Last Call For Dumb As An Iceberg

A CNN poll on global warming finds that after 7 years of asking the question, America's views on the subject haven't really changed much over the years.











Considering those numbers were 54%/20%/22%/4% in May 2007, it seems like we're stuck in a long-term rut of ignorance.  It explains why Republicans are quick to refer to global warming as "the Left's religion" so often.

President Obama—in his rush to embrace the Left’s climate change religion—wants to stand in the way of jobs. http://t.co/kUHmKda1os
— Gov. Bobby Jindal (@BobbyJindal) January 15, 2015

First of all, Bobby Jindal is a man with a biology degree and should know better, but he chooses not to.  Second, comparing belief in science to religious faith just serves to piss liberals off (ever the point of 90% of what Republicans do or say.)  Third, it puts religion on par with science in a way that equates them in validity, as modern Christian conservatives can be very good at dismissing other "religions" quite handily in order to feel more superior about their own beliefs.

So yes, it's a calculated strike, and an effective one.  We're effectively destroying science education in this country, and education in general.  A stupid, ignorant populace that can't think for thmeselves is easy to control.

Very easy.  You just need a cable news network.

Open Carry, Openly Hostile

Dear open carry advocates:

Get better open carry advocates, because these folks in Texas are the exact reason everyone thinks you're colossal assholes.

Open Carry Tarrant County's leader, Kory Watkins, posted video of one hostile visit to state Rep. Poncho Nevarez's (D) office to YouTube and Facebook. In the video, Nevarez tells the activists that he won't be voting in favor of HB195, to which they respond "you won't be here very long, bro" and "you need to find a new job, bro."

"As far as I'm concerned, you are a tyrant to the Constitution of the United States of America," one activist says.

Nevarez then tells the activists that they're no longer welcome and asks them to leave.

"I'm asking you to leave my state, 'cause you don't take your oath seriously," one activist responds. "Read the Constitution."

As Nevarez tries to close the door to his office behind them, an activist lodges his foot in the door frame to keep it open.

"What are you gonna do?" he challenges Nevarez.

Now, to be fair, another open carry group at the "Let's go stomp around our state capitol with our guns" rally kind of thought being openly hostile to lawmakers was, you know, a bad idea.  It got so bad that Texas lawmakers voted today to install panic buttons in their offices.

Following Open Carry Tarrant County's visit to the Capitol, the state House passed a rule change that allows its lawmakers to eject members of the public from their offices "at their discretion," according to the Chronicle. The rule change also allows House members to install panic buttons in their offices to alert the Department of Public Safety to disruptions.

Two points I'd like to make.

One, imagine a group of people went to your place of business, openly carrying and displaying rifles, told you that you "won't be here very long" and to "find a new job", called you a tyrant, and when you tried to de-escalate the confrontation by leaving, they put their foot in the door and asked you, while armed, "What are you gonna do?"  How is that in any way even remotely appropriate?  You know what attempting to change political policy through open displays of threatening behavior is known as?  Terrorism.

Would you as an open carry advocate go to your child's school, armed, to confront one of your children's teachers because you disagreed with them?  How about your own place of work?  Would you go to your boss's office, again, openly carrying, and when they tried to close their office door to get away from you, you put your foot in the door and say "What are you gonna do?"

Then why is it acceptable to do this to politicians, even if you don't like them?

Two, if this was a group of Latino or black men, openly carrying, in a government office, how many of them would be gunned down by police?  They'd be slaughtered before anyone could even ask to look for open carry permits of any type.  Not only would it not be tolerated, every single one of those open carry advocated would be dead or in jail within hours.  It would be a bloodbath.

Police in this country murder black and brown people weekly for the mere suggestion that they might be carrying an object that looks like it could be a weapon.  There is no way you'll ever convince me that open carry advocates would ever stand up for a group of armed black men walking around their neighborhood for any reason. period, point blank.

