thing the conservative media will grab onto it's giant corporations and their funding. "Job creators" shall not be questioned! So, it's not hard to see where the genesis of Right Wing World's climate change denialism comes from. It's just amazing how entrenched it is, when it's built on such an insubstantial foundation. But it's a fabulous case study on how to get a base of voters to vote against logic, reason and their own self-interest. And it also shows how easily you can get a group of people who have wedded their politics to their religion, to champion your cause as though it is their own.

But can we please not go totally Gomer Pyle, and claim that a snowstorm disproves "global warming?" Can we at least squelch the stupid? No, I guess not. [By the way, if you're wondering how the excerpted article below resulted in the Right Wing World column above, just follow the link and head to the comments there. WOW.]

[Excerpt]

The big melt: Antarctica's retreating ice may re-shape Earth
 
From the ground in this extreme northern part of Antarctica, spectacularly white and blinding ice seems to extend forever. What can't be seen is the battle raging underfoot to re-shape Earth. Water is eating away at the Antarctic ice, melting it where it hits the oceans. As the ice sheets slowly thaw, water pours into the sea - 130 billion tons of ice (118 billion metric tons) per year for the past decade, according to NASA satellite calculations. That's the weight of more than 356,000 Empire State Buildings, enough ice melt to fill more than 1.3 million Olympic swimming pools. And the melting is accelerating. . .

Read more at: AOL News

Jon Stewart Deconstructs The Right's (and FOX NEWS') Relentless Reality Distortion Campaign

With his announced imminent departure from Comedy Central's Daily Show, Jon Stewart has stepped up his willingness to go just a bit further in his willingness to call a liar a liar, sans euphemism. Having been called a liar by FOX "News," Stewart returned the favor, and then deconstructs the tactics of the right, in their relentless campaign--not for unbiased truth--but for a rightward leaning spin everywhere.

[Video is below the fold, because I couldn't turn off the "autoplay" feature. . .]

President Obama Vetoes the Keystone XL Pipeline

Image from source, AOL

Good.

Not only is this a project with no particularly obvious benefit to the US economy for its out-of-scale push from Right Wing World. Not only is it bizarre that conservatives (allegedly the careful, considerate, deliberate party) squelched environmental and scientific studies in order to full-steam-ahead this sucker. Not only could an environmental disaster with this pipeline cause utter devastation to the country. Not only would it produce a bare handful of permanent jobs. Not only have oil and energy politics changed drastically since the right started flogging this issue. It is also a bill that the President has already said he'd veto. An issue that the Democratic/progressive base has been convulsing over more than virtually any other. Politically, there is no downside for the President, who has proffered very, very few vetoes in his terms in office, and is not up for any future election.  Good.

Let Right Wing World blow a fuse. At this point, who cares?

[Excerpt]

Defying GOP, Obama vetoes Keystone XL pipeline bill
 
Defying the Republican-run Congress, President Barack Obama rejected a bill Tuesday to approve construction of the Keystone XL oil pipeline, wielding his veto power for only the third time in his presidency. Obama offered no indication of whether he'll eventually issue a permit for the pipeline, whose construction has become a flashpoint in the U.S. debate about environmental policy and climate change. Instead, Obama sought to reassert his authority to make the decision himself, rebuffing GOP lawmakers who will control both the House and Senate for the remainder of the president's term. . .

Read more at: AOL

Right Wing World: WTF is Wrong with White, Conservative America?

I've voiced my discomfort and displeasure for the level of discourse in political discussion over the last few weeks. There is a far more strident, far more knee-jerk, hair-trigger defensiveness and offensiveness. It isn't confined to the extreme right-wing--or maybe even entirely on the right--but it is pretty much confined to white people. The same folks who are extremely defensive about being accused of racism (indeed, if they are, they'll claim the accuser is playing "the race card") seem to be eager to be openly racially antagonistic.

Image from source, NewsCorpse

After a series of high profile cases of black men killed by police officers being turned loose without so much as a slap on the wrist, many people--not just black people--have been very upset about what seems to be a pattern. Various forms of protest have sprung up, to keep attention focused on the problem. Though several of these cases can be murky to wade through, and often the victim is not as pure as the driven snow, the fact remains: if a cop kills a minority, regardless of his offense (and sometimes the "offense" isn't even a crime), it is rare for him to even be indicted, let alone tried for a crime.

Somehow, this has become a partisan issue, largely right-against-left. It's even been conflated with the torture report, with exactly the same battle lines, mostly right wingers in favor of wide latitude for torture and police use of force, versus the left against torture, and for more stringent review of police methods. Ironically, the right is usually against strong government power, apparently making an exception when it is used against people the right doesn't like. But here's where it gets really weird.

