When Roger West first launched the progressive political blog "News From The Other Side" in May 2010, he could hardly have predicted the impact that his venture would have on the media and political debate. As the New Media emerged as a counterbalance to established media sources, Roger wrote his copious blogs about national politics, the tea party movement, mid-term elections, and the failings of the radical right to the vanguard of the New Media movement. Roger West's efforts as a leading blogger have tremendous reach. NFTOS has led the effort to bring accountability to mainstream media sources such as FOX NEWS, Breitbart's "Big Journalism.
Roger's breadth of experience, engaging style, and cultivation of loyal readership - over 92 million visitors - give him unique insight into the past, present, and future of the New Media and political rhetoric that exists in our society today.
What we are against:
Radical Right Wing Agendas
Incompetent Establishment
Donald J. Trump
Corporate Malfeasence
We are for:
Global and Econmoic Security
Social and Economic Justice
Media Accountability
THE RESISTANCE
Maybe, just maybe. if House Republicans had voted to repeal the PATRIOT Act37 times. Then the NSA looking at your phone records would not be an issue.
Hot off the heels of the revelation that Verizon has been supplying the National Security Agency (NSA) with phone records for all domestic calls, the Washington Post reveals the NSA and FBI are data mining the servers of nine technology companies, “extracting audio, video, photographs, e-mails, documents and connection logs that enable analysts to track a person’s movements and contacts over time.”
Companies participating in the program are obliged to accept “a directive” from the attorney general and the director of national intelligence to open their servers to the FBI’s Data Intercept Technology Unit. In exchange, the companies receive immunity from lawsuits.
The broad, top secret program, code-named PRISM, was established in 2007 with Microsoft as its first partner but now counts Yahoo, Google, Facebook, PalTalk, AOL, Skype, YouTube, and Apple among its membership. Twitter is notably absent from the list.
PRISM appears to closely resemble the warrant-less surveillance orders issues by President Bush after the September 11th, 2001 terrorist attacks rather than a dragnet data collection operation, but the NSA has the capability to search through the company’s servers for whatever it likes. To collect data, analysts in Fort Meade key in search terms designed to produce an “at least 51 percent confidence in a target’s ‘foreignness.’”
But even when meeting that relatively low threshold, by its very nature the system likely collects information about Americans who have had communications with the target, and analysts are trained to chain through two degrees of separation of contacts from the initial target. This chaining means that many Americans are likely the subject of “incidental” surveillance.
Analysts have access to Facebook’s “extensive search and surveillance capabilities” while the Skype partnership allows for monitoring of any combination of “audio, video, chat, and file transfers”, and Google allows surveillance of “Gmail, voice and video chat, photo libraries, and live surveillance of search terms.” The career intelligence officer who leaked documents about the program to the Washington Post noted “they quite literally can watch your ideas form as you type.”
Apple and Facebook have both deniedparticipation in the program, with Apple saying they've “never heard” of it, and Facebook flatly denying they provide “any government organization with direct access” to their servers. Google has been slightly less clear, but told Washington Post they lack a back door for the government to obtain access to private user data and care “deeply” about the privacy of users.
An internal presentation on the operation obtained by the Post claims PRISM is the most frequent contributor to the President’s Daily Brief, saying it was cited in 1,477 articles last year and accounts for nearly 1 in 7 intelligence reports within the NSA. A parallel initiative also revealed by the Post, codenamed BLARNEY, is an ongoing data collection program that gathers “metadata” such as address packets and device signatures as it streams past choke points in internet infrastructure.
Additionally, since the writing of this blog:
Amie Stepanovich, Director of the Electronic Privacy Information Center’s Domestic Surveillance Project noted that the 51 percent threshold reportedly used by NSA analysts not only “leaves a lot of room for error” initially, but combined with the chaining effect and how studies of private data brokers have shown that innate qualities like “foreignness” are often quite difficult to determine, the chance of an American citizens’ data being incidentally caught up in the program could actually be “incredibly high.”
The Washington Post has now backtracked on their claims that government had direct access to servers, editing their report to include more responses from companies and this statement: “it is possible that the conflict between the PRISM slides and the company spokesmen is the result of imprecision on the part of the NSA author. In another classified report obtained by The Post, the arrangement is described as allowing ‘collection managers [to send] content tasking instructions directly to equipment installed at company-controlled locations,’ rather than directly to company servers.” This change only strengthens the argument that the NSA had access to copies of the data.
The National Security Agency and the FBI don't bear all the responsibility forthe revelation that Verizon is turning phone records over to the government. That responsibility lies with the members of Congress who voted for the PATRIOT Act, as well as extensions of it and the provisions related to collecting those records. Over 100 people currently serving in the House and Senate voted for the original Act in 2001. Last year, over 300 voted to extend a key provision.
The problem with all this is again, this is a by-product of G.W. Bush regime. Where was the anger in 2001 [and 2011] when congress passed this and Bush signed into law? Who's to blame ?
At the end of the day, in this time of terror, this is a necessary evil. I personally do not feel violated that my phone numbers are monitored - what should be more irritating is that Facebook, Google and others monitor your activities much more than NSA, where is the outcry over this?
This is the sign of the times - of a post 9/11 country, while you may find it intrusive, I find it acceptable, for the failure not to monitor, is just another invitation to another horrible terrorist act on this great land.
GOP/NRA GOD CHUCK HESTON CHEERING TRANSVAGINAL PROBING OF WOMEN AGAINST THERE WILL
Father of the Bride meets Drugstore Cowboy:
Yes Virginia, the morals and ethics of Virginia Governor Bob "transvaginal" McDonnell are being questioned - and it would appear that he is in some hot water. Vaginal Sponge Bob Square Pants, his wife, Star Scientific top cat Jonnie R. Williams Sr, all have some serious explaining to do.
One would think that Transvagianl Bob McDonnell would be in cruise mode wrapping his final months in office, and would no doubt like to leave on a high note, en route to pursuing higher office.
But at this point, instead of spending time with volunteers in Iowa and New Hampshire, it looks like Governor Ultrasound will have to spend his time with his attorneys.
