Tuesday Reads: So Many Racists, A**holes, Morons, and Lunatics; So Little Patience
Posted: December 2, 2014 Filed under: Barack Obama, morning reads, racism, Real Life Horror, Reproductive Rights, Republican politics, Senate, U.S. Economy, U.S. Politics, Voter Ignorance, War on Women, We are so F'd, Women's Healthcare | Tags: a**sholes, abortion, Bill Cassidy, Elizabeth Lauten, Eugene Robinson, John Boehner, Jon Belmar, lunatics, Mary Landrieu, Michael Brown, Morning Joe, morons, Obamacare, Sasha and Malia Obama, St. Louis Rams, Ted Yoho 65 Comments
Good Morning!!
Just look at those awful teenage girls wearing coats in a bookstore! How shocking! And the President in jeans and casual jacket! Impeach him immediately!
As everyone knows by now, GOP aide to Rep. Stephen Fincher (R-TN) Elizabeth Lauten learned the hard way that when you attack the President’s family on Facebook, lots of people see it; and then your ugly words go viral on Twitter and other social media sites.
Addressing her comments directly to the Obama girls, Lauten wrote that they should ‘‘respect the part you play,’’ and added: ‘‘Then again your mother and father don’t respect their positions very much, or the nation for that matter, so I’m guessing you’re coming up a little short in the ‘good role model’ department.’’
Lauten also urged the Obama girls to ‘‘dress like you deserve respect, not a spot at a bar.’’
Lauten later apologized for the comments and deleted the original post, which drew harsh criticism across social media.
In her pathetic “apology,” as Eugene Robinson noted on Rachel Maddow’s show last night, Lauten failed to say she was sorry for insulting any of the members of the Obama family.
‘‘When I first posted on Facebook I reacted to an article and I quickly judged the two young ladies in a way that I would never have wanted to be judged myself as a teenager,’’ Lauten told The Commercial Appeal of Memphis in an email. ‘‘Please know, those judgmental feelings truly have no place in my heart. Furthermore, I’d like to apologize to all of those who I have hurt and offended with my words.’’
Whatever, lady. I’m glad you’re out of a job. Instant Karma is so satisfying.
Eugene Robinson
Speaking of f**king a**holes, I’ve managed for a long time now to avoid seeing or hearing anything about MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” or its moronic hosts Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski. Unfortunately, this morning I accidentally clicked on a link to Mediaite and read something about their asinine TV show.
This morning the above-mentioned Eugene Robinson was on the program and dared to say that Michael Brown might have had his hands up when he was shot and killed by Darren Wilson. Robinson’s reasoning? A number of eyewitnesses said so and there’s nothing in the evidence that proves Brown wasn’t surrendering.
According to Mediaite’s Evan McMurry, things “got awkward.”
“I don’t believe there’s anything in the record, certainly not in the forensic evidence, that precludes the possibility that he had his hands up at some point when he was approaching the officer,” Robinson said.
“That’s an awfully low standard,” cohost Joe Scarborough replied. “There’s also no evidence that doesn’t suggest a flying saucer from Venus swooped over all of them. There’s no evidence that it’s precluded, Gene. I’m not being difficult. I’m just saying the truth actually does matter.”
“I think it’s a very uncomfortable question for you, Gene,” Brzezinski said. “Because if you say no, there’s no evidence his hands up, you’re probably insulting a lot of people. Do you feel uncomfortable with the question?”
Now what do you suppose Brzezinski meant by that? Oh yeah, Robinson is black and so Mika thinks he must have to lie in order to pacify other black people. Are you lying to please your puppet master Joe Scarborough and the racist audience to your show, Mika?
You can watch the video at the Mediaite link above.
The racists are also up in arms about the five St. Louis Rams players (all black) who had the nerve to express solidarity with Ferguson protesters by standing with their hands up before their football game on Sunday. St. Louis police officers were enraged by this mild display of support, and complained loudly in the media.
