Mmmm...leftovers!
Greetings, gentle Dot Calm Readers!
I hope everyone has had a delightful New Year's celebration, and I hope you are safely where you need to be to relax for the day and get ready to start the week. If you still have travel ahead of you, I hope you won't be on I-95 in the mid-Atlantic region...it was already starting to get congested yesterday.
I titled this post "leftovers" because it's just a little jumble I threw together with news and videos. But just because it's impromptu on my part doesn't make it less impactful. Whatever you do this year, keep reading independent media to see how the corporations are skrooing you behind your back. I'm not against corporations, but I do believe that they need strict regulation and that We the People need uncorrupted collective bargaining. When Reagan started dismantling the unions, he started unraveling the middle class. Back then, the corporations paid for their wars ($1.50 for every $0.5 you and I paid); now we not only fight their wars, but we pay for them, too (we pay $1.52 to the corporations' $0.48). And rich individuals, like the Koch brothers, who used to pay 90% in taxes while Eisenhower was President, now pay a smaller percentage of their vast incomes than you and I do. Something isn't right here!
Of course, with the wonderful exception of Bernie Sanders, both parties are fascist. No question, if you look at all the concessions they hand uncomplainingly to the rich and powerful. But there is a difference...a few differences, actually. Republicans are so short-sighted in their greed that, like the giant of Jack and the beanstalk, they want to kill the goose--the middle class--to get all the golden eggs NOW. The Democrats are at least willing to let us live because, being somewhat longer sighted, they understand that the middle class is the engine of the economy. Democrats know that the corporations can't sell anything if there is no one to buy it. In contrast, Republicans think that the rich and powerful "create" jobs simply by existing--by creating supply. They don't understand that there has to be demand for the supply for there to be money coming in to pay the workers to create the supply. I wish I were making up this gross oversimplification--I wish it were a lampoon. But I speak to people on a daily basis, including my now-famous (here) Tea Party Christian friend, who believe this nonsense. You would think that, working in a service industry himself, he would know better. You would think that he would have observed by now that, when Republicans decimate the middle class, he has a lot fewer customers and a lot less work than when Democrats get the economy moving. But he just doesn't get it. He is too busy brainwashing himself with Faux Noise and Christian TV to think much past whom to hate on (everyone not like him) and why (because they're not like him).
The other nice thing about Democrats is that they are willing to let those of us live who are not rich white Christian men. They are willing to let us live if we are Black or women or Latino or Muslim or poor or LGBTQ or whatever. They actually understand the value of education and science. They don't see women as brood mares for the state. They have a better grasp of reality than the flat-earthers across the aisle. This is why, even if I have to hold my nose, I vote for Democrats. Can you imagine what would happen to women's rights or LGBTQ rights if we elect a Republican for President in November? Donald Trump is not pulling the party to the right--he is merely saying out loud everything they've all been thinking all along but didn't want to say.
Think about it.
Listen to what the Republicans say; then picture the kind of world they want to create for us all to live in.
The Dominionists want to dismantle the Constitution they say they love so much and replace the First Amendment with the first four Mosaic commandments. They want to make America a Christian nation--no religious freedom for you! They want a government so small it goes up every woman's vagina and every gay man's ass. They want to give the corporations free rein to destroy the planet for future generations while regulating the most intimate decisions we make with our individual lives and bodies. They want to undo 150 years of education, science, women's rights, civil rights, and corporate regulations. If they succeed in dismantling our education system, we could go back to the bad old days of child labor--in the Republicans' perfect world, ordinary families would rely on that income to survive. As science and education go, so goes society...hope you don't need medicine or technology because America won't be developing it any more; by killing education, the nation will have given up its ability to do science and engineering. Again, Republicans are short-sighted--they can't see beyond the monetary benefits to their current generation to realize that, once we lose our edge, we may never catch back up to the rest of the world in science and technology. They have no qualms about sending us back to the stone age. Their Christian constituents probably think that's a great idea.
Republicans want control of the Supreme Court so they can make this dystopia--their utopia--everyone's reality. We need every American who wants a better future to vote Democratic in November lest we fall to Diebold, gerrymandering, and Republican governors and local officials like we did in 2000 and beyond.
So, with that grim reminder that we have our work cut out for us, I will spread the table with my refrigerator stew. Hope it's still warm and yummy.
Cheers!
- Dot Calm's shadow
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Hey, Christians--
Is sexual purity what you do
with your own body,
with your own body,
or is it what you force others to do
with theirs?
with theirs?
