Idiot of the Week — Senator Jim Inhofe

Posted on June 21, 2018 by jilldennison under Environmental Issues, Idiot of the Week, Political commentary

There are a host of reasons I have been neglectful this year, ranging from Trumpantics to personal issues to health-related issues, but the time has come to stop making excuses and get back in the saddle. To what, you may ask, do I refer? … … … Well, are you gonna ask or not??? Okay, okay … Here it is just a few days shy of being the middle of the year, and I have not written one single Idiot of the Week post. Not one! It certainly isn’t for lack of available material! Well, today I plan to rectify that situation, so without further ado, please allow me to introduce to you Senator Jim Inhofe of Oklahoma!

Senator Jim Inhofe has crossed my radar a few times of late, and last time he crossed a line when he left something sticky and disgusting all over the screen. Last week, he flitted across my screen when he blocked the proposal filed by Bob Corker, Lamar Alexander and eleven other senators that would have required congressional approval for the imposition of trade tariffs. Blocked it. Would not even let it come for a vote.

Now this week, Inhofe is saying that he is “a little embarrassed” to have doubted his longtime friend from Oklahoma, EPA head Scott Pruitt. Less than a week after suggesting Pruitt might have to resign amid the swirl of scandal, Inhofe said he was confident the administrator had done nothing seriously wrong. Any of Pruitt’s lapses were minor and excusable given his lack of experience in Washington, Inhofe said at a news conference Wednesday.

1 … 2 … 3 … 4 … 5 … 6 … 7 … 8 … 9 … 10 …Scott Pruitt, you might remember, is the subject of at least twelve federal investigations for abusing his position in various ways, including his travel and security costs, purchase of a home in Oklahoma from a lobbyist using a shell corporation and potential use of his office to enrich himself. And Inhofe finds nothing ‘seriously wrong’ with any of this??? I think we need to take a closer look at Senator Inhofe, don’t you?

For starters, Jim Inhofe is 83 years old and since he does not come up for re-election until 2020, so he will be 85 at the time of the 2020 election. It is time for this hombre to r-e-t-i-r-e!

Inhofe is the most conservative member of both the House and Senate, according to the 2017 GovTrack report card.

Inhofe is a climate change denier extraordinaire. He once compared the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to a “Gestapo bureaucracy”. He even wrote a book in 2012, The Greatest Hoax: How the Global Warming Conspiracy Threatens Your Future. The theme of his book is a global warming conspiracy theory that through worldwide acts of professional and criminal misconduct, the science behind global warming has been invented or distorted for ideological or financial reasons, or both. Ironically, he sits on the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works. And Inhofe has been a recipient of monies from the fossil fuel industry. Per the Center for Responsive Politics, Inhofe has received over $529,000 from the oil and gas industry since 2012. Inhofe’s book, by the way, has only a 2.5 star ranking on Amazon and the hardback now sells for $1.50.

At a House committee hearing in 2011, Inhofe was questioned by committee member Jay Inslee, who mentioned that perhaps the scientists were more knowledgeable than he, Inhofe. Inhofe disagreed because, he said, he had already given “five speeches on the science”. 🙄

Now, all that is certainly enough to qualify him for the first Idiot of the Week award of 2018, but Senator Inhofe has so kindly obliged by giving us even more reason …

In a Senate speech, Inhofe said that America should base its Israel policy on the text of the Bible, then he proceeded to quote said text. Wait … isn’t ours a secular government? He also said in a speech to the Senate in 2002 that the 9/11 terrorist attacks were a form of divine retribution against the U.S. for failing to defend Israel. Oh for …

Inhofe is a bigot. He has earned 0% in every one of his terms on Human Rights Campaign’s position scorecard. He is in favor of a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage, against adding sexual orientation to the definition of hate crimes, and voted against prohibiting job discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. Wait … this is that religious man who believes we should rely on the Bible? Isn’t there something somewhere in the Bible about loving everyone? I’m confused. Inhofe’s office has said that he will not hire gay staffers. (Perhaps he has a sign on the door like Mr. Jeff Amyx?)

Now for the really fun one. Inhofe is a licensed pilot (yes, airplanes, Joe!). On October 21, 2010, at the age of 75, Inhofe landed his Cessna on a closed runway at a south Texas airport, scattering construction workers who ran for their lives. In a recorded telephone call, the men’s supervisor told the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) that Inhofe “scared the crap out of” the workers, adding that the Cessna “damn near hit” a truck. In response to the incident, Inhofe stated that he “did nothing wrong”, and accused the FAA of “agency overreach” and causing a “feeling of desperation” in him. Ayyyyy … pobrecito!Inhofe has made, on taxpayer’s dollar, more than 140 trips to Africa over the past 20 years. He admits that much of the reason for his trips was on behalf of The Fellowship, a Christian organization.

There’s more, but I think you get the general idea. My biggest regret is that Inhofe will not be up for re-election this year, for I really think this dinosaur needs to GO!

And so, Senator Jim Inhofe, for all of the above reasons and for just generally being a bigot and supporting the destruction of our home, the planet earth, I now award you with Filosofa’s Idiot of the Week award! Please hang it somewhere that you can show it off to your visitors in the Capitol!

(I really must do these more often … I had forgotten how much fun they are!)

