Is Anybody Out there .........

Charles Pierce is so fucking right it hurts The Gadfly's head......

It should not be necessary to point this out (again) but human beings cannot live without clean water. This simple fact seems lost on John Boehner and the crazoids of his monkeyhouse, who are currently in atmospheric dudgeon because the president acted to keep clean water available around the country.

It should not be necessary to point this out (again) but without water, people get sick and then they die. That's the way it works in India and that's the way it works in Detroit. That's the way it works now. That's the way it will work in the future.

http://www.esquire.com/news-politics/politics/news/a35321/detroit-is-cutting-peoples-water-off-again/


This shit should really wake up the  average reality-tv watching moron's head .......... but the average shmoe in this country just doesn't get it ...

They don't get that the oligarchs are playing 5 card stud with they and their kid's futures.

The Gadfly is so fucking tired of sending out these warning messages .. and most of you just sit there like properly trained mutts.............forgive The Gadfly if he offends ..... it's just so god damn frustrating and heartbreaking.

Jim Bob Duggar is a "moral leader" on the right .... the guy with this platform:

[ click pic to enlarge ]

How fucked up is that??  Will nobody stand up to these fucking lunatics?

Is anybody out there?  Is anybody paying attention to this shit??

Sigh ...... this country has so lost it's moral way, it's not even fucking funny.


It''s really not.



----TFG

Conservative Viewer: Turn on Fox "News" - Wash Brain...Rinse...Repeat....

One of those, "welcome to the club" and "better late than never" stories, but The Gadfly is always humbly grateful to receive validation of some of his dirty hippie views from his ideological counterparts:

Eonomist Bruce Bartlett, a former adviser to both Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush, warned over the weekend that Fox News had damaged the Republican Party by creating a bubble for conservatives to brainwash themselves.

In his paper “How Fox News Changed American Media and Political Dynamics” published earlier this month, Bartlett theorized that watching the network was essentially “self-brainwashing” for viewers, making them believe that the United States was a more conservative nation than it actually was. And so the Republican Party had responded by running radical conservatives that representative Fox News viewers, but not the true state of the electorate.

“Many conservatives live in a bubble where they watch only Fox News on television, they listen only to conservative talk radio — Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, many of the same people,” Bartlett told CNN’s Brian Stelter on Sunday. “When they go onto the Internet, they look at conservative websites like National Review, Newsmax, World Net Daily.”

“And so, they are completely in a universe in which they are hearing the same exact ideas, the same arguments, the same limited amount of data repeated over and over and over again. And that’s brainwashing.”

http://www.rawstory.com/2015/05/ex-reagan-adviser-fox-news-is-self-brainwashing-republicans-into-a-radical-fringe-party/


Bruce Bartlett's conservative credentials are at the St. Ronaldus Magnus level.  If he says Fox "News" is brainwashing it's viewers, who is The Gadfly to argue with him?

None of this is new information to The Gadfly it must be noted.  One can peruse the past 5 years of The Gadfly's postings and and find numerous instances where The Gadfly presented unimpeachable evidence as to Fox's use of it's airwaves to unethically manipulate the ideological views of their audience.

And not only that -- the fact that study, after study, after study has shown that people who get all of their "news" and information from Fox are some of the least informed people around, just simply cements the reality of what it is that they are all about.

Nonetheless - thank you Mr. Bruce Bartlett for being honest enough to identify controlled, mass ignorance when you see it.



----TFG

The Farce Is Strong In This One . . . . . .

Wisconsin's Teabagger senator Ron Johnson evidently is in the throes of some major, self-righteous butthurt.  Why for might you ask dear reader?  Apparently the clown is of the belief that 'The Lego Movie' is some form of leftist, anti-business propaganda.  And no - The Gadfly is not making this shit up.

Observe:

A concerted propaganda effort underway in America has created a "cultural attitude" in which people believe "government is good and business is bad," Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) told a local reporter for WisPolitics.com.

Johnson said the latest evidence of this propaganda campaign is "The Lego Movie," in which the bad guy is a heartless businessman intent on destroying the world for profit. "That's done for a reason," Johnson said. "They're starting that propaganda, and it's insidious."

