Kevin Koster commented on ‘Straight News’ Show Promotes Abolishing CDC
2022-01-04 13:56:44 -0500
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Frankly, the Pence White House already succeeded in gutting the CDC, along with countless other federal departments, in their epic quest to make sure that government could not get anything positive done between 2017 and 2020. (Pence’s minions did put effort and time into caging children and trying to steal money from departments to put into the nonsensical “big beautiful border wall” that they were never able to actually build.)
The handling of the COVID pandemic was a mess from the beginning, mostly due to Pence and his childish former spokesman being caught completely flat footed by it, and then by angry Right Wingers trying to downplay the crisis for months. Pence had eliminated the advance CDC staff that could have headed off most of the crisis, under the angry Right Wing premise that “we don’t need to pay these people this much; we can just wait to see if there’s a crisis, and then we’ll hire the BEST people…”. Predictably, this resulted in everyone trying to play catch-up on the pandemic rather than having a handle on it. Pence’s childish spokesman spent the first month denying there was even a problem, and then turned on a dime to just blame the problem on China.
The Right Wing approach here was for two purposes. The first one was to make sure that public perception of the Pence White House was totally positive going into an Election cycle – and a raging pandemic killing hundreds of thousands of Americans did not line up with that narrative. The other purpose was a longer game for the Right – that of showing that government cannot get anything done. (The old Reagan line of “the scariest words you’ll ever hear are ‘I’m from the government and I’m here to help”). By gutting the CDC, Pence set up a self-fulfilling prophecy. His minions made sure the CDC couldn’t do its work, and now we’re hearing angry Right Wing pundits blaming the CDC for not getting that work done. (We can add some extra sauce in for the Right Wingers – attacking the CDC and White House now means they are attacking President Biden’s team rather than the Pence guys…)
It’s obvious that the Right’s goal today is to prolong the crisis and use it as a hammer against President Biden and the Dems this year for the midterms and even for the 2024 campaign. The fact that the Right’s obstinance throughout the crisis has directly resulted in millions more being infected around the world is never discussed by the Right. As far as they’re concerned, they’re happy to continue doubling down on the same lies they’ve been telling for the past two years now.
The handling of the COVID pandemic was a mess from the beginning, mostly due to Pence and his childish former spokesman being caught completely flat footed by it, and then by angry Right Wingers trying to downplay the crisis for months. Pence had eliminated the advance CDC staff that could have headed off most of the crisis, under the angry Right Wing premise that “we don’t need to pay these people this much; we can just wait to see if there’s a crisis, and then we’ll hire the BEST people…”. Predictably, this resulted in everyone trying to play catch-up on the pandemic rather than having a handle on it. Pence’s childish spokesman spent the first month denying there was even a problem, and then turned on a dime to just blame the problem on China.
The Right Wing approach here was for two purposes. The first one was to make sure that public perception of the Pence White House was totally positive going into an Election cycle – and a raging pandemic killing hundreds of thousands of Americans did not line up with that narrative. The other purpose was a longer game for the Right – that of showing that government cannot get anything done. (The old Reagan line of “the scariest words you’ll ever hear are ‘I’m from the government and I’m here to help”). By gutting the CDC, Pence set up a self-fulfilling prophecy. His minions made sure the CDC couldn’t do its work, and now we’re hearing angry Right Wing pundits blaming the CDC for not getting that work done. (We can add some extra sauce in for the Right Wingers – attacking the CDC and White House now means they are attacking President Biden’s team rather than the Pence guys…)
It’s obvious that the Right’s goal today is to prolong the crisis and use it as a hammer against President Biden and the Dems this year for the midterms and even for the 2024 campaign. The fact that the Right’s obstinance throughout the crisis has directly resulted in millions more being infected around the world is never discussed by the Right. As far as they’re concerned, they’re happy to continue doubling down on the same lies they’ve been telling for the past two years now.
Kevin Koster commented on Happy Holidays!
2021-12-29 16:35:08 -0500
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Happy Holidays to all.
I’ve been able to travel home and to see immediate family, but it’s pretty much been a quiet holiday before going back to work.
I hope for everyone that 2022 brings vaccination to enough people that we can get to the other side of this pandemic.
I’ve been able to travel home and to see immediate family, but it’s pretty much been a quiet holiday before going back to work.
I hope for everyone that 2022 brings vaccination to enough people that we can get to the other side of this pandemic.
Kevin Koster commented on Fox RADIOLOGIST Urges NYC Mayor-Elect To Revoke COVID Safety Measures
2021-12-29 16:31:17 -0500
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The approach here is consistent with that of angry Right Wingers across the media spectrum, whether they be on AM Radio, Fox News or any of the minor apps like Newsmax or The First.
And let’s not fall for the nonsense she’s peddling – mask mandates and vaccination have saved tens of millions of lives. Had Fox News existed during 1917, we might still be in that pandemic. Angry Right Wingers have been lying for nearly 2 years about how getting infected with COVID gives you immunity. Virologists debunked that one in early 2020, and the same angry Right Wingers keep trying to push it anyway. So we’re clear – you can repeatedly be infected with COVID! Just because you had it once does not mean you can’t get it again. And the point of vaccination isn’t that you’ll never get COVID – it’s that you’re less likely to get a severe case that would put you in the hospital. Vaccination and safe protocols are how we can defeat a pandemic like this. Not quack “cures” like ivermectin or hydroxicholoriquine, and not quack “solutions” like telling everyone to go get infected.
The intention of the Right Wing regarding COVID is clearly to prolong the pandemic and use it as a hammer against the Dems in the midterms and the 2024 campaign. I fervently hope that we are able to get enough people vaccinated in the coming months to defeat the pandemic – not just because it will head the Right off at the pass, but more importantly because it will save lives. Something that angry Right Wingers clearly care very little about.
