Dear NYPost: Words mean things. Learn them.

socialism-definition

Source: Merriam-Webster.com

If you ever wondered why the US public has so much trouble discerning what’s what during an election year, perhaps a clue might lie with their media. In particular, this throwaway piece from the New York Post:

Americans, you just got a peek at what socialist monetary policy looks like, and it’s not pretty.

For all you kids looking for a free college education should Bernie Sanders make it to the White House, this is what you have to look forward to.

In Europe, where there is widespread unemployment, socialism is now taking hold in ways almost unseen before.

A spectre is haunting Europe! Oh myyyyy.

Ahem. And what does that oh-so-socialist spectre look like? Well, an awful lot like, uh, CAPITALISM:

On Thursday, European Central Bank chief Mario Draghi announced a gargantuan stimulus and economic funding package to help mend Europe’s banking system.

Draghi raised monthly bond purchases to €80 billion ($89 billion) in Europe’s rendition of quantitative easing and lowered the prime borrowing rate to zero: All OK so far.

But then Draghi went a few steps further than any central banker has ever gone. The ECB will now be buying corporate bonds of European nonbank companies as well.

At this point, I got the impulse to write to the piece’s author, one Jonathan Trugman, to tell him to go back to school and learn the differences between two very different words and two different — one might even say diametrically opposed — concepts. But I suspect that such an education would be over his head, and those of his paper’s target readership as well.

But wait! It gets, uh, better:

Of course, that raises all sorts of issues. Will the ECB be buying bonds of Airbus, which is Boeing’s largest competitor in airline manufacturing? That has the potential to effectively enable the ECB to give unfair advantages to Continental companies looking for financing.

And will German automakers like Mercedes Benz, BMW or Volkswagen be sellers of bonds? The funding costs of these companies could be dramatically reduced, enabling them to sell their cars more profitably than American or Japanese manufacturers.

The second socialist measure: The ECB will lend money to banks at zero percent interest rates, and pay them 0.4 percent of the amount of euros lent. So theoretically, if Deutsche Bank or any other bank in Euroland lends €1 billion, it will receive a stipend of €4 million from the European Central Bank.

That said, maybe Draghi is “feeling the Bern” and auditioning for a spot in Treasury in a Sanders administration.

Ha, ha, so funny. The Bern, geddit?

I’m really not sure what role banks and bond traders have in a socialist economy, but I’m pretty sure it’s not the one Jono and his boorish Trumpeteer readers have in mind.

And after all that silly crapitalist twaddle, I’m quite certain that even a free education — which they sorely need — wouldn’t help them much. But hey! If they ever do decide to go back to school, I’ll cheerfully drive the bus.

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Music for a Sunday: A force field and a flexible plan

Apropos of nothing, this one came to mind in a moment of frustration as I was trying to reset my digital watch last night. Also this one:

“The crazy level goes up one notch
With the American Dream and Japanese scotch–
When you’re beaten at chess by your digital watch,
That’s progress!”

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Argentina: Macri gets booed and egged

macri-demonstrators

Mauricio Macri really is the Donald Drumpf of Argentina, and nowhere does it show more than in his own actions, which reek of contempt for the common people…unless, of course, you’re talking about his popularity levels, in which case it’s even worse:

In Argentina, a group of demonstrators booed and threw eggs at president Mauricio Macri during a speech in Merlo, in the eastern province of Buenos Aires.

The events took place on Thursday, when the Argentine president tried to exit a local school, where shortly before, along with municipal and provincial authorities, he had inaugurated a digital lecture hall.

According to local media, at the end of the ceremony, the president was booed by a group of demonstrators carrying placards reading “Macri = Repression”. The indignant people threw eggs and there were shoving matches even among the demonstrators themselves.

According to the same sources, the local residents approached the school door and began to display their signs so that the dignitaries could read their recriminations and know the situation of Merlo.