So no, open carry people?  Take your nonsense elsewhere.  It's 100% about you being a bully, and reveling in white privilege, a privilege that you would never allow anyone who looked like me to have without risking my life.

No thanks.

Secret Service Shakeup

The closet full of other shoes have dropped on the US Secret Service after last October's firing of Director Julia Pierson, and it looks like after a thorough personnel review that heads are rolling across the board on the agency's top positions.

The Secret Service has decided to remove four of its most senior officials while a fifth has decided to retire, the biggest management shake-up at the troubled agency since its director resigned in October after a string of security lapses, according to people familiar with internal discussions. 

The departures would gut much of the Secret Service’s upper management, which has been criticized by lawmakers and administration officials in recent months for fostering a culture of distrust between agency leaders and its rank-and-file, and for making poor decisions that helped erode quality. 

Acting Director Joseph P. Clancy on Tuesday informed the four assistant directors who oversee the Secret Service’s core missions of protection, investigations, technology and public affairs that they must leave their posts within 30 days. 

If they do not resign or retire, they can report for a new assignment with the Secret Service’s parent agency, the Department of Homeland Security, according to people familiar with the discussions. 

The assistant director in charge of training, who also headed President Obama’s protective detail, announced in recent weeks that he would retire.

“Change is necessary to gain a fresh perspective on how we conduct business,” Clancy said in a statement to The Post. “I am certain any of our senior executives will be productive and valued assets either in other positions at the Secret Service or the department.”

I understand that the Secret Service has arguably the toughest job in America.  I also understand that that the repeated failures by the agency are unacceptable.  So yes, the agency's assistant directors getting the boot after Director Pierson was forced out makes perfect sense.

Luckily the President hasn't been harmed, and 98% of the time the USSS came through.  It has to be 100% however.

I'm hoping now that the agency will be able to get back to work.  That is if the Republicans don't use this as an excuse to make more cuts.

StupidiNews!

• Nine months after a botched lethal injection procedure, Oklahoma has resumed executions with the death of Charles Frederick Warner, convicted of rape and murder of an 11-month-old girl.
• A Nebraska state school board member is blaming others for posts on his blog referring to President Obama as a "half-breed".
• Belgian police have rounded up more than a dozen suspects in the wake of an anti-terror raid that killed two more men in what Brussels says was a plot for Paris-style attacks in the Belgian capital.
• Foreign currency traders wee stunned after yesterday's surprise move by the Swiss National Bank to remove the currency cap against the euro, a move that caused a record surge in the Swiss franc.
• SpaceX CEO Elon Musk says he will build a test track for his Hyperloop transportation system, with Texas the leading candidate for the location.

Last Call For Madam President

The latest Pew Research poll on women in politics and business has more than a few interesting findings, but this one shouldn’t surprise anyone:

Yep, only 16% of Republican men would hope to see a female president in the US in their lifetime, and only 20% of Republican women do. You betcha. Also, too.

Seriously, Republican women?  You don't want to see a woman in the White House?  Is it because of Hillary specifically, or is it because there's no way your party full of misogynist jackasses would ever nominate a woman for the Oval Office, and you're all resigned to the fact that any woman in the White House would have to be a Democrat?

The Other Purity Caucus

It looks like the die hards in the House GOP has had enough of the Republican Study Committee, the unofficial Tea Party Caucus, and one that has grown to encompass nearly three quarters of the House GOP.  Now the "real conservatives" are splintering off to form their own caucus of...something.

House conservatives are plotting a mass exodus from the Republican Study Committee as soon as next week over simmering dissatisfaction with the group's direction.

The members have been talking for weeks, and they met Monday night to formalize their plans to institutionalize a competing, invitation-only organization that they see as a real conservative caucus that can push Speaker John Boehner rightward. Once a bastion for the conservative movement, the RSC has strayed too far from its original mission and been co-opted by the same party leaders it is meant to exert pressure upon, the members believe.

Republican leaders will be watching closely: Any divisions among conservatives might dilute the right's ability to influence the leadership on key issues like immigration and spending, though the RSC has always been stocked with independent-minded members who never really took marching orders from the group anyway.

