Now if you’ll excuse me, I seem to have gotten my penis stuck inside a cantaloupe.
- Jason Jones
If today’s Conservative movement stands for anything, it’s authoritarianism and aggressive, judgmental hyper-religiosity marketed as free-market individualism. Whether it’s determining what information you should have access to, making up American history, kowtowing to the Tea Party, or shilling for the gun industry, Republicans really stand for only one thing: political power. They know that when people begin to think critically they’re likely to begin questioning Conservative orthodoxy. When they an no longer control the thought processes of a large cross-section of the American Sheeple, they’ll be exposed for the power-hungry authoritarian zealots they truly are.
That said, I do appreciate S.E. Cupp’s ability to make up American history on the fly. That’s talent. Unfortunately, her smug arrogance is typical of how Conservatives debate their ideological adversaries. If the truth (and history) isn’t on your side…well, no worries, because you can always create your own.
Enjoy the rich, creamy goodness….
Au Bon Pain Blocks Wireless Access to LGBT And Abortion Websites
Manhattanites looking to read up on sexuality or reproductive issues online while eating at Au Bon Pain are out of luck thanks to the company’s WiFi restrictions.
The sandwich chain’s patrons attempting to access websites for LGBT rights advocacy groups, such as glaad.org, got an error message saying the site was blocked, DNAinfo reporters discovered. Error messages also popped up when trying to load sites pertaining to abortion — no matter the politics — or women’s issues.
Maureen Shaw, the founder of Sherights.com, learned Monday that users couldn’t access the blog, saying it was classified as “pornography.” She called on Au Bon Pain to remedy the issue via Twitter. Au Bon Pain responded, apologizing, “We’re not perfect, but will do our best to limit filtering as much as we can,” according to the chain’s Twitter. “We take this very seriously and want to remedy it best we can.”
But the Twitter battle raged on Tuesday. Au Bon Pain claimed the restrictions were an isolated incident and Sherights.com said it was more than that.
Depending on which side of the ideological fence you call home, you’re likely to see this as either an example of unreasonable corporate censorship or merely a company exercising good judgment on WiFi service they’re providing to their customers at no charge. Here’s the thing, though: IF a company provides WiFi service- free or not- does/should it have the ability/right to block sites that company management may find “objectionable?”
I’m not a legal or constitutional scholar, so I’m going to steer clear of that part of the argument. What I do know is that it pisses me off when someone decides they have the right to filter information I may want to access. How do you determine what’s “pornographic?” Are you going to use Justice Louis Brandeis’ argument- “I know it when I see it”- or some other arbitrary definition? And can you design a filter that allows a search for “breast cancer” by blocks “breast fetishes?” The state of the current art is that filters tend to be overly broad in their assumptions, blocking perfectly innocuous sites along with porn sites.
If you’re going to provide WiFi service for your customer, you’re going to have to accept that some of them may be searching for Romanian Dwarf Porn or something similar. If that’s going to be a problem for you, don’t provide WiFi. Censorship is not only unAmerican, it’s nonsensical.
Garrow: Anti-Obama ‘Coup Is Very Close,’ ‘It’s Time To Revolt’
In an interview last month, Jim Garrow once again called for an anti-Obama coup, saying, “A coup is very close and it should be.”
Garrow, a right-wing activist with a history of fraud who now claims to be a former intelligence operative who left to expose President Obama’s plan to nuke America and communicate with aliens, told Dave Hodges of “The Common Sense Show” that “it’s time to revolt” against the president through guerrilla warfare.
It fascinates me that crackpots who rail against President Obama’s alleged “high crimes and misdemeanors” never seem to be able to delineate exactly what crimes he’s guilty of. They talk about “usurping the Constitution” or some such, but the specifics are evidently to be left for another time. They throw around “impeachment” as if the solution to what ails America, but the truth is a fair bit different.
You don’t get to impeach a democratically-elected President because you don’t like him (and/or his race) and you’re still in the midst of a temper tantrum over losing the last election. IF you’re going to accuse him of violating the Constitution, lay out some specifics. What EXACTLY would you charge the President with, and what are you planning on using for evidence?
Or do you simply hate The Black Guy in the White House © Just. That. Much?
S.E. Cupp gets an income inequality lesson from Robert Reich
CNN host S.E. Cupp appeared to get more than she bargained for on Wednesday when she pushed back against former Labor Secretary Robert Reich’s contention that the minimum wage be raised.
“You would suggest that we force employers to raise wages, force union participation, raise taxes on the top job creators, and force employers to cut off hiring at 50 employees to avoid Obamacare mandates,” Cupp told Reich. “How is that a job recipe for job creation?”
“It’s not forcing,” Reich replied, leading Cupp to shoot back, “You want to raise the minimum wage, which would force [employers] to raise wages.”
“We’ve had a minimum wage in this country since 1935,” Reich responded. “Raising the minimum wage is good for the country. It puts more money in the pockets of people. Sixty-five percent of Americans want to raise the minimum wage. Most minimum-wage workers these days are not teenagers; they are breadwinners. If you help them, you are helping the economy overall. And a lot of employers will benefit from a higher minimum wage.”