St. Louis police chief Jon Belmar then publicly claimed that the Rams organization had apologized for the players actions. A battle of words followed, in which the Rams denied apologizing and Belmar kept insisting they had. From the NY Daily News:
St. Louis County Police Chief Jon Belmar said the St. Louis Rams apologized to local law enforcement officials Monday after five players walked onto the field Sunday with their arms raised high in solidarity with the Ferguson protesters, a claim the team denied in a bizarre war of words that erupted overnight between the team and cops.
Police immediately cried foul at the act during the Rams’ Week 13 home blowout of the Oakland Raiders, but the NFL sacked the cops’ request and chose not to discipline the players.
There was still fallout to manage and Rams COO Kevin Demoff tried to satisfy the outcry by local cops when he called Belmar on Monday and apologized for the players’ unsanctioned actions, according to the chief.
“Mr. Demoff clearly regretted that any members of the Ram’s (sic) organization would act in a way that minimized the outstanding work that police officers and departments carry out each and every day,” Belmar said in an email to the department, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported. “My impression of the call was that it was heartfelt and I assured him that I would share it with my staff.” ….
But CNN’s Rachel Nichols said Rams spokesman Artis Twyman told CNN the team “did not apologize” to St. Louis police.
And Demoff backed up that claim when reached by the Post-Dispatch late Monday. “In none of these conversations did I apologize for our players’ actions,” Demoff told the Post-Dispatch. “I did say in each conversation that I regretted any offense their officers may have taken. We do believe it is possible to both support our players’ First Amendment rights and support the efforts of local law enforcement as our community begins the process of healing.”
My advice to Belmar and police departments all over the country: Get over it and stop killing innocent citizens.
John Boehner swears in Florida’s Ted Yoho.
And speaking of moronic a**holes, John Boehner is set to do battle with the crazy caucus today. Reuters: Boehner to seek support for plan to avoid government shutdown.
House of Representatives Speaker John Boehner will try to sell fellow Republicans this week on a government spending bill that avoids a shutdown fight but allows the party to strike back at President Barack Obama’s immigration order.
Republicans have a lot riding on their handling of must-pass government funding. Having scored huge wins in Nov. 4 voting that handed them a majority in the Senate and gave them a bigger majority in the House, Republican leaders want to demonstrate that they can govern responsibly next year.
But many are still outraged that Obama bypassed Congress and is moving ahead unilaterally on immigration, granting what they claim is “amnesty” to people who came to the United States illegally.
House Republicans will meet on Tuesday after a 10-day Thanksgiving break to discuss their response, including a leading option for Boehner that would fund most government agencies through September 2015, with only a short-term extension for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).
House Republican lawmakers and aides say this would give them a chance to use their stronger House and Senate majorities next year to pass explicit spending restrictions on some DHS agencies, to try to stop Obama’s immigration overhaul.
More details from Bloomberg Politics:
House Speaker John Boehner and his fellow Republican leaders are turning to large-animal veterinarian and Tea Party darling Ted Yoho to help avoid a second government shutdown in as many years.
The freshman Florida Republican has proposed a bill that aims to remove the president’s executive power when it comes to deportations. It’s a symbolic measure that would have essentially zero chance of passing in the last days of a Democratic-controlled Senate. But Boehner and his crew hope it’s enough to pacify a Republican caucus seething over President Barack Obama’s immigration actions last month.
Boehner and other Republican leaders have vowed to avoid a repeat of the 16-day shutdown last year. Their best shot may be coupling Yoho’s bill with a measure that would temporarily fund immigration agencies and provide longer-term financing for the rest of the federal government. The deadline is Dec. 11, when current funding ends.
Yoho, whose opposition to Obamacare contributed to the last shutdown, was an unlikely star of the 2012 election cycle, knocking off 12-term incumbent Cliff Stearns in a Republican primary for a North Florida district after selling his veterinary practice to run. Since being sworn in, the 59-year-old Republican has voted against Boehner for speaker, said an Obamacare tax on indoor tanning was “racist,” and suggested that a government shutdown could stabilize markets.