And The Winner Is …

Posted on January 1, 2018 by jilldennison under Idiot of the Week, Political commentary, Social commentary

The results are in and have been tallied, and I will share them with you in just a moment. But first, there was a bit of a problem with the poll this year. I left off the most obviously qualified contender for the award, Donald Trump. Now, I had good reason, as when I first established the Idiot of the Week, and subsequent Idiot of the Year awards, I made a few rules, one of which was that nobody could be given the award more than once. Since Donald Trump won hands down in 2016, I did not for a moment consider putting him in the running in 2017. But many readers were disappointed and asked me to reconsider, or to give him some special award. I try always to be open-minded, and allow things to evolve as they will. So, I added a ‘write in’ space, and said that if Trump got the most votes, I would give him the award. Sadly, the write in worked for some readers, but not for many others, and I was unable to fix that problem, so Donald Trump received only two write-in votes, though I believe he would have topped the list if everyone had been able to write in his name.

I thought long and hard, and what I have come up with is a special award to be given to Donald Trump, which I will do after I present the regular awards. So, without further ado …

The Grand Prize Idiot of the Year award goes to none other than

Ms. Kellyanne Conway!!!

Kellyanne earned 31% of the votes, and there is, perhaps, no more prominent defender of Donald Trump. She is ubiquitous on TV, explaining Trump’s tweet du jour, even if Trump contradicts her hours later. I will do a more in-depth analysis of the many things that have led to this moment of glory in Conway’s career, but for today, suffice it to say that she more than deserves this award.

Tied for 2^nd place, with 13% of the votes each, are U.S. Representative from Pennsylvania, Mike Kelly, and Secretary of Energy, Rick Perry. I was torn as to which was the bigger idiot, but given his longer history of idiocy, I have awarded 2^nd place to Mr. Rick Perry ….

And the 3^rd place prize goes to Mr. Mike Kelly …

The three write in votes were:

Donald Trump – 2 votes, 6% of total
Sarah, the Huckster, Sanders – 1 vote, 3% of total

And now to the special award. By popular demand, I present a special award, Filosofa’s Lifetime of Idiocy Award, to

Mr. Donald Trump!

My resident artiste did not have time to create a new medal for this event, so I am using one I came across. I am certain that Mr. Trump will appreciate this award and be bragging about how great he is.

Thanks to all who took time to vote, and I am sure that a year from now we will have an entire new batch of idiots from whom to choose.

Filosofa’s Idiot of the YEAR Award — 2017

Posted on December 28, 2017 by jilldennison under Idiot of the Week, Political commentary, Social commentary

It is finally here … the moment you’ve all been waiting for … the selection of an Idiot of the Year!!! This year, just as last, there are so many superb specimens from which to choose that it will be a difficult call, but I encourage you all to join in the fun and cast your votes! I have put a listing of all the candidates with links to their Idiot of the Week award post, in case you need to refresh your memory. There will be three winners, the Grand Prize, and second and third runners up, so you may vote for three candidates. Just go to the poll at the bottom of the page and click in the square next to the name … it’s that simple. Results will be published on Monday, January 1st 2018, in order to give everybody a chance to vote. Voting closes at midnight on December 31st.

Rep. Mike Kelly

Rick Perry

Sen. Chuck Grassley

Julie Gunlock

Paula White

Jeffrey Lord

Wayne Allyn Root

Sean Spicer I actually felt rather bad for including poor Sean, but he did win the weekly award …

Mike Cernovich

Jason Rapert

Steve King

Dr. Ben Carson

Kellyanne Conway

I can’t believe I only did 13 of these all year! It’s not as if they are hard to find. Remind me next year to do a better job on this. Now go vote for your favourite idiots!!!

Idiot of the Week — Rep. Mike Kelly

Posted on December 24, 2017 by jilldennison under Idiot of the Week, Political commentary, Social commentary

I hadn’t planned to do an Idiot of the Week column today. It is, after all, Christmas Eve and it seems a bit uncharitable. Besides that, I was working on a piece about the Koch Brothers, David & Charles, and was trying to stay focused on that. But this one person just kept jumping onto my radar screen, practically screaming, “PICK ME, PICK ME!!!” Okay, Representative Mike Kelly of Pennsylvania, you asked for it, you got it.

Friends, please allow me to formally introduce U.S. Representative George Joseph “Mike” Kelly Jr, a republican representing the 3^rd Congressional district of Pennsylvania. Kelly came onto my radar last night by way of his appearance on Fox News on Friday, where he said …

“I will tell you what. For those people on the Trump train or not on the Trump train, this is high-speed rail right now. And so if you’re not on the Trump train, you get on the train or get off the tracks. You’re gonna get run over. Look, the House had done its work in the appropriations. We had our 12 bills ready to go. Unfortunately, it didn’t get through the Senate. But the big news — the big news is for America, you look at today, and I can tell you walking around the streets of Pittsburgh, people walking more erect, not just whispering ‘Merry Christmas’ but saying ‘Hey, Merry Christmas.’ You can feel it, you can see it. And I’m not just pumping sunshine for the sake of pumping sunshine. I am telling you, this is a different country. In 11 months, this president has changed the entire complexion of our entire country and our place in the world. We are no longer leading from behind, we are leading from the front and everybody else is looking to us and saying ‘go, go, go.’”

Oh please. Since it wouldn’t be Filosofa’s Word if I didn’t inject a few comments; 1) Yes, Trump has changed the “complexion” of the country — he has given it a severe case of acne, and 2) You are quite right that we are no longer “leading from behind” — we are no longer leading. Period. Since Trump’s approval rating in Pennsylvania is just 29%, below the national rate, I am curious as to who all these ebullient people riding the “Trump train” might be. So this is Mr. Kelly’s most recent bout of idiocy, but taking a look back, I find that it is far from his first.

