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Fu-Q

Posted by Shoogle on December 26, 2020
Posted in: Bullshit Detector, Cultural Wasteland, Idiots & Assholes (Politics). Tagged: , , , , , . Leave a comment

This was supposed to be posted months ago but the nitwittery of the subject matter made it hard to finish. Better late than never?

I probably shouldn’t be so astounded that something like QAnon became such a massive “movement.” It’s a pro-Trump religious cult after all, and we’ve all seen how Trumpers don’t exactly question what they’re told to believe. Its followers believe everything Q says as if they personally know the people behind it aren’t lying to their stupid faces. So it’s basically a massive online Trump rally in that regard. (I was going to call it “political LARPing for retards” but decided against it.)

QAnon’s absurd theories have many levels, circles, and loops. Some of the most eyeroll-worthy claims:

  • Furniture company Wayfair has been using their products to transport children in a sex-trafficking ring. That’s why so many of their closets have girl’s names. SO OBVIOUS!
  • COVID-19 was engineered by Democrats/Bill Gates/George Soros/etc. to purposely hurt Trump’s presidency. OF COURSE!
  • A shadowy cabal of Democrat and Hollywood pedophiles secretly runs the government as the “deep state”. OH YES!
  • Hillary Clinton was running a sex-trafficking ring out of a Pizza parlor basement. (Technically this came shortly before QAnon, but many of his followers were early believers in “Pizzagate” and it was quickly absorbed into the Q canon, so it may as well have come from Q.)
  • Robert Mueller and Trump were secretly working together against the “deep state” pedos and Mueller’s investigation was all for show. EVERYONE KNOWS THAT!
  • Trump uses hand signals in his press briefings to make the shape of the letter Q, as a signal to QAnon followers. CAN’T YOU SEEEEE IT?
  • JFK Jr. faked his plane-crash death and is living secretly as a Trump warrior. NATURALLY!
  • Trump’s choice of necktie color sends out secret signals to QAnon followers. Example: a yellow tie during a COVID-19 press conference indicates “all clear” (the virus is fake). WATCH THE SIGNS!!1!1

So…yeah. They’re not exactly living in the same universe as the rest of us. They live in a world where pedophiles and sex traffickers lurk around every corner, and they don’t give a shit if their antics interfere with legitimate organizations who are actually battling this stuff. Their fixation on child sex is more than a little disturbing, if you ask me. They really seem obsessed with it.

Anyway, here are the most obvious signs that QAnon is a massive, bullshitty hoax, a collective delusion that’s going to fuck with our country for years.

  • It was spawned on 4chan. 4chan is no more, but if you even halfway pay attention to internet culture, you know that if something originated on 4chan you should take it with a square-mile-sized grain of salt. 4chan was a playground for racists, incels, rape apologists, Nazis, and all the other dregs of humanity you can think of. They turned trolling into a sport, doing their best to make peoples’ lives miserable just to amuse themselves. QAnon is just a long-haul trolling campaign that has gotten wildly out of control.
  • Trump is touted as a mighty warrior in the battle against evil. Are you fucking kidding me? You really think Trump is capable of doing anything that doesn’t personally benefit himself? Have you been paying any attention to his behavior at all? The man is an emotionally unstable, morally bankrupt, mentally declining sociopath who takes no action unless he gets something out of it. This is common knowledge, folks. Trump is incapable of being the savior of anyone but himself. Q’s followers say this is all an act to throw everyone off the scent of his secret heroic fight, which shows the rest of us that these fuckwits are able to rationalize literally anything to confirm their delusion.
  • The targets. Just who is behind this evil sex-trafficking of children, you may ask? According to QAnon, it’s Hollywood elites and powerful Democrats. Specifically, Hillary Clinton. Oh, and the Jews (naturally). This is basically Trump’s 2016 campaign turned on its ear and severely perverted for maximum pearl-clutching. This means all those morons who are still fixated on Hillary’s emails can say “See? SEE?? I knew she was up to something!!”
  • Declaring all media as part of the evil scheme…except Fox News and OAN. Because these two mouthpieces of the Trump admin, each with long histories of spewing provable lies, are the ones which have the real answers. They’re so totally unbiased! Riiiight.
  • Failed “insider” predictions. Time after time Q has predicted things that never came to pass. Stuff like: Trump was launching a coup against the “deep state” and would open thousands of sealed indictments. There would be widespread civil disorder as a result. Then he’d declare martial law and order the military to take over. Yeah, how’s that going? The most famous failed prediction is probably when he said Hillary was going to be arrested in 2017. Whoops. These all had specific dates attached to them, and none of them happened. That’s why his more recent predictions have become more and more vague, leaving them up for interpretation and letting deranged imaginations run wild. Q followers actually don’t care if the predictions have completely failed, because they’re already used to waiting for the often-predicted End Times that never seem to come. It’s like a cult within a cult.
  • Spoon-feeding “secret truths” to the gullible. This goes for all conspiracy theories: everyone wants to be in on a secret. Everyone wants to feel like they have answers, even if they don’t have any questions. It’s addictive, I know. The problem is that followers of Q aren’t willing to apply even a tiny grain of critical thought to what they’re reading and sharing. Instead they willingly guzzle it down, because it helps them feel less shitty about supporting an un-American, un-Christian, sexual predator piece of shit like Trump.
  • When asked for proof of anything, the typical QAnon zombie goes glassy-eyed and repeats the phrase “Do your research!” As if that means or settles anything at all. For them, “research” is sitting on the toilet and looking at a bunch of shitty Q-related videos and memes.
  • QAnon beefs up follower counts and sells tons of merchandise. Many “influencers” (god, I hate that word) on social media are injecting QAnon material into their regular content to pull in more followers and cash in on those sweet, sweet ad clicks. Even the yoga and spiritual communities are getting infested with it. It’s pretty gross. And there are tons of online shops hawking Q crap to those with money to flush down the toilet. Which is actually kind of funny in a “holy shit these people are dumb” kinda way.

