Fascinating story which explains who an idiot like Carson is leading the pack of the Republican base - it's not the doctor, it's the millions of patients who support him. They embody a relatively new phenomenon, a deliberate celebration of ignorance and stupidity....
Did Ben Carson's rise as a political contender happen because many Republicans, especially Christian fundamentalists, have decoupled from the real world? Mike Lofgren explains why GOP candidates who embrace “anti-knowledge” are gaining popularity
In the realm of physics, the opposite of matter is not nothingness, but antimatter. In the realm of practical epistemology, the opposite of knowledge is not ignorance but anti-knowledge. This seldom recognized fact is one of the prime forces behind the decay of political and civic culture in America.
Some common-sense philosophers have observed this point over the years. “Genuine ignorance is . . . profitable because it is likely to be accompanied by humility, curiosity, and open mindedness; whereas ability to repeat catch-phrases, cant terms, familiar propositions, gives the conceit of learning and coats the mind with varnish waterproof to new ideas,” observed psychologist John Dewey.
Or, as humorist Josh Billings put it, “The trouble with people is not that they don’t know, but that they know so much that ain’t so.”
It's wonderful to see Stephen Colbert revert back to his roots, as he does with his wonderful 7 minute commentary on the Republican debate.....some great jokes....
The good news for longtime fans of Comedy Central’s The Colbert Report has been that host Stephen Colbert has hardly deviated from his political roots after taking over CBS’ Late Show. Aside from interviewing five Presidential candidates already, he has used his desk segments to skewer the elements of the campaign, and Wednesday night’s CNBC debate was a prime target last night.
“In some ways [the debate] was impressive. It managed to thread the needle between confusing and boring,” Colbert joked at the top of the segment. After a quick grab of debate moderator Carl Quintanilla’s opening question regarding the candidates identifying their biggest weakness, Colbert noted, “They opened with the one question no on in human history has ever answered honestly”.
On the key question of GOP candidate Donald Trump reportedly negotiating
A long but very insightful article by Kevin Baker on how the Tea Party came into being, and how it has driven our national politics steadily rightward. If you are at all interested in politics and/or recent history this is a very good read......
It started out on the prairie, just as the first populist movement did. Or, at least, in a city on the plain.
On the morning of Feb. 19, 2009, Rick Santelli, a former commodities trader and V.P. at Drexel Burnham Lambert, was feeling provoked by the Obama administration’s Homeowner Affordability and Stability Plan, a $75 billion proposal to reduce the monthly payments of the 9 million homeowners then facing foreclosure. It was Santelli’s job to get provoked; he had been working the same shtick at CNBC for 10 years, pumping himself into a high dudgeon over one thing or another.
Prompted by the CNBC anchors in New Jersey, Santelli, on the floor of the Chicago Board of Trade, looked up at the camera zooming in on him and accused the government of “promoting bad behavior” with the program. Then he sputtered out his belief that, instead of having to “subsidize the losers’ mortgages,” we should have a national referendum to ask if we should “buy cars and buy houses in foreclosure and give them to people that might have a chance to prosper down the road, and reward people that carry the water instead of drink the water.”
One of the traders at work next to Santelli, no doubt considering himself a “water carrier,” chimed in sardonically, “That’s a novel idea.” The remark was followed by a few scattered claps and whistles, leading one of the vastly amused studio hosts at CNBC to declare, “They’re like putty in your hands!”
Further to the opening story, Colbert comments on the Carson/Trump battle.....some excellent zingers....
And even though it was made before the debate, nothing has changed.....five damn good minutes....
Wednesday’s “Late Show with Stephen Colbert” was taped before the GOP debates, but Colbert still found a way to smack down frontrunners Ben Carson and Donald Trump.
Trump’s recent clever bash on Ben Carson’s religion as a Seventh Day Adventist has been making the news despite Trump’s failed attempts to swear he wasn’t attacking Carson’s religion. Colbert says Trump’s “I just don’t know about them” is pretty much like your aunt after a few cocktails saying “I just don’t know about these Jews.”
The real attacks from The Donald came surrounding Carson’s pep as a candidate. The seemingly sleepy former neurosurgeon is about as soft-spoken as Trump is loud. Carson’s sparkling droopy lids are no match for Trump’s mouth, however. Colbert agrees, saying that energy is absolutely the most important thing in a leader. “Who can forget Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg workout tape: With the Absolitionist of Steel.
Seth Meyers cleans the floor with the new Speaker of the House, Paul Ryan.....Meyers is becoming a good political commentator.....
Every single time Seth Meyers takes a “Closer Look” at something in the world of politics on “Late Night,” he crushes it. This isn’t hyperbole, even a fact checker would find it “mostly true.”
Wednesday evening, Meyers poked fun at Paul Ryan’s new gig he’s never wanted as Man of the House. Everyone has been clear that the gym rat has a million other things he would rather be doing than heading up Congress. Meyers even showed a clip of Bill O’Reilly saying he should be forced to do it. “That’s Bill O’Reilly talking about Paul Ryan the way a mob boss yells into the phone: ‘Oh, he doesn’t want to do it? How about we break his fingers?'”