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/05/28/lego-movie-scripted-by-karl-marx_n_7462068.html


One wonders if this bloviating asshat has ever seen an obscure old 1940's flick which highlighted the callousness and evilness of big greedy business . . . . that name of that movie was ummm ...... hmmm ... it's right on the tip of The Gadfly's dirty old leftist tongue.... ohh yes - that's it .. 'It's A Wonderful Life'.  One of the most celebrated movies in American cinematic history.

Remember the greedy old local businessman Henry Potter who was scheming to shut down good guy George Bailey's little savings and loan business which was committing the crime of putting humanity before profit by helping the town's residents recover from the Great Depression?  Remember that little story?

The Gadfly thinks that if someone recited the plot line of 'It's A Wonderful Life' to Ron Johnson, the man would positively have a full-on, shit-flinging kiniption fit.

Anyhow, this isn't a story which The Gadfly feels is worthy of spending too much time writing about, but for the simple fact that it absolutely is additional prima facie evidence of just how mentally unstable that a great many of these Tea Party political all-stars truly are.



----TFG

Ewwwwwwwwwwww!! .........

[ click pic to enlarge ]

This is the billionaire sugar daddy that the GOP clown car hopefuls have been sidling up to and thigh rubbing with .....

A judge in Las Vegas has ruled that a lawsuit involving accusations of graft and organised crime ties to casinos owned by the multibillionaire and Republican party funder, Sheldon Adelson, will be heard in the US.

The decision raises the prospect of Adelson facing difficult questions about his business practices following allegations by a former chief executive of his highly profitable casinos in the Chinese enclave of Macau that a well-known triad crime figure was used to bring in high-rolling gamblers and of influence peddling with Chinese officials.

The case potentially has implications for Adelson’s Las Vegas Sands casinos because evidence of ties to criminal organisations could cost them their gaming licences.

It could also have a bearing on the 81-year-old billionaire’s considerable political influence. He is estimated to have spent $150m in a failed bid to secure a Republican victory over Barack Obama in the last presidential election and is being vigorously courted by Republican candidates in the next race.

http://thinkprogress.org/election/2015/04/24/3650498/gop-sheldon-adelson-primary/


Well ... The Gadfly cannot for the life of him understand why anyone would consider the Republican party the "Mafia" party when their most sought after benefactor is a Chinese mob boss.  Sheesh!

Here's the list of the clowns in the GOP clown car who have been running to Sheldon Adelson and kissing his Omerta ring:

http://thinkprogress.org/election/2015/04/24/3650498/gop-sheldon-adelson-primary/


Sure .. there are some disgusting pieces of shit on the Dem donor side, no doubt, but nobody with the power clout and blank check capabilities of Adelson.  Nobody.

If this is the criminal element guy that the Tea Party and their friends are counting on to gain them political power in this country, what does that say for their intentions?

Ask yourselves that dear readers.


----TFG

Is This What Jesus Would Do?? Bury The Report? . . .

Wow.  Just Wow!

Arkansas police have destroyed the records of the investigation into Josh Duggar's alleged molestation of five underage girls, a police spokesman announced Friday, a day after the reality TV star resigned his position as head of FRC Action.

Springdale Police spokesman Scott Lewis said Judge Stacey Zimmerman ordered the 2006 offense report destroyed Thursday. Zimmerman didn't return a request for comment on Friday.

"The judge ordered us yesterday to expunge that record," Lewis said, adding that similar records are typically kept indefinitely. "As far as the Springdale Police Department is concerned this report doesn't exist."

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/josh-duggar-s-police-records-destroyed


Apparently in Arkansas, if you are reality TV stars and you have pious friends in high political places it's pretty goddamn easy to wish child molestation police reports in to the cornfield.

That's pretty brazen.  And from every report that The Gadfly has read so far, ol' eighty-eight fingers Josh Duggar has not had any formal treatment for his "sinful" behavior to date.  Being sent to spend a summer with a family buddy doing "hard work" isn't fucking treatment for such a mental illness.