And let’s not fall for the nonsense she’s peddling – mask mandates and vaccination have saved tens of millions of lives. Had Fox News existed during 1917, we might still be in that pandemic. Angry Right Wingers have been lying for nearly 2 years about how getting infected with COVID gives you immunity. Virologists debunked that one in early 2020, and the same angry Right Wingers keep trying to push it anyway. So we’re clear – you can repeatedly be infected with COVID! Just because you had it once does not mean you can’t get it again. And the point of vaccination isn’t that you’ll never get COVID – it’s that you’re less likely to get a severe case that would put you in the hospital. Vaccination and safe protocols are how we can defeat a pandemic like this. Not quack “cures” like ivermectin or hydroxicholoriquine, and not quack “solutions” like telling everyone to go get infected.
The intention of the Right Wing regarding COVID is clearly to prolong the pandemic and use it as a hammer against the Dems in the midterms and the 2024 campaign. I fervently hope that we are able to get enough people vaccinated in the coming months to defeat the pandemic – not just because it will head the Right off at the pass, but more importantly because it will save lives. Something that angry Right Wingers clearly care very little about.
Kevin Koster commented on How Fox Goes To Bat For Jared Schmeck’s ‘Let’s Go Brandon’
2021-12-29 16:23:23 -0500
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Schmeck’s immature little stunt has backfired. The fact that he’s playing the victim now is a huge tell in that area. Angry Right Wingers have shifted into a predictable DARVO mode, which is their usual go-to when they are called out on their behavior.
Regarding Dave Ramsey, I’ll note that there is a fascinating podcast that has covered much of the seamier side of his organization. It’s called Untangled Faith and it’s the work of Amy Fritz, whose husband was a tech employee of Ramsey until 2019, when neither of them could stand it any longer – and that was before COVID. Fritz and her husband are not liberal or Left Wing by any means. But they are honest and clearly sincere about their beliefs. Fritz’s discussions make clear that Ramsey’s practices are anything but sincere. Ramsey presents himself as a devout Fundamentalist on the air – but his actual conduct indicates that he’s simply found a more lucrative business model than the one that drove him into bankruptcy in his prior iteration.
Regarding the slur, which actually isn’t “F you Biden” but rather “F Joe Biden”, it’s interesting to see the same angry Right Wingers pushing it that previously were scandalized that anyone would say anything less than fawning about Pence’s childish former spokesman. It’s not just an expression of sneering contempt. It’s fair to call the slur a continuation of angry Right Wingers’ doubling down on the 2020 Election they lost.
Regarding Dave Ramsey, I’ll note that there is a fascinating podcast that has covered much of the seamier side of his organization. It’s called Untangled Faith and it’s the work of Amy Fritz, whose husband was a tech employee of Ramsey until 2019, when neither of them could stand it any longer – and that was before COVID. Fritz and her husband are not liberal or Left Wing by any means. But they are honest and clearly sincere about their beliefs. Fritz’s discussions make clear that Ramsey’s practices are anything but sincere. Ramsey presents himself as a devout Fundamentalist on the air – but his actual conduct indicates that he’s simply found a more lucrative business model than the one that drove him into bankruptcy in his prior iteration.
Regarding the slur, which actually isn’t “F you Biden” but rather “F Joe Biden”, it’s interesting to see the same angry Right Wingers pushing it that previously were scandalized that anyone would say anything less than fawning about Pence’s childish former spokesman. It’s not just an expression of sneering contempt. It’s fair to call the slur a continuation of angry Right Wingers’ doubling down on the 2020 Election they lost.
Kevin Koster commented on Thousands Of Unsold Tickets For Trump/O’Reilly Tour
2021-12-15 09:29:39 -0500
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It’s entirely possible that O’Reilly is inflating the money numbers. It’s also likely that a good chunk of those money numbers are grosses that would go to the various arenas and not to the coffers of O’Reilly or Pence’s childish former spokesman. (They get some part of the take at the door plus the parking and a percentage of the concessions) I’ll also note that most of the higher-end tickets for the lower and closer seating did not sell, so they wound up letting many of the people in the cheap seats move to the lower ones so it wouldn’t look totally empty below. (In other words, they couldn’t have packed everyone up front if they’d wanted to, as those were the most expensive seats, and there weren’t enough people willing to pay those prices.)
The delay in coming out was attributed by O’Reilly to Secret Service concerns about “how many people there were and how large the crowd was”. That to me is a pretty bald lie. If anything, I’d say that Pence’s childish former spokesman was having a tantrum backstage about this being a repeat of Tulsa.
They’ll do the remaining dates in Texas and insist that they’ve “packed ’em in” when in fact this has been a humiliation.
The delay in coming out was attributed by O’Reilly to Secret Service concerns about “how many people there were and how large the crowd was”. That to me is a pretty bald lie. If anything, I’d say that Pence’s childish former spokesman was having a tantrum backstage about this being a repeat of Tulsa.
They’ll do the remaining dates in Texas and insist that they’ve “packed ’em in” when in fact this has been a humiliation.
Kevin Koster commented on Chris Wallace Leaving Fox News For CNN Plus
2021-12-13 08:31:18 -0500
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Bemused is correct that Chris Wallace is likely attempting to rehabilitate his image after nearly 20 years helping Fox News inflict Far Right propaganda. Many of us have not forgotten his “gotcha” interviews, such as where he accused President Clinton of not doing enough to deal with terrorism and Osama bin Laden and then smirked in his face when Clinton reacted badly.
Regarding the difference between Shepard Smith’s departure and Wallace’s bolting, it boils down to Smith leaving in the middle of his contract and Wallace waiting for his contract to expire. Smith wasn’t held by a gag rule so much as a non-compete. Wallace on the other hand knew his contract was up and clearly negotiated a better one with CNN, where he will undoubtedly be one of their conservative voices.
I note that Wallace is still just as much the Right Wing conservative that he was when he was happily smearing Democratic politicians for years during the W/Cheney White House. The difference now is that the GOP and angry Right Wingers across America have lurched much, much farther to the Right – by about 6 football fields. He now appears to be more moderate than he really is, because he’s not an outright fire-breather like the gargoyles on OAN or Newsmax. It’s the same issue as people suddenly thinking that W was a “good president” in comparison to the Pence White House when in fact W was a terrible one and frankly an unpunished war criminal.
I don’t know that Bemused is particularly cynical here, but I do know that Wallace’s maneuver is a fairly cynical one.
