Tag: sam reisman
This Week In Crazy: Rush To Delusions

This Week In Crazy: Rush To Delusions

Hypocrisy, zealotry, and gobbledygook. Welcome to “This Week In Crazy,” The National Memo’s weekly update on the loony, bigoted, and hateful behavior of the increasingly unhinged right wing. Starting with number five:

5. David Daleidan

The mastermind behind the fraudulently shot and deceptively edited videos meant to smear Planned Parenthood into oblivion is now complaining about unfair treatment.

David Daleidan was head inquisitor (or, as Fox News characterizes him, citizen journalist) behind the Center for Medical Progress — the contemptibly misnamed anti-abortion outfit that released films which supposedly exposed the non-profit women’s health care network as a trafficker in human remains. Several state investigative probes and a congressional investigation later, and the only indictments handed down have been against Daleidan himself and his accomplice.

That indictment came in Texas, but it seems like California is potentially about to follow suit. The Washington Post reported:

Investigators with the California Department of Justice on Tuesday raided the home of David Daleiden, the anti-abortion activist behind a series of undercover videos targeting Planned Parenthood, the activist said.

Authorities seized a laptop and multiple hard drives from his Orange County apartment, Daleiden said in an email. The equipment contained all of the video Daleiden had filmed as part of his 30-month project, “including some very damning footage that has yet to be released to the public,” he said.

Daleidan and his conservative supporters have been quick to condemn the raid by officials as a politically motivated action. His own outside-the-law actions, of course, remain inscrutably righteous.

Next: Tennessee

4. Tennessee

The curious habit of state legislatures enshrining Official State Things is innocuous enough for the most part. Lately, though, Tennessee has been taking the practice to bizarre extremes.

Recently, the Volunteer State elected to make its official state firearm one of the most deadly weapons available for civilian use — so powerful it can down a commercial airliner, apparently. And then, as an encore, the legislature voted to make the Holy Bible the state’s official book.

As reported by The Tennessean

After nearly 30 minutes of debate, the state Senate on Monday approved the measure, sponsored by Sen. Steve Southerland, R-Morristown, with a 19-8 vote, sending the legislation to Gov. Bill Haslam’s desk.

While proponents stressed the historic significance of the holy book and its religious meaning, some opponents argued that the bill trivializes something they hold sacred while others stressed constitutional reservations.

Lowering the Bar helpfully notes that this is both plainly unconstitutional and stupid — and furthermore that Tennessee isn’t even the first state to try to do this. In Louisiana, LTB writes, “the debate was not over whether to do it but over which version of the Bible would be appropriate.”

Forward!

Next: Andrea Tantaros

3. Andrea Tantaros

Fox’s Andrea Tantaros earns her seat on the Outnumbered couch by being progenitor of some fairly outlandish — and incorrigibly ditzy — Obama conspiracy theories

Tantaros is what happens when you cross Dale Gribble from King of the HIll with Helen Lovejoy from The Simpsons, by which I mean she manages to somehow hybridize the dopiest bromides of a self-righteous PTA meeting with the conspiracy theories of Alex Jones.

Here is the Fox News luminary in her own words, speaking about Barack Obama on Tuesday’s show:

Why would the administration give cover to ISIS? Is it about his legacy? Some people are asking the question, is he covering for ISIS? Why would the administration be pressuring these agents to not give us the facts on the ground?

Video below, courtesy of Media Matters.

For another example of super-sleuth Tantaros in action, check this out.

Next: Rush Limbaugh

2. Rush Limbaugh

You wouldn’t know it to look at him, but Rush Limbaugh, patron saint of shock jocks, is quite flexible.

That’s judging by his catalogue of contortions this week, which included the talk radio host defending Trump’s obscene remarks about “punishing” women, then defending his remarks defending Trump by saying that he was not, in fact, defending Trump, while still defending them… his remarks, that is. Like I said, he’s flexible. Being spineless can do that.

First, there was Limbaugh blasting MSNBC’s Chris Matthews for “setting up” Trump with a hypothetical question. He also tried to explain Trump’s answers away by blaming New York City liberals for inculcating poor Donald Trump’s brain with horrible caricatures of conservative ideologies, which he had little choice but to parrot on national television.

Then, there was Limbaugh asserting that Trump was technically correct in his assessment that, if you believe abortion is murder, then yes the woman should be punished. Trump’s only error was that he was “politically” in the wrong. (Side note: Take a moment to relish the editors at DailyRushbo’s decision to describe Limbaugh’s characterization of Trump’s comments as “politically wrong,” and not “politically incorrect,” because, you know, thesauri have a well known liberal bias.)

