Jenny McCarthy, Queen of the Anti-Vaxxers

This has been "Vaccination Week" in the news, as Chris Christie, Rand Paul, and ABC's Laura Ingraham decided they would set modern medicine back about 100 years and diss vaccinations in the middle of a Measles Epidemic.

But they are just minor players in this meme. Many on Twitter are pointing fingers at actress and erstwhile Playboy Bunny Jenny McCarthy as the real Evil Queen of the Anti-Vaxxers because she was so outspoken about her belief that childhood shots are the cause of autism. Without her help, that debunked theory might have died long ago. Thanks to her, humans may die long before the Anti-Vaxx movement dies.

From Huffington Post

...Jenny McCarthy has been described as a "Playmate turned pseudoscientist" who "by dint of sheer energy and celebrity... became the nation's most prominent purveyor of anti-vaxxer ideology." She is president of Generation Rescue, a non-profit group founded in 2005 by Lisa and J.B. Handley, which promotes the discredited idea that children with autism can be cured by unscientific, non-medical methods. Its website claims, "Conventional medicine treats the symptoms of autism. Biomedical treatment addresses the root cause." McCarthy stumbled onto this website within weeks of its debut in 2005, shortly after her son was diagnosed with autism, and soon afterwards began her anti-vaccine crusade.
. . . Now that long-dormant diseases are reappearing, McCarthy has tried to deny her anti-vaxxer history. Worse, she is still misinforming the public.
"I am not anti-vaccine," she said last November, right before the debut of her new SiriusXM radio show. "I'm in this gray zone of, I think everyone should be aware and educate yourself and ask questions. And if your kid is having a problem, ask your doctor for an alternative way of doing the shots," meaning receiving fewer doses at once, which is not medically recommended, since it increases the time children remain unvaccinated and vulnerable to illness.

Tell A&E and ABC to Stop Giving Jenny McCarthy Airtime Until She Admits Vaccines Don't Cause Autism #p2 #vaccineswork pic.twitter.com/L3Xa70yik6

— The Latest Outrage (@latestoutrage) January 7, 2015

52 of 95 measles cases in California traced directly back to Disneyland. 95 of 95 traced to Jenny McCarthy Fantasyland #antivaxxers
— The Daily Edge (@TheDailyEdge) January 29, 2015

I still find it hard to believe that you couldn't pay people to watch a Jenny McCarthy movie, but they'll still take her medical advice.
— Gabe Ortíz (@TUSK81) January 29, 2015

BREAKING: @JennyMcCarthy to host Super Bowl pregame show and offer free samples of measles to the first 70,000 guests. #VaxDenier
— Barracks O'Bama (@P0TUS) January 30, 2015

Why are people taking medical advice from Jenny McCarthy?! asked the guys who put Jim Inhofe in charge of the Senate Environment Committee
— LOLGOP (@LOLGOP) January 30, 2015

@TheDailyEdge @SnarkAmendment J.McCarthy said 10 years ago, Dr.'s cured her kid of Autism. NOW?! she's Anti-Cure 4 everyone else..

— surfinbird512 (@surfinbird5121) February 4, 2015

#BecauseIDied my mom will no longer take medical advice from Jenny McCarthy. #p2 pic.twitter.com/dnHXoR9Nmg

— Eric Wolfson (@EricWolfson) February 3, 2015

The real hazard to Jenny McCarthy’s son is not a vaccine. It’s his mother.

— Harold Itzkowitz (@HaroldItz) February 4, 2015

#JennyMcCarthy will do anything 4 publicity even endanger the lives of babies & cancer patients apparently.

— badwolf303 (@badwolf303) February 4, 2015

Rabies vaccine?! #JennyMcCarthy said my #dog didn't need it! #UnlikelyThingsToHearInAPetStore pic.twitter.com/AkWZb14ozC

— cassandracarolina (@cassandra17lina) February 4, 2015

GOP Fearmongering about "Diseases" on the Border

Previous Related Posts:
Oops! Rick Perry Looks Like Grumpy Cat
Murrieta Mob Screams at Immigrant Children
Ann Coulter Rants that Immigrants will Ruin GOP
GOP Painful Rebranding on Immigration
Grinchy Jan Brewer Denies Dreamer Rights
Sheriff Joe Arpaio Arrests 6-year-old Girl
Obama Immigration Speech Makes Right Wing Heads Explode

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Prophets of Doom, that is to say the Republican Party and Fox News, are spreading more lies about the poor immigrant children arriving on our southern border. The key word of their talking point is "disease," and the hyperbole making the rounds is that all the kids are infected with everything from HIV to Leprosy, and they are "invading" a town near you!!!

What Republicans are saying is the stereotypical racist diatribe against the "other" arriving on our shores. They said it about the Irish, the Italians, the Jews, the Chinese - just name any ethnic group. And don't forget the strange "Kenyan" President. It's a story old as time.

These fear-mongering doofus-twits forget that most large cities in the U.S. have an epidemic of bedbugs right now. Homegrown bedbugs. And every elementary school in the country, private as well as public, has had recent bouts with head lice, fleas, chiggers, or something else. Same thing with summer camps, where all sorts of itchy and crawly things run rampant in hot weather. For all we know, these kids on the border are catching parasites after arriving in the American camps.

You can't just glance at a child and diagnose whether they merely have a heat rash, allergy, or mosquito bites as opposed to being "infected" with something more sinister. Maybe it's not measles, it's merely chicken pox? The GOP just loves to play doctor, and here they go again.