FBI agents are conducting interviews about the relationship between Virginia Gov. Robert F. McDonnell, his wife, Maureen, and a major campaign donor who paid for the food at the wedding of the governor's daughter, according to four people familiar with the questioning.
The agents have been asking associates of the McDonnells about gifts provided to the family by Star Scientific chief executive Jonnie R. Williams Sr. and actions the Republican governor and his wife have taken that may have boosted the company, the people said.
Among the topics being explored, they said, is the $15,000 catering bill that Williams paid for the 2011 wedding of McDonnell's daughter at Virginia's historic Executive Mansion. But questions have extended to other, previously undisclosed gifts from Williams to Maureen McDonnell as well, they said.
A few months ago, the Washington Post reported that McDonnell's daughter was married in 2011, and the governor said the bride and groom paid for the event. In reality, $15,000 came by way of Williams. McDonnell not only lied about the financing, but he somehow forgot to disclose Williams' generous gift, as he's legally required to do.
Complicating matters, shortly before the wedding, McDonnell's wife attended an event in Florida to endorse Williams' product, and shortly after the wedding, McDonnell hosted Williams at the governor's home for a launch party for Williams' product.
It is so rare that a politician actually gets caught taking bribes. In the case of Transvaginal Bob McDonnell, it is unusually gratifying to me, and if this could spillover to Ken Coochinelli's [spelled incorrectly] lap - this would be even more delicious than the first helping.
Yes readers, this story has a very mephitis smell to it, but you have to realize that these American Taliban[ers] are serial entrepreneurs. I'm sure McDonnell has already asked all of his staff to buy his Amway products and his air filters - its part of the GOP ilk, culture if you will, and the sad thing is, "Transvaginal Bob in his own mind thinks he has done nothing wrong in this instance.
I can hear Transvagianl Bob now speaking to Virginians: " My fellow Virginians', American Taliban [ers] and Guns Over People, as a good conservative Christian man, as a great gun hugger, and finally, as a exceptional manipulator of the female body ......... I categorically deny these allegations. Please send your donations now".
It's too bad that the FBI will not be forcing a probe into McDonnell's private parts against his will, how apropos this would be, a full circle moment if you will.
Rachel Maddow last night tore into Fox News for jumping the smoking gun on the IRS scandal, and the Republican party for being too focused on their personal concerns over ACORN and Obamacare to pursue actual policy. Even though people may view people like Rush Limbaugh and Bill O’Reilly as GOP leaders, Maddow said the party needs to be more concerned with policy than the media it embraces, declaring the right to have a “nonsense problem” and the GOP to be “unsuited for policy at this time.”
Maddow brought up how Fox News (O’Reilly, Hannity and company) is now pouncing on a report that former IRS commissioner Douglas Shulman visited the White House 157 times during his term, immediately lumping it in with other smoking guns conservatives have touted as the one thing that would finally topple Obama’s house of cards. Maddow explained how the report was debunked, and yet O’Reilly continues to report on it as if it was never corrected. Maddow even mockingly suggested O’Reilly was too busy watching videos of marching penguins to notice the new information.
Maddow noted that in a report released about the GOP’s youth voter outreach, when people were asked about who they think the Republican leaders are, they identified people like O’Reilly and Limbaugh and Glenn Beck. She linked this to how actual Republican leaders in Congress seem more gung-ho about things like defunding ACORN (which doesn’t exist anymore) and repealing Obamacare rather than focusing on actual policy.
Maddow said it’s hard to predict what will happen when Republicans are forced to talk about “real things,” citing Mitch McConnell linking Obamacare to rising student loan rates.
“The Republican party has a nonsense problem when it comes to policy, and it comes right from the top. If you do not like policy, that’s fine… but in Washington, the fact that one of the two parties is just unsuited for policy at this time–it is not their strong suit–that right now is a problem.”
There is a reason why Fox News viewersare the dumbest in our land. Maddow debunks the bullshit artists yet again. When do viewers of Faux News understand that they are being fed a huge heaping steaming pile of dog poo?
If you want to become a master of bullshit - there is no better place to hone your skills than watching endless hours of Faux News.
This, the final week before leaving The Daily Show for the summer, Jon Stewart took another swipe at the IRS for the ongoing scandal over the targeting of tea party groups.
Stewart expressed mock sympathy for the IRS and indulged in a little schadenfraude, asking “Where’s your receipts, assholes?” Stewart wryly remarked, “Sucks to get audited, doesn't it?” and proceeded to mock-audit the IRS for its own ridiculous expenses.
Stewart brought up how former IRS commissioner Douglas Shulman was at the White House over 150 times, remarking that meeting with the president to scheme against his political opponents “should really only take about one meeting, two tops!” However, Stewart did liken President Obama to a mobster who only summoned Shulman to ask, “Did you take care of that thing?”
Stewart continued to turn the tables on the IRS with some devastating commentary on their actions:
“You may have perfectly reasonable explanations for every action that you took, but that doesn't mean we don’t need you to go back home and dig through another couple of shoeboxes until we get just that one document that we really need to see before we can be okay with your reasons. Why? Fuck you, that’s why.”
Stewart slammed the agency for a dance video that cost $1600 (“How the fuck did that cost $1600? Did the guy recording it drop his iPhone three times?”) and the $50 million that was spent on a little over two hundred employee conferences. Stewart told the IRS, “I don’t care… if you kept the receipts,” and gleefully suggested they use Tax Masters to sort out their troubles.
Does anyone really like the IRS/? Probably not. My problem with the holier than thou American Taliban ers screaming "we are being picked on", where was the outraged when under the George W. Bush regime, when they targeted the NAACP, not nary a tea bagger invoked, "corrupt government", or "impeach the President". HMMMM!
At the end of the day, tea baggers seeking 501 (c) (3) status was wrong - as their organizations do not fit "social welfare" status!
As you see below, the American Taliban and has a hard time selling the tax free status - and the IRS had a problem with the influx of tea baggers seeking this status - that they where/are not entitle to, while the IRS may have gone about the process wrong, the tea bagger is in err for seeking claim to something they should never be entitled too.
