On This Date In ISBL History: Stop. Just Stop.

As Carlos and I are in sunny Miami for business and pleasure, I thought I’d do something I’ll call “On This Date In ISBL History” and repost some things from back when the blog was new, and newish … this was originally published January 10, 2011:

Stop. Just Stop.

The shooting has been everywhere; it's all over my TV, all over the web, on every front page and everybody's mind. I try to wrap my head around the idea that someone can shoot someone in the head at point blank range, for any reason, least of all different political views, or simple dislike. I try to wrap my mind around the thought that someone can simply open fire and shoot at anyone and everyone in sight.

And I wonder, how many fingers pulled that trigger that sent a bullet through Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords’ head, how many fingers discharged the bullets that killed US District Judge John Roll, Gabe Zimmerman, Gifford’s director of community outreach; Dorwin Stoddard, a pastor at Mountain Ave. Church of Christ; Christina Greene, a student at Mesa Verde Elementary; Dorothy Murray and Phyllis Scheck.

I know there was one gunman, and maybe an accomplice, who will achieve no sense of notoriety by having their names or photographs mentions or shown in this space, ever, but there are more to blame. More people around this country who have been spouting hate, and promoting violence as a means to get their viewpoint heard.

Teabaggers who've said that any means necessary should be used to take back the country. Take it back from whom? People with a different idea? Why is there this need for using such hate-speech against a rival political group? Why is violence the answer they seem to promote so often? I am not a fan of Teabaggers, or of most Republicans or most conservatives, or most religious wingnuts, but I would never suggest violence, never suggest death be the answer to my problem with other people.

And, while we hold the Tea Party even partially responsible, let's also lay some blame squarely at the feet of Sarah Palin. I don't use her name here often, as I refer to call her the Mama Grizzly Bore, but today, her name must be used, because she has blood on her hands.

When you use words and phrases like putting someone in your 'crosshairs' exactly what do you think that means? Crosshairs. Guns. Violence. When you ask that your followers reload, instead of retreat, what are you telling them? Take up arms. Shoot. Take up arms, and take the lives of people with whom you disagree, even if one of them is a nine-year-old girl, and others are grandmothers.

This has to stop. We cannot become a nation where violence is the means to sway the vote, and gain momentum for our cause. This has to stop. It's time for people like the Tea Party, and their minions, and Sarah Palin, and her minions, to accept responsibility for their words.

Words have power; words create violence; words incite. Whether the words are aimed at the LGBT community, or a Muslim community center, a liberal, or a conservative, the words must stop inciting violence.

Different is good. Differing opinions are good because they create dialogue. But putting someone in your crosshairs, and threatening to reload, sends the message that violence is the answer.

It isn't. And it's up to us, all of us, liberal and conservative, Democrat, Republican, Independent, whatever political affiliation, religious affiliation, non-religious affiliation, gender, ethnicity, orientation, color, age, education, socio-economic standing, to stop this speech.

Stop it. Or start getting more body bags.

Sadly, the Mama Grizzly Bore™ is still yapping and carrying her guns and acting the fool, while Gabby Giffords resigned from Congress after the shooting to focus on her recovery and has since become an outspoken proponent of gun control.

Huh, who to believe, the gun-toting loon, or the victim of gun violence?

ISBL Asshat of the Week: Fayetteville Councilman John La Tour

John La Tour is a Tea Party conservative, a Fayetteville, Arkansas city councilman, and is supported by those bastions of Christianity, the Duggars.

Needless to say he’s also an asshat; in fact, he’s the ISBL Asshat of the Week.

La Tour has been accused of confronting a woman inside the Arsaga restaurant whom he assumed to be trans and threatening to wave his penis at her. He was subsequently asked by the management to leave the establishment which he did; he went home and took to Facebook to post a since-deleted rant about how “Everyone who lives in Fayetteville, AR should never eat or treat themselves at any of Cary Arsaga's establishments. I will never go to any of these again.”

Huh. I wonder what actually happened. Well, thanks the goddesses for Facebook — it’s not just for cat videos and pictures of what you ate for dinner last night — another Fayetteville resident, Gavin Smith, posted his view of what happened:

“Yesterday fayetteville alderman John la tour ward 4 assaulted a dear friend in public demanding they choose a gender in a packed restaurant. He demanded she pick a gender declaiming loudly that he couldn’t tell if she was a man or a woman. She is not transgendered and does not in any way present any ambiguity about gender in any way. She’s a woman. He then explained that he was a man and could prove it by dropping his pants and showing his penis. That is bullying behavior and unacceptable on so many levels. Please call any news outlets you know and alert them to his “protests”. I doubt offering to expose yourself would be considered protected speech even by the right wing activist Dugger [sic] family who funded his campaign. He should be kicked out of office.”

