The Daily Drift

Hey, wingnuts, yeah, we're talking to you ...!

 

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Today in History

1454   At a grand feast, Philip the Good of Burgundy takes the "vow of the pheasant," by which he swears to fight the Turks.  
1598   Boris Godunov, the boyar of Tarar origin, is elected czar in succession to his brother-in-law Fydor.  
1720   Spain signs the Treaty of the Hague with the Quadruple Alliance ending a war that was begun in 1718.  
1801   The House of Representatives breaks an electoral college tie and chooses Thomas Jefferson over Aaron Burr.  
1864   The Confederate submarine Hunley sinks the USS Housatonic in Charleston Harbor, South Carolina.  
1865   The South Carolina capital city, Columbia, is destroyed by fire as Major General William Tecumseh Sherman marches through.  
1909   Apache chief Geronimo dies of pneumonia at age 80, while still in captivity at Fort Sill, Oklahoma.  
1919   Germany signs an armistice giving up territory in Poland.
1925   The first issue of Harold Ross' magazine, The New Yorker, hits the stands, selling for 15 cents a copy.  
1933   The League of Nations censures Japan in a worldwide broadcast.  
1935   Thirty-one prisoners escape an Oklahoma prison after murdering a guard.  
1938   The first color television is demonstrated at the Dominion Theatre in London.  
1944   U.S forces land on Eniwetok atoll in the South Pacific.
1945   Gen. MacArthur's troops land on Corregidor in the Philippines.  
1951   Packard introduces its "250" Chassis Convertible.  
1955   Britain announces its ability to make hydrogen bombs.  
1959   The United States launches its first weather station in space, Vanguard II.
1960   Martin Luther King Jr. is arrested in the Alabama bus boycott.
1963   Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev visits the Berlin Wall.  
1969   Russia and Peru sign their first trade accord.
1973   The pretender Richard Nixon names Patrick Gray director of the FBI.  
1975   Art by Cezanne, Gauguin, Renoir, and van Gough, valued at $5 million, is stolen from the Municipal Museum in Milan.  
1979   China begins a "pedagogical" war against Vietnam. It will last until March.  
1985   Murray Haydon becomes the third person to receive an artificial heart.

Editorial Comment

Thank you.
Carolina Naturally has had over 1.3 million readers thus far in 2015.
That is correct 1.3 million and the year is only 6 weeks old.
It is great to know our collection of stories from the entire human spectrum is appreciated by our readers.
Featuring pieces from around the corner and around the world we have a readership that spans the planet.
Sparing no sacred cows and constantly and consistently providing the truth where others wish it to remain hidden has developed a fiercely loyal readership - especially in places where the 'truth' is not really the truth but what despots say it is ... like the USA, China, Russia, Most of the Middle East for example.
Attempts to pervert this blog have been made by such that believe the despots (read: wingnuts) in the US, but all have failed and will continue to fail.
So, another big thank you to our readers.
Don't forget to have fun.

Oh, and today is Mardi gras

Canadians Rejoice: Their Version Of Faux News Goes Off The Air … Permanently

Four years ago, Canadian broadcaster Media Group formed Sun Media Corporation and embarked on a mission to become the dumbest network North of America.
They succeeded. “Sun News” was born, and immediately they took on the characteristics of their southern mentor, Faux News.
In the span of a leap year, Sun News, never getting any ratings to speak of, went dark this week, never to return.
Julie Tremblay, President and CEO, said:

Over the past four years, we tried everything we could to achieve sufficient market penetration to generate the profits needed to operate a national news channel. Sadly, the numerous obstacles to carriage that we encountered spelled the end of this venture.

By “everything they could,” Tremblay means they tried to mimic the hate and desperation sold to the American repugican cabal base of old men who like blonde anchors.  Unfortunately, they ran into a couple of easily predictable social snags.
This conversation in the comments of the article by Media Matters tells the story of just why Sun News was such a failure:

It would appear that Canada is a bit short on stupid.  Sun News had its finest moment when it gave Rob Ford, Toronto Mayor caught smoking crack on camera, his very own show.
Some of the things Sun News could have done to ensure its success:

• Hire Hilary Clinton to personally attack the Canadian embassy in Cameroon and kill some people.  CamerOOOOOOOON would have made a great chant at hockey games.
• Report on a non-existent beer and sausage ban, then sit back and watch as beer companies, their number one advertiser, soared to record-sales.
• Find poor people and beat them with sticks on live TV.

SNN’s biggest mistake was their casting.  When looking for actors and actresses to read a ridiculous script and pretend it’s news you need a ratio of fourteen blonde women to every brunette.
Whatever the reason, Sun News achieved a maximum viewership of around 8,000 people.  It’s more than likely that those 8,000 watched either for comedic value or because they moved there from Texas.
Congratulations, Canada, and good riddance Sun News.

