They're just after Trump because he's exposing the vast conspiracy of women who don't like to be groped and ogled by gross men.— LOLGOP (@LOLGOP) October 13, 2016
Oct 14, 2016
Today's Tweet
Oct 13, 2016
NYT
Please allow me to be the first to pat myself on the back. Obviously, my relentless criticism of (and the level of my contempt for) The Press Poodles in USAmerica Inc's media biz is paying dividends.
Here's the letter NYT published in response to Trump's threat to sue them for libel:
Here's the letter NYT published in response to Trump's threat to sue them for libel:
At great personal expense, I've enlisted the smart and capable Kristen Bell to translate in a way even Trump (and a few of his devoted rubes) can understand. Take it away, Ms Bell:
Way to go, guys - build on that, OK?
What He Brags About
Listen for what a guy brags about most, and that'll tell you what's false about him.
O'Donnell has a good record when it comes to calling these things - especially when it's about Donald Trump.
One From driftglass
driftglass (a coupla days ago):
Today was the day when the Republican party's nominee for president declared open war on the leadership of the Republican party for finally daring to timidly whisper about various, glaringly observable realities (h/t @Billmon).
BTW - nobody does PhotoShop better:
Sometimes You Vote With Your Checkbook
Reuters:
Kerry Woolard, the 37-year-old manager of Trump Winery in Charlottesville, Virginia, went online in June and made her first political contribution: A $250 donation to the campaign of her boss, Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump.
Woolard's donation was unusual.
Only a dozen of an estimated 22,450 people employed at Trump's companies have donated more than $200 to the celebrity businessman's bid for the U.S. presidency, a Reuters review of federal campaign finance records through August shows. Those who gave less to either Trump's campaign or his joint fundraising committees would not have shown up in the review.
The contributors, including an office cleaner, a golf course groundskeeper, a bartender and an attorney, have given $5,298 to Trump's campaign, a fraction of the $112 million Trump's political operation has received from donors and joint fundraisers.
An employee at Trump enterprises gave $275 to the campaign of her employer’s Democratic rival, Hillary Clinton. A 13th Trump employee, a lawyer at the Trump Organization, contributed to a Trump Super PAC, giving $1,000.
Kids These Days
WaPo:
Students at Liberty University have issued a statement against Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump as young conservatives at colleges across the state reconsider support for his campaign.
A statement issued late Wednesday by the group Liberty United Against Trump strongly rebuked the candidate as well as the school’s president, Jerry Falwell Jr., for defending Trump after he made extremely lewd comments about women in a 2005 video. The students wrote that Falwell’s support for Trump had cast a stain on the school’s reputation.
“We are Liberty students who are disappointed with President Falwell’s endorsement and are tired of being associated with one of the worst presidential candidates in American history,” the statement said. “Donald Trump does not represent our values and we want nothing to do with him. … He has made his name by maligning others and bragging about his sins. Not only is Donald Trump a bad candidate for president, he is actively promoting the very things that we as Christians ought to oppose.”
--and also too--
The Liberty University student manifesto against Trump comes as college Republican groups across the country reconsider support for the candidate. On Tuesday the University of Virginia College Republicans announced that the group voted to rescind its endorsement of his candidacy for president. The chairman of the College Republicans at Hampden-Sydney College, Tanner Beck, posted a statement on Facebook noting that Trump “has gone from simply being an embarrassment to our party, to a potentially permanent stain on our brand and our country.”The statement was posted online as a petition
I'm not holding out a lot of hope that this will flip any given Trumpster, and I don't really give a rat's ass what anybody thinks their imaginary friend has to say about politics (or anything else for that matter).
That said, maybe I can take it as a good sign that some of these young adults are forming political identities that aren't simply Red vs Blue and My-Team-No-Matter-What, in spite of the submissive authoritarian crap that gets drilled into them at a "Religious University".
Realistically, some of these "kids" will go on to become the next buncha blue-nosed pinch-faced purity warriors that plague every system everywhere, but some will also grow into regular human-type people who can change things where they are with the tools they have at hand.