The new group, which does not yet have a name but is expected to include more than 30 members, is being de-facto led by former RSC Chairman Jim Jordan, although the formal leadership structure could change. It will also include Rep. Mick Mulvaney, who lost an election to become the chairman last year, disappointing many conservatives. The other founders are Reps. Justin Amash, Ron DeSantis, John Fleming, Scott Garrett, Raul Labrador, Mark Meadows, and Matt Salmon. Most but not all of those members are expected to renounce their RSC memberships, along with other members who will join the group.

Many of the members will meet Tuesday evening with Sen. Ted Cruz to discuss their plans and other matters over pizza, though Cruz himself has not been involved in the formation of the new group. Cruz's chief of staff, Paul Teller, was fired from his role as RSC executive director in 2013 after provoking the ire of party leaders and some members of the group.

Looks like the long-predicted conserva-schism has finally and officially arrived.  Maybe it will allow Boehner to consolidate more power, maybe it will wreck his day, but either way, Republicans are going to be fighting themselves and not concentrating on Obama.  That's a good thing.

So keep up that GOP civil war, guys.  No better way to prove to America that you never intended to govern, only to destroy.

The Gold And Weed Party

Sen. Rand Paul has a new campaign manager for his 2016 adventure in Glibertarianland.

The hiring of strategist Chip Englander, who recently guided a gubernatorial candidate to victory in Illinois, marks a clear step forward for the Kentucky Republican as he prepares to transform his cadre of loyalists into a full-scale campaign. 

Doug Stafford, Paul’s longtime confidant, will remain as his chief political adviser. In an interview Tuesday, Stafford said he will rely on Englander “for the day-to-day execution” of Paul’s operation. 

The move underscores Paul's unorthodox approach to presidential politics and his expected candidacy, with plans to put an emphasis on outreach to the poor and younger voters while also courting conservative activists in early-primary states. 

In an interview Tuesday, Englander argued that Paul’s unconventional positions would lay the foundation for a potent Republican coalition. Paul has articulated mostly non-interventionist views on foreign policy, while taking hardline stances against tax hikes and President Obama’s health-care law domestically. 

“America has intractable problems and it’s going to take a transformational leader to fix them,” Englander said. “Senator Paul is going to be the bold, transformational figure in this race.”

Rand Paul's view is of a federal government that can't afford to pretty much do anything, ever.  That all gets left to the states to tell people how to live their lives.  Also, weed.  Hope this guy works out better than the last campaign hire Rand made, who ended up being only marginally better than the guys working for his dad's campaign.

But it's another sign that Rand is gearing up to lose in 2016.  Should be a fun trip.

StupidiNews!

• It took 19 days, but two men became the first to free climb Yosemite's famous El Capitan summit by the steepest and most dangerous route, the Dawn Wall.
• The GOP has set July 18-21, 2016 as the date of their national convention in Cleveland, a full month ahead of their 2012 convention schedule.
• Communications giant Samsung has reportedly made a $7.5 billion offer to buy BlackBerry to arm itself in its continuing battle against Apple.
• Pope Francis will visit the Philippines today to celebrate with Asia's most Catholic country and home to one-eighth of the world's Catholics.
• Facebook is finally beta-testing its long-rumored corporate social networking alternative to LinkedIn and Yammer called Facebook at Work.

Last Call For Number Three

Slate's John Dickerson:

Mitt Romney never "genuinely" believes anything.

Supporters say that what’s still true about Romney is that he has the skills that would be useful in the White House. Since his defeat, a series of management failures in government agencies like the IRS, Veterans Affairs, and the botched rollout of Obamacare have demonstrated a need for someone with Romney’s talent for turning around big institutions. Romney and his boosters also say his foreign policy assessment about Russia was validated after the election, giving him standing in a field that at the moment doesn’t contain anyone with substantial foreign policy experience.