There are probably more, but this is about as much as I can stand to write about it. The whole thing is laughable but also terrifying, because it signals a dangerous turn for this country and its psyche. It’s bad enough that so many people voted to keep Trump for a second term, but a large group of them are also these QAnon dipshits. And now we have Q supporters in Congress. Fuuuuuuck.

Yes, supporting Trump makes you a shitty person

Posted by Shoogle on July 26, 2020
Posted in: Idiots & Assholes (Politics). Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

Don’t you just love generalizations? But in this case I think it’s justified. And just FYI I’ve been stewing about this for many months, so if I come across as angry or hateful, well…let’s just say Trump and his simpering fans bring out the worst in me. 😀

Over the past couple of years I’ve discovered that Trump is the perfect subject for gauging someone’s character. When I learn that someone supports Trump, it tells me everything I need to know about their politics and morals, and how deep (or shallow) their convictions are. It’s super convenient because for me there’s really no grey area. “Oh, you voted for him? And you still support him after all he’s done? OK, I see. No, you don’t have to justify your views to me. I already know everything about you.”

So how can this one fact about someone inform me of their entire character? Well, I tend to put them into certain groups, and each group has its own dumbass behavior that gives it away. Here are some of the most common ones. If you need examples of anything mentioned below, go do some Googling because there’s more than enough evidence out there. Or you could go read the comments on a Fox News story, but I really don’t recommend that. Your intelligence will be severely degraded for hours after.

Pro-death pro-lifers — Trumpers who call themselves “pro-life” don’t give a shit about babies after they’re born. (Actually, this is true of most anti-choice folks.) They don’t think women can be trusted do make their own decisions. They’re fine with breaking up families of brown people and throwing their kids into cages. They’re OK with letting hundreds of thousands of people die from COVID-19 because trusting science “infringes on their liberties.” Some Republican mayors and governors have even gone so far as to forbid any mandatory mask measures! Why? Because they think it’s God’s will that thousands of people die as the virus burns its way through our cities. The dead are basically sacrifices for the economy. Yeah, that’s suuuuuper pro-life of you.

Christian hypocrites — Trumpers who claim to be righteous, God-fearing Christians are actually the phoniest “Christians” — and some of the most morally bankrupt people — in America. They ignore his adultery, sexual harassment, pathological lying, racist shit-stirring, ethics violations, lawbreaking, and laughable pandering to them. They overlook these and many, many other things because they have a guy in power who’s trying to ban abortion (though he’s surely paid for many) and advance the nutty evangelical agenda. Because of this they’ve forfeited their right to criticize anyone else’s morals ever again, so they can shut the fuck up. An article in Washington Monthly puts it just right: “Trump takes kind old ladies who worry about the unborn and transforms them into hate-tweeters. He turns upright and model citizens into apologists for sexual assault, white nationalism, business fraud, self-dealing and foreign interference in our elections.”

Phony patriots — Many Trumpers love to squawk about the sacredness of our Constitution, even as he squats down and takes a gigantic shit all over the Constitution every single day he’s in office. They cheer his demonizing of the free press, they love his public personal attacks on anyone who calls him out on his bullshit, they’re fine with his hundreds of ethics violations and self-dealing, they had no problem with bribing Ukraine to help him win re-election, they’re silent about his using military force on peaceful protesters in D.C. so he could have a photo op…the list of his dictator-wannabe actions goes on and on. And they defend it 24/7 as if it’s totally normal.

These fuckers are un-American and have zero convictions, and the same goes for the cowardly elected GOP lawmakers who refuse to police his behavior. I watched hours and hours of craven, bile-spitting Republicans do and say literally anything to defend Trump’s corrupt and treasonous acts during his impeachment, all because they were either benefiting from it financially or they were afraid he might tweet something mean about them. Imagine if Obama did any of the things that Trump has gotten away with — he would have been lynched by conservatives and burned on the White House lawn within days.

Spineless rifle-strokers — Gun-toting Trumpers are some of the worst. These weirdos fetishize high-powered firearms in a way that’s truly disturbing, and they just love being seen in public waving their fully-loaded dick enlargers around. They screech endlessly about their right to own guns that nobody but the military should have, while thousands are killed each year by unhinged psychos spraying bullets into crowds and schools. Gun nuts don’t give a shit about dead kids — they just want to hold and caress that cold, heavy steel and fantasize about saving America from tyranny. Meanwhile, actual tyranny lands on our doorstep as Trump sends masked, armed goons in unmarked vans into Democrat-run cities to kidnap protesters off the streets. Where are you tough guys with your badass weapons now? This is your chance to fight back and be heroes at last! Aaaand they’re nowhere to be seen. Either they’re cowardly little posers like we always knew them to be, or they’re standing aside because Trump’s goons are mostly attacking lots and lots of black people. (Actually, they’re both.)

Anti-mask fuckwits — It would be a shame to ignore the coronavirus denialists, right? These troglodytes live in their own little world, where science is a lie and nothing in the news can be trusted unless it plops from the distended cornhole of Fox News, Breitbart, OAN, or any number of other batshit-crazy extremist conservative orifices.

To them, wearing a mask is “tyranny” and “conditioning.” Any measure taken to stop the spread of the virus is seen as an attack on America’s liberty, maybe even its very soul. They go to church, grocery stores, concerts, parties, and conventions while proudly proclaiming their independence of the evil influence of masks or social distancing. Many of them later become sick and die, and some publicly regret their actions and beg others not to be as mind-blowingly stupid and selfish as they were, but few of their fellow “patriots” ever listen. Oh well, maybe it’s just nature weeding out the dumber bits of our gene pool.

Conspiracy dipshits — What to say about these people? Well for starters, critical thinking isn’t part of their daily routine. They’re so desperate to make sense of the pandemic chaos, so determined to make their 2016 vote for Trump somehow not the biggest mistake of their lives, that they will believe anything they read on the internet that paints him in a good light. It doesn’t matter how outlandish or insane it is, they’ll greedily swallow it and then shit it out all over social media as “OMG The Actual TRUTH You Gotta SEE this OMG”. The Black Lives Matter movement is funded by wealthy Jews who want to control America? Sure. Obama is a secret Muslim who wants to ban Christianity? Of course! 5G wireless is the real cause of the pandemic? Yes! It’s all soooo obvious, you guys!!!1!

