Ethics? We don’t need no stinkin’ ethics!

ethics

In a secret vote held behind closed doors Monday night, House Republicans voted to cripple the Office of Congressional Ethics, an independent body created in 2008 to rein in corruption and other misconduct by members of Congress.

The move was spearheaded “by lawmakers who have come under investigation in recent years,” according to Politico. Among those speaking in favor of the changes were Rep. Blake Farenthold (R-TX), who was accused by a staffer of sexual harassment, and Rep. Peter Roskam (R-IL), who allegedly received “an impermissible gift when he and his wife traveled to Taiwan in October 2011.”

Under the new rules, the Office of Congressional Ethics would be renamed the Office of Congressional Complaint Review and, critically, lose its independence. It would be placed under the auspices of the House Ethics Committee, which famously has turned a blind eye to wrongdoing by members of Congress. It became clear that an independent body was necessary after scandals largely ignored by the the Ethics Committee sent several members of Congress, including Randy “Duke” Cunningham and Bob Ney, to jail.

Ooooh, a complaints department! We’re all so sure that will work wonderfully, right?

Many of the new restrictions on the body appear designed to make it easier to sweep misconduct under the rug.

The new Office of Congressional Complaint Review cannot make any of its findings public — or make any other public statement — without the approval of the House Ethics Committee.

Ah, how cozy. All the corrupt, unethical, immoral republicans now have a lovely shelter, and no one will ever tell them they are wrong.

Even if the Office of Congressional Complaint Review finds evidence of criminal conduct, it cannot report it to the police without prior approval.

Even better! If caught, they can’t be punished.

The rules also prohibit the new office from considering anonymous complaints or investigating any conduct that occurred before 2011.

Very convenient. That effectively prohibits any investigation via a complainant who might have every reason to be concerned about retaliation.

The House leadership will get a chance to prove their opposition Tuesday, when a public vote on a rules package that includes the changes to ethics oversight will occur on the House floor.

Yeah, I’m not gonna hold my breath. More American Greatness™ folks, Look Ma, no ethics! Via Think Progress.

The Conservative Rally Cry: No More Porn!

Todd Weiler (Facebook).

Todd Weiler (Facebook).

The attempt to legislate a pre-loaded porn nanny is here. Now we move on to the anti-porn crusade being spear-headed by Utah republicans, alarmed over the porn consumption stats of Utah, which are very high indeed. A couple of decades ago, I live in Utah, SLC specifically. It’s not difficult to understand why porn consumption is so very high there, it’s a state based on serious repression, and a deliberate suppression of knowledge. Naturally, Utah is going with the “won’t anyone think about the children!” whine to defend their latest draconian measures. You could seriously counter the importance of porn among children by providing proper sex education. Demystifying goes a long way in making something a whole lot less interesting. It helps if you aren’t always muttering “forbidden!” too, but I expect that’s a road too far for Utah. All that said, the majority of porn consumers in Utah are not children. They are adult, hetero men.

Now that he’s successfully declared pornography to be a public health crisis in his state, a Utah Republican wants to allow lawsuits against companies that put explicit content online.

State Sen. Todd Weiler (R-Woods Cross) sponsored a resolution that passed last year to declare the public health crisis, and he said the new bill would focus mainly on underage children and teens who become addicted to online pornography, reported the Salt Lake Tribune.

“I’m trying to kind of track the same path that was taken against tobacco 70 years ago,” Weiler told KSL-TV. “It’s not government coming in and saying what you can and can’t watch. It’s just basically a message to the pornography industry that if someone in Utah can prove damages from the product, that they may be held liable financially.”

That’s not likely, given that the whole notion of porn ‘addiction’ is a false one.

The lawmaker is working on a second bill that would close a loophole requiring public libraries to filter out adult content on wireless internet connections, and not just wired connections, and he also wants internet service providers to filter explicit content for all users, although they may opt out.

Intransitive has the best, simplest idea about the filtering question, which means it would never be implemented.

Weiler, who is an attorney, admits the first two or three dozen cases against pornographers would most likely be dismissed, but he believes they would eventually gain traction.

“I’m looking at where we can push the envelope as a state of Utah,” Weiler said. “To pretend that this is not having any impact on our youth, on children’s’ minds as they’re developing, as their attitudes towards sex and the opposite sex are being formed, I think, is foolish.”

Lawmakers in Tennessee and Virginia are considering measures that would declare pornography a public health crisis in their states, as well, and the Republican National Committee issued a warning in its 2016 platform about health concerns related to pornographic materials.

The new rallying cry of repubs everywhere, oh gods, porn! Perhaps if all republicans stopped their porn consumption, I’d bet the reduction in numbers would seriously impress them.

Via Raw Story.

Oh, Please Stop.

As far as you can see, mountains of snow. Today, snowing. Very fast, very heavy. We’re getting buried. No idea if we’ll be able to get out at all this week. Rick had just managed to get the van dug out yesterday, which needs a new battery, because frozen. I’m not liking winter.

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© C. Ford.

The Wall Street Journal: We Will Not Call A Lie A Lie.

Credit: Screenshot

Credit: Screenshot.

