Monday, May 02, 2016

The 30-yr battle to destroy our democracy and replace it with theocracy

Greetings, fellow Dot Calm Readers, Freedom Fighters, and Truth Crusaders!

If you've been following the blog in recent days, you've seen me call out the Republican Christo-fascists by name.

Since American media and politicians absolutely rely on the public being, as Gore Vidal called us, the United States of Amnesia, it behooves us to remind ourselves early and often how we got here and why it matters.

As I remark in the title of this post, the battle to destroy our democracy and replace it with a theocracy is not new. It began taking root in a serious way around 30 years ago, as the Reaganites were beginning to buy up our media. If you're old enough to remember, Reagan himself palled around with and pandered to not only the greedy rich but also evangelical Christian fundamentalist extremists, like James Robison. See for yourself in this video, proudly posted on Christian cable TV as a thing of beauty, if you can stomach it:


These are the sentiments my Tea Party Christian friend is nostalgic for. These remarks, from both men, illustrate the kind of theocracy that the Christo-fascists want America to be--this is the theocracy they feel downright entitled to. It is ironic that these people swear their devotion to the Constitution--they conveniently misunderstand that the Constitution stands directly opposed to the theocracy they demand. But that is how "conservative" brains work: they compartmentalize, so that conflicting ideas never meet each other (e.g., the Bible says the earth is flat, but evidence shows that the earth is round, so they somehow convince themselves that both are true), and they surround themselves in an echo chamber of FUX Noise, talk radio, and Christian television to stoke their cognitive bias on a daily basis.

This is not to say that liberals don't suffer from their own cognitive biases, but, if you look at which party falls on which side of reality and which side wants proactively to bring on Armageddon, you'll see why I think that it's far less a threat to life on earth to tax people who already have more than they'll ever spend in a lifetime--because they bribed politicians to redistribute the wealth upward--and use that money to feed, clothe, house, educate, and provide opportunity for people on the razor's edge of existence than it is to deny science and reality in favor of myths and superstitions that give one tiny set of wealthy and powerful people permission to steal from the poor and middle classes by forcing wages and benefits down and to risk humanity's future by destroying the environment for their own short-term profits.

So why do I call these people Christo-fascists?

Simple: because they are Christian, and they are fascist.

Don't believe me? Let's review the 14 signs of fascism as posted in Rense and reposted regularly here on this blog by the mighty Dot Calm herself, who saw the growing threat early on for what it was and who worked tirelessly to warn us all early and often:

Dr. Lawrence Britt has examined the fascist regimes of Hitler (Germany), Mussolini (Italy), Franco (Spain), Suharto (Indonesia) and several Latin American regimes. Britt found 14 defining characteristics common to each:
 
1. Powerful and Continuing Nationalism - Fascist regimes tend to make constant use of patriotic mottos, slogans, symbols, songs, and other paraphernalia. Flags are seen everywhere, as are flag symbols on clothing and in public displays.
 
2. Disdain for the Recognition of Human Rights - Because of fear of enemies and the need for security, the people in fascist regimes are persuaded that human rights can be ignored in certain cases because of "need." The people tend to look the other way or even approve of torture, summary executions, assassinations, long incarcerations of prisoners, etc.
 
3. Identification of Enemies/Scapegoats as a Unifying Cause - The people are rallied into a unifying patriotic frenzy over the need to eliminate a perceived common threat or foe: racial , ethnic or religious minorities; liberals; communists; socialists, terrorists, etc.
 
4. Supremacy of the Military - Even when there are widespread domestic problems, the military is given a disproportionate amount of government funding, and the domestic agenda is neglected. Soldiers and military service are glamorized.
 
5. Rampant Sexism - The governments of fascist nations tend to be almost exclusively male-dominated. Under fascist regimes, traditional gender roles are made more rigid. Divorce, abortion and homosexuality are suppressed and the state is represented as the ultimate guardian of the family institution.
 
