"Disease" Is the New "Terrorism"

Looks like Fox has fixed on its new meme in the run-up to the election so that voters will focus on the threat to national security of women and children seeking refuge rather than health care, domestic terrorism, and the like. First off, one of the most despicable people on the airwaves, neo-Nazi poster girl Laura Ingraham:

After days of venom aimed at the helpless and terrified people walking in the caravan to the southern border of the United States, Ingraham is now directly saying that these innocent people are unvaccinated (how do they know this?) and infested with diseases, like rabies and typhoid.

Ingraham has given the category "disgusting people" a whole new meaning -- I don't know where they found this "doctor," but she's obviously right on board with Fox's agenda: just haul out every ailment you can think of. I do recommend you watch as much of the video as you can stomach -- it's really amazing that anyone could deliver such a load of bullshit with a straight face -- and I trained as an actor.

And of course, "Fox and Friends" is right up there -- after all, got to make sure Trump gets the message so he can tweet about it:

During a Monday morning discussion of the caravan, Kilmeade warned about “entire populations coming here” and then questioned whether we wanted to let them in because of the “diseases” that they could bring in.

“What about diseases?” he asked. “There’s a reason you can’t bring your kid to school unless he’s inoculated. There’s things in this country — we already give 40 to 50 percent of our taxable income in this country to the government for social programs. Is it too much to say that we can’t have countries — entire populations — come in here without being seen as hard-hearted?”

Guest Dan Bongino similarly told Fox viewers that they needed to be terrified of what the caravan will bring to the country.

"Entire populations"? Seriously? And does anyone in this county pay 40 to 50 percent of their taxable income to the government? For anything?

Watch this one -- it's short, and it's totally over the top:

Brian Kilmeade says there’s “entire populations coming in here” bringing “diseases,” and keeping them out is “part of the reason why America’s America.” (h/t @gabrielsherman) pic.twitter.com/o4cjcMdrsE

— Bobby Lewis (@revrrlewis) October 29, 2018

One comment on Kilmeade's comment about illegal entry: Under American law, anyone can present themselves at an entry point and request asylum, at which point the asylum process begins. They are not "illegal". That's the law.

Sounds to me like someone is really, really worried about the midterms. And especially in the wake of the increase in hate crimes and domestic terrorism lately (perpetrated by, let me remind you, white guys), Fox has really got to get their audience to refocus on the real danger: Brown people.

Today In Pathetic Losers

Take your pick:

House Republicans:

A pair of leading House Republicans on Monday laid out detailed instructions for the Justice Department to file perjury charges against Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton. More than a month after first requesting the department open a criminal probe into Clinton for alleged misstatements she made under oath, the GOP heads of the House Judiciary and Oversight committees told a federal prosecutor specifically where they believed Clinton had lied to Congress about her email setup at the Department of State.

Somebody is really terrified about the election.

Pat McCrory:

Gov. Pat McCrory wants the U.S. Supreme Court to reinstate North Carolina’s voter ID law for the November election. The law, which requires voters to bring a photo ID to the polls, was thrown out by a federal appeals court ruling. Late Monday, McCrory announced that he has sent a formal request to Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts to stay the ruling while state leaders appeal the decision.

Somebody is really terrified about the election.

Rudy Giuliani:

Under those eight years before Obama came along, we didn’t have any successful radical Islamic terrorist attack in the US. They all started when Clinton and Obama got into office.

Somebody is really terrified about the election. Plus, he's after Katrina Pierson's job.

Privacy? What's That? (Updated)

From the Washington Post:

The National Security Agency and the FBI are tapping directly into the central servers of nine leading U.S. Internet companies, extracting audio and video chats, photographs, e-mails, documents, and connection logs that enable analysts to track foreign targets, according to a top-secret document obtained by The Washington Post.

The program, code-named PRISM, has not been made public until now. It may be the first of its kind. The NSA prides itself on stealing secrets and breaking codes, and it is accustomed to corporate partnerships that help it divert data traffic or sidestep barriers. But there has never been a Google or Facebook before, and it is unlikely that there are richer troves of valuable intelligence than the ones in Silicon Valley.

Equally unusual is the way the NSA extracts what it wants, according to the document: “Collection directly from the servers of these U.S. Service Providers: Microsoft, Yahoo, Google, Facebook, PalTalk, AOL, Skype, YouTube, Apple.”

Also, check out this series of graphics that explains just how it works and who's involved.

If you really want to get your blood pressure up, read the whole article -- it's a combination play by the NSA, the Bush and Obama administrations, Congress, and the courts. It's too lengthy and detailed to summarize here, and there are links to related articles -- WaPo has been on this one for a while (and it's nice to see WaPo actually committing journalism).

And of course, it's all under the battle-cry of "National Security!!1!eleventy!"

Assholes.

The Guardian also has a story.

Here's a reaction from the editorial board of NYT. Also worth a read.

Update: Also read Digby, here. It's not "open and transparent" if the American people don't know what you're doing.

