Trump vs Rubio

Remember on Monday when we speculated that Trump's comments on shutting down mosques might actually gain him a point or two in the polls?

Well, the latest FOX "News" New Hampshire poll just came out, and lo and behold, Trum is up a couple points!






No one is even close to him! Ben Carson has cratered, I guess because Republicans have realized that they can have the same level of offensiveness and nuttery from a white man so who needs Carson?

Rubio is the closest competitor and he is FOURTEEN points behind Trump! And how is he going to make up this gap? How many other candidates would have to drop out and throw 100% of their supporters to Rubio to make this happen?

Well, next closest is Cruz. He can't drop out because God wants him to be President and you don't say no to the guy with the lightning bolts! So, Rubio could maybe pick up JEB!'s 9% if he were to drop out.
If Carson goes, you gotta figure his 9% goes to Trump, so best-case scenario fro Rubio is that Carson doesn't stomp his feet, stick out his lower lip and take his bat and ball and go home before New Hampshire at least.
He could pick up 7% when if Kasich throws up his hands, wails "what the fuck happened? I used to be the extreme right-wing of the stupid party!" and quits.
When Christie drops out, Rubio might get some of his voters, those who were voting for the "corrupt, but at least he's not insane" candidate. But the East-Coast-loudmouth-jerk constituency would flock to Trump, so let's say maybe 3% apiece. That's a wash.

So, that's Trump 30%, Rubio 32? Is that right? Of course, once Fiorina decides to go back to being a spectacular private-sector failure, her 3%  comes from the CEO-worshipping wing of the party, so that goes to Trump.

Rand Paul's 3% doesn't go to either candidate. His supporters will probably write in Lyndon LaRouche or Alex Jones or someone.

And there's no one else over 1% other than Don't Know. And Don't Know's 7% could go anywhere.


Anyway you spin it, this is bad news for the GOP. Which means it is good news for America. When your party's best hope is that the electorate will coalesce around Marco Rubio.

Rubio.

The guy who says things like women are looking forward to having more abortions so they can sell the extra baby parts. (source)

The guy whose suggestion that we arm and support the Syrian rebels soon to be known as ISIS got him dragged by the American Conservative!
http://www.theamericanconservative.com/larison/marco-rubio-favors-greater-chaos-in-syria-ii/

The guy who was willing to support immigration as long as it wouldn't give any gay people the right to come to America. http://www.thenewcivilrightsmovement.com/why_does_marco_rubio_hate_gay_people_so_much

This guy is your most electable candidate. He's the guy who seems Presdiential when you compare him to Donald Trump, Ben Carson, Ted Cruz and the rest of the insans clown posse crowding on to the GOP debate stage. But when he has to stand on stage with Bernie Sanders or Hilary Clinton, he's back to looking like this guy:

Headlines that are actually not from the Onion, I swear.

Kasich Proposes New Government Agency To Promote Judeo-Christian Values

Um. . . why?

As part of a broad national security plan to defeat ISIS, Republican Presidential candidate John Kasich proposed creating a new government agency to push Judeo-Christian values around the world.

Oh.

Sure.

That'll totally help defeat ISIS.

Because. . . um. . . nobody will fight harder to defeat ISIS than people who belivev in turn the other cheek? And beating swords into plowshares?

Of course, is there really any such thing as Judeo-Christian values? I mean, Jesus is all "love your enemies" and "do good to those who do evil to you," and the Old Testament is all like:

Deuteronomy 20:17

17 but vyou shall devote them to complete destruction,1 the Hittites and the Amorites, the Canaanites and the Perizzites, the Hivites and the Jebusites, as the Lord your God has commanded,

Numbers 31:7-18

⁷ They fought against Midian, as the Lord commanded Moses, and killed every man. . . . ⁹ The Israelites captured the Midianite women and children and took all the Midianite herds, flocks and goods as plunder. ¹⁰ They burned all the towns where the Midianites had settled, as well as all their camps. . . . ¹⁴ Moses was angry with the officers of the army—the commanders of thousands and commanders of hundreds—who returned from the battle.
¹⁵ “Have you allowed all the women to live?” he asked them. . .  ¹⁷ Now kill all the boys. And kill every woman who has slept with a man, ¹⁸ but save for yourselves every girl who has never slept with a man.

So, I'm not really sure which type of values you're going to choose to promote.
You know, to defeat ISIS.


The new agency, which he hasn't yet named, would promote a Jewish- and Christian-based belief system to four regions of the world: China, Iran, Russia and the Middle East.