6. Controlled Mass Media - Sometimes to media is directly controlled by the government, but in other cases, the media is indirectly controlled by government regulation, or sympathetic media spokespeople and executives. Censorship, especially in war time, is very common.
 
7. Obsession with National Security - Fear is used as a motivational tool by the government over the masses.
 
8. Religion and Government are Intertwined - Governments in fascist nations tend to use the most common religion in the nation as a tool to manipulate public opinion. Religious rhetoric and terminology is common from government leaders, even when the major tenets of the religion are diametrically opposed to the government's policies or actions.
 
9. Corporate Power is Protected - The industrial and business aristocracy of a fascist nation often are the ones who put the government leaders into power, creating a mutually beneficial business/government relationship and power elite.
 
10. Labor Power is Suppressed - Because the organizing power of labor is the only real threat to a fascist government, labor unions are either eliminated entirely, or are severely suppressed.
 
11. Disdain for Intellectuals and the Arts - Fascist nations tend to promote and tolerate open hostility to higher education, and academia. It is not uncommon for professors and other academics to be censored or even arrested. Free expression in the arts and letters is openly attacked.
 
12. Obsession with Crime and Punishment - Under fascist regimes, the police are given almost limitless power to enforce laws. The people are often willing to overlook police abuses and even forego civil liberties in the name of patriotism. There is often a national police force with virtually unlimited power in fascist nations.
 
13. Rampant Cronyism and Corruption - Fascist regimes almost always are governed by groups of friends and associates who appoint each other to government positions and use governmental power and authority to protect their friends from accountability. It is not uncommon in fascist regimes for national resources and even treasures to be appropriated or even outright stolen by government leaders.
 
14. Fraudulent Elections - Sometimes elections in fascist nations are a complete sham. Other times elections are manipulated by smear campaigns against or even assassination of opposition candidates, use of legislation to control voting numbers or political district boundaries, and manipulation of the media. Fascist nations also typically use their judiciaries to manipulate or control elections.

Ironically, my Tea Party Christian friend thinks that it's not the Republicans but the Democrats who are fascist. Clearly, he isn't paying attention to which side of the aisle is more religiously extreme, more devoted to dismantling women's rights, more devoted to dismantling human rights, more devoted to expanding the military whether it's needed or not, more disdainful of intellectuals, more obsessed with crime and punishment, more devoted to crushing labor power and unions, more devoted to expanding corporate power and deregulation, more devoted to terrifying Americans about Muslims, and so on.

Case in point: consider just a small, recent sample of Christo-fascist assaults on women's rights. Montana Republicans want to outlaw women from wearing yoga pants and other common sports/gym attire in public. Can you say, "burkas"? Colorado Republicans defunded the state's free birth control, despite its resounding success in cutting teen pregnancies by 40% and abortions by 35%. Can you say, "chastity belts"? The entire GOP is on the warpath with their witch hunt against Planned Parenthood, culminating in Oklahoma's recent steps toward outlawing abortion outright. Can you say, "Coat hangers"? Oklahoma Republicans recently ruled that forcibly sticking your dick down a woman's throat isn't rape if she's passed out drunk. Can you say, "Blame the victim"? The GOP has worked tirelessly to strike down equal pay laws for women. Can you say, "Stuck barefoot and pregnant in the kitchen"?

And my Tea Party Christian friend swears left, right, up, down, and sideways that Christians and Republicans treat women equally to men and that Democrats are the ones discriminating against women.

Can you say, "cognitive dissonance"?
I knew you could.

Then again, like the rest of his Christo-fascist peers, he's probably just conveniently redefined fascism, and the other terms from the Rense article, just like he's conveniently redefined the Constitution to be compatible with Biblical theocracy and just like he's conveniently redefined the Bible to be literally accurate and true historically, morally, and scientifically.

Seriously, it wobbles the mind.

Whatever he and the rest of them are smoking, I do NOT want it.