In March 2017, Mr. Kelly launched a conspiracy theory that President Obama was running a “shadow government” with the intention of undermining Trump.

“President Obama himself said he was going to stay in Washington until his daughter graduated. I think we ought to pitch in to let him go someplace else, because he is only there for one purpose and one purpose only, and that is to run a shadow government that is going to totally upset the new agenda. It just doesn’t make sense. And people sit back and they say to me, ‘My gosh, why can’t you guys get this done?’ I say, ‘We’ve got a new CEO, we’ve got some new heads in the different departments, but the same people are there, and they don’t believe that the new owners or the new managers should be running the ship.’”

When asked to comment, a spokesperson for his office said …

“Rep. Kelly does not believe that President Obama is personally operating a shadow government, He does believe it would be helpful to the new administration if the former president would personally call for an end to all leaks and obstruction by personnel from his administration who currently serve in the executive branch.”

Seriously???

In June 2015, Mr. Kelly took on the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), comparing it to a terrorist organization:

“You talk about terrorism — you can do it in a lot of different ways. But you terrorize the people who supply everything this country needs to be great — and you keep them on the sidelines — my goodness, what have we become? When a government can level on you taxes and regulations that makes it impossible for you to compete, then you’re going to stay on the sidelines.”

And where, exactly, will you be when there is no oxygen to breathe, no food to eat, for we have destroyed the planet, Mr. Kelly, huh?

Kelly authored the Coal Country Protection Act, legislation which attempted to reverse the EPA’s carbon rule and any regulation that aimed to limit carbon from power plants. The legislation failed, until Trump took office and signed similar legislation.

And then there was the time that Kelly just had to put his two cents worth in after the Supreme Court upheld a ruling to allow same-sex marriage in the 2015 case of Obergefell v. Hodges:

“The high court had a responsibility to follow the Constitution but instead chose to follow the wishes of a political movement. The natural, traditional definition of marriage that I and millions of others believe in worldwide remains a cornerstone of human civilization. To redefine this institution, especially on a national scale, carries uncertain consequences and deserves serious scrutiny. Today’s ruling rips this critical debate from the democratic process by redefining marriage for all 50 states. Going forward, defenders of our Constitution have a renewed duty to protect every single citizen’s First Amendment rights and guarantee that no person or organization’s religious freedom is in any way undermined by today’s controversial decision.”

I do believe that Mr. Kelly fails to understand the 1^st Amendment … I wonder if he has ever read the Constitution? But wait, for I have saved the best for last! Mr. Kelly, not surprisingly, didn’t much like the Affordable Care Act (ACA), lovingly dubbed by republicans as ‘Obamacare’. He referred to the employer mandate to provide contraception coverage as “an attack on Americans’ constitutionally protected religious rights” and claimed that August 1, 2012, would go down in infamy as “the day that religious freedom died”. A bit of a drama queen, don’t you think? But he went on to compare it to the attack on Pearl Harbor and 9/11!!!

“I know in your mind, you can think of the times America was attacked. One is Dec. 7, that’s Pearl Harbor Day. The other is Sept. 11, and that’s the day the terrorists attacked. I want you to remember Aug. 1, 2012, the attack on our religious freedom. That is a day that will live in infamy, along with those other dates.”

Okay, my friends in Pennsylvania … you need to get this guy out of office next November. He ran virtually uncontested in 2016, but there are two challengers for the 2018 elections. He has been in office for four terms … eight years … get him out!!!

Meanwhile, Mr. Kelly, for your backward and bigoted ways, and for your truly misguided belief that Donald Trump is somehow “pumping sunshine” into our lives, I award you this most coveted, most honoured award, Filosofa’s Idiot of the Week award. Please display it with pride, for you have certainly earned it!

Idiot of the Week — Rick Perry

Posted on November 4, 2017 by jilldennison under Environmental Issues, Idiot of the Week, Political commentary

Yesterday, I started a post about Rick Perry. It was to be just a post about a ridiculous claim he had made earlier in the week. We are used to inanity from everyone in the current administration, so, while his comment did cause my jaw to drop, it wasn’t really that unexpected, and I planned to write the post and then put Mr. Perry out of my mind. But, as I wrote I thought “y’know … people don’t just get this stupid overnight, and there must have been previous signs of such idiocy”. And so, I went in search of … and after reading for a bit, I decided that it is high time I write another of my Idiot of the Week posts. And so, allow me to introduce this week’s idiot, Secretary of the Department of Energy, Mr. Rick Perry. And I simply must begin with the most recent evidence of his condition, for it is what put him onto my radar …

On Connecting the Dots … One Plus One Equals … Four????

No Shit Sherlock. Dumber Than A Coal Bucket. You’ve GOT To Be Kidding Me??? Those are the first thoughts that came to mind when I read last night that Department of Energy Secretary Rick Perry said that increased use of fossil fuels will lead to a reduction in sexual assaults.

You still with me here, or are you rolling on the floor laughing? Yeah, me too. So, how did he connect the dots to come up with this theory?

“But also from the standpoint of sexual assault. When the lights are on, when you have light that shines the righteousness, if you will, on those types of acts.” Is he serious???