Regarding the difference between Shepard Smith’s departure and Wallace’s bolting, it boils down to Smith leaving in the middle of his contract and Wallace waiting for his contract to expire. Smith wasn’t held by a gag rule so much as a non-compete. Wallace on the other hand knew his contract was up and clearly negotiated a better one with CNN, where he will undoubtedly be one of their conservative voices.
I note that Wallace is still just as much the Right Wing conservative that he was when he was happily smearing Democratic politicians for years during the W/Cheney White House. The difference now is that the GOP and angry Right Wingers across America have lurched much, much farther to the Right – by about 6 football fields. He now appears to be more moderate than he really is, because he’s not an outright fire-breather like the gargoyles on OAN or Newsmax. It’s the same issue as people suddenly thinking that W was a “good president” in comparison to the Pence White House when in fact W was a terrible one and frankly an unpunished war criminal.
I don’t know that Bemused is particularly cynical here, but I do know that Wallace’s maneuver is a fairly cynical one.
Kevin Koster commented on ‘Dr.’ Brit Hume Diagnoses Biden As Senile Again
2021-11-26 23:55:31 -0500
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Hume is still upset about how President Clinton publicly humiliated him when he tried to play a “gotcha” move on the occasion of Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s nomination to the Supreme Court.
But he did survive to become a Fox News “Elder Spokesman”, something that Bill O’Reilly desperately wished to be and now helplessly rails about.
Catty little putdowns like his snide assertion of President Biden being “senile” continue to be Hume’s stock-in-trade. One presumes that will not change.
But he did survive to become a Fox News “Elder Spokesman”, something that Bill O’Reilly desperately wished to be and now helplessly rails about.
Catty little putdowns like his snide assertion of President Biden being “senile” continue to be Hume’s stock-in-trade. One presumes that will not change.
Kevin Koster commented on Fox’s Turley Helps Get The Rittenhouse Acquittal Party Started
2021-11-20 05:34:27 -0500
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This was a fairly simple case, in that Rittenhouse would never have found himself in a situation where he was compelled to “defend himself” had he not crossed state lines with an illegal assault weapon and engaged a group of protestors.
Unfortunately, the trial was likely to result in either this odd verdict or a mistrial after all the misconduct by the judge. It would be helpful to see that judge brought to account by the Wisconsin Bar Association, but that sadly will prove unlikely.
And we will now see a continuing spike in violence, particularly with the assault weapons enjoyed by people like Rittenhouse, who will now feel emboldened to open fire when they feel like it.
Unfortunately, the trial was likely to result in either this odd verdict or a mistrial after all the misconduct by the judge. It would be helpful to see that judge brought to account by the Wisconsin Bar Association, but that sadly will prove unlikely.
And we will now see a continuing spike in violence, particularly with the assault weapons enjoyed by people like Rittenhouse, who will now feel emboldened to open fire when they feel like it.
Kevin Koster commented on Fox Demands Rittenhouse Trial Take Precedence Over Biden Bill
2021-11-17 00:25:12 -0500
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Multiple agendas are involved here.
First, there is no way any angry Right Wing outlet is going to acknowledge any success from the Dems and the Biden White House. Their narrative is one of total failure, so airing anything of that bill signing would be anathema to them.
Second, angry Right Wingers are quite vested in the Rittenhouse situation, just as they were in the Ramos & Compean situation back in 2006-2009. They are more than eager to see Rittenhouse exonerated for his murders.
Third, regarding COVID, angry Right Wingers have now quintuple-downed on the notion that the pandemic was an annoying distraction to their frantic wish to re-elect the Pence White House. They have never admitted the truth – that Pence and his childish former assistant were so incompetent in their handling of basic governmental functions in the face of a pandemic that they allowed millions of people, including over 700,000 Americans to die.
The hope by this group is that they can either reinstall a version of the Pence White House in 2024 or so confuse everyone that the actual history never gets written. In reality, more people than they think actually do remember what happened over the past decades. And there is now literally thousands of hours of Fox News personalities shamelessly repeating falsehoods about all of it.
First, there is no way any angry Right Wing outlet is going to acknowledge any success from the Dems and the Biden White House. Their narrative is one of total failure, so airing anything of that bill signing would be anathema to them.
Second, angry Right Wingers are quite vested in the Rittenhouse situation, just as they were in the Ramos & Compean situation back in 2006-2009. They are more than eager to see Rittenhouse exonerated for his murders.
Third, regarding COVID, angry Right Wingers have now quintuple-downed on the notion that the pandemic was an annoying distraction to their frantic wish to re-elect the Pence White House. They have never admitted the truth – that Pence and his childish former assistant were so incompetent in their handling of basic governmental functions in the face of a pandemic that they allowed millions of people, including over 700,000 Americans to die.
The hope by this group is that they can either reinstall a version of the Pence White House in 2024 or so confuse everyone that the actual history never gets written. In reality, more people than they think actually do remember what happened over the past decades. And there is now literally thousands of hours of Fox News personalities shamelessly repeating falsehoods about all of it.
Kevin Koster commented on TX AG Paxton All In For ‘Health Choices’ – Except For Women
2021-11-16 07:30:24 -0500
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Paxton is fully aware that the SB8 court fight will mostly be obviated after the current Supreme Court guts Roe and Casey with the Dobbs decision. The one place where SB8 will lose is in its three most outrageous conditions – the bounty hunter clause, the no legal fee reimbursement clause for their targets, and the holdover clause stating that even if it were to be stayed, SB8 could still be retroactively enforced for actions during that period.
The current Far Right SC allowed SB8 to go into effect specifically to make sure that the latter of those clauses could be inflicted. Had they stayed it before it went online, clinics in Texas could have operated. Since they allowed it to go on, Texas clinics really can’t risk operating unless and until SB8 is totally thrown out. So they’re done.
When the Dobbs decision allows the states to set their own deadlines, be it 14 weeks, 6 weeks or 2 days, the rest of SB8 will be able to stand. Texas will then be able to issue a new bill that just removes the obnoxious enforcement methods and goes back to the traditional methods. But by using those methods, Texas will have gotten away with having a ban in effect around 9 months before anyone else.