Reich went on to argue that a minimum wage comparable to pay in 1968 after adjusting for inflation would be $10.40, and $15 an hour after adjusting for “productivity improvements.”
“Still forcing employers to raise wages,” Cupp said. But instead of taking on Reich’s points, she pitched to former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty (R), who suggested that employers’ advice should be prioritized over that of economists.
It’s been said many a time that while you’re entitled to your own opinions, you’re not entitled to your own facts. That’s why they’re called “facts;” they’re not subject to the push and pull of ideology and ignorance, two things which succinctly describes S.E. Cupp’s thought processes.
As a Fox News Channel and then CNN pundit, Cupp pushes her unabashedly Conservative/Libertarian views with vigor…though the facts sometimes can’t keep up. As she did in this debate, Cupp can be prone to making up a reliably Conservative argument…and then inventing her own facts to support it. To his credit, Robert Reich called her out, using facts (you know; real, honest-to-God true statistics and historical realities) to make Cupp look like the tiresome, ill-informed ideologue she is.
When will Conservatives learn that attempting to debate academics like Robert Reich or Paul Krugman when you don’t have the facts on your side is a virtual guarantee that you’ll crash and burn?
Gun Industry Already Looking Forward To 2016 Election Paranoia For Even Bigger Profit
The gun industry has had a great two years of record sales, based on FBI data on background checks. According to former National Rifle Association lawyer and Independent Firearm Owners Association head and Richard Feldman, many manufacturers and retailers secretly hope for a repeat performance in the next presidential cycle.
On Thursday, Businessweek’s Paul Barrett declared it the “the year of the woman,” at the 2014 Shooting Hunting Outdoor Trade show, as the industry turns its attention on marketing to women. Reporting from the annual gun show, Feldman told Barrett that gun retailers look forward to reaping profits from “fear-buying” ahead of the 2016 presidential election:
The mood is upbeat, but the crazed buying frenzy of last year is over. Demand for ammunition is still unbelievably strong, but the gun makers know it’s time to market and sell product, not simply write orders that can’t possibly be filled. The next ramp-up in sales may not occur until the 2016 presidential campaign gets going in earnest. The more likely a Hillary Clinton victory looks, the more advance ‘fear buying’ will recur. While most may vote Republican, manufacturers and retailers secretly hope for a repeat of the ‘Obama surge’ that has boosted sales since 2009.
It’s not about “self-defense,” “personal protection,” or even “more guns equals more security.” No, the only thing being “protected” or “defended” is the gun industry’s not insubstantial profit margin. The NRA exists primarily to ensure that the legal and legislative environment is sufficient clear so gun manufacturers can continue raking in the bucks. And business is good. Very good.
And what better what to pump up those profit margins than by sowing fear and paranoia? Few things create “fear buying” more than the invented threat- “Liberal gun grabbers” are coming for your guns!!! Conspiracy theories and fear mongering aren’t just ways to “protect” the rights of gun owners, they’re also fabulous marketing tools.
War On Women Party to roll out exciting new 2014 rapey candidate model
From the wonderful party that tried to give us “We Forcefully Transvaginal Wand You Because We Care” and the state that almost gave us sodomy-hater Ken Cuccinelli, please give a warm welcome to Virginia state Sen. Richard H. “Dick, Obviously” Black who will be playing the role of Todd Akin this coming election season. Since he is the frontrunner to be the GOP candidate to replace retiring GOP Rep. Frank Wolf in Virginia, let’s take a gander at his CV.
Dick (we’ll use the more familiar ‘Dick’ for reasons that will soon become apparent) thinks about rape a lot. I mean, whole bunches, like 24/7/365. It’s all just rape rape rape rape rape rape rape rape all the live long day , and not in the “we must do everything possible under the sun to change the rape culture and eradicate this unacceptable wave of violence against women.” He’s more in the “Eh, whaddaya gonna do, right? Women, pfff…” Men’s Rights camp. Let us count the ways:
Exhibit A: As a state legislator, Black opposed making spousal rape a crime, citing the impossibility of convicting a husband accused of raping his wife “when they’re living together, sleeping in the same bed, she’s in a nightie, and so forth.”
No matter how much Republicans try to make themselves over, attend seminars on how to communicate with women, minorities, etc., or change the packaging they’re still Republicans and as clueless, misogynistic, and insensitive as the day is long.
They’ll try to tell you that Todd Akin was an outlier, that Ken Cuccinelli isn’t representative of the GOP mainstream. If you’re prepared to buy that, I have a bridge in Arizona I think you’ll LOVE. The truth is that Republicans are the party of, by, and for wealthy Conservative White Christian males. Always has been. Always will be. Why a woman would self-identify as a Republican- and, even worse, vote for them- is something that defies rational understanding. She’s either not paying attention, or she’s willingly participating in her own subjugation out of a lack of self-esteem.
THIS is your Republican Party, America. The sooner you recognize and admit that, the sooner you can move back to the reality-based world.
Of course, if you like living in a place where the voices tell you what you want to hear and confirm your fears and prejudices….