Yoho sounds like a lunatic. How on earth do people like this get elected?
Bill Cassidy tries to smile and fails miserably.
Speaking of lunatics, last night I watched the final debate between Louisiana Senate candidates Bill Cassidy and Mary Landrieu. If the result of the runoff election on Saturday weren’t so important, the “debate” would have been a laugh riot. The main topics were abortion, guns, Obamacare, Cassidy’s double dipping at the expense of taxpayers and Landrieu’s weak support of the hated black President.
It was difficult to listen to what Cassidy was saying, because he is so strange-looking, and when he forces a smile, he looks like something out of a vampire movie. Even though Mary Landrieu is a pretty conservative Democrat, I couldn’t help liking her when I noticed she had a hard time not laughing out loud when Cassidy was talking.
The gloves came off during the testy final U.S. Senate debate Monday night between Democratic incumbent Mary Landrieu and Republican Rep. Bill Cassidy. Controversies dominated the discussion, including assertions that Cassidyfalsified time sheets and Landrieu used taxpayer money to take charter airplane flights to campaign events.
Landrieu worked her main allegation, that Cassidy billed Louisiana State University for work he didn’t perform, into answers throughout the debate. She said it’s an issue that should follow him beyond Saturday’s election.
“If he wins, he will be fighting more than President Obama. He will be fighting subpoenas because he padded his time sheet,” Landrieu said. “He’ll talk about everyone else’s record but his own.”
Cassidy denied the allegations and defended his record. “These charges are absolutely false. The Landrieu campaign takes these charges, and they twist them anyway they can. I’m proud of the work I’ve done at LSU,” Cassidy said.
A physician, Cassidy said his work at LSU hospitals helped people, while Landrieu’s charter flights helped only her. Landrieu countered that she had taken responsibility for the flights, which she attributed to a bookkeeping error, and paid back the Treasury.
Read more at the link.
During their extended argument over abortion, I was surprised to hear Cassidy state as fact that a 20-month fetus is viable and capable of feeling pain. I was also shocked when Landrieu said she is against all abortions and thinks they are immoral, but that the government shouldn’t be making those decisions. At least she’s “pro-choice.”
After watching that debate, I thanked my lucky stars that my Senators are Elizabeth Warren and Ed Markey.
That’s about all the news I could dredge up this morning. I’ll be so glad when the holidays come to an end. What stories are you following today?
peej
Carissa
ecocatwoman
grayslady
mablue2
JJ Lopez aka Minkoff Minx
peggysue22
quixote
skydancingguestblogger
Mona (aka Wonk the Vote)
Sky Dancing 
Have a great day, Sky Dancers! Be grateful that you have functioning brains and the ability to feel empathy for other humans.
BB…..I’ve been in several sharp disagreements with close family members in the past week over Ferguson. My conclusion was they are unable to “feel empathy”. They simply cannot look at the totality of this countries history concerning black Americans and recognize that we haven’t even scratched the surface of undoing the damage of slavery, oppression and marginalization, particularly the economic damage. One of the people who I had a rather vocal disagreement with is a PhD and she had the nerve to throw down that old white person standby “they should pull themselves up by their bootstraps”. My reply was “first they need boots”. And here is where the difference between understanding the history of African Americans in this country by actually caring to know the history and those who get their history lessons from the water cooler or at cocktail parties sharply diverge. They simply haven’t a clue about the centuries long struggle of African Americans and how difficult, if not impossible, it is for African Americans to reach personal economic goals when the deck is still stacked against them in their ability to achieve family accumulation of wealth and security. That inability leads directly to deficits in education and employment. I faced the truth of it long ago, white America still enslaves much of black America through thinly veiled economic oppression. Poverty, especially the sort of poverty that is multi-generational, destroys the human spirit and fuels an environment of hopelessness. When people become hopeless tragedy soon follows.