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From Daily Kos--a petition
The Koch-backed Center for Individual Rights has filed a lawsuit asking the U.S. Supreme Court to substantially weaken the ability of public service employees, like teachers and firefighters, to negotiate together for better wages and working conditions.
This thinly veiled ploy aims to ultimately eliminate the right to organize--and give corporations unlimited power to pay workers as little as the market will bear, while keeping as much as possible for themselves.
Sign if you agree: The right to collective bargaining must be protected, not destroyed.
Currently, the law specifies that when the majority of people vote to form a union, the union is required to represent everyone in the workplace, even if the employee is not a union member. Anyone who decides they don't want to be part of the union but benefits from union negotiations, contributes their fair share of the cost of negotiating that agreement.
No one is required to join a union, and therefore no one is required to contribute to the political or lobbying program of a union. Those who opt out of union representation only need to pay the cost of the negotiations on their behalf.
It is a system set up to protect the rights and privileges of working people and CEOs would prefer it didn’t exist.
Sign the petition: Hands off collective bargaining. Working people have the right to negotiate.
In the case coming before the Supreme Court, Friedrichs v. California Teachers Association, corporate vultures are arguing to take away right of workers to negotiate as a group.
Right now the case is restricted to "public employees," but a win would open the floodgates for restrictions on the rights of all employees, public or private sector.
It’s already way too hard for many Americans to get by, let alone get ahead. And If the Koch brothers get their way, it will be another major blow to the middle class.
Sign the petition: Enough is enough! It’s time to stop attacking working people and the right to organize.
Keep fighting,
Monique Teal, Daily Kos
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The Koch brothers want to "reform" our prison system so that people like them never go to jail.
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Religion is dying in the U.K.
From Daily Kos
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Hey, women--
Don't accept the Republican, Christian role of second-class citizen.
Fight fire with fire!
Don't phuque Christians!
Don't phuque Republicans!!
Donate those unwanted babies
to pro-birthers!!!
to pro-birthers!!!
The pro-birthers will welcome your donation as a gift from God
until they kill it themselves by way of poverty or, if it lives long enough to enlist, economic conscription.
until they kill it themselves by way of poverty or, if it lives long enough to enlist, economic conscription.
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Dear Faithful America member,
Jesus told us to welcome the stranger and the refugee. The leading Republican candidate wants to build a giant wall and ban all Muslims from America.
Jesus fed the poor and hungry. Today, politicians run for office with the Bible in hand while trying to take away food stamps.
Jesus was a great healer – and yet today, every single "Christian" candidate for the Republican nomination wants to strip Americans of their healthcare.
Our Lord and Savior welcomed all to his table, stood up to corrupt authorities, brought good news to the poor and dire warnings to the rich. But in America, Christianity has become synonymous with vandalizing Mosques, shooting up Planned Parenthood clinics, and gay-bashing.
We can't rely on gullible journalists and timid church leaders to challenge the right-wing hijacking of our faith. It's up to all of us.
Faithful America is the largest online community of Christians working for social justice. But right now we're still almost $10,000 short of our year-end goal - which will leave us dangerously short headed into a critical election year.
Make an end-of-year donation to Faithful America
With almost 300,000 grassroots members across the country, Faithful America is not affiliated with any church or denomination. We have no pastor, property, or charitable tax status to protect. We're not afraid of criticism, and our small staff and creative use of technology means we can turn on a dime to respond to the latest right-wing attacks.
Here's what our work looks like in action:
- Strength in numbers. Whether it's 15,000 of us or 60,000, each time we join together to challenge the religious right it shows the growing grassroots energy among everyday Christians.
- Headline news. Whether it's an outlet as large as The New York Times or as small as The Billings Montana Gazette, our campaigns consistently generate waves of media coverage -- and get the attention of those targeted by petitions delivered in-person by local Christians.
- Changing conventional wisdom. Politicians and journalists have gotten lazy about assuming that religious-right extremists speak for all Christians. When confronted with our campaigns, their expectations change quickly -- like when CBS host Bob Schieffer said on air that he'd been "inundated" with complaints from Faithful America members about Family Research Council president Tony Perkins.
With the Republican presidential primary heating up, things are about to get a lot busier for Faithful America. Often we have to act on just a few hours' notice, and that means we need to raise funds right now to prepare for the right's next attempts to hijack Christianity.