And this insanity, my dear friends, is what we're up against in this election. There really are people who want to turn back the clock 150 years or more on human progress and reduce the non-white, non-straight, non-male, non-wealthy, non-Christians among us to chattel property--or execute us outright, as their Bible commands.

Now do you understand why I keep nattering on about the Christo-fascist Republicans? Now do you understand why religion is so phuquen dangerous?

Time to slog on with the blog...

Don't forget to read Dot Calm's shadow's favorite independent sources of news and information:

Daily Kos
AlterNet
Democracy Now!
Conservatives are Destroying our Future
Conservative Clown Car
Americans Against the Republican Party
Americans Against the Tea Party

...And, whatever you do,
VOTE BERNIE!!!!!

Please send him a buck o' five. I do whenever I can.

Don't forget to be good to yourselves and your loved ones. Thanks for reading, and thanks for being you.

- Dot Calm's shadow

********************************************
ATTENTION, REPUBLICANS!
Obama is coming
for your guns 'n' Bibles
November 8, 2016.
DO NOT
LEAVE YOUR HOUSE
THAT DAY
FOR ANY REASON!
The rights you save
may be your own!********************************************

Petitions and other goodies from the mailbag 
 
From NARAL Pro-Choice

The state of Oklahoma has just two abortion clinics left in the state—and it just passed legislation to take away the medical license of any doctor who provides abortions.1

It's one of the most blatant attempts to ban abortion that we've seen in a long time—and a golden opportunity to remind voters of the true agenda of the anti-choice extremists.

This bill is a golden opportunity to show voters all over the country that this is what our right-wing opposition really stands for.


In recent years, we've gotten used to seeing anti-choice legislators chip away at abortion rights with restrictions and obstacles to abortion. But this time, they're making their intent clear: to ban abortion by any means necessary.

They claim that restrictions like 72-hour waiting periods and regulations on abortion clinics are intended merely to protect women’s health.

The Oklahoma abortion ban reveals that this phony agenda is nothing but a pack of lies.

The goal of the anti-choice movement is one thing and one thing only: to ban all abortion in America. This Oklahoma legislation proves it.
Thank you for helping to make reproductive freedom real for all women.
Source:
I've seen a miscarriage, and so has Dot Calm. You know what? It really IS only a glob of cells. A fertilized egg, at best, is only a potential human being. 60-80% of fertilized eggs don't even implant on the uterine wall--meaning that they DON'T cause pregnancy--and over30% of fertilized eggs that do implant miscarry. A woman is more than a potential human being--she is an ACTUAL human being. I think she deserves more rights, since she is already here and it is her life and her body on the line, than a glob of cells that may never survive even to birth.
-- Dot Calm's shadow

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From MoveOn

My name is Ann Lewis, and I'm the Chief Technology Officer at MoveOn. I'm writing because MoveOn is under attack by Donald Trump, and we need your help.

Here's the situation: Over the past few months, as Donald Trump has campaigned from city to city, MoveOn members have turned out for peaceful demonstrations against his carnival of hate.

In response, Trump attacked us in the media, calling MoveOn members "not a good group of people," while his media surrogates explicitly blamed MoveOn for violence he incited at his rallies.1,2

That's when things started getting ugly. We've been flooded with hate mail, spam, and personal threats to our staff and online security.

As a result, we're conducting a top-to-bottom security audit to secure our systems in advance of the general election. We won't back down from Trump, but we need to be prepared. Will you chip in $3?


Over the years, MoveOn has gone head to head against everyone from Dick Cheney to Sarah Palin to the Koch brothers. But what we’re seeing from Trump and his supporters is something different—and scary.

We've all seen the videos of Trump supporters punching and shoving protestors—as well as Trump's explicit statements encouraging violence. What the public doesn't see is the avalanche of threats that come in through email and social media. It's more hate mail of a more vicious nature than we received even when we took on the NRA or helped take down the Confederate Flag. It's frightening.