These nutjobs were bad enough before the election, but now we have this QAnon bullshit to wade through. It’s too moronic and convoluted to sum up easily because the rational brain wants to reject it outright, but in a nutshell QAnon (which Buzzfeed rightly calls a “collective delusion”) says Trump is single-handedly fighting the (nonexistent) Deep State in its efforts to take him down. They also think there’s a cabal of celebrities running a pedophile ring via a pizza parlor somewhere, and naturally Trump is fighting them too. But in secret! As if he has the brain capacity to even remember what he had for lunch yesterday. And they accept it without question, and it all comes from some anonymous douchebag who drops cryptic comments in a 4chan forum (which, ironically, has ties to child porn). The “movement” has gained international legs, which means America isn’t the only country plagued with a large number of internet lemmings.

Gay Republicans — And then we have a small but obnoxiously vocal number of Trumpers who fall outside of the “100% hetero with a clearly-defined gender” zone. These people are a shade browner than other MAGA turds because they’re voting for someone who actively oppresses them. Trump and his simpering enablers in D.C. (not to mention all those right-wing federal judges he’s installed) are doing everything they can to make sure gay folks can be discriminated against at every opportunity. A gay Trumper is a self-loathing twat who stubbornly clings to conservatism even when he realizes how damaging it is, and he causes severe harm to others when he somehow convinces them that conservatism is gay-friendly. I should know — I went through all that twattery in my early years, but luckily I snapped out of it and figured some things out.

The rest of the assholes

So…what about those who don’t fall into any of the above categories? Let’s say you’re not particularly religious, you’re ambivalent about the military, you don’t think about the abortion debate much, you have a vague knowledge of the Constitution but you leave the details to the scholars, etc. Well, all that doesn’t matter — supporting Trump still makes you a total shit of a person because by default you endorse all his other corruption, such as:

  • He’s distrustful of experts and hard science…not great for a pandemic
  • He used his “charitable foundation” to put money into his own pocket, for which he was fined $2 million to pay back 8 charities
  • He fawns over murderous dictators and tries to emulate their authoritarian actions
  • He gleefully courts racists and conspiracy nutjobs
  • He was fined $25 million for his scammy university which ripped off thousands of people
  • He pardons convicted criminals if they’re vocal supporters
  • He doesn’t read his daily security briefings, which is why he didn’t know about the Russian bounty thing (in fact he barely reads at all)
  • He told the public that injecting disinfectant might work against the coronavirus, and hundreds of idiots actually did it
  • He’s gone out of his way to fuck with the upcoming elections and accept help from any country willing to interfere
  • He’s using the presidency to funnel profits into his own businesses (emoluments what?)
  • He’s spent $137 million of your money on trips to his resorts for golf (per Trump Golf Count), plus he charges the Secret Service to stay there…at full price
  • He spouts complete nonsense about the coronavirus: it’ll just disappear, it’s only the flu, you can inject sunbeams to kill it, you can drink disinfectant to cure it, this or that drug totally treats it, masks are dumb, etc.
  • When someone shines a light on his wrongdoing, he fires them and replaces them with one of his ass-licking toadies
  • He’s using the DoJ to investigate and attack his enemies, and to hinder investigations into his own conduct and businesses
  • He tells dozens of lies a day, things that are easily fact-checked
  • He calls Mexicans rapists and killers, and wants them all deported, and yet he employs many illegal immigrants at his hotels and clubs (until the press made it public and he had to sack them)
  • He demonizes the free press, calling any unflattering news about him “fake news”, especially stuff that’s 100% accurate
  • He spends more time on Twitter than doing his actual job, sometimes posting 100+ tweets in a single day
  • He’s been getting rid of much-needed experts in many government agencies, replacing them with people with zero experience to basically neuter the agencies and let corruption thrive
  • He’s working hard to loosen regulations on corporations so they can pollute the country and fuck customers over more than ever
  • He made sure that millions of coronavirus stimulus money went to personal friends and businesses he has connections with
  • He does everything he can to stymie any sort of Congressional oversight of his doings
  • He crusades against mail-in voting with outright lies about “voter fraud” (WA is one of several states which has been doing it for years with no problems)
  • He forces his Secret Service to attend rallies during the pandemic, and many of them have gotten sick

And that’s just what I came up with off the top of my head. His evil fuckery is well-documented, and anyone who can look at it and still say he’s “a great guy who’s just trying to do what’s best for America” is, by association, a fuckery-enabling asshole with zero moral compass who enjoys watching the world burn.

Some might say this attitude is intolerant. “Typical libtard intolerance! Can’t handle different points of view.” Oh yeah…I’m intolerant as fuck. I’m intolerant of all the shit I listed above because rational, decent people don’t do those things, especially those in the highest office of the nation. I’m also pissed off for having to watch such morally-retarded people drag America further into the sewer.

“But I love Trump and I’m a good person!” you might say. “I donate thousands to charity! I rescue puppies! I volunteer daily at homeless shelters! I adopted 14 orphans! I saved a baby from a burning building! I fight to save the environment! I have three Purple Hearts! I invented Post-Its!” Well la-dee-fuckin-da. Who cares? You’re still shitty and God hates you. Keep rescuing those puppies, though. It’s not their fault America elected a goddamn adult baby.

Look… You’ve had almost 4 years to figure this guy out. If you’ve been paying attention to what he does, not just what he says, and you can honestly say you’re fine with it, that tells me all I need to know about what kind of person you are. If you’re on my social media and we’re not that close, I’ve already booted you. If you’re a friend, you surely know better than to bring this subject up to me. If you’re family and you still talk to me, I’ll still talk to you…but not about politics, never again. I’m done arguing and trying to reason with Trumpers and conservatives in general — I’ve done it for years and have nothing to show for it but damaged family relationships and countless hours wasted debating online. Nobody’s mind is ever changed, and I honestly have better things to do with my time. So I’m just going to try and survive this pandemic and focus on staying sane until that vile orange douchenozzle is no longer in office.

