World News Korner

Courtesy of the Washington Post:

In yet another instance of science belatedly confirming what common sense has already told us, a new paper from researchers at three Canadian universities concludes that Internet trolls aren’t just mean — they’re sadists and psychopaths.

The paper, published last week in the journal Personality and Individual Differences, surveyed a group of several hundred on their Internet behaviors and personal traits. It found that trolling correlated with higher rates of sadism, psychopathy and Machiavellianism, a certain lack of scruples when it comes to deceiving or manipulating other people.

“… it might be said that online trolls are prototypical everyday sadists,” the paper rules.

Apparently this was derived from a study at the "Institute of Obvious Crap That Everybody Already Knows."

I have visited some places that actually have interesting, inventive trolls, which always frustrates me because for years I have been stuck with the "Get a life" and "Bathhouse Barry" level of trolling.

I think I deserve better.

However I have to say that my favorite bit of trolling was during the height of the blowback after I posted "Splitsville," when I received an email that called me a "Nazi Nigger Faggot."

I remember looking at that for the longest time and giggling hysterically.

Not one of those things even remotely describes me. I mean everybody knows I'm a Commie Cracker Heterosexual.

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I hate to break this to Mad Magazine but Sarah Palin has been getting plastic surgery for years, well before Bristol who got her first surgery when she was underage teenager.

Other than that I think Mad did a great job.

You can tell by counting the dings in her refrigerator.

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Courtesy of Think Progress:

In a new report released on Tuesday, the House Armed Services Committee concludes that there was no way for the U.S. military to have responded in time to the 2012 terrorist attack in Benghazi, Libya to save the four Americans killed that night. In doing so, the report debunks entirely a right-wing myth that says the White House ordered the military not to intervene.

For months after the attack that resulted in the death of U.S. Ambassador to Libya J. Christopher Stevens, conservative media was awash in reports that on the night of the assault the Obama administration at some point ordered the military not to take action that would have saved lives. This supposed “stand down order” led to a bevy of right-wing conspiracies about why the President and his administration had let the Americans die. “

Who told the SEALs to stand down?” Rep. Steve King asked in Nov. 2012, in just one of many interviews with Republicans referring to the response to Benghazi as “worse than Watergate.” As Media Matters reports, Fox News cited reports of a stand-down order no fewer than 85 times during prime-time segments as of June 2013. As the new report — which the Republican majority of the committee authored –makes very clear in its findings, however, no such order ever existed. “There was no ‘stand down’ order issued to U.S. military personnel in Tripoli who sought to join the fight in Benghazi,” the report says, noting that the military was not positioned to respond to the attack.

“Given the military’s preparations on September 11, 2012, majority members have not yet discerned any response alternatives that could have likely changed the outcome of the Benghazi attack,” the report concludes.

And another Right Wing talking point dies a lonely ignoble death.

Now while you are trying to digest the fact that his committee just took a giant dump all over the GOP strategy to smear Hillary Clinton in 2016, you might also like to know that even over at Fox News there are some breaking ranks with the "Benghazi, Benghazi, Benghazi" attacks.

Courtesy of Media Matters:

Without fanfare, Fox News host Megyn Kelly finally acknowledged that the network's campaign to sink Susan Rice's potential nomination to President Obama's cabinet was rooted in fundamental dishonesty.

During a discussion with Rep. Martha Roby (R-AL) on the February 11 edition of her Fox News show, Kelly referenced a House committee report released that day, and admitted that Rice's talking points reflected CIA intelligence that "the attacks in Benghazi were spontaneously inspired by the protests at the embassy in Cairo":

Hey it just occurred to me that this cable news station does nothing but lie.

KELLY: Let me ask you about DOD [Department of Defense]. Because I know your report concludes that DOD officials believed nearly from the onset that this was a terrorist attack and not some sort of a protest gone awry. Now, I want to get specific, because so many people have said, 'So then why did Susan Rice go out and talk about protests? Why did she mention a video?' But the CIA talking points, the very first draft that went out and was circulated, that Susan Rice ultimately was provided, that top officials ultimately saw, talked about a protest. They did. The CIA actually came out, I want to look at it here, and said this is a draft from September 14th, 11:15 am, 'We believe based on currently available information that the attacks in Benghazi were spontaneously inspired by the protests at the embassy in Cairo and evolved into a direct assault.' So, tell me, does that -- does it or does it not answer the question about how our officials started to come out and talk about protests and the video?

Kelly's admission that the administration's talking points were not manipulated for political reasons marks the devastation of yet another Benghazi myth hyped by the right-wing media

And just like that, the Right Wing attack machine realizes it is fresh out of ammunition.

Well hey, on the plus side the Republicans still have Monica Lewinsky.

Oh they are so screwed.

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On Facebook somebody that Palin hired to make her ignorance sound almost reasonable wrote a little tribute to Abraham Lincoln for her:

God Bless the legacy of our 16th President. He served with honesty and integrity, held our nation together in the worst of times, understood and assured the blessings of liberty for all Americans, and didn’t succumb to the special interests that would destroy our Union for personal gain.

"Special interests?" Does she mean the Confederate Army?

Of course since this is Palin we are talking about there has to be a special reason why she likes Lincoln.

With foresight towards developing our natural resources, the man Lincoln appointed as his Secretary of State wisely purchased the territory of Alaska. This President truly understood the heart of the United States.

And there you have it. Never mind that he defeated an army, and freed the slaves, the man gave us Alaska!

But wait, there's more:

To quote his immortal words, it is for us the living to be dedicated to the task remaining before us. The United States deserves leaders that ascribe to the simple principles that guided this great man. From a log cabin in Kentucky to the White House, he espoused the American ideal of truth and honesty. He didn’t shy from controversy, and the fire of freedom burned bright within him and guided him throughout his life.

May all our elected officials take a long look at what made Lincoln a great leader. Our elected officials have from our history the perfect example of selfless leadership.

Yeah, selfless leadership. Do you know who should read this? Sarah Palin, and every politician she supports, that's who!

And do you know who is a selfless leader who has not shied from controversy. and who has let simple principles guide him? That's right, President Obama.

Oh yeah, I said it!


On this, Abraham Lincoln’s 205th birthday, please take a moment to reflect on what it means to be a God-fearing leader, a great president, and a true American. Ask yourself if our politicians and influential celebrities who shape society live up to Lincoln’s shining example, and if not, hold them accountable instead of rewarding them with continued privilege. It’s our nation, and Lincoln gave his life to assure that it remained the “last best hope on earth.”

I like how she included "influential celebrities" since that is really the only label that almost fits who she is these days. Well except for the influential part.

However I would like to point out that the current crop of politicians that Palin is touting are the progeny of the same secession threatening, minority hating, saboteurs that Lincoln fought so hard to defeat.

They may call themselves the Tea Party, or 2nd Amendment advocates, or the Religious Right, or Sovereign Citizens, but they are essentially made up of children of the South who have never really stopped fighting the Civil War and who believe that this brief ceasefire has allowed them the opportunity to strategically position their forces in preparation for the next stage of the conflict.

If Palin really wanted to honor the memory of Abraham Lincoln she would be urging politicians to reach compromise and speaking out against those whose sole purpose in going to Washington was to obstruct and undermine any progress made by the sitting President.

A President, by the way, whose entire career is a testament to the historic legacy of President Lincoln.

Update: As others have already pointed out, the purchase of Alaska from the Russians happened in 1867 the same year the negotiations started, and Lincoln was assassinated in 1865. The President Palin wanted to thank was Andrew Johnson, not Abraham Lincoln.

Don't these ghostwriters bother to do research?

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