Here’s one of those open threads we don’t see much any more - hey, open thread, why you no come around here no more?

YouTube

C-SPAN3 is broadcasting a live feed from the Teabagger hate rally now underway.

The turnout is pitiful; here’s an overhead crowd shot.

@gatewaypundit Noted idiot Jim Hoft overestimates the tiny #AuditTheIRS “rally” by about 6 thousand. pic.twitter.com/GYkcdIUREL

— FreedomWorks Panda (@NicoleGennette) June 19, 2013

Speaking right now: Rick Morlen of the Albuquerque Tea Party group:

Also, here’s some more of that Nazi imagery they keep saying never appears at Tea Party rallies:

Nazi imagery prominent again at the Tea Party #AuditTheIRS rally… http://t.co/7Mm0FcZtKZ @Green_Footballs @GatewayPundit #tcot #TeaParty

— FreedomWorks Panda (@NicoleGennette) June 19, 2013

More Nazi imagery used at the Tea Party #AuditTheIRS rally… http://t.co/DejYTUmanv @Green_Footballs @GatewayPundit #tcot #p2

— FreedomWorks Panda (@NicoleGennette) June 19, 2013

(Correction: it’s very similar, but Morlen’s hat isn’t a Confederate general’s hat - it’s a cavalry officer’s hat. Sorry for the confusion.)

Teabonics sighting! RT @pberry1_98: #audittheirs #teaparty pic.twitter.com/cHuDAVV2YO

— Charles Johnson (@Green_Footballs) June 19, 2013

Another Nazi reference: “Defeat Fascism… Again!”

More Nazi symbolism:

Subtle? RT @aseitzwald It wouldn't be a political rally without a subtle Nazi reference. pic.twitter.com/UfVPjBbKO8

— Brian Beutler (@brianbeutler) June 19, 2013

MSNBC Video

I predict “war on men” will prove a more enduring idea than “war on women.”

— James Taranto (@jamestaranto) June 19, 2013

Discuss.

Here’s a pretty amazing development that may finally destroy the last shred of partisan hitman Darrell Issa’s credibility: Breaking: Full House Committee Transcripts Shed New Light on Genesis of IRS Targeting.

Democrats on the House Oversight Committee have just released a full transcript of testimony from a key witness in the investigation of IRS targeting of conservatives — and it appears to confirm that the initial targeting did originate with a low-level employee in the Cincinnati office.

It also shows a key witness and IRS employee — a self described conservative Republican — denying any communication with the White House or senior IRS officials about the targeting.

The ranking Dem on the committee, Elijah Cummings, has promised that the account provided by the witness — the IRS manager who supervised the screeners of applications for tax exempt status, a self described conservative Republican — would undercut Committee chairman Darrell Issa’s suggestion that the decision to target conservative groups had originated in Washington.

Cummings released the full transcript today in two parts, making it available to a select group of reporters, with redactions of names of individuals, and accompanied it with a letter to Issa explaining his decision, in which Cummings concludes that the transcript “debunks conspiracy theories about how the IRS first started reviewing these cases.”

The letter from Cummings to Issa concludes:

These facts are a far cry from accusations of a conspiracy orchestrated by the White House to target the President’s political enemies. At this point in the investigation, not one witness who has appeared before the Committee has identified any involvement by any White House officials in the identification or screening of Tea Party applicants for tax exempt status, and the Committee has obtained no documents indicating any such involvement.

How much money has Darrell Issa wasted with this series of fruitless, politically-motivated witch hunts?

Undoubtedly the most absurd, ridiculous GOP op-ed you’ll see today: creationist Gov. Bobby Jindal’s latest “don’t be stupid” piece for Politico: Opinion: GOP Needs Action, Not Navel-Gazing - Gov. Bobby Jindal.

After the re-election of Barack Obama, Jindal demanded that the GOP reflect on what caused the loss. Well, he’s over that now. After ranting that the GOP really doesn’t need to change anything, but just go on the attack, Jindal uncorks this hilarious litany of falsehoods and straw men:

At some point, the American public is going to revolt against the nanny state and the leftward march of this president. I don’t know when the tipping point will come, but I believe it will come soon.

Why?

Because the left wants: The government to explode; to pay everyone; to hire everyone; they believe that money grows on trees; the earth is flat; the industrial age, factory-style government is a cool new thing; debts don’t have to be repaid; people of faith are ignorant and uneducated; unborn babies don’t matter; pornography is fine; traditional marriage is discriminatory; 32 oz. sodas are evil; red meat should be rationed; rich people are evil unless they are from Hollywood or are liberal Democrats; the Israelis are unreasonable; trans-fat must be stopped; kids trapped in failing schools should be patient; wild weather is a new thing; moral standards are passé; government run health care is high quality; the IRS should violate our constitutional rights; reporters should be spied on; Benghazi was handled well; the Second Amendment is outdated; and the First one has some problems too.

This freaky laundry list of right wing red meat silliness ends up simply driving home the point that the GOP is hopelessly mired in reactionary idiocy. The guy who tells the GOP “don’t be stupid” also mockingly says:

…wild weather is a new thing…

There you have today’s GOP in a nutshell: belligerent, anti-science, anti-women religiously fanatical reactionaries, who think they’re being smart.