Mealy-Mouthed Moron Menaced by Meanies with Mics

Posted by Shoogle on April 7, 2020
Posted in: Idiots & Assholes (Politics). Tagged: , , , . Leave a comment

A friend of mine on Facebook recently lamented Trump’s childish hostility towards reporters who ask difficult questions (and many asking easy ones). I agree: Trump has been a massive dick to hardworking journalists who are giving us real news, not the half-assed tripe that spills from his drooling mouth.

Naturally, his Facebook post rubbed a MAGAt the wrong way. She spouted the usual right-wing excuses: the press is out to make Trump look bad, they’re trying to trip him up with “gotcha” questions, they ask him the same thing over and over, blah-blah-fucking-blah. It’s soooo tiresome and it shows a staggering willingness to gobble up whatever narrative their GOP overlords feed them. But what else is new in Trumpland, right?

I can’t stand to watch his “press briefings” on COVID-19. I just can’t ruin my day like that. But I’ve seen many clips of his outbursts, and what I see is reporters asking him direct, important questions that trigger him into a weird kind of attack mode. He interrupts, he stammers, he calls them names, insults them and their work…instead of just answering the questions. This is why reporters ask him the same question again and again: they never get a straight answer!

Someone from NBC News asked him, “What do you say to Americans, who are watching you right now, who are scared?” Instead of showing leadership and strength (as if!), he flipped his goddamn wig. “I say that you’re a terrible reporter! That’s what I say. I think it’s a very nasty question and I think it’s a very bad signal that you’re putting out to the American people.” So….was that question trying to trick him into taking “blame” for the virus? Or was it something every national leader gets asked in a time of crisis, when citizens need reassurance that their government is here to help? Gee, let me think…

Another reporter asked why America still lags behind countries like South Korea on testing per capita, and he snapped, “You should be saying congratulations instead of asking a really snarky question.” Congratulations? On what, the fact that our testing lags FAR behind these other countries? Oh that’s right, he takes responsibility for nothing. And rather than answer a difficult question, he stomps his little foot and pouts. Because he’s a fucking toddler.

The idea that those naughty reporters and the EEEvil Media are trying to make him look incompetent is a fairy tale cooked up by Fox News and OAN. He certainly doesn’t need them for that — he’s an old pro at it.

News from the American Hellscape: Conservative Assholes Raising a Stink

Posted by Shoogle on July 9, 2019
Posted in: Bullshit Detector, General Blatherings. Tagged: , , , , , . Leave a comment

Well this is something to brighten anyone’s day:  the Nazi twat who runs the Daily Stormer website will have to pay out the wazoo to answer for his stupid racist crimes.  What an unmitigated asshole.  I hope he goes broke and ends up on the soup line somewhere.  That is, if he ever comes out of hiding — apparently he’s cowering somewhere overseas, something these ultra-right provocateurs like to do when their bullshit catches up with them.  (How soon can we get Alex Jones to do the same?)

Judge Says Neo-Nazi Andrew Anglin Must Pay Muslim Comedian $4.1 Million

A federal judge awarded a Muslim-American radio host $4.1 million in monetary damages Wednesday after he successfully sued a neo-Nazi website operator who falsely accused him of terrorism.

SiriusXM Radio show host Dean Obeidallah filed the civil complaint against The Daily Stormer founder Andrew Anglin, who hasn’t responded to Obeidallah’s libel lawsuit. Anglin’s whereabouts are unclear.

Here we go: the religious conservative persecution complex is in full bloom with this one.  This is directly from today’s right-wing playbook: spout conspiracies and medical misinformation that has deadly consequences, and when someone calls you on your bullshit, throw a persecution tantrum and declare it all a plot to silence God’s chosen people (or whatever nonsense they can come up with).  This is far easier than, you know, proving your “facts”.  Hey Mr. “Health Ranger”, here’s an idea: why not leave Facebook and stick to that one social network that promotes “free speech no matter what”, the one all the neo-Nazi types love?  Or go start your own goddamn social network and take all your trolling, believe-anything followers with you.  It’ll be a gigantic feedback loop of crazy, religion-fueled bullshit — a pseudoscience circle-jerk, if you will.  But at least you won’t have pesky critical-thinking types holding you responsible for your moronic “news”.

Facebook Suspends Natural News, Founder Calls for President Trump to Use Military Against Tech Giants

Facebook has suspended Natural News from posting on the social media platform where it has amassed almost 3 million followers. Natural News, which pushes wild conspiracy theories and once published an injectable DIY homeopathic “vaccine” for Ebola, had already been banned from Twitter and YouTube. The site was also blacklisted by Google in 2017.

Founder Mike Adams, who calls himself the Health Ranger, called the Facebook suspension an “online ethnic cleansing” that’s being carried out by people who are hoping to “enslave humanity and create Hell on Earth.” Adams also called for military action against the social media companies.

When I saw the headline “Wasps invade Alabama”, I immediately wondered: “The insects?  Or the people?”  I also wonder if any of Alabama’s residents see this as a punishment of pestilence from God.  I mean, if God can punish California with earthquakes and fires for its embracing of [insert thing Christians hate here], is it so far-fetched to say he’s punishing Alabama for the way it treats many of its residents as subhuman?

Wasps invade Alabama

In this photograph, shared by entomologist Charles Ray, is the fate of an alarmingly high number of Alabama gutters, overhangs, soffits and corbels: “super nests” housing as many as 15000 wasps.

And then there’s this, because America is now run by a giant bloated toddler.  I’ll bet his drooling supporters are buying these in bulk just to feel superior in some small way.