Exemption requirements: 501(c)(3) organizations To be tax-exempt under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code, an organization must be organized and operated exclusively for exempt purposes set forth in section 501(c)(3), and none of its earnings may inure to any private shareholder or individual. In addition, it may not be an action organization, i.e., it may not attempt to influence legislation as a substantial part of its activities and it may not participate in any campaign activity for or against political candidates. Organizations described in section 501(c)(3) are commonly referred to as charitable organizations. Organizations described in section 501(c)(3), other than testing for public safety organizations, are eligible to receive tax-deductiblecontributions in accordance with Code section 170.
The organization must not be organized or operated for the benefit of private interests, and no part of a section 501(c)(3) organization's net earnings may inure to the benefit of any private shareholder or individual. If the organization engages in an excess benefit transaction with a person having substantial influence over the organization, an excise tax may be imposed on the person and any organization managers agreeing to the transaction.
Section 501(c)(3) organizations are restricted in how much political and legislative (lobbying) activities they may conduct. For a detailed discussion, see Political and Lobbying Activities. For more information about lobbying activities by charities, see the article Lobbying Issues; for more information about political activities of charities, see the FY-2002 CPE topic Election Year Issues.
So, which is the true scandal, extreme radical political lobbyist seeking tax exempt status, or the IRS hand picking them for further investigation?
Cross Posted from Forward Progressives' Allen Clifton
We at NFTOS rarely post someone's else's work, but after reading this, we thought it was worthy a spot, as it speaks volumes - to a valid point of the confluence of the American Taliban and Christianity.
See, a few decades ago the leaders of the GOP did something very intelligent. History shows one of the easiest ways to manipulate, and control, people is through their religion. You can get people to do horrific things in the name of “their god” by convincing them that their actions are acceptable because they are the true believers, and those they oppose are the “heathens.”
You see this with radicals of every faith. These radical leaders take a handful of excerpts from whatever book they follow and manipulate millions into believing whatever they want.
Republicans knew two key issues could easily control millions — abortion and homosexuality. Once they identified their two key manipulation points, all they needed to do was tie in whatever political ideology they wanted with these two religious-based beliefs and they could create a political party that was worshiped more like a faith than a political idea.
And that’s exactly what they did. I always encourage people to stop saying Republicans represent Christianity, and call them out on what they really worship.
I call it “Republicanity” and I consider it a cult. It’s a perversion of Christianity mixed with a political set of man-made beliefs. These people view their devotion to the GOP on the same level they do their belief in God. To them, the Republican Party is the party of “real Christians.” They don’t need facts or reality to support their political beliefs, they have “faith.”
Except, your political beliefs are supposed to be based on facts — not faith.
I’m a Christian, and these people damn sure don’t represent my faith. What they follow is some mix of Ayn Rand economic ideologies and a couple of select passages from the Bible.
Which I always find hilarious considering Ayn Rand thought religious people were stupid and insane. So people like Paul Ryan, who built his economic ideology on her teachings while claiming to be a devout “Christian,” just show their ignorance by claiming to believe in both. How exactly can someone build an economic platform based on a woman who completely contradicted Christianity, while claiming to be a follower of Christianity?
It makes absolutely no damn sense.
See, the whole point of being a Christian means you follow the teachings of Christ. I’ve actually seen many of these “Christians” try and say Jesus would support cuts to welfare and side with the top-down economic policies of the Republican Party.
As I've said before, whether you believe in Jesus Christ or not is not the issue, what he symbolized and his story aren't really debatable. He spent his life helping the poor, sick and needy. He never once spoke about homosexuality or abortion. He embraced those from the lowest rungs of society by saying that those for whom much had been given, much is expected. He taught love, hope, compassion and forgiveness. He warned against those who would manipulate the word of God for their own selfish ambitions. He opposed greed and encouraged giving.
You know, the exact oppose of what Republicans stand for.
But that doesn't matter to these people because they oppose abortion and homosexuality—again, two things Jesus never spoke of.
And honestly, can you name one other “Christian” value Republicans claim to value? Because I hate to break it to them, but guns weren't invented by Jesus. Saying you have a “God-given right to bear arms” is just ignorant. God didn't grant anyone the right to bear arms, a bunch of slave owning rich white men did in the late-1700′s. Many of which weren't even Christians.
So please, stop calling Republicans “Christians”—they’re not.
I can’t count the times I've heard people say they don’t consider themselves Christians any longer because of the ignorance of the Republican Party. Millions have abandoned Christianity because these people have hijacked a faith to distort it for their own political gains.
It’s time real Christians take back their faith from these people who’ve turned so many sour on Christianity. It’s time they rise up against these ignorant fake Christians and call them out directly on the truth. They don’t follow Christianity.
They follow Republicanity. They worship Reagan, guns and greed—not Jesus Christ.
I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ. ~ Mahatma Gandhi.
Today, this Sunday, lets take a test. Lets see if we can discern the difference between a Taliban - or your everyday circa 2013 GOPer.
Click this image to see a larger view. Photo courtesy of Sheneman
I am often asked why I call GOPers terrorist, AKA the American Taliban. Radicalism comes in many forms, republican Jesus worshipers types come to mind as radical [Westboro Baptist church], gun huggers sending ricin to the President seem a bit radical ['you will have to pry my gun from my cold dead hands mentality], and those whom choose Guns Over People, the real Taliban, Muslim Extremists not affiliated with the Taliban, white supremacists, and yes the republican party circa 2013 - are all very dangerous and extreme in ideology.
The above test is just a short list, a very short list if you will, of the extremism of the far right wing establishment currently known as the GOP. One doesn't have to kill physically to be a terrorist, although in some cases the American Taliban has gone to such extremes as to kill doctors whom perform procedures on women.
Just this week we saw the extreme fringe of Faux News get overly excited about women becoming the bread-winner of households. These nut jobs came completely unglued and unhingedknowing that 40% of households- that females are the major money maker. Damn you women, get back to making babies and making me a sandwich!
Until these troglodytes come to the year 2013; where men and women are equal, where skin color has no relevance, where sexuality is one's given choice, where all law abiding citizens of this county should have the fundamental right to vote, where the poor should have affordable healthcare, where what women do with their bodies is their choice. Only then will these Neanderthals themselves become a part of this century and accepted as non-terrorist. The ideals of dragging your knuckles and your women around by their hair - that mentality died well before Christianity existed.
