Snarky-Inducing Things On My Radar

Posted on June 4, 2020 by jilldennison under Free Press Issues, Law and justice, Political commentary, Racism & Bigotry, Social commentary

You would be surprised if I said I didn’t have any snarkiness built up and just waiting for an outlet, wouldn’t you? Just when we think it’s gotten as bad as it can get here in the U.S., fate (or Donald Trump) steps in to prove to us that no, it can get much worse. Which has me lying awake nights wondering … what’s next? But, for today, here are a few of the things on my radar …

The press must do better!

I am fully supportive of our free press, I realize that they are the only thing standing between us and a dictatorship, but sometimes I get frustrated with them. One example … the headline reads:

The president’s convention speech will be moved from Charlotte, N.C., after Republicans clashed with Democrats over virus concerns.

Makes it sound as if it were just more political fighting … democrats vs republicans, round 2,114. But that was not the case at all! North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper refused to allow a full-fledged, packed stadium style convention to take place in light of the precautions the state is taking due to the coronavirus pandemic. Yes, Governor Cooper is a democrat, but his decision was not an attempt to stifle the Republican National Convention on political grounds, but rather to protect the people of his state. That is, after all, his job!

Now, the republican leadership and Donald Trump may choose to view it as a political move, but the free press should be neutral, should be above the petty grievances of political parties. I am disgusted and disappointed that the New York Times stoops to such cheap tactics. Governor Cooper did offer a compromise, a smaller convention with safety measures in place, but Trump and the GOP said, “All or nothing at all.” So fine, let them have it elsewhere — it looks like Florida’s Governor DeSantis is eager to invite more coronavirus cases to his state. North Carolina may lose a bit of bar and restaurant revenue, but they may also save a heck of a lot of lives. Thumbs up to Governor Cooper!

One bit of good news …

Representative Steve King of Iowa has been on my radar for several years. He is a blatant racist and doesn’t care who knows it. He even earned the Idiot of the Week award back in 2017.

In the past year or so, his rhetoric has become even more offensive, so much so that last year his own party stripped him of all his committee assignments. But on Tuesday, Steve King got what he deserved! He lost the Iowa primary by ten points to his contender, Iowa State Senator Randy Feenstra.

King claims that his loss came from an effort to “push out the strongest voice for Christian conservatism”. He then went on to claim that the “spirit of America is being fractured by anarchists in this country.” Yep, he’s still as much an idiot as he was in 2017!

Thumbs up to the people of Iowa for finally removing this ugly racist wart from our Congress!

Another good bit of news …

Donald Trump has been throwing his weight around (and there surely is a lot of it to throw around!) these past few days, and one of his threats has been to send the military into our cities to quell the protests, most of which are peaceful, that are a response to the continual racism in this nation. Turns out that his Defense Secretary, Mark Esper, doesn’t agree with him. Esper actually found his cojones and said in no uncertain terms that he opposes sending active-duty troops into U.S. cities to deal with violent protesters.

“The option to use active-duty forces in a law enforcement role should only be used as a matter of last resort and only in the most urgent and dire situations. We are not in one of those situations right now. I do not support invoking the Insurrection Act.”

Is it possible that even some of Trump’s sycophants are beginning to see what sort of tyrant they’ve aligned with? We can only hope.

About damn time …

Finally, more than a week after the brutal murder of George Floyd by police in Minnesota, the other three officers involved who stood watching while Derek Chauvin choked Mr. Floyd to death, have been charged with “aiding and abetting murder.” The three former officers are Thomas Lane, 37, J. Alexander Kueng, 26, and Tou Thao, 34. Thus far, Thao is the only one who has been arrested, though there are warrants out for Kueng and Lane.

Tou Thao has faced six prior misconduct complaints in his career with the Minneapolis Police Department. He also was the subject of a lawsuit that claimed he and another officer punched, kicked and kneed an African-American man, leaving the man with broken teeth and bruises.

In addition to the charges against the three, charges against Chauvin were upgraded to 2^nd degree murder on Wednesday, charges that carry a potential maximum sentence of 40 years. I really hope he serves every single day of those 40 years. And, since these are not federal charges, Trump won’t be able to pardon him!