Related:
Gov. Bobby ‘Don’t Be Stupid’ Jindal Comes Out in Favor of Teaching Creationism in Public Schools

FLV Movie

Via CharlieRose.com.

Meanwhile, the Republican Party continues pushing insanely stupid regressive social issues, but let’s all look over there at the NSA: Texas Congressman: Masturbating Fetuses Prove Need for Abortion Ban.

As the House of Representatives gears up for Tuesday’s debate on HR 1797, a bill that would outlaw virtually all abortions 20 weeks post fertilization, Rep. Michael Burgess (R-TX) argued in favor of banning abortions even earlier in pregnancy because, he said, male fetuses that age were already, shall we say, spanking the monkey.

“Watch a sonogram of a 15-week baby, and they have movements that are purposeful,” said Burgess, a former OB/GYN. “They stroke their face. If they’re a male baby, they may have their hand between their legs. If they feel pleasure, why is it so hard to believe that they could feel pain?”

That observation led Burgess to say he had argued for the abortion ban to start at a much earlier stage of gestation, 15 or 16 weeks. (This is less than halfway through a pregnancy.) He appeared to liken Roe v. Wade, the 1973 Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion, to the 1893 Plessy v. Ferguson decision that formally legalized racial segregation, and was not fully reversed until Congress passed the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

salon.com

“How do you make abortion funny?” That was a key question mulled at a major conservative gathering Friday on how to make social conservatism appealing to young people, after an election where Republicans got trounced in the battle for millennial voters (who are are moving even further and further away from the Christian-right on marriage and other issues).

Abortion has to be made funny, the thinking goes, because funny sells on social media, and that’s where one goes to court young people. “You can engage with sarcasm, it’s hard with the abortion issue, but you have to,” said Students for Life president Kristan Hawkins at a breakout panel at the Faith and Freedom Coalition Conference in Washington today on how to win millennial voters. “Unfortunately we have to, because this is the generation that we’ve been dealt.”

No examples as to how.

This is, again, the conservatives in the US today not getting it. It is not the way that the argument is being presented. It is really not. It is not because you’re not being earnest or sarcastic. People really understand you want to ban abortion and humiliate women who seek to have one. It is understood that the reason behind this is religious belief. Nobody is not understanding the message of the GOP on abortion.

Do conservatives really believe that they just need to tweak the message, or do they know they’re rearranging deck chairs on the Titantic?

Coming soon: don’t miss Glenn Greenwald at the Socialism 2013 conference in Chicago, sponsored by the extreme left wing International Socialist Organization, the US branch of one of the many Trotskyite groups associated with the International Socialist umbrella movement.

Also featured: workshops on “The new movement against Israeli apartheid,” “Obama’s war on civil liberties,” and “Israel, Zionism, and Imperialism.”

Socialist Worker, Don’t Miss Jeremy Scahill and Glenn Greenwald at Socialism 2013

“As someone who speaks at all sorts of political gatherings every year, I can say with certainty that no event assembles more passionate activism, genuine expertise, and provocative insights than the Socialism Conference. This will be my third straight year attending, and what keeps me coming back is how invigorating and inspiring it is to be in the midst of such diverse and impressive activists,” said Glenn Greenwald about the Socialism conference.

Glenn Greenwald and Jeremy Scahill have both made tremendous contributions in exposing the truth about U.S. politics and the way the government behaves at home and abroad. Do not miss Greenwald and Scahill at Socialism 2013 and this incredibly urgent discussion about the attack on civil liberties, U.S. imperialism, and how we can fight back.

Glenn Greenwald is a journalist for the Guardian, responsible for exposing the National Security Agency’s massive spying operation of the U.S. government on its own citizens.

Watch Greenwald discuss the NSA, whistleblowers, the U.S. media here.

Jeremy Scahill is the writer and producer of the documentary Dirty Wars. Author of Dirty Wars: The world is a battlefield and Blackwater: The Rise of the World’s Most Powerful Mercenary Army.

More Workshops on the U.S Imperialism, the war on civil liberties, Islamaphobia, Palestine:

Obama’s war on civil liberties featuring Ali Al-Arian

US Imperialism in the Middle East after the Arab Spring featuring Yusef Khalil, Shaun Joseph, Wael Elasady

What happened to the Egyptian Revolution? featuring Hani Shukrallah, Mostafa Ali, and Hatem Tallima

The new movement against Israeli apartheid featuring Shirien Damra, Ziad Abbas and Nolan Rampy

The struggle for Palestine featuring Ali Abunimah

Israel, Zionism, and imperialism featuring Deepa Kumar and Sherry Wolf

The real “Pirates of the Caribbean” featuring Dana Blanchard

Mali and the new imperial scramble for Africa featuring Sarah Knopp

The Marxist theory of imperialism and its critics featuring Lee Wengraf

U.S. imperialism’s “pivot to Asia” featuring Ashley Smith

The making of global capitalism featuring Sam Gindin

Drones, special forces, and bases: Obama’s new imperial strategy featuring Khury Petersen-Smith

Kill anything that moves: The real American war in Vietnam featuring Nick Turse

(h/t: Jean.)

(Update: corrected the name of the group sponsoring the conference.)