Um, you know China has nothing to do with ISIS, right? And you do know that Iran is majority Shia', and ISIS is not only Suni, but made up largely of former soldiers from Sadam's army who fought a long, ugly war against Iran, so there's no way in Hell that Iran would ever support ISIS? I mean, you have to know that, right? I know that and I'm just some guy. You think you're qualified to be President and you don't know this?

"We need to beam messages around the world" about the freedoms Americans enjoy, Kasich said in an interview with NBC News Tuesday. "It means freedom, it means opportunity, it means respect for women, it means freedom to gather, it means so many things.

Wait. Judeo-Christian values means "respect for women?"

Ephesians 5:22

²² Wives, submit yourselves to your own husbands as you do to the Lord.
²³ For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior. ²⁴ Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything.

1 Timothy 2:11-12 

Let a woman learn quietly with all submissiveness. I do not permit a woman to teach or to exercise authority over a man; rather, she is to remain quiet.

Deuteronomy 22:28-29

²⁸ If a man happens to meet a virgin who is not pledged to be married and rapes her and they are discovered, ²⁹ he shall pay her father fifty shekels^[a] of silver. He must marry the young woman, for he has violated her.

Deuteronomy 21:10-13

¹⁰ When you go to war against your enemies and the Lord your God delivers them into your hands and you take captives, ¹¹ if you notice among the captives a beautiful woman and are attracted to her, you may take her as your wife. ¹² Bring her into your home and have her shave her head, trim her nails ¹³ and put aside the clothes she was wearing when captured. After she has lived in your house and mourned her father and mother for a full month, then you may go to her and be her husband and she shall be your wife.

So anyway. . . I assume Kasich had to defend this proposal from his opponents who surely pointed out that this is about as blatant a violation of the seperation of church and state as could be imagined.

He defended creating a new government agency at a time when fellow Republican presidential candidates discuss eliminating government agencies to making the government smaller. 

 Oh, fer fuck sake!

That's the issue? That's the problem you're seeing here?  The cost? You want to have the United States government actively promote religion to people in other countries who, by the way, are going to see this as an admission on our part that we do see the "War on Terror" as a battle between our Christianity and their Islam which can't possibly be at all helpful, and you're worried that people might think it's too expensive or that it doesn't fit in with your insane anti-government dogma?

Thank God this guy has no chance of ever being President!

Hard to tell if Ted Cruz is lying or a complete idiot.

“There is no meaningful risk of Christians committing acts of terror,” Cruz said in the wake of a brutal terrorist attack in Paris by ISIS during a visit to South Carolina on Sunday.

Um. . .


 


And he said this in South Carolina. Home of this guy who must have not been a terrorist because Christians can't ever be terrorists.

And, not in any particular order:

Army of God
The Phineas Priesthood
Posse Comitatus
Jerad and Amanda Miller
Sovereign Citizens
Montana Freemen
Eric Matthew Frein
Oath Keepers
the Hutaree Militia
Scott Roeder
Wade Micheal Page
Joseph Andrew Stack III

And so on, and so on, and so on. . .

Oh, and Cruz defended his insane position by saying this:

"If my father were part of a theocratic and political movement like radical Islam that promotes murdering anyone who doesn't share your extreme faith or forcibly converting them, it would make perfect sense," he said. "Not to let someone in who a embraces political philosophy and theology that says murder the infidels."

Um. . . I don't know about your father, but you spent the weekend being the star attraction at an event hosted by a pastor that advocates murdering all gay people.

Cruz is also set to join Mike Huckabee and Bobby Jindal at a religious liberty confab with Pastor Kevin Swanson. If you’re unfamiliar with Kevin Swanson, Right Wing Watch has put together a rather comprehensive survey of his body of work as it relates to LGBT people, among other things. Swanson celebrated the murder of an abortion provider, argued that sex slavery is actually better than social welfare programs, believes that God gave gay people AIDS as an “act of kindness,” and thinks Uganda’s “kill the gays” bill should be a model for the United States

 (source)


So, maybe we shouldn't have let you in. Except that stopping you at the border would have been a shitty thing to do to Canada.

Trump doesn't get the First Amendment

(CNN)Donald Trump on Monday suggested he would "strongly consider" shutting down mosques in the U.S. as part of the response to the terror attacks in Paris.

"Well, I would hate to do it but it's something you're going to have to strongly consider," Trump said during an interview on MSNBC.