Now Trump Is Selling Overpriced Straws To Thirsty Fans Just To Own The Libs

President Donald Trump’s campaign is offering an unusual new item for sale: commemorative plastic straws with the president’s name on them.  “Liberal paper straws don’t work,” claims a tweet promoting the straws.  The Team Trump account then asks supporters to “stand with President Trump” by using his special “laser-engraved” plastic straws at just $15 for a pack of 10 (plus shipping). Typically, 1,000 plastic straws retail for about $10, making the Trump straws 150 times more expensive.

Thoughts and prayers, y’all.  And let’s not forget that the N.R.A. has been funded by Russian oligarchs for a few years now (there’s documented proof of this, for you fake-newsers).  This is an organization as un-American and un-patriotic as it is rabid about its gun fetish.  The day the news breaks that the N.R.A. has disbanded in shame and bankruptcy is the day I’ll be dancing a fuckin’ jig out in the street, cocktail in each hand!

N.R.A. Shuts Down Production of NRATV, and Its No. 2 Official Resigns

The development is the latest in an already tumultuous year for the N.R.A. The gun group has struggled to right its finances; faced investigations in Congress and by the New York attorney general; and witnessed a leadership struggle that pitted Oliver North, until recently the N.R.A.’s president, against Mr. LaPierre.

This is old news, but what I jotted down at the time was:  What the fuck is wrong with Republicans today, when they turn tail and run away to prevent a vote on something they disagree with, rather than just voting against it?  Is this what America is now?  Are Republicans in other states going to pull the same stunt?  They are clearly trying to emulate Trump, who does whatever he wants no matter how unorthodox, unethical, or even illegal, and he faces zero repercussions because the GOP will defend him to the bitter end to maintain their power.  They obviously think it will work the same way for them, and they’re probably right.  Oregon should hold a quick election to replace these infantile GOP shitbags with people who actually take the office of Senator seriously.  Oh, and get a load of that quote from Boquist.  Wow, such a tough and super-manly attitude!  Such machoness!  Such a prick.

In a bid to avoid climate vote, Oregon Republican Senators cross state lines, go into hiding, threaten to murder cops, as white nationalist paramilitaries pledge armed support

Oregon’s legislature is about to vote on a piece of climate change cap-and-trade legislation that the Democratic majority are likely to win, so to avoid the vote, 12 Oregon state senators have gone into hiding, thus depriving the senate of the necessary quorum.

Meanwhile, the AWOL Republicans are widely believed to be hiding out of state — the Oregon state cops are coordinating with neighboring states’ law enforcement to locate them — and Republican State Senator Brian Boquist issued this communique from his undisclosed bunker: “Send bachelors and come heavily armed. I’m not going to be a political prisoner.”

News from the American Hellscape: Measles Mambo

Posted by Shoogle on June 1, 2019
Posted in: General Blatherings, Idiots & Assholes (Politics). Tagged: , , , , . Leave a comment

Once again Russia succeeds in tearing the country into two camps, when there really should be only one.  You know, the one where science wins over conspiratorial peepeecaca.  Critical thinking is basically dead in America since social media came along — we read shit on Twitter and instantly believe and spread it as fact, which is exactly how we ended up with a fascist orange twatwaffle as president.  And now we have the highest number of measles infections in decades.  Where does this end?

Russian trolls spurred anti-vaccine debate with misinformation on Twitter, says new study

“Compared with average users, Russian trolls, sophisticated bots, and ‘content polluters’ tweeted about vaccination at higher rates,” the study, led by professor David Broniatowski, reports in its findings. “Whereas content polluters posted more anti-vaccine content, Russian trolls amplified both sides.”

And looky here, who would have guessed?  I see they lumped blogs in with social media, which I don’t agree with.  You have to seek out and subscribe to blogs, but social media is in your face all the time with few controls on what you see, and it makes spreading misinformation easier and faster than anyone ever imagined (other than Putin, who seems to have perfected the craft).  Having said that, I have seen some blogs that eroded my brain a bit. 🙂

Twitter is eroding your intelligence: Study

Using Twitter reduced performance on the test by about 25 to 40 per cent of a standard deviation from the average result, as the paper explains.  Jeff Hancock, the founding director of the Stanford Social Media Lab, described these as “pretty big effects”.  …This finding, the paper notes, bolsters the conclusion that blogs and social networking sites actively impair performance, rather than simply failing to augment learning.

A spokesman for Twitter declined to comment on the study.

Oh, this splotch-faced douchenozzle again?  He’s been busy spreading his fetid, racist stank all over Europe, trying to recruit more Aryan mongoloids to fight in his war against brown people, or whatever it is.  Too bad he can’t be bothered to do the appropriate paperwork…

Italy blocks Bannon’s plans for right-wing political academy

Italy’s populist government is blocking plans by former White House adviser Steve Bannon to set up an academy for future populist leaders in a medieval monastery in the mountains outside of Rome.  On Friday, Italy’s government said it was revoking the rights to the property, which were given to the Dignitatis Humanae Institute, a think-tank affiliated with Bannon.  Among other problems, Italy’s culture ministry said the institute has not paid concession fees and failed to do maintenance work on the monastery.

This is epic.  If you’re looking for a bite-sized summary of Trump’s red flags and possible/likely crimes, this is it.

Ex-Ethics Chief Tweets Very Long List Of Bad Signs From Donald Trump’s Presidency

The former head of the U.S. Office of Government Ethics urged the American public on Friday to pay careful attention to everything that’s going on with President Donald Trump’s administration.

“Heed the signs and don’t underestimate the threat to our republic from within,” tweeted Walter Shaub, who served in the high-ranking role under former President Barack Obama and then for six months under Trump until his resignation in July 2017.