My final argument to my family member with a PhD was “How can you, as a successful, well educated white woman, not see or understand that all people of color and women are at a distinct disadvantage in this society? How can you not recognize that if achieving financial success and professional parity is difficult for a white woman with a brilliant mind from a family with a stable economic background, how much harder must the path to success be for a person of dark skin, from a family with no economic stability and no white, usually male, mentors to help pull them forward?”
Our disagreement ended when she inferred that I wasn’t her “intellectual equal”. I suppose in most ways I’m not her intellectual equal, but my opinions are honest, well informed and not influenced by white privilege.
She’s right, Mouse – you are not her intellectual equal – you are her superior intellectually along with the qualities of empathy, common sense, clear vision and a wicked sense of humor.
Her comment made me angry.
TY Delph. 🙂
I totally agree with Delphyne!
TY too BB
Shit yeah, Delphyne is right!
Hell, yeah!
I agree with Delphyne! I’m having the same trouble conversing about this with my family (some of them) so I don’t. I can’t even get those few to admit that people who have black skin coloring, or some variant thereof, are not a monolithic ‘they’, just as pale skin colored people are not monolithic. It’s so annoying after a while, to hear ‘they… they… they…’ Arghhhh.
Sima,
It’s so good to see you again. I hope you keep coming back!
Thanks BB! Tried to reply in thread but something is borking. Story of my life :). I will be around and keep coming back. I missed everyone, life threw some spanners in the works for a bit but I’m back on track!
That’s great.
You had me at “So many racist assholes….” I haven’t read the post yet but I love it already. 😉
Hey JJ, When I read the title before looking at the author, my first thought was “this post was written by JJ”. 🙂 So is it any wonder that she hooked you? FWIW, BB hooked me at the title too. Tell it like it is darlin !!!!
Ha, that is funny mouse….
Nice job here, bb. I’m thrilled that the country isn’t letting the Ferguson story die. There have been protests all over. It’s about time.
Hope you had a great birthday. {{{{bb}}}}
I sure like your take on the officers across this country: Get over it and stop killing innocent citizens.
I like Gene, he’s smiles a lot, and tries not to be a hard ass. You were spot on BB, about lard ass and milkaplenty. Reminds me of:
This country has been in a tailspin since the unfortunate “election” of W. I think we all need to locate some Bell Bottoms because we have been transported back to 1974 rather than being in 2014. I think what we may be seeing is that many people in this country have not moved on and have never progressed either socially or intellectually. Such a shame. No reason for all of this especially in light of the fact that we are all exactly the same species and that race is just an artificial construct and has zero meaning biologically speaking.
We’ve got so many problems to worry about. We may be in the midst of one of the greatest mass extinctions of all time, we’ve got starving people all across the world, we have homeless, we have people who do without medical care, etc. We have war without end. I just can’t see how the color of one’s skin even matters. It is just so stupid.
You are so right, Gregory.
I agree with you with one small exception. This country has been in a tailspin since the election of Reagan. We were able to keep ourselves from crashing because of a respite during the Clinton administration, but the overall trend has been downward since 1981.
Absolutely true. Reagan is the root of all evil. Of course Nixon made Reagan possible.
I got a hearty laugh out of that!
Hope you had a great birthday!
BB….Good post this morning. Slight correction however, Stephen Fincher is (R-TN). It just makes me so proud to live down here in Bumfuckerville Central where the kind of talk she placed into the public record in her Facebook comment, is the kind of talk you might hear in a Doctors office where Fox News is blaring on every TV in public places. I asked my Doc (who is in a practice with 4 other docs) to at least put her office TV on something generic and non-political because The FOX HATE channel was distressing for many of us. On my next visit they had changed it to one of those Home Improvement Channels.
Sorry about that goof. I’ll fix it.