When pasty white GOPers still say things like: "legitimate rape" and "a aspirin between a women's knees for contraception" - when governors like Virginia's own Bob "Transvaginal" McDonnell and potential Va Govna Ken Coochinelli [misspelled purposely] think is just and right to probe women's vagina's against their will......
As a friend told me: "suppose we should be grateful women are not to be stoned to death for inviting rape" - The GOP is fittingly and rightly called, The American Taliban!
Hubris: /ˈhjuːbrɪs/, also hybris, from ancient Greek ὕβρις, means extreme pride or arrogance. Hubris often indicates a loss of contact with reality and an overestimation of one's own competence or capabilities, especially when the person exhibiting it is in a position of power.
The adjectival form of the noun hubris is "hubristic".
Bill Maher last night attacked former President George W Bus over Bush’s third annual Wounded Warrior 100K with veterans of the Iraq War.
How disgusting is it, that a man that lied his ass off to get the Untied States into the Iraqi war, now has the testicle fortitude to ride bikes with the very lives he put in harms way. Very Aleistar Crowley like!
I have made no bones about my views regarding Dick "Dick" Cheney, and his [compadre- in-arms] sideshow sidekick, and fellow war criminal, George W. Bush.
This bike ride, this would be like Ariel Castro [Cleveland Kidnapper] hosting a barbeque summer party for the victims and their families!
MAHER ON THE BIKE RIDE
Quotes from the clip I found worth noting:
“I found this to be nauseating,” Maher said. “First he sends them off to war to get their limbs blown off, then he has them over for a barbecue".
“I think it’s sort of sadistic when something like that happens,” actress Brit Marling said. “The idea that these amputees—the technology that’s allowing them to do this is somehow something to celebrate? People shouldn't be over there losing limbs in the first place.”
“Well, wait a minute, these guys are certainly celebrating their prosthetic limbs,” said James Poulos, a HuffPost Live producer. “W said ‘I don’t pity these guys, because they don’t pity themselves.’ That doesn't transcend the fact that the Iraq War was a colossal shit show, but it does transcend the fact that there’s kind of this uncomfortable irony between Bush’s relationship and these guys. They’re all out there biking together, and that’s okay.”
“I never know what side you’re on,” Maher told Poulos. “Are you with us or against us?”
“What was really jarring about that interview was the fact that President Bush needed to tell himself that he really tried diplomacy,” said Neera Tanden, President of the Center for American Progress. “It’s sort of a weird thing that he has to look back and make up things that he did.”
“Certainly doesn’t sound like the George Bush I remember,” Maher said.
Listening to the American Taliban defend Bush's concocted WMD Iraqi war, is like Germans still trying to defend the Holocaust. Vets biking with the guy who cooked up intelligence to send them to war - well it sends a clear message to how truly f*cked up this man is.
Let's keep an on eye on the ball here readers, thousands of American soldiers and Iraqis are deadbecause of this one man's hubris. Speaking for myself only- I certainly sleep much better at night knowing that Bush is no longer in office haunted by visions of Gog and Magog.
In less than six months more Americans were killed with guns than soldiers killed during decade-long Iraq War.
The number of gun deaths in the U.S. since the Newtown elementary school massacre has exceeded the total number of U.S. troops killed in the Iraq war.
According to a tally of gun deaths from Slate, the number of people killed since the Dec. 14 shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary is now 4,502. The number of U.S. armed forces killed during the Iraq war was 4,488, [numbers updated 12:33 pm] according to theDefense Department.
This comparison of the five months since the tragedy that redefined the debate for further gun control in this country and the nine-year conflict the U.S. has recently ended is now being used by Americans United for Change, a progressive political group. Already, the group has targeted several GOP lawmakers, including Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, to support background checks, among other gun-control measures.
The American Taliban successfully stalled gun-control legislation, arguing that further measures would not prevent gun violence but merely stifle the Second Amendment rights of lawful Americans. But Democratic lawmakers and progressive groups have signaled that they will continue this fight.
RICIN LADEN LETTER SENT TO BLOOMBERG
RELATED:
In a related story; responsible gun hugger runs amuck: A person of interest from Texas [New Boston] is under close scrutiny by the FBI for sending ricin laden letters to President Obama, New York mayor Bloomberg and Bloomberg' anti gun advocacy agency.
In a NFTOS exclusive, we have captured a photo of what appears to be ricin on the letter sent to Bloomberg. [see above photo]
The letter states:
"You will have to kill me and my family before you get my guns," the letter reads. "Anyone wants to come to my house will be shot in the face. The right to bear arms is my constitutional God-given right and I will exercise that right 'til the day I die. What's in this letter is nothing compared to what I've got planned for you."
Spoken like a true Guns Over People [GOP] fanatic! This is the problem with unlettered gun huggers, this is your brain on Texas Governor Rick Perry and Fox News. This is what happens when Americans fail to understand facts.
I refer to the statement issued by this Einstein - that its their "GOD given right" to bear arms. Please, anyone, point to a book, a verse, a quote in the bible where is says gun hugging is a GOD given right.
I make the point, that with unlettered delusional folks like this individual, and you gun nuts have the stones to wonder why I want your guns? If you're sending ricin laden letters to leaders of these great United States, you're the last one I want gun hugging!
Both these stories point to a bigger problem within these United States. There are only 4 million associates of the Not Relative Anymore [NRA] gun huggers society. Certainly with over 340 million Americans, our voice and actions can be bigger than the gun hugger. The bold emphasizing mention in this blog is, "in six months, guns have killed more than the entire Iraq war" [ten years]. C'mon America, we're better than this!
footnote:
Ricin is relatively easy to make with recipes and instructions available online. Experts do caution that people trying to concoct the toxin on their own risk poisoning themselves. It should also be noted at its most dangerous ricin can kill, though it is quite difficult to deliver a dose that intense. The toxin, which comes from castor beans, stops cells from synthesizing proteins so victims can suffer organ failure.
WHO SHALL GARNER THE COVETED TIN FOIL HAT OF THE GOP
Who is going to lead the GOP efforts to repeal Obamacare for the 38th time?