Then there’s the delicious not-about-face about-face the shockmeister performed over the next several days: pushing back against accusations that he was defending Trump, then recalibrating to explain that he had merely wanted to limit the damage Trump’s comments had done, whining:

It wasn’t pandering, it wasn’t an excuse.  It was an attempt to explain to people who want to support Trump why he might have screwed it up.  It was an attempt to explain to people who don’t want to support Trump why it might not be what you think it is.

Who are you going to believe — Rush, or your lying ears?

Next: Her again? 

1. Sarah Palin

Sarah Palin’s style is much more conducive to dittohead rallies than stately functions. No crowd seems to work as well for her as a throng of Tea Partiers cheering and sloshing around their drool buckets every time she says something like “No-Bama.” This was most cruelly illustrated this week by her insane, nonsensical — even by the extremely relaxed standards of the Alaskan governor — speech this week at a Wisconsin Republican function.

It was as if each word was plucked from her own worst game of Boggle. Palin’s latest bag of dictionary confetti impelled even the journalists in the room (who you’d think would be inured to her antics after all these years) to start caustically live-tweeting the event. The governor’s penchant for internal rhyme and folksy nonce words was in evidence, making the 20-minute monologue resemble nothing so much as a Wasilian riff on “Jabberwocky.”

If you don’t have the stomach or time to endure Palin’s 20-minute monologue resembled, you can view the best bits edited together in the following video (courtesy of Mediaite):

Sarah Palin Goes on Bizarre RambleSarah Palin went on a truly bizarre and rambling 20-minute speech in Milwaukee on Friday. Here are the highlights.

Posted by Mediaite on Monday, April 4, 2016

It demands a response, and this was the best one I could find:

Image: DonkeyHotey via Flickr

Check out previous editions of This Week In Crazy here. Think we missed something? Let us know in the comments!Get This Week In Crazy delivered to your inbox every Friday, by signing up for our daily email newsletter.

This Week in Crazy: Libruls R Dum

This Week in Crazy: Libruls R Dum

Radical libruls have taken over our classrooms, our judiciaries, and the media. But they can’t take over my column! Welcome to “This Week In Crazy,” The National Memo’s weekly update on the loony, bigoted, and hateful behavior of the increasingly unhinged left wing. Starting with number five:

5. Gov. Nathan Deal

Georgia governor Nathan Deal vetoed the religious liberty bill that would have protected the God-given freedoms of Peach Staters from the encroachments of the radical LGBT agenda.

Deal makes the insulting gesture of bolstering his spaghetti-spined move by invoking Christians’ own principles against them, saying in his remarks that Christians “have a belief in forgiveness and that we do not have to discriminate unduly against anyone on the basis of our own religious beliefs.”

He continued: “We are not jeopardized, in my opinion, by those who believe differently from us. We are not, in my opinion, put in jeopardy by virtue of those who might hold different beliefs or who may not even agree with what our Supreme Court said the law of the land is on the issue of same-sex marriage. I do not feel threatened by the fact that people who might choose same-sex marriages pursue that route.”

Of course, earnest Christian faith had nothing to do with Deal’s decision. This is merely a craven capitulation from a RINO gov, who is apparently more interested in catering to Hollywood and corporate interests than respecting the men and women who actually work and live in his state. AJC.com reported:

Executives from dozens of big-name companies, including Disney, Apple, Time Warner, Intel and Salesforce, called on the governor to veto the bill. The NFL warned it could risk Atlanta’s bid for the Super Bowl and the NCAA hinted it could influence the state’s ability to host championship games. And Deal’s office said two economic development prospects have already abandoned Georgia because of the legislation.

Thankfully, in this country, our rights do not come by “executives from big-name companies” or the NFL — they come from God. Lawmakers who recognize this simple fact have vowed to take up the crusade against the insidious gaystapo goons in the next session.

Next: Chris Matthews

4. Chris Matthews

The angriest man on MSNBC goaded Donald Trump into making some less-than-well-chosen remarks about abortion (saying that there should be “some punishment” for women who seek abortion — comments he quickly walked back). But of course the LSM went wild with it. Congratulations, Chris.

It wasn’t enough that he relentlessly pummeled Trump with speciously framed questions, provoking him into saying something unconsidered. Matthews also had the temerity to refer to the pro-life position as fascistic.

The revealing slip occurred after Trump adroitly turned the tables on Matthews, challenging him to square his religion with his vocal support for baby murdering.

“I think it’s a woman’s choice,” Matthews said.

“So you’re against the teachings of your church?” Trump fired back.

“I have a view, and a moral view,” said Matthews. “But I believe we live in a free country, and I don’t want to live in a country so fascistic that it can stop a person from making that decision.”