No, no, no……Leave him in Kentucky! 🙂
lol
As for Joe Scarborough and Mika, they’re a waste of precious morning sunlight. Joe is such a tool and Mika is nothing more than a failed attempt at window dressing. She has few opinions and those she has she doesn’t deem worth fighting for. When she dares to REALLY disagree with Joe she either quickly acquiesces, or she sulks like a teenager whose daddy won’t give her the car keys. Jeezus!!!!!!
Ironically, both Mika and Joe go out of their way to defend Chris Christie because he is a “friend”. Even though the bridge was shut down on his watch they seem to want us to all believe it was done without his knowledge. So much for “friendship”.
And how these fools with such radical views keep getting elected to congress is beyond explanation. Most of them sound like that “crazy uncle” who shows up for dinner and just keeps talking nonsense.
In defense of Malia 16 and Sacha 13, I can’t begin to count the number of times my 12 yr old granddaughter “rolled her eyes” at the Thanksgiving table this year. Typical pre teen attitude. Leave those girls alone!
Great post, bb, and happy belated birthday wishes to you?
OMG…..If it wasn’t for rolling their eyes the teenagers in my family wouldn’t be able to communicate with adults at all. I remember rolling my eyes behind my mother’s back, but only because if I had done it to her face she might have slapped me blind. 🙂
lol!!!
What parenting should be
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2857263/He-informs-mistaken-Proud-parents-announce-son-s-sex-change-tongue-cheek-birth-notice.html
This is what loving, supportive, compassionate parents do: Love, support, and accept their child without reservation.
I hope this young man recognizes their unconditional love. It is becoming a rarity these days.
It was so touching and such a beautiful gesture of love it brought tears to my eyes. What it would mean to so many LGBT children and teens to have this sort of support?
“In 1995 we announced the arrival of our sprogget, Elizabeth Anne, as a daughter,He informs us that we were mistaken. Oops! Our bad. We would now like to present, our wonderful son – Kai Bogert. Loving you is the easiest thing in the world.”
If there is a parent of the year award these parents should win.
Audit: Louisiana’s Medicaid expenses increase by $900M-plus since 2012 after move to privatization
http://theadvocate.com/news/10981670-123/state-medicaid-spending-up-900
Bobby Scissorhands has absolutely ruined our state and made it a feeding trough for inefficient profit gouging companies.
That is what these “libertarians” are really after. It isn’t dogma, it isn’t that they think they have a better way or can help more people it is about backing their truck up to the dock and loading it up with cash. Taxpayer cash. The only people who actually believe their tripe are the uneducated and the racially motivated ie the Limbaugh, Hannity and O’Brien crowd or whatever his stupid name is. All it is is a scam.
Big surprise.
The Art Of Online Apologies And Why Elizabeth Lauten Failed Miserably At Hers
http://www.forbes.com/sites/elisadoucette/2014/11/30/the-art-of-apologies-and-why-elizabeth-lauten-failed-miserably-at-hers/2/
This is my favorite line in the Non-Apology:
“After many hours of prayer, talking to my parents, and re-reading my words online I can see more clearly just how hurtful my words were.”
Nothing screams bullshit louder than the claim that you spent “many hours” in prayer. I suppose that first she had to clear it with Jeebus, then she talked to her mommy & daddy, then she re-read her online words and realized “clearly” that her words were “hurtful” to HERSELF. She lost her job so apparently Jeebus wasn’t up to any sort of miracle by making her Facebook rant disappear and/or erasing it from the minds of all who read it. As BB noted in her post, she got “Instant KARMA” and it kicked her ass good.
http://gawker.com/the-gop-staffer-who-criticized-obamas-daughters-was-arr-1665208882
Apparently, she was arrested for shoplifting as a teen.
Oh no! That’s hilarious.
Well Hell, if she lived in Ferguson, MO and was black she’d be in the county jail with no opportunity for “deferment”. And instead of criticizing Malia and Sasha for not dressing up to her specs, perhaps she could give them some more practical tips on how to procure clothing without spending money. Another entitled GOP hypocrite.
