Jesus, even George W. Bush is capable of understanding that the Russians hacked our election.

Courtesy of the AP: 

Former President George W. Bush said on Thursday that “there’s pretty clear evidence that the Russians meddled” in the 2016 American presidential election, forcefully rebutting fellow Republican Donald Trump’s denials of Moscow trying to affect the vote. 

While never mentioning President Trump by name, Bush appeared to be pushing back on Trump’s attempts to have warmer relations with Russia, as well as his comments on immigration. 

The White House did not immediately comment on Bush’s remarks. 

“There’s pretty clear evidence that the Russians meddled,” Bush said at a talk in Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates. “Whether they affected the outcome is another question.” 

Bush also said that “it’s problematic that a foreign nation is involved in our election system. Our democracy is only as good as people trust the results.”

Remember this guy?

I must have said every single day that he was in office that he was the dumbest son-of-a-bitch we had ever elected to lead this nation.

I truly believed that once he was out we would NEVER make a mistake of that magnitude again.

And here he is recognizing the evidence that our current commander-in-chief refuses to even acknowledge.

I would really like to say that after Trump is dragged from office that we will never be stupid enough to elect such an incompetent, unqualified, traitorous leader ever again.

But now that I understand just how critically stupid many people are in this country, that would just be a waste of my breath. 

Irish priest claims there is a desperate need for more exorcists due to increase in "demonic activity." Hang on, I have to check what year it is again.

Courtesy of Newsweek:  

An Irish priest has put out an urgent call for backup to help with the growing demand for exorcisms in the country, according to reports. 

“It’s only in recent years that the demand [for exorcisms] has risen exponentially,” Father Pat Collins said, adding that anyone who doesn’t see the need for more exorcists is “out of touch with reality.” Collins wrote an open letter to Irish bishops asking them to begin training more priests to deal with exorcisms, and he cited the International Association of Exorcists’ belief that demonic activity has increased substantially in recent years.

Collins has been speaking out about the activities of what he has called “the evil one” for years. He is widely considered Ireland’s most prominent exorcist, and he has also advocated for the church to take a more active role in demon hunting.

 "Anyone who doesn’t see the need for more exorcists is out of touch with reality.”

Just let that bounce around in your skull a little.

These are the people we are forced to share the planet with. These are the people whose beliefs we are encouraged to respect.

Thank you, but no thank you.

This kind of superstitious nonsense should be called out and refuted every single time we hear about it.

No, people are not talking to an actual god.

No, there are no guardian angels watching over you.

No, there are no spirits which need to be placated with charms or magic spells.

And no, there are no demons.

Yes, there is mental illness, and yes there are scientifically based strategies for supporting those who suffer with them.

And an exorcism is the very last thing that they need.

Donald Trump demonstrates primitive speaking skills even by the standards of an illiterate indigenous people.

Linguist John McWhorter

Courtesy of Trump Impeachment:  

Brian Williams interviewed linguistics professor John McWorter on the 11th Hour. McWhorter elaborated on Trump’s deficiency as a communicator. 

Williams: “What is the linguistics definition of this president?” 

McWhorter: “Donald Trump is unadorned. Linguistically, he is unadorned. This is the basics, this is what language was undoubtedly like when it first emerged among people who didn’t have writing and were first getting their verbal sea legs. This is where it started and so in that way as in so many others Donald Trump is an original.” 

Williams: “That would mean that education and schooling has had no effect on his use of language. He’s quick to remind us that he went to the best schools.” 

McWhorter: “And he learned nothing in them. He speaks like someone who has paid no attention to one of the goals of education, which is refine our natural, inborn proclivities of speech, which are great for casual circumstances, but he uses those same ways of speaking in what most of us used to consider formal and important circumstances.” 

Williams: “I think in your line of work they call it a ‘tag’ when something is added at the end of a sentence. The tradition is that often he will tag a sentence with ‘believe me, believe me,’ an enforcer, something he thought was lacking in the original sentence.” 

McWhorter: “Um, hmm. It’s that he’s reinforcing ...what we’re always doing is checking to see that the other person understands what we’re saying, that they’re in the same boat that we are, so that’s what ‘you know’ is, that’s what ‘LOL’ is in texting, but once again, he’s not doing it in texting, he’s doing it in formal circumstances. What that means is that he never leaves the realm of the casual when he speaks, which is unlike — even in indigenous societies, where there is no such thing as reading or writing yet, there’s always a high way of talking and a low way of talking; the Chief just doesn’t get up and run his mouth. Ours does.