Paxton is also fully aware of his own hypocrisy. In reality, he doesn’t care at all about “choice” or “life”. Those have never been priorities for angry Right Wingers. He cares about putting women back in their place, and punishing Americans for not living in a Pollyanna world rather than reality. He cares about continuing to support the completely debunked Right Wing disinformation campaign about COVID – where a pandemic was considered an annoying hoax distraction to their frantic wish to re-elect the Pence White House. He cares about continuing to support the nonsensical lie that Pence’s childish former spokesman “won” an Election that he actually lost by a fair amount.
And of course Paxton cares about getting away with his corruption and being able to crow about how he can do what he wants and not face any consequences. Just as Matt Gaetz is hoping the same for himself. Because they learned the same lesson the rest of the angry Right Wing learned from the abomination of the Pence White House: If you’re Right Wing and enough of a bully, you can get away with whatever you want.
The current Far Right SC allowed SB8 to go into effect specifically to make sure that the latter of those clauses could be inflicted. Had they stayed it before it went online, clinics in Texas could have operated. Since they allowed it to go on, Texas clinics really can’t risk operating unless and until SB8 is totally thrown out. So they’re done.
When the Dobbs decision allows the states to set their own deadlines, be it 14 weeks, 6 weeks or 2 days, the rest of SB8 will be able to stand. Texas will then be able to issue a new bill that just removes the obnoxious enforcement methods and goes back to the traditional methods. But by using those methods, Texas will have gotten away with having a ban in effect around 9 months before anyone else.
Paxton is also fully aware of his own hypocrisy. In reality, he doesn’t care at all about “choice” or “life”. Those have never been priorities for angry Right Wingers. He cares about putting women back in their place, and punishing Americans for not living in a Pollyanna world rather than reality. He cares about continuing to support the completely debunked Right Wing disinformation campaign about COVID – where a pandemic was considered an annoying hoax distraction to their frantic wish to re-elect the Pence White House. He cares about continuing to support the nonsensical lie that Pence’s childish former spokesman “won” an Election that he actually lost by a fair amount.
And of course Paxton cares about getting away with his corruption and being able to crow about how he can do what he wants and not face any consequences. Just as Matt Gaetz is hoping the same for himself. Because they learned the same lesson the rest of the angry Right Wing learned from the abomination of the Pence White House: If you’re Right Wing and enough of a bully, you can get away with whatever you want.
Kevin Koster commented on Fox Pretends Biden Called Satchel Paige A ‘Great Negro,’ Just To Smear Him
2021-11-14 13:06:27 -0500
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Marge is correct to note how viciously the Right Wing regularly refers to non-Caucasians. It wasn’t that long ago that Pence’s childish former spokesman was demanding to know why we had to accept immigrants from #$@$hole countries rather than Norway.
I’ll also note that Fox News pulled a Breitbart/O’Keefe in that they deceptively edited the clip just to make it look worse.
Plouffe is correct to note that Right Wing media has been presenting a unified front across multiple platforms including Fox, OAN, Newsmax, Breitbart as well as Glenn Beck’s cottage industry and on AM Radio. Their narrative has been to consistently repeat that the Dems are terrible, evil people trying to destroy the “real America”, to consistently repeat vicious attacks on the Biden/Harris White House where the only disagreement is whether Biden is deliberately so terrible or just so senile he doesn’t know how terrible he is. They consistently repeat that the economy is in terrible shape even though it isn’t. And they try to make hay out of every single statement made by Biden or Jen Psaki, twisting the comments into a complete pretzel.
What’s truly unsettling about this insular angry Right Wing media world is not just that it’s divorced from objective reality. The scary part is that there are millions of Americans who truly believe what the angry Right Wing pundits are telling them.
In fairness, this has been the Right Wing approach to media for the past 30+ years, going back to the rise of unrepentant bigot Rush Limbaugh and the original formation of Fox News 25 years ago. And they’ve actually succeeded to a large extent – millions of Right Wingers are convinced that these propaganda jags are truth. And millions more non-Right Wingers wind up thinking that there must be something to the Right Wing complaints – which is how so many people fell for the canards about Hillary Clinton in 2016 and how so many people inexplicably believe that everyone not on the Far Right Wing are somehow “Far Left”.
I’ll also note that Fox News pulled a Breitbart/O’Keefe in that they deceptively edited the clip just to make it look worse.
Plouffe is correct to note that Right Wing media has been presenting a unified front across multiple platforms including Fox, OAN, Newsmax, Breitbart as well as Glenn Beck’s cottage industry and on AM Radio. Their narrative has been to consistently repeat that the Dems are terrible, evil people trying to destroy the “real America”, to consistently repeat vicious attacks on the Biden/Harris White House where the only disagreement is whether Biden is deliberately so terrible or just so senile he doesn’t know how terrible he is. They consistently repeat that the economy is in terrible shape even though it isn’t. And they try to make hay out of every single statement made by Biden or Jen Psaki, twisting the comments into a complete pretzel.
What’s truly unsettling about this insular angry Right Wing media world is not just that it’s divorced from objective reality. The scary part is that there are millions of Americans who truly believe what the angry Right Wing pundits are telling them.
In fairness, this has been the Right Wing approach to media for the past 30+ years, going back to the rise of unrepentant bigot Rush Limbaugh and the original formation of Fox News 25 years ago. And they’ve actually succeeded to a large extent – millions of Right Wingers are convinced that these propaganda jags are truth. And millions more non-Right Wingers wind up thinking that there must be something to the Right Wing complaints – which is how so many people fell for the canards about Hillary Clinton in 2016 and how so many people inexplicably believe that everyone not on the Far Right Wing are somehow “Far Left”.
Kevin Koster commented on Tucker Carlson Hosts Portnoy’s Complaint
2021-11-14 12:56:16 -0500
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Let me see if I understand this correctly. The accusations against Portnoy, which detail physical attacks and non-consensual filming are to be disregarded. But the accusations against Don Lemon, which are disputed and appear to arise from the accuser’s political issues with Lemon, are to be taken as absolute truth?
Do angry Right Wing pundits not realize that they are now contradicting themselves with every other breath?