The Trump strategy is clear: He picks a target, demonizes them, and then tries to bully them into silence. It's what he's done to Muslims, women, immigrants, reporters, people with disabilities—and now, he's trying to do it to MoveOn.

But we won’t back down.

Click here to chip in and help stand up to Donald Trump and his threats.

MoveOn has already begun taking on Trump's hate directly by providing support for peaceful protesters outside his rallies, by exposing how Trump incites violence, and by joining with leaders of civil rights, economic justice, women's rights, labor, immigrant rights, environmental, veterans, and community organizations to launch a major initiative to stand up to Trump's hate.

But this is going to be one of the hardest-fought elections we've ever seen. It's also one of the most important: a fight for the heart and soul of America.

Will you chip in $3 to help provide the resources to ensure the security of our staff and systems we need to take on this fight and keep our staff and systems safe?

Yes, I'll chip in.


Thanks for all you do.
–Ann Lewis, MoveOn Chief Technology Officer

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From Daily Kos: Politicians, STOP taking money from Big Oil...you represent US!

Elected officials should represent us, the people who vote them into office. Yet too many politicians seem to take their orders from the fossil fuel industry.
It’s no coincidence that politicians who take large donations from oil companies and PACs are most likely to disappoint on critical issues like climate change, clean air, and clean water.
Sign this petition to tell your lawmakers: You represent the people, not Big Oil.
Lawmakers show their loyalty to their biggest donors. More and more we are seeing that politicians backed by huge oil companies and secretive PACs consistently let us down. They stand in the way of important climate legislation and block clean air and water proposals from ever getting a vote.
Join us, and a dozen partner organizations, in calling on our lawmakers to prioritize people over oil profits. Our representatives need to stop taking oil money, stop taking oil-funded trips, and most importantly, fight for good environmental legislation when it counts.
Sign this petition to tell your lawmakers: Stop taking money from oil companies!
We choose our representatives to stand up for our communities and fight for our families. We pay the price when they choose to protect oil companies and huge polluters instead of us. It’s time we all took a stand against the corrupting influence of oil money in politics.
Keep fighting,
Irna Landrum, Daily Kos            

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CREDO action
Make a call to Senate Republicans: Don’t block Merrick Garland
The right-wing extremists leading the Senate Republicans continue their unprecedented obstruction of Merrick Garland, President Obama’s nominee to replace Justice Scalia on the Supreme Court. But some Republican senators are starting to bend in the face of the massive outcry against their party’s radical, anti-democratic power grab. Can you help keep the pressure on with a call today?
Click below for a sample script and the number to call:
Take action now ►

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From ColorOfChange: Microsoft dumped Trump, but Google doubled down on hate

Microsoft heard your voices and cut its funding of the Trump-led RNC!
Hv
But too many tech companies are still planning to fund the RNC. Let’s make sure that companies like Google follow Microsoft and dump Trump!
Take Action

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From ATTN: should people have to show ID to pee?

Hi there,
Target is all over the news this week after its decision to allow transgender shoppers to use the restroom of their choice. Although this should be a non-controversial issue, hundreds of thousands of people have signed a petition pledging to boycott the retailer as a result.
Sadly, this backlash is not grounded in fairness or rationality. As ATTN: has reported, there have been exactly zero recorded instances of trans people arrested for misconduct in public restrooms. Despite this, states and cities are passing laws requiring people to use bathrooms corresponding to their birth-assigned gender.
The truth is that trans people are much more likely to be victimized in public places. Roughly half of the trans community say that they have experienced harassment or violence in hotels, restaurants, and stores.
If you believe you shouldn't need an ID to go the bathroom, share this video:



Talk to you soon,
Matthew

Suppose Caitlyn Jenner marries Miss Lindsey Graham and changes her name to Caitlin Graham. Her birth certificate will still read "Bruce Jenner"--it will be COMPLETELY IRRELEVANT to her identity. So I asks ye: in this and so many other cases where people change their names, including along with their sex, WHAT THE PHUQUE GOOD is a birth certificate for identifying genitals?
-- Dot Calm's shadow

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From Keystone Progress: stop Trump

"I pledge to work to stop the election of Donald Trump."