So, if you burn fossil fuels in Africa, more people will have electricity, so it will not be so dark, so guys won’t rape girls as much if the lights are on. Brilliant, don’t you think? Possibly the most incredible theory I have heard yet out of this administration. Even better than the Civil War being a result of people not being able to compromise on the issue of slavery.

And the Department of Energy spokespeople, bless their little hearts, attempted to spin Perry’s words with this …

“The secretary was making the important point that while many Americans take electricity for granted there are people in other countries who are impacted by their lack of electricity.”

No, excuse me ma’am, but the “secretary” is an IDIOT!

The nation’s largest environmental group, The Sierra Club, apparently agrees with me. Michael Brune, executive director of the Sierra Club, had this to say …

“It was already clear that Rick Perry is unfit to lead the Department of Energy, but to suggest that fossil fuel development will decrease sexual assault is not only blatantly untrue, it is an inexcusable attempt to minimize a serious and pervasive issue. Women, and particularly women of color, are among some of the most severely impacted by the climate crisis, and it is these same communities that are most at risk of sexual assault. Rick Perry’s attempt to exploit this struggle to justify further dangerous fossil fuel development is unacceptable. He does not deserve to hold office another day with these twisted ideas, and he should resign from his position immediately before he causes any more damage.”

It is interesting to note that Perry was one of Trump’s first cabinet picks, and was placed in the position of Secretary of U.S. Department of Energy, the very deparment he said he would abolish during his campaign for president in 2012.

And now let’s look at some of the other qualifications Mr. Perry has for receiving this award, for you know my standards are high and one episode of idiocy is rarely sufficient …

His new job …

While he enthusiastically accepted Trump’s nomination last December, it turned out he had absolutely no idea what the job actually entailed. He thought he would be “a global ambassador for the American oil and gas industry.” Is this man hung up on fossil fuels or what? Oh yes, I must remember he is a Texan, where oil is king. But Perry was shocked to discover that two-thirds of the annual departmental budget he would soon oversee is dedicated to maintaining and protecting the United States’ nuclear arsenal.

On climate change …

While not necessarily a climate change denier, he is certainly a skeptic, not convinced that human activities play a significant role. Read some of his own words on this topic:

“We cleaned up our air in the state of Texas, more than any other state in the nation during the decade. Nitrous oxide levels, down by 57 percent. Ozone levels down by 27 percent. That’s the way you need to do it, not by some scientist somewhere saying, ‘Here is what we think is happening out there.'”

“The science is not settled on this. The idea that we would put Americans’ economy at jeopardy based on scientific theory that’s not settled yet to me is just nonsense. Just because you have a group of scientists who stood up and said here is the fact. Galileo got outvoted for a spell.”

“[Climate change is] all one contrived phony mess that is falling apart under its own weight,Al Gore is a prophet all right, a false prophet of a secular carbon cult, and now even moderate Democrats aren’t buying it.” – from Perry’s book, Fed Up! Our Fight to Save America from Washington, November 2010

“There are a substantial number of scientists who have manipulated data so that they will have dollars rolling into their projects.”

“Yes, our climates change. They’ve been changing ever since the earth was formed.”

Last month, Perry said that climate change is a “threat to our nation” and that it is contributing to the recent spate of extreme weather slamming the country. But … he still wants to burn more fossil fuels because he refuses to accept the basic science that climate change is caused by carbon pollution.

During a budget hearing in June, Perry went head-to-head with Senator Al Franken in a heated exchange.

“I did not think that CO2 was the primary knob that changes it. I don’t. I think that there are some other naturally occurring events — the warming and the cooling of our ocean waters and some other activities that occur. I also said in the next breath that man’s impact does, in fact, have an impact on the climate, and the question is: What is going to be the economic impact for this country?”

I hate to tell you this, Rick, but if the earth becomes uninhabitable, the economic impact won’t matter … at all.

Scratching the pharma’s back …

Shortly after his 2006 re-election as Governor of Texas, Perry issued an executive order mandating that sixth-grade girls in Texas be vaccinated against the human papillomavirus—a decision that seemed unusual for a man widely seen as a social conservative. It later surfaced that Perry was close to a pharmaceutical lobbyist, Mike Toomey, who had pressed the case for the vaccine mandate. (And no doubt pressed some money into Perry’s palm.)

He fell for it …

I dunno …

On July 19^th, Perry received a phone call which lasted for 22 minutes. He was convinced he was speaking to the Ukrainian Prime Minister, Volodymyr Groysman, but in fact he was speaking with two Russian pranksters, Vladimir Krasnov and Alexei Stolyarov, who have become known for targeting celebrities and politicians with audacious stunts. During the course of the conversation, one of the duo told Perry that Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko had invented a new biofuel made from home-brewed alcohol and pig manure. Not even fazed, Perry responded, “I look forward to visiting with the president and getting a more in-depth briefing … If that’s the result, then he’s going to be a very, very wealthy and successful man.”

Dancing with the stars …

Last September, having dropped out of the republican primary race, Perry decided to try something new, and signed on for a season on Dancing with the Stars. This short video xlip speaks for itself …

So now, folks, I think you see why I decided to give Mr. Rick Perry this most prestigious award, Filosofa’s Idiot of the Week award! Perry was one of the few hundred (slight exaggeration) republican candidates who threw their hats in the ring for the 2016 presidential election, and on the one hand, I say I’m glad he dropped out of the race, but then again … look what we did get … sigh.