Here's what bothers The Gadfly more than anything about this sordid story.

These Duggars and their friends, publicly and obnoxiously, are constantly issuing holier-than-thou proclamations about the morality of others and passing judgement on other American's lifestyles and behavior.  They align themselves with fundamentalist religious organizations who do the same, and all of them are unrelenting in the condemnations of anyone that gets on their long list of biblical sinners.  Blogger Digby documents the incredible duplicity of these yahoos by virtue of some of the company that they keep:


by digby

I remember back when Alan Grayson was running for reelection in 2010 against the far right Christian Daniel Webster and it was revealed that Webster's mentor and good friend was a man named Bill Gothard, a famous evangelical with a fanatical following who was considered the father of the Christian homeschooling movement. Everyone was appalled that Grayson's campaign would bring this up because well, it's so rude to point out that your opponent is a member of a cult. As it happens, it's the same cult to which the Duggars belong.

And it bears remembering that it wasn't long ago that the same Bill Gothard was exposed as a sexual harasser.  Right Wing Watch had the whole sordid tale:

Another leader of the right-wing Quiverfull movement is now in danger of losing his post over a sex scandal. Homeschooling advocate Bill Gothard has been put on administrative leave from the organization he heads, the Institute in Basic Life Principles, in response to allegations from thirty-four different women that he engaged in sexual harassment and failed to notify Child Protective Services about abuse claims. 

The allegations against Gothard are chronicled on the website Recovering Grace, which aims to expose the activist’s record of “emotional, spiritual, and sexual abuse.” 

The revelations about Gothard’s alleged misconduct are another blow to the patriarchal, anti-birth control Quiverfull movement, which suffered a setback last year when Vision Forum head Doug Phillips resigned because of an extramarital affair. 

TLC’s Duggar family are also followers of Gothard’s teachings on homeschooling and Quiverfull families, which teaches that “the husband is the undisputed leader of the family.” 

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2015/05/the-duggars-guru.html


Child molestation, sexual harassment, marital infidelity ........ yada, yada, yada....

These people are a cesspool of iniquity and their cesspool, by all appearances, appears to be clogged and overflowing with icky, gooey gobs of rank hypocrisy.

Maybe it's time for cable networks like the The Learning Channel to stop glorifying these phony losers and the all too real dumbassery for which they are poster children for.

Just saying dear readers . . . just saying . . .



----TFG

They're Not Necessarily The "News" . . . . But You Already Knew That Huh?...

Fox "News" truly has no fucking idea just how hopelessly and deeply ebedded they and their acolytes are on the wrong side of history.

Fox Attacks Obama For Calling Climate Change An Immediate National Security Threat

Fox personalities criticized President Obama for calling climate change "an immediate risk to our national security" during his U.S. Coast Guard Academy commencement address. But security experts agree with the president that global climate change does threaten U.S. national security.

Fox Business' Lou Dobbs: Obama's Concentration On Climate Change Shows He "Seems To Have Utterly Lost His Way."

Fox's Charles Krauthammer: The "Scariest" Part Of The Growing Threats Against The U.S. Is That Obama Believes Climate Change Is "The Great Threat To Our National Security."

Fox's Eric Bolling: "Global Warming Is Not A Threat. It's Not A Real Threat. It's Not A Credible Threat."

Fox Business' Stuart Varney: Obama Is Using Climate Change As A "Distraction" From Other National Security Issues.

http://mediamatters.org/research/2015/05/20/fox-attacks-obama-for-calling-climate-change-an/203722


Honestly ... what would it take for these fucking asshats to actually go and read what the report that the Defense Department issued on the subject of global climate change has to say on the issue ... which just so happens to state matter-of-fucking-factly:

Department Of Defense: "Climate Change Will Affect The DOD's Ability To Defend The Nation And Poses Immediate Risks To U.S. National Security."

