Come for the politics, stay for the snark.
I wish Oliver had done this piece before the primaries, when it might have had more of an effect on his wrap-up…
“Between the lack of accountability and the bad behavior, state [legislatures] are not so much the laboratories of government, as the frat houses of government. And yet, they get no attention. Perhaps that’s because it’s very hard for us to be angry with people whose names we don’t know…”
Trigger warning: Probably NSFW, especially for those of us whose family members have “unresponsive to treatment” mental illness, because here are all of your worst fears and shameful secrets spelled out. But it’s a powerful, and important, story.
Stephanie McCrummen, in the Washington Post:
HE WAKES UP, and even before he opens his eyes, he can see his beautiful, delusional son.
Gus, Creigh Deeds thinks.
He lies in bed a few minutes more, trying to conjure specific images. Gus dancing. Gus playing the banjo. Gus with the puppies. Any images of Gus other than the final ones he has of his 24-year-old, mentally ill son attacking him and then walking away to kill himself, images that intrude on his days and nights along with the questions that he will begin asking himself soon, but not yet. A few minutes more. Gus fishing. Gus looking at him. Gus smiling at him. Time to start the day.
He gets out of bed, where a piece of the shotgun he had taken apart in those last days of his son’s life is still hidden under the mattress. He goes outside to feed the animals, first the chickens in the yard and then the horses in the red-sided barn. He leads the blind thoroughbred outside with a bucket of feed, the same bucket he was holding when he saw Gus walking toward him — “Morning, Bud,” he said; “Morning,” Gus said, and began stabbing him — and then he goes back inside…
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… Gus’s mother had him evaluated. Gus was given a diagnosis of bipolar disorder, and at some point that Deeds cannot remember, he was told about it. His son had a mental illness.“I never wanted to believe that about my son,” Deeds says. “I just wanted to get him back.”
I just love this stuff- the amount of self delusion that must go into contorting ones self to not only privately think it, but to go on record, is just astounding:
Economist Ben Stein believes the White House is playing the race card in an effort to get African-Americans to vote against Republicans.
Speaking to Fox News, Stein called President Barack Obama the most racist president in U.S. history.
“The president is the most racist president there has ever been in America,” Stein said. “He is purposely trying to use race to divide Americans.”
Stein claimed that Obama and other Democrats are trying to portray the GOP as anti-black.
“What the White House is trying to do is racialize all politics and they’re especially trying to tell the African-American voter that the GOP is against letting them have a chance at a good life in this economy, and that’s just a complete lie.”
Stein continued: “I watch with fascination – with incredible fascination – all the stories about how the Democratic politicians, especially Hillary [Clinton], are trying to whip up the African-American vote and say, ‘Oh, the Republicans have policies against black people in terms of the economy.’ But there are no such policies.”
I’m not even going to bother mentioning the results of trickle down economics or the voter id and other voter suppression laws or the disparate treatment minorities receive by the justice system. What’s the point? If you find yourself agreeing with Ben Stein on this, nothing I can say is going to persuade you.
An Oldie but Goodie- Obama’s the REAL RacistPost + Comments (133)
By now you have heard that Brittany Maynard has taken her own life rather than suffer any more, a choice I wholly support, and there has been a lot of really stupid god-bothering critique. This comment at Hot Air, however, is my absolute favorite:
My personal belief is that people who commit suicide continue to exist as spirits after their temporal death, and will have a one-on-one interview with Christ; I think those who made bad choices but had no evil intent will have the chance to repent, and can be forgiven.
I think it is the same for those who do not believe there is any God who will judge their actions: some of them will choose wisely and do much good in the world, and some will not, but the judgment of God will be suited to their intent and degree of knowledge.
Those who do believe that God exists, and that His will is contrary to theirs, deliberately twist the perception of their evil choices so that they appear “good”, which is tantamount to a declaration that they do not believe they have done anything wrong that needs forgiveness, and thus they deny the Atonement of Christ and reject His saving grace; that is what is meant by blaspheming the Holy Ghost, who is the Testifier to our consciences of God’s existence and His will.
(This twisting is extreme in the case of IS and Boko Haram and their ilk, but also is done by abortion-sponsoring “Christian” legislators and politicians.)
The commission of the “unforgivable sin” takes sustained and deliberate effort to commit.
“My own personal belief…” Translation- we’re all just making shit up, so here is my entry.
Here’s my personal belief, which, oddly enough, coincides with Brittany Maynard’s own statements (I find it useful to take people at their word when I have no reason not to)- she was dying of a horrible, debilitating, painful disease, withering away and going through sheer hell, so as is her right, she chose to stop the suffering. That’s pretty straight forward. Why do we need to make up all the other gobbledygook about sinners and job interviews with Jeebus?
Why can’t these people just mind their own damned business and shut up?
(Ben Sargent via GoComics.com)
Am I an irredeemable “partyist” if this sounds kinda attractive?… From the NY Post:
Democrats are telling voters that they had better head to the polls — or else.
The New York State Democratic Committee is bullying people into voting next week with intimidating letters warning that it can easily find out which slackers fail to cast a ballot next Tuesday.
“Who you vote for is your secret. But whether or not you vote is public record,” the letter says.
“We will be reviewing voting records . . . to determine whether you joined your neighbors who voted in 2014.”
It ends with a line better suited to a mob movie than a major political party: “If you do not vote this year, we will be interested to hear why not.”…
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Apart from exasperation at the Both Sides liars & idiots, what’s on the agenda for the evening?
Open Thread: “Democrats: Vote or we’ll kick your ass”Post + Comments (40)
The democrats are going to get wiped out tomorrow, I wouldn’t be shocked if the school levy here is defeated, there is effectively no state party apparatus in WV anymore, the media is completely failing us, and all I see on my twitter feed is some bullshit about a seven year old Lena Dunham playing doctor with her sister.
“Democracy is the theory that the common people know what they want, and deserve to get it good and hard.”
Oh, and Tom Magliozzi died. Which sucks. A lot.
I’ve tried to avoid marinating in political punditry as best I can over the last few days…longer, really. Who wants to watch ambulatory genital warts like Ron Fournier and Byron York fabricate elephant-themed window treatments for Harry Reid’s office? Nope.
There are trend pieces on how President Obama needs to play ball with Republicans (where “ball” = “unpinned grenade” to anyone who has paid even the most cursory attention for the past six years). But I haven’t seen much on why non-Republicans are even within striking distance in deep-red states like Kansas and Georgia. Why is that?
Here in Florida, we appear to have a better-than-even chance of ousting Governor Voldemort. Of course, it’s disgraceful that it’s even close, but here we are. My hope is that the little electric fan was the seventh Horcrux. Should Crist prevail, there will be great rejoicing at the Cracker Compound.
Among his many hideous offenses as a human being, governor and fashion icon, Governor Scott wears cowboy boots emblazoned with the official Seal of the Great State of Florida. No, really — I’m not making this up:
The better to stomp our rights with, my dears. It makes me happy to picture him watching the returns Tuesday night and then ripping the boots off and flinging them into the back of his 1,500 square-foot closet in a snit when he realizes the voters have used their own boots to kick his worthless, thieving ass to the curb. Please make it so, FSM.
Please feel free to talk about whatever.