Random Photos

Another Obama Success The Media Won’t Talk About: Obamacare To Blow Past 2015 Goals

The media hasn’t talked about Obamacare since the website was fixed, but very quietly the president’s health care law has morphed into a raging success as enrollment is projected to be 2 million over the administration’s 2015 goal.

Enrollment as of February 13 was estimated to be at 11.3 million. Expectations are the ACA will blow past the administration’s goal of 9 million for 2015.

As Politico reported, the quiet push to get people enrolled was an intentional White House strategy:

Obamacare enrollment draws to a close Sunday night, and all signs point to the White House easily meeting its target of getting 9 million Americans covered in 2015 — a drama-free ending to a season that proved a 180-degree turnaround from last year’s many problems.

The quiet conclusion isn’t just because HealthCare.gov hasn’t been on the verge of collapse. The White House intentionally adopted a lower key, more targeted pitch this year. There were a lot fewer star-studded tweets promoting the website and coverage.

Red states whose political leaders oppose the ACA the most have seen a huge surge in enrollment, “repugicans who thought that they were stopping the law by refusing to set up their own state exchanges have created a trap for themselves. Florida, Maine, Georgia, Michigan and North Carolina have all covered at least 40% of their eligible residents under the federal exchange. Arkansas also depends on subsidies to fund their “private option” plan. All of these states will face an immediate backlash if the Supreme Court rules that only states that have set up exchanges are eligible for subsidies.”

The fact that the ACA deadline can come and go and civilization will not collapse is proof that Republicans have been and remain completely wrong on healthcare. Tens of millions of people have access to affordable healthcare because of the law.

The mainstream press has largely ignored the story of the biggest change to the nation’s health care accessibility in decades exceeding goals and expectations. The press remains interested in only discussing perceived failures. The same media establishment that was breathlessly predicting doom for the ACA when the website launch struggled is silent today.

The ACA is working. Demand is higher than even the White House predicted, but don’t expect to hear any of this from a media that delights in criticizing this president.

Poll Shows American People Support President Obama In Netanyahu Speech Dispute

A poll reveals that by a 47%-30% margin respondents overwhelmingly agree that it was inappropriate for Boehner to invite Netanyahu to address Congress without consulting President Obama.

The Huffington Post/YouGov poll of adults interviewed February 4 – 8, 2015 revealed a consensus that Boehner’s Netanyahu invitation was inappropriate. By a margin of 47%-30%, those polled believed that Boehner’s actions were inappropriate. A majority of both men (45%-37%), women (49%-23%), people age 18-29 (39%-25%), people age 30-44 (51%-19), people age 45-64 (51%-34%), and those over age 65 (45%-44%) all thought that Boehner’s actions were inappropriate. Whites (42%-36%), Blacks (67%-12%), and Hispanics (55%-12%) all agreed that Boehner’s behavior was inappropriate. Democrats (72%-11%) and Independents (41%-31%) believed Boehner’s invitation without consulting Obama to be inappropriate. Only repugicans supported Boehner’s disrespect of the president (50%-29%).

By a margin of 39%-30%, Democrats do not want their member of Congress to go to the speech. Overall, respondents are split over whether or not their member of Congress should attend the speech. 46% want their member to attend, 24% do not, and 30% are not sure.

The Obama administration’s position has been that it was inappropriate for Boehner to invite Netanyahu to address Congress without first consulting the White House. The American people agree that they don’t want the Speaker of the House cutting the President Of The United States out of the process. Most Americans understand Boehner’s behavior for what it was. Boehner and Netanyahu conspired to disrespect the president, and the respondents in this poll did not think Speaker Boehner’s behavior was appropriate.

The data from this poll supports the White House position that they won’t tell members of Congress whether they should or shouldn’t attend the speech. The repugican hope that they could use Netanyahu’s speech to divide Democrats and the country has largely fallen flat. The people surveyed in the YouGov poll had a better understanding of events than repugicans gave them credit for.

The Netanyahu/Boehner conspiracy is one plan to disrespect that has completely backfired.

Wingnuts Freak Out Over Country Star Tim McGraw’s Support Of Obama

by Dan Simpson 

Country music fans here in the states tend to lean wingnut politically, as the Dixie Chicks discovered back in 2003 when they made some truthful remarks about the shrub while on tour in London. They were critical of shrub’s decision to invade Iraq, and even though they turned out to be 100% correct, their comments resulted in such a vitriolic reaction from their mostly wingnut fans that it effectively torpedoed their career.
Fast forwarding to September 2008, when Barack Obama was on the brink of being president, country star Tim McGraw either didn’t learn from what happened to the Dixie Chicks, or just didn’t care. In a wide-ranging  interview with People magazine, McGraw expressed his support for Obama, setting off the inevitable wingnut backlash. Here is what he said in that interview:

“It’s innate in me to be a Democrat. I’m not saying I’m right or wrong, but that’s what I am. My wife and I and our family will do everything we can to support Obama. I like his ideas, I like his energy, and I like the statement he would make for our country to the world.”