When police agents who were on guard noticed the number of placards, they acted violently to silence the demonstrators. As a result of their blows, several local residents were injured and two of the demonstrators were detained, they said.

Macri has been faced with criticism and demonstrations all over Argentina ever since adopting a series of “reform measures” — in particular in the economic and labor sectors — after his installation in the Casa Rosada.

However, the Macri administration believes that the new decisions “are urgent and necessary” for the people in an effort to be able to counteract, according to allegations, the negative effect of plans developed by the previous Kirchnerist governments.

The news came to light on the same day that a new study, carried out by the General Directorate of Statistics and Censuses in the city of Buenos Aires, pointed out that inflation in Argentina has been rising since Macri’s accession to power, and is now at 13.1%.

“He isn’t making the same effort to resolve any problems as others. Not having a program to combat inflation at this level is really inconceivable,” lamented Margarita Stolbitzer, director of the Argentine Generation for a National Encounter.

At the start of the current month, new polls revealed that the president’s popularity level had fallen notably during the month of February.

Translation mine.

And in case you’re wondering where all that bit about the inflation rates comes from, here’s the booing he got when he blamed the Kirchners (the late Néstor Kirchner, and his widow, Cristina Fernández) for the problem that he himself is doing nothing about:

That was on March 1 of this year. The outrage you’re hearing comes from parliamentary deputies of the Kirchners’ party. It’s quite a joke that he expects to be respected when he shows none for anyone else, eh?

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Wankers of the Week: Nancy Reagan Memorial Edition

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Crappy weekend, everyone! This week, we pay tribute to the late Nancy Reagan, whose legacy is the disastrous “Just Say No” anti-drug campaign, and whose finest hour was the one in which she turned her back on an old friend who was dying of AIDS. I say we Just Say No to mourning for her, and get on with life. And what does life hold for us this week? WANKERS! And here they come, in no particular order:

1. Rebecca Fucking Bradley. I know people write stupid things when they’re young, and even stupider things when they’re young and conservative. But seriously: Claiming gay sex “kills”? Tell it to all my gay friends, Becky, they’re still very much alive, and still having sex, too. I don’t see it killing them any time soon. PS: Well, well. Look what other idiocy she horked up. She hates women, too. Well, Becky, this woman feels the same, but only towards YOU.

2. Caitlyn Fucking Jenner. Meanwhile, old conservatives say ineffably stupid things, too — and being trans doesn’t change that.

3. Ken Fucking Ham. Suppose you were a Young Earth Creationist. And suppose you were an idiot. But I repeat myself.

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4. Gary Fucking Glenn. Oh, so you want it to be illegal to be gay? Careful, those skeletons in your closet are dancing a merry jig…

5. Debbie Fucking Schlussel. Nancy Reagan “brought style and glamour back to the White House”? Wow, that was quite the achievement…although she never did hold a candle to Jackie Kennedy, who could do that in her sleep. But hey! If by “style and glamour” you mean racism, homophobia, and her own personal astrologer, yeah, she brought it, all right.

6. Joe Fucking Silk. Good luck trying to enforce that anti-abortion bill, dude. For that matter, good luck getting it passed. Even Oklahoma isn’t THAT fucking stupid.

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7. Ralph Fucking Gilbertson. If your biblical beliefs forbid you from harming anyone, then why are you toting guns — which are made for the express purpose of KILLING? There’s not a word in the bible about THEM, after all.

8. Stuart Fucking Vener. Racist puts on blackface to mock non-white people? Well, that’s original.

9. Stephen Fucking Stewart. WWJD? Pimp out his bright young daughter to the highest bidder in Christianity Today, natch.

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10. Matt Fucking Walsh. WEWJD? Stop “masses of oblivious, clueless, noncontributing people” from voting. Hey Matty, since you’re all of those things, how about YOU just not vote? Problem solved!