Romney’s supporters also say that while he may have flaws, other candidates do too and he has advantages they don’t have. He has run before and they describe him as more relaxed and looser. With his name recognition and ability to raise ready cash, Romney could possibly take advantage of a shortened campaign calendar that party strategists say will favor well-funded candidates who can compete in multiple states and afford the complicated delegate husbanding operation.

The big question for Romney to consider is this: Now that he has enjoyed a resuscitation of his reputation among Republicans, could he handle coming in fifth in a primary or enduring the everyday indignities of a modern campaign? That would be an especially deep price to pay if he shows the more personal side that he—and particularly his wife, Ann Romney—believe he was never allowed to show in the last race.

I honestly don't know who's the bigger idiot, Mitt or the people who enable him.

Seriously, Mitt may think he's entitled to the White House by dint of being Mitt Romney, and yeah, 60 million people voted for him.  It's possible he could win.

Two losses to Obama says he can't.

Three Days Of The Orange

A not-so-gentle reminder that as many death threats as President Obama gets, he's far from the only person in DC to get them.

Ebola, evil voices and the devil.

Those are just a few of the things a Butler County bartender cited as reasons he was going to kill House Speaker John Boehner this past fall, federal agents said.

Michael Robert Hoyt, 44, was indicted Jan. 7 on charges of threatening to murder the congressman in a plot police said included poisoning his drink at a country club.

Hoyt served drinks to Boehner for more than five years at the Wetherington Country Club in West Chester and was known as “Bartender Mike” to employees there.

Hoyt called police on Oct. 29, a week after being fired from the club, and blamed Boehner for his woes, police said.

When officers visited Hoyt at his home on Matson Avenue in Deer Park, they said the plot thickened.

“Hoyt told the officer he was Jesus Christ and he was going to kill Boehner because Boehner was mean to him at the country club and because Boehner is responsible for Ebola,” United States Capitol Police (USCP) Special Agent Christopher M. Desrosiers said. “Hoyt advised he had a loaded Beretta .380 automatic and he was going to shoot Boehner and take off.”

Officers said Hoyt told them he regretted not having enough time to put something in Boehner’s drink. It was also discovered Hoyt emailed Boehner’s wife about the plot a day before he called police, Desrosiers said.

Wetherington is just about as swanky as country clubs get up in Butler County, the heart of Boehner Country, in the suburbs north of Cincy. Boehner's an asshole and he's a terrible Speaker of the House, but that's not an excuse for this idiocy.

Liz Warren Gets The Win...Maybe

The battle over Deputy Treasury Secretary Antonia Weiss is over, and Liz Warren has prevailed over the Obama administration. Weiss has withdrawn his name from consideration.  Chuck Pierce:

This, of course, is the handiwork of Senator Professor Warren, who put together a coalition against Weiss's nomination that ran from, well, her, all the way over to Joe Manchin (D-Bituminous) that fought Weiss's nomination. Weiss will get some job at the Treasury that doesn't require him to go through that pesky confirmation process in which he would have to explain how getting $20 mil from his current employers just for taking a government job isn't merely a pro-active brib...er...retainer. Too bad. I was looking forward to how he would explain that one to the Senator Professor.

Already, of course, the financial press is agog at the whole notion that the Senator Professor actually would do what she said she would do. This kind of thing makes for a nice "narrative," but trying to break the grip of the financial-service industrial complex over the institutions that are supposed to regulate it, well, my dear Ms. Warren, this simply is not done. 

Most of Weiss' banking experience is in international mergers and acquisitions, and he spent much of his career overseas. As Treasury undersecretary for domestic finance, he would have been responsible for decisions on national debt, consumer policy, and Treasury stability. A number of former Treasury officials thought Warren was way out of line, and that Weiss' experience was perfect for the position he was being nominated for.