As you can imagine, that comment went over like a lead balloon with the majority of his fans. Further infuriating those fans, McGraw referred to Bill Clinton as the best president the U.S. has ever had and cited Clinton for inspiring him to think about embarking on his own political career.
But unlike the Dixie Chicks, McGraw retains his popularity over 6 years later and is worth an estimated $65 million, which puts him just behind fellow country music star and wife Faith Hill’s $80 million net worth. Hill herself has received considerable backlash from country music fans for her support of President Obama. Nonetheless, the pair seem to be doing just fine.
Recently, a few wingnut blogs regurgitated McGraw’s political views, seemingly unaware that McGraw made his comments to People magazine over 6 years ago. Either that, or they are simply once again attempting to gin up opposition to McGraw and Hill. Reading some of the comments to the wingnut blog tripe, it seems to be working. Wingnut country music fans are once again up in arms over McGraw and Hill’s political beliefs and are in full freakout mode on social media. with many saying that they are now ‘former fans” and vowing to never spend another dime on his music. Here is a sampling of some of the backlash from a few people who spend too much time being brainwashed by Fox News and too little time working on their grammar skills:

But it’s not  a completely lost cause for McGraw. As the below exchange shows, he still has plenty of Democratic fans:

The Truth Be Told

The Koch Agenda Brings Pain And Woe To People In repugican misled Red States

Because they own most of the repugican state's governors and legislatures, it is there that the Kochs' ideology is doing the most damage...

Some Americans likely recall that after the 2012 general election, establishment repugicans allegedly regrouped and conspired to purge teabagger extremists from the party. Obviously, not only did they keep the ideological cretins in place, they embraced them wholeheartedly because their wingnut fanaticism comports with the two men willing to spend upwards of a billion dollars to take complete control of the federal government. The repugicans also comprehend that aligning with, and using, teabagger extremism guarantees their base will continue supporting their agenda; no matter how fanatical or damaging it may be to their existence or America.

It is important to understand why the Koch brothers created and funded the teabagger extremists in the first place, and although teabaggers closely adhere to the Kochs’ John Birch Society ideology, their extremism is driven by ignorance, anger, and religious fanaticism. The repugican base was best portrayed recently by one of America’s most ignorant, angry, and highly religious teabaggers; Sarah Palin. Palin told the teabagger base in Iowa a few weeks ago that they represent ‘real America’ and are the best hope to preserve freedom and liberty wingnut style. Palin said, “because you sit on your front porches holding onto your dog, your guns, and your Constitution” you are the only Americans defending this great nation’s continued existence.

Although it is true Palin’s ‘real Americans’ have never read, much less comprehend one word of, the Constitution, she did describe the type of stupid voter that the Koch brothers depend on to impose their vision on Americans; sooner than they imagined. Even though the Kochs now own the Congress and the Supreme Court, they do not yet own the White House. So as they await implementation of their fascist vision on the national level, they are focusing on the states and succeeding due to the inherent stupidity and fanaticism of what Palin calls ‘real Americans.”

The fascist Kochs are proceeding ahead of schedule in repugican-misled states due to the support from the people Palin flatters by telling them they are saving America by electing conservatives. The Kochs’ surrogates are successful by appealing to the base’s extremist views on social issues; not good policy or governance. Because they own most of the repugican state’s governors and legislatures, it is there that the Kochs’ ideology is doing the most damage that their repugican cabal surrogates are unrepentant about. And they are getting ardent support and valuable assistance from incredibly stupid Americans who are “sitting on their front porches holding onto their dog, their guns, and their Constitution” while their states are ravaged by Koch-teabagger ideology.

There is no other reason than voter stupidity for why someone like Kansas' Sam Brownback, whose trickle down experiment is bankrupting the state economy, keeping roads in ruins, and starving education could ever have been re-elected except that he masterfully distracted voters with religion and he is still at it.

Brownback just issued a biblical executive order repealing employment discrimination protections for LGBT employees because bible, dog, abomination. Put another way, by an unconstitutional executive order, Brownback just mandated state-sanctioned discrimination against LGBT employees and diverted the poor saps holding onto their dog, their guns, and their Constitution’s attention away from the state’s economic disaster. An economic disaster, by the way, that is the Kochs’ libertarian vision for the entire nation; if they only owned the third branch of government.

In South Carolina, another Koch-teabagger state suffering repugican economic policies, including a significantly higher than the national average unemployment rate, there is proposed legislation to mandate three weeks of NRA-written curriculum of each academic year in all public schools. The purpose of the “Second Amendment Education Act” is to provide “all public elementary, middle schools, and high schools with instruction for no fewer than ‘three consecutive weeks in one grading period’ (a semester) with NRA-written curriculum.” The purpose is to  ensure that all South Carolina students graduate after twelve years of indoctrination into the teabaggers “insurrectionist interpretation of the Second Amendment;” including a revisionist history teaching that the “Framers envisioned the Constitution the same way the leaders of the Confederate States of America interpreted it.” By keeping Palin’s so-called ‘real Americans’ focused on their war against ‘gun-grabbing’ Obama, and inculcating an ‘insurrectionist interpretation of the Second Amendment‘ in the sight, residents are distracted from their teabagger governor and legislature’s economic malfeasance.