White people pointing guns at law enforcement at the Bundy Ranch.
Image from DuaneGraham.WordPress.com

Two police officers were brutally shot to death in New York City this weekend. And instantly Right Wing World turned it into a political firestorm. The killer (dead himself from a self-inflicted gunshot) is apparently absolved of the crime. Instead, it is the fault of President Obama, Attorney General Eric Holder and Al Sharpton. I have no idea why. And it's frankly disgusting.

If this were merely some anonymous internet chatter, or in the hobbyist blogosphere, that would be one thing. But it's prominent voices on the right, media personalities, elected officials. What the hell is going on here? Why is the right so anxious to turn the deaths of fellow Americans into some bizarre counter-point to a protest movement? No serious figure on the left has advocated violence against the police, and if they have, they would be instantaneously denounced (seriously, if there have been any, I hereby denounce them this instant).

I know that Right Wing World has been racially on edge for a long time, and that for 6 years they've desperately wanted to use the N-word openly. I'm honestly very surprised it hasn't popped out on FOX "News" or talk radio by now. But this is nuts. And it overlooks a very, very important fact: Two Tea Party following, Bundy Ranch protestors left that protest, went to Las Vegas, and killed two cops. How many on the right blamed themselves and their own leaders for that? >crickets<

[Excerpt]

NAUSEATING: Fox News Absolves Cop Killer Of Responsibility For Murders
 
Conservatives have long portrayed themselves as the voices of personal responsibility. They insist that the traditional values encompassed by patriotism and faith demand that individuals be accountable for their actions. But when it comes to the brutal assassination of two New York police officers, Fox News exploits the tragedy to lay the blame on innocent people that they regard as political adversaries. . .

Read more at: NewsCorpse

Right Wing World: Outrage Over Houston Sermon Subpoenas

It's always something in Right Wing World, some outrage--usually outrageously overblown--to obsess about. It will usually erupt into the mainstream, first as a "what's got their knickers in a twist?-type story, then it either gets treated like a real story, or is tsk-tsked away as a nothingburger. I only wish the latter was how it always went.

This time, it has to do with a lawsuit--filed by the religious side--that has resulted in the subpoenas of church sermons. Why? Because discovery goes both ways in a lawsuit, and because tax exempt churches should not be overtly involved in politics. Simple, right?

No, it would apparently be the worst thing that has ever happened to freedom in America. Even though churches have pretty much been begging for this for years. And waiting

The Usual Suspects, from TowleRoad

for it, so they could do the present freak-out. And it doesn't hurt that the case is LGBT-related either.

Don't buy it. In fact, don't ever buy it without looking into what the current outrage is about.

[Excerpt]

RIGHT-WING FREAKS OUT OVER HOUSTON'S SUBPOENA OF PASTORS' ROLE IN CITY'S EQUAL RIGHTS ORDINANCE CASE

Back in August we reported that anti-gay activists in Houston had failed in their efforts to collect enough signatures for a ballot measure that would place Houston's LGBT-inclusive Equal Rights Ordinance (HERO) up for a public referendum. The activists (which included local pastors) proceeded to sue the city over the rejection of signatures and a court date was set for January 2015. . .

Read more at: TowleRoad (and yes, I chose a gay news site on purpose)

Right Wing World: "Republicans Are. . ."

The GOP's new "Republicans are. . ." campaign to cast Republicans as everyday people (in other words, not crazy nutbar teabaggers) has rightfully been met with a bit of snark and incredulity. Even better, it turns out they have resorted to using stock photos for their allegedly "real" Republicans. Which is hilarious. Have they learned nothing from the many errors made by the National Organization for Marriage, in their marketing?

[Excerpt]

The GOP’s New #IAmARepublican Campaign is Completely Backfiring on Them in Hilarious Ways

Stock photo lady might not actually be a Republican, though she
does appear to be white. Image from source, Crooks and Liars.

You know, we spend a lot of time ragging on Republicans, but a new ad produced by former Romney Strategist Vinny Minchillo wants us to consider that they are people, too — as opposed to satellite dishes or aardvarks. . .

Read more at: Crooks and Liars

Attorney General Eric Holder Resigns

I was going to write a piece about how Eric Holder may be more despised by Right Wing World than even Barack Obama. How he was a consequential AG, despite all that. But truthfully, Rachel Maddow did such a good job with this one, I'm going to let her do it.
 

Right Wing World: Obama's Salute is the Latest Faux Outrage

They just keep doing this, and then get all defensive when someone suspects, "this is because the president is a black guy." Seriously, this is the umpteenth version of these faux outrages. And by that, I don't mean that the outrage isn't real, it's that the outrage is stupid. Right Wing World was in a tizzy when President Obama had his feet on his desk. They went bonkers because he didn't wear a suit outrage to the right, and each outrage was--as far as I'm concerned--just a cover for calling the president "uppity."