Great, we have a guy in the most important political office on the planet who communicates worse than an indigenous tribe deep in the jungles of South America. 

That's so comforting.

Personally I cannot even bear to listen to Trump for more than a minute or so at a time.

Hearing him reminds of all of those hours spent transcribing Sarah Palin speeches and interviews during which at one point I literally checked to see if my ears had started bleeding.

It is hard to imagine that there are even six American voters who listened to Trump speak and thought, "Well he sounds like the leader we need in this country," much less almost sixty three million of them.

When racism met post racism.

Yeah I know, all that talk about electing a black man meaning racism was over was clearly inaccurate.

But still it did show that America COULD be a better country.

We just need to remember the pride we felt when President Obama led this country toward hope and change, and try to recapture that when next we visit the polls in 2018.

This is not who we are, we are much, much better.

Idaho Congressman claims that "nobody dies because they don't have access to heath care."

Courtesy of Idaho Statesman: 

A statement made by U.S. Rep. Raul Labrador during a town hall meeting Friday morning has drawn criticism by those challenging his stance on health care. 

After a woman suggested that the lack of health care was essentially asking people to die, Labrador had a controversial answer at Lewis-Clark State College in Lewiston. 

“That line is so indefensible,” Labrador said. “Nobody dies because they don’t have access to health care.” 

I have to admit that when I first heard about this statement I thought it might be an exaggeration or the product of "fake news," because NOBODY could be that stupid, right?

Wrong.

In fact, as you can see from this video, the woman who Rep. Labrador is arguing with, and whom he actually calls a liar, is a nurse who has spent fourteen years working in the ER.

It literally makes my head ache to think that there are people in Congress who are this ignorant, and who are making these life and death decisions for the American people.

This guy is simply not smart enough to do his job.

It should do the trick.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel had to explain the European Union to Donald Trump 11 times.

Courtesy of Business Insider:  

President Trump did not understand that the US cannot negotiate a trade deal with Germany alone and must deal with the European Union as a bloc, a senior German official told The Times of London. 

"Ten times Trump asked [German chancellor Angela Merkel] if he could negotiate a trade deal with Germany. Every time she replied, 'You can’t do a trade deal with Germany, only the EU,'" the official said. 

 They continued: "On the eleventh refusal, Trump finally got the message, 'Oh, we’ll do a deal with Europe then.'"

Merkel reportedly told her cabinet members that Trump had "very basic misunderstandings" on the "fundamentals" of the EU and trade. 

 The exchange occurred when Merkel met with Trump last month and reportedly convinced him to negotiate with the EU as a bloc after attempts by his administration to deal with individual countries were declined. 

If it is possible to die of shame the death rate in this country is about to spike considerably. 

I literally never thought I would be more embarrassed about the person occupying the White House than I was during the Bush years.

God, was I wrong.

Bill Nye joins with Netflix to dispel myths, refute anti-scientific claims, and attempt to educate the ignorant. Good luck.

Courtesy of Inverse:  

History is full of iconic, distinguished men and women of science, but there’s only one Science Guy. Bill Nye was a smart, quirky, and memorable science ambassador for a generation of PBS-watching millennials, and fans were delighted to learn that his signature bowtie would be coming back to screens in 2017 for a new Netflix show, Bill Nye Saves the World. Of course, that was before Donald Trump — about as anti-science as a politician can get — won the presidency. Now, with truth and the fate of the planet seemingly on the line, the title of Nye’s show seems a little more urgent. 

Netflix announced Nye’s show in late August, before Trump’s stunning upset in the election, but from what we know about it, Netflix seems to be eerily prescient. “Each episode will tackle a topic from a scientific point of view, dispelling myths, and refuting anti-scientific claims that may be espoused by politicians, religious leaders or titans of industry,” a Netflix press release explains. Nye has said that he wants the new show to be entertaining, sure, but he really wants to educate and, if possible, change minds. 

“We’ll discuss the complex scientific issues facing us today, with episodes on vaccinations, genetically modified foods and climate change,” Nye said in a statement. “With the right science and good writing, we’ll do our best to enlighten and entertain our audience. And, perhaps we’ll change the world a little.”