Andrew Sullivan wrote these haunting words in New York magazine. 

"Trump is not just a wacky politician of the far right, or a riveting television spectacle, or a Twitter phenom and bizarre working-class hero. He is not just another candidate to be parsed and analyzed by TV pundits in the same breath as all the others. In terms of our liberal democracy and constitutional order, Trump is an extinction-level event. It’s long past time we started treating him as such."

We agree.  That's why it is vital that Americans unite in an effort to stop his election.  

And that's why we've created this simple pledge, "I pledge to work to stop the election of Donald Trump."

We're not asking for any other commitment at this time.  As opportunities develop, we'll send you notifications of volunteer opportunities, online actions and rallies and other events.

Sign the pledge.  Our future depends on it.

Michael Morrill
for the Keystone Progress Team

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CREDO action
Tell the U.S. Senate: Reject the China Bilateral Investment Treaty
Tell the U.S. Senate:
“Reject the China Bilateral Investment Treaty. Say no to corporate trade deals that kill American jobs and give corporations veto power over domestic laws.”
Add your name:
Sign the petition ►

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From Daily Kos: stop Nestle from stealing California's water
We were outraged last year to hear that Nestlé had been illegally pumping water in California on federal land with an expired permit for over 25 years.
Even worse? The U.S. Forest Service is slated to give them a permit anyway. Sign the petition by Daily Kos & Courage Campaign demanding they stop this sweetheart deal.
California is in a drought, but Nestlé has illegally pumped bottled water in the San Bernardino National Forest for 28 years on an expired permit. Now that the U.S. Forest Service knows about it, they are considering giving them a five-year permit to continue this water grab.
Federal law requires the U.S. Forest Service to conduct an environmental review of the impacts on our public lands BEFORE issuing the permit. If we can get them to conduct a robust environmental review, the science will show that they cannot renew Nestlé's permit.
Join us and our partners at the Courage Campaign to keep up the pressure so the U.S. Forest Service stops Nestlé from taking one more drop of OUR water. Sign the petition.
Keep fighting,
Paul Hogarth, Daily Kos            

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From Tammy Duckworth for Senate

Dear Friend,

Republican Senator Mark Kirk has pledged that he “certainly” would support Donald Trump as the Republican nominee — an increasingly likely scenario.

Trump’s recent comment that women should be punished if they have abortions was horrific and misogynistic, and yet Senator Kirk has no problem supporting his candidacy. A Donald Trump presidency should be unthinkable to all of us. A Trump presidency backed by a Republican Senate is even more frightening.

Tammy Duckworth is running for Senate in Illinois to defeat Senator Kirk, the incumbent Republican candidate.

Add your name to help Tammy Duckworth defeat incumbent Republican and Trump ally, Senator Mark Kirk. It’s time to turn the Senate blue.

POLITICO has called Senator Kirk “The most endangered Republican in the country.” This race is Democrats' best chance in the nation to turn a Republican Senate seat blue in November.

It’s not surprising that Senator Kirk is in danger of losing his seat. He has a long record of offending his constituents, particularly women and communities of color, which fits neatly into the Trump mold.

Senator Kirk has called a fellow senator a “bro with no ho”. He called the Paycheck Fairness Act “the most sexist legislation you can have," and has repeatedly voted against equal pay bills. He disgracefully said that people “drive faster" through African American communities. Senator Kirk’s many Trump-like comments are unacceptable.

Working Americans need a Democratic majority in the Senate and a leader like Tammy Duckworth who will advocate for them.