The awful offense, from TPM.

jacket one time in the Oval Office, or didn't wear a tie. Or wore a tan suit. Or didn't hold his own umbrella. Each of these things was an

The problem, of course, is that in each of these non-troversies, a Google image search can find countless examples of other presidents--often GOP presidents--doing the same thing.  And that's not even getting to the fact that civilians aren't supposed to salute. Chalk up that odd tradition to The Gipper.

[Excerpt]

The inevitable
counterpoint.

Conservative Media Freaks Out Over Obama's 'Latte Salute'

President Obama disembarked from Marine One on Tuesday and saluted two Marines with a paper cup in his hand. For conservative talking heads the salute, which was captured in a video that the White House posted to its Instagram account, was proof positive of Obama's disregard for the military, ignorance of protocol, and general disrespect for the uniform. . .

Read more at: Talking Points Memo

Right Wing World: Perspective on President Obama, Vacations and Presidentin'

I knew that President Obama was going to have a tough row to hoe as President, and said so back then. I knew that the opposition would be unrelenting and unapologetic. It frankly amazes me that the American public can have such short historical memory, and even ponder voting GOP in the fall. It makes no kind of sense.

This GOP House of Representatives and minority Senate has been the least effective, and most obstructive Congress in American History. Their leaders are John Boner Boehner and Mitch McConnell. . .the bronze bomber and the sleepy tortoise. McConnell failed in his efforts to make Obama a one-term President, but has been just as intractable in doing anything whatsoever that might be something Obama wants to do--even if it was originally a Republican idea. In short, voting Republican because you're unhappy with the state of things MAKES NO SENSE.

Image from source, NewsCorpse

But look no further than the current Right Wing World freakouts about Obama golfing or Obama going on vacation to see the cognitive dissonance at work. It's only one of many examples where every president does something, Obama does it less, but Obama is the devil. It. Makes. No. Sense.

[Excerpt]

STFU About Obama’s Vacations Already And Remember Where Obama Was May 1, 2011
 
The incessant and ignorant fixation on when, where, and how often President Obama takes vacations is becoming surreal in its frequency and fervor. The President’s critics seem to be obsessed with the issue. Never mind that Obama has taken far fewer vacation days than his predecessors, or that there has never been any negative incident arising from his holidays, or that the presidency travels with the President wherever he goes, the compulsion to relentlessly attack this President is irresistible to the politicians and pundits on the right. And they are not above outright lying about it. . .

Read more at: NewsCorpse

Right Wing World: A New Party to Split from the GOP? Great Idea!!!

I thought that the Tea Party was supposed to be "better" and "more conservative" than the establishment Republican Party. But when the establishment cowtows to the Teas, and the Teas all run as Republicans, who can tell them apart? So, someone has gotten the bright idea to start a breakaway party. And, get this. . .with Sarah Palin as its figurehead. Yeah!

I couldn't have scripted it better. This would be so amazing. Do it! Do it now! Don't wait until after the midterms, strike while the iron is hot!

Image from FreakingNews

[Excerpt]

Conservative Activist Proposes Third Party With Sarah Palin As Its Leader
 
Steve Baldwin, a former California lawmaker and onetime executive director of the Council for National Policy, believes that Tea Party and Religious Right activists should form a third party to “do to the GOP what the GOP did to the Whig Party 150 years ago. . .”

Read more at: Right Wing Watch

Auto Con Bot 3000 (A Rocky Mountain Mike Ad Parody)

What can you do when that right-wing, FOX "News"-watching, Sarah Palin-worshipping, Rush Limbaugh-listening co-worker or relative isn't around? Why, get the AutoConBot 3000, of course! Thanks, Rocky Mountain Mike!

Find more of Rocky Mountain Mike's fantastic parodies here.
 

Right Wing World: "Obama's Katrina"

 

[Hey, look, it's a Right Wing World trilogy! Moving on to other subjects after this, promise.]

It's interesting, with all of the disastrous things that happened during the George W. Bush administration, that it's Hurricane Katrina that gets called out the most. I guess it did sort of put a button on it, in a way. At the time, there was a lot of poo-pooing of liberal complaints about Katrina, of course. But it's almost universally acknowledged to have been a dark part of the Bush era. And ever since President Obama was inaugurated, Right Wing World has been trying to affix "Obama's Katrina" to virtually everything.

Remember when they used to stage photo ops for everything? This
image was intentionally presented as one, but came to be remembered
for the detachment of Bush during Katrina.

What kinds of things? Well, a) Healthcare.gov, b) Hurricane Sandy, c) BP Oil Spill, d) H1N1 flu vaccine shortage, e) Ft. Hood shootings, f) Haiti earthquake, g) Christmas Day Underwear Bomber, h) Chicago housing policies, i) the financial crisis that Bush left him, and--wait for it--j) Benghazi!!! And now, it's the children immigrant problem. All Katrinas. Apparently.