Make an end-of-year donation to Faithful America
Thank you,
Michael
P.S. Because our work includes holding politicians accountable and advocating for legislation, donations made directly to Faithful America are not tax-deductible. You can instead make a tax-deductible donation to support our educational work via our 501(c)(3) fiscal sponsor.
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Why is it that the most ostentatiously religious people are the biggest prix and the biggest hypocrites?
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From Think Progress: Four failed Republican predictions for Obama's presidency by 2016
It’s now 2016, the final year of Barack Obama’s presidency. A few years ago, prognosticators were very confident about what would happen to America by now because of Obama’s reelection. Let’s check in and see how their predictions turned out:
1. Gas was supposed to cost $6.05 per gallon.
In March 2012, on the floor of the United States Senate, Mike Lee (R-UT) predicted that if Obama was reelected gas would cost $6.05 per gallon by the start 2015. Lee said that gas prices would rise 5 cents for every month Obama was in office, ultimately reaching $6.60 per gallon.
I'll bet he really wanted to say "$6.66 per gallon" but didn't want to make such an overt anti-Christ reference. These people think we're in the "End Times," doncha gno. Just like the bible says Jesus' followers and the Apostle Paul did. Paul advised his adherents not to bother getting married because the end of the world was upon them. And Jesus told His followers He'd be back while some of them still lived. Howzat for failed predictions?
I'll bet he really wanted to say "$6.66 per gallon" but didn't want to make such an overt anti-Christ reference. These people think we're in the "End Times," doncha gno. Just like the bible says Jesus' followers and the Apostle Paul did. Paul advised his adherents not to bother getting married because the end of the world was upon them. And Jesus told His followers He'd be back while some of them still lived. Howzat for failed predictions?
Lee was not alone. Newt Gingrich, running for the GOP nomination, predicted that if Obama was reelected he would push gas to “$10 a gallon.” Gingrich said he would reduce gas prices dramatically by reversing Obama’s energy policies. Gingrich flanked himself with campaign signs promising $2.50 gas if he was elected.
CREDIT: YOUTUBE SCREENSHOT
Some of the reasons for the decline in gas prices were beyond Obama’s control — including weak international demand and OPEC’s failure to reduce supply. Also driving prices lower was increased gas production in the U.S., which has doubled over the last 6 years. The policies that Lee, Gingrich and others criticized — the rejection of Keystone XL pipeline, more EPA regulation and limiting drilling on public land — have not gotten in the way of historically low prices.
2. Unemployment was supposed to be stuck at over 8%
In September 2012, Mitt Romney predicted that if Obama is reelected “you’re going to see chronic high unemployment continue four years or longer.” At the time, the unemployment rate was 8.1%and had been between 8.1% and 8.3% for the entire year.
What would breaking out of “chronic high unemployment” look like in a Romney presidency? Romney pledged that, if elected, he could bring the unemployment rate down to 6% by January 2017.
The unemployment rate currently stands at 5.0% and has been under 6% since September 2014. Since January 2013, the economy has created over 7.8 million new jobs.
3. The stock market was supposed to crash
Immediately after Obama won reelection in November 2012, many commenters predicted that the stock market was toast.
Charles Bilderman, the author of the “Intelligent Investing” column at Forbes, wrote that the “market selloff after Obama’s re-election [was] no accident,” predicting “stocks are dropping with no bottom in sight.” Bilderman said that the policies the Obama administration would pursue in his second term would “crash stocks.”
On Bloomberg TV, investor Marc Faber predicted that, because of Obama’s reelection, the stock market would drop at least 20%. According to Faber, “Republicans understand the problem of excessive debt better than Mr. Obama who basically doesn’t care about piling up debt.” Faber joked that investors seeking to protect their assets should “buy themselves a machine gun.”
The Dow Jones Industrial Average currently stands at 17,425.03 and, despite a downturn in 2015, isup over 27% since Obama was reelected.
4. The entire U.S. economy was supposed to collapse
Rush Limbaugh predicted that “the country’s economy is going to collapse if Obama is re-elected.” Limbaugh was confident in his prediction: “There’s no if about this. And it’s gonna be ugly. It’s gonna be gut wrenching, but it will happen.”
The economic freefall would begin, according to Limbaugh, because “California is going to declare bankruptcy” and Obama would force states like Texas to “bail them out.” California currently has a $4 billion budget surplus.
Limbaugh added, “I know mathematics, and I know economics. I know history. I know socialism, statism, Marxism, I know where it goes. I know what happens at the end of it.”