If you have not heard; been living under a rock, the queen "wacko-bird" is stepping down from office, and the number one query of America is, who takes the thrown to wear the crown jewel......who gets to wear the coveted grand poobah of tin foil hats?
The American Taliban's inability to grasp basic facts — their inability to recognize that they have a problem with facts... speaks to a broader problem, and now that the thrown is being vacated, who in this band of idiots will be the next fearless leader, the next town fool - to make a mockery of these great United States?
Below we pay homage [via MSNBC's evening line up], to the idiot that is Michele Bachmann. Bachmann's mistakes where often offensive, frequently outrageously callous, and recurrently dangerous. Bachmann is the type of "patriot" this country can do without.
The queen of the tin foil is hat is a prime example of stupid run amuck, a special kind of stupid if you will, "where everything on the internet must be true " kind of stupid.
Out of the lunatics in tin foil hat land, I like Ted Cruz chances best to take the reigns of the wacko birds, because we need another Bachmann - and while many fit the bill of "wacko-bird", Ted Cruz finds it a compliment. This is the kind of douche bag we need dawning the head dunce cap, by means of brilliant deduction, empirical wisdom if you will, Cruz is the guy for the job.
Ted " Brylcream Creem a little dab will do you" Cruz stands out alone to me as the sole heir to the American Taliban thrown, his ignorance is amassed by none, his chutzpah is historical, and his willingness to stand before America and be as clueless as Bachmann - is categorically epic!.
Below are six videos courtesy of MSNBC, which look at the legacy of Bachmann; and
a new successor to the tin foil thrown:
NFTOS has learned that Michelle Bachmann may be joining forces with Sarah Palin in a "Please pay me not to run for President" Bus Tour.
Andy Borowitz said it best about Bachmann: "When history writes about Michele Bachmann, her entire congressional legacy will only be found in the monologues of comedians."
MICHELE "BATSHIT CRAZY" BACHMANN SET TO LEAVE CONGRESS
Say it isn't so, Batshit crazy is to exit stage right in 2015? That's right readers, early this am, Michele Bachmann makes her first ever productive announcement as a congressperson - she will not be running in 2014 - this morning she uploaded an eight minute video to youtube calling it quits. [Much like her length of service, her good bye video was way too long.]
Bachmann shall be sorely missed here at NFTOS as she has made quite a name for herself - as the bombastic buffoon of the American Taliban, and yes, the average IQ of both the Intelligence committee and House of Representatives will rise exponentially when Michele Bachman is gone.
SAYING ITS OVER
Matt Taibbi once said of Bachmann:
[Michele] Bachmann is a religious zealot whose brain is a raging electrical storm of divine visions and paranoid delusions... Bachmann is exactly the right kind of completely batshit crazy... crazy in the sense that she's living completely inside her own mind, frenetically pacing the hallways of a vast sand castle she's built in there, unable to meaningfully communicate with the human beings on the other side of the moat, who are all presumed to be enemies.
Bachmann leaves behind one of the most politically heated Congressional careers in the organizations history. Her stances on major issues — and the initiatives she has pushed throughout her eight years — have been dangerous, insensitive, moronic, and down right Batshit crazy. Below is a look back at some of Bachmann’s most controversial Batshit moments:
"I don't know how much God has to do to get the attention of the politicians. We've had an earthquake; we've had a hurricane. He said, 'Are you going to start listening to me here?' Listen to the American people because the American people are roaring right now. They know government is on a morbid obesity diet and we've got to rein in the spending." –Rep. Michele Bachmann, suggesting at a presidential campaign event in Florida that the 2011 East Coast earthquake and hurricane was a message from God (Aug. 2011)
"Well what I want them to know is just like, John Wayne was from Waterloo, Iowa. That's the kind of spirit that I have, too" -Rep. Michele Bachmann, getting her John Waynes mixed up during an interview after launching her presidential campaign in Waterloo, Iowa, where she grew up. The beloved movie star John Wayne was born in Winterset, Iowa, three hours away. The John Wayne that Waterloo was home to is John Wayne Gacy, a notorious serial killer. (June 2011)
"I will tell you that I had a mother last night come up to me here in Tampa, Florida, after the debate. She told me that her little daughter took that vaccine, that injection, and she suffered from mental retardation thereafter." –Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN), on the HPV vaccine, Fox News interview, Sept. 12, 2011
"Why should I go and do something like that? But the Lord says, 'Be submissive wives; you are to be submissive to your husbands." -Rep. Michele Bachmann, recalling in a 2006 speech at a Megachurch in Minneapolis that pursuing tax law wasn't her choice, but she did so at the urging of her husband because she was certain God was speaking through him.
"I find it interesting that it was back in the 1970s that the swine flu broke out under another, then under another Democrat president, Jimmy Carter. I'm not blaming this on President Obama, I just think it's an interesting coincidence." -Rep. Michele Bachmann, on the 1976 Swine Flu outbreak that happened when Gerald Ford, a Republican, was president, April 28, 2009
"But we also know that the very founders that wrote those documents worked tirelessly until slavery was no more in the United States. ... I think it is high time that we recognize the contribution of our forbearers who worked tirelessly -- men like John Quincy Adams, who would not rest until slavery was extinguished in the country." -Rep. Michele Bachmann, botching American history while speaking at an Iowan's for Tax Relief event in January 2011. The Founding Fathers did not work to end slavery, and John Quincy Adams was not one of the Founding Fathers.
"Before we get started, let's all say 'Happy Birthday' to Elvis Presley today." -Rep. Michele Bachmann, while campaigning for president in South Carolina on what was actually the anniversary of Elvis's death, Aug. 16, 2011 (Elvis was born on January 8)
"I just take the Bible for what it is, I guess, and recognize that I am not a scientist, not trained to be a scientist. I’m not a deep thinker on all of this. I wish I was. I wish I was more knowledgeable, but I’m not a scientist."
"The President of the United States will be taking a trip over to India that is expected to cost the taxpayers $200 million a day."
"Carbon dioxide is natural, it is not harmful, it is a part of Earth’s lifecycle. And yet we’re being told that we have to reduce this natural substance, reduce the American standard of living, to create an arbitrary reduction in something that is naturally occurring in Earth."