The Department of Defense's 2014 Climate Change Adaptation Roadmap warned that "a warming climate 'poses immediate risks to U.S. national security' and could trigger anything from 'infectious disease to terrorism.'"

http://mic.com/articles/101244/the-pentagon-just-issued-a-urgent-warning-on-an-immediate-risk-to-national-security


The Gadfly swears that if Obama made a proclamation that the sun rises in the east and sets in the west, the buffoons at Fox would attack him for assuming that east was truly east and not west and that west might actually be north or south depending on where one is standing at any given point on the planet and that besides, it's presumptuous and arrogant to be making such proclamations based on such flimsy evidence and that the science is still out on the issue . . . . . blah, blah, blah, blah, blah....

Sigh . . . . . . . . The Gadfly truly wishes that he were just making that shit up -- but that's how the clowns at Fox "News" operate.  They are a cancer on the intellectual growth of this country and they serve no other purpose than to stifle America's progress moving forward in to the 21st century with their incessant pandering to the crazies and the boors in this country.  Enough already goddamn it.



----TFG

It Was Stand Your Ground Utopia! .... Hallelujah! . . . . . .

Sigh ...... stupid fuckers .......

Several people were killed Sunday afternoon in a shootout between rival biker gangs outside the Twin Peaks Restaurant in Waco, Texas.

Waco police say eight were killed, another died in the hospital, and 18 were injured as hundreds of bikers from several factions skirmished just after noon in the Central Texas Marketplace.

"There are dead people still there, there is blood everywhere ... There are bullet holes in vehicles all over the parking lot," Waco Police Sgt. Patrick Swanton said at a press conference.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/05/17/biker-gang-shooting-texas_n_7301890.html



Another example of what glory awaits those who live in the states where guns everywhere is ok and is the state sponsored culture.  Does anyone think they'll learn any fucking thing at all from this bloodshed?  Did they learn anything from the bullet riddled bodies of a bunch of toddlers in Sandy Hook?

The Gadfly already knows the answer to that question .... they will not learn shit.  The NRA will blame everyone but their own morally corrupt organization and the NRA bought and paid for politicians will use it as an excuse to repress and fuck with minority communities even more (even though this massacre appears to be a bunch of white folk playing shootout at the OK Corral).

The Gadfly feels nothing for this Texas community and society even though there will be much wailing and moaning about the senseless deaths.  They brought it on themselves.

As far as The Gadfly is concerned, if these people want that kind of gun fetish culture, they better get used to this kind of shit happening on a regular basis.



----TFG

Those Who Fail to Learn From History, Are Doomed to Repeat It . . . Sadly Still True in This Day and Age...

Some more evidence that the Tea Party and their ilk truly epitomize the concept of the "ugly Americans." . . . .

The Republican party base is posing a serious problem for their 2016 election prospects, as you can see in this short video clip from the South Carolina Freedom Summit.

David Bossie, head of the Citizens United Foundation and organizer of this unruly mob, has a mother-in-law, and she really doesn't like immigrants.

Huffington Post:

During a focus group led by GOP pollster Frank Luntz at the South Carolina Freedom Summit, the mother-in-law of Citizens United president David Bossie compared immigrants to rats and roaches, to the delight of the audience. Bossie is the organizer of the summit, one in a series of cattle calls for GOP presidential hopefuls.

Asked by Luntz to give advice to the these candidates, she said:

One man, one vote. People are comin' in this country across the borders like rats and roaches in the wood pile. We've got a state like Minnesota that says it's not our business to check 'em out, we just register 'em. We've got to get control. That's what they need to know.
Her comments drew laughter, whistling, and applause. Afterwards, Luntz asked the audience if they would vote for Bossie's mother-in-law for president, which drew louder cheers and applause.

http://crooksandliars.com/2015/05/crowd-applauds-woman-calling-immigrants

These fucking morons are truly incapable of self awareness.  It's just not a human skillset which exists within their DNA.

If you tried to tell these idiots that at one point every single goddamn one of their ancestors was an "immigrant" to this country their already dead eyes would just glaze over and the point would just sail right over their thick melon heads.

But let's look at this in a broader historical context ..... what the Nazi's did in pre-WW2 Germany to rile up the masses and gain their support was to label the Jews, the liberals, the academics, the union supporters and anyone else they hated as rats and vermin and blood-sucking parasites on society.