And speaking of pardons …

On Tuesday, Charlie Kirk, the founder of the conservative group Turning Point USA, wrote on Twitter (do any politicians actually communicate in more than 280 characters anymore?):

“Roger Stone will serve more time in prison than 99% of these rioters destroying America All because he supports Donald Trump. This isn’t justice. RT for a full pardon of Roger Stone!”

Trump went on to share the tweet Thursday morning, writing in his own accompanying message:

“No. Roger was a victim of a corrupt and illegal Witch Hunt, one which will go down as the greatest political crime in history. He can sleep well at night!”

Roger Stone … a lifelong criminal with a list of crimes longer than my arm, can sleep well at night as Trump will pardon him, ensuring he doesn’t pay for his crimes. Meanwhile the rest of us lie awake worrying about the state of our nation with a madman at the helm. See the irony here?

The answer is “EVERYTHING!”

Un-Snarky Snippets … For A Change!

Posted on March 1, 2020 by jilldennison under Election 2020, Environmental Issues, Humour, Political commentary, Racism & Bigotry

Tonight I came across some things that I can actually applaud, rather than snark about! Well, okay, there may be just a wee bit of snarking woven into the tapestry, but for the most part it is a more upbeat piece.

Steve King gets a statue!

You all remember Steve King, right? He is the U.S. House member from Iowa who first appeared on Filosofa’s Word when he won the honour of Idiot of the Week in March 2017, and again in July of that year when he threatened democrats if they didn’t stop talking about Russian interference in the 2016 election and proposed taking funding from Planned Parenthood to build Trump’s wall. Then, just last year he found his way onto my radar twice … in March for making such horridly racist and homophobic remarks that even Mitch McConnell condemned him! And then again in August when his misogynistic remarks earned him condemnation from some top congressional republicans including House Freedom Caucus leader Kevin McCarthy, and again Mitch McConnell, plus caused him to be removed from the committees on which he had served. With the exception of Donald Trump and possibly Mitch McConnell, no other has had as much air time on Filosofa’s Word!

Well, today ol’ Steve is back on my radar, but this time it is he that is the brunt of the joke! Comedy duo Davram Stiefler and Jason Selvig, known as The Good Liars, have placed a statue … a very tiny statue … of Mr. King in front of the Iowa statehouse in Des Moines. The inscription on the plaque at the base of the statue reads …

“This site is dedicated to Confederate sympathizer and White Nationalist, Steve King. Here, King is honored with the world’s smallest Confederate statue. A tiny statue for a tiny man.”

King’s history of bigotry in all its forms was what prompted the duo to create the tiny statue, according to Selvig …

“We’re just saying we should respect our ancestry and our heritage and – like it or not – Steve King’s racism is part of our heritage and we need to respect that. Racists are trying to bring down others so they can make themselves feel better. That’s the mark of somebody who is very small.”

Just how small is this statue? Four inches. Yep, not much bigger than your finger is long. Fitting, don’t you think? Oh, by the way, this team, The Good Liars, are the same ones that switched covers of Donald Trump Jr’s new book and replaced them with ones that read: “Daddy, Please Love Me: How Everything I Do Is to Try and Earn My Father’s Love”. I like these guys!

Plastic Bags are … banned!

New York is banning the distribution of single-use plastic bags statewide, effective today. The goal is to reduce the billions of discarded bags that stream annually into landfills, rivers and oceans. For the record, I applaud this move and wish every state in the nation would follow suit. At the urging (actually, it was more of a threat than an urging) of my granddaughter, Miss Goose, I bought re-usable canvas bags a year or so ago, and mesh bags for produce, and rarely us the store’s plastic bags. It’s really not much more trouble, and it feels good, knowing that something so simple can make a huge difference if we all do it. So, thumbs up to New York, the third state after California and Oregon to take this step. Stores will be required to sell paper bags at five cents each or offer sturdier reusable bags that can be used at least 125 times.New Yorkers currently use 23 billion plastic bags each year, state officials say, many of which end up as one of the most problematic forms of garbage. They blow across streets and become caught in trees. They harm birds and marine creatures. They clog sorting machines, making recycling them cumbersome.

I imagine there will be a few bumps in the road the first few weeks, but New Yorkers are a resilient bunch and they will quickly be smoothed out … those New Yorkers who are whining today about the inconvenience will adapt quickly. Now, to wake up the rest of the states!