John La Tour, after removing his Facebook rant, has admitted he was at the restaurant, but that his words were misconstrued. He is now saying that he simply asked the woman — who works at the restaurant and doesn’t want to be named — to dance and he asked her like this:

“You can declare you’re a man or you’re a woman, whatever you want to. I’m not going to ask a man to dance with me. I am a man and I can prove it.”

Sounds like exactly what he was accused of saying, which just shows that asshats are also stupid. And, of course, laying the blame for his own misdeeds on other people:

 “They know I’m conservative; they’re terribly disappointed I’m on the City Council. All that this is about is to discredit John La Tour and make him look like a buffoon.”

No, sir, you’ve made yourself look like a buffoon. A transphobic pervert who wants to prove his manhood by threatening to show off his shortcomings in a crowded restaurant.

John La Tour, the ISBL Asshat of the week.

LGBTQ Nation

Oh Kentucky ... Am I Gonna Have To Do My "Told You So" Dance?

Matt Bevin took control of Kentucky as the state’s new governor back in December 2015 — about ninety days ago — and now a great many people in the sate want him to resign.

Bevin swept into office on the coattails of the Kim Davis brouhaha which means that her fifteen minutes of fame are just about up … until she divorces again and remarries again or comes out as a Satan worshipper. But Bevin played the Tea Party Card and vowed to “Take Kentucky Back” and “Make Kentucky Great Again” but, instead, created a giant montón de mierda … that Spanish for “pile of sh — ” … well, you get it:

Bevin opposed the Violence Against Women Act [VAWA], gave a campaign speech at a cockfighting rally, and promised to end medical coverage for impoverished Kentuckians. Yup, no healthcare for you! He took voting rights back from ex-felons, changed marriage licenses after the Supreme Court legalized same-sex marriage, and ended state worker’s hopes of receiving a raise in wages.

In.His.First.Thirty.Days.

And now Kentuckians have started a petition to have Bevin removed from office and more than 8,000 voters have already signed it. The petition includes a letter to the state senate and state house asking that they begin a “formal investigation” into the 2015 Kentucky State election that elected Bevin in as Governor, and remove him from office if evidence shows him to be participating in fraud, or corruption on any level.

They also ask that the legislature begin a formal investigation into the Governor’s motives for cutting funding for public education, healthcare, and the very departments that oversee and audit the ethics of decisions and actions of the Governor himself.

Yes, Bevin cut funding to the office that audits him to make sure he’s not a total loon.

Almost since election day there have been allegations of fraud around Bevin’s win; in the weeks leading up to the election, most polls showed that Kentucky democrat Jack Conway was leading Tea Party wingnut Bevin by a margin of 3 to 5 points.

On election day, however, the results showed a shift “so dramatic that it was almost impossible to believe.” Matt Bevin suddenly gained nearly 15 points on election day, and ALLEGEDLY won the governor’s race by a nine point margin.

And now, here we are, or here Kentuckians are, regretting what many of them did on election day: give a wingnut like Matt Bevin leadership over their state.

Told you so, Kentucky, told you so.

And … cue music …

 Bipartisan Report

The Funny Papers

Bill Day, Randy Bish, David Horsey, Clay Bennett, Darrin Bell, Marshall Gamsey, Lee Judge, Paul Combs, Jim Morin

The Funny Papers

Darrin Bell
Dave Granlund
John Branch
Clay Bennett
Nick Anderson
Paul Combs
Jim Morin
Rob Tornoe
Clay Jones

ISBL Asshat of the Week: SC Senator Lee "Not So" Bright

So, we’ve been watching our state Senators and Congressmen debate the Confederate flag this week; some want it down, some want it to stay put. Some — like Senator Vincent Sheheen … a democrat who represents  my neck of the woods — spoke eloquently about the flag’s place in the history of both the state and the country, but made it clear that the flag has no place in our future.

Others used their time in the spotlight to read from the Scriptures — do not get me started on that — while one senator used the time to introduce his family that was visiting from out of town; apparently he thought he was at a Congressional mixer and not a serious debate.

But one wingnut was especially wingnutty; and that would be the awkwardly named senator from the Upstate, Lee Bright.

Bright, a Teabagging loon who ran against Republican loon Lindsey Graham in the GOP primary and lost, and is now state co-chair of Ted Cruz’s presidential campaign — so you know exactly what kind of nut he is — took  to the floor of the Senate this week and didn’t speak very much at all about the flag; he wants it to stay put, go figure, but talked instead about the sin of same-sex marriage.