In North Carolina, another Koch state suffering wingnut economic policies, extremist Koch surrogates Art Pope and repugican governor Pat McCrory are publicly conspiring to assault higher education by eliminating several University of North Carolina academic centers that do not comport with teabagger racists or Koch brother libertarian philosophy. Academic centers targeted for extinction are the Center for Faculty Excellence; the Center for Law and Government; the Institute for Education; Center for Black Culture and History; the Center for Civil Rights, the Institute on Aging, and the Center on Poverty, Work and Opportunity.

Later this month, a panel staffed with Koch devotees will begin a review of the University of North Carolina’s academic system under libertarian Art Pope’s direction to begin eliminating those academic centers from existence. Why? Because they run contrary to the Koch’s libertarian “vision for America” under corporate fascism and they will be successful because the Kochs have convinced so-called ‘real Americans’ Palin described that their way of life and their god, their guns, and Constitution can only be preserved by eliminating higher education focused on reducing poverty, combating racism, and reducing economic inequality.

There is no other reasonable explanation for why the wingnuts turned out in force to re-elect governors and state representatives that are either certifiable failures or teabagger extremists. It is important to note that none of the repugican failures were elected due to their successful economic records or policies, but because of fanaticism that appeals to their inherently ‘real American’ base who gave the extremists control of Congress and most states.

It is a mistake, and a deliberate one, for the media to parrot the narrative that the Koch brothers’ teabaggers are in decline, or that repugicans are in any way, shape, or form interested in or leaning toward a more moderate position. If anyone thinks otherwise, they are no more intelligent than Palin’s ‘real Americans’ because the only reason Boehner and house repugicans refuse to pass a clean Department of Homeland Security funding bill is because the de facto leader of both houses of Congress, Ted Cruz and his extremist teabagger cabal, will not allow it. Not because it is bad policy, but because ‘real Americans’ are distracted by claims President Obama’s immigration action is somehow unconstitutional; a ridiculous claim to keep their attention diverted from repugicans blocking tax cuts for the middle class, passing legislation to grow the economy, or creating jobs. Sadly, the repugican distraction is working because instead of focusing on how Koch repugicans are economically raping Americans, many of them are seething with anger while they “hold onto their guns, dog, and Constitution;” that and they are incredibly stupid, angry, and religious extremists.

A Screaming Boehner Cracks Up and Admits He Is Going To Shutdown Homeland Security

Boehner cracked up on Faux News Sunday and admitted during his Stepford-like screaming performance that he is going to let Homeland Security shut down.

On Faux News Sunday, Chris Wallace asked Boehner if he could promise that he was not going to allow funding for Homeland Security to run out.

Boehner answered, “The House has acted. We’ve done our job. Senate Democrats are the ones putting us in this precarious position, and it’s up to Senate Democrats to get their act together.” Wallace seemed baffled by Boehner’s refusal to accept reality, “But, all I can ask, and I’ll ask again.”

At this point, Boehner started screaming, “CHRIS, CHRIS, ONE MORE TIME. THE HOUSE HAS DONE ITS JOB UNDER THE CONSTITUTION. IT’S TIME FOR THE SENATE TO DO THEIR JOB. Listen, I’ve got a tough job here, so does McConnell, but Senate Democrats are standing in the way. They’re the ones jeopardizing funding. Why do they get on the bill and offer an amendment and offer their ideas? Let’s see what the Senate can do.”

Wallace asked what if funding runs out, and Boehner answered, “Well then Senate Democrats will be to blame. Very simply.”

Chris Wallace followed up, “And you’re prepared to let that happen?” Boehner answered, “Absolutely.”

This is the first time that Boehner has gone on the record and admitted that he has no intention of keeping his promise that he would not allow Homeland Security to shut down.

Boehner’s plan is to shut down Homeland Security, blame Senate Democrats, hope that they cave and support the repugican attempt to overturn President Obama’s immigration executive actions. House repugicans tried this same strategy with the government shutdown, the fiscal cliff, and every other crisis that they ginned up in an attempt to gain political leverage.

Boehner created this mess when he decided to provoke a confrontation with Democrats over the president’s actions on immigration.

Boehner is cracking up because repugicans are only going to have a few days before Homeland Security shuts down after they come back into session. House repugicans are fighting with both Senate repugicans and Democrats.

Boehner’s behavior is becoming more volatile by the day. Boehner’s unstable performance on Faux News Sunday should encourage Senate Democrats to keep the heat on because the Speaker of the House is starting to crack.

Random Celebrity Photos

Ava Gardner

Idiot repugican Warmonger Busted Showing Fake Photos Of Ukraine War During Senate Speech

by Randa Morris 

During a speech given on the floor of the U.S. Senate, repugican Jim Inhofe presented a series of fake photos, which he claimed show Russian troops advancing in the Ukraine. Inhofe used the fake photos as justification for his senate bill, which would authorize the U.S. to provide “lethal military aid” to the Ukraine.

