Never, ever trust Republicans…

To get anything right.

Sadness too…

My goodness gracious! We're hosed!

Welcome to the bullshit…

This guy, Arthur C. Brooks, wrote an entire NYT OP-ED about "victimhood" and didn't mention the word, "privilege," even once.

"The Real Victims of Victimhood" http://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/27/opinion/sunday/the-real-victims-of-victimhood.html

It's awfully generous of him to sit up there in his high and mighty chair of opinion, one handed to him by a major American institution, and criticize the way that oppressed peoples fight the way they're being oppressed. I put this fool in the same boat as people who tell BLM activists that they're not doing themselves any favors by the way that they're protesting.

I'm sorry but free speech doesn't give ignorant and bigoted privileged assholes the right to spout off their own bullshit without a response.

Just like any other people in positions of privilege, he wants to DEFINE, who's worthy of being a victim or not… I say that he doesn't get to do that.

I'd like to get a Bluetooth desktop speaker

Something that sounds well for under fifty bucks. Any suggestions?

An unwed mom at 25, Bristol Palin graduated from a mere hypocrite to a bad example…

Folks say that she's a hypocrite for being paid to push abstinence only to teens.

But, hey, she's not a teen anymore, not to mention she's found a nice niche, by grifting a corporation into hiring her and paying her almost a million dollars to work as an advocate against behavior that she, herself, has engaged in at least twice. Grift is a Palin family trait. I'm sure that she was taught well. http://www.inquisitr.com/2203203/bristol-palin-made-close-to-1-million-pushing-abstinence-only-policies-now-is-pregnant-with-child-no-2/ So, to me, we can point fingers at this new mommy and label her a hypocrite, but I'm not completely comfortable with placing all the responsibility on her plate.

Right off the bat, I can see at least three reasons why.

Clearly, she was the worst choice to be a spokesperson that was put in front of countless impressionable teens. If anything, those kids have been let down the most. First, by being taught discredited information by adults who should know better and second by default, being exposed to people who didn't have their best interests in mind. It was pure ideological indoctrination, in the form of abstinence only programming, and not creditable and useful information instead, which they really needed. Of course, those teens weren't told that at the time, when they were (most likely) obligated to attend Palin's seminars. So, they primary blame here goes to the people who sought out and hired Palin to give seminars to teens that they were responsible for… Whomever that was, church groups, education administrators, counselors and the like, they fucked up big time here.

These are people who should know better, but clearly did not care. They had an agenda, and the truth was simply too inconvenient for them. Otherwise, they would have hired, you know, Planned Parenthood folks to teach their kids a thing or two. Of course, that brings us to the second set of people to blame for this situation where Palin was chosen, and that's the Anti-Abortion movement.

The Anti-Abortion movement lies. They lie about everything and they can get away with lying about everything because their propaganda is designed to keep people ignorant about basic human reproduction and reproductive rights. Here's a great article from Cosmo Magazine, which explains how these people operate, through the use of so-called crisis pregnancy centers: http://www.cosmopolitan.com/politics/a38642/heartbeat-international-conference-crisis-pregnancy-centers-abortion/

One thing the article notes is that legislators and politicians are mandating the setting up of these bogus organizations within their jurisdictions, but most of all, they're using OUR tax dollars to fund them. Yep, this makes the third condition by which someone like Palin could be hired to lie to teens. Local politics counts and bad politicians always render bad policies. You can add the corporate arm to this factor, which definitely draws a profit in their business model to indoctrinate impressionable teens.

But all-in-all, we shouldn't be naive about how these things have happened. After all, America was built on grade primo bullshit since day one and has continued to thrive on it to this very day. We have corporations and politicians working hand-in-hand to further the cause of bullshit. Bullshit is simply the American way. Bullshit is a constitutional right. At any given time, the majority of people in this country will volunteer to be willing consumers of any outrageous bullshit that anyone is offering, just as long as it's pretty and shiny enough and absolves the entirety of American society any collective responsibility at all.

And this is why I can't completely blame Bristol Palin for her own circumstance. I blame the conditions of the world that she was born in, a world that was willing to recruit her as a pawn when, as existing in a sexist and paternalistic society, she found that being exploited by the powers that be was her best option. She clearly could have declined such a role… But hell, they waved close to a million dollars in front of her face and she opted for human nature. Again, another demonstration of her inability to be a good example.