Here's the "number of Treasury officials" who thought the Senator Professor was "out of line." Two of them worked for the Avignon Presidency, whose stewardship of the national economy you may remember from the days when you were sleeping in a van down by the river. The point of opposing Weiss was to demonstrate clearly that the interests of the financial-services industrial complex, and the interests of the political entity known as the United States of America, are not always in line with each other, and that the former has to be accountable -- seriously accountable -- to the latter, as inconvenient as that may be to people like Antonio Weiss who, I assure you, will be doing just fine. This also is not merely a symbolic victory. This is a demonstration that business is not as usual any more. There are serious policy implications to that simple fact.

The fact is Liz Warren walked up to President Obama, told him to go to hell, and followed through.  This nomination wasn't sunk by the GOP.  It was sunk by Liz Warren, period.

Say what you will about party loyalty.  She picked her fight and won, which is more than I can say for basically any other Democrat in Congress in the last two years.

Having said that, the key is to look what happens next.  Weiss will still end up in Treasury, his replacement will still be somebody from Wall Street, but Liz Warren already made her point.  It's a win for Weiss, for President Obama, and for Sen. Warren.

For us, eh.  Not so much.

StupidiNews!

• As the latest issue of French weekly Charlie Hebdo goes on sale today, Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula is taking responsibility for last week's deadly Paris attacks.
• House Speaker John Boehner says that House Republicans will fund the Department of Homeland Security in a bill this week, but block any funds for President Obama's immigration orders.
• Flooding in the southern African country of Malawi this week has killed at least 48 as President Peter Mutharika has declared half the country to be a disaster area.
• The World Bank has cut back its global economic outlook for 2015 in Europe and Asia, leaving the US as the strongest economy this year.
• President Obama is taking aim at state laws designed to limit internet provider competition by keeping cities from providing municipal broadband internet access.

Last Call For Meet The New Austerity Guy

Same as the old austerity guy.  Georgia Republican Tom Price is taking over for Paul Ryan as chair of the House Budget Committee, and where Ryan was good at lying about wanting to wreck Social Security and Medicare, Price really doesn't give a damn.

"What I’m hopeful is what the Budget Committee will be able do is to is begin to normalize the discussion and debate about Social Security. This is a program that right now on its current course will not be able to provide 75 or 80 percent of the benefits that individuals have paid into in a relatively short period of time," he said at a Heritage Action for America event in Washington, D.C., according to AJC. "That’s not a responsible position to say, ‘You don’t need to do anything to do it.’"

Price, whose predecessor Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) never put forward major reform proposals in his otherwise ambitious budgets, offered means-testing and increasing the eligibility age as possibilities. He also hinted at privatizing Social Security.

"All those things ought to be on the table and discussed," he said.

Somehow I think means testing will vanish very quickly from Price's repertoire of "what's on the table".   That leaves raising the eligibility age into the 70's and of course the big one, privatization.  The key here is that Ryan was smart enough to not try to force a government shutdown over Social Security by putting it in the budget talks (and smarter still not to get involved in the clown car mess).  Price apparently is looking for that fight as soon as possible.

We'll see if Democrats can stand up to him, and what can get through the Senate.

New tag: Tom Price.  He's a pretty important guy these days.

Putting On A Clinic

While Republicans are busy trying to fight Obamacare battles from 2010, the retail world and American health consumers are both moving on toward making affordable health care more available with the rise of retail, in-store clinics in drugstores, grocery stores, and Wal-Marts.

Patients suffering everyday complaints like chest colds or ankle sprains have long faced the lamentable choice between waiting days to see their family doctors or enduring time-sucking, unpleasant and expensive visits to hospital emergency rooms, especially at night and on weekends when physicians typically aren't open for business. It's one of the most annoying aspects of the way medical care is provided in the United States.

Big chains like CVS, Walgreens and Walmart are stepping in to try to correct this market failure. These and other retailers are opening hundreds of new walk-in clinics, staffed by medical professionals such as nurse practitioners and physician assistants. They're betting that Americans craving speed, convenience and easy-to-understand prices will be willing to break their habit of expecting a doctor to handle all of their medical issues.