Yesterday was the South Carolina Democratic primary, and late night comedian Stephen Colbert was on hand for the fun. He shared a meal and a drink with candidate Elizabeth Warren, and they even played a little game of “Name That Billionaire”! It was all in good fun, and I think you’ll get a few laughs from it!

She Wants To Go ‘Behind Closed Doors’???

Posted on September 9, 2019 by jilldennison under Free Press Issues, Law and justice, Political commentary, Social commentary

Joni Ernst is a U.S. Senator representing the state of Iowa. Ordinarily, I would respect and admire this woman, for she served for 23 years in the U.S. military. Ordinarily, given her military service, I would even be able to look past the fact that she is a republican. But, when somebody starts trying to rob me and millions of other people, they lose my respect real fast.

Before I get into that, let’s take a look at Ms. Ernst and some of the things she stands either for or against:

Ernst referred to Obama as a dictator who should be “removed from office” or face “impeachment.” And yet … she wouldn’t support impeaching the most corrupt, autocratic president in history?
Ernst opposes the federal minimum wage and has said that states should have sole authority to set their own minimum wages, saying, “I think $7.25 is appropriate.” I wonder how she would like to try to live on $7.25 per hour, which is $15,080 per year?
Ernst has proposed eliminating the Internal Revenue Service as well as the Department of Education and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Seriously???
She has an ‘A’ rating from the National Rifle Association (NRA) … no wonder she has received $3.1 million from the NRA! Needless to say, she sends lots of ‘thoughts and prayers’ and opposes any and all gun legislation.
She endorses and supports U.S. Representative Steve King, the ultimate racist, who also happens to be from Iowa. That speaks for itself.
Like most republicans, she opposes same-sex marriage and abortion.

All of the above is enough to make her unsuitable to be in the U.S. Senate, but the latest takes the prize. A week ago, during the congressional recess, Ms. Ernst held a town hall meeting with constituents in Estherville, Iowa. During the course of that meeting, she said that members of Congress should negotiate changes to Social Security “behind closed doors” in order to dodge scrutiny from the media and advocacy groups.

“The minute you say we need to address Social Security, the media is hammering you, the opposing party is hammering you—there goes granny over a cliff.”

Say WHAT???

Please, Ms. Ernst, allow me to explain a couple of things to you. First, every single thing you do in your job, every single word you utter, should be recorded and reported by the media. Why? Because you work for us, not the other way around. We have a right, nay … we have a need … to know everything that any member of our federal government does. Today, with the most corrupt and ignorant president in the history of the nation in office, that need is even more imperative, for you and others of your ilk have proven time and time again that you do not have the best interests of this nation and its people at heart.

Second, perhaps you don’t understand about Social Security, but WE fund it, just as we fund your salary. Yes, WE! Out of every paycheck we earn throughout our entire life, 7.65% is withheld … 6.2% of that is to fund our government-managed retirement account, and the other 1.45% is to fund Medicare. Our employers match our contributions, dollar for dollar. Neither Social Security nor Medicare are “entitlements” that the government giveth and thus can taketh away! I see that you have a Master of Public Administration degree from Columbus State University, so how do you not understand such a simple concept???

I do not live in Iowa, so I cannot vote this woman out of the Senate, however she IS up for re-election next year, so if any of my readers hail from Iowa, or if you know of anybody who lives in Iowa, please encourage them to vote this harridan out of office, and Steve King, too!

Trump & Ernst — on the campaign trail

Joni Ernst is not alone in wishing to cut Social Security and Medicare. In August, Senator John Barrasso, a republican from Wyoming told the New York Times that his party has discussed cutting Medicare and Social Security with Trump and said the president has expressed openness to the idea. The Times also reported that Trump said it was “a second-term project”. And republican Senator John Thune from South Dakota, reportedly said it is …

“Going to take presidential leadership to cut Social Security and Medicare, and it’s going to take courage by the Congress to make some hard votes. We can’t keep kicking the can down the road.”

What ‘can’??? You take our money for the 50 years or so that we are in the work force, you invest it and, assuming you invested it wisely, you get a return on that investment, and now you don’t wish to give it back? It’s a paltry enough sum that we get back as it is!

Folks, I could list at least 100 good reasons that this nation cannot afford to re-elect Donald Trump in 2020. This is just one, but an important one – a crucial one.