Here’s a snack-sized copy of the entire Tweet thread for your convenience:

Heed the signs and don’t underestimate the threat to our republic from within:

  • Trump obstructed justice
  • A McConnell-packed SCOTUS says precedent can be changed more easily than previously thought
  • AG Barr is an open partisan and slow-motion Saturday Night Massacre beneficiary
  • White House ignores congressional subpoenas, document requests
  • Mnuchin is violating a law on turning over taxes to House
  • Barr & Senate allies want to investigate officials who investigated Trump to retaliate against them and deter future efforts to hold him to the rule of law-State Dept is setting up a commission to supplant human rights with “natural law”
  • An Inspector General found standing room only in border detention cells, with detainees standing on toilets to breathe
  • children stolen from parents at the border are dying in internment camps-Trump cut resources for investigating domestic terrorists
  • FBI reports a recent significant rise in white supremacist domestic terrorism
  • evidence found of a white supremacist plot to add census Q to help gerrymander in ways “advantageous to Republicans and non-Hispanic whites”-Trump is still resisting setting up defenses against foreign election interference
  • Trump’s personal attorney solicited foreign govt investigation of current Trump political rival Biden
  • AG Barr said something in a weird interview about investigating former Trump rival Clinton
  • There’s cause for concern Trump/Kushner personal interests may be influencing middle east policy
  • Ignoring Congress, Trump declared fake emergency & abused authority to sell weapons to Saudi Arabia to continue its atrocities in Yemen, after it murdered a Washington Post reporter
  • Trump declared fake emergency to get more power to ramp up activity at border
  • ethics violations (and ethically dubious conduct not rising to a violation) occurring at an unprecedented rate among Trump appointees
  • senior admin official says she doesn’t care about an ethics law
  • if impeached, Trump says he’ll try to get SCOTUS to overturn the impeachment
  • McConnell, who blocked Merrick Garland ostensibly because it was an election year, shamelessly hinted this week that he’d be willing to fill a SCOTUS position for
  • Trump in an election year
  • Trump is praising autocrats, undermining allies
  • Tone of OLC’s recent opinions has changed under Assistant AG Steven Engel, who was tied to one of the torture memos
  • Military went to the border for Trump
  • Military hid a ship to placate Trump
  • Airborne seen wearing MAGA patches
  • Trump admin & Graham inexplicably advocating war in Iran/Venezuela
  • DOJ experimenting with new legal theory for prosecuting those who publish classified information (raising a question as to whether the theory will be limited to hostile foreign actors or expanded to journalists)
  • some public voices are normalizing Trump admin conduct
  • voicemail from Trump lawyer to Flynn shows a disturbing carrot/stick approach (or worse)
  • Trump has seemed to dangle pardons to buy silence or worse
  • Trump admin officials are violating records laws to conceal actions
  • Trump said “Russia, if you’re listening”
  • Trump said “fine people” marched with nazis
  • Trump has told over 10,000 false or misleading statements, per Washington Post
  • Trump helped cover up Khashoggi murder, and Kushner’s said to have offered advice to MBS on weathering the storm
  • a foreign prince is reported to have said he has Kushner in his pocket (but denies saying that)
  • Helsinki
  • Trump’s behavior is erratic and is marked by frequent lies, bizarre public outbursts, name-calling and confusion
  • no press conferences, and no transparency
  • Trump allies in congress are either lying about the Mueller report or haven’t read it
  • Trump allies in congress are trying to prevent Mueller & others from testifying because they know their base hasn’t read the report and right wing media has kept them from hearing about it

But no, that’s all just Mainstream Media™ lies….

News from the American Hellscape: The Whining Wall

Posted by Shoogle on May 26, 2019
Posted in: General Blatherings, Holy Shit! (Religion), Idiots & Assholes (Politics). Tagged: , , , , , . Leave a comment

Time for another round.

dumbest voters

This, folks, is a thing of beauty. Even today, after Trump’s many broken promises, there are gullible nitwits out there who still think someone’s going to build a wall to keep those dirty, violent brown people out, and they’re willing to donate millions to make it happen (even though Trump personally guaranteed them that the dirty, violent brown people were going to pay for it). So they donated to a crowdfunding campaign to build a wall on their own, and…nothing’s happening. $20 million just went *poof*. It’s hilarious! I hope this happens again and again and again, because they truly do not learn.

UPDATE 5/28/19: Well, what do you know? Today there’s news that they finally built a little bit of wall with this money over the weekend. Not Mexico’s money, but American money. Almost one mile was done, with only 1200+ miles to go, so pony up, MAGAts!

Trump supporters astonished to learn that the man they gave $20m to “build the wall” has nothing to show for it

In response, a fellow promised that he would raise the money for the wall through a crowdfunding campaign that the credulous dunces could send money to. He estimated that he could build it on private land for a mere $1b, because why not. They raised more than $20m, less than one thousandth of the DHS estimate of the cost of doing so, and, with less than 1% of the total cost in hand, the crowdfunder was shut down.

Now, the credulous dunces would like to know the what Brian Kolfage, the fellow who started the campaign, is doing with their millions. Mr Kolfage created a nonprofit to receive the money, but its records are sparse and mysterious. Mr Kolfage became very upset when the Daily Beast’s Will Sommer published an article pointing out that no evidence of progress has been made available, and Mr Sommer countered that he had repeatedly asked Mr Kolfage for a status update, to no avail.

This should send shivers down the spine of everyone, even these Christians who think they’re doing their god’s work. If they’re going to teach “Bible Literacy”, we need to throw in a class on Buddhism Literacy to balance it out. And Islam Literacy. And Hinduism Literacy. And Pagan Literacy. And whatever else we can come up with. Hey, why not Satanism Literacy? It’s related to Christianity, after all, so why not be thorough? This business of sneaking religion into public schools has backfired before — remember when the Satanic Church began distributing pamphlets in schools which were handing out pamphlets about Jesus? Yeah, they didn’t like that at all. But if you really believe the Constitution is a sacred document, you must consider all of it. You can’t just pick and choose what to accept, like you do with that Bible of yours.

Bible classes in public schools are getting a big push from Christian conservatives — and it’s working

Scenes of Bible classes in public school could become increasingly common across the United States if other states follow Kentucky’s lead in passing legislation that encourages high schools to teach the Bible. Activists on the religious right, through their legislative effort Project Blitz, drafted a law that encourages Bible classes in public schools and persuaded at least 10 state legislatures to introduce versions of it this year. Georgia and Arkansas recently passed bills that are awaiting their governors’ signatures.