Do angry Right Wing pundits not realize that they are now contradicting themselves with every other breath?
Kevin Koster commented on Hannity: Rittenhouse ‘A Classic Case Of Self-Defense’
2021-11-14 13:10:13 -0500
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Bemused, it’s actually not out of line to consider that criminal charges should have been filed against Wendy Rittenhouse in this matter. If Rittenhouse walks away from this trial without facing any consequences for his actions, it will mark yet another black eye for the American judicial system in the modern era.
Kevin Koster commented on Ingraham And Cruz Whine About GOP Votes For Infrastructure Improvements
2021-11-10 21:03:45 -0500
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John, you’re forgetting that angry Right Wingers didn’t want ANYTHING to get through. The whole point was to throw enough mud into the gears that they could stop all such bills from passing. Then they could campaign on the Dems’ failure to get anything done. These 13 GOP congresspeople voting for this means that they can no longer play that card.
I note that after the GOP regains their majorities, it is likely that they will attack the continued funding for the infrastructure bill and essentially collapse it after the fact. It’s interesting that Ingraham wants anyone to think that the GOP wanted to pass their own infrastructure bill or anything like one. In fact, they would prefer to just do things like the 2017 Tax Transfer, which directly put money into the hands of the wealthy and skyrocketed the taxes of the Middle Class. Perhaps their infrastructure plan is filed next to their alternative plan to the ACA, their alternative stimulus plan from summer 2020, and the incredible evidence that Trump insisted he was finding in Hawaii about President Obama.
I note that after the GOP regains their majorities, it is likely that they will attack the continued funding for the infrastructure bill and essentially collapse it after the fact. It’s interesting that Ingraham wants anyone to think that the GOP wanted to pass their own infrastructure bill or anything like one. In fact, they would prefer to just do things like the 2017 Tax Transfer, which directly put money into the hands of the wealthy and skyrocketed the taxes of the Middle Class. Perhaps their infrastructure plan is filed next to their alternative plan to the ACA, their alternative stimulus plan from summer 2020, and the incredible evidence that Trump insisted he was finding in Hawaii about President Obama.
Kevin Koster commented on Candace Owens Praises 'Truth Teller' Kanye West’s Claim Abortion Black “Genocide”
2021-11-09 22:59:42 -0500
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This is yet another nonsensical rant at Margaret Sanger and thus at Planned Parenthood. It’s a repeat of one of the two common misrepresentations angry Right Wingers regularly fling about when they’re called on their viciousness.
Misrepresentation #1 – that anti-choice laws have long been common in the USA and that therefore, the USA has always been an anti-choice nation. Reality: Before the Civil War, there were common practices regarding the management of early pregnancies, usually bounded by the moment of “quickening”. After the Civil War, however, with the rise of the suffragette movement and the moves of affluent White women toward independence from their husbands and fathers, it became clear that those women were managing their pregnancies a little too well. Birth rates for wealthier white women were dropping off, while the birth rates for Irish, Jewish, and Asian immigrants, along with former slaves, were skyrocketing. White men responded by passing multiple anti-choice ordinances, meant to force women back into obedience. So yes, we’ve had a good 150 years of angry Right Wingers trying to inflict anti-choice laws – and for the same reasons that they continue to do so today: they resent their inability to control the women choosing for themselves.
Misrepresentation #2 – that Margaret Sanger was a racist Eugenist who just wanted to sterilize African Americans. Reality: Sanger was a long proponent of birth control, particularly in poorer communities where there were regularly very large families that could not afford to feed their many children. Sanger’s intention was to help poorer families manage their family size, and to help younger people to keep from constantly getting pregnant. Angry Right Wingers saw that work as allowing younger people to engage in intercourse without punishment, so they naturally hated both Sanger and the group that would eventually become Planned Parenthood. Sanger reached out for any group that would support her goal. One such group was the Eugenist Movement, which in the 1920s was a popular “scientific” idea, even if a close look shows it to be both snide and frankly sinister. Sanger appears to have signed on with them because of their popularity, in the hope that it would raise support for her birth control programs. In later years, Sanger spoke out against Nazism and bigotry, and she remained consistent in her beliefs that responsible birth control would help families rise above poverty. But for the Right Wing, the fact that she foolishly associated herself with that movement means her entire life’s work should be tossed out. Interesting that Right Wingers are okay with cancelling Sanger. Also interesting that Right Wingers want to throw stones at Sanger for aligning with what had been a popular movement in the 1920s when it’s the Right Wingers who knowingly allied with Nazism and Fascism even after they knew who what Hitler was.
It’s also interesting that angry Right Wingers so desperately reach to Kanye West now that he sings their song. In the same way that they want to embrace Aaron Rodgers since he’s saying what they want to hear about vaccines and masks. Perhaps they’re still being consistent. Angry Right Wingers don’t want all musicians and athletes to shut up – they just want the ones who aren’t Right Wingers to shut up.
Misrepresentation #1 – that anti-choice laws have long been common in the USA and that therefore, the USA has always been an anti-choice nation. Reality: Before the Civil War, there were common practices regarding the management of early pregnancies, usually bounded by the moment of “quickening”. After the Civil War, however, with the rise of the suffragette movement and the moves of affluent White women toward independence from their husbands and fathers, it became clear that those women were managing their pregnancies a little too well. Birth rates for wealthier white women were dropping off, while the birth rates for Irish, Jewish, and Asian immigrants, along with former slaves, were skyrocketing. White men responded by passing multiple anti-choice ordinances, meant to force women back into obedience. So yes, we’ve had a good 150 years of angry Right Wingers trying to inflict anti-choice laws – and for the same reasons that they continue to do so today: they resent their inability to control the women choosing for themselves.