Mr. Perry … please accept this well-deserved award and be sure to hang it somewhere special in your office so that everyone will see it!

Idiot of the Week — Senator Charles (Chuck) Grassley

Posted on September 21, 2017 by jilldennison under Idiot of the Week, Political commentary

Senator Chuck Grassley, a republican from Iowa, is one of the best arguments I can give for congressional term limits. Grassley has been in the Senate since 1981 … 36 years! He also served three terms (6 years) in the House of Representatives before that. And on that note, allow me to introduce you to this week’s winner of Filosofa’s Idiot of the Week award!

I will jump right to what put Mr. Grassley on my radar tonight, and then tell you the rest of the story. This headline caused my jaw to drop:

GOP Senator Says It Doesn’t Matter How Bad The Latest Obamacare Replacement Is – He’s Voting For It

Wonder why? I shall let the not-so-good senator tell you in his own words:

“I could maybe give you 10 reasons why this bill shouldn’t be considered. But Republicans campaigned on this so often that you have a responsibility to carry out what you said in the campaign. That’s pretty much as much of a reason as the substance of the bill.”

There you have it, folks. If you doubted me before when I told you that there is zero consideration for what is in the best interest of the majority of the people in this country, it can no longer be denied or sugar-coated by the republicans. Mr. Grassley plain as day states that it isn’t a matter of whether the bill will help people or not, it is a matter of the GOP doing what they said they would do … repeal ACA.

Now, I was curious, so I took a look at where Mr. Grassley’s last campaign contributions came from. I was not able to find the itemized listing for his 2016 campaign (time constraints) but as of his 2010 campaign, here were his major contributors:

Health professionals – $1 million
Insurance industry – $997,674
Pharmaceuticals/health products – $538,680
Lawyers/law firms – $625,543

His largest corporate donors have been Blue Cross Blue Shield insurance, Amgen biotech company and Wells Fargo bank. I leave you to draw your own conclusions as you will.

His willingness to vote for a bill that, by his own admission, is not in the best interest of the people he represents would almost be enough, in and of itself, to qualify the man for Idiot of the Week, but wait … there is so much more to love hate about this man.

In February 2017, Grassley said that while Russian interference in U.S. elections was “bothersome”, the United States did not have clean hands and had, for instance, interfered with the 1948 Italian election. 1948??? Sixty-nine years ago??? And that justifies …. What …. How … ???

After President Trump fired FBI Director James Comey, Grassley advised people suspicious of the Trump administration to “Suck it up and move on.”

Last year, after Donald Trump’s assertion that U.S. District Judge Gonzalo Curiel is incapable of being impartial due to his ethnic heritage, Grassley refused to condemn Trump for the remark, while other senators on both sides of the aisle, condemned Trump’s rhetoric as inappropriate and racist. That earned him the following comment by the Des Moines Register:

“As Edmund Burke said, the only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing. And when it comes to Donald Trump, there are invertebrates that have shown more spine than Sen. Charles Grassley.”

That is the 2^nd time this year I have had occasion to applaud the Register! Good work, Editors!!!

Grassley is, like Trump, a fan of Twitter, and also like Trump, he is often … shall we say, confusing. Here are a few examples from 2012 (no corrections have been made):

“Constituents askd why i am not outraged at PresO attack on supreme court independence. Bcause Am ppl r not stupid as this x prof of con law”

“P”

“When is PresO going to start running agsf DoNothing Democrat Senate i e no budget for 1060 days. No nrgBill Far fewer bills and votes”

“I now h v an iphone”

“Contraceptives&totalitarian mindset of Pres O; ‘oh we would never do that’ then they do it. Just shred the 1stAmendment”

“Evrybody asking how Romney ‘relates’to avg person Me thinks‘no problem’ but if so I hv answer ‘just lv starch out of shirt’”

“Pres O in radio adres complaind of Congress obstuction. Has he evr spoken to his leader Sen Reid abt hv Senate actually work&work”

“History. No history. Axe man Timber Nothing historical. Back to FOX. Sigh. Suggest name to change channel name”

Above tweets courtesy of Tim Mak, Politico, 09 April 2012

Covfefe anyone?

Senator Grassley is, since January 2015, the Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, a position for which he is ill-qualified, given that he has no law degree and has never even been to law school. He has proven his un-fitness more than once.

He rejected calls for restoring the Voting Rights Act by saying, “If you want to fix more minorities voting, more minorities are already voting.”

In 2016, when President Obama nominated Merrick Garland to fill the seat on the Supreme Court vacated by the death of Justice Antonin Scalia, Grassley took the lead in calling for a blockade against confirming Garland … for no other reason than that he did not much like President Obama, as you may have surmised from his tweets. This, despite the fact that in 2006 he is quoted as saying, “A Supreme Court nomination is not a forum to fight any election. It is the time to perform one of our most important constitutional duties and decide whether a nominee is qualified to serve on the nation’s highest court.”

I could go on, but … well, you get the picture. As I began this post, I repeat … Senator Charles (Chuck) Grassley almost single-handedly makes the case for the need for congressional term limits. This man has long since outlived his usefulness in Congress and needs to GO! Only problem is, he was just re-elected last year, so barring something unforeseen, he will keep his seat until 2023.

And so to conclude … Senator Grassley, for slapping the American people in the face with your vote for the abominable Graham-Cassidy “health care” bill, and other prior acts of idiocy, you have earned this most prestigious award and I hope you will accept it in the spirit in which it is intended! Please be sure to dust it weekly and enjoy it in good health.