All I can say is that Nye really has his work cut out for him.

I mean I always knew that a large swath of the American public was as dumb as a box of rocks, but that was before over sixty tow million of them voted for Donald Trump.

Now I worry that just about every other person I see might be about to simply wander out into traffic or poke their eye out with a pair of scissors.

Good luck science guy. You are going to need it.

Andy Borowitz knows the score.

I have been saying some version of this ever since the election.

And don't give me that crap suggesting that his "victory" was not due to a lack of intelligence, because it was indeed.

First off you had to believe the things that Donald Trump promised, building a wall, rounding up undocumented immigrants and sending them back to Mexico, blocking people from visiting the US based on their religion, were good ideas for the country.

They are not.

Second you had to believe that Donald Trump was really going to try and keep these promises.

He is not.

Thirdly you had to believe that even if he wanted to keep those campaign promises that Congress and the Supreme Court would let him.

They will not.

So yes, if you voted for Donald J. Trump to be President of the United States of America you are either ignorant, mentally deficient, or gullible beyond comprehension.

Or perhaps all three.

Students walk out, start arguing, after Texas professor informs them that they are all descended from Africa. Update!

My Professor just said all living ppl are descendants from Africa and ppl got up and walked out and now their arguing 💀💀💀 pic.twitter.com/TNj6EDmybv

— Aj (@amvrion) October 18, 2016

Courtesy of The Tab:  

Some Texas State University students in Dr. McGee’s Cultural Anthropology class left the lecture hall after he said in a lesson that all living people originated in Africa. As the exiting white students left the classroom, some remaining in class reportedly called after them, “Black Lives Matter.” 

The lecture started out with a message from the professor that the day’s class would be a lesson on race and it would be particularly interesting so everyone should listen, said Justine Lundy, 20. The professor began talking about the Black Lives Matter movement and how it had come about before stating that all living beings descended from east Africa. 

“It was dead silent,” Lundy said, before a student retorted with a “sarcastic ‘sure.'”

At that point, students began to leave the class. A few disagreeing students who didn’t leave the classroom in a huff stayed behind to argue with each other. 

“A lot of people left,” said class attendee Karene Taylor, 19. “It was embarrassing.”

Of course the professor is right, but you can understand the frustration of some the students.

After all it is so much harder to hate a group of people once you learn that you are all related.

Besides how dare this professor not recognize what these students surely know to be the absolute and undeniable truth. Which is that the first people came from the Garden of Eden and that women are made out of an old rib that Adam was not really using anymore.

Pfft, and he calls himself a "professor."

Update: Snopes is not denying that a walk out took place, only that it was on a smaller scale than indicated by the original article. 

Still worthy of discussion in my opinion.

Gary Johnson believes that presidential candidates being well informed is a bad thing because knowing "a foreign leader or geographical location" means putting our military in "harm's way." Wait, what?

Courtesy of Raw Story:  

“Talking about a foreign leader I respect, I have a hard time with that one,” Johnson told MSNBC host Andrea Mitchell. “That’s just who I am. And now I’m going to have to pick out a world leader and there’s going to be something wrong with them. And now I’m going to have to defend them! Well, maybe I think too much.” 

“You are running to be commander-in-chief,” Mitchell reminded the candidate. 

“Yeah, and you know what?” Johnson trumpeted back. “The fact that somebody can dot the i’s and cross the t’s on a foreign leader or a geographic location then allows them to put our military in harm’s way!”

You ever get a headache so bad that it hurts to blink your eyes?

Yeah well this gave me one.

First off the President of the United States does not have the luxury of not knowing things about the world around him. After all he is kind of forced to make some incredibly important decisions which can often affect not just America but every other country as well.

Second, knowing about where these countries are, and who is leading them, does NOT mean that we are then somehow obligated to drop bombs on them and send our troops to die on their soil.

In fact knowing more about them, and understanding their culture and history, can often help to avoid conflict or intervention.

You know in some ways I am in total agreement with Gary Johnson when it comes to keeping our soldiers from fighting in unnecessary wars.

You bet, high fives all around on that one.