Seriously. Now, to anyone with a brain firing on all cylinders, these two topics have no relation so why, in a discussion about the removal of a flag, would one choose to talk marriage equality? Well, Lee Bright claimed in a Facebook post that the recent marriage equality decision by the Supreme Court has taught us that “states’ rights are under attack more than ever” and he called the removal, or the efforts to remove, the Confederate flag a “Stalinist purge.”

Let me make this queer, Senator “Not So” Bright; the discussion is about a flag, not marriage equality, and you cannot equate the two. The fight for the rights of gay and lesbian Americans to marry, just as everyone else in this country can do, is not at all like the flying of a flag that represents a time in this country when Southern states took it upon themselves to secede, took it upon themselves to own people; took it upon themselves to defy the federal government, and then lose the battle.

Yeah, lose; the South lost. Get over it. And get over that flag being our heritage; I live here, and it’s not my heritage. As an American it’s part of our history — and should be remembered lest we make similar mistakes in the future — but it is not to be celebrated or admired and raised or flown on a government property that represents all of the people.

I know you’re a Teabagging loon, Senator, and I know you have pressed your lips firmly to Ted Cruz’ Teabagging loon ass but the time has come for that flag to come down from the statehouse and put in a museum where it belongs.

RightWingWatch

GOPeople Are Dumb

Every time I think the GOP, and by that I mean the party and the people who identify as republicans, can’t get any stupider, well, they suddenly reveal an entire sub-basement of asshattery.

Case in point: President Obama made a surprise appearance at the annual congressional baseball game last week, and he started out by sitting in the Democrats’ dugout. But then he crossed over and was going to sit with the Republicans for a while when it happened.

Fans in the Democrats’ section began chanting “Four more years!” and Teabagistan and Conservative-ville and GOPLand went apesh*t. 

Especially one John S. Roberts who writes for Young Conservatives and felt the need to remind Democrats that the 22nd Amendment prohibits President Obama — and any president — from seeking a third term.

Um, I wasn’t at the game but I’m guessing, and call me crazy, because you GOPeople seem to have a close connection to crazy, but wasn’t that chanting a joke? Perhaps they don’t know because commenters on Roberts’ article were enraged, and deranged, at the mere thought of people shouting “Four more years” at Obama:

Thanks for the reminder, Captain Obvious! But someone named “Mitch” wasn’t having it, and took off his foil hat long enough to open his Conspiracy File and tell us this:

And “Mitch’s” fellow loons loudly responded with their posts of “Me, too! Me, too! Me, too!” though wingnut, gun-nut replied with a threat against the President—and I’m hoping that means he, or she, is now on a watch list:

And this guy believes, really believes, that President Obama will break the string of consecutive peaceful transfers of power in the United States that goes all the way back to George Washington because, well, Obama:

And he had his followers, too:

Seriously, people? After all the blatant racism, the lack of any kind of aid from the Republicans in Congress, the personal attacks on his family, the Do-Nothing Congress he’s worked with, or tried to work with the last six years, does anyone with half a brain rally think Obama will try to circumvent the Constitution and stay in office even if he wanted to?

Siddown, GOPeople your crazy is showing. And save all your conspiracy theories for when Hillary — or any Democrat — takes office in 2017.

Four more years!!!

If You Only News

Kansas Governor Sam Brownback Wants To Be Dictator Of Kansas

We all know that those folks on the right — not that they are right, they’re just called the ‘right’ — have told stories for years about the illegal tactics President Obama has pulled to get through his Socialist-Fascist-dictator-like agenda.

But he ain’t got nuthin’ on Kansas Governor, and Republican, of course, Sam Brownback who has just signed a law declaring that the state judiciary branch will lose all of its funding if the Kansas Supreme Court strikes down a law that he likes; it’s a case of classic bullying dictatorship. In Kansas!

Brownback’s threat to take away the money comes just as the court is considering the constitutionality of a 2014 law he signed in an effort to stack courts with conservative judges who agree with his Teabagging agenda.

But the fact is that the 2014 law is unconstitutional because Kansas’ constitution says the Supreme Court “shall have general administrative authority over all courts in this state.” Brownback’s law strips the court of that authority and gives it to him, so he can appoint judges who will cater to his every whim.

Dictatorship.

And so if the court decides that 2014 law is unconstitutional, then Brownback will take away the money because, well, he’s a bully, a dictator, a Republican, and a Teabagging ass kisser.

This all started when a court ordered Sam Brownback, as governor of all of the people of Kansas, and the GOP-controlled legislature, to fix the growing spending gap between rich and poor school districts. Brownback didn’t like the idea of poor folks and their schools getting more money and the rich folks and their schools getting less, so he passed a law that gave him the authority to appoint judges, and a law that deprived the Kansas Supreme Court the right to set district court budgets.