Misrepresentation #2 – that Margaret Sanger was a racist Eugenist who just wanted to sterilize African Americans. Reality: Sanger was a long proponent of birth control, particularly in poorer communities where there were regularly very large families that could not afford to feed their many children. Sanger’s intention was to help poorer families manage their family size, and to help younger people to keep from constantly getting pregnant. Angry Right Wingers saw that work as allowing younger people to engage in intercourse without punishment, so they naturally hated both Sanger and the group that would eventually become Planned Parenthood. Sanger reached out for any group that would support her goal. One such group was the Eugenist Movement, which in the 1920s was a popular “scientific” idea, even if a close look shows it to be both snide and frankly sinister. Sanger appears to have signed on with them because of their popularity, in the hope that it would raise support for her birth control programs. In later years, Sanger spoke out against Nazism and bigotry, and she remained consistent in her beliefs that responsible birth control would help families rise above poverty. But for the Right Wing, the fact that she foolishly associated herself with that movement means her entire life’s work should be tossed out. Interesting that Right Wingers are okay with cancelling Sanger. Also interesting that Right Wingers want to throw stones at Sanger for aligning with what had been a popular movement in the 1920s when it’s the Right Wingers who knowingly allied with Nazism and Fascism even after they knew who what Hitler was.
It’s also interesting that angry Right Wingers so desperately reach to Kanye West now that he sings their song. In the same way that they want to embrace Aaron Rodgers since he’s saying what they want to hear about vaccines and masks. Perhaps they’re still being consistent. Angry Right Wingers don’t want all musicians and athletes to shut up – they just want the ones who aren’t Right Wingers to shut up.
Kevin Koster commented on Congratulations On Your 2021 Election Victory, Right-Wing Media!
2021-11-09 06:31:48 -0500
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We’re already seeing the over-reach in the drama playing out in the Supreme Court. And I would like to believe that Dems will show up again at the polls to counter it. But there is a depressing lack of energy and urgency on the Dems’ part, and too much assumption about what the public will or will not abide.
2 1/2 years ago, I asked the chief legal counsel for Planned Parenthood Northern California about what PP’s strategy would be for when the Supreme Court drastically limited or overruled Roe and Casey. This was at the time that Kavanaugh was just finishing his first term and Ginsburg was still alive. Her response was that PP was opening some more clinics in California and was looking into setting up some funds to help women in Red States travel to CA for services should it come to that. That was an insufficient answer then and it is even more of one now.
This past weekend, I repeated the question to her, noting that we now have a 6-3 Hard Right majority on the SC, with 5 of the 6 being Far Far Right partisan idealogues. I noted that the Dobbs case is almost certain to either be a 6-3 gutting of Roe, or a 5-3-1 total toss of Roe and Casey, with Roberts offering a separate dissent in the name of stare decisis. I noted her earlier response and asked what her update was. I suggested that perhaps Dems needed to show up to vote for their state legislatures and for Congress in much greater numbers. She agreed with that as a principle. The rest of her strategy was to say that women under 48 years old have never lived in a situation where Roe did not exist and thus may be in for an unpleasant surprise very shortly when 26 states enforce extreme bans on their reproductive rights. She also said that she figured that angry Right Wingers would somehow suddenly lose their motivating issue after they get Roe tossed. (She was ignoring the fact that angry Right Wingers will just keep going – they’ll move the goalposts to criminal penalties, to “personhood”, to banning contraception, and on and on.)
My point is that her approach, which is sadly typical, was to hope for the best. Hope that a few more clinics in California and a bake sale would counter the real problems facing millions of women across the Midwest and South. Hope that maybe Right Wingers will suddenly decide to pack up rather than continue to press their advantages. (As we saw with the Pence White House, they weren’t satisfied with their squeaker win – they spent the next four years trying to push everyone’s nose into the dirt as hard as they could.). Hope that maybe the general public will suddenly “get it” after the bans really kick in – not thinking that most people will likely turn to bootleg pill services. I’d like to believe in those hopes for the best. But we have to live in the real world at some point.
Working for the election of candidates to lower offices and state houses and Congressional seats is a long, slow process. And even after we eventually see progress in who winds up in these seats, changing state laws and getting national legislation passed to correct all these extreme Right Wing moves in voting rights, reproductive rights, marriage equality, etc, will take decades. I’m honestly concerned that most Dems are not that invested in the long haul. As we’ve seen, angry Right Wingers are very much invested in the long haul – and it’s paying off for them.
2 1/2 years ago, I asked the chief legal counsel for Planned Parenthood Northern California about what PP’s strategy would be for when the Supreme Court drastically limited or overruled Roe and Casey. This was at the time that Kavanaugh was just finishing his first term and Ginsburg was still alive. Her response was that PP was opening some more clinics in California and was looking into setting up some funds to help women in Red States travel to CA for services should it come to that. That was an insufficient answer then and it is even more of one now.
This past weekend, I repeated the question to her, noting that we now have a 6-3 Hard Right majority on the SC, with 5 of the 6 being Far Far Right partisan idealogues. I noted that the Dobbs case is almost certain to either be a 6-3 gutting of Roe, or a 5-3-1 total toss of Roe and Casey, with Roberts offering a separate dissent in the name of stare decisis. I noted her earlier response and asked what her update was. I suggested that perhaps Dems needed to show up to vote for their state legislatures and for Congress in much greater numbers. She agreed with that as a principle. The rest of her strategy was to say that women under 48 years old have never lived in a situation where Roe did not exist and thus may be in for an unpleasant surprise very shortly when 26 states enforce extreme bans on their reproductive rights. She also said that she figured that angry Right Wingers would somehow suddenly lose their motivating issue after they get Roe tossed. (She was ignoring the fact that angry Right Wingers will just keep going – they’ll move the goalposts to criminal penalties, to “personhood”, to banning contraception, and on and on.)
My point is that her approach, which is sadly typical, was to hope for the best. Hope that a few more clinics in California and a bake sale would counter the real problems facing millions of women across the Midwest and South. Hope that maybe Right Wingers will suddenly decide to pack up rather than continue to press their advantages. (As we saw with the Pence White House, they weren’t satisfied with their squeaker win – they spent the next four years trying to push everyone’s nose into the dirt as hard as they could.). Hope that maybe the general public will suddenly “get it” after the bans really kick in – not thinking that most people will likely turn to bootleg pill services. I’d like to believe in those hopes for the best. But we have to live in the real world at some point.