Under The BigTop …

Posted on June 14, 2019 by jilldennison under Law and justice, Political commentary, Racism & Bigotry, Rants, Social commentary

The biggest circus on earth came to town on 20 January 2017, and its cast of characters just keeps expanding. The latest to put on the clown suit and perform is none other than Steve King, U.S. Representative from Iowa. Mr. King first came under Filosofa’s watchful eye in March 2017, more than two years ago, when he was awarded the coveted Filosofa’s Idiot of the Week award. Ever since, he has remained on the radar for one thing or another, the most frequent and troublesome being his blatant and very public racism. It finally became such an embarrassment to his fellow members of Congress that this past January, Mr. King was stripped of all his committee assignments in Congress.This week, Mr. King hooked up with two other members of this circus, Lynette Hardaway and Rochelle Richardson, aka Diamond and Silk. Diamond and Silk are two African-American women who are ardent and very vocal Trump supporters. Though they prefer not to be called African-Americans, as Ms. Hardaway explains …

“You ain’t gotta call me African American ’cause I ain’t never been to Africa. You can call me black.”

So, the thing that brought Mr. King and the dynamic duo together this week was King’s promotion of a new bill he has proposed in the House of Representatives. The bill, dubbed ‘The Diamond and Silk Act’, aims to punish so-called sanctuary cities by re-directing federal appropriations to homeless people and veterans. I’m not quite sure why Mr. King even bothered proposing this bill, since it stands almost zero chance of passing in the democrat-controlled House, but perhaps he thought he would win some brownie points with the head clown, Donald Trump, who has been threatening to pull funding from sanctuary cities for as long as I can remember.So, where do Diamond and Silk fit in? Apparently, Mr. King who is still fuming over being kicked off of his committees, thought it might help offset his carefully crafted image as a white supremacist if he had a couple of African-Americans by his side, showing support for his heinous legislation. It was truly more like a circus act than a news conference. As often as not, when a reporter asked Mr. King a question, Diamond and Silk literally stepped in front of him and answered for him, as he happily handed the microphone over to them. One example …

A reporter asked the question, “You’ve been stripped of your committee assignments. What makes you think Republican colleagues will even entertain this?” Diamond turned to King and asked, “Can I answer this?” King replied with delight, “Sure”. Diamond then went on a rant about members of Congress living in mansions, the attempt by environmentalists to ban plastic straws, and concluded with …

“So this ain’t about no Steve King. This is about our homeless, our veterans and Americans.”

Okay, but it didn’t even begin to answer the question, did it? Another reporter asked Diamond and Silk what they thought of King retweeting white supremacists, and the two women went into what was reminiscent of a rehearsed script …

Diamond: What is the definition of white supremacist?

Silk: You don’t know, do you?

Diamond: Why would you talk that?

Silk: I’m tired of you all playing the race card.

Diamond: Stop calling everybody a racist.

Here is the video, which is truly a circus sideshow, complete with the sound of a horse or horses snorting and snuffling in the background, and a man walking down the street with a box covering his head at approximately the 8:00 mark on the left side of the screen. The only thing missing was the peanut vendor. I recommend you turn on the Closed Captioning, for the street noises tend to drown out Mr. King’s voice, though it would take a small army to drown out Diamond and Silk’s.

It’s comical that Diamond and Silk go on a tirade, saying “We got Americans living on the streets, we got Americans living in tents okay, we have homeless people …” Diamond and Silk have a reported net worth of approximately $3 million, and yet there is no record of them donating a single penny to any charity to help the homeless, or anybody else for that matter.

Diamond and Silk are a joke. They have been in hot water more than a few times for such things as calling Hillary Clinton a ‘slave master’, saying she was responsible for Russia acquiring nuclear weapons (which happened 70 years ago when Hillary was two years old) and falsely stating under oath that they hadn’t been paid by the Trump campaign when, in fact, they had.As for Mr. King, he seemed to be more than happy to turn the Q&A over to ‘the girls’ while he rather shrunk behind them. He knows his bill is not going to see the light of day, and the only reason I can figure for this little street scene at midday is to prove that he can be seen with black people and not don his KKK hood.

Come on, people!!! Mr. King is supposed to be a government official, a lawmaker, and he resorts to publicity stunts like this? We don’t have a damned government any more, we just have one big circus in multiple acts. We have a bunch of snake oil salesmen like Steve King, Mitch McConnell, Lindsey Graham, Warren Davidson, William Barr, Betsy DeVos, and so many more! This … THIS abominable clown convention is NOT what We The People are paying hard-earned tax dollars for! Get these clowns out of office and let us hire some people who take the job seriously!