What is the harm in giving these poor chidren some nutritious food, a bath, and a clean place to sleep? Is that too much to ask from the richest country on earth? What would Jesus do? Didn't he heal the sick and say "suffer the little children to come unto me." Those words are lost on the faux-Christians pretending to be holier than the immigrants. Shame on them!

PEOPLE WITH SCABIES AND OTHER DISEASES ARE COMING ACROSS OUR BORDER TO A CITY NEAR YOU!! THANKS TO OBAMA?? pic.twitter.com/ZivW3AmTdN

— CHARLES HUSHBURG (@Callisto1947) July 13, 2014

Border Agents Are Testing Positive For Diseases Illegals Are Carrying! #SendThemBack #RedNationRising pic.twitter.com/PBp32gh0lz
— RedNationRising (@RedNationRising) July 8, 2014

Obama afraid to go 2 border because he might get SCABBIES, LICE, TB, HIV. It's ok 4 border patrol to get the diseases pic.twitter.com/bfzDu6rEYT

— Barbara Day (@daynutrition) July 12, 2014

"@gerfingerpoken: Obamas Open Borders Put Nations Health At Risk http://t.co/0RF3b6QQad @IBDinvestors - pic.twitter.com/f9PvZDBLnp"- VERY SCARY

— 《DarknessArising》 (@jerrilyn71) July 7, 2014

No Ill-Eagles Graffiti in Maryland:

"No ill Eagles" - Maryland haters can't spell #Derp #BorderCrisis http://t.co/pG8tLC1PsX pic.twitter.com/BjB5pfEoFy

— Jeanne K. (@SnarkAmendment) July 14, 2014

Via Raw Story

Fox News has reported, repeatedly, that the children entering the country are doing so “with active scabies,” one of the three most common skin infections among children.
However, The National Review cast doubt about verifiability of the scabies claims, noting that the U.S. Customs and Border Protection agent who made them, Ron Zermeno, received a cease and desist order from his employer, reminding him that he should not speak without prior authorization.

From the Texas Observer

With thousands of children from Central America arriving at the U.S.-Mexico border, an old plague is once again sweeping the country—the fear of the diseased immigrant.

“Our schools cannot handle this influx, we don’t even know what all diseases they have,” U.S. Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-TX) said recently. “Our health care systems can’t withstand this influx.”

Fox News commentator Cal Thomas asks, for example, if “the unaccompanied minors pouring over the border…have brought with them proof of vaccination?” Thomas accuses the border-crossers of harboring vaccine-preventable diseases such as “mumps, measles, rubella, polio, tetanus and diphtheria.”

Before demonizing undocumented children, we should look at the facts: The vast majority of Central Americans are vaccinated against all these diseases. Governments concerned about health, and good parents investing in their kids, have made Central American kids better-vaccinated than Texan kids. We fear them not because they are actually sick, but because of powerful anti-immigration narratives that link foreigners to disease.

In fact, as the Texas Observer notes, the kids arriving on the Texas border are actually better vaccinated than our own children in the U.S., thanks to smear campaigns by famous celebrities blaming vaccines for everything from autism to cancer, as well as a lack of health insurance up till now for the poorest families.

By comparison, one in six kids in Texas is uninsured, and even insured families often must pay for vaccination. That means that many Texas kids fall behind on vaccinations, or miss them altogether when their family can’t afford a doctor’s visit. Other families refuse vaccination.
. . . Fact check: UNICEF reports that 93 percent of kids in Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador are vaccinated against measles. That’s better than American kids (92 percent).

Pediatricians: Unaccompanied children crossing US border are not carrying dangerous diseases http://t.co/pY2PzDOVAF @maggiemfox

— Amer Acad Pediatrics (@AmerAcadPeds) July 11, 2014

Feverish Fox Fear Porn About ISIS

Judge Jeanine Pirro of Fox News went ballistic over the Middle East last week:

I've told you that you need to be afraid because they are coming for you (points at camera). The ISIS assault, the Islamic state of Iraq and Syria signals the beginning of the "Reverse Crusade." They ARE coming for us. To them, WE are the Infidels. But I for one am not willing to let one more American die or come home with fewer limbs from that part of the world. Americans have shed enough blood there.

My resolution? Air strikes. Bomb them! Bomb them! Keep Bombing them again and again, and I don't care how long it takes. Just take out ISIS. Take out their convoys. Take out those troops!

And even though our President says he "didn't know" - The TOLD us they were coming for us! The head of this band of savages, Abu al-Bagdadi, was released by the Obama Administration and started ISIS one year later in 2010.

. . . ISIS is a fanatical religious terrorist organization. And if you think they are nothing more than rag-tag rebels, you are WRONG!!! They are a sophisticated band of militants who add to their ranks by emptying out jails...

. . . Now, Mr. President, you may see yourself as a war hero. The truth? There has been a 60 percent increase in radical Islamist terrorism since you’ve been in office. And you keep letting these guys out! Like the Bergdahl trade and the five terrorists, you didn’t have the balls to try in GITMO or federal court. You were simply clueless. A paper tiger who only knows how to cut and run!

Bob Cesca on The Daily Banter described Pirro's rant quite well:

Pirro’s five-minute tirade had everything: finger-wagging, fear-mongering, misinformation, wild conspiracy theories, the phrase “cut and run” and, naturally, ball-shaming. It’s a cocktail of Obama Derangement Syndrome delivered with laser-like precision directly into the outrage cortexes of typical Fox News viewers, likely inducing octogenarian white-guy erections with tensile strengths not experienced since Don Ameche, Wilford Brimley and Hume Cronyn splashed around in that magical pool in Cocoon.