A guy can hope, can't he?
A Guy Can Wish
Conservatives unleashed #Trump and his #BasketOfDespicables on the nation. It is fitting that the #GOP be among the first casualties. pic.twitter.com/jgcTSa6OgK— rootwoman123 (@rootwoman123) October 12, 2016
Oct 12, 2016
Through The Floor
There's a virulent strain of "conservative" that grew out of the 90s when people like Newt Gingrich and Rush Limbaugh taught the GOP an important "debate" technique that says basically that the point of the exercise is simply to make the libruls mad (thanks, driftglass)
I'd call that picture evidence of the depth of their depravity, thinking again they've reached the basement floor, but they manage to go on crashing thru each lower limit, until it seems there's just no bottom for them.
And it's not like people haven't been trying to warn us this day was coming.
Each New Thing
Almost every day, when the newest horrifyingly right radical thing drops into our laps, I think, "this has to be as bad as it gets". And every time, all I have to do is wait for a day (sometimes less), and along comes something to top it.
Leggings and gerbils, Dave Daubenmire (via Right Wing Watch):
Leggings and gerbils, Dave Daubenmire (via Right Wing Watch):
America will never be great until people who think like this are marginalized and removed from any position of authority or influence over anything besides their little pathetic tabernacles to the Lord...sadly, large numbers of men think this way and have quite a bit of power and influence.. And that is one of the reasons we can't have nice things. Time for men whose masculinity isn't threatened by strong and powerful women to stand up and demand that men like this are a relic of the past and should be relegated to it...like museum relics.
It's A Wonderment
Given recent blowups regarding revelations of Mr Trump's ever-increasing Ick Factor, I got curious as to the Endorsement Scorecard, so off to Wikipedia we go.
And, ooh look - here's a snapshot of Newspaper Endorsements for 2016
And, ooh look - here's a snapshot of Newspaper Endorsements for 2016
In a 5-way contest, Trump finishes behind "No Endorsement" and "Not Donald Trump" and Gary (what's "a leppo"?) Johnson. Dead.Fucking.Last.
Zero. Zip. Zilch. Nada. Not one. Not so much as the Bergen County Shoppers Guide. Nothin'.
But wait, Mike - everybody knows the Librul Media can't we trusted. What about all the others; the "real people" ?
So, I went to the Endorsements page for each candidate, and browsed around a bit, and then I employed the time-honored metric of counting the number of times I had to hit Page Down to get thru the lists - and here's my very silly little quickie recap:
Hillary Clinton = 54 pages
Donald Trump = 17 pages
There ya have it - Hillary stomps his ass by better than 3-1.
Oh yeah - maybe this is the kicker and maybe it's not, but anyway, here's the score on how many endorsements have been retracted for each of 'em:
Hillary Clinton = 0
Donald Trump = 42
Knowing how low and crass and mercenary any given politician (or pundit) can be, we know how bad the situation has to get before one of these public ho-bags admits to making a mistake and reverses course.
Forty-fucking-two
And Now An Important Announcement
For just my Republican friends - from Hair Fuhrer* himself - you'll always remember what a special day it was.
*thanks @tengrain
Just Donald Trump telling people to vote on November 28th... pic.twitter.com/RdeqCo0JSd— Alan Kestrel (@AlanKestrel750) October 12, 2016
*thanks @tengrain
Oct 11, 2016
Today's Tweet
Needed to get this one in before it disappeared.
This guy, at the rally with his wife and three kids, in his "She's A Cunt, Vote For Trump" shirt. pic.twitter.com/NDQMz1uteG— Sally Kohn (@sallykohn) October 11, 2016
Today's Quote
"When wealth is passed off as merit, bad luck is seen as bad character. This is how ideologues justify punishing the sick and the poor. But poverty is neither a crime nor a character flaw. Stigmatize those who let people die, not those who struggle to live."
hat tip = Facebook friend LM-M
Polling Here At Home
Blue Virginia:
Democratic Presidential nominee Hillary Clinton holds a 9 percentage point lead over Republican Donald Trump among likely voters in Virginia (45%-36%), according to The Roanoke College Poll. Libertarian Gary Johnson trails with 7 percent of likely voters, while Independent Evan McMullin and Green Party candidate Jill Stein each garner 1 percent. Ten percent of likely voters remain undecided. In a two-way matchup, Clinton’s lead extends to 13 points (51%-38%). Clinton led by 7 percentage points in the September Roanoke College Poll (44%-37%).