"The big thing we are working on now is the global warming hoax. Its all voodoo, nonsense, hokum, a hoax."
"Lady Liberty and Sarah Palin are lit by the same torch."
"If we look at American history, between 1942 and 1947, the data that was collected by the Census Bureau was handed over to the FBI and other organizations at the request of President Roosevelt, and that’s how the Japanese were rounded up and put into the internment camps. I’m not saying that that’s what the Administration is planning to do, but I am saying that private personal information that was given to the Census Bureau in the 1940s was used against Americans to round them up, in a violation of their constitutional rights, and put the Japanese in internment camps."
BACHMANN CLAIMED ABOLISHING THE MINIMUM WAGE WOULD CREATE JOBS: While testifying in front of the Minnesota Senate in 2005, Bachmann said, “Literally, if we took away the minimum wage — if conceivably it was gone — we could potentially virtually wipe out unemployment completely because we would be able to offer jobs at whatever level.” This isn't remotely true. Even simply reducing the minimum wage would, as Paul Krugman noted, “at best do nothing for employment; more likely it would actually be contractionary.”
BACHMANN LIKENED VISITING IRAQ TO VISITING MALL OF AMERICA: In 2007, Bachmann returned from a junket to Iraq and told her colleagues, “[T]here’s a commonality with the Mall of America, in that it’s on that proportion. There’s marble everywhere.
BACHMANN CALLED FOR A CONGRESSIONAL WITCH HUNT: Pivoting off the news of Barack Obama’s alleged relationship to former Weather Underground member William Ayers, and his former pastor, Rev. Jeremiah Wright, Bachmann accused the candidate of having “anti-American views.” She then suggested that Congressional liberals — including Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid — ought to be subject to “an exposé” by the media because of their views. “I think people would love to see like that,” she told a stunned Chris Matthews.
BACHMANN SUGGESTED GAY SINGER SHOULD REPENT AFTER GETTING CANCER: Bachmann saw Melissa Etheridge’s cancer as a teachable moment: “Unfortunately she is now suffering from breast cancer, so keep her in your prayers,” she said in November 2004. “This may be an opportunity for her now to be open to some spiritual things, now that she is suffering with that physical disease. She is a lesbian.”
BACHMANN BOASTED ABOUT BREAKING THE LAW: In advance of the 2010 national Census, Bachmann told The Washington Times that she would break the law by not completing the forms. “I know for my family, the only question we will be answering is how many people are in our home,” she said. “We won’t be answering any information beyond that, because the Constitution doesn’t require any information beyond that.”
BACHMANN CLAIMED THAT GLENN BECK COULD SOLVE THE DEBT CRISIS: During a February trip to South Carolina, Bachmann told a South Carolina audience, “I think if we give Glenn Beck the numbers, he can solve this [the national debt].”
"We will talk a little bit about what has transpired in the last 18 months and would we count what has transpired into turning our country into a nation of slaves."
"This is an earthquake issue. This will change our state forever. Because the immediate consequence, if gay marriage goes through, is that K-12 little children will be forced to learn that homosexuality is normal, natural and perhaps they should try it."
"I don’t know where they’re going to get all this money because we’re running out of rich people in this country."
"There are hundreds and hundreds of scientists, many of them holding Nobel Prizes, who believe in intelligent design."
"Normalization (of gayness) through desensitization. Very effective way to do this with a bunch of second graders, is take a picture of ‘The Lion King’ for instance, and a teacher might say, ‘Do you know that the music for this movie was written by a gay man?’ The message is: I’m better at what I do, because I’m gay."
"I’m very concerned about the international moves they’re making, particularly … moving the United States off the dollar and onto a global currency, like Russia and China are calling for."
"If we took away the minimum wage — if conceivably it was gone — we could potentially virtually wipe out unemployment completely because we would be able to offer jobs at whatever level."
"It is horrific to know that in the African American community, 50 percent of all African American pregnancies in the United States end in abortion, 50 percent. That is a genocide of African Americans of the United States. It should not be. There are Americans all across this country who would love to adopt African American babies, but they can’t because 50 percent of all African American pregnancies today are ending in abortion."
"And what a bizarre time we’re in, when a judge will say to little children that you can’t say the pledge of allegiance, but you must learn that homosexuality is normal and you should try it."
"Unfortunately, the Census data has become very intricate, very personal, a lot of the questions that are asked. I know for my family, the only question we will be answering is how many people are in our home. We won’t be answering any information beyond that, because the Constitution doesn’t require any information beyond that."
"Un-elected bureaucracies will decide what we can and cant get in future health insurance policy. That's why they're called death panels."
"A woman (Terri Schiavo) was healthy. There was brain damage, there was no question. But from a health point of view, she was not terminally ill."
"[Pelosi] is committed to her global warming fanaticism to the point where she has said she has even said she is trying to save the planet. We all know that someone did that 2,000 years ago."
"Not all cultures are equal."
"But we also know that the very founders that wrote those documents worked tirelessly until slavery was no more in the United States."
"Carbon dioxide is portrayed as harmful. But there isn’t even one study that can be produced that shows that carbon dioxide is a harmful gas."
"I want people in Minnesota armed and dangerous on this issue of the energy tax because we need to fight back."
"I wish the American media would take a great look at the views of the people in Congress and find out: Are they pro-America or anti-America?"
"During the last 100 days we have seen an orgy. It would make any local smorgasbord embarrassed … The government spent its wad by April 26."
"(Gay marriage) is probably the biggest issue that will impact our state and our nation in the last, at least, thirty years. I am not understating that."
Bachmann claims that leaving congress is not due to; a potential heated race in Minnesota, a FBI investigation into misappropriated campaign funds, nor her possible violation into congressional ethics violations.
I am not sure who is the supreme benefactor in this deal, the state of Minnesota, or these great Untied States. Let's be clear readers, one less Batshit crazy American Talibaner making decisions about our lives is great news for all, but when a top General of stupid and radical right wing ideology is gone- its time for Congress and American's across this land to be rejoicing!