GrafZeppelin127 on Daily Kos explained it as "The Truman Show In Reverse" - referring to the Jim Carrey movie about a man whose whole life has been filmed for reality TV

What we are watching on that YouTube video embedded above, what Bob Cesca describes today on his blog, is an IMPROV ACT. It is nothing more or less than a scene in an elaborate, ongoing, endless, perpetual, well-funded, well-orchestrated, non-stop 24/7 production of improvisational theatre, in which the performers get to make up the story as they go along and perform it for the audience. The person called "Jeanine Pirro" that we see and hear on the TV screen, is an actress, a character in a play. This is not a real person saying real things. She's an actress in character doing a performance piece.
. . . The difference between "The Truman Show" as portrayed in the movie and what we see on "Fox News" every day (such as the ugly fact-challenged rant by this character named "Jeanine Pirro" in the video above) is that Truman himself is not on the show. The audience does not tune in to watch Truman and see what happens; the audience is Truman. They don't know that they're watching improv. Just as Truman can't tell the difference between actors/characters and real people, Fox's audience in large part can't tell the difference between an improv act called "News," and news.

One strong response to this fire-breathing fear-mongering came from Russell Brand, a British comedian who took Pirro and Fox News to the woodshed over this tirade with a video entitled "Is Fox News More Dangerous Than Isis?". Towards the end, as he watches Pirro heap abuse on President Obama, even referring to his "b*alls," Brand says she reminds him of a dominatrix yelling at a masochist victim in a porn movie. Gives new meaning to the phrase "fear porn" to describe the nonsense Fox spews into the atmosphere day after day just to frighten their paranoid conspiracy-crazed viewers.

She called them "Infidels"...Don't try to counter religious extremism with religious extremism!
. . . Imagine living with this woman. 'Get in there and cook my dinner! Cook it and cook it again! I don't care how long it takes!' . . . 'I will punch you and punch you again!'
. . . And don't call your fellow human beings savages.... Give aid for the refugees in the region. Try and help them and stabilize their region, and try to build infrastructure. Not the bombing, bombing, bombing system. 
~ Russell Brand

From Huffington Post

Brand fired back. "(Fox News is) ... a fanatical terrorist propagandist organization. This isn't reasonable, is it? Like the way she's talking? 'Bomb them! Bomb them!' She's worse ... She's the savage, she's totally espousing savage values."
"It's invective, just incendiary language, just volatile combative, angry language. That - I'm not being sensational - that is more dangerous than ISIS," he added. "That's attitude. That's far-reaching. That's affecting millions and millions of people."

Pundits at Fox pushed back and took Pirro's side:

From Washington Post

This is how Eric Bolling, co-host of the marvelous roundtable program “The Five,” played Brand’s rant: “First up, actor, musician and political provocateur Russell Brand has issues with Fox News and our own Judge Jeanine Pirro. Brand goes bananas in a ten-minute rambling and at times incoherent rant, comparing Fox News to the radical terror group ISIS.”
. . . During the discussion on “Hannity,” for example, Fox News’s own Geraldo Rivera said this: “But furthermore, where are the beheaded bodies here at Fox News? That kind of hyperbole only undermines any argument he has.”
When you’re disavowing studio decapitations, you’ve lost the PR war.

Crazy Karl Rove Says Hillary Has Brain Damage

Karl Rove is struggling to put his troubles behind him, and by that I mean the night  Rove lost his marbles on Fox News when President Obama won Ohio on election night in 2012. He was so bizarre (and obviously wrong) that night he lost his job on Fox News, but after a few weeks Roger Ailes felt sorry for him and welcomed him back.



Now he is going after Hillary Clinton, who hasn't even announced a 2016 run for President yet, by saying she is "brain damaged" by a concussion and blood clot she suffered that same year.

I guess Karl is trying to earn political cred so some Republican might pay for his political expertise in skewing poll numbers again to feed to the trusting Republican voters. But like his warped and damaged party, his "brand" is broken and can't be put back together again. I'm not sure even the Koch Brothers want to pay him this time around.

Here's what Karl said, embroidered with lies. He hasn't changed much since 2012.

New York Post Story

(Rove) said if Clinton runs for president, voters must be told what happened when she suffered a fall in December 2012.
The official diagnosis was a blood clot. Rove told the conference near LA Thursday, “Thirty days in the hospital? And when she reappears, she’s wearing glasses that are only for people who have traumatic brain injury? We need to know what’s up with that.”
Rove repeated the claim a number of times to the audience. Clinton’s rep said, “Please assure Dr. Rove she’s 100 percent.”
Despite Rove’s claims, then-Secretary of State Clinton was discharged from New York Presbyterian Hospital after spending three days undergoing treatment for a potentially life-threatening blood clot.