However then I also am reminded that the reason that we got into these last two unnecessary wars in the first place was because we had a President in office who was woefully ill informed about the countries that he arrogantly thought he could invade and conquer with few negative repercussions for our military.

He was wrong.

So sorry Mr. Johnson, I would rather have a President who knows a lot, and would recognize the appropriate time for military intervention, than to have a President who knows little, and could very well leave us vulnerable to attack.

I am not a hawk, but I am also not an idiot.

Sadly the same cannot be said for Gary Johnson.

Mike Pence completely misrepresenting the theory of Evolution, and attempting to argue that Creationism should be taught to our school children.

I thought this video would be a reminder that as bad as Donald Trump is, and he is indeed quite bad, his running mate is not really muhc better.

Pence's ignorance concerning what constitutes a "theory" in science and his argument for why it should be taught alongside Creationism is almost painful to watch.

But we need to constantly remind ourselves that THESE are the people making our laws, influencing our culture, and helping to decide what gets taught to our children.

And this one wants to be the Vice President of the United States.

As President Obama would say, "Don't boo, vote."

Damn Sarah Palin is simply not going to let this Bill Nye thing go!

Palin's Facebook post links to a Salon article written on February 14th, 2014 about a then upcoming debate between Nye and the climate science denying Congresswoman Marsha Blackburn on Meet the Press.

The point of the article was that MTP was being lazy in not getting an ACTUAL climate scientist to come on debate Blackburn who is, insanely enough, the Vice Chair of the House Energy and Commerce Committee.

However if Palin had bothered to read the article more carefully she might have noticed this portion:  

But Bill Nye is not actually a climate scientist. He is a former mechanical engineer turned television entertainer, and now professional edu-tainer. He’s clearly well-informed on the subject of climate science, and he has done quite a lot to popularize and explain the research. Against very well-funded opponents, he has long been a prominent voice for scientific literacy. I have no doubt that Bill Nye could out-debate Marsha Blackburn — or indeed pretty much any Republican elected official — on the subject of humanity’s responsibility for climate change and its probably catastrophic effects. What’s insulting (and insane) is that there is to be a “debate” at all, on one of America’s supposed premier news talk shows. 

What’s scary is that the side of this debate that is wrong, and that is wrong in a way that will very probably lead to worldwide disaster in a few generations, is taken seriously because it is the side taken by one of America’s two dominant political parties.

In other words Salon in no way is suggesting that Nye is ill equipped to debate Blackburn on this topic, but rather lamenting the fact that news programs such as Meet the Press are still acting as if there is a debate left to have on the subject.

However those are simply facts and in the world occupied by the likes of Marsha Blackburn and Sarah Palin, facts are not allowed.

Who said it?

“Well, I think Lincoln succeeded for numerous reasons. He was a man who was of great intelligence, which most presidents would be. But he was a man of great intelligence, but he was also a man that did something that was a very vital thing to do at that time. Ten years before or 20 years before, what he was doing would never have even been thought possible. So he did something that was a very important thing to do, and especially at that time.”

You would be excused for thinking that the above nonsense was the meandering response of a sixth or seventh grade student trying desperately to answer a question about one of our most famous presidents after failing to do the reading.

But you would be mistaken.

Bristol Palin tries her hand at being political. It's as pathetic as you might imagine.

😂😂😂😂 not looking for an argument but this hits the nail on the head 👌🏼

A photo posted by Bristol Palin (@bsmp2) on Mar 8, 2016 at 7:12pm PST

I love this part:

"Not looking for an argument but this hits the nail on the head." 

Of course she's not looking to start an argument, she never wins those unless she has a drink to throw in somebody's face or her sister Willow to back her up.

I would contend that this is actually one of Bristol's very rare attempts to make any kind of political point (The vast majority of posts posts on her blog are of course the work of Nancy French), and of course she screws it up by failing to recognize who Bernie Sanders is, and what he actually stands for.

I am sure that she saw this picture and in her pea brain thought "Yep, if I post this on Instagram people will know I am politically savvy, and have an informed opinion."

Instead of course it simply reinforces the fact that she is a barely coherent moron, whose only use in life seems to be drinking like a fish and trying to trap men into marrying her with her no longer under factory warranty vajajay and baby manufacturing  uterus.

Ted Cruz supporters explain how President Obama ruined America and Christmas. Oh no, not Christmas!