The one thing that all of this highlights is the paucity of effort that's put into instilling critical thinking skills into our young people. It's not happening and an emphasis has been placed on ideological indoctrination has been furthered instead. For good reason, obviously: There's profit in propaganda, in creating group think and in discrediting critical thinking, not to mention real, undeniable facts about the world in which we live. We live in a world where some can become insanely rich, influence the systems that facilitates an upward transfer of wealth and convinces the majority of people who are victimized by those systems to support those systems. I can't blame the victim here and to me, pointing fingers at Palin is just another way to blame the victim, even if some victims are better served than others.

So, unless all of us choose to do otherwise, the fault will be with ourselves as a whole. Especially, when we're operating in such a way to work against each other, solely for our own benefit and instead of all of our collective best interests.

Between you and me, I never expect the people in this country to get things right the first time… There's always too much time and effort put into getting it wrong, while not being collectively self-aware to realize it. Face facts… We're really fucked up in this country.

Super pleased with my new 6Gen iPod Touch

Makes the 3Gen very jealous.

Santa Heard that someone wasn't in the Holiday spirit yesterday...

T'was The Night Before Christmas DU Style (With sincere apologies to Major Henry Livingston Jr.)

'Twas the night before Christmas and here in The Function
Not a creature was stirring, not even The Gungeon;
The stockings were hung all over The Lounge with care,
Along with pictures of kittens that are always posted there;

The Berners and Hillers were nestled all snug in their beds,
While visions of candidates gyrated in their heads;
And Skinner in his Snuggie, EarlG in his cap,
and Elad had just settled down for a long winter's nap,

When out on the Internet there arose such a boisterous clatter,
I sprang from my Craftmatic to see what's the matter.
Away to the iMac I flew, with absent my trousers,
Logged on the computer and opened the browsers.

I gazed upon my screen all manner of Republican nuttery.
To a political junkie like me, it's all tasty and buttery,
When, instead of some fun, came the worst of letdowns,
I beheld a miniature clown car, and nine tiny clowns,

With a little old driver, so obtuse and lumpy,
I knew in a moment it must be St. Trumpy.
More vapid than baggers, these GOPer hopefuls they came,
And he snorted, and rambled, and called the rest by name;

"Now, CRUZIE! now, BUSHIE! now, HUCKSTER and FROTHEN!
On, CARSIE! on CRISCO! on, AQUABUDDHA and THAT OTHER GUY WHOSE NAME I'VE FORGOTTEN!
To the top of Nashua! to the top of Des Moines!
Now run away! run away! run from my loins!"

As Gadsen flags fly, fluttered by right wing hot air,
The facts, pollsters and pundits avoid, with nary a care.
Before a boisterous crowd of rabid morons they flew,
With the car full of bullshit, and St. Trumpster too.

And then, in a twinkling, I heard on my iMac
The stumbling and grumbling of each political PAC.
As I scrolled down the browser, I clicked on a link,
On the screen came St. Trumpy, just as my tummy started to sink.

He was dressed, all in Brooks Brothers, from his neck to his foot,
And on his scalp was glued a three-toed sloth or a dead rat to boot;
A bundle of fascistic rhetoric he had rattling in his head,
I plainly saw that he was The Monster from the Republicans' Id.

His eyes -- how they squinted! his dimples how scuzzy!
His cheeks were all swollen, his nose hairs so fuzzy!
His lipless little mouth was drawn up in a smirk,
And his entire countenance confirmed him a jerk;

He gritted his teeth, then he changed to a pout,
And reams of disjointed nonsense he started to shout;
"You're all losers, I'm the best, it's so great to be me,
and I'll kick out the Muslims and Mexicans, with enthusiasm and glee."

The moronic crowd ate him up, this horrible old elf,
And I winced when I saw him, in spite of myself;
A craze of his eye and the dead rat on his head,
Soon gave me to know I had everything to dread;

He spoke endless nonsense, getting a rise out of the crowd;
And emptied their heads, common sense disallowed.
He swerved and bent over and let out a poot.
And the morons ate it all up, this clown for they'd root;

All done, he sprang to the clown car, with the others in tow,
And away they all flew to Carolina, for the rest of the show.
But I heard him exclaim, "Look at them all, they're nothing but suckers.
If I can do one thing well, I can fleece motherfuckers."

The End!

I wish all of you a Happy Holiday and Joyous New Year, Everybody!

And remember, friends don't let friends not vote against Republicans in November 2016.

I saw Star Wars today. All I have to say is…