Working for the election of candidates to lower offices and state houses and Congressional seats is a long, slow process. And even after we eventually see progress in who winds up in these seats, changing state laws and getting national legislation passed to correct all these extreme Right Wing moves in voting rights, reproductive rights, marriage equality, etc, will take decades. I’m honestly concerned that most Dems are not that invested in the long haul. As we’ve seen, angry Right Wingers are very much invested in the long haul – and it’s paying off for them.
Kevin Koster commented on Rachel Campos-Duffy & JD Vance Diss The Pope For Not Dissing Joe Biden
2021-11-04 18:08:00 -0400
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Multiple angry Right Wingers have pushed this canard, hoping in vain that the Catholic Church would publicly deny President Biden and Speaker Pelosi communion, if not simply throw them out of the church entirely. It’s another faux outrage that can be stacked up next to the CRT nonsense.
Kevin Koster commented on Fox’s Faulkner Ends RNC Interview With ‘Let’s Go, Brandon’
2021-11-04 18:03:25 -0400
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Interesting that the same people were shocked, shocked when anyone said anything mildly disparaging about Pence’s childish spokesman, or noted all the times he would regularly lie about everything. I guess they found their inner strength somehow…
Kevin Koster commented on Tucker Carlson Calls Barack Obama 'A Heartless Monster'
2021-11-03 18:24:31 -0400
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Carlson must really be panicking to get back some of the viewers who’ve gone to Newsmax and OAN. I honestly can’t say that I’ve even spent five minutes watching his show in nearly a year as it is. But he does seem to think that if he shouts loud and offensive things, maybe he’ll get some eyeballs. In this respect, his conduct is similar to an idol of his: the unrepentant bigot Rush Limbaugh.
Kevin Koster commented on Mike Pence: We ‘Solved The Crisis Of Illegal Immigration,’ Biden ‘Reinvented It’
2021-10-31 14:48:42 -0400
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A few things to keep in mind here.
First, the Pence White House never had any intention of paying any DOJ settlements to any families. Their idea was to say NO and to refuse to do anything. They had never intended to reunify the families, which is why the process became so belabored. The whole point was to make life miserable for immigrant families, and to make it clear that you really wouldn’t want to bring your kids to the US, would you?
As far as the Pence White House was concerned, brutalizing the families and making people stay in the Mexican desert was “solving” the “crisis”. That, and constantly harping on the idea of building their “big beautiful wall” that Mexico was supposedly going to be forced to pay for. In reality, this was just bullying people who could not defend themselves. The “wall” work was actually just a lot of maintenance of existing fenceline, along with a tiny amount of new extension.
Next, regarding the economy, Pence is openly lying. Pence inherited a growing economy from President Obama, and proceeded to squander its momentum while spending his time ripping up needed environmental protections just for the nastiness of it. The manufacturing jobs did not in fact return to the US – multiple factories like the Carrier plant in Indiana were shuttered anyway even after Pence and his childish spokesman said they were saved. The “tax cut” was actually a massive tax increase for Middle Class employees and particularly for those who live in Blue States. People in the Lower Middle and Working Class wound up seeing a negligible “cut” of 5 to 7 bucks per week that they’d never notice. The farther up the Middle Class you went, the more the taxes would jump, as the brackets were increased and the deductions were erased. But once you passed $418K, you saw another deduction, so that anyone earning over $750K was actually looking at a real cut (making up for the increases along the way), and anyone earning millions was looking at significant cuts. And how did the wealthy celebrate? By continuing to offshore their money. Anyone actually paying attention to tax policy knows the 2017 maneuver as the GOP Tax Transfer.
We should remember that the intention was to generate a massive deficit, which would then have triggered new legislation in 2019 to “reduce entitlements” – ie, cut Social Security and Medicare. Had the GOP maintained their majorities in the midterms, those programs would have been hit with significant reductions for anyone under the age of 60. When the GOP lost instead, they reverted to just refusing to address the funding issues for the programs – which is a slower way of accomplishing the same task. We should also remember that the Pence White House’s utter failure with COVID mostly ended the stronger economy they’d inherited from the Obama White House.
Regarding CRT, it’s a non-issue that angry Right Wingers are frantically trumpeting in the hopes they can gin up their base to vote in 2022. And they’re frantically trying to gaslight the very real problem of Right Wingers threatening their teachers and school boards with violence as some kind of “free speech” issue as opposed to one of attempted bullying and coercion. The VA governor’s race is one that angry Right Wingers are latching onto, as they hope to humiliate Terry McAuliffe on Tuesday.
Regarding both COVID and its effect on the economy, the Pence White House deliberately refused to do their job and allowed over 700,000 Americans to die. This was due to Pence and his childish spokesman having defunded agencies like the CDC and having dismissed key personnel who could have headed off the pandemic. It was exacerbated by the Pence White House ignoring the extent of the problem until it had spread to a catastrophic level, and then exacerbated worse by angry Right Wingers attempting to play politics with the situation to promote themselves for the 2020 campaigns. Had Pence’s childish spokesman not spent the first quarter of 2020 insisting that COVID was a “hoax”, and had the Pence White House actually worked aggressively to curtail the pandemic, the economy would not have receded as it did.
Lastly, as to why Pence was selected to be our acting president, the reasoning is pretty clear. First, Pence is a hardline Right Winger in the mold of Ted Cruz. His policies and his smug piousness were exactly the thing that angry Right Wingers around the US have long wanted to see on display from a sitting president. The policies themselves went down the line of the wish lists of shock jock bigots like Rush Limbaugh: Ripping up every single policy of the Obama White House, deliberately sabotaging the ability of governmental agencies to function (and thus then say that those agencies don’t function), sneering in the face of non-Right Wingers and most importantly, packing the courts with rammed-through Far Far Right Wing idealogues. Pence was totally on board with all of that, and was happy to make sure it would come to pass.
