According to the most recent poll of social science experts Donald Trump is deemed the worst president in history, while Barack Obama climbs into the top ten.

Courtesy of the New York Times: 

James Buchanan, who was at the helm as the United States careened into civil war, was dislodged from his position as our nation’s worst president by our current president, Trump. 

His Oval Office predecessor, Barack Obama, shot into the Top 10, up from 18th in the previous survey. 

The biggest declines were for Bill Clinton, arguably the result of contemporary scorn for his treatment of women, and Andrew Jackson, for evolving attitudes on his treatment of Native Americans.

This poll is quite prestigious, as it elicits opinions from scholars who specialize in presidential history. 

Barack Obama is now ranked as the 8th greatest president in American history, which is a rank I always knew he would attain, but certainly thought it would take longer than one year.

The only Presidents ranked higher than Obama are Lincoln, Washington, Franklin D Roosevelt, Teddy Roosevelt, Jefferson, Truman, and Eisenhower. (Bill Clinton sits at 13 currently.)

Hard to argue with those rankings, and Obama even beat out Reagan for that eighth spot, which you just KNOW is going to drive the conservatives out of their minds.

As will the fact that their current party leader is ranked dead last.

And not by a little bit either, Trump is behind former last place holder James Buchanan by three whole points.

Hell even George W. Bush is in the top 30. Well actually to be honest he's number 30.

But still a hell of a lot better than sitting dead last. 

American elections ranked worst of among long established democracies.

Five hour lines during Arizona primary

Courtesy of the Washington Post:  

What do Argentina, Costa Rica and Brazil have in common? 

They all outranked the United States in a comparison of election standards and procedures conducted by the Electoral Integrity Project. The United States ranked 47th worldwide, out of 139 countries. 

The survey is a measure of dozens of factors, including voter registration, campaign financing rules, election laws, the voting process and vote count. 

Worldwide, vague campaign financing rules and the quality of media coverage were identified as the most frequent problems. In the United States, "experts expressed concern about the quality of the electoral laws, voter registration, the process of drawing district boundaries, as well as the regulation of campaign finance," the report states. 

"In the United States, the 2012 Presidential election and the 2014 Congressional elections were ranked worst of any long-established democracy, especially on campaign finance and electoral registration," the report's authors concluded. 

"It remains to be seen how experts assess the 2016 US presidential contest,"the expert commission assesses. "But the overall country ranking seems unlikely to improve given persistent problems of campaign funding, heated partisan polarization over registration and balloting procedures, claims of fraud in the Iowa GOP primaries, and an early primary campaign season characterized by the politics of personal attacks, dissatisfied voters, and populist appeals."

Gee, isn't America great? 

And don't fool yourselves, it's not going to get better in 2016.

Now that the Supreme Court has essentially struck down the Voting Rights Act of 1965, we are going to see more voter suppression, and attempts to keep a certain segment of the population away from the polls by hook or by crook.

In fact we already saw that happen just this week in Arizona.


Remember folks THIS is the America we live in when the conservatives have the power. 

If you want a sense of well being in America there are two states at the top of the list. And we are one of them.

Courtesy of the Alaska Dispatch:

If you want to improve your sense of well-being, leave the Lower 48. 

A new report ranking all 50 states based on residents' sense of well-being puts Hawaii at No. 1, followed by Alaska, which held the top spot last year. 

Hawaii has been No. 1 in the poll five times since 2008. 

"Alaska and Hawaii are both beautiful states in their own way but distinctly different," said Dan Witters, research director of the Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index.

I know that our reputation has been somewhat sullied by the one who shall not be named, but really there is nothing anybody can do to damage the beauty and serenity of our beautiful state. 

I lived in Hawaii for a year while I went to school, but in my mind there is only one place to live.

Number two? But..but..we have Sarah Palin.

Courtesy of Mandatory:

We used the three loveliest sounding STDs - chlamydia, gonorrhea, and syphilis - and added up infections per 100,000 residents, meaning the higher the number is the more of a chance you will catch something when you bring someone home from the bar. Here are the official rankings for the sluttiest states in America.

Okay maybe this time I wish Alaska were further down the list.