“What is going on there?”

Inhofe said:

“We have the Russians in there with the Separatists doing horrible things, things that are just as bad as the things that are taking place in ISIL, Syria and other places.”

To demonstrate his point, Inhofe claimed he “brought back” a group of photos from a trip to the Ukraine. He goes on to claim that the photos are evidence of Russian tanks in the Ukraine.
Here’s video of the speech, courtesy of c-span.org:
The photos Inhofe used are not what he claims. Two were taken in 2008, during Russia’s war with Georgia. The other, which was taken in October, shows Russian-backed separatists in the Luhansk town of Krasniy Luch.
Inhofe is the author of Senate Bill 452, which would authorize the U.S. to provide “lethal military aid” to the Ukraine. He introduced the bill on February 11, 2015, using the fake photos to illustrate why the United States must provide “lethal” weapons to the Ukraine.
In a February 11 press release, published to his official website, Inhofe states:

These photographs were given to me by Lt. Col. Semen Semenchenko, the commander of Donbas Volunteer Assault Battalion and newly elected member of the parliament of Ukraine, during our meeting on 13 Nov last year.
The first set of pictures show Russian troops in T-72 tanks, BTR armored personnel carriers, and BMP infantry fighting vehicles entering eastern Ukraine, waiving Russian flags. This is not simply supporting separatists – it is an invasion of the Ukraine by Russia.
The second set of pictures were taken by Ukrainian soldiers on the front line in eastern Ukraine.

Ukrainian officials deny providing Inhofe with the photos. According to Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL):

Yuriy Bereza, a parliamentarian who also leads the pro-Kyiv Dnipro battalion in eastern Ukraine, says that when he and a Ukrainian delegation met with Oklahoma Senator James Inhofe’s staff last November, he provided them only with photos taken by his men between August 24 and September 5.
“Those photos were taken during [the battle] for Ilovaisk, then after Ilovaisk events in Piskiy and Mariupol — three places” he told RFE/RL’s Ukrainian Service. “I never gave photos from 2008.”

We have seen this before.
During the first war in Iraq, the shrub's daddy's junta used fake witness testimony to drum up support for the U.S. invasion. Later, his son the shrub would follow in his father’s footsteps, presenting false information to Congress in order to justify a second invasion of Iraq. CNN documented a total of 935 false statements made by the shrub junta, relating to the war in Iraq.
There are only two possible scenarios that explain Inhofe’s use of the fake photos.
The first scenario, that he deliberately and knowingly lied about the photos to purposefully deceive government officials is entirely plausible.
The second scenario, that he was duped into showing the fake photos by Ukrainian officials, is also plausible.
In either scenario, by presenting these photos, Inhofe demonstrated that he is entirely unfit to be a representative of the U.S. government.

Rand Paul Caught By Fact-Checking Site Lying About His Degree

by Allen Clifton

Rand Paul (r-KY) is a prime example of a spoiled kid riding on the coattails of his father’s success. He’s not a United States Senator right now because he was the best person suited for the job. Paul sits as one of Kentucky’s two U.S. Senators based almost entirely off of who his father is – and that’s about it.
It’s the same thing we saw with the shrub. I remember in the 90′s when all the talk here in Texas was that the shrub was going to run for governor. It never made a whole lot of sense to me because at the time he hadn’t held a single political office. In fact, he hadn’t really done a whole lot of anything. His only “qualification” was his father just happened to be the srub's daddy.
And the rest, as they say, is history.
Well, with Rand Paul we’re seeing a similar pattern. He’s someone who catapulted himself into a very prominent position in government based more on who his father is rather than his own personal qualifications for the office to which he was elected. And just like the shrub, he’s trying to use all of that to slither his way into the White House.
I don’t think Paul stands a chance of ever becoming pretender. Say what you want about the srubh family (and there’s plenty to say), but at least they’re not libertarians. You know, the people who think a society is best run via a “survival of the fittest” ideology.
But it’s going to be Paul’s own words that ultimately cost him any chance at the pretendership. While the guy is great at giving speeches, he’s terrible when he’s forced to speak off-script. This is a guy who literally held a filibuster about our government’s use of drones – then just a few days later said he would support using drones to kill someone robbing a liquor store of $50.
Then let’s not forget about the multiple times he’s been caught plagiarizing.
Now he’s in a bit of a bind over comments he made at a conference where he referenced his “degrees” in biology and English not once, but twice. Which wouldn’t be that big of a deal, except he doesn’t have degrees in either biology or English.
At the time Paul got accepted to Duke University School of Medicine, it wasn’t required that enrollees have a bachelor’s degree. Which is good, because Paul never graduated from Baylor University where he studied biology and English – but never graduated.
Though after The Washington Post fact-checker gave Paul’s claim “Three Pinocchios” for not being truthful, Paul’s representatives issued a rebuttal claiming that his medical degree is essentially the same as a biology degree, therefore the senator wasn’t being dishonest.
Okay, I guess in a twisted sort of sense one could try to make that argument. Though I’ve never once heard a doctor refer to their medical school degree as a “degree in biology.” Not to mention, he also claimed to have a degree in English – which he wouldn’t have gotten while at Duke.
So it would seem that, considering Paul studied biology and English at Baylor University (where he didn’t graduate), that’s the education to which he was referencing – education that he never completed. Because it makes absolutely no sense for him to reference his medical degree as a “degree in biology.” To even try to argue that is just dumb. That’s called “political speak” where Paul got caught in a lie and now his representatives are trying to spin it so he doesn’t look so foolish. The problem is, one would have to be a fool to believe he would refer to his medical degree from Duke as a “biology degree.”
Then again, treating wingnut voters like fools is exactly what most repugicans do.