The Hillary Camp also said:

There are no words for this level of lying.
~ A Clinton spokesperson via The Wire

And the White House:

Here's what I would say about cognitive capacity, which is that Dr. Rove might have been the last person in America on election night to recognize and acknowledge that the President had won reelection, including the state of Ohio. So we'll leave it at that,"
~ White House Press Secretary Jay Carney

Rove is already backpeddling:

I didn't say she had brain damage, she had a serious health episode.
. . . My point was that Hillary Clinton wants to run for President ... She would not be human if this didn't enter in as a consideration...
. . . I never used that phrase.
~ Karl Rove on Fox News

Now Ex-President Bill Clinton puts the Kibosh on old "Ham" Rove:

I got to give him credit, you know that embodies that old saying, ‘Consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds.’First they say she faked her concussion, now they say she’s auditioning for a part on The Walking Dead. She works out every week, she is strong, she’s doing great. As far as I can tell she’s in better shape than I am now…I was sort of dumbfounded. You can’t get too upset about it — it’s just the beginning, they’ll get better and better at it. I’m still waiting for them to admit there was nothing in White Water.”
~ via Politicus USA

Karl Rove: I never said Hillary had brain damage, but we need to talk about her age http://t.co/BC3XUqnB5X pic.twitter.com/aOhlMKvjiB
— Talking Points Memo (@TPM) May 13, 2014

Karl Rove has 2 knicknames: TurdBlossom (GWB) & The Architect… Aptly named b/c he built GOP outhouse which quickly filled up w/FecalFinance.
— From A Citizen (@CuestionMarque) May 14, 2014

So let me get this straight. Karl Rove. Bush's brain..A.K.A. Miss Piggy..is now questioning Hillary Clinton's brain?
— Dana V. Smith (@DanaVSmith) May 14, 2014

.@KarlRove is accusing @HillaryClinton of brain damage? The same guy who was sure @MittRomney would win? That Karl Rove? Just checking.
— Steve Marmel (@Marmel) May 13, 2014

How do we know Karl Rove didn’t murder an entire family with a hatchet? #karlrovequestions
— Oliver Willis (@owillis) May 13, 2014

"I think Karl Rove may have brain damage." - Donald Sterling
— Hesiod Theogeny (@Hesiod2k11) May 14, 2014

The evidence for Hillary Clinton having brain damage seems thin. It's not like she thought Romney could win Ohio.
— Bearded Stoner (@beardedstoner) May 13, 2014

Hillary scares "poppin fresh" Karl Rove witless just by existing. She eats little faux Rs for appetizers. Bring in the clowns #Benghazi boys
— Beth Houston (@MacBethSpeaks) May 14, 2014

Karl Rove: SHhhhh, be vewy vewy qwiet, I'm hunting Hillawy! #ElmerRove #UniteBlue
— WayneEdH (@WayneEdH) May 13, 2014

Snowden Has a Sad Over Putin Question

Previous Related Posts:
Putin and Snowden Chat About Surveillance
All Hail the Snowden Pulitzer

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Poor Little Snowden! Always misunderstood and victimized by his own words and actions! The other day he showed up on Russian TV asking Vladimir Putin a carefully prepared question about surveillance. Whether he meant it to be a brave act or not, it came across as a publicity stunt orchestrated by the Russians. Snowden tried to follow-up with an editorial in the Guardian, but the damage was done and he was being mocked all over the internet. Now his advisers are trying to absorb the blame for his staged question, saying he "couldn't get in touch with his online advisers" that day, which makes Snowden sound naive and helpless on his own. Ironically, this just points to an obvious flaw in Snowden's mythos as an idealistic maverick whistleblower ~ he is actually the puppet of many - the Wikileaks crowd, Greenwald, Poitras, Guardian UK, the Libertarians, perhaps the Chinese, as well as Putin.

From the Daily Beast

NSA leaker Edward Snowden instantly regretted asking Russian President Vladimir Putin a softball question on live television about the Kremlin’s mass surveillance effort, two sources close to the leaker tell The Daily Beast.
“It certainly didn’t go as he would’ve hoped,” one of these sources said. “I don’t think there’s any shame in saying that he made an error in judgment.”

He basically viewed the question as his first foray into criticizing Russia. He was genuinely surprised that in reasonable corridors it was seen as the opposite
. . . I know this is hard to believe. I know if I was just watching from afar, I’d think, ‘Wow, they forced him [Snowden] to do this.' But it’s not true. He just f***ing did it.
~ Ben Wizner, ACLU Attorney and Snowden Adviser

I was surprised that people who witnessed me risk my life to expose the surveillance practices of my own country could not believe that I might also criticise the surveillance policies of Russia, a country to which I have sworn no allegiance, without ulterior motive. I regret that my question could be misinterpreted, and that it enabled many to ignore the substance of the question – and Putin's evasive response – in order to speculate, wildly and incorrectly, about my motives for asking it.
~ Edward Snowden in The Guardian UK

"Call-in Ed" #Snowden now regrets that tv question to his Kremlin handler. #NSA http://t.co/WIPHGwnPi2

— Julian Reichelt (@jreichelt) April 21, 2014

Nincompoops like #Snowden & ilk expect folks to take #Putin @ his word on dom spying when he won't even admit to Russian troops in #Ukraine!

— Only4RM (@Only4RM) April 17, 2014

.@benwizner invoked "Snowden-Putin truthers." Ironic given how his man Snowden thinks NSA can record our thoughts. Also pocket sensors.

— Bob Cesca (@bobcesca_go) April 21, 2014

@bobcesca_go the money line: "But it wasn’t easy in Russia, where the press is controlled so tightly by the regime." - LOLZ

— SheriffFruitfly (@sherifffruitfly) April 21, 2014

Also, did Snowden's people just confirm that RT is censored by the Russian government?

— Bob Cesca (@bobcesca_go) April 21, 2014

Is poor #Snowden just now figuring out he's #Putin's dupe? What a super spy. #russia http://t.co/wQdv5rNx0N

— товарищ Puppet (@wikihype) April 21, 2014

.@WillMcAvoyACN Problem of #Snowden asking #Putin a question wasn't that it was a softball but that it made him part of Putin's propaganda

— Ivo Daalder (@IvoHDaalder) April 21, 2014

Old Snowden Defense: brave and heroic defender of freedoms. New Snowden Defense: too naive and ignorant of world affairs to be blamed.