The Roanoke College Poll interviewed 814 likely voters in Virginia between October 2 and October 6 and has a margin of error of +3.4 percent. The poll was conducted after the first presidential debate and prior to both the second debate and the release of the videotape of Donald Trump making vulgar comments about women.Virginia's looking like a bellwether - a leading indicator kinda thing. Increasing buzz going on about how If HRC's lead goes up a lousy two points here in The Old Dominion over the next coupla weeks, we could be in for a regular tsunami.
And Now For Something Different
This whole campaign cycle is a freak show without the tent, and so the only thing that could possibly occur that would seem odd is if somebody actually came up with a policy idea on what we might try in order to make a few improvements - and wow, look at that, it's Hillary Clinton, trying to get us to talk about something other than what Donald Trump is doing with his tiny orange hands.
Vox:
On Tuesday, Hillary Clinton unveiled what is arguably among the most important policies she’s announced during her entire presidential campaign. It is an ambitious but politically attainable plan that will lift huge numbers of families with children out of poverty. It is targeted exclusively at the poor, and the extreme poor in particular, with no money spent on the middle class or rich.
Specifically, Clinton is calling for a change in the refundability threshold of the child tax credit. Those sound like technical changes, but it has tremendous ramifications. Currently, the poorest American families can’t claim the credit, which is a mainstay of the tax returns of most middle-class families. That’s because households that make less than $3,000 a year — the truly, desperately poor — are excluded entirely, and households making under $9,666.67 can’t get the full credit.
Clinton would change the law so that families start getting the credit with the first dollar they earn. That would effectively increase the tax refunds of the poorest families with children. In addition, Clinton would double the credit for children 4 and under, something that helps both poor and middle-class families with young kids, and she’d make the credit phase in much faster for families with kids in that age range.I make no claims to knowledge of such things beyond the single Econ course I barely muddled thru in one of my abortive attempts at going to college, but I managed to learn that the more people who can participate in an economy, the better that economy works; and that the best way to circulate money thru an economy is to pump it up through the roots instead of sprinkling it on the leaves. It's basic Keanesian stuff and it's what works best - which seems like a fairly simple concept, but it's something that's proved to be a little elusive for the average "conservative".
I'm a Bernie guy - and I think Bernie'd be good with an initiative like this because it means his challenge for the nomination showed HRC that moving her agenda a little to the left is a good and appropriate and politically safe thing to do, plus it signals Hillary's willingness to fix one of the big problems created by the Welfare Reform thing in the mid-90s, which is something Bernie kept hammering her on.
So - yays all around.
Samantha Bee
As is frequently the case when we have to address something Donald Trump has said or done, this is NSFW.
Oct 10, 2016
Today's Tweet
HILLARY: i told you he'd fuck the chair— michael koh (@ughHugs) October 10, 2016
TRUMP: *while fucking the chair* I never fucked the chair pic.twitter.com/QACRSry4SG
Today's Today
"Let us, in the name of The Holy Trinity, go on sending all the slaves that can be sold."
--Christopher Columbus
hat tip = @JohnFugelsang (the quote is via Howard Zinn - and it may be apocryphal)
From Indian Country Today:
On the second Monday of October each year, Native Americans cringe at the thought of honoring a man who committed atrocities against Indigenous Peoples.
Columbus Day was conceived by the Knights of Columbus, a Catholic Fraternal organization, in the 1930s because they wanted a Catholic hero. After President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the day into law as a federal holiday in 1937, the rest has been history.
In an attempt to further thwart the celebration of this “holiday,” we at ICTMN have outlined eight misnomers and bloody, greedy, sexually perverse and horrendous atrocities committed by Columbus and his men.As