Idiot of the Week — Julie Gunlock

Posted on September 2, 2017 by jilldennison under Idiot of the Week, Social commentary

Until today, I was blissfully ignorant of Julie Gunlock. She flitted across my radar, and I set out to write a post about some very foolish remarks she made on Fox & Friends yesterday morning. A simple post about a single issue, yes? But nooooooo … Julie would not be satisfied with that. She wanted more. She begged for more … and then she showed me why she deserved the famous and much-coveted Idiot of the Week Award. I must admit, Julie is more than qualified for this award and who am I to argue with an idiot? First, let me tell you what put her in the cross-hairs to begin with.

On Fox & Friends, Julie despaired that schools are becoming too liberal. Why? Because … wait for it … they are providing meals and sometimes even healthcare for children! GASP!

“More and more now these schools, elementary schools are taking on and supplanting parents. They get dropped off at 6:30 in the morning, they get three meals a day. There is after-care. There is even health care services at some schools. So, really schools have tried more and more to take on the role of parenting.”

Gunlock added that liberal bias was seeping into the curriculum as well, lamenting the fact that some schools were teaching kids about climate change and transgender issues. OH HORRORS!!! To remedy the problem, Gunlock suggested reading The Benedict Option: A Strategy for Christians in a Post-Christian Nation. Um, no thanks.

So who is Julie that she is such an ‘expert’ on children and education? Is she a teacher? No. Does she have a degree in education? No. She is “a Senior Fellow at the Independent Women’s Forum and directs the organization’s Culture of Alarmism project. She is the author of the book ‘From Cupcakes to Chemicals: How the Culture of Alarmism Makes Us Afraid of Everything and How to Fight Back’.”

Ms. Gunlock has contributed articles to a number of publications, including The Washington Post, New York Times and Huffington Post, but more recently she is a regular contributor for such conservative publications as The Federalist, Townhall, National Review, and The American Spectator. Just a look at the titles of some of her recent articles in these publications reinforces her qualifications for this award:

Radical Environmentalists Should Mind Their Own Business – Takes on the “Mind the Store” campaign which is a coalition representing more than 11 million individuals and over 450 organizations and businesses united by a common concern about toxic chemicals found in homes, places of work, and products consumers use every day. Ms. Gunlock claims to know better.

It’s Best to Take Government Health Advice with a Pinch of Salt – claims that FDA guidelines are “completely ineffective and based on dubious and outdated science.”

This Summer, Let’s Stop Blaming Soda – “These days, soft drinks are in the cross hairs of the food nannies, and are blamed for a variety of conditions and social ills – from obesity to violence in children … such rhetoric has little to do with actual research.” Gee, she has no degree in any of the hard sciences, so I wonder … ???

The Food Marxists at the FDA – rants against FDA requirements limiting salt in processed foods. “And, if that isn’t outrageous enough, consider also that food manufacturers are already providing consumers an abundance of low-salt and no-salt products.” Oh the inhumanity!!!

Popping the Bee-Pocalypse Myth – claims that despite scientific evidence, she somehow knows that “the environmentalists’ dirty little secret is that bees are actually doing fine”. Again … where is that relevant science degree?

#FreakoutFriday: The Truth About Gummy Bears – “How in the world could anyone freak out about adorable, sweet, chewy Gummy Bears?” I’d hate to see your kids’ dental bills, lady!

Ms. Gunlock also writes a blog:

Debbie Downer Alarmists Ruin the Greatest Show on Earth – criticizes animal rights groups for protesting cruel treatment of wild animals, specifically elephants, in circuses. Oh yes, by all means let us continue abusing animals, for they were put here only for your entertainment, Ms. Gunlock!

Alarmism About Food Creates New Mental Condition: Orthorexia – claims that such things as nutritional labels and FDA warnings contribute to a “fixation on righteous eating”, and “an obsessive focus on clean food consumption”.

Gunlock’s main focus seems to be about food. She is miffed at the government for issuing advice and warnings about GMOs, sugar, salt, and raw cookie dough, to name a few. She rails against former New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg and former First Lady Michelle Obama for their campaigns to get people, especially children, to eat healthier and consume less sugar. She is against environmental regulations, and just about everything else that makes sense. She seems obsessed with food, and is resentful of any attempts to advise consumers about eating healthy.

She decries the fact that if shopping for toys on Amazon, the toys are not labeled as being for either ‘boys’ or ‘girls’. I guess that gives us a clue where she stands on LGBT rights, eh? And by the way, she appears to be a fan of da trumpeter, which by now should come as no surprise.

So, back to her complaint about schools serving meals to the children. Never mind that, in many school districts, the meals they receive at school may well be the only nutritious food they get in a day. And never mind, I suppose, that in many cases both parents in the family work full-time just to make ends meet. I can just picture Ms. Gunlock saying, “Let them eat cake!”

Ms. Gunlock says she fixes her children (she has two children) a breakfast of cinnamon toast (with sugar) in the morning, packs their school lunch, including cookies or candy, gives them a cereal bar for an afternoon snack, prepares dinner (with desert, of course), and then gives them a bowl of cereal (with sugar) at bedtime. I can see where her way is so much healthier than the fruit, veggies and protein they would have gotten in those awful school lunches, can’t you?