Rant over.

Snarky Snippets … Again … and Again … and Again 😱

Posted on April 25, 2019 by jilldennison under Election 2020, Global Issues, Political commentary, Racism & Bigotry, Trump's Staff Picks

Good morning, friends, and welcome to the rabbit hole … er … Filosofa’s Word. Perhaps I should rename this blog “The Rabbit Hole”, what do you think? Anyway, what better way to partly relieve the angst than just a few snarky snippets?

Outrageous!

It seems that politicians no longer care what they say, to whom or about whom they say it. Do they really think that it’s impressive or funny when they thoughtlessly denigrate others? And I’m not just talking about Trump, although he certainly is chief among them for horribly disgusting behaviour and language.A few weeks ago, I wrote about Stephen Moore, one of Trump’s picks for the Federal Reserve Board. What I did not know when I wrote that piece is some of Mr. Moore’s past misogynistic comments that have recently surfaced after an investigation by CNN. Here are just a few (the comments in blue are Filosofa’s own snark) …

When he found his wife had voted for a democrat in 2000, he said “Women are sooo malleable! No wonder there’s a gender gap.” (If we’re so ‘malleable’, jerkface, then how come you couldn’t convince her to vote your way? Maybe she actually … has a brain and knows how to use it???)
“How outrageous is this? This year they allowed a woman ref a men’s NCAA game. Liberals celebrate this breakthrough as a triumph for gender equity. The NCAA has been touting this as example of how progressive they are. I see it as an obscenity. Is there no area in life where men can take vacation from women?” (Oh yeah, Buster, you can go jump in that bloomin’ lake over there!)
“Here’s the rule change I propose: No more women refs, no women announcers, no women beer venders, no women anything.” (Fine by me … try making your own coffee, your own bed, or your own kids, A$$hole!)
“What are the implications of a society in which women earn more than men? We don’t really know, but it could be disruptive to family stability. If men aren’t the breadwinners, will women regard them as economically expendable?” (Your sort are certainly expendable, Bucko!)
“Well, we’ve probably gone too far in providing the safety net for the elderly. To a large extent, we’ve started a system in this country where we are taxing struggling middle-class families that are young to provide lavish government benefits for people over 65.” (Now wait just a minute here … did he say ‘lavish’? I can barely afford my insulin! And why tax the ‘struggling young middle-class? Why not try taxing that fat cat 1% rich bastards?)

As I noted in my other post about Mr. Moore, his wife finally and wisely divorced him, and then he failed to pay child support. What a guy, eh? And Trump wants him to sit on the Federal Reserve Board. Go figure. If the Senate confirms this one …

Steve King can relate?

Another Steve … you know what? Trump seems to attract people with that name and they are all jerks! Stephen Moore, Steve Mnuchin, Steven Miller …

Congressman Steve King … remember him? He’s been on my radar numerous times, but back in March 2017 he earned Filosofa’s Idiot of the Week award. Since then, he has been called on the carpet more than once for bigoted, hate-filled remarks made in public, and was removed from his committee assignments by members of the House. Well, somehow he’s gotten it into his head that it makes him rather like the biblical Jesus Christ …

“For all that I’ve been through and it seems even strange for me to say it but I’m at a certain peace. And it’s because of a lot of prayers for me. And when I had to step I have to step down to the floor of the House of Representatives and look up at those 400-and-some accusers — you know we just passed through Easter and Christ’s passion — and I have better insight into what He went through for us, partly because of that experience.”

Oh spare me. The interesting thing here is that even the unconscionable Mitch McConnell called Steve King out for his bigotry. One of the best comments on the Idiot of the Week post two years ago came from my good friend Emily ..

“When they send people to Congress, they aren’t sending their best. They’re idiots, and numb-nuts, and some, I assume, are good people…”

Why?

We, the United States, no longer have a representative on the United Nations’ committee on racism. Why? We did have a representative on the committee, Gay McDougall. But, she had at some point said things about Trump that he didn’t like, so when the State Department planned to re-nominate her, Trump nixed the idea. And did he replace her with someone else? No, he did not. Why? Because, as we have all heard, he has little or no respect for such international cooperatives, which is why he stupidly pulled us out of the Paris Accord, the Iran deal, and the Trans-Pacific Partnership, and is gradually pulling away from the United Nations. According to one official …

“… it cements the narrative that the Americans just don’t care about these kinds of things anymore.”