Two viral videos from last week, both police related.....one is the notorious clip of the cop assaulting a student in a school classroom, the other was a cop matching dance moves....story is from the Washington Post....
Twice this week, the nation was moved by the way a white cop confronted a black teenage girl and her mobile phone. For very different reasons.
In South Carolina, the teen was texting in math class and wouldn’t put her phone away. Teens and their phones, right?
But the campus officer who went to the class responded in the worst possible way — yanking, slamming and dragging the girl across the classroom. It was a violent 11 seconds of video that made millions of people gasp and, thankfully, got the cop fired.
Sadly, in this time of a national awakening to stunning incidents of Bad Cop brutality — from ruthless arrests caught on camera to fatal shootings — this has become what we expect to see.
But many of this country’s 780,000 sworn police officers know how to do their jobs the right way.
And as a follow up, an interesting discussion of the school video on Bill Maher's show.....five minutes of relatively intelligent conversation....
Bill Maher tonight took on the Spring Valley school confrontation tonight and ended up going off on bad parenting, saying that parents used to be on the same page as teachers, but now parents end up siding with their kids over the teachers a lot more.
And then, basically, “underzealous parenting” can lead to overzealous policing.
Maher said it’s obviously “horrendous to treat a child like this,” but said he has “sympathy for people in authority” who get frustrated when students like the one in the confrontation don’t listen to direct instructions like to stop using their phones in class.
The latest Republican star Marco Rubio of course has a past....hey, he's from Floriduh......good column from Scott Maxwell.....
There have been some bad debates so far in this presidential elections.
I mean, really bad.
We've seen candidates act like children and moderators like doofuses.
CNBC was rightfully skewered last week for asking Republicans questions both petty and spiteful.
Moderator John Harwood's first question to Donald Trump — asking the billionaire whether his candidacy was really just "a comic-book version of a presidential campaign" — was a perfect example.
As if Harwood thought Trump might respond: Why, yes, John, it is. What an insightful inquiry.
Harwood's salvo would've been better suited as a blog rant than a debate opener.
However, one of the big problems when moderators throw out harebrained bombs early on is they allow candidates to dismiss legitimate questions later.
Florida's own Marco Rubio took spectacular advantage of that.
Todays video - the absolute best flight attendant welcome aboard speech ever.....three very funny minutes....
Todays Chinese joke
While in China, an Australian man is very sexually promiscuous and does not use a condom the entire time he is there.
A week after arriving back home in Melbourne, he wakes one morning to find his penis covered with bright green and purple spots.
Horrified, he immediately goes to see a doctor.
The doctor, never having seen anything like this before, orders some tests and tells the man to return in two days for the results.
The man returns a couple of days later and the doctor says, "I've got bad news, you have contracted Mongolian VD. It's very rare and almost unheard of here in this country, we know very little about it. "The man looks a little perplexed and says, "Well, give me a shot or something and fix me up, Doc."The doctor answers, "I'm sorry, there's no known cure. We are going to have to amputate your penis."
The man screams in horror, "Absolutely not! I want a second opinion!!! "
The doctor replies, "It is your choice. Go ahead if you want, but surgery is your only option."The next day, the man seeks out a Chinese doctor in Little Bourke Street, figuring that he'll know more about the disease.
The Chinese doctor examines his penis and proclaims, "Ah, yes, Mongolian VD. Vewy ware disease."The guy says to the doctor, "Yeah, yeah, I already know that, but what can we do? My local GP wants to cut off my penis!"
The Chinese doctor shakes his head and laughs. "Stupid local docttah, always want opawate. Make more money dat way. No need amputate!"
"Oh, thank God!" the man exclaims."Yes," says the Chinese doctor. "Wait two week. Fall off by itself!"
Todays blonde joke.....our favorite
"An old, blind cowboy wanders into an all-girl biker bar by mistake...
He finds his way to a bar stool and orders a shot of Jack Daniels.
After sitting there for a while, he yells to the bartender, 'Hey, you wanna hear a blonde joke?'
The bar immediately falls absolutely silent.
In a very deep, husky voice, the woman next to him says, 'Before you tell that joke, Cowboy, I think it is only fair, given that you are blind,
that you should know five things:
1. The bartender is a blonde girl with a baseball bat.
2. The bouncer is a blonde girl with a 'Billy-Club'.
3. I'm a 6-foot tall, 175-pound blonde woman with a black belt in karate.
4. The woman sitting next to me is blonde and a professional weight lifter.
5. The lady to your right is blonde and a professional wrestler.
'Now, think about it seriously, Cowboy ... do you still wanna tell that blonde joke?'
The blind cowboy thinks for a second, shakes his head and mutters, 'No ... not if I'm gonna have to explain it five times"...
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