— Lex (@LuthorCEO) April 21, 2014

Boy, That Edward Snowden Really Screwed Up, Says Edward Snowden http://t.co/YFBDPkwG0K

— Wonkette (@Wonkette) April 21, 2014

Of course, if I were one of Snowden's Russian 'advisors', I'd also be painting him as naïve, rather than complicit.

— Joey (@60th_Street) April 21, 2014

.@Gus_802 @LuthorCEO Ha--Snowden supporters now calling him naïve/ uninformed hailed his wisdom & judgment when he betrayed his country.

— Kat 4 Obama (@Kat4Obama) April 21, 2014

Putin and Snowden Chat about Surveillance

Previous Related Posts:
All Hail the Snowden Pulitzer
Putin Shambles on Ukraine with Bizarro-World Press Conference
Snowden Evolves into Max Headroom for Ted Talk
Define Spy For Us ~ Greenwald and Snowden's Secrets
Snowden Finally Leaves Russian Airport
Snowden in Moscow Limbo
Crime or Punishment? Snowden Remains Stuck in Moscow Airport
Snowden the Heroic Outlaw

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

President Vladimir Putin of Russia did one of his Q&A sessions on Live TV and guess who just happened to participate? His boy Edward Snowden, the spy most famous for stealing America's hi-tech secrets from the NSA. Once again Snowden appeared via live television, in a scene reminiscent of his recent "Max Headroom" appearance at a Ted Talk.

In a moment full of irony for the whole world but especially Europe right now, Snowden asked Putin if Russia uses surveillance. Yes, that really happened. As a child who grew up during the Cold War, the thought of asking a Russian Leader about oversight on citizens is a waste of a question. Of course they use surveillance! And Snowden knows good and well that every modern country has cameras everywhere. But the ultimate irony is that we are supposed to believe that Snowden asked that question of his own accord, and that none of it was a staged set-up to once again poke Obama in the eye. In the same live interview Putin proudly speaks of renaming Ukraine "Novorussia" - I guess Edward Snowden doesn't care about wars and aggression, as long as Putin doesn't have cameras everywhere. Oh wait - remember the Sochi Olympics when journalists and athletes discovered cameras in their rooms, even in the showers?

By the way, Ed - your friend Vlad is watching you right now.

From the New York Times

In a stunningly bold poke at the White House, the Kremlin arranged for Mr. Snowden, who is wanted on espionage charges, to ask Mr. Putin about Russia’s surveillance practices. Told there was a question from Mr. Snowden, Mr. Putin responded slyly, saying, “Well, how could we do without this?”

. . . “So I’d like to ask you,” he continued, “does Russia intercept, store or analyze in any way the communications of millions of individuals?”

Mr. Putin, a former K.G.B. agent and director of the Russian intelligence service, played up their experience in spycraft.

“Mr. Snowden, you are a former agent,” the president replied. “I used to work for an intelligence service. Let’s speak in a professional language.”
“Our intelligence efforts are strictly regulated by our law,” Mr. Putin said. “You have to get a court’s permission first.” He noted that terrorists use electronic communications and that Russia had to respond to that threat.
“Of course we do this,” Mr. Putin said. “But we don’t use this on such a massive scale, and I hope that we won’t.”

After Twitter erupted with disbelief and mockery, Snowden responded - where else? - in the Guardian UK, a newspaper that just shared a Pulitzer Prize with Washington Post, Glenn Greenwald and Laura Poitras for releasing Snowden's secrets to the public. According to Snowden he was trying to hold Putin to the same standards as the United States. Or you could see it another way - it was just another opportunity for Snowden to get face-time on TV for the "cause" of praising his rescuer Putin and shaming America from a nice hidey-hole in Russia.

Guardian UK

I was surprised that people who witnessed me risk my life to expose the surveillance practices of my own country could not believe that I might also criticise the surveillance policies of Russia, a country to which I have sworn no allegiance, without ulterior motive. I regret that my question could be misinterpreted, and that it enabled many to ignore the substance of the question – and Putin's evasive response – in order to speculate, wildly and incorrectly, about my motives for asking it.
The investigative journalist Andrei Soldatov, perhaps the single most prominent critic of Russia's surveillance apparatus (and someone who has repeatedly criticised me in the past year), described my question as "extremely important for Russia". It could, he said, "lift a de facto ban on public conversations about state eavesdropping."

'Think I'll just give Vlad a call. Hello, Reception?'

— Jeremy Duns (@jeremyduns) April 17, 2014

Is there a Pulitzer Prize for Trolling? Because Putin and Snowden just won it. http://t.co/Da6vkwAXPL

— Daniel W. Drezner (@dandrezner) April 17, 2014

Former ? @olacicho: Putin: "Mr Snowden, we are both former secret agents""

— Matthew Kaminski (@KaminskiMK) April 17, 2014

#Snowden is another worthless piece of shit. Funny he didn't ask about the privacy of Ukranians.

— Angry Arb (@AngryArb) April 17, 2014

#Snowden just solidified himself as domestic propaganda tool for #Russia and #Putin

— Jim Sciutto (@jimsciutto) April 17, 2014

Let's be clear: Snowden stole thousands of pages of US intel and brought it Russia, but he *asks* Putin as though he'd tell the truth.