And that is how the Nazi party came to power.  Because they convinced enough of the dumb, scared, bitter, uneducated, post-WW1 populace to believe that all of their economic woes were because of the Jews and the liberals.

And look where that got the Germans for believing in that horseshit:





Just saying folks.  Just fucking saying . . . . . .  . . . . .



----TFG

Dead Fetuses For Me, But Not For Thee...........

When it comes to examples --- hard core, in your face examples --- of why The Gadfly is so viscerally turned off by the Tea Party and their movement, this gigantic fucking asshole who resembles a human dildo is the poster child for The Gadfly's justification for those views:

Read this shit and tell The Gadfly he's wrong to loathe these people:

On Wednesday, 242 members of the U.S. House of Representatives voted to outlaw abortions taking place after 20 weeks gestation. Among them, Rep. Scott DesJarlais (R-TN), who has defended his ex-wife having two abortions, and who pressured one of his mistresses to have an abortion after she told him she was pregnant.

“Congressman DesJarlais was proud to vote in favor” of the 20 week abortion ban in Congress this week, Robert Jameson, a spokesperson for the member of Congress, tells the Chattanooga Times Free Press. DesJarlais, a respected physician from Jasper, “has always advocated for pro-life values,” Jameson adds.

Meanwhile, DesJarlais’s website asserts that, “all life should be cherished and protected. [DesJarlais] has received a 100% score by the National Right to Life Committee (NRLC), the oldest and the largest national pro-life organization in the United States.”

Members of the Tennessee and national press have combed through the 675-page court transcript from DesJarlais’ 2001 divorce, and found that he “had sexual relationships with at least two patients, three coworkers, and a drug representative while he was chief of staff at Grandview Medical Center in Jasper, Tenn. During one affair with a female patient, DesJarlais prescribed her drugs, gave her an $875 watch, and bought her a plane ticket to Las Vegas.” One of DesJarlais’ mistresses admitted to the press that she had smoked pot with him, explaining that, “Scott was just a regular guy.” Politico reports that DesJarlais’ ex-wife accused him of pulling out a gun during an argument.

Moreover, DesJarlais admitted in court to pressuring a woman, with whom he was having an affair, and who was 24 years his junior, to have an abortion as well. In court, however, DesJarlais’ lawyer pressed the woman in question to admit she had never been pregnant in the first place.

Stephen Greer, attorney to DesJarlais, asked the sitting congressman’s former mistress, now on the witness stand in a court of law: “You apparently weren’t pregnant, were you?” he asked.

“Yes,” the woman shot back. “I was.”

Reminiscent of a Horatio Alger novel, DesJarlais’ official biography tells a tale of a boy of little means who worked hard, played by rules, and rose quickly through the ranks, armed with little money but a lot of grit and determination. DesJarlais was “raised in rural America, where people value hard work and honesty,” the bio begins.

“Growing up, Scott’s first job was shining shoes for 25 cents per shine,” the narrative continues. “From shining shoes, Scott graduated to washing cars at a local dealership and was later promoted to the parts department – a job he kept while working his way through college.”

According to the bio, DesJarlais got into politics when he noticed his medical patients were sharing less with him about “sports, hunting, and family,” and were increasingly showing up to his office with concerns about “jobs, government spending, and Obamacare.”

http://www.rawstory.com/2015/05/tennessee-republican-who-pressured-mistress-to-have-abortion-votes-to-restrict-them-for-other-women/#.VVZ7WQAqFT8.yahoomail



Just fucking wow.  No really.  Fucking wowzie, wow, wow, wow.

The Gadfly challenges any of his Republican friends to find a single Democrat or Independent, or even Libertarian, who is as ethically and morally compromised as this scumbag Scott DesJarlais is and yet still has the full support of his constituents and national party.  Just fucking one!!