It basically comes down to this: Trump has made it OK to ignore laws. It’s that simple. Church and state? Who cares! Conflicts of interest? Whatever, not me! The actual law says the IRS must provide tax returns? Nope, we refuse! These people are pissing all over the American rule of law, and so far nothing is stopping them because Trump has strategically installed corrupt garbage-people in positions where they can obstruct any attempt to hold him accountable. (Oh yeah, let’s not forget the House & Senate Republicans who will jump up and lick his arse at every opportunity.) Just imagine if Obama had tried even a tiny fraction of what the Orange Tumor has. Republicans would have burned him alive, and I mean that quite literally.

Well, well, well. I guess he’s just following in the scammy footsteps of his hero Papa Trump. Should we expect differently? When you worship a conman shitbag, you’ll likely become one. No mystery there.

He Founded ‘Students for Trump.’ Now He Could Face Jail Time for Impersonating a Lawyer.

“I see Donald Trump as reviving the Republican Party,” one of them, John Lambert, declared confidently. Last month, Lambert, now 23, showed up in the news again. This time, he had been arrested in Tennessee on charges of wire fraud. According to the federal government, at the same time he was building a nationwide political network and serving as one of the most visible young faces of Trump’s populist movement, Lambert was also posing online as a high-powered New York lawyer, eventually making off with tens of thousands of dollars in fees he stole from unwitting clients seeking legal services.

Oh pleasepleaseplease let this be true. I want to see the NRA collapse under the weight of its own gun-humping hubris. It looks like even all those millions of dollars funneled into the NRA by Russian operatives aren’t going to keep them afloat, which really says something about the level of corruption we’re talking about here. Finally we have a bit of good news after two years of suffering under the most corrupt administration in history. I’m still rooting for this administration to collapse in the same way, but it’s sure taking its sweet time…

Leaked NRA Documents Reveal Gun Group Drowning In Legal Fees
A week before former National Rifle Association President Oliver North said he would not seek reelection after a failed attempt to oust CEO Wayne LaPierre, he warned the group that extraordinary legal fees threaten the future of the NRA.
A series of documents posted anonymously online and verified by both The Daily Beast and The Wall Street Journal show the inner machinations of a group plagued by deep financial troubles to the tune of $24 million.

Betrayed by President Cheeto

Posted by Shoogle on April 1, 2017
Posted in: Idiots & Assholes (Politics). Tagged: , , . 2 Comments

tumblr_olsw3vW2hp1vmvo4vo1_1280

Extremities are to scale.

This probably makes me a bit of an asshole, but when I read about Trump supporters who are now feeling fucked over, I get the giggles.  This guy’s troubles really aren’t funny, of course, but I do feel more than a little bit of schadenfreude reading about the extraordinary lengths he went to in supporting the Orange One.

‘Trump Troubadour,’ who attended 45 Trump rallies to honor his late son, feels ‘betrayed’ because of health care

Beginning in January 2016, Kraig Moss traveled to 45 rallies, belting out songs in support of Donald Trump and telling the story of his late son, Rob, who died three years ago from a heroin overdose.

Wow.  A little extreme, but he really believed in Trump’s promise to “help young people”, whatever that means, and there’s nothing wrong with following your passion.

…He stopped making his mortgage payments and sold the equipment for his construction business to stay on the campaign trail, galvanized by Trump’s promise to help young people — like Moss’s late son — who struggle with drug addiction.

Holy shit.  This guy really had it bad for our future Puppet-in-Chief.  Most were content to just wear one of those stupid red hats and wave an American flag while shouting at brown people.

Trump made this promise to Moss personally at a rally in Iowa in January 2016. Speaking through a microphone to the crowd, he addressed Moss directly: “The biggest thing we can do in honor of your son … we have to be able to stop it.”

Wow, that’s awesome!  Trump really cares.  It’s not like he’s just saying this stuff to get votes.  I mean, that would make him a lying, pussy-grabbing sack of badly-coiffed shit, right?

But about two weeks ago, Moss caught his first glimpse of the Republican proposal to replace the Affordable Care Act. The proposed health care bill … would eliminate a requirement that Medicaid cover basic mental-health and addiction services in states that expanded it, a mandate that covered nearly 1.3 million people.  “This bill is just the absolute opposite,” Moss told The Washington Post. “I felt betrayed. I felt let down.”

Whoops.  Sold his business and lost his house, all in order to follow a third-rate Hitler cosplay enthusiast around the country singing songs about his greatness.  Now, like so many others, he’s finding out that he was being conned on an epic level.  Awww.

Moss said he initially supported many of Trump’s other promises as well, such as his pledge to build a border wall with Mexico. But lately he has been upset hearing the stories of families being separated by deportations.

Oh really?  What did you think would happen when you hand the highest office in the nation to a cheese-colored bag of jingoist raccoon farts?  Christ on a cracker!  Too bad about his son, but I have zero sympathy for people like this who blindly supported a widely-known con artist and big-business bullshitter.  The only good thing to come of his election so far is the vast amount of epithets invented to describe him as anything other than “President Trump.”

So to you disillusioned Trumpites, all I can say is:  boo-fuckin’-hoo.  Now you’re paying the price with the rest of us.  Enjoy!

Unnngnggghghhhhhhh

Posted by Shoogle on February 1, 2017
Posted in: General Blatherings. Tagged: , , . Leave a comment

Christ, what a week.  I had a post all ready to go, and then something else happened with Trump.  And then something else.  And then he did something even more stupid.  And, and, and…  It’s hard to keep up with this stuff while watching your country transform into a jingoist’s wet dream.  It brings out my apathy — it’s depressing enough just following the news, but why bother writing about anything when something even more awful is just gonna happen tomorrow?  But who cares, here’s what I had before the shit really hit the proverbial fan a few days ago.