— Lex (@LuthorCEO) April 17, 2014

Snowden should storm the Kremlin, take their surveillance docs & demand to be sent to the US: just like his brave patriotic critics would do

— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) April 17, 2014

No @ggreenwald but maybe its not such a good idea for a civil liberties hero to be a tool of a leader like Putin in a country like Russia

— Ken Gude (@KenGude) April 17, 2014

.@ggreenwald This argument is a "false choice." http://t.co/G63Gdn1QO1

— Patterico (@Patterico) April 17, 2014

Useful idiot Snowden offered Putin a fantastic propaganda opportunity to whitewash Russia's intelligence activities. http://t.co/AXAWw7VA6E

— Bob Cesca (@bobcesca_go) April 17, 2014

Snowden in The Guardian: I totally didn't mean to give Putin, conquerer of Ukraine, a major PR coup. Seriously I didn't. Seriously.

— Bob Cesca (@bobcesca_go) April 18, 2014

First week after winning Pulitzer: Greenwald shills for the Kochs on twitter, Snowden participates in Kremlin domestic propaganda event

— Mark Ames (@MarkAmesExiled) April 17, 2014

MT @jerrigirl: If you aren't convinced that #Snowden is a narcissist, just count how many time he uses "I" in his Guardian article.

— Bro Namath (@donachaidh) April 18, 2014

#Snowden looking like a member of the animatronic band at Chuck E. Cheese, playing back prerecorded dialog on an 8 track tape. What a hack.

— nzmrmn (@nzmrmn) April 18, 2014

#Snowden gives first live TV interview to... Vladimir #Putin. Not sure that helps his credibility. pic.twitter.com/PtPn3uEezi

— Jon Williams (@WilliamsJon) April 17, 2014

Really Ed, you have access to the Internet, your answer to the question you posed to Putin is right here. http://t.co/fmYx6DQOSm

— Fenrir (@semibogan) April 17, 2014

So what's going on here? Putin is using Snowden to build legitimacy, create further rift with U.S.?

— igorvolsky (@igorvolsky) April 17, 2014

Snowden is a narcissist, appears in Putin's show to make himself important. @igorvolsky

— William Ocasio (@WillChicago) April 17, 2014

Meanwhile.... #Snowden asks patsy question to Putin. Sucks up to #Putin direct on live television. What a disgusting apologist and traitor

— Louise Mensch (@LouiseMensch) April 17, 2014

@LouiseMensch He had no shame whatsoever. He had VIP ticket to the show. #Snowden

— Ann (@ann33rd) April 17, 2014

I am going to ask Putin if he is really a big meanie. Going to stick it to him with truth to power!

— trifecta (@3fecta) April 17, 2014

Putin called E.Ukraine "Novorussia" today. "Novorossiya" was region conquered by Russian Empire in 18th Century. pic.twitter.com/kuHsRqVT4e

— Chris Sand (@YadaZoo) April 17, 2014

Putin Shambles on Ukraine - With Bizarro-World Press Conference

Wow, I think today will go down in Russian history, filed under "bizarre."

From Julia Ioffe in The Nation

Slouching in a fancy chair in front of a dozen reporters, Putin squirmed and rambled. And rambled and rambled. He was a rainbow of emotion: Serious! angry! bemused! flustered! confused! So confused. Victor Yanukovich is still the acting president of Ukraine, but he can't talk to Ukraine because Ukraine has no president. Ukraine needs elections, but you can't have elections because there is already a president. And no elections will be valid given that there is terrorism in the streets of Ukraine. And how are you going to let just anyone run for president? What if some nationalist punk just pops out like a jack-in-the-box? An anti-Semite? Look at how peaceful the Crimea is, probably thanks to those guys with guns holding it down. Who are they, by the way?
. . . Today's Putin was nervous, angry, cornered, and paranoid, periodically illuminated by flashes of his own righteousness. Here was an authoritarian dancing uncomfortably in his new dictator shoes, squirming in his throne.

Obama: Mr. Putin threw a lot of words out there but right now facts on ground indicate he's not abiding by intl law #Ukraine

— Security Clearance (@natlsecuritycnn) March 4, 2014

"media representatives" RT @mfa_russia Putin met w/ media representatives to answer questions http://t.co/oySxYDKlUa pic.twitter.com/hq2ZZ3cGpV

— Laura Rozen (@lrozen) March 4, 2014

#Putin statement on #Ukraine crisis: "It's absolutely clear that what happened in Kyiv was a coup d'etat".

— euronews (@euronews) March 4, 2014

“Military men are walking around in Kiev in masks still now," #Russia President Putin says in presser. #Ukraine

— Mick Krever (@mickbk) March 4, 2014

Putin: "Regarding the use of force, at the moment there is no need for that, but there is a possibility."

— Pedro da Costa (@pdacosta) March 4, 2014

Someone should tell #Putin that he has already sent troops to #Ukraine.

— Filipp Piatov (@filipp_piatov) March 4, 2014

I do love that Putin is acting like he hasn't already deployed forces into #Crimea

— Bradley P. Moss, Esq (@BradMossEsq) March 4, 2014

Putin asked about unidentified armed men in Crimea. Are they Russian. "Go to any shop and you can buy such uniforms." Off you go reporters.

— Kevin O'Flynn (@oflynnkevin) March 4, 2014

This is a brilliant defense we need to use more often. Invasion of Iraq? That was guys dressed from surplus stores. https://t.co/7o2nFwOG58

— Andrew Exum (@abumuqawama) March 4, 2014

@abumuqawama Oh, clearly. And here I thought that all but the first 300 landed on military transport aircraft.