Wow! If I thought Trump had any chance of winning the White House, that would be a really frightening statement.

On Monday, Trump also took a shot at New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio for his decision last year to halt a covert NYPD program used for surveillance on Muslim communities.

"You're going to have to watch and study the mosques," Trump said, "because a lot of talk is going on at the mosques...Under the old regime we had tremendous surveillance going around and in the mosques in New York City."

I don't know how much of what comes from Trump's mouth he actually believes, because he says things like maybe we should boycott Starbucks as if he gives a shit about their lack of Christmas spirit, but whether or not  he believes that mosques should be shut down, that certain people's right to practice their religion should be curtailed, the thing is that he said it. Out loud and in public. And it's not going to hurt him. His poll numbers aren't going to drop from this. He might even gain a point or two. He might steal a couple points from Ben Carson, now that he has made the latest outrageously offensive staement. (Ball's in your court, Doctor!)

And none of his fellow Republicans will condemn him for it. None of them will have the balls and the decency to stand up and say "Mr. Trump, in this country we believe in the free exercise of religion as enshrined in the First Amendment." None of the conservative figures who are constantly blubbering on about protecting religious freedom are going to raise a single word of objection to this quasi-fascist suggestion. And the window of what is considered acceptable political discourse will be streched to the right once again.

90 Minutes in Heaven?

While reading about Ben Carson's ghostwriter co-author at No More Mr Nice Blog, I saw this bit about another book that this guy had "co-authored" with another shady grifter entitled 90 Minutes in Heaven.







Here's the gist of the story:

As he is driving home from a minister's conference, Baptist minister Don Piper collides with a semi-truck that crosses into his lane. He is pronounced dead at the scene. For the next 90 minutes, Piper experiences heaven where he is greeted by those who had influenced him spiritually. He hears beautiful music and feels true peace. Back on earth, a passing minister who had also been at the conference is led to pray for Don even though he knows the man is dead. Piper miraculously comes back to life and the bliss of heaven is replaced by a long and painful recovery. For years Piper kept his heavenly experience to himself. Finally, however, friends and family convinced him to share his remarkable story.

That is horrifying. And if I were Rev. Piper, I think I would be the bitterest son of a bitch to ever thump a Bible.

Think about it. You die. You go to Heaven. Which is the best place in the world from what we hear. St. Peter is showing you around, you're meeting people who have influenced you "Oh, hello John Lennon. Nice to meet you, William Faulkner. . ." you're feeling true peace for the first time. And then, suddenly, St Peter says "oh, sorry, bud. Some minister just prayed for you to come back, so we're sending you back to earth. Sorry about the long and painful recovery you're gonna face. Also, your brain has been deprived of oxygen for the last hour and a half, so when you get back, you're basically going to be a turnip with feet." And down you go.

And then there's some ass going "I prayed for God to send you back. Uhhhh you're welcome!"

 

Youuuuu DICK!!!

Don Piper returned from the gates of Heaven to endure 13 excruciating months of hospitalization, 34 major surgeries, including some never before attempted in the United States, and years of painful therapy and rehabilitation. He now shares his incredible lessons of answered prayer, miracles, overcoming tragedy, pain and loss, and the reality of Heaven.

Lesson number one: If I die. For any reason. If you see me and I'm dead. Do not - DO NOT! - do not under any circumstances pray for God to send me back!!!

Around the world Don Piper has shared the story of hope and healing. . . Don Piper is known around the world as, "The Minister of Hope."

Hope? Hope? How is he the minister of hope?
Like, don't worry, even if you go to Heaven, even if you think that you're going to spend eternity in  the unrivaled bliss of Paradise, there's always hope! There's always a chance that some selfish dick will pray to God to send you back and God will actually kick you out of Paradise like you ate an apple and send you back to Earth to live out your days in pain and sorrow. Hope!

Now the good news is that this preacher never died, never went to Heaven and never got sent back to Earth. As you might have suspected, clever folks that you are, it's a money-making scam.

Don Piper is known around the world as, "The Minister of Hope." He founded Don Piper Ministries, a 501-c3 entity, in 2007, to channel revenues from book sales and speaking income to help over 40 ministries here and abroad.

And yes, obviously the money is going to help "ministries" all over the world. 

A Ferrari dealership is a kind of ministry, right?

Also, if you really had a message of hope from the Lord above, and you had been sent back to Earth to spread this message, would you have the balls to charge speaking fees? God has a message for you, but if you think 'm gonna tell you without getting my beak wet, you're outta your mind!