So, Ms. Julie Gunlock, for your beliefs that healthy eating is a liberal plot to make you and your children miserable, and for your obvious intent to spread the joy of tooth decay, obesity and heart disease to the rest of us, I now award you Filosofa’s Idiot of the Week award! No, don’t thank me … you have more than earned it! Just please, stay away from my kitchen!

Idiot Of The Week — Paula White

Posted on August 24, 2017 by jilldennison under Idiot of the Week, Political commentary, religion

I did not set out tonight to write an Idiot of the Week post, but this “lady” flew not only onto my radar, but flapped her ugly wings right in my bloomin’ face! I wonder why it is that I have found so many of my idiots among the right-wing “moral majority”? Note, dear readers, that I am not putting down any religion, nor religion in general, but am thoroughly disgusted by those who would use the guise of religion for personal gain. So, on that note, please allow me to introduce today’s Idiot of the Week, Paula White!

Spiritual Advisor??? Ahem …

Who, you may ask, is Paula White? She is a televangelist, a “pastor”, and most importantly, she is Donald Trump’s ‘spiritual advisor’. Or, as Politico once dubbed her, and the name stuck, Trump’s ‘God Whisperer’. While White has a long history of idiocy, and I will get to that in a minute, it is the thing that sent her onto my radar while eating my supper tonight that I want to share first.

On Monday, White appeared on a panel interview on the Jim Bakker show. Let us look at a few of her remarks:

“They say about our president, ‘Well, he is not presidential.’ Thank goodness. Thank goodness. Thank goodness. And I mean that with all due respect. Because in other words, he is not a polished politician. In other words, he is authentically – whether people like it or not – has been raised up by God.”

“God says that he raises up and places all people in places of authority. It is God who raises up a king. It is God that sets one down. When you fight against the plan of God, you are fighting against the hand of God.”

“How can you criticize him? He’s been chosen by God.”

“When our forefathers came over…They took their crosses when they landed at Plymouth and when they walked that beach area and put their white crosses down and dedicated this land and said that it would be a lighthouse for God and send missionaries around the world so that the Gospel will be preached. That was the original intention for this particular nation. We must take back our school systems, take back our families, take back our homes, take back our nation.”

And the one that really made me want to put a fist through a brick wall …

“We were not sent into this earth to fit in. We weren’t just sent here to be a part. We were sent here to take over.”

Then White suggested campaigns against Trump are the work of demons.

“We are scaring the literal hell out of demonic spirits right now. Because if we get two more [Supreme Court Justices], we will be able to overturn demonic laws and decrees that has [sic] held this nation in captivity.”

Guess that makes me a little demon then, huh?

One deep breath … puff, puff, puff … two deep breaths … puff, puff, puff …

She made the false claim that America is more than 70% evangelical (the actual percentage is somewhere around 25%) and encouraged viewers to be obedient and loyal to Trump because it is what God wants. If God hadn’t intervened in the U.S. elections, she said, religious liberties would have eroded to such an extent that people would have had to pray in an “underground church” within five years.

Now do you see why Filosofa is stomping her feet and howling at the moon tonight?

Personally, I think just those things would qualify her as an Idiot of the Week, but she has been building up to this, so let us take a quick look at Ms. White’s past endeavours.

She is a Pentecostal Christian televangelist and the senior pastor of New Destiny Christian Center, in Apopka, Florida. She calls herself Dr. White, though she has no college degree, let alone a doctorate. She has been married three times, the second time to Randy White, with whom she co-founded a church called Without Walls International Church. The church filed for bankruptcy in 2014 after reportedly defaulting on some $29 million in loans.

Interesting look for a lady of the cloth, don’t you think?

White is a proponent of ‘prosperity theology’ which is loosely defined as “preaching that followers who donate large sums will be made wealthy by God.” Think Jim Bakker, Joel Osteen, Pat Robertson and the rest of the televangelists always soliciting donations. Personally, I would define ‘prosperity theology’ as church-sanctioned greed coupled with a dose of narcissistic arrogance. White’s personal net worth is a paltry $5 million, as compared to other televangelists, such as Kenneth Copeland ($760 million), Pat Robertson ($100 million) and Joel Osteen ($40 million). Still, $5 million is nothing to sneeze at, and it was handed to her by hardworking people who probably struggle to meet their mortgage or rent payment every month.

White, along with five other televangelists, was the subject of a three-year Senate investigation that ended in 2011 with no definitive findings of wrongdoing and thus no penalties. However, White refused to provide the information requested by the inquiry, saying the request violated her religious freedom. The investigation was looking at the personal use of church-owned airplanes, luxury homes and credit cards by pastors and their families, and expressed concern about the lack of oversight of finances by boards often packed with the televangelists’ relatives and friends.

I believe she took dressing lessons from Sarah Palin

White claims she ‘fully cooperated’ with the investigation and disagrees with the characterization of the “prosperity gospel”, saying donations, even the hefty four figure ones, are to help the ministry and its televised operations pay bills, and the “prosperity gospel” is misunderstood to be all about money. I leave the reader to draw his or her own conclusions here, but I always thought donations to a church were supposed to go to some humanitarian cause?

She has been called Trump’s doppelganger by more than a few. Like Trump, she has a bankruptcy under her belt, is on her third marriage, and has few morals. At age 18, she left her first husband and ran off with Randy White, her church’s pastor, who was at the time married with three young children. The couple eventually married and founded their own church and broadcast ministry, generating more than $40 million annually at one point. Yet, the church ended in bankruptcy in 2014. White is now married to Jonathan Cain, singer/songwriter for the band Journey.

