Lest We Forget: Fear Edition

9 senseless social panics that did lasting damage to America - Salon.com:

...America is a fearful and gullible nation with a media misinformation machine that is more than happy to stoke our anxieties. Like windup toys, we obediently point in whatever direction the fearmongers tell us to and run, screaming and flailing our arms while demanding that someone do something about it. Many of these false social panics have done horrible and lasting damage, often long after the country has seemed to come to its senses.

Here are 9 of the worst social panics in recent American history...

Evil Mouse Screws Americans

Random: Evil Mouse Screws Americans: Evil Mouse Screws Americans
Pink Slips at Disney. But First, Training Foreign Replacements. - NYTimes.com:

...Instead, about 250 Disney employees were told in late October that they would be laid off. Many of their jobs were transferred to immigrants on temporary visas for highly skilled technical workers, who were brought in by an outsourcing firm based in India. Over the next three months, some Disney employees were required to train their replacements to do the jobs they had lost...

Posted by Bob Harrison at 9:39 AM

This Day In Shrub Rehabilitation

5 reasons George W. Bush is still one of the worst presidents ever - Salon.com:

...None of this means that George W. Bush is a bad human being, or even that he set out to cause harm to the nation he professes to love. At the same time, no bounce in his approval rating can eclipse the damage that he did while in office. More Americans may like Bush than dislike him right now, but when his legacy is ultimately appraised, the final verdict will not be a kind one.

I agreed with the article except for this last paragraph. Even a stupid man with a decent heart would not have done some of things this miscreant did.

Ah, Intelligence

Carlisle: Air Force intel uses ISIS 'moron's' social media posts to target airstrikes:

OPSEC isn't the Islamic State group's strong suit.

Airmen at Hurlburt Field, Florida, used social media posts by the insurgent group to track the location of an Islamic State group headquarters building. Twenty-two hours later, three joint direct attack munitions destroyed the target, said Gen. Hawk Carlisle, commander of Air Combat Command, at a June 1 speech in Arlington, Virginia.

"The [airmen are] combing through social media and they see some moron standing at this command," Carlisle said at the speech, which was sponsored by the Air Force Association. "And in some social media, open forum, bragging about command and control capabilities for Da'esh, ISIL, And these guys go 'ah, we got an in.'

"So they do some work, long story short, about 22 hours later through that very building, three JDAMS take that entire building out. Through social media. It was a post on social media. Bombs on target in 22 hours.

"It was incredible work, and incredible airmen doing this sort of thing..."

The Daily Flashback: Mean Cons Edition

Two Kinds of Meanness: The Modern Conservative Movement�|�Mike Lux:

...At conservative conferences and Republican gatherings over the last decade, we have seen the crowds turn ugly. Remember the Republican presidential debates four years ago, with audiences cheering for torture and people dying because they had no health insurance, and booing soldiers, decorated for their heroism, because they were gay? Remember the McCain/Palin rallies of 2008 where the audiences were openly racist and called Obama a Muslim terrorist? Here's another example that still chills me: Glenn Beck giving a speech to CPAC a few years back, talking about how there should be no safety net because "in nature, the lions eat the weak." The audience burst into applause and laughter, and these are the same folks preaching Christian values...

Clown Car Foundering?

Ben Carson’s campaign faces turmoil amid staff exits and super PAC rivalry - The Washington Post:

The presidential candidacy of Ben Carson, a tea party star who has catapulted into the top tier of Republican contenders, has been rocked by turmoil with the departures of four senior campaign officials and widespread disarray among his allied super PACs...

Comment Of The Day: Duggar Clenis Edition

Megyn Kelly Interviews the Duggars on Fox News

Martha Howell

Ouch, my brain cells are in a bundle trying to follow this. Some "inappropriate touching" occurred between Bill Clinton, a consenting adult, and Monica Lewinsky, another consenting adult, and that was worthy of how many years and $millions to publicly shame them via the Whitewater Commission, but these people are victims of runaway justice?

Clinton Fights Voter Suppression

Hillary Clinton Will Call For Voting Rights Overhaul:

Seeking an expansion of voting rights, Hillary Rodham Clinton plans to call for an early voting period of at least 20 days in every state and push back against Republican-led states that have sought restrictions on voting access.

The Democratic presidential candidate is speaking Thursday at Texas Southern University in Houston, a historically black university. Democrats have filed legal challenges to voting changes from GOP lawmakers in the presidential battleground states of Ohio and Wisconsin...

Evil Oil

The fossil-fuel industry’s campaign to mislead the American people - The Washington Post:

Fossil fuel companies and their allies are funding a massive and sophisticated campaign to mislead the American people about the environmental harm caused by carbon pollution.

Their activities are often compared to those of Big Tobacco denying the health dangers of smoking. Big Tobacco’s denial scheme was ultimately found by a federal judge to have amounted to a racketeering enterprise...

Lying Liars: ABC News Edition

ABC News Privileges GOP Lie About Benghazi Document Redactions | Blog | Media Matters for America:

ABC News' article demonstrates a type of misinformation Media Matters has termed "privileging the lie." ABC News is legitimizing Issa's claim by headlining and beginning the article with an allegation its own reporting shows to be false. But rather than make that falsehood the focus of the story, the report is framed around Issa's allegations...