11. Michele Fucking Fiore. Oh look, an idiot is running for Congress! What’s the opposite of PROgress, again?

12. Lauren Fucking Southern. Awwwww. Did getting doused with a big, bad bottle of Perrier dampen more than just her bleached hair? Sure smells that way, because now Widdle Ms. Butthurt is taking it to the tweeter to try to “trigger” others with as much dumbth as her pea brain can muster. Something tells me she was a real hit on the school playground in kindergarten.

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(Yes, that IS a real Whisper. And no, I did not generate it.)

13. Theodore Fucking Shoebat. How long do you suppose it will be before his pseudonymous profile turns up on a gay dating site or Grindr? Place your bets, ladies ’n’ gents.

14. Carl Fucking Gallups. Is anyone seriously surprised to see that the Drumpf campaign in Florida has aligned itself with the worst of the far-right idiot fringe? No? Me neither.

15. Adam Fucking Perkins. If laziness and shiftlessness are bred in the bone, as this intellectually shiftless lazy bonehead claims they are, then what explains HIS intellectual wankery? Is that a genetic trait, too? Is it dominant, or recessive? What chromosome is it on, and what is the nucleotide sequence of it? And, more to the point: What diploma mills graduated this fucking wankstain, whose idiocy is being lapped up by the right-wing media and its allied stink tanks? And why the hell does he have a platform for it at all?

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16. Jamie Fucking Gilt. Who the hell teaches a 4-year-old to SHOOT? Someone who just got shot in the back by her 4-year-old, natch. Karma, meet “Gun Sense” dogma. PS: And my, isn’t she pretty…pretty STUPID, that is. And also grand…as in grand theft retail. Yep, that’s right…she stole $500 worth of shorts from a department store. Because good guys with guns, or some such.

17. Guy Fucking Benson. Tolerate the intolerant? No fucking thanks…and I say this as a straight person who has nothing to lose to them. Nothing, that is, except potentially the lives of all my many LGBT friends, whom the intolerant would like nothing better than to kill with impunity.

18. Michael Fucking Savage. No, sorry, Mr. Weiner, but your theory is implausible. Why? Because the late and unlamented Judge Scalia was obviously too old and unwell to get it up for anyone, no matter how much she cost.

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19. Luke Fucking Gottwald, AGAIN. How can we miss you if you don’t go away? Oh well, the Sony/Kemosabe Records boycott continues.

20. Cheryl Fucking Gallant. FEAR FEAR TERROR TERROR BOOGA BOOGA BOOGA! Also, please buy this Easter ham to support the HarpoCons in the name of dead soldiers! Uh, how about you fuck OFF?

21. Donald Fucking Drumpf. Oh look, he’s being sued for violating immigration law in his “Trump Model Management LLC” dealings. Also, he’s only actually making somewhere south of $500,000 a year! It’s so bad that he’s actually stealing other people’s tips! And he’s awfully un-ballsy about his own racism! And that of his inbred goon squads, too! PS: Make you president, or else? How about NO? Anyway, your supporters aren’t scary. Take away their guns, and all they are is white guys who run like pregnant cattle. Fuck them, and fuck YOU.

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22. Ammon Fucking Bundy. The government’s case against you is “starting to unravel”? Funny thing to say as additional federal charges are being slapped on all your clown-car brigade of yeehawdis, and as new video is released of LaVoy Fucking Finicum definitively committing suicide-by-cop.

23. John Fucking McGraw. If you’re not too old to sucker-punch a random black protester at a Drumpf rally, you’re not too old to get the book thrown at you, either. But at 78, you really ought to be old enough to know better. PS: This should be good for extra jail time. Congrats, you’re a total asshole!

24. Angela Fucking Wozniak. Oh, surprise! Family Values = having an affair with your intern, then sexually harassing him until you no longer get to have any! And the kicker? She campaigned on that platform after her predecessor — a Democrat — got booted out of office for a sex scandal of his own. You’d think someone would learn from that, but noooo!