We can't allow Illinois to be represented in the U.S. Senate by a Trump clone like Republican Senator Mark Kirk. Add your name if you agree.

Thank you for helping Tammy take back the Democratic Senate majority,

 Team Duckworth

********************************************
Christo-fascist anti-trans toilet laws
aren't so much about stopping trans people
from using the bathroom of their identity,
although some trans people surely will be affected.
They're more about instilling fear
and controlling the conversation.
Ironically,
androgynous gays and lesbians will suffer
more from these laws
than trans people whose appearance
matches their gender identity more closely.
Even more ironically,
you are far more likely to be sexually molested
or assaulted
by a Republican
like Dennis Hastert
or a Christian
like Jared Fogle or Josh Duggar
than you are by a trans person in a bathroom.
********************************************

Democracy Now!

Stories

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Actor and activist Martin Sheen became close friends with Dan Berrigan. He played the trial judge in the film In the King of Prussia, which chronicles how the Berrigan ... Read More →

As we remember the life and legacy of Father Daniel Berrigan, who died on Saturday at the age of 94, his niece Frida Berrigan reflects on the impact his activism had on ... Read More →

The legendary antiwar priest, activist and poet Father Daniel Berrigan has died at the age of 94. Today we are remembering his life and legacy. Over the past 20 years, ... Read More →

We speak with close friends of the legendary antiwar priest, activist and poet Father Daniel Berrigan, who has died at the age of 94. "I just always considered Dan to be in the ... Read More →

In addition to being a legendary antiwar priest, organizer and activist, the late Father Dan Berrigan was also an inspiring poet. In 2006, when hundreds gathered in New ... Read More →

We revisit a 2006 Democracy Now! interview with legendary antiwar priest, activist and poet Father Daniel Berrigan, who has died at the age of 94. He joined us to ... Read More →

Headlines →

********************************************
Using public bathrooms
and getting married
are human rights.
They are not special privileges,
like not paying taxes.
Like the rich
and the churches
don't.
********************************************

Daily Kos

  • Charles Koch denounces his creation, the modern Republican party
  • This creep couldn't keep his hands to himself. Behold her righteous and ruthless reaction
  • National Republicans blast Republican congressman for colluding against them with '60 Minutes'
  • 'John Wayne Day' gets nixed due to the fact he was a raging, racist a-hole
  • Sign if you agree with Everytown: Congress should not backtrack on President Obama’s common sense gun measure which will help save lives. sponsored
  • George Will says Republicans must ensure a 50-state defeat for Trump    
  • Was Larry Wilmore's performance 'too black' for the 2016 White House Correspondents' Dinner?
  • Making America great again ... Alabama man shoots into a car of teens injuring one—for THIS?    
  • Florida officer fired and arrested after video of him beating a handcuffed woman surfaces    
  • Fox News guest analyst pleads guilty to charges of fraud after claiming to be CIA operative
  • Elizabeth Warren: 'Trump feels threatened by Clinton's qualifications to be president'    
  • The Republican War on Women continues—this time with new subpoenas targeting fetal tissue researchers. Help NARAL end this irresponsible witch hunt. sponsored
  • Republicans refuse to fund fight against baby-murdering disease
  • Want to have some fun? Check out TedCruz.com and CarlyFiorinaForVicePresident.com    
  • Hillary Clinton: 'Happy to work with Sen. Sanders' on what 'will be a progressive platform'    
  • Beauty and danger: The global pursuit of whiter skin
  • Thank you for your concern, gentlemen.
  • Cartoon: Nate the Right Pundit, in 'Skeptic Shock'
  • Black woman responds to Megyn Kelly's claim that Jesus is white—and it's stunning
  • Cartoon: Donald Trump ain't so bad!
  • Sign the petition with Hillary: Tell Mitch McConnell to stop playing politics with the Supreme Court. sponsored
  • NYT: Gov. McCrory can 'barely contain his irritation' as HB2 blows up his re-election bid
  • Cartoon: Prince
  • So you've ruined a town and poisoned its children—what next? Bill them for your legal costs
  • Consultant for John McCain arrested after discovery of an active meth lab, heroin, LSD and much more
  • Cartoon: Trump pivots
  • Scott Walker signs bill that stops communities from issuing IDs for voting
  • Sign if you agree with NARAL: Time to end the special committee attacking women’s health. sponsored
  • Harvard Youth Poll shows biggest ever presidential Democratic advantage
  • Clinton hasn't won, Sanders hasn't lost. This is bigger than any single primary
  • Fox News host calls 'bathroom bills' a 'solution in search of a problem'
  • Trump talks about corruption while a violent convicted felon pretends to be a cop behind him
  • Governor Florida Man intentionally picks a fight with California (bad idea, Florida Man)
  • Retired cop accidentally shoots himself and his doctor while showing off his gun during examination