[Excerpt]

Media Consecrate Their Latest "Obama's Katrina": Unaccompanied Minors Edition

Right-wing and even mainstream media have eagerly pushed the suggestion that the recent increase in unaccompanied minors crossing the U.S.-Mexico border is "Obama's Katrina" -- an inane comparison that repeatedly surfaces inside the conservative media echo chamber. . .

Read more at: Media Matters

Right Wing World: Outrage at Costco!

I get outraged every time I go to Sam's Club, and walk through the book aisle. Okay, not outraged, more like irked. Sam's has a very large selection conservative and religious (Christian, naturally) books, when you consider that they really don't carry all that many books in the first place. It's a high percentage Occasionally, you might see Hillary Clinton peeking out from the shelves, but more likely, it's Bill O'Reilly, Sarah Palin, Glenn Beck, or any of an assortment of treacly, preachy books.

I shop at Sam's more than Costco, simply because it's much closer to my house. But I prefer Costco in almost every regard, except for its placement on the map, and the fact that they don't carry pepperoni (essential on the Atkins diet, for me anyway). Costco's Kirkland brand is head and shoulders above Sam's Choice. And while they might carry some of those right-wing books--as evidenced by the excerpted story below--they don't overwhelm in the same way.

So, I've got to say, if Right Wing World intends to boycott Costco, I say go for it. It might be easier for me to get into and out of the place on one of those Sundays where I schedule my errands out that way!

[Excerpt]

Costco Pulls Dinesh D’Souza’s D’Book From Shelves Over Poor Sales, Replaces With Wrath Of The Wingnuts
 
Where oh where will the wingnuts of the near future go for deals on grosses of “World’s Greatest Grandma” t-shirts and barrel-sized containers of Twizzlers? Certainly not Costco, which is the newest and shiniest focus of right-wing rage after the warehouse retailer made the decision to pull Dinesh D’Souza’s latest book from its shelves. Costco claims this was part of its ordinary monthly rotation of stock – the book was released on June 2 but did not meet a certain sales threshold, moving only 3600 copies in four weeks, so the company pulled it to make room for something else. Which is JUST WHAT THEY WOULD SAY. . .

Read more at: Wonkette

What Happens in Vegas: Climate Change Deniers Hold Conference

Here's something odd. On KXNT--the Rush Limbaugh/Sean Hannity station here in Las Vegas--I heard an ad for a conference taking place here. It sounded, at first, like a meeting of climate change scientists. But as the ad went on, it became clear that it was a gathering of climate change deniers. Makes sense, given the station I was listening to, even though it's more of a straight news channel in the early morning. Still, I thought, that's just weird. That they can gather enough scientists and "experts," to make up enough people for such an event.

I suspect that the bulk of the attendees are climate change deniers of the internet commando type, with the experts making up merely the panel of speakers. Finding out is difficult though. Because outside of the commercial I heard, I can't find much of anything on the conference except on arch-right-wing sites. What I did find is fairly thin on information. So, unless it's a rip-roaring success, don't expect to hear much about it outside of those sources, even after it's over.

Now, on a side note, I'd like to say that I don't understand climate change skeptics, and I don't understand how something rooted in science has become so overtly political. How can it be that if you're liberal, you believe the science, if you're conservative, you disbelieve it? I mean, I know that conservatives often disregard science in favor of ideology, but that doesn't mean I understand it. For one thing, I can't figure out what the motive would be, or how someone would accomplish lassoing virtually all climatologists (and related science professionals), and getting them all to agree to go along with a hoax.

One of the few bonuses of climate change is that Rush Limbaugh
lives in West Palm Beach, Florida. Image from  Big Think.

It smacks of the ridiculous notion of a "gay agenda," where 97% of gay people somehow agreed to make up a "lie" that being gay is not a choice. How? When? Who was the ringleader? How do they keep everyone in line? Maybe it helps that so many conservatives are fundamentalist Christians, who routinely go along without asking too many questions? I don't know. But beyond all that, I find it insane that people don't think that a couple hundred years of spewing pollution into the air and water couldn't possibly cause a problem. Anyone remember Lake Erie on fire? Have they seen the smog in china? Acid rain? And on and on. To dismiss that mankind could cause damage to the way the Earth operates is just short-sighted and bullheaded.

[Excerpt]

Climate change denial: skeptics gather in Las Vegas
 
As the Heartland Institute gets ready to organize a conference on climate change in Las Vegas from July 7 to 9 the focus once again has shifted to the fact whether the issue is a fact of a theory. Dubbed by many as “the biggest gathering of global warming skeptics in the world” all eyes are on the ninth International Conference on Climate Change. Moreover it has come in the background of the public opinion in America that strongly feels about the subject. . .

Read more at: Northern Voices Online