— Herb Carmen (@HerbCarmen) March 4, 2014

#Putin refers to #EuroMaidan as "bacchanalia."

— Julia Ioffe (@juliaioffe) March 4, 2014

@juliaioffe A regular "carnival of souls"! #ShitPutinSays

— Not Matt Bellamy (@NotMattBellamy) March 4, 2014

#Putin to a journalist: “It looks as if you’re not hearing me.” Well, this can’t be good.

— N. Ó Paloff (@n_paloff) March 4, 2014

Merkel was right, Putin lives in another reality! #Putin #Russia #Ukraine #Crimea #Usa #EU

— Владислав Шубєнков (@Shubenkov_v) March 4, 2014

The new Czar of the world #Putin is telling the world how it ll be in #Ukraine

— Theophilus Chinedu (@TCNEDU) March 4, 2014

Putin: Sometimes I think that USA has a department where they perform experiments on the Ukr. people as if they were rats. #Putin #Ukraine

— Andrey Kazankov (@AndreyKazankov) March 4, 2014

Putin to Western countries backing Kiev government: "Why are you destabilizing the country? What are you doing?!"

— max seddon (@maxseddon) March 4, 2014

@SnarkAmendment @kharyp Like minds always find each other pic.twitter.com/WrKqhjxyAz working 4 #taxevading PLUTOCRACY worldwide

— Nancy Mitchell (@NancyWonderful) March 4, 2014

Russian President Vladimir Putin says he does not understand why West "wanted to bring chaos and anarchy to Ukraine"

— James Franey (@jamesfraney) March 4, 2014

#Putin says Yanukovich asked him to intervene, talks of an "orgy" of lawless nationalists on streets. #CBC #Ukraine

— Margaret Evans (@mevansCBC) March 4, 2014

Putin seems to think the Russian reporters aren't listening closely enough & he expresses frustration they are confused by his positions.

— Laura Rozen (@lrozen) March 4, 2014

@lrozen @juliaioffe Easy to be confused: 1. "Yanukovych sole legitimate president." 2. "There is no president in Ukraine."

— Russian Police Watch (@RusPoliceWatch) March 4, 2014

Putin gives off the vibe of an exasperated teacher.

— Joseph Weisenthal (@TheStalwart) March 4, 2014

Putin welcomes Tymoshenko to Moscow. In other words, that's his endorsement for who should run #ukraine

— Matthew Kaminski (@KaminskiMK) March 4, 2014

Putin says troops not Russian - but apparently unconcerned that well-armed unknown force roaming around near Russian bases in Crimea.

— Tony Halpin (@tonyhalpin) March 4, 2014

Putin's press conference reveals that we may have reached the weird moment when the dictator believes his own propaganda

— Anne Applebaum (@anneapplebaum) March 4, 2014

2013 #NRA Convention in Houston, Texas ~ Updated With Videos

A nine-acre gun show in the middle of a national gun fight.
~ NBC Reporter Gabe Gutierrez on Today, Describing the NRA convention

"Our message to the American people is there is still a place that loves freedom in America- that place is called, Texas!" -@governorperry

— NRA (@NRA) May 3, 2013

#NRA Members in line for #GlennBecks Stand&Fight rally/Focused on protecting gun ownership/What's ur take @kprclocal2 twitter.com/KPRCgilmore/st…
— Courtney Gilmore (@KPRCgilmore) May 4, 2013

Via Media Matters

Glenn Beck begins his speech by throwing up a picture of a naked hippie on the big screen. And now he's holding a gun.
— Zack Beauchamp (@zackbeauchamp) May 5, 2013

Roughly 7 minutes into the speech -- he's already tearing up.
— Zack Beauchamp (@zackbeauchamp) May 5, 2013

Beck is now using the fact that he's extraordinarily wealthy to prove he's intellectually honest. He's the most talented modern charlatan.
— Zack Beauchamp (@zackbeauchamp) May 5, 2013

Amusing moment: Glenn Beck decries progressives for obscuring what the Second Amendment means, then only quotes the second half of it.
— Zack Beauchamp (@zackbeauchamp) May 5, 2013

Beck: If you ignore the cities where crime happens, America has one of the lowest crime rates in the world.
— Zack Beauchamp (@zackbeauchamp) May 5, 2013

Beck now trying to excuse white people from accusations of racism by saying white people were also lynched. I can't, people. I just can't.
— Zack Beauchamp (@zackbeauchamp) May 5, 2013

And Glenn Beck now claiming he needs high capacity magazines to defend against the Klan. We're done here.
— Zack Beauchamp (@zackbeauchamp) May 5, 2013

Last fall, just before the elections... President Obama demanded that his followers extract revenge. I can't remember a president ever publicly using that word against fellow Americans. And revenge is what's motivating the president's unrelenting attacks on gun owners today.
~ James Porter, newly elected NRA President



Let's not fool ourselves - it doesn't mean the war is over. We must never confuse winning a battle with winning a war. We all know that as we meet here our opponents are regrouping, and we know that they'll be back. They are as dedicated today as they've ever been to consigning you and me and all those who believe in the freedoms guaranteed us by these nation's founders to the outer darkness.
~ Outgoing NRA President David Keene



There is also a prayer breakfast at this weekend's conference,presumably to include the NRA's version of the Lord’s Prayer:
Thy kingdom come, help me keep my military-style gun
Give us this day our Daily Dead
and other various phrases like that.
~ Martin Bashir on MSNBC