————

Looks like Team Trump is already off to a great start!  First act as President:  tell your press secretary to tell a brazen, easily-verified LIE because the media reported something that your hurt widdle feewings.

When the media showed the world the tellingly dismal turnout for Trump’s inauguration compared to Obama’s in 2008, he was not happy.  Because, you know, when you’re a tin-pot dictator it’s more important to project a fictional image of yourself vs. deal with those pesky, provable facts.  And oh, does he hate it when anyone reports facts that embarrass him, even those with photographic proof.

The first days inside Trump’s White House: Fury, tumult and a reboot – The Washington Post

Trump has been resentful, even furious, at what he views as the media’s failure to reflect the magnitude of his achievements, and he feels demoralized that the public’s perception of his presidency so far does not necessarily align with his own sense of accomplishment.

So we basically have a child running the country, one prone to tantrums and foot-stomping when he doesn’t get his way.  Or, in this case, when someone tells a truth that doesn’t live up to the Successful Businessman Superhero fantasy image he’s created for himself.

What’s next?  Oh dear, now they’re all fighting for a spot at Trump’s teats.  Especially his son-in-law, whose appointment already reeks of nepotism.

Two people close to the transition also said a number of Trump’s most loyal campaign aides have been alarmed by Kushner’s efforts to elbow aside anyone he perceives as a possible threat to his role as Trump’s chief consigliere. At one point during the transition, Kushner had argued internally against giving Conway a White House role, these two people said.

Yes, folks, they’re proving to be the festering snakepit of sycophants we knew they were.  And speaking of snakes, you do not want to cross Kellyanne Conway.  Not only does she deflect important questions like Wonder Woman and her bracelets, but I suspect she can also unhinge her jaw and swallow her foes whole.  Best not to provoke that one.

Zdravstvuyte from Republic of Trumpistan!

Posted by Shoogle on January 20, 2017
Posted in: Idiots & Assholes (Politics). Tagged: , , . Leave a comment

16124083_937446686390907_7583226105000099840_nToday’s the day, comrades!  Donald Trump, America’s highest-ranking sexual assaulter and foremost expert on bullshitting his way to success, officially takes the highest office of the land.  Women, gays, and non-whites everywhere shudder with irrepressible revulsion.

He brings with him a parade of swamp trash chosen for his cabinet — a crew overflowing with conflicts of interest, shady business dealings, political assholery, climate change denialism, nepotism, histories of racism, religious zealotry, voting against women’s rights, disregard for the law, rejection of science, and a complete lack of any characteristic or experience that qualifies them for their appointed offices.

In short:  you will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy.

Not all of them will survive their confirmation hearings, of course, but some of them might manage to scurry under the door of a new office.  One of them has already slunk away in disgrace after being revealed as a serial plagiarist, so I’m hoping we’ll see a few more of them get the boot.

But back to the man of the hour!  And look, he’s already hacking away at all the progress we’e made in the last 40 years:

White House Website Scrubbed Of LGBT Rights, Civil Rights, And Climate Change Moments After Swearing In

Before today, the “Issues” tab of the website had a section devoted to climate change, the existential threat posed to our species that a scientific consensus holds is caused by human activity. That section is completely gone with the website revamp, along with any mention of climate change whatsoever. The Civil Rights section is also missing. And the LGBT section.

It’s only going to get worse from here.  All we on the Left can do is defy, obstruct, watch watch them very closely, hold them accountable for their actions, and vote the fuckers out of office next time we get a chance.  One website I’ll be reading daily is Corrupt AF, a site dedicated to tracking all the corruption of Trump and his team of toadies.  Sounds like a 24/7 job, doesn’t it?  I hope they’ve brought on extra staff…

finaleAnd what of the depressed and outraged Democrats who are still trying to make sense of what happened?  I keep hearing this from certain corners of the Left:  “We need to reach out to the Trump voters to understand them and start a dialogue on how to proceed together.”  Well, I didn’t reach out but I did try to understand them.  I even learned a few things.  But you know what?  I haven’t seen anyone on the Right reaching out.  All I see/hear from them is the same ol’ shit: “You lost!  Get over it!  Stop whining!  We took our country back!  Too bad, snowflake!  You cucks blew it!  Benghazi!”  So until I see a lot more sincere “reaching out” from the Right on a national level, they can kiss my grits.

Actually, I have to admit that right now I’m not interested in interacting with these people — the borscht-like taste of illegitimate and tainted election results is still in my mouth — but maybe it doesn’t even have to be a dialogue.  I’m willing to settle for more public statements of “I shoulda voted for someone else” once they realize they’ve basically put a loaded gun into the hands of a child.  Tiny little baby hands.

I’m also tired of hearing about how we on the Left are in isolated bubbles here in our liberal coastal cities, shielded from the Heartland™ and ignorant of the needs of the real hard-workin’ Americans who like football and guns and Jesus and white neighborhoods.  That may be true for some people…but Trump voters are in their own bubbles.  They’re trapped in this delusional longing for the way America was when it was still great.  A time when gays didn’t exist.  Black people weren’t always whining about rights and stuff.  Mexicans stayed in Mexico instead of stealing ALL our jobs.  Everyone went to Little League games on Saturdays and church on Sundays.  Women stayed in the kitchen like God intended.  You know…that “golden age” we had.  If that’s the vision of America they want, and it appears it is, then I’ll stay right here in my bubble, thank you.

So I guess that’s it for my rant.  It’s time for my defensive mechanism for times like this:  pouring a giant goblet of wine and watching some Buffy.

TRUMPNECK

Posted by Shoogle on December 2, 2016
Posted in: Fun Stuff, Idiots & Assholes (Politics). Tagged: , , , . Leave a comment

It’s hilarious that our new President (sigh) complains when unflattering photos of him appear online, so tonight I decided to start a silly little Tumblr with that in mind.  More will be added to it now and then.  I know it’s super petty and juvenile, but I don’t care… 😀

https://trumpneck.tumblr.com/