The man is a walking bag of  noxious dirt.  But because he rails against the evil 'gubmint and lazy minorities getting free welfare and Obamacare, he is a rock star to the Teatards.  They adore his abortion loving ass.  They completely and entirely sweep the glaring fact that this pig of a man is an unfathomably hypocritical piece of human shit right under the ol' Tea Party rug.

And it goes without saying that as far as The Gadfly is concerned, the fact that Scott DesJarlais can sit in judgement over a woman's right to control her own reproductive life, and his political party, knowing his background, is A-O-K with it, is goddamn reason enough to not only want to vote against them, but do some extra work on the sidelines ensuring that the modern day conservative movement never, ever, ever fucking gains full political power in this country.



----TFG

Patience Dear Readers --- The Gadfly Ain't Shootin' Till He Sees The Whites of Their Beady Eyes....

It really is a struggle some days to sit down at the computer, read through the news feeds and the blog postings and ultimately try to decide which boatload of right wing assholery to opine about on a given day.  But The Gadfly soldiers through it and does it because somebody has to shine a light on the right's idiocy and bugshit insane machinations.


Speaking of bugshit ... ....

Make sure that if you are a Republican candidate for president that you mention "God" as often as possible. It works especially well at prayer breakfast.

As Carson explained it, his goal of becoming a doctor was nearly derailed in his first semester at Yale University when he was failing his chemistry class to such an extent that he would not have been able to pass even if managed to get an A on the final exam. Fortunately for him, this particular professor had a policy that anyone who was failing the class could receive double credit on the final and so Carson asked God for a miracle before committing himself to study for the exam the night before.

But instead of studying, Carson fell asleep and had a dream in which he was alone in an auditorium as some "nebulous figure" wrote out chemistry problems on the blackboard.

"When I went to take the test the next morning, it was like ‘The Twilight Zone,'" Carson said. "I opened that book and I recognized the first problem as one of the ones I dreamed about. And the next, and the next, and the next, and I aced the exam and got a good mark in chemistry. It worked out okay and I promised the Lord he would never have to do that for me again." 

http://crooksandliars.com/2015/05/ben-carson-god-told-him-answers-his


Here's the straight deal kids -- if you believe that this buffoonish man should be President because God personally spent the night before the man's chemistry exam writing out all the answers to Carson's test on a blackboard in his dreams (Gadfly wonders -- is God annoyed by that irritating scraping noise of chalk on a blackboard too?) ....... well then The Gadfly respectfully requests that you turn yourself in to the nearest mental health clinic stat.  Don't stop at 7-11 for a slurpee, don't worry whether you are properly attired, just turn yourself in and get the mental health assistance which you so direly are in need of.

Nonetheless, while the good Dr. Carson may have more than his fair share of bats flitting around inside his belfry, he is not politically stupid.  With tales like this one he is giving the Tea Party base one of the red meat cravings which incite hot flashes in their loins more than anything .... blessedness from on high.  Oh yeah, God, Guns and unfettered capitalism -- aka --Freeeeeeeeeeeeeddddddddommmm!

With an emphasis on God and and their unbending belief that God is on their side right down to the intricacies of their medieval and life-crushing political platforms and economic policies.  Keep in mind -- The Tea Party is THE BASE of the GOP these days.  And they most definitely are going to have a say in who the GOP's nominee is (ala Sarah Palin as McCain's VP in 2008).

One of the reasons there have been a dearth of Gadfly postings lately is that The Gadfly is sandbagging his energy.  The 2016 election is only 18 months away and the drop-dead stupidity and assholery from the Republican right is only just beginning to get warmed up.  They've stuffed their nominee clown car full of vituperative clowns and now the real three-ring circus is about to begin.

Simply put, the Gadfly is going to need every ounce of energy just to keep up with the blitzkrieg of inanity from these assholes once the main attraction of their Big Top show begins.



----TFG

Still Alive ....... No Worries .....

The Gadfly has been missing from these lonely, shitty blog pages lately for reasons which are none of your goddamn business, but he's back.

Does The Gadfly miss this unrewarding task, or any of you for that matter?.... well - he misses fucking with conservative assholes, that's for sure - - as for the rest of your rat bastard asses .....





----TFG