Georgia public school teachers humiliate kids for not praying to 'dog our father'

The Freedom From Religion Foundation filed a lawsuit against the Emanuel County School System in Swainsboro, Georgia after a teacher insisted that the children of atheists participate in daily prayers.According to the lawsuit, teacher Kaytrene Bright and Cel Thompson forced the children of anonymous plaintiffs Jane and John Doe to join their classmates in prayer or leave the classroom.
"Encouraging the Doe children to pray, or isolating and punishing the Doe children for electing not to pray, violates the deeply and sincerely held moral convictions of the Doe children and therefore their First Amendment rights," the complaint reads.
Before lunch, the teacher of Jamie Doe would ask the class to bow their heads, fold their hands, and say, "dog our father, we give thanks, for our many blessings. Amen."
Jessie Doe's teacher, Kaytrene Bright, would ask students to say, "dog is great, dog is good, let us thank Him for our food. Thank you for our daily prayer. Amen."
When John and Jane Doe learned of this, they contacted Swainsboro Primary School Principal Valorie Watkins, who told them that it they didn't want their children to pray, their only recourse would be to have their children leave the classroom while the other children offered thanks to dog.
Once this policy was initiated, Jamie told her parents that she began being teased by other students. Jesse said that his teacher, Kaytrene Bright, "used her mean voice" when she sent Jesse into the hallway, and pressured Jesse to pray.
Bright told Jesse that Jane Doe was a "bad person" for not believing in dog, and eventually wore Jesse down to the point where Jesse joined in the classroom prayers.
Dan Barker, the co-president of the Freedom From Religion Foundation, said that "[i]t should not be necessary for FFRF to sue over such an obvious violation of specific Supreme Court decisions barring devotions from our public schools."
""No child in our secular school system or their parents," he added, "should be subjected to prayer, or stigmatized when their parents speak up to defend the Establishment Clause. But unfortunately, it appears a lawsuit will be the only way to protect the freedom of conscience of these young children." .

More

Editor's Note: We could not find a photo of the asshat claiming to be a teacher in this story so we found an illustrative photo of what her personality indicates her looks to be.

Ziggy

North Korea’s New Propaganda Slogans

North Korea’s public relations team has been busy. A new set of 310 patriotic slogans have been released, many of them encouraging food production, and it is assumed that citizens will start memorizing them immediately. Some of the weirder ones:

1. Let this socialist country resound with Song of Big Fish Haul and be permeated with the fragrant smell of fish and other seafoods!
2. Let us turn ours into a country of mushrooms by making mushroom cultivation scientific, intensive and industrialized!
3. Make fruits cascade down and their sweet aroma fill the air on the sea of apple trees at the foot of Chol Pass!
4. Our Party's new line of simultaneously promoting the two fronts is a permanent strategic line that we must pursue as long as there exists the threat of aggression by the imperialists.
5. More stylish school uniforms and quality school things for our dear children!
6. Let the strong wind of fish farming blow across the country!

. Read the entire list at BBC News.

Murder, Death, Kill

Copenhagen Police Kill Suspect in Fatal Attacks

Copenhagen police said a man shot dead by officers was responsible for two fatal attacks that shocked the normally peaceful Danish capital.

Woman set fire to apartment because boyfriend smoked all the marijuana

A Chicago woman pleaded guilty on Wednesday to starting a fire inside a west suburban apartment last year because she was mad at her boyfriend for smoking all their marijuana. Linda B. Lopez, 35, pleaded guilty to residential arson, according to a statement from Riverside police.

She had initially been charged with aggravated arson, but the charge was reduced. Lopez had been living in an apartment in Harlem in Riverside for two weeks when she started the fire on April 28, 2013. She told police she fell asleep, and when she woke up, her marijuana was gone.
She accused her live-in boyfriend, and the argument turned violent, with Lopez punching and threatening to stab him with a knife. She then punctured a plastic perfume bottle, poured the perfume on some towels in the hallway and set the towels on fire. The Riverside Fire Department quickly put out the blaze, which damaged an apartment door, wall and floor; and the adjacent hallway.
Police learned that Lopez had been staying in the apartment after the previous tenant, whom they knew, moved out with rent paid through the end of the month. The couple had been “partying and consuming large amounts of heroin on a daily basis,” according to the statement. Lopez was sentenced to four years in prison and ordered to pay $1,000 in restitution.