Since President-elect Donald Trump won the election, he has continued his campaign habit of making inconsistent, unverifiable, or even just obviously false statements. The American public is left to rely on the media to learn the truth and make sense of his proclamations.

That’s exactly what the media is supposed to do with any politician—when the President lies, it is the press’ obligation to tell the public. But it’s doubly important with a politician like Trump, whose entire political career has often been punctuated by flagrant lies.

But when Trump lies, the Wall Street Journal—the second largest paper by circulation in the country—will not call it a lie, according to the its editor-in-chief Gerard Baker.

“I’d be careful about using the word, ‘lie.’ ‘Lie’ implies much more than just saying something that’s false. It implies a deliberate intent to mislead,” Baker told Chuck Todd on Meet the Press on Sunday.

Well no shit, Sherlock. A lie is a deliberate intent to mislead. That would be why it’s called a lie. A falsehood. A fabrication. For fuck’s sake, it truly is Nineteen Eighty Four, and Doublespeak is here.

Instead, Baker said the paper would investigate the claim, and then present both sides: What Trump said, and what the paper found. Then, the readers will be left to decide which account is correct.

As an example, Baker cited one of Trump’s more outrageous lies: When he claimed that thousands of Muslims in New Jersey gathered on rooftops to celebrate 9/11. Baker noted that the WSJ investigated his claim and found it baseless.

Right. That’s an excellent example of a lie, a deliberate intent to mislead people into thinking this made up bullshit was true. So, it’s a LIE. Big, yuuuuge LIE. It’s okay to say so.

“I think it’s then up to the reader to make up their own mind to say, ‘This is what Donald Trump says. This is what a reliable, trustworthy news organization reports. And you know what? I don’t think that’s true.’ I think if you start ascribing a moral intent, as it were, to someone by saying that they’ve lied, I think you run the risk that you look like you are, like you’re not being objective,” he said.

Oh fuck you, with bells on. You can leave it up to people to decide whether or not they are okay with someone lying, you can’t prevent that anyway. What you can do is call a LIE a LIE.  That’s not a moral judgement, it’s reporting the truth. Idiot. And fuck all this “both sides” bullshit, too. I’m not interested in being fair to tyrants, facsists, compulsive liars, or nazis, among others.

The full story is at Think Progress.

Phobie of the Year: Pat McCrory.

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The competition for Phobie of the Year was devilish in 2016, but one man out-hated all the rest. Pat McCrory, the outgoing governor of North Carolina, even outdid Vice President-elect Mike Pence.

At least in Indiana, where Pence was governor, he backed down when business representing millions of dollars threatened to leave the state over its Religious Freedom Restoration Act — also known as a “license to discriminate.” Pence signed a fix to the law so discriminating against LGBT people wasn’t allowed under the RFRA’s protections. In North Carolina, though, even as jobs left the state and performers canceled concerts and millions piled up in lost revenue, McCrory and Republicans refused to rethink what they passed in House Bill 2.

Lawmakers hadn’t approved a RFRA exactly. Instead, they passed a law banning any locality from including LGBT people in antidiscrimination ordinances. In other words, they wanted to ensure that discrimination against LGBT people remains legal no matter where you go in North Carolina. They also barred transgender people from using the bathroom that matches their gender identity in any government building, without citing a single incident caused in North Carolina by letting transgender people use the bathroom of their choice.

There’s much more at The Advocate, including the Phobie Finalists:

[Read more…]

Artist Unite for Orlando Benefit Comic.

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Some of the biggest names in the comic book industry are contributing their talents to Love Is Love, a 144-page comic book made in collaboration by IDW Publishing and DC Comics to benefit Equality Florida, and honor the victims, survivors, and families of the attack at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando.

Contributors include Brian Michael Bendis, Gail Simone, Scott Snyder, Grant Morrison, Jock, Cat Staggs, Paul Dini, James Asmus, Ming Doyle, and a ton more as well as names outside of the comic industry like Damon Lindelof, Patton Oswalt, and Patty Jenkins.

This oversize comic contains moving and heartfelt material from some of the greatest talent in comics, mourning the victims, supporting the survivors, celebrating the LGBTQ community, and examining love in today’s world. All material has been kindly donated by the writers, artists, and editors with all proceeds going to victims, survivors, and their families.

You can order and preview Love is Love here.

Only in America…

The list of “celebratory” gunfire incidents in this barely begun year goes on and on and on and on. All over the place, people who would, I am sure, consider themselves “good Americans” whipped out guns and started firing indiscriminately. A lot of people have been shot, a five year old girl was killed. I’m sure everyone one of them would class themselves in the “responsible gun owner” category, too.

People truly need to stop, and take a good look at themselves, and their country. If you were looking at pages of articles about people deciding to whip out loaded guns and fire at will, because holiday, and this was taking place in a different country, how disapproving and condemnatory would you be? This is barely short of insanity, the gun mania in uStates, and it must stop. Dallas (Texas) alone received over 1,000 calls about idiots with guns. Is anyone going to care that a lawmaker was shot in the head? That a five year old child is dead? That scores of other people have been shot? That scores more have been traumatized? That houses have been marked with bullets? What’s it going to take?

This is not greatness. This is idiocy descending into chaotic madness. Go ahead, take a look at all the incidents, then take a very good look at the country which is supposedly so grand.