    • ********************************************
    Dump religion...
    REALITY is SO MUCH BETTER!
    So much simpler...
    So much more rational...
    So much more wondrous...
    So much more FUN!
    ********************************************

    AlterNet

    By Elizabeth Preza, AlterNet
    It's the first video of its kind to be on YouTube's most disliked videos of all time. Hmmm, wonder why. READ MORE»
    By Robert Reich, RobertReich.org
    Many Americans have almost no savings, so they have barely any wealth.  READ MORE»
    By Elizabeth Preza, AlterNet
    “We intend to fight for every vote and delegate remaining.” READ MORE»
    By Sarah Lazare, AlterNet
    These big donors have a hankering for austerity. READ MORE»
    By Alexandra Rosenmann, AlterNet
    "Brace yourself, cicadas."  READ MORE»
    By Esther Perel, Salon
    Hugely successful new artistic project by Beyonce goes to a place many of us confront at some point in our lives. READ MORE»
    By Elizabeth Preza, AlterNet
    This isn't the first time May 1 marked a peaceful protest that erupted into violence in the city. READ MORE»
    By Meteor Blades, Daily Kos
    This red-baiting dirty trickster, who once loved and now hates the Bushes, is still highly influential in the Trump campaign. READ MORE»
    By Alexandra Rosenmann, AlterNet
    The former mayor pressed his establishment case in a commencement speech. READ MORE»
    By Sarah K. Burris, Raw Story
    Ted Cruz continues to wave to the crowd as if nothing has happened. READ MORE»
    By Sola Agustsson, AlterNet
    Italian politician Matteo Salvini is a similar breed to Trump—a celebrity with political aspirations who appeals to blue-collar authoritarianism. READ MORE»
    By Elizabeth Preza, AlterNet
    Many places around the nation still have public monuments commemorating the days of slavery. READ MORE»
    By Conor Lynch, Salon
    Sanders should continue his fight to represent the interests of American workers. There's too much at stake. READ MORE»
    By Neal Gabler, Moyers & Company
    As FDR mastered radio and JFK conquered TV, Donald Trump rules the Internet like no other candidate. READ MORE»
    By Lisa Graves, PR Watch
    Charter schools pretend to be public and non-profit while pocketing big bucks and paying no taxes. READ MORE»
    By Kristin Szremski, AlterNet
    When Kristin Szremski met the recently departed Muhammad Salah, she found not a terrorist but a friend—and an openness to his religion. READ MORE»
    By Dee Goddard, The Conversation
    Spiting Trump, Hillary plans to take her woman card, fill up her binder, and make history with the first gender-parity cabinet. READ MORE»
    By Hannah McBride, The Establishment
    Advocates for legalizing pot include a surprising number of Republican Texan women. READ MORE»
    By Marcel Harmon, Salon
    GOP zealots, enthralled by a fictitious fantasy of tax cuts and free-market nonsense, turned Kansas upside down. READ MORE»
    By Katherine Paul and Ronnie Cummins, AlterNet
    Hundreds of millions of dollars spent to keep labels off GMO ingredients may come to an end on July 1. READ MORE»
    By Tom Boggioni, Raw Story
    According to DeCrescenzo, she was kept a virtual prisoner by the church for years. READ MORE»
    By Vedavati M., Ravishly
    Sleep beats sex every time. READ MORE»
    By Phillip Smith, AlterNet
    People with histories of substance abuse and violence are less likely to engage in domestic violence if they've tripped, a new study finds.  READ MORE»
    By Erika Janik, Beacon Press