"People are demanding health care to react similarly to other service industries, where people have a need and they want it relatively easy," said Nancy Gagliano, a primary care physician and chief medical officer for CVS Health's MinuteClinic. "The traditional health care system really is not adequate to support the need."

Although still vastly outnumbered by doctors' offices and hospitals, retail clinics are spreading rapidly: There currently are almost 1,900 across the U.S., up more than sevenfold since 2007, according to data compiled by Merchant Medicine, a consulting firm that tracks the sector.

Remember, the Republican argument is that Obamacare was going to make health care both unaffordable and unavailable, and that Americans were going to have to wait weeks to see a doctor for even minor health issues.  The obvious solution, staffing retail clinics with physicians' assistants and nurse practitioners, frees up emergency rooms, urgent care centers, and doctor's offices for more serious medical issues.  Since the Affordable Care Act was passed, the number of these clinics have increased by more than 50%.  I've been to one myself (a Walgreen's clinic) and got prompt service, and they took my insurance.

You're going to see more of these around in the coming years I think, and it's a good thing.  And it's important to remember that the Affordable Care Act made staffing these clinics a lot easier and here in Kentucky these clinics accept Kynect health plans as well as expanded Medicaid, and the electronic medical records provisions allows these clinics to share visit information with your doctor the next time you do visit them.

It's a good idea and I think we need more of these.

The Blue Dog Class Of 2018 May Change Jobs

Given the fact that we sit at home and complain rather than vote in midterm elections, is it any wonder that red state Blue Dog Senate Dems facing a tough 2018 midterm race are instead considering a much easier 2016 gubernatorial race in their respective states?

The 2014 Republican rout left just five red-state Democrats in the Senate — and three of them are thinking about an early exit, decisions that could complicate Democrats’ plans to take back the chamber in 2016 and beyond.

Democratic Sens. Joe Manchin of West Virginia, Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota and Claire McCaskill of Missouri, all of whom are up for reelection in 2018, are flirting with bids for governor next year instead. If they follow through and win, Democrats fear they’ll open up seats that could favor the GOP. And if they lose, their chance for reelection to the Senate could plunge too.

A McCaskill spokesman said the two-term senator is deciding which office would give her the greatest platform to deliver for Missourians, as well as how it might affect her family. Heitkamp’s office won’t address the gubernatorial rumors, but wary North Dakota Republicans are considering a plan to tinker with the state’s Senate vacancy law. Manchin has said that if the partisan fever in Washington doesn’t break soon, he’ll consider running for governor again.

All three have had gubernatorial ambitions for years: Manchin was elected to two terms as West Virginia’s governor before choosing to run in a 2010 special election to replace longtime Sen. Robert Byrd after Byrd’s death. Heitkamp was defeated in the 2000 governor’s race by Republican John Hoeven, with whom she now serves in the Senate. McCaskill lost narrowly to Matt Blunt in the 2004 gubernatorial contest and now serves alongside Blunt’s father, GOP Sen. Roy Blunt.

The three senators will weigh gubernatorial bids in 2016 against staying in the Senate and facing voters in the 2018 midterms. The past two midterms were disastrous for Democrats, though a new president in 2017 and an improving economy could scramble that dynamic. Still, the loss of up to three proven candidates — who represent states increasingly hostile to Democrats — would be, at minimum, a setback for the party.

Granted, if this is the path they choose it means this sets up battles in those states to choose replacement senators and whatnot, but given that we don't care about midterm elections (not enough to vote in them anyway) do you blame them?

The best part is these are red states, so odds are they will run and lose anyway (Manchin might actually win, but McCaskill and Heitkamp will probably lose big no matter what they do.)  We'll lose more Dem Senate seats, and that means even if we do get the Senate back in 2016, we'll give it right back in 2018.  Probably explains why after this Politico piece went up, Sen. McCaskill immediately denied she was going to run for Governor in Missouri.

Of course, if Democrats voted in midterm elections, this wouldn't be as much of a problem, now would it?