Police: Austin shooter was a ‘homegrown American extremist’
http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-nation/wp/2014/12/01/police-austin-shooter-belonged-to-an-ultra-conservative-christian-hate-group/?tid=sm_fb
Racism Not ‘Limited To The Klan, Birthers, The Tea Party Or Republicans’ According To Duke University Sociologist
http://samuel-warde.com/2014/12/duke-university-sociologist-links-klan-tea-party-republicans/
True to all that
Here’s a disturbing thought from a friend of mine: By way of comparison, Louisiana sank more into “Green Lantern” than it is putting into the University of New Orleans this year._
This shit has to stop. We’re being robbed by the film industry.
http://blogs.theadvocate.com/specialreports/2014/12/02/giving-away-louisiana-film-tax-incentives/
That is beyond ridiculous. I still can’t believe the tax payers of your state are the ones who paid Tom Cruise’s salary…and that he took it too. Wonder if Brad Pit every had salary or pay benefit from the tax payers of Louisiana. I wonder how many other rich ass stars have gotten richer from this…
It sure would send a message if the stars would stand up and make a stink about it…refuse to film etc. They have pull in the media…The advocate should start a shaming campaign on tom cruise at least. That asshole has money galore…he can easily donate that portion of his salary back to the use of the hospitals or universities.
Every star’s salary was subsidized by 1/3. Read the article. It’s appalling. Even their trips to spas, personal trainers, etc. were paid for by us.
That is appalling. I need to go read all of it at the Advocate. I am having a bit of a crisis here at home with Bebe. She is now showing signs of diabetes type one…or some other illness. We had to take her to hospital for full series of test this morning. Just haven’t had the time to read much of anything.
Wow. Hope everything goes well with the tests
OMG, JJ. That’s terrible. I hope it’s not diabetes.
I kind of hope at this point diabetes may be the better of what we could be facing. The doctor is hedging. I don’t know what to think.
Hope you can grab calmness out of all that crap. For at least a few minutes, then a few more. Gentle hugs to you.
I watched that debate last night and just wanted to scream. It’s so obvious that Cassiday is a no nothing when it comes to anything but his medical specialty. He’s also one of the most self-entitled asses I’ve ever witnessed. Everything went back to his medical practice which begs the question why doesn’t he just go be a doctor then?
Here’s the CSPAN link if you really want to torture yourself: http://www.c-span.org/video/?322935-1/louisiana-senate-debate
I have to say that this is really moving me in the direction of my daughter in Seattle. I just don’t want to spend my golden years in a state that treats me like I’m detritus.
Come on up here! We have problems too but almost always not as bad as in the South…
Richard III’s DNA throws up infidelity surprise
http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-30281333
I just saw that Dak…how very interesting!
Hey, I also just saw this headline too: Police investigating if Michael Brown's stepfather – CNN.com
I said it elsewhere, but I’ll repeat myself… this is why inheritance should come through the female! Hahahahahaha.
Chris Rock: It’s not black people who have progressed. It’s white people.
http://www.vox.com/xpress/2014/12/1/7313467/chris-rock-interview
Economist: I’ve crunched the numbers, and the American Dream is dead
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/12/economist-ive-crunched-the-numbers-and-the-american-dream-is-dead/
Mary Landrieu Wins a Battle Before Losing the War
The Louisiana Democrat outperforms Bill Cassidy in their final Senate debate.
http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2014/12/02/mary-landrieu-wins-a-battle-before-losing-the-war?src=usn_tw
Fox News bait:
from their front page
There wasn’t a lot of outrage about Michael Brown until activists started tweeting the story. So why don’t they get off their asses and make this horrible story go viral? As for a hate crime, I’m not aware that Bosnians have protected status. Maybe they need to lobby Congress.
How a schoolteacher helped create the first black Peanuts character
http://mashable.com/2014/11/26/franklin-black-peanuts-character-history/