"We don't need a President like Obama no more. He's ruined our country...he's ruined Christmas..he's let the Muslims in...we can't say that word, we got to be ashamed of everything. And we're not ashamed people, we're a proud people and we're going to take our country back. So watch out Obama we're coming." 

Yep, I think that is a fair representation of the type of people attracted to the Ted Cruz campaign.

By the way somebody reach out to Sarah Palin and tell her that she can stop wondering where all of her supporters went, cause we found'em.

Well that explains it!

I know I will get a little blowback on this but I actually think that Ben Carson is a more troubling character than Sarah Palin.

After all we KNEW that Palin was an idiot without much education, so her ignorance was easily understandable.

But Ben Carson is supposed to be a well educated man, so HIS ignorant statements are far more troubling.

I think there is a portion of the populace who think that because he acts like he knows what he is talking about and has an MD that he must be right about things like free education damaging America, Egyptian pyramids were for grain storage, and Obamacare is worse than slavery.

And that is pretty frightening.

Oregon couple who chose faith healing over medicine and allowed their infant son to die are on their way to prison.

Courtesy of Deadstate: 

Dale and Shannon Hickman don’t believe in doctors. Because of this religious conviction, set forth by the cult the couple belongs to, Oregon City’s Followers of Christ Church, the Hickmans let their premature infant die after being being born at home rather than seek medical help. As a result of this decision, the couple was convicted of manslaughter in 2011. 

The child, named David Hickman, weighed just 3 lbs, 7 ounces at birth. His tragically short life was only 9 hours long. According to reports, the Hickmans went to Shannon’s mother for help when she began having contractions more than two months prior to her due date. The couple says they didn’t notice anything was wrong with the baby until just minutes prior to his death — a claim which an expert on this subject has called a lie. Instead of calling a hospital like most rational people, they prayed over the dying baby and “anointed” his head with oil. 

Both halves of the Hickman couple will spend a minimum of 6 years and 3 months in prison for their actions, which is light, considering the fact that their child lost his life over their idiotic beliefs. The judge in the case, Robert Herndon, called one of the cult’s midwives “one of the most dangerous people in Oregon.”

Okay so here's m question.

Where is the outrage from the "pro-life" community over this?

After all this is not a fetus, this is an actual child, born into the world, and denied a life due to the superstitious beliefs and ignorance of his parents.

You would think this would anger them beyond all measure, and yet not a peep.

In attempt to convince them to confess their sins parents and church members beat two teenage boys. One of them to death.

Courtesy of HuffPo:

Two teenage brothers were brutally beaten in church - one of them fatally - in an effort by their parents, sister and other members of the congregation to force them to confess their sins and seek forgiveness, police said Wednesday. 

Police Chief Michael Inserra said investigators are still looking into what the supposed sins were. 

Lucas and Christopher Leonard, 19 and 17, were pounded with fists Sunday at the Word of Life Church when a "counseling session" meant to explore their spiritual state turned violent, Inserra said. They were beaten in the abdomen, genitals, back and thighs, authorities said. 

Lucas died and his brother was hospitalized in serious condition. Six church members - including the brothers' parents and sister - have been arrested.

What is that saying again?

Oh yeah:   

“With or without religion, you would have good people doing good things and evil people doing evil things. But for good people to do evil things, that takes religion.” ― Steven Weinberg

What besides religion, or superstition, could ever convince a parent to take the life of their child? 

Saudi Arabia declares all Atheists to be terrorists. Guess where I'm not going on vacation.

Courtesy of the Independent:  

Saudi Arabia has introduced a series of new laws which define atheists as terrorists, according to a report from Human Rights Watch. 

In a string of royal decrees and an overarching new piece of legislation to deal with terrorism generally, the Saudi King Abdullah has clamped down on all forms of political dissent and protests that could "harm public order". 

Article one of the new provisions defines terrorism as "calling for atheist thought in any form, or calling into question the fundamentals of the Islamic religion on which this country is based". 

Joe Stork, deputy Middle East and North Africa director of Human Rights Watch, said: "Saudi authorities have never tolerated criticism of their policies, but these recent laws and regulations turn almost any critical expression or independent association into crimes of terrorism.

You know any country where critical thinking is linked to terrorism is a country to be avoided at all cost.