Elections have consequences.

Courtesy of Axios: 

From 2015 to 2017, Pew Research tracked global confidence in the U.S. president "to do the right thing" regarding world affairs. While almost all the countries surveyed have lost confidence over the years, Russia's significant increase stands out — jumping from 11% in 2011 under Obama to 53% under Trump. 

Other takeaways from the report: Merkel, Xi or Putin have more positive ratings globally than Trump. Arrogant was the most common word globally associated with Trump's characteristics. There is global disapproval across all of Trump's major policy proposals.

We have to keep reminding ourselves that this only took six months.

Though the data is from 2015 and 2017, I can guarantee that the numbers from 2016 would have lined up almost perfectly with the data from 2015.

That means that in only a six month period of time Donald Trump has completely trashed the reputation of the presidency of the United States.

I cannot even begin to imagine how much worse it will be in another six months.

So America is no longer a "full democracy." Thanks Trump!

Courtesy of The Economist:

According to the 2016 Democracy Index almost one-half of the world’s countries can be considered to be democracies of some sort, but the number of “full democracies” has declined from 20 in 2015 to 19 in 2016. The US has been downgraded from a “full democracy” to a “flawed democracy” because of a further erosion of trust in government and elected officials there.

Just when you thought you could not be any more embarrassed to be an American.

Sarah Palin congratulates the House Republicans for their failed Benghazi witch hunt and accuses the Obama administration of "wrapping America's children in a suicide vest."

Courtesy of Queen of the Wingnuts' Facebook page:  

HILLARY LIES, SOLDIERS DIE. 

YES, HILLARY, AT EVERY POINT "IT MATTERS" 

(Putting it in all caps just in case you didn't notice it was the rantings of a crazy person.)

Listening to the Benghazi Committee reveal what we knew - the Obama Administration's devastating lies cost lives, and at any point it just doesn't matter to them. Thank you to Congressional investigators for their report. (Yes what better way to waste over seven million tax payer dollars could there be? You know besides repairing our infrastructure, improving our schools, expanding healthcare, etc..)

The Administration's deception is beyond shameful. They sat back and allowed our peacekeepers to die during what they witnessed becoming a suicide mission. In command of the greatest military in the world, yet officials sat back in Washington's comfort, not allowing our troops to do their job to protect fellow Americans. (Uh, what fucking report did you read lady?) Hillary left our men behind. Hillary is disqualified from serving as Commander in Chief. (Actually that is not even remotely what it said in the report.)

The Administration lies and denies in places like Benghazi, which cost innocent American lives. Much like today's refusal to believe real threats -denying Islam put the "I" in ISIS - they are wrapping America's children in a suicide vest. (WTF?)

 - Sarah Palin

And that my friends is why you do not wash your methamphetamine's down with a Red Bull chaser.

The crazy has now got such a strangle hold on Palin that I literally think she might start lining her wigs with tinfoil any day now.

While we are on the topic of Sarah Palin let me address the comments that pop up several times a week asking me when I am going to "take this woman down?"

My question back to that commenter would be "Down from where?"

Exactly where do you see that she is up?

Let's remember that when I first started blogging about Sarah Palin she was the Governor of Alaska.

Then she was running to be the Vice President of this country. Which of course failed.

Then she was an ex-VP candidate as well as an ex-governor, but suddenly a famous book author. Not to mention a paid talking head for Fox News.

That gave her the juice to help promote the Tea Party which is now blamed for much of the division within the Republican party.

Then she was on a reality show, which received terrible ratings and was not renewed.

After that there was quite a bit of talk about her running for the Republican nomination in 2012, but of course she didn't.

Then there were some hit and miss political endorsements, her Fox News contract was not renewed,  a number of her ghostwritten books failed spectacularly, her ill conceived internet channel choked to death on its own stupidity, another reality show died due to viewer disinterest, the police responded to a drunken brawl that involved virtually every member of her family, her husband damned near died in a snowmachine accident, and she has now tied herself to a conspiracy theory believing nutjob with no hope of winning this upcoming election, so I ask you once again, "Down from where?"

To be clear no, nothing I am going to share on this blog is going to "bring Sarah Palin down." Essentially because there is no up from which she can fall.