It has, of course, become common to see comparisons drawn between unpopular (conservative) views and the “f-word” — at least in Matthew’s echelon of champaign-popping, chai-sipping, Prius-driving liberal media twitheads. Still.

Next: “Gun shop owner” who refuses to sell guns 

3. Anti-Gun Guy Who Owns a Gun Shop

In the wise words of a t-shirt once sold by Marco Rubio’s campaign: “The 2nd Amendment is not a suggestion. It is a right.”

Although it looks like one gun shop owner didn’t get the memo, unilaterally deciding that it was his responsibility and privilege to trample another man’s constitutional right to bear arms.

Read the disgusting story in full here. The liberal media can try to spin it all they want (“Potential mass shooting averted”? Could there be a bigger nothing burger?) but the facts are plain: a man was deprived of his lawful right to bear arms because a GRAINO (Guns Rights Advocate In Name Only) didn’t like the look in a man’s eyes. Seriously.

“There was something about him. I don’t know. You really can’t explain it. He was going to do something. He was going to do something,” the Ohio gun shop owner told CBS News.

I’ll tell you want you “can’t really explain,” sir. Why you felt it was your right to get keep a gun out of the hands of a drug-dependent college dropout with a history of assault and mental illness. That’s not what the Founders wanted.

Hat tip LawNewz

Next: Cokie Roberts

2. Cokie Roberts

Mere weeks after she blamed Donald Trump for children starting fights in the playground, NPR’s Cokie Roberts is mocking the FBI for doing their job.

Responding to a Washington Post report that the agency had tasked 147 agents with uncovering Hillary Clinton’s email malfeasance, a chuckling Roberts said: “You know, what I took out of that story, a big story about the FBI and all of that, was that 147 FBI agents are focused on this? I mean, don’t they have other problems?” She added: “There’s no crime in the country they should be worrying about?”

Cokie might has well be wearing a t-shirts that says “Shill” written in Hillvetica.

Next: Who else? 

1. Hillary Clinton

What’s left to say about the soon-to-be-indicted (any day now!) Democratic frontrunner?

Other than that she’s a cheat, hypocrite, fraud, and phony, who lies to Americans, plays fast and loose with government secrets, and probably stiffs delivery boys on the tip?

If this week’s pratfall by Susan Sarandon is any indication, the former secretary, and likely avatar of the anti-Christ, will fail to net the support of ultra-libs, not to mention the pot-puffing Millennial set, all of whom are fleeing her campaign for Chairman Bernie.

And so the eternal burning garbage fire that is the Democratic Party continues to blaze. Keep at it, libtards!

Happy April Fools Day!

Image: DonkeyHotey via Flickr

Check out previous editions of This Week In Crazy here. Think we missed something? Let us know in the comments!Get This Week In Crazy delivered to your inbox every Friday, by signing up for our daily email newsletter.

This Week In Crazy: Obama Tried To Nuke Charleston!

This Week In Crazy: Obama Tried To Nuke Charleston!

Welcome to “This Week In Crazy,” The National Memo’s weekly update on the wildest attacks, conspiracy theories, and other loony behavior from the increasingly unhinged right wing. Starting with number five:

5. Sean Duffy and Andrea Tantaros
As all Americans on the East Coast know, this winter has been brutally cold and unusually snowy; in fact, schools in Easton, Massachusetts had so many snow days that the town moved to eliminate three religious holidays next year to avoid having to extend the school year well into the summer, as they’re doing in 2015.

Or at least that’s what they want you to think.

Fortunately for This Week In Crazy readers, the “one lucky guy” on the Monday edition of the Fox News trollfest Outnumbered — U.S. Rep. Sean Duffy (R-WI) — is here to expose the horrible truth about the liberal snow plot otherwise known as winter.

“That makes too much sense,” the Tea Party congressman and former Real World star said of the Easton school committee’s explanation for shortening the schedule. “Don’t let any good crisis go to waste, and if you want to take religion out of the public square, look at Boston and look at all the snow and say, ‘What a great reason now, we can take these religious holidays out of our school system.'”

Co-host Andrea Tantaros heartily agreed.

“I think the congressman hit the nail on the head,” she said. “This is what happens when liberal academic Boston meets ethnic Boston.”

Perhaps Duffy and Tantaros should look to the shining example of Senator Jim Inhofe (R-OK), who recently demonstrated how snow can be turned against the liberal aggressors.

4. Bryan Fischer
When discredited right-wing author Ed Klein wrote an anonymously sourced column claiming that White House advisor Valerie Jarrett leaked Hillary Clinton’s email controversy to the press, it was only a matter of time until the fringe sank its teeth into the conspiracy theory.

As usual, Bryan Fischer led the charge. On the Tuesday edition of his show, Fischer took Klein’s “report” one step further, by explaining why President Obama would want to disqualify Clinton: To destroy America!

“I’ve got a theory about why President Obama is trying to sabotage Hillary Clinton’s candidacy,” Fischer said. “If his agenda is to weaken this country; if his agenda is to transform this country into something that you and I don’t recognize, I believe he thinks he can do that better if Hillary Clinton loses than if Hillary Clinton wins. I think this is all about President Obama wanting to preserve his ability to continue to be a community agitator.”

It’s slightly surprising to hear Fischer — who believes that the president was too lazy to even find out about the Osama bin Laden raid — suggest that Obama will continue the hard work of dismantling the Republic after he leaves office. But in any case, he makes a pretty good case for why Republicans should vote for Hillary Clinton in 2016.

3. Peter Kinder

Screenshot via Buzzfeed

Screenshot: BuzzFeed

The recent Justice Department report on the Ferguson criminal justice system has exposed the crooked practices and deep-seated racism of a rotten institution. Not the Ferguson police department and courts! No, you see, as Missouri lieutenant governor Peter Kinder explains, the Department of Justice has in fact revealed its own racism!

Per Kinder: “There is more racism in the Justice Department […] than anywhere I see in the St. Louis area. […] It is the left. It is the Eric Holder and Obama left, and their minions who are obsessed with race, while the rest of us are moving on beyond it.”

Now, despite the fact that the investigation revealed that for years, Ferguson officials abused their authority by turning the city’s black citizens into a revenue stream through a system of meritless citations, it appears that the actual injustice has been perpetrated on the good state of Missouri by the DoJ’s cadre of “radical, hard left radical leftist lawyers” (try saying that 10 times fast).

Bottom line: Leave Missouri alone, you racist radicals! They have the situation in hand.

You can view the video via BuzzFeed here.

2. Kevin Swanson

Kevin Swanson, the severely warped radio host, has slinked back on to the list! Swanson, you may recall, is the host of Generationsa Colorado Springs-based program whose goal is to “present life from the perspective of a Biblical worldview.” A worldview that apparently causes one to hear a hellish, corrupting influence in the anodyne lyrics of pop idols like Taylor Swift.

Swift’s single “Welcome to New York,” an ode to the city where, as the singer tells it, “you can want who you want / Boys and boys and girls and girls,” is an anthem of depravity, inducing us into national apostasy through our children’s precious, impressionable ears. Mothers, lock up your daughters’ iPods. Better yet, just lock up your daughters. Because to hear Swanson tell it, nowhere — not churches, not public school classrooms — is safe from the corrupting influence of pop culture and its “demon songs.”

Although when you listen to Swanson recite Swift’s lyrics, with a kind of slippery staccato rhythm and creepy sibilant hiss, not to mention the ghoulish, prurient way he elongates these pop singers’ names (“Miiiley Cyruuuus, Taaaaylor Swift taking their little fan club allllll the waaaay, allll the waaaay…”), um, yeah it kind of does sound demonic.

[soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/196336896″ params=”color=ff5500″ width=”100%” height=”166″ iframe=”true” /]

(Incidentally, the godless city that is the subject of the song was not fond of the tune either. Swift’s really getting it from all sides here.)

1. Rick Santorum & Friends
At far-right campaign events, there’s often a crazy person in a crowd who creates an awkward moment for the politicians in attendance. But few have ever delivered like the InfoWars-style paranoiac who took over last week’s South Carolina National Security Action Summit.

During the event, this week’s “winner,” former Pennsylvania senator Rick Santorum, took a question from the audience — and it was a real doozy.

“Why is the Congress rolling over and letting this communist dictator destroy my country?” a woman shouted at Santorum. “Y’all know what he is and I know what he is. I want him out of the White House! He’s not a citizen. He could’ve been removed a long time ago.”

After name dropping This Week In Crazy favorite Larry Klayman, the woman got to her main point — and her rant completely skipped the rails.

“Where do we go from here? Ted [Cruz] told me I’ve got to wait now ’til the next election. I don’t think the country will be around for the next election,” she lamented. “Obama tried to blow up a nuke in Charleston a few months ago…he has fired all the generals and all the admirals who said they wouldn’t fire on the American people if you asked them to do so if he wanted to take the guns away from them!”

Santorum, who looked deeply uncomfortable throughout the entire diatribe, finally got an opportunity to answer.

“First off, I take somewhat offense,” Santorum began. Well, that sounds promising!

“Because I’m not a sitting member of the Senate, so I’m not taking blame for any of that stuff.” Oh.

Good luck with that plan to avoid another circus primary in 2016.

Photo: Gage Skidmore via Flickr.

Check out previous editions of This Week In Crazy here. Think we missed something? Let us know in the comments!