    In a story fit for Hollywood, she nabbed criminals and grabbed headlines—all with a wardrobe as smart as her detection skills. READ MORE»
    By Vijay Prashad, Frontline
    Her assassination in Honduras had, as her family contends, been long overdue. READ MORE»
    By Joe Conason, AlterNet
    It's a critical moment: Sanders has accomplished much more than what America expected this election season, but he now stands at a precipice. READ MORE»
    By Giorgio Selvaggio, The Good Men Project
    How "The Donald" is like that unrelenting creep on a dating site, and what he's offering men in America. READ MORE»
    By Mary Elizabeth Williams, Salon
    But until then, Oklahoma law still doesn't recognize it as possible to give oral sex against your will if you're intoxicated. READ MORE»
    By John Ehrenreich, AlterNet
    When Ted Cruz, Charles Koch, the Clintons and Bernie Sanders consider fixing a problem, things get interesting. READ MORE»
    By Stanton Peele, AlterNet
    What do the 1994 Crime Bill and our current heroin scare have in common? Blaming social and human problems on drugs. READ MORE»
    By Sophia Tesfaye, Salon
    Campaign manager Corey Lewandowski says Trump is ready to bring into the fold anyone who is still feeling the Bern. READ MORE»
    By Brian Tashman, Right Wing Watch
    From a CIA plot to eat your kids' brains to demonizing Sasha Fierce to Ku Klux Klan tactics, the ridiculous conspiracy theories on the meaning of Queen Bey keep on coming. READ MORE»
    By Lorraine Berry, Raw Story
    You won't believe how seriously the Ku Klux Klan thinks its endorsement is a boon to candidates this election season. READ MORE»
    By Natalia Antonova, Open Democracy
    These porn stars may have a worldwide reputation on the web, but they enjoy little in terms of rights and respect offline. READ MORE»
    By Ibram X. Kendi, Nation Books
    Racists in the United States only embrace diversity and multiculturalism in name. In practice, they enforce cultural standards. READ MORE»
    By Chelsea Cristene, Role Reboot
    "Tap that," "virginity loss" and other more surprising linguistic patterns cause great harm. READ MORE»
    By Martha Rosenberg, AlterNet
    Even in 2016, racism and sexism are alive and well in advertising.  READ MORE»
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    Glenn Beck's Cheeto faceplant was not to be missed. READ MORE»
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    ********************************************
    Why don't Christian fundamentalists
    realize they're exactly the same
    as the Muslim fundamentalists
    they claim are so evil?
    ********************************************

    Movies

    My Tea Party Christian friend believes in the Illuminati and the New World Order. I've heard his favorite end-times televangelist decry the so-called New World Order many times, but I'm not sure where my friend is getting his (mis)information on the Illuminati. Perhaps one of the weird websites Seth Andrews discusses in this podcast of The Thinking Atheist? Of course, I'm not surprised that my friend laps the crazy up like a kitten pouncing on a saucer of fresh cream. He thinks that scientists don't know as much about climate change or biology as random untrained bloggers, and he dismisses the systematic analysis of 287 documents in a reputable commuter paper run by the Daily Mail, which he claims he reads, in favor of  unsubstantiated rantings punctuated by some plagiarized Internet meme. So why would I expect anything different from him?

    Let science save YOUR soul!
     





    posted by Dot Calm @ 6:51 PM