For all intents and purposes Sarah Palin was "brought down" by Sarah Palin, with a little help from those of us who chronicled that fall.

Now I am not saying that I don't have very interesting or provocative things to share, because I do.

But even if I were to expose her biggest secrets, there simply is no longer an audience who will care enough for it to matter to any significant degree. Those are just the facts.

For most of America she is remembered as that crazy ex who keyed the side of their car and left those insane voice mail messages on their answering machine.

As long as she does not show back up on their doorstep they could not care less what happens to her.

Speaking of conservative icons General Petraeus may face felony charges.

Courtesy of the New York Times:

 The F.B.I. and Justice Department prosecutors have recommended bringing felony charges against David H. Petraeus, contending that he provided classified information to a lover while he was director of the C.I.A., officials said, and leaving Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. to decide whether to seek an indictment that could send the pre-eminent military officer of his generation to prison. 

The Justice Department investigation stems from an affair Mr. Petraeus had with Paula Broadwell, an Army Reserve officer who was writing his biography, and focuses on whether he gave her access to his C.I.A. email account and other highly classified information. 

F.B.I. agents discovered classified documents on her computer after Mr. Petraeus resigned from the C.I.A. in 2012 when the affair became public.

General Petraeus was actually well respected by both sides of the aisle. However it was the conservatives who started promoting the idea that he should run for President.

Of course that was before he kinda endorsed Hillary Clinton for the job.

Personally I have never been a huge Petrraeus fan, still it is unfortunate to see a man with such a sterling reputation end his career in disgrace.

John Boehner claims that President Obama plans to "annihilate the Republican Party." And here I thought I could NOT like the President anymore than I do.

Courtesy of HuffPo:  

Speaker of the House John Boehner (R-Ohio) warned fellow Republicans this week, saying President Barack Obama's inaugural address had convinced him that the president was undertaking an effort to "annihilate" the GOP. 

"Given what we heard yesterday about the president's vision for his second term, it's pretty clear to me -- should be clear to all of you -- that he knows he can't do any of that as long as the House is controlled by Republicans," Boehner said during a speech at the Ripon Society on Tuesday. "So we're expecting over the next 22 months to be the focus of this administration as they attempt to annihilate the Republican Party." 

Boehner continued, claiming that the broader goal of the administration was "to just shove us into the dustbin of history."

You know this reminds of me of a suicidal man who accuses another man of murder for not taking his gun away before he shoots himself. Arguably the only people the Republicans can blame for the destruction of their party is the choices made by Republican party.

However if Boehner is unwilling to be that circumspect, there is another person that he could legitimately blame for the  demise of his party, and that would be Sarah Palin.

As any Alaskan can tell you allowing Palin to be associated with you is the kiss of death.

Whether it be dairy companies, a natural gas pipeline, reality shows, cable news outlets (Which by the way we now know for certain has cut her loose.), or certain well known politicians..

 ...the curse of Palin is sure to doom them in the long run.

After the debacle of the two Bush terms the Republicans desperately needed to choose a presidential candidate with gravitas, and they seemingly did that with John McCain. But then his campaign was bullied into adding one of the most inept politicians on the planet, and essentially turned the GOP into a laughingstock only fit for ridicule by late night comedians.

Then they allowed Palin to tease the low hanging fruit usually relegated to the extreme fringe of the party with hints at a presidential run of her own, which garnered her undeserved attention that she then used to bring focus onto a truly ridiculous group of Constitutional retards, so blatantly clownish that they wore teabags and tricorner hats on their head, who were nonetheless successful in placing political IED's into the Congress and Senate which have sabotaged EVERY attempt to successfully govern since their arrival.

Then Palin went on to cash in on her notoriety with poorly written books, crappy reality shows, and often bizarre public appearances right up until she had drained the very last ounce of credibility from her public image, and had become nothing but fodder for late night comedians. And while doing so had helped to sully the image of the Republican party for ever having elevated her to such prominence in the first place.

 Not all of the blame can be laid at Palin's feet, there is still plenty to go around, however if John Boehner is looking for the single most damaging decision the Republican party has made in the last four years, and the trigger for the problems they are facing today, they need look no further than a dead lake in a tiny methamphetamine saturated town in Alaska.