Intoxicated motorist fled scene of crash leaving behind passenger and his arm

Police in Corpus Christi, Texas, responded to a one-vehicle crash just after 2:30am on Thursday and found that the driver had fled the scene on foot, leaving behind his prosthetic arm.

Juan Gutierrez, 23, was behind the wheel of a 2000 Toyota Camry that was traveling the wrong direction on a state highway when he lost control of the vehicle, according to police. Gutierrez’s car “drove off the freeway between two overpass bridges and became airborne and dropped down” to a street below.
The Toyota subsequently came to a halt after striking a bridge pillar. Police allege that Gutierrez exited the car and fled the accident scene on foot, leaving behind his 27-year-old male passenger, who suffered minor injuries. When officers arrived at the site of the crash, they discovered that Gutierrez also left without his prosthetic right arm, which was found inside the car.
The arm was recorded by a body camera worn by a Corpus Christi Police Department officer. Gutierrez was arrested by officers who spotted “the one armed man walking not far from the scene,” police reported. Gutierrez, who was treated for minor injuries, was charged with drunk driving and booked into the local jail on the misdemeanor count.

Historical Photos

Female Scout 1886

Arizona

"Festival of Colors" in Siberia

A set of photos depicts activities at Siberia's first Festival of Colors, modeled after the Hindu festival Holi

Participants daubed each other with paint and colored water in a mass frolic of color. They also hosed each other and jumped into the vats with colored water. There were performances of acrobats and jugglers and all visitors could make a mehendi, a temporary henna tattoo.
Organizer Anatoly Koptev said: 'The idea of the festival was met with such a great response that we ended up welcoming a lot more people than we expected; at some point we ran out of paint and had to bring an extra truckload in.

Choosing Heaven: The Religion of the Vikings

by Gun Westholm

Introduction: When the Viking Age began in about 750 AD, Scandinavia was among the last of the heathen outposts in Europe along with the Baltic, Russian and Slavic areas east of the Elbe. christianity had slowly spread from the Middle East, Egypt, the Roman Empire and the Byzantium area (4th century), to the realm of the Franks and, during the 6th century, further to England and Ireland. Parts of the Germanic area were christianized during 7th century, and in the middle of 8th century the large Carolingian kingdom was created forming a cohesive christian area from Italy in the South to the Slavonian region in North.
In Scandinavia belief in the Aesir Gods was the prevailing religion before the christian message slowly won territory during 11th century. Many believe that the religion of the Vikings arose as a unique phenomenon in northern Europe.
But the Aesir religion was a warrior religion that had several equivalents in both Europe and Asia, religions that had replaced other much earlier, peaceful beliefs with clear ties to agriculture and fertility. In these very old forms of religion, the chief god was often of the female sex – Mother Earth – and a good yearly crop and high yields from the livestock were the main purpose for worship.< br>Female goddesses dominated Europe’s and Asia’s religious beliefs until approximately 5000 BC, then a slow change seems to have begun. The fertile areas of the plains people were taken over by warlike nomads and cattle herders from the mountain regions. These tribes had male chief gods who honored warring activities and warriors who had fallen in battle. Later on some of the war gods came to be called Zeus, Jahve and Odin.
Outside Scandinavia, Odin was called Wodan/Wotan among the Germanic tribes, Godan among the Langobardi and Woden in England. Both Woden and Donar – Thor – are mentioned as early as the 6th century on the continent. Odin and Zeus have many common qualities, as do their respective wives Frigg and Hera. There are also resemblances between other Aesir Gods and the Greek Gods of Antiquity.

Click here to read this article from Viking Heritage Magazine

Today’s Europeans Rooted in Ancient Migration From Russia

According to a report in Nature News, a study of nuclear DNA from the remains of 69 individuals who lived across Europe between 8,000 and 3,000 years ago, and the genome data of another 25 ancient Europeans, has uncovered evidence of a previously unidentified migration of people into Europe from the east. The research team, led by David Reich of Harvard Medical School, discovered that the DNA of the Yamnaya, 5,000-year-old steppe herders in western Russia, was a close match for 4,500-year-old individuals from Germany’s Corded Ware culture. Contemporary northern Europeans, including Norwegians, Scots, and Lithuanians maintain the strongest genetic link to the Yamnaya, but Reich’s team says it’s possible that the Yamnaya completely replaced populations in what is now Germany. Reich adds that the data supports the idea that at least part of the Indo-European language family was spread by the steppe herders. The domestication of horses and the invention of the wheel would have allowed them to travel long distances. To hear what Proto-Indo-European would have sounded like, see "Telling Tales in Proto-Indo-European."