Obnoxious Policing

A Bad Arrest, on Video | Rolling Stone:

This police video isn't action-packed. It's not a dramatic institutional killing captured by a bystander, as in the Eric Garner or Walter Scott cases.

But if you want to understand where the pent-up anger toward police in inner-city neighborhoods comes from, scenes like this – showing the lead-up to the arrest of an 18-year-old from East New York named Jaleel Fields – are a big part of the equation...

Southern Democratic Sense

Why I'm a Dem - Rant from Southern White Male, Mid 40's, Business Owner:

...I am a mid forties white male living in the South. With my accent and business background, people assume I am a conservative. When they find out I am a democrat, many are surprised and often ask, “why am I a democrat?”

The short answer is because I like people more than I like money. Do not get me wrong, I like money too, but when an issue comes down to a choice between people or money, I like to err on the side of people. This is not to say I would always decide in the favor of people, often times the costs are too high, but lets not put money first all the time.

I believe the democratic party is the best choice for the US to gain greater social freedom and economic development...

Sounds Right

Pew Study: Right-Wing Radio Shows Among Most Distrusted Sources Of News | Blog | Media Matters for America: 

(sic) survey conducted by the Pew Research Center found that Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, and Glenn Beck's talk radio shows are more distrusted than trusted among three generations surveyed by Pew...

Crazy In NC: Sue Us Edition

Breaking News and Opinion on The Huffington Post:

A slate of civil rights groups put North Carolina on notice Monday, writing in a pre-litigation letter that the state must meet its voter registration obligations or risk a lawsuit. The letter alleges that the state's motor vehicle and public assistance agencies are violating legal requirements set out in the National Voter Registration Act (NVRA) to provide voter registration services to citizens and transmit registration information to election officials...

Sins of The Raygun: A List

THE RONALD REAGAN MYTH . . . The Progressive Review:

"Ronald Reagan must be the nicest president who ever destroyed a union, tried to cut school lunch milk rations from six to four ounces, and compelled families in need of public help to first dispose of household goods in excess of $1,000...1f there is an authoritarian regime in the American future, Ronald Reagan is tailored to the image of a friendly fascist." - Robert Lekachman...

The Daily Flashback: Liberal Bill Edition

Cannonfire-  :-News bites (Plus: The return of "progressive" Clinton-phobia!)

...Bill Clinton fought for a much better health care system than the one Obama gave us. Clinton was loathe to involve us in foreign wars, his NSA observed at least some limits, his SEC did at least some good, he preserved the Community Reinvestment Act against strong opposition, he gave enormous help to millions of poor working people with the Earned Income Tax Credit, and -- most importantly -- he raised taxes on the wealthy (in contrast to Obama, who preserved the Bush tax cuts on the wealthy). Let's also not forget that Clinton's government was infinitely more transparent. You didn't see Bill Clinton jailing whistleblowers by the truckload, and I strongly doubt that Clinton would have used drones with Obama-esque abandon...

Putting The Con In Conservative

Addicting Info – Guy Who Staged Anti-Muslim Hate Rally Now Wants You To Give Him $10 Million ‘For Protection’:

The organizer of an anti-Muslim hate rally in Phoenix, Arizona now says he needs patriots to donate $10 million to him so that his family can be safe from Muslims – even though none threatened him.

We all saw it coming, but 10 million?!...

No Carly Surprise Here

Carly Fiorina, in an Ambush of Hillary Clinton, Gets Defensive - First Draft. Political News, Now. - NYTimes.com:

Carly Fiorina spends a lot of her time as a Republican presidential candidate attacking Hillary Rodham Clinton, the leading Democratic candidate, and has earned considerable news coverage for it. On Wednesday, with Mrs. Clinton set to give a speech at a South Carolina hotel, Ms. Fiorina arranged a news conference outside – for little reason, it seemed, other than to taunt her...

Comment Of The Day: Vet Hating GOPer Edition

Derp in the Heart of Texas: Here's Greg Abbott

John Robinson · Top Commenter · Loyola College

That's what I find so amazing, Ronald - the modern Republican party despises the actual troops as much as it despises the Enemy Liberals,, but because it pumps out so much PR about "Patriotism" and "Honor The Veterans", what the Republicans actually do to harm the troops, and the disdain with which they actually treat the troops, is simply overlooked. Every day, the Republican Party spits on the troops, both active-duty and retired, and yet huge numbers of people seem to feel it's the Liberals who hate the vets. It's a shame and a disgrace.

Disgusting Training Model For Duggarism

Here’s how the Duggars’ patriarchal homeschool world teaches kids to shame sex abuse victims:

The recent revelation that Josh Duggar admittedly molested five young girls as a teenager has taken over social media for the last two days. There has been a wide array of reactions and speculations. But, for many who were raised in the same Quiverfull and patriarchal homeschool world, this has been a time of reliving their own traumas brought about by that dysfunctional culture. Those who lived it know all too well how the teachings and attitudes that are part of the Duggar family’s life affect families, victims, and even offenders...