Surprise.

I’m certainly no fan of Kirstjen Nielsen, former Director of Homeland Security, but it appears she was at least trying to do one thing right, and that was assure election integrity, or at least an election free of Russian interference, next year. Ms. Nielsen had become increasingly concerned about Russia’s continued activity in the United States during and after the 2018 midterm elections — ranging from its search for new techniques to divide Americans using social media, to experiments by hackers, to rerouting internet traffic and infiltrating power grids.

Concerned, Ms. Nielsen was trying to arrange a meeting with administration cabinet officials to coordinate a strategy to protect next year’s elections, but she was warned off by White House Chief of Staff, Mick Mulvaney. Why? Because it might upset Donald Trump who does not wish to hear about the Russian interference in the 2016 presidential elections since it calls into question whether he would have been able to win on his own.

A) He did not win, for Hillary Clinton had almost 3 million more votes than he, and B) No, he couldn’t win a contest for dogcatcher on his own.

And so, Ms. Nielsen eventually gave up. According to a document prepared by government intelligence agencies …

“Russia’s social media efforts will continue to focus on aggravating social and racial tensions, undermining trust in authorities and criticizing perceived anti-Russia politicians. Moscow may employ additional influence tool kits — such as spreading disinformation, conducting hack-and-leak operations or manipulating data — in a more targeted fashion to influence U.S. policy, actions and elections.”

Yet, we are to do nothing because it might make Little Donnie feel bad? Bull!

I could go on … and on … and on. In this era of Trump, the b.s. just keeps coming at warp speed. I’ve been knocked off my feet a few times in the past week or two, and I’m sure it’s going to get worse before it gets better. My means of surviving is to write about it and share it with you guys! Isn’t that kind of me? I believe it is only right to share everything!

The Heartbreak of a Nation

Posted on March 25, 2019 by jilldennison under Political commentary, Rants, Social commentary

Last week was a sad one, not only for the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School community, but for the entire nation. Two students, survivors of the mass shooting at the school in February 2018, have ended their lives in the past week.

The first was Sydney Aiello, the second an as-yet-unnamed male student. These two are victims just as much as the 17 who died on that fateful day. How many more will there be?

In the wake of the Parkland shooting, many of the students who survived the attack rallied in protest of the United States’ current gun non-laws, and they did a fine job making their voices heard. Those of us with live cells in our heads applauded their efforts and hoped their resistance was only the beginning. I thought their protests would help them, knowing that they were doing something positive to try to change this nation, to try to make sure this never happened again.

But while most of us were applauding these young people’s efforts, others were putting them down. Representative Steve King was one such … you’ll remember I wrote about his bigotry and racism just a couple of days ago. Mr. King put down Emma González, one of the leaders of the protests, in a Facebook post whereby he criticized her for having a Cuban flag on her denim jacket.

“This is how you look when you claim Cuban heritage yet don’t speak Spanish and ignore the fact that your ancestors fled the island when the dictatorship turned Cuba into a prison camp, after removing all weapons from its citizens; hence their right to self-defense.”

What. A. Jerk. Senator Marco Rubio from Florida … the state where the shooting took place … jumped on the criticizing bandwagon, as did many conservative media outlets. Could it possibly be that all the criticism played a role in the deaths of the two young people? First, they were traumatized by a classmate shooting up their school. Then, they found that they had lost dear friends and teachers. Then, they try to take positive action to ensure others won’t have to go through what they went through, and they are criticized by the very people who should be helping them! Gee, I wonder why they were depressed? I wonder why they felt that this nation had let them down. I wonder why they gave up hope?

For months, the name-calling and trolling of these young people continued, even crossing into conspiracy theories when it was suggested that these students were paid actors. Rush Limbaugh, Tucker Carlson, Ann Coulter and Laura Ingraham, all nationally syndicated television personalities, jumped on the bandwagon criticizing the kids, not the NRA, not lax gun laws, not even the shooter, but instead the kids who are sick and damn tired of living in a country where guns are more important than human lives. In my book, every single one of these people have the blood of the two who died last week on their hands. That includes every single member of the NRA. That includes every member of Congress who has taken NRA money in exchange for voting against a ban on assault weapons or other gun safety regulations. That includes Donald Trump, who has been bought and paid for by the NRA. That includes every single person who puts his “right” to own a gun above human lives. These are the ones that killed these two young people.