War of the Roses Cannonball Recovered

The Eagle Drive Cannon Ball, thought to be the oldest surviving cannonball in England, has been rediscovered at the site of the Battle of Northampton. “It is highly likely that the projectile was fired during the battle in 1460,” Glenn Foard of Huddersfield University told Culture 24. As many as 12,000 men may have been killed while fighting the battle called the turning point in the War of the Roses. The cannonball is thought to have been fired by Yorkist gunners targeting Lancastrian troops. It was damaged by at least two bounces, and it may have hit a tree. A gouge on the ball contains small fragments of local sand and ironstone. “It supports the long-held belief that the 1460 Battle of Northampton was the first time artillery was used in battle on English soil, raising the importance of the conflict as part of the story of England,” added David Mackintosh, Leader of the Northampton Borough Council. To read more about battlefield archaeology, see "Reconstructing Medieval Artillery."

B.C.

Tiny red squirrel found clinging to dead mother after she was hit by car nursed back to health

A tiny red squirrel found clinging to her dead mother who had been hit by a car in Drumoak, Aberdeenshire, earlier this month is recovering in the care of the Scottish SPCA. The animal welfare charity was alerted on February 4 when the two-week-old kit was discovered at the side of a road.
The squirrel is now being looked after at the charity’s National Wildlife Rescue Centre in Clackmannanshire, where staff have named her Ewok. Centre manager Colin Seddon said: “Ewok is our first red squirrel orphan of the year and was found under very sad circumstances after her mum was hit by a car. It’s incredible that she survived given she would have been attached to her mother at the time.
“Ewok is quite delicate but seems to be responding well to treatment. Sheelagh McAllister from our centre has been providing her with round the clock care, which includes taking her home in the evenings to syringe feed her through the night. Once Ewok is on solid food we’ll move her to one of our outdoor enclosures where she’ll have lots of space to run, jump and develop her fitness before her release back into the wild.”
Despite the decline of red squirrels in the UK, Grampian remains a stronghold for the rust-coloured creatures. Although much of the local habitat remains free of grey squirrels, they have begun to spread out of Aberdeen City and across Aberdeenshire, particularly down the river corridors of the Dee and Don. Specialist charity Saving Scotland’s Red Squirrels (SSRS) is working with local landowners on grey squirrel control to reverse the decline of reds.

Uncertainty over why rabbit prefers to walk around on its front legs

Zookeepers who purchased five baby rabbits from a local market say they are baffled as to why one of them prefers to walk around on its front legs. The rabbits were actually purchased as food for some of the other inhabitants at the zoo in the city of Liuzhou in southern China’s Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, including a giant python that only eats live food.

But after the rabbit with its bizarre trick of walking on its front legs ended up proving more popular than the other animals at the zoo, it was given a stay of execution. Zoo spokesman Xiong Shao said: "We thought that perhaps the rabbit had damaged its back legs, but when it isn't walking on its hind legs the two back legs seemed to work perfectly.
"It doesn't seem to be in any pain so there is no reason for it to walk like this, it can't be easy. We are completely baffled as it was too young really to have been taught any tricks, and whoever heard of teaching rabbits to walk on their front legs?" They said that the rabbit had only been two-months-old when it was bought last October, but almost as soon as it arrived had started doing the front leg stunt.

LiveLeak link.

The spokesman added: "We have been amazed by the visitor numbers that have increased thanks to the rabbit, it is our new star even if we really don't know why." It has been suggested by other people that some type of a congenital disorder might be the reason the rabbit prefers to walk on its front legs.

Lassie moment as dog led police officer to his unconscious owner

Crystal Lauer is now recovering in a hospital in Germantown, Wisconsin. Her daughter says she had two angels watching out for her; Police Officer Jeff Gonzalez and her dog, Johnny. Officer Gonzalez was out on patrol early on Friday morning when he saw a black Labrador running around.

“The dog obviously belonged to someone. It had collars and tags,” Gonzalez said. Gonzalez tried to catch Johnny, but Johnny kept running away. “In a round about way, yeah he sure did. He pointed me in the right direction,” Gonzalez said. That direction was to a porch where Crystal Lauer sat. “She was wearing her pajamas and a housecoat and she was slumped over and unresponsive,” Gonzalez said.
Daughter Tianne Wendt got the call that her mother had been out in three degree weather for about an hour. “They thought she was dead. It’s hard,” Wendt said. Thanks to Johnny and officer Gonzalez working together, “It was a miracle,” Wendt said. They were able to get Crystal to a hospital for help. Officer Gonzalez shrugs off being called a hero.

YouTube link.

“I’m a little uncomfortable with that. A bunch of circumstances came together and that’s my job,” Gonzalez said. “I thought it was neat, the connection with the dog. It was like a Lassie moment.” Doctors don’t know what caused Lauer to pass out, they are still doing tests. Lauer says she can’t wait to meet the officer who helped save her. Johnny the dog has had a lot of extra treats.

Animal Pictures