So much for this right wing nut jobs so-called Titanium spine. While the GOP's collective I.Q. may have just inched up a bit, they still have a long way to go to shed the stupid party mantle.
BOD DOLE SUGGESTS THAT TEA BAGGERS GO ON EXTENDED LEAVE AND FIX THEMSLEVES
Bob Dole scolded the GOP this past weekend saying that the Republican GOD Ronnie: "Reagan wouldn't make it today's GOP".
Former Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole (R-KS) told Fox News Sunday this week that the Senate Republicans are abusing the filibuster and that he doubts he, Richard Nixon, or Ronald Reagan could make it in today’s Republican Party.
Asked his thoughts on the modern GOP, Dole — a former Republican national chairman, the 1976 GOP vice presidential pick, and the 1996 Republican presidential nominee — suggested, to host Chris Wallace, that the party lacks any positive ideas and is no longer a place for even conservative Republicans like himself:
BOB DOLE
Dole, now 89, also took his own party to task for abuse of the Senate’s cloture rules. Wallace noted that “In your first two years as a Senator, there were 7 motions filed — cloture motions to end debate. In the last two years, there were 115 cloture motions,” and asked the five-term Senator whether it is inappropriate that due to minority obstruction it now takes a 60-vote super-majority to pass any legislation or confirm any nominees.
“No doubt about it,” Dole told him, “There are some cases where you could probably justify it, but not many.”
Who knew? Who knew just how many radical GOPers resided in the state of Virginia?
Virginia has had its share of lunatics this week oozing from the annuls of the slimy cesspool that is the Virginia GOP. Mark Obenshain, E.W. Jackson [ my personal favorite VA American Talibaner] and now, yet another believer - that pasty white old fashioned neocons - should have the right to be in women's vagina.
American Taliban of Virginia Treasurer Bob FitzSimmonds, a former aide to and “very close friend” of gubernatorial nominee Ken Cuccinelli II (R),toldVirginia blogger Ben Tribbett that he is “not a big fan of contraception, frankly.”
At last weekend’s state party convention, Tribbett asked FitzSimmon whether he supported the distribution of emergency contraception on college campuses. “I’m not a big fan of contraception, frankly,” the Republican Party official explained. “I think there are some issues, we’re giving morning-after pills to 12-year-olds, and pretty soon I guess we’ll hand them out to babies, I don’t know.”
FitzSimmonds also told Tribbett that sex education has caused the spread of sexually transmitted diseases: “I believe that we don’t recognize the causal effect between the type of sex education that we’ve been giving and the spread of STDs. We focus on things like abortion, cause it’s a big pressure thing. I go into schools 15-20 times a year, I run a non-profit that goes into schools and talks to kids about sex. They’re all abortion and HIV. HIV’s kind of hard to catch. Abortion happens if you get pregnant. But we’re on the track for 50 percent of the American people to have Herpes by the time these kids are my age. And that is a profound — not only health but sociological crisis facing this country.”
FitzSimmonds posted on his Facebook page shortly after last November’s election, “When Obama is 90 years old and he dies and goes to Hell, he is going to say ‘This is all Bush’s fault.’”
Ladies of Virginia and the United States, how you can vote for these overreaching Neanderthal-ish thugs is beyond me. Most women that we speak to are amazed at just how far Virginia's version of the American Taliban will go with the probing of women's vagina's. If your not on-board, then should these radical right wing nut jobs gain the offices they seek, then you truly get what you deserve!
Congratulations Bob FitzSimmonds, on memorial day weekend, you become the third Virginian [GOP version] this week - to be today's worst person in the world.
FIRST SCOUT CHIEF EXECUTIVE JAMES E. WEST WITH PRESIDENT ROOSEVELT
I have tried to stay out of this conversation, as the BSA is close and dear to my heart. My families history is long and deeply entrenched in scouting.
I have sat back and watched the American Taliban and their likes destroy, mock, and pillage [verbally] what my family worked so hard to build. I am not sure how my kin-folk would react or vote to gays in scouting, I can only speak for myself. But I can assure you, I'd take a million LBGT over one tea bagger any day of the week and twice on Sunday!
I hearken back to the words of Christ, and a lesson that these so called "Christians" fail to heed:
“Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven. Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.” – Jesus
This is my major problem with Christianity, Christians are so unlike their Christ!
The roughly 1,400 voting members of the Boy Scouts of America’s (BSA) National Council voted 61-38 percent Thursday to end the ban on gay youth participating in the program, but reaffirmed their policy of mandatory discrimination against LGBT leaders and volunteers.
The move — suggested by the national leadership as an attempted compromise — represents a modest step forward, but still comes as a disappointment to the thousands of Eagle Scouts,1.8 million Change.org petition signers, and the 56 percent of Americanswho want the BSA to end its anti-LGBT discrimination.
While the policy change will permit openly gay Scouts like Ryan Andresen to receive their Eagle Scout awards, it will still prevent openly lesbian parents like former Cub Scout Den Leader Jen Tyrrell from volunteering with their parent’s Scout units.
BSA President Wayne Perry wrote, in a USA Today op-edWednesday, that allowing LGBT leaders “would have conflicted with the majority of our partners, 70% of which are religious organizations, and would have disrupted our ability to deliver Scouting.” But in the same statement, he noted, the organization was “unaware of any major religious chartered organization that believes a youth member simply stating he or she is attracted to the same sex, but not engaging in sexual activity, should make him or her unwelcome in their congregation.”
This admission and the rule change seem to contradict the BSA’slong-standing rationale that “homosexual conduct is inconsistent with the requirements in the Scout Oath that a Scout be morally straight and in the Scout Law that a Scout be clean in word and deed, and that homosexuals do not provide a desirable role model for Scouts.” By finally admitting that being LGBT is not, itself, incompatible with being “morally straight” or “clean,” the justification for excluding adults purely on the basis of their sexual orientation seems to now be reduced to “some religious organizations prefer discrimination.”
The BSA’s Honorary President Barack Obama and former BSA national board member Mitt Romney agreed in their 2012 presidential campaign that the organization should stop discriminating based on sexual orientation — a view shared by corporate CEOs and more than 7,000 Eagle Scouts.