He can have my prayer breakfast ticket when he pries it from my cold, dead hands!
~ A guy from Dallas named Bob in response to Martin Bashir, quoted by The Daily Mail



It was great to see the president throw a temper tantrum in the Rose Garden . . . where we see tragedy, Barack Obama and Michael Bloomberg, they see opportunity. While we pray for God to comfort those suffering unimaginable pain, they rush to microphones and cameras, gather in war rooms on Capitol Hill and scheme about how to use that suffering to push their political agenda…That’s who they are and what they believe. They use tragedy to restrict freedom.
~ Chris Cox, Executive Director of the Institute for Legislative Action, Lobbyist for the NRA

There is nothing non-political about the NRA-ILA, and the Leadership Forum functions as much as a rally for NRA members as a beauty pageant for politicians looking to curry favor with one of Washington’s most feared, loathed, and powerful political organizations.
~ The Daily Beast

We must do everything we can to stop violent crime. Everyone here has been horrified by acts of violence by deranged individuals that would take the lives of the innocent among us. And yet, in terms of how you actually stop violent crime, the president is fond of using emotion, and unfortunately disregarding the facts.
~ Senator Ted Cruz, R-Texas



(The) media is now the reliable poodle-skirted cheerleader for the president that writes the book on exploiting tragedy,
. . . Now, emotion is a good and a necessary thing. But we have politicians exploiting emotion for their own agenda. We have well-meaning Americans who are desperate to respond.
~ Ex-Gov. of Alaska and VP Candidate, Sarah Palin



Yes, emotion. Such a terrible thing. Particularly in the world of NRA leadership, which is known for its dispassionate, intellectual approach to the gun debate. It doesn’t get more lofty than Wayne LaPierre’s post-Sandy Hook analysis: “The only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun.”
On Planet NRA, only people who love guns are allowed to act on their emotions. Everybody else, not so much.
~ LA Times

PINCUS: How about putting a quick-access safe in your kids’ room? [...] Good idea or bad idea? We have an emotional pushback to that. Here’s my position on this. If you’re worried that your kid is going to try to break into the safe that is in their bedroom with a gun in it, you have bigger problems than home defense. [Laughter]
. . . In the middle of the night, if I’m in the bathroom or getting a glass of water or in the bedroom or watching TV in the living room, if that alarm goes off and the glass breaks and the dog starts barking, what’s the instinct that most people are going to have, in regards to, “am I going to run across the house to get the gun, or am I going to run over here to help the screaming kid?”
And if I’m going to go to the kid anyway, and I have an extra gun and an extra safe, why not put it in their closet?
~ Home Defense "Expert" Ron Pincus Telling Parents to Put a Gun Safe in the Kid's Room

“We will never surrender our guns, never,” NRA exec Wayne LaPierre said Saturday at the organization's convention nbcnews.to/102LqIL
— NBC News (@NBCNews) May 4, 2013

Imagine living in a large metropolitan area where lawful firearms ownership is heavily regulated and discouraged. Imagine waking up to a phone call from the police, warning that a terrorist event is occurring outside and ordering you to stay inside your home."
I'm talking, of course, about Boston, where residents were imprisoned behind the locked doors of their homes, a terrorist with bombs and guns just outside. Frightened citizens, sheltered in place, with no means to defend themselves or their families from whatever may come crashing through the door.
How many Bostonians wished they had a gun two weeks ago? How many other Americans now ponder that life-or-death question?
Boston proves it. When brave law enforcement officers did their jobs so courageously, good guys with guns stopped terrorists with guns.
~ NRA CEO Wayne LaPierre

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Rick Santorum's Speech - My Partial Transcript, edited

. . . Just this last couple of weeks - You stood up when freedom was under assault and you stood in the gap, you made a difference. I hear this when I travel around the country all the time. 'Rick, this country's changing, things are happening, what can we do?'
You can point to what you just accomplished over these last few months, when the entire tide of the National media and the popular culture was trying to erode a fundamental freedom, you stood tall, as unpopular as it seemed, but you stood for the truth.
You didn't let all of the smoke and mirrors, of trying to hide behind a horrible tragedy, deter you from the truth about who we are as Americans and what will keep America free, safe and prosperous.
. . . This is a critical time in American history. Something big is happening in America.
. . . I want to point to something that Barack Obama said in a private conversation about MY state. It was right before the Pennsylvania Primary in 2008 . . . people in Western PA "clinging to their guns and Bible."
(crowd claps)
President Obama said that as a slap of derision to faithful Christians and believers in the Second Amendment.
He looked down at those folks.
. . . But you folks are Warriors. You're not just Second-Amendment-lovers. You are freedom-lovers all across the board.
. . . They are marginalizing anyone who disagrees with them, making them sound like rubes or nuts or 'extremists.'
The positions that have been the bulwark of American civilization are now 'the fringe.'
Don't let them! You must in every aspect of your life understand the battle that is before us, because they do. You ask what you can do? Be as passionate as they are about what you love about this country.
Imagine this small minority, and that's what they are, and the big change they've been able to make by taking over popular culture and the media and the educational establishment in particular, colleges and universities. They've gone and infiltrated all these elite institutions.
And they try to tell you how 'wrong' you are, how perverted your idea of America is when you stand for the truth, you stand for tradition, you stand for what this country has been to the world which is a beacon of hope.
Do not let them convince you it is lost! Do not let them convince you to be afraid!
Do not let them force you to cower!
Stand for America! Fight for America!
And we will get America back!!!