Limbaugh said the economic apocalypse could take “a year and a half, two years, three years.” It’s been three years and two months since Limbaugh’s prediction.
The U.S. economy grew at a respectable 2% in the 3rd quarter of 2014, following 3.9% growth in the second quarter.
Although these dire economic predictions have proven false, it doesn’t mean there aren’t real, persistent problems with the U.S. economy. Most critically, wage growth for American workers remains anemic. With a tightening labor market, however, some economists are predicting a better 2016.
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Obama is such a lousy President,
he can't even destroy America the way Republicans predicted he would.
he can't even destroy America the way Republicans predicted he would.
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From RightWingWatch NewsCheck out this whole page.
There are a lot of interesting--and scary--articles on the nefarious John Hagee.
Five Failed Right-Wing Prophecies And Predictions Of 2015
Conservative commentators are running out of time for all of their dire prophecies about President Obama to come true, including fears about the looming imposition of martial law, establishment of Obama’s private army and the assassination of conservative leaders. Right-wing pundits also seemed to have missed with their prophecies about financial collapse, natural disasters and widespread unrest coming in 2015.
September Doomsday Bust
Several Religious Right pundits jumped on a nonsensical and convoluted tale about how blood moons and the Shemitah, a biblical day of debt relief, would lead to some sort of disaster in America on September 13. The far-right website WorldNetDaily marked the arrival of the Shemitah with articles titled “Mark This Date For Potential Disaster,” “Get Ready: Biblical ‘Shemitah’ Begins This Week” and “Countdown To Disaster.” One of the leading propagators of this theory was Messianic rabbi and Religious Right fixture Jonathan Cahn, who even wrote a book on the matter.
Essentially, Cahn claimed that prophecies pertaining to biblical Israel can now apply to the U.S. because the founding fathers, like ancient Hebrews, made a covenant with God. As a result of the country breaking that covenant due to national “sins” like gay marriage and legal abortion, he forecasted that September 13 would be the date that America faced divine punishment.
Contrary to Cahn’s predictions nothing catastrophic happened on that day in the U.S. Cahn defended his prophecy by pointing to an earthquake off the Gulf of California, a body of water which he conveniently forgot to mention borders Mexico, not the U.S. He also claimed that a stock market selloff on August 18 was close enough to his doomsday date, so he was right all along! (The Dow Jones has since rebounded since the August correction). He went on to insist that anything bad that happens between September 2015 and September 2016 would also validate his prophecy.
Cahn’s prophecy caught on with commentators like Rick Wiles of “Trunews,” who said that between September 13 and October 9, there would be a major “financial plunge of the Dow Jones stock index, possibly 30 percent or more” as God sent a “big attitude adjustment” to America. The Dow Jones actually went up during that time.
Televangelist John Hagee went even further, claiming that there could be “a 50 percent correction in the stock market” in the fall due to the Shemitah and blood moon prophecies. “I believe, in the fall of this year, America and the world will face another economic crisis, perhaps as a result of war in the Middle East or an economic crash,” he declared.
Jim Bakker, a televangelist who himself claims to receive personal messages from God and regularly had Cahn on his program to discuss the Shemitah/blood moons prophecy, and made a few predictions of his own about September 13.
“There is going to be a crash on September 13,” Bakker warned his viewers, also predicting that something would happen to Pope Francis during his September visit to America.
He also said that on September 13, the U.S. could be hit by a typhoon, earthquake, bombing or financial meltdown: “God spoke to me.”
Gay Marriage Punishments
After blowing his September prophecy, Cahn saw a biblical threat from Hurricane Joaquin. He said that the Supreme Court’s gay marriage ruling and the White House’s LGBT Pride Month celebration with rainbow lights had provoked God’s judgment, and now, Hurricane Joaquin would strike Washington, D.C. Cahn wasn’t alone, as Wiles too said that God was using Hurricane Joaquin to punish the U.S. by striking Washington, D.C., and New York. (It didn’t hit either city).
Cahn and Wiles were far from alone in making wild predictions about the effects of gay marriage.
One month before the Supreme Court issued its ruling, American Family Radio host Bryan Fischer warned that if the Supreme Court struck down state bans on marriage equality, then we would see violence in the streets: “If the Supreme Court continues to overreach and they aren’t checked, we are headed towards civil unrest, I don’t think there is any other way around it. If it’s not stopped and reversed, the tyrannical overreach of the Supreme Court, we are to have social dislocation and I believe we are going to have violence as a result.”