And another comment from Digby:

Someone should introduce Senator Feinstein to Senators Udall and Wyden because she just went on TV to explain that all of this is well known and that nobody in the government objects. It's all very above board, legal and by the book.

See my comment above about who knows what.

Update II: It seems Glen Greenwald broke the story in the Guardian.

Thoughts on Tyler Clementi

For some reason, Tyler Clementi's death seems to be resonating much more than those of the other kids who've killed themselves because of bullying. I'm not sure why -- perhaps it's the information age/social networking aspect. Whatever the cause, it's been the focus of a lot of the commentary.

I just ran across this post from Gareth Higgins that is worth reading. It's also about the only commentary I've read that even comes close to identifying the dynamics of that particular tragedy:

I’m sorry, Tyler. I wish I’d known you. I’m sorry that I have been part of the reason you were humiliated. I am sorry that I have been so divided within myself that even though I know what it’s like to experience sexual humiliation, I held onto my own homophobia because it felt safer and more known. I owe something to you. I owe it to you to be honest about myself, to stop dehumanizing others, and to do everything I can to make sure that your place in history is simple and clear: that you would be the last.

I don't think, however, that Higgins really nails it. I've been thinking about this one off and on ever since I posted by own reaction to the criticism of Dan Savage's It Gets Better Project, and I've finally realized what I think is a major contributing factor, not only to Clementi's reaction to his romantic interlude being live-streamed on the Internet, but to the resonance it holds for so many of us: paranoia.

I'm not saying that Tyler Clementi was pathological. I'm saying that in a culture that demands that gays keep their affections secret, in which the consequences of coming out can be literally life-threatening, think about the ramifications of realizing that there is no place where you are safe. Not even in your own room.

That's what the culture that Higgins describes has created.

In Clementi's case, it seems to have been not only that realization, but also, from all appearances, there was no place he could go, and no one he could talk to. That's a really bad combination.

Anti-Semites

That's what anyone who demands accountability and transparency from the Catholic hierarchy is like. Digby and Tristero weigh in, with a solid analysis of the history and some rightful outrage.

Via Digby:

A senior Vatican priest, speaking before Pope Benedict XVI at a Good Friday service, compared the world’s outrage at sexual abuse scandals in the Catholic Church to the persecution of the Jews, prompting angry responses from victims’ advocates and consternation from Jewish groups.

The Vatican spokesman quickly distanced the Vatican from the remarks, which came on the day Christians mark the Crucifixion. They underscored how much the Catholic Church has felt under attack from recent news reports and from criticism over how it has handled charges of child molesting against priests in the past.

See Jim Burroway's comments on this, as well.

The Church has forced itself into a corner and is reduced to damage control of the most extreme variety. I mean, criticizing criminal activity by members of the hierarchy is equivalent to antisemitism? Excuse me? Is anyone going to buy that one?

A leading advocate for sexual abuse victims in the United States, David Clohessy, called comparing criticism of the church to persecution of the Jews “breathtakingly callous and misguided.”

“Men who deliberately and consistently hide child sex crime are in no way victims,” he said. “And to conflate public scrutiny with horrific violence is about as wrong as wrong can be.”

Regular readers here are aware I have little respect for the Catholic hierarchy, and an episode like this one -- and, as Digby points out, it's only one episode in the Church's history -- decisively underscores the complete moral vacuum at the head of this beast.

And if you want to see where the antisemitism comes into the mix, look no farther:

Father Cantalamessa’s remarks come after weeks of intense scrutiny of Benedict, which some in the Italian news media have seen in conspiratorial terms. Last week, the center-left daily newspaper La Repubblica wrote , without attribution, that “certain Catholic circles” believed the criticism of the church stemmed from “a New York ‘Jewish lobby.”

Tristero sort of says it:

Comparing the well-earned disgust the entire world rightly feels over the system-wide rape of women and children by Catholic priests to the demented bigotry of Anti-Semitism is way, way, WAY beyond offensive. . . .

Note to Vatican:

Cut it out, you stupid assholes. You are managing to accomplish the impossible: making the awful situation YOU refused to deal with a whole lot worse. Back off. NOW.

Frankly, I don't really care if the Vatican goes down in flames. I think the world might be a better place, and I say this in full awareness of the good work that Catholics do in the world. I also say it in full awareness that much of this work is done in defiance of the Vatican, such as the priests and nuns in South America and the Caribbean who distribute condoms in the fight against AIDS. We all remember, of course, the Diocese of Washington pulling its social services programs because the District legalized same-sex marriage, much as the Archdiocese of Boston did with adoption services in Massachusetts, because they couldn't sustain those programs in conformity with their "beliefs," which apparently dictate against placing children in loving, stable homes. (That's pretty disgusting, actually.) And then there's always Bill Donohue.

I think their most stunning defense so far -- may even beat out Donohue's -- is this one: "The Devil made them do it."

Somehow, the scales seem to be tipping wildly out of balance here.