In other words, Sammy had a hissy fit because he might not get his way.

And if he gets his way, there would no longer be a separation of powers in Kansas, because Sam Brownback, and the GOP, would control the courts, which would simply become the tools of his dictatorship. He would be the only one in control; no checks, no balances.

And the Teabaggers say Obama is the criminal.

Addicting Info

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This Man Wants To Be President, Part 3: Ted Cruz

The good news? In the last two year alone there have been some 65 rulings that support marriage equality.

The bad news? GOP presidential hopeful, and certifiable loon, Ted Cruz is pissed about that; in fact, he’s called each and every one of those rulings "a real danger to our liberty."

Now, I’m assuming that his use of the word “our” doesn’t refer to The Gays and our allies, but only to The Rightwingnutted Religious Conservative Teabagging Bible Thumpers.

"We have seen judges, and especially the Supreme Court, ignoring the law. If the courts were following the Constitution, we shouldn’t need a new amendment, but they are, as you put it quite rightly, 'making it up' right now and it’s a real danger to our liberty." — Ted Cruz

And Teddy, who hates equality for The Gays, let’s make that perfectly queer, is going so far as to reintroduce legislation which, among other actions, would strip federal recognition of same-sex marriages, and federal benefits for married same-sex couples.

He wants us to vanish, that's clear, and yet, as if that wasn’t hateful, anti-gay, and oh-so-not-presidential enough, earlier this year Cruz announced his hopes to amend the United States Constitution that would prohibit judges from overturning state's same-sex marriage bans because he says same-sex marriage isn't protected under the Constitution.

Well, Teddy, there are a lot of things not protected under the Constitution. But one thing we do have is Equal Protection, and that should apply to all Americans. I would have thought you’d have learned that in school … oh wait, you went to school in Canada because you’re Canadian.

Look, that doesn’t mean you can’t be president but it does mean that maybe you shouldn’t pick and choose which parts of the Constitution you follow, like you pick and choose which parts of the Bible you follow.

And let’s make one last thing very queer: you’ll never be president.

via NCRM

♫ ♪ Isn't It Ironic ♪ ♫

Former sheriff Richard Mack has been called the “Constitutional Sheriff” because, well, he’s all about the guns, and all about hatin’ The Gays and all about opposing Obamacare.

So … we could spend time talking about his involvement with the Cliven Bundy Mad Rancher Crisis last year, where Mack suggested using women as shields against those “rogue” federal officers so the images of women getting shot would be televised worldwide and he would be spared.

Or we could spend time talking about Richard Mack posing alongside his friend, Las Vegas shooter Jerad Miller — also a “defender” of Bundy Ranch — who, along with his wife, murdered two police officers in Las Vegas, draping a TeaParty flag over their bodies.

And maybe we could talk about how he demanded an uprising against LGBT rights in Utah because, well, something about Boy Scouts and teachers and The gays shoving something down his throat.

Instead, we’re going to talk about how Richard Mack, a vocal opponent of Obamacare, had a heart attack and has no insurance. We’re going to talk about Dawn Mack, his wife, who has her own health issues, and no healthcare. We’re going to talk about the GoFundMe page created by Mack’s son where he’s asking for  family, friends, and complete strangers to pay t5he Mack’s medical bills for them “because they are self-employed, they have no medical insurance and are in desperate need of our assistance.”

Mack, who is on the board of Oath Keepers — a nonprofit organization that advocates that its members [mostly and former U.S. military and law enforcement personnel] to disobey any orders that they are given if they believe they violate the Constitution of the United States — and is the founder of the Constitutional Sheriffs and Peace Officers Association, does not like the idea of people receiving help to pay for medical insurance, but he has no problems with creating a website beg in order to pay his own bills:

“Since it appears that recovery will take a good deal of time with associated expenses, I struggle to not feel stress – both the stress of thinking about huge hospital and other medical bills as well as regular living expenses while I am unable to work — and also the stress of not being able to accomplish what I am so passionate about doing for others. It is difficult and humbling to say that we need your help, but we do."

Mack’s GoFundMe campaign has raised nearly $20,000 so far, though a great many more people have taken to the page, and Twitter, to question his money beg when , well, had he just signed up for Obamacare, he might not need to ask for our coins for his bills.

I feel bad for Mack, and his wife, but there is that old saying, ‘You’ve made your bed, now go lie in it.” Mack has worked and worked to fight the federal government in every which way, and fight Obamacare in every which way, and now, well,, after he made the decision to opt out of health care, he needs our help to pay his bills.

As they said on Addicting Info, and I’ll paraphrase: Richard Mack can go ‘fund’ himself.

via Addicting Info

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