WorldNetDaily editor Joseph Farah predicted that “millions of Americans” would flee the country to evade gay marriage, televangelist Pat Robertson warned of financial calamities as a sign of God’s judgment for the Supreme Court marriage equality ruling and Massachusetts-based pastor Scott Lively said the Antichrist could emerge around September 23.
Other Religious Right leaders predicted that the Supreme Court’s marriage equality ruling would lead to divine punishment, war, revolution, chaos and the destruction of America.
Jade Helm 15
The Jade Helm 15 conspiracy theory, which was cynically fueled by GOP politicians, centered around fears that a military training exercise taking place between July 15 and September 15 of this year would produce grave consequences, such as a federal takeover of Texas, the declaration of martial law and the transformation of closed Walmart stores into FEMA camps. Others thought that Jade Helm 15 was a deliberate attempt to stoke chaos, which would justify military rule in the future.
In May, one poll found that one in three Republicans, including half of Tea Party supporters, agreed that “the government is trying to take over Texas.”
Wiles, the “Trunews” host, said Jade Helm 15 was “the preparation for or the actual implementation of a round-up of patriotic men,” describing the drill as a “two-month-long Night of the Long Knives” that would lead to “a civil war.” In one discussion of Jade Helm 15, Wiles warned of the prospect of the Obama administration launching a nuclear electromagnetic pulse (EMP) attack against Texas and oppressing Americans who live in the South and Midwest.
Obama’s Refugee/Gangster/BLM Army
Ever since President Obama won the 2008 election, right-wing activists have claimed that he is on the verge of creating a private army akin to Hitler’s Brownshirts.
With 2015 coming to a close, it looks like Obama has just one year left to create such a force, but conservative talk show host Michael Savage has a pretty good idea of what Obama has in mind. Savage, who believes that Obama is bent on committing anti-white genocide and rounding up conservatives, has alleged that the president intends to create a personal force composing of Syrian refugees, Black Lives Matter demonstrators and members of the Crips and the Bloods, whom he thinks will be armed and deputized by Obama.
Gun activist Lawrence C. Mackin similarly warned that “Obama’s private internal army” will include government employees who ally with “a group of radical Islamists,” “illegal aliens from the Middle East” and “Soviet troops.”
Glenn Beck Might Die, Says Glenn Beck
Far-right pundit Glenn Beck, the self-proclaimed prophet of imminent mass killings, civil war, race riots, revolution, enslavement and internment camps, responded to the demonstrations and riots in Baltimore following the death of a black man in police custody by making it all about him … and how government assassins may kill him because he is such a great leader who knows about their nefarious schemes.
The conservative pundit said that the protests and riots in April and May were all designed to justify a federal takeover of local police forces:
That’s all that’s happening right now. This is a show. We’re watching a script and a play play out in front of us. None of this stuff is real. Those riots in Baltimore. That wasn’t real ... At some point, there will be a straw that breaks the camel’s back, and it will set the whole country on fire. And what happens? We will cry out for police help. The police will be overwhelmed. The DOJ will say, 'We’re going to take over policing, we’ll coordinate it from here.' And you’re done. It’s lights out, republic.
Beck went on to explain that he and other leaders who are exposing such deeds to the masses may be killed, just like how Hitler killed potential rivals in the Night of Long Knives and Turkish leaders killed Armenian leaders at the beginning of the Armenian genocide.
“They do that so there is nothing left but sheep and no shepherds,” he explained, claiming that these nefarious agents are going after him and not his 10 million viewers because they know “they cannot kill 10 million people in one night.”
“Prepare for a time when voices like mine or others are no longer heard and yours is the only voice,” he said.
From AlterNet
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God, the loving psychopath?
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At least 83 unarmed Christians were killed by police in America in 2015.
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...Now you know.
According to http://mappingpoliceviolence.org/unarmed/, police killed at least 101 unarmed Blacks in 2015.
According to http://blackdemographics.com/culture/religion/, 83% of Blacks are Christian.
According to http://blackdemographics.com/culture/religion/, 83% of Blacks are Christian.
Hey, Christians--
doesn't it bother you that so many of your brethren were gunned down, beaten to death, or killed in custody by police in America?
Or are you too busy equating "Black = thug" to remember that these people were your fellow Christians?
posted by Dot Calm @ 7:37 AM
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