EARL WALKER JACKSON, AMERICAN TALIBAN LUNATIC FRINGE
Yes Virginia, something is rotten in your politics.Virginia's GOP primary election opened the door to the lunatic fringe, a fringe so extreme - that women beware.
Just when you though the fruit basket was full, out comes the three amigos, Ken Cuccinelli, Mark Obenshain, and E.W. Jackson.
While the other two are just as off the reservation as Jackson, let's concentrate on NFTOS' "worst person in the world" for this entire week, AKA E.W. Jackson.
Saints be praised, E.W. Jackson is just amazing. Aficionados of the GOP's new move towards abject batshit insanity have found a new poster boy in inexplicable Virginia Lt. Governor nominee E.W. Jackson:
E.W. Jackson is Allen West, but more prone to irrational fury. He's Louie Gohmert, but more incoherent. He's Steve King and Michele Bachmann, but with the hatefulness dialed up to eleven and a half. How the hell is it that the American Taliban just discovered this loon now? One would have thought they'd have shaken every tree in the conservative nut orchard by now, but no, this "Christian" seems to have been specially cloned in a American Taliban lunatic candidate vat.
If you were to put the dregs of conservative Internet comment sections into a pot, boil them down to their essence, then run the resulting product through a sieve to get it to its rawest, most pure form of vitriol, it would probably look something like E.W. Jackson’s Twitter feed.
Through much of President Obama’s first term, Jackson, who was nominated this past weekend as the Republican nominee for Virginia Lieutenant Governor, used his Twitter feed to attack gays, Muslims, Obama, and even Michael Jackson.
Thinkprogess sifted through each of Jackson's 662 tweets, and here are Jackson’s 20 most vitriolic tweets (in no particular order):
Homophobia
"The President has proclaimed June as Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Pride Month. Well that just makes me feel ikky all over. Yuk!" 8:34 AM - 3 Jun 2009
"If Bill Clinton was the "first black President," Barack Obama is the "first homosexual President," based on their respective affinities." 10:20 PM - 10 Oct 2009
"By allowing openb homosexuality, liberals have made clear that they are their own gods with their own morality." 11:24 PM - 19 Dec 2010
"This "Christian" Pres. believes homosexuality is right and the Bible is wrong. He thinks he's Pres. of Sodom & Gommorah! Or he'd like to be." 6:46 PM - 10 Oct 2009
"The homosexual movement is a cancer attacking vital organs of faith, family & military - repositories of traditional values." 12:25 PM - 12 Oct 2009
"Harvard endows first Gay, Les, Bisexual Transgendr Professorship. Named for Harvard Scholar who killed himself over Gay lover. What?" 11:50 PM - 3 Jun 2009
"Tony Perkins was disinvited as spkr at Andrews AFB because he opposed Obama promoting open homosexuality in the military. This the Gestapo?" 3:08 PM - 26 Feb 2010
"I am going to be at the Justice Dept. on Monday speaking at a press conference opposing the Hate Crimes Law as anti-Christian bigotry." 6:55 PM - 13 Nov 2009
Islamophobia:
"Did you know that Obama appointed 2 "devout Muslims" to the Homeland Security Department? Email me at stand@standamerica.us I'll forward it." 10:53 AM - 17 Nov 2009
"Frank Gaffney - Washgtn Times - wrote an excellent article on Obama & Islam. "First Muslim President?" Chk it out." 6:27 PM - 13 Jun 2009
Vitriolic attacks on Obama and Democrats:
"I do not believe Obama is the anti-Christ. But "Christians" who follow Obama would probably follow the Anti-Christ. Are they Christians?" 4:52 PM - 27 Sep 2009
"I love America. I love God. I am black. Obama does not love America & does not love God. His being black is not enough!" 11:37 AM - 14 Oct 2009
"Admittedly, for anybody willing to face the truth, Obama's radical anti-American, anti-Christian ideology was apparent." 4:08 PM - 14 Jul 2009
"Are Obama & his admin anti-semitic? They bow & shake hands with every two bit dictator, but feel the need to come down on Israel?" 2:29 PM - 14 Mar 2010
"Scott Brown was sent by voters as the 41st vote against Obamacare. So Obama's Marxist brigade decided "no more Senate votes." Democracy?" 8:06 AM - 21 Mar 2010
"I don't like to name call, but you have to be a disloyal idiot to stand with a foriegn leader who condemning your own country and citizens." 7:39 AM - 21 May 2010
"Obama & comrades are totalitarianists. Their Unholy Alliance will destroy this country if we let them. Uprising in 2010 elections!" 7:36 AM - 20 Dec 2009
"Can we repeal the Demoncrats who are giving us economic, social & military degeneration? No. I guess we just have to cast them out at the ..." 11:11 PM - 19 Dec 2010
Climate denial:
"Obama was apparently suppressing a report debunking the global warming hysteria. Transparency? Sure! Like an iron curtain." 7:30 PM - 29 Jun 2009
The death of Michael Jackson:
"When you worship a human as if he were God, you always end up with a dead god ala Michael Jackson." 5:35 PM - 27 Jun 2009
The first thing this Einstein should learn is, that every character you type on the internet,every site you visit - is a time stamp of your actions, and are always traceable to the owner.
Let's be clear fellow Virginian's, this "Christian" could be your next Lt. Governor! If you have been reading my blog for awhile, you know my favorite quote: "I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ." Mahatma Gandhi
E.W. Jackson words reflect nothing of our Christ, nor of a true Christian.
The tea baggers have sent a clear concise message when they nominated "the Cooch", E.W. Jackson, and Mark Obenshain - extreme radical 1200 B.C. governing. Extremist come in many forms, hence the name the "American Taliban"- at a time when Virginia is on the cusp of moving this state forward, or moving it back to the 1950's - where jobs, education and transportation should be at the forefront - we get men who take umbrage to boobs on state seals and women's personal parts.
We need men and women who are going to lead with the intent that all Virginian's move forward, not just the radical American Taliban [can't use "pasty whiten men" in this instance]. We need governance where the ideology is aligned with the times, not ideals from centuries long ago.
To the "Cooch", Obenshain, and Jackson, I say thanks but no thanks!