The NRA and the gun lobby supporters in Congress keep telling us that “now is not the time” to discuss gun regulation. Our young people, the future of this nation, if indeed it even has a future, are being killed, and the idiots who put their 2^nd Amendment “rights” before human lives have the unmitigated gall to tell us that it isn’t appropriate to discuss gun safety regulation??? To hell with the 2^nd Amendment! THIS was not what the Founding Fathers of this nation intended when they wrote the Constitution. The damn fools have interpreted it to mean what they want it to mean. And why? Because a bunch of men cannot feel like a ‘real man’ unless they are carrying a weapon that can kill.

Meanwhile, children are dying … needlessly … senselessly. Think about it.

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!!!

Steve King Strikes Again!

Posted on July 13, 2017 by jilldennison under Political commentary, Social commentary

The collective maturity level of the republicans in Congress is somewhere around that of a third-grader. The one that blipped onto my radar tonight is none other than Representative Steve King, who was already awarded the Idiot of the Week award in March, but apparently that was not good enough for him and he is now working toward the coveted Idiot of the Year award! What has he done now? Two things, actually … the man is a multi-tasking idiot!

He is threatening Democrats in Congress that if they don’t stop talking about Russia and the ongoing, ever-expanding investigation into the Trump campaign’s connection, he will initiate a new investigation into Hillary Clinton. During a CNN interview yesterday morning, days after the news broke about Don Trump, Jr. and his illicit meeting, King said …

“If this continues — this immobilization of the presidency over these kind of things — it’s gonna force Congress to do an investigation, a complete and thorough investigation, and that means go back all the way to the 650,000 emails of Anthony Weiner and look at Comey and his activities. What I’m saying is this, that the Comey investigation — now him picking the special counsel on top of it — on its face, appears to be collusion.”

First off, Special Counsel Robert Mueller was not chosen by Comey, but rather by Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein after Trump fired Director Comey! King has apparently been sleeping through most of the past two months.

King is not the first to attempt to draw the media’s attention away from the Russian investigations by invoking the Clinton emails, however this was the most blatant attempt to bully, to threaten, that I have seen thus far.

But I said there were two things, so hold on …

“Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) is calling for using federal funding for Planned Parenthood and food stamps to help pay for President Trump’s southern border wall.” – The Hill, 12 July 2017

On Tuesday, the House Appropriations Committee introduced a spending bill that would allocate $1.6 billion toward building the wall separating the U.S. from Mexico. That is already $1.6 billion too much for an unnecessary wall that is not desired by the American people or Mexico, and which, contrary to Trump’s rhetoric, Mexico will not pay for, nor should they. But Steve King said he would prefer an additional $5 billion for the wall — and suggested taking the extra funding from Planned Parenthood and federal welfare programs.

“I would find half of a billion dollars of that right out of Planned Parenthood’s budget. And the rest of it could come out of food stamps and the entitlements that are being spread out for people that haven’t worked in three generations. We’ve got to put America back to work, this administration will do it.”

King went on to say that he believes the border wall would create millions of new jobs and reduce the amount of public assistance people would need. King added that food stamps were created to fight malnutrition but that the people who benefit from these programs are now overweight. If you are not growling yet, go back and read those last two sentences again. Better yet, re-read the Idiot of the Week post.

One of his most egregious statements from that post was …

“You’ve got to keep your birth rate up, and that you need to teach your children your values. In doing so, you can grow your population, you can strengthen your culture, and you can strengthen your way of life. If you go down the road a few generations, or maybe centuries, with the inter-marriage, I’d like to see an America that is just so homogenous that we look a lot the same.”

He has voted against LGBT rights, against protections for animals, against immigrants, and even voted against aid in the wake of Hurricane Katrina! Now he is against the poor also. The man is a bigot and a white supremacist, yet the people of Iowa have voted him into office eight times. If anyone reading this post lives in Iowa, you need to start now trying to awaken your fellow Iowans before next year’s mid-term elections, for this man has got to go!

Filosofa's Word

Cogito Ergo Sum

Tag Archives: Steve King

Un-Snarky Snippets … For A Change!

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