And the other part of the reasoning is that Pence was willing to do all this work without getting the glory for doing it. He was willing to take the offer that Donald Trump Jr was frantically giving to anyone he could find – the offer that Jr made to John Kasich, to run all the domestic and foreign policy for the White House while Trump spent his time “making America great again”. From Pence’s perspective, this was a golden opportunity, and he wouldn’t have to worry about anyone spending time looking too closely at what he was doing. Not every politician would have agreed to working this way, which is why Jr couldn’t find anyone else to do it. Ted Cruz, for his part, wanted to be able to get all the credit for the viciousness and not have to do it while Trump got the attention for his latest Tweets. Which is why Cruz spent the last 4 years as one of the angriest men in America – he was able to see his wish list satisfied, but he didn’t get any credit for it and had to stand on the sidelines and half-heartedly cheer for Pence’s childish spokesman.
I’ll note that Pence was finally unwilling to give Trump what he wanted in stealing the 2020 Election, but I don’t believe this was out of principle. Pence clearly wanted to finagle another term for himself, but this would have been in full view of the entire country, without the usual distractions allowing him to work in the shadows. And while provocateurs like John Eastman would have been delighted to do something blatant and in everybody’s faces, Pence wasn’t comfortable with that level of exposure. So he shrunk away from it.
First, the Pence White House never had any intention of paying any DOJ settlements to any families. Their idea was to say NO and to refuse to do anything. They had never intended to reunify the families, which is why the process became so belabored. The whole point was to make life miserable for immigrant families, and to make it clear that you really wouldn’t want to bring your kids to the US, would you?
As far as the Pence White House was concerned, brutalizing the families and making people stay in the Mexican desert was “solving” the “crisis”. That, and constantly harping on the idea of building their “big beautiful wall” that Mexico was supposedly going to be forced to pay for. In reality, this was just bullying people who could not defend themselves. The “wall” work was actually just a lot of maintenance of existing fenceline, along with a tiny amount of new extension.
Next, regarding the economy, Pence is openly lying. Pence inherited a growing economy from President Obama, and proceeded to squander its momentum while spending his time ripping up needed environmental protections just for the nastiness of it. The manufacturing jobs did not in fact return to the US – multiple factories like the Carrier plant in Indiana were shuttered anyway even after Pence and his childish spokesman said they were saved. The “tax cut” was actually a massive tax increase for Middle Class employees and particularly for those who live in Blue States. People in the Lower Middle and Working Class wound up seeing a negligible “cut” of 5 to 7 bucks per week that they’d never notice. The farther up the Middle Class you went, the more the taxes would jump, as the brackets were increased and the deductions were erased. But once you passed $418K, you saw another deduction, so that anyone earning over $750K was actually looking at a real cut (making up for the increases along the way), and anyone earning millions was looking at significant cuts. And how did the wealthy celebrate? By continuing to offshore their money. Anyone actually paying attention to tax policy knows the 2017 maneuver as the GOP Tax Transfer.
We should remember that the intention was to generate a massive deficit, which would then have triggered new legislation in 2019 to “reduce entitlements” – ie, cut Social Security and Medicare. Had the GOP maintained their majorities in the midterms, those programs would have been hit with significant reductions for anyone under the age of 60. When the GOP lost instead, they reverted to just refusing to address the funding issues for the programs – which is a slower way of accomplishing the same task. We should also remember that the Pence White House’s utter failure with COVID mostly ended the stronger economy they’d inherited from the Obama White House.
Regarding CRT, it’s a non-issue that angry Right Wingers are frantically trumpeting in the hopes they can gin up their base to vote in 2022. And they’re frantically trying to gaslight the very real problem of Right Wingers threatening their teachers and school boards with violence as some kind of “free speech” issue as opposed to one of attempted bullying and coercion. The VA governor’s race is one that angry Right Wingers are latching onto, as they hope to humiliate Terry McAuliffe on Tuesday.
Regarding both COVID and its effect on the economy, the Pence White House deliberately refused to do their job and allowed over 700,000 Americans to die. This was due to Pence and his childish spokesman having defunded agencies like the CDC and having dismissed key personnel who could have headed off the pandemic. It was exacerbated by the Pence White House ignoring the extent of the problem until it had spread to a catastrophic level, and then exacerbated worse by angry Right Wingers attempting to play politics with the situation to promote themselves for the 2020 campaigns. Had Pence’s childish spokesman not spent the first quarter of 2020 insisting that COVID was a “hoax”, and had the Pence White House actually worked aggressively to curtail the pandemic, the economy would not have receded as it did.
Lastly, as to why Pence was selected to be our acting president, the reasoning is pretty clear. First, Pence is a hardline Right Winger in the mold of Ted Cruz. His policies and his smug piousness were exactly the thing that angry Right Wingers around the US have long wanted to see on display from a sitting president. The policies themselves went down the line of the wish lists of shock jock bigots like Rush Limbaugh: Ripping up every single policy of the Obama White House, deliberately sabotaging the ability of governmental agencies to function (and thus then say that those agencies don’t function), sneering in the face of non-Right Wingers and most importantly, packing the courts with rammed-through Far Far Right Wing idealogues. Pence was totally on board with all of that, and was happy to make sure it would come to pass.
And the other part of the reasoning is that Pence was willing to do all this work without getting the glory for doing it. He was willing to take the offer that Donald Trump Jr was frantically giving to anyone he could find – the offer that Jr made to John Kasich, to run all the domestic and foreign policy for the White House while Trump spent his time “making America great again”. From Pence’s perspective, this was a golden opportunity, and he wouldn’t have to worry about anyone spending time looking too closely at what he was doing. Not every politician would have agreed to working this way, which is why Jr couldn’t find anyone else to do it. Ted Cruz, for his part, wanted to be able to get all the credit for the viciousness and not have to do it while Trump got the attention for his latest Tweets. Which is why Cruz spent the last 4 years as one of the angriest men in America – he was able to see his wish list satisfied, but he didn’t get any credit for it and had to stand on the sidelines and half-heartedly cheer for Pence’s childish spokesman.
I’ll note that Pence was finally unwilling to give Trump what he wanted in stealing the 2020 Election, but I don’t believe this was out of principle. Pence clearly wanted to finagle another term for himself, but this would have been in full view of the entire country, without the usual distractions allowing him to work in the shadows. And while provocateurs like John Eastman would have been delighted to do something blatant and in everybody’s faces, Pence wasn’t comfortable with that level of exposure. So he shrunk away from it.