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25. Melania Fucking Drumpf. Congratulations, Frau Knauss, on your overpriced new skincare line made of fish eggs. And congratulations, too, on your extreme poor taste all around. One more Drumpf Fail, coming right down!

26. Louie Fucking Gohmert. His lips are moving and noises are coming out, so I’m 100% positive that Gomer just said something gargantuanly stupid. And whaddya know.

27. Robert Fucking Morrow. He’s promising to out all the “closeted homosexuals”? Better come out of the closet himself first. Screaming homophobia is always a dead giveaway as to who the real closet cases are, and this one clearly spends WAY more time thinking about gay sex than any out gay guy ever. (I predict we’ll soon be seeing him caught on Grindr, too.)

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28. Rick Fucking Joyner. So, according to fundie math, a “day of creation” is actually 1,000 years. And since the Earth is not quite 7,000 years old yet (by their reckoning), I guess that means God isn’t even done creating us yet. Which kind of plays havoc with the whole Genesis story and all that cal.

29. Thomas Fucking Robb. Jesus wasn’t a Jew! Whites are the REAL Chosen People! Der Drumpf is the Messiah! Honestly, this kind of ahistorical shit is idiotic even by fundamentalist religious standards. Which, by Jove, make bags of hammers and boxes of rocks look positively brilliant by comparison.

30. Ben Fucking Carson. Yes, he’s still alive. Yes, he’s still talking. And yes, all the noises coming out of his mouth-hole are still inane and awful. Thankfully, he’s no longer relevant, and with this latest endorsement, he’s pretty much nailed his own coffin shut. Go home, Ben, and admire your self-portraits all over the walls, willya?

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And finally, to the idiot wankers of the media, for studiously — and STUPIDLY — “not understanding” the whole Bernie Sanders phenomenon. First there was the Washington Post, with its steady barrage of articles bashing the Bern. Then it was all the pundits “trying to make sense” of his victory in Michigan — and in Muslim-heavy Dearborn, of all places. To hear them talk, you’d think Jews and Muslims were obligated by some kind of religious law to hate one another, when anyone who has friends from both groups knows that that is most certainly not the case. Especially among progressives, who are actively working to make all prejudice a thing of the past, in politics and elsewhere. But hey! Don’t let me rip the blinders from your eyes. Keep right on stumbling until you hit November, you guys, and then you can be stunned all over again when Bernie kicks Der Drumpf’s ass — or, if not him, then whoever else the Repugs have decided to wheel out in a desperate pitch for the White House.

Good night, and get fucked!

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We want — no, NEED — to see Der Dongald

So, go on, Herr Drumpf…and show us your Drumpfling.

(I can’t believe I just solicited an actual dickpic, much less of THAT dick. But there we go. We have officially gone there.)

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Compare and Contrast: Teddy Roosevelt vs. Donald Drumpf

roosevelt-vs.-drumpf

Of course, Der Drumpf’s “stick” (or wiener) isn’t really all that. Remember the Howler Monkey Principle?

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Quotable: Annie Lennox on feminism

annie-lennox-on-feminism

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Women vs. Daesh: Kurdish women fight back

What strikes terror into a terrorist’s heart? The voices of fearless Kurdish women! A one-hour documentary on the army that’s whupping Daesh’s ass straight to hell.

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Posted in Uppity Wimmin | 1 Comment

Quotable: Dorothy Parker on feminism

dorothy-parker-on-feminism

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Quotable: Eduardo Galeano on Adam and Eve

In honor of International Women’s Day, the late great Uruguayan literary wizard has a few pertinent words for us all:

galeano-on-eve

“If Eve had written Genesis, how would the human race’s first night of love have been? Eve would have begun by explaining that she was not born of any rib, nor that she had known any serpent, nor that she had offered apples to anyone, and that God never told her that you would give birth with suffering and your husband would dominate you. That all these tales are pure lies which Adam told to the press.”

Amen!

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