So, Ms. Paula White-Cain, for years of greed and immorality, for all that you have taken from those less fortunate than yourself, for your history of lies, but most of all for your supreme idiocy in saying that those of us with the common sense to resist Donald Trump are going against God, please accept Filosofa’s Idiot of the Week award. I am sure you will find a good spot for it on the walls of your fine, gold-plated home.

Idiot Of The Week – Jeffrey Lord

Posted on August 12, 2017 by jilldennison under Idiot of the Week

Although idiots surround us, seem to be coming out of the woodwork and multiplying exponentially, I have not done an Idiot of the Week post since … well … since my last one! And that was Wayne Allyn Root on 31 May. So, I think it’s about time, don’t you? And as often happens, one dropped right into my lap! I became aware of Jeffrey Lord some time ago and realized he was an idiot, but did nothing to honour him for his idiocy. But today, that all changes! So please welcome this week’s Idiot of the Week, Jeffrey Lord.

Jeffrey Lord, 66 years old, is a political strategist in Pennsylvania, who served as an associate political director in the administration of former United States President Ronald Reagan. He has worked as a political commentator, contributing material to CNN, The Weekly Standard, The American Spectator, National Review Online, and other mostly right-wing conservative publications. He has appeared as a guest on numerous television and radio programs. He also works as a political consultant for Quantum Communications, a Harrisburg-based political strategy firm. Since 2015, he has been a regular commentator under contract to CNN.

And now let us take a brief look at just a few of the things that qualify Jeffrey for the award …

Certainly anyone who equates Donald Trump to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., deserves this award. One Thursday in April, Lord made a remote appearance on CNN’s New Day show:

“Think of Donald Trump as the Martin Luther King of health care. When I was a kid, President Kennedy did not want to introduce the civil rights bill because he said it wasn’t popular and he didn’t have the votes for it, et cetera. Dr. King kept putting people in the streets in harm’s way to put the pressure on so the bill would be introduced.”

Democratic activist Symone Sanders was also on the program, and I loved her response:

“You do understand that Dr. King was marching for civil rights because people that looked like me were being beaten, dogs were being sicced on them, basic human rights were being withheld from these people merely because of the color of their skin. So let’s not equate Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. — humanitarian and Nobel Peace Prize winner—to the vagina-grabbing president, Donald Trump.”

In February 2015, Lord called upon the Republican Party to demand an apology from the Democratic Party for its role in promoting and defending slavery and creating the segregationist Jim Crow system:

“Will President Obama – the leader of the Democratic Party – formally apologize for his party’s role in slavery and Jim Crow? Will the Republicans now controlling both the House and Senate pass resolutions calling on the president to apologize for his party’s role in slavery and Jim Crow?”

In June 2015, Lord wrote an open letter to Debbie Wasserman Schultz, then-head of the U.S. Democratic Party, asking her to apologize for her party’s role in Indian removal, in promoting and defending slavery, in Confederate secession, and in creating segregationist Jim Crow regimes. (This guy wants everybody to apologize, doesn’t he?)

In March 2016, during Super Tuesday election night coverage on CNN, conservative commentator S. E. Cupp said she believed Trump had made to attract prejudiced voters because he had hesitated to disavow KKK member David Duke. Lord responded that the KKK many decades earlier had supported Democrats and that the KKK was therefore left wing.

Lord has also written a book published in January 2016 titled What America Needs: The Case for Trump. The plug on Amazon reads …

“In What America Needs, Lord makes a powerful case that Trump—often denigrated even by other Republicans as too outrageous for the White House—is actually exactly the president our country needs right now: one who will reverse the damages done during the Obama administration and do what it takes to make America great again.”

So, we see that Lord is not only an idiot, but one in serious need of psychiatric counseling. But all of that simply leads up to his latest faux pas, one which has cost him his job. It happened during a back-and-forth “tweeter-sation” between Lord and Angelo Carusone, president of Media Matters for America, a progressive media watchdog organization. It took only two small words to earn him the proverbial axe:

CNN’s response was swift: “Nazi salutes are indefensible. Jeffrey Lord is no longer with the network.” *

Later, Lord defended himself, saying that he was mocking Media Matters, which he considers to be a fascist organization, and said he has ‘no regrets’ for his words. If there is any remaining doubt in your mind that Mr. Lord is an idiot, guess who came out in support of him after his firing? None other than America’s #1 white supremacist, Steve Bannon, who called Jeffrey to cheer him up after he was fired.

Jeffrey Lord may not be the most idiotic of all the recipients of this award, but nonetheless, he is well-deserving of it. The difference between him and past recipients such as Steve King, Ben Carson and Kellyanne Conway, is that he is an idiot whose message is more chilling, less humorous, than the others. And although CNN has severed ties with him, he has numerous other venues for his brand of hate, as he is still a regular columnist for the American Spectator, a conservative online publication, and others.

And so, Mr. Jeffrey Lord, for your extremist views throughout the years, and your lack of filter for your mouth, and for being an overall jerk, I hereby award you the much-coveted Idiot of the Week award. I’m sure you will find a good spot on your office wall to hang it. Congratulation!

* The argument will be made that Lord’s words are protected by the first amendment, and that is true … he broke no law and will not suffer legal repercussions. However CNN is within its rights to sever the relationship based on its journalistic, moral and humanitarian standards.

Filosofa's Word

Cogito Ergo Sum

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