Answers

For a good long time, some very clever "conservatives" have been wondering (very loudly and very smugly) why it is that Da Gubmint insists Americans are so stoopid, we need silly stuff like:

--and--

Who doesn't know this shit, right?  Who could possibly be so stupid - maybe we should just get rid of those labels and let the whole problem with stoopid people sort itself out.

And we laughed and laughed - but then it got really really not funny, because...

--and--

--and--

Any more questions on that one?

OK good - so, on to the next point - stop thinking this shit happens by accident. 

Cause and Effect, bitches.

I'm not saying there's a giant conspiracy afoot and there's some super-genius pulling all the strings and blah blah blah.  I'm just trying to stay aware that there are some very smart people who have no scruples, and who will take every opportunity to pimp anything they think might work in their favor and further their ambitions.

It's pretty easy to see when it's a Donald Trump doing it.  Trump is the latest version in a pretty long line of The Empty Vessel Politician, and he's being filled to overflowing with exactly what we don't want in a world leader.

It's harder to see it clearly when it's a Hillary Clinton because at least she does most of her own thinking (tho' I also have to say it's a lot easier to push Clinton in the right direction). That said, she may look like Gandhi compared with Trump, but she is not.

Hillary is at least partly an old school power politics kinda politico.  She knows the game and she works the angles and she gets what she wants more often than not. Vote Blue and send people to DC to keep her honest - but stay awake and keep the pressure on.

Cuz BTW - there's a buncha folks who like it when we refuse to watch the sausage being made. Sometimes it seems like they go outa their way to make the process as ugly as possible so we'll get sick of it and blew it off.  So I gotta figure if they wanted us to participate, they wouldn't go on doing everything they can do to push us away. And if they're trying to freeze me out, then I take that as my cue to kick down the door and elbow my way into the middle of the room to see just what the fuck they're up to.

Drop-Kick Me, Jesus

The whole banana from Andy Borowitz at The New Yorker:

NEW YORK (The Borowitz Report)—The billionaire Donald J. Trump’s bid to become a born-again Christian failed over the weekend after Jesus Christ turned down his friend request, campaign officials have acknowledged.

Jesus, who has not generally been active on Facebook, made a rare appearance on the social network on Monday to announce His decision to ignore the presumptive Republican nominee’s request for a personal relationship with Him.

In a brief post, Jesus offered the following explanation: “Just everything.”

The turndown from Jesus Christ, the inspiration behind one of the world’s most prominent religions, caps what has been a tough month for the Trump campaign.

Privately, campaign staffers fretted that the candidate would pen a disparaging tweet about Jesus, which might alienate evangelical voters in key battleground states.

But, at a rally in Pennsylvania, Trump made no reference to Jesus, and instead touted endorsements he had received from Gary Busey, Jean-Claude Van Damme, and Joe (the Plumber) Wurzelbacher.

hat tip = FB friend VW-E

Seriously Now, Kids

...just what the fuck is going on here?

Live By Social Media

...die by social media

VIDEO (again): Trump state fair hall not packed full as he falsely claims. pic.twitter.com/RqnKoPJzHz

— Ed O'Keefe (@edatpost) August 24, 2016

And then twitter kinda blew up with it - a few samples:

@edatpost pic.twitter.com/T8sFNRhLNl

— Jerry Jordan (@Jerry_Jordan) August 24, 2016

@edatpost A mostly empty hall of white people. Seems about par for the course for Trump rallies nowadays.

— Big Bo (@mellymel12321) August 24, 2016

@edatpost @NoahCRothman Wowsa. Spinal Tap and the puppet show had better attendance.

— Marshall Power Locke (@MarshallLocke) August 24, 2016

Trump seems to be doing with his "campaign" what he's always done with his "businesses" - he's running into the ground.

So yeah - let's hire that guy and turn it all over to the slugs and leeches he'll subcontract it out to.

 

hat tip = Bipartisan Report

Today's Tweet

Check the trunk again. the press will be here any moment. pic.twitter.com/TmIvlkUJLv

— Norm Clark (@Normsmusic) August 25, 2016

Trae Crowder

Today's Wile E GOP

From Raw Story:

This is currently what the POTUS section of the Minnesota 2016 ballot looks like:

You may have noticed that the name of one Donald Trump is missing.  This seems to be due to the Trump folk not having a firm grip on the rules in Minnesota, and so they've neglected to fulfill a small technicality ie: nominating Alternate Electors.  Which, apparently isn't really odd or different since almost every state has pretty much the same rules.

On the first pass, I'm like - this bunch could fuck up a 2-car parade.  Are these really the people we want running the joint?

But then again, given all the weird shit that's been going on, I can't be sure this isn't a deal where the Minnesota GOP is looking to fuck Trump over.  Or maybe it's Trump doing a very Trump-ey thing by trying to make sure his claims of "rigged election" have some plausibility.

But then again (again), it could be more strong evidence that the GOP is just hopelessly fucked up altogether - Trump tho't Minnesota GOP had it covered, who tho't Reince Priebus had it covered, who tho't, "Fuck this - I'm just gonna stay drunk for a coupla months".

Today's Tweet

I dunno - "Orwellian" just doesn't seem adequate for this shit anymore.

0_0 pic.twitter.com/MNjSmihTJj

— David Freddoso (@freddoso) August 25, 2016

And you can hear the news lady (Brianna Keilar) start to laugh at the very end.

Today's Pix

click a pic to biggen it up

Today's GIF

Trump's latest "pivot"

Today's Hillary

Just in the last several years:

Hillary's emails:
Looks bad, and while there's a few bits and pieces, nothing to get your panties in a bunch over.

DNC emails:
Democrats "conspiring" to nominate a Democrat. Color me unsurprised. Moving on.

Benghazi!!!!!:
Get fucking serious.

"Scandal" after "scandal" for 25 years; and 25 years of "oooh, this time for sure; those indictments are coming any minute now" - and there's just never ever anything that amounts to more than a little nose-wrinkle?

Now, we can add The Clinton Foundation thing to the pile.

Tuesday afternoon, Stephen Braun and Eileen Sullivan of the Associated Press released the results of a review of State Department appointment data that they used to make some striking claims about Hillary Clinton’s schedule as secretary of state.

According to their reporting, Clinton spent a remarkably large share of her time as America’s chief diplomat talking to people who had donated money to the Clinton Foundation. She went out of her way to help these Clinton Foundation donors, and her decision to do so raises important concerns about the ethics of her conduct as secretary and potentially as president. It’s a striking piece of reporting that made immediate waves in my social media feed, as political journalists of all stripes retweeted the story’s headline conclusions.

Except it turns out not to be true. The nut fact that the AP uses to lead its coverage is wrong, and Braun and Sullivan’s reporting reveals absolutely no unethical conduct. In fact, they found so little unethical conduct that an enormous amount of space is taken up by a detailed recounting of the time Clinton tried to help a former Nobel Peace Prize winner who’s also the recipient of a Congressional Gold Medal and a Presidential Medal of Freedom.

Here’s the bottom line: Serving as secretary of state while your husband raises millions of dollars for a charitable foundation that is also a vehicle for your family’s political ambitions really does create a lot of space for potential conflicts of interest. Journalists have, rightly, scrutinized the situation closely. And however many times they take a run at it, they don’t come up with anything more scandalous than the revelation that maybe billionaire philanthropists have an easier time getting the State Department to look into their visa problems than an ordinary person would.

If there's really anything there, and she always just gets away with it, then the fact that 25 years of hard snooping, GOP Congressional Investigations and many many millions of dollars spent - to find practically nothing - all of that would have to mean Hillary Clinton is the most amazing of all evil genius super-criminal masterminds ever - and she's not.

I'm not a fan.  I try to trust politicians no farther that I could spit one of 'em.  But at a certain point, since this particular politician is the one we've got, maybe we could figure out how to take 'yes' for an answer, admit that we agree with her on some things, help her do the things she says she agrees with us on, and always keep the pressure on her to do those other things.  You know - kinda do that thing we like to call, uhmm, what is again? Oh yeah - Politics.

And all the rest of that shit?  You're not getting any of that - wish for something else.

  

Today's Press Poodling

(all of this was front page at HuffPo as of about 11:40am today)

Because of this:

We get all this:

Don't get me wrong, I want to know about the negative side of Hillary's ledger.  But does it really have to be part of an obvious attempt at artificially pimping the horse race narrative?

Today's Tweet

George Zimmerman is a hero to everyone who wants to legally kill the person kicking your ass in a fight you started.

— John Fugelsang (@JohnFugelsang) August 5, 2016

The Other Day's Today

I managed to be woefully mis-informed, and missed it, but on August 18, 1920 - The 19th Amendment was ratified by Tennessee, making it part of the US Constitution.

A weird political irony is that with the exception of a few states, only the men could vote to make the government stop denying the women's right to vote. (and I promise I'm not trying to steal the thunder and pat myself on the back for being so magnanimously man-errific)  

And it just seems like a good example of Progressives being right again (which happens a lot), and the Conservatives being wrong again (which, funnily enough, happens just as often).  

And you don't have to look very far to find what I think is pretty good evidence to back that up.

When you think about which states you'd consider to be "typically conservative" (and if you're more or less normal), you're prob'ly thinking those states are in the South.

Now consider this list of when certain states finally got around to ratifying the 19th Amendment.

Virginia 1952

Alabama 1953

Florida 1969

South Carolina 1969 (not certified until 1973)

Georgia 1970

Louisiana 1970

North Carolina 1971

Mississippi 1984

 

Just as a little reminder - there's a better than even chance that one or more of the women in that picture went home to places that weren't just indifferent to their service and accomplishments, but downright hostile to their having a reasonable expectation of simply being treated as equals.  

Their fight continues, and we all continue to benefit from their victories.

John Oliver

Larry Sabato

Home town hero (as long as he agrees with me of course) Larry Sabato runs a little joint called The Center For Politics at UVa, and he's gotten pretty good at what he does.

Here's a little snapshot of where Professor Sabato thinks we stand right now:

What about the overall picture? As our regular readers know, we’ve been the Rock of Gibraltar when it comes to a Clinton victory. Our first electoral map, issued at the end of March, showed Clinton at 347 EVs to 191 EVs for Trump, and all subsequent maps have maintained those totals — until now. After looking carefully at Nebraska’s 2nd District — Nebraska being, along with Maine, a state that awards one electoral vote to the winner of each congressional district — we’ve decided that NE-2 is leaning toward Clinton. It isn’t much of a lean, and it’s possible that if Trump can tighten up the contest, this one will wobble back to the Republicans. But for the moment, adding NE-2 to the Democrats makes Clinton’s total 348 EVs and Trump’s total 190 EVs. As you’ll recall, Obama carried this district in 2008 but lost it in 2012, so it’s on the margins — yet it also ranks 49th out of 435 congressional districts for percentage of non-Hispanic whites with a bachelor’s degree or higher. Moreover, not only is Clinton investing ad money in Omaha, which also bleeds into the western parts of swing state Iowa, she is also spending actual campaign time in the city, a sign that her campaign believes it can win this extra electoral vote. And did we mention Warren Buffett, a huge Hillary fan, dominates the economic landscape there?

But wait just a durn minute - Tim Kaine made visits to both Idaho and Wyoming, while Trump popped up in a coupla places in Virginia.

Kinda weird, but this is politics, man.  And this time around, it ain't nuthin' like nuthin' that's gone before - even more than usual.

And so, more than ever - don't get happy, Democrats - get busy.  

Some people believe hard that Trump is in the process of using his "campaign" to build a new media empire that he intends to aim at taking over for DumFux News - that's number one.  And number two is that there's not likely gonna be anything close to resembling any kind of movement on a Progressive Agenda unless lotsa Democrats go to DC along with Hillary Clinton.

Yeah yeah, I've said all that before. Tired of it?  Tough shit - I'll be saying it plenty more from here on in. Get used to it.

And this too:

Ms Conway

In her own words:

And lots more at Media Matters

As far as she's concerned, it's nothing but a can of beans on the shelf, or a bag of chips in the machine in the break room - waiting for somebody to wander by with a coupla bucks to spend.

Kellyanne Conway says what she says because she gets paid to say it.  She'll say whatever it is you want her to say if you pay her enough.  There's a word for that, but I won't use that word for Ms Conway because I have too much respect for honest, hard-working whores.

No soul and no honor.

America's Sheriff

Contradictions exist, but they cannot prevail.

via HuffPo:

PHOENIX, Aug 19 (Reuters) - A federal judge recommended on Friday that prosecutors bring criminal contempt charges against Arizona lawman Joe Arpaio, finding that the controversial sheriff had violated court orders stemming from a 2007 racial profiling case.

--and--

“When a federal court finds that a law enforcement official has lied under oath and willfully flouted court orders, that official must be held to account,” said Cecillia Wang, director of the American Civil Liberties Union Immigrants’ Rights Project.

So here's the thing: When you're trying to preserve and protect what you believe to be "American" by employing strategies and tactics that are decidedly Un-American, then you've got a monster contradiction on your hands that has to be resolved.

And like I've said a time or two before -

I hear "Arpaio", I think "Sheriff"

And when I hear "Maricopa", I think "Nottingham"

Today's Tweet

Paul Manafort was tired of being campaign manager #2 while Donald was already seeing campaign manager #3 and everyone like totally knew it.

— John Fugelsang (@JohnFugelsang) August 19, 2016

They Call Me Mr Troll

The race for US Rep (VA-05) is between a GOP State Senator from Lynchburg (Tom Garrett) and the Dem from here in Charlottesville, Jane Dittmar.

Here's a little exercise in what I guess we can call digital campaigning.

The title of the Facebook post was "Chivalry is not dead".  And of course, Mr Garrett thinks he's not being at all dismissive and condescending.  So I couldn't resist.

I guess I kinda hit a nerve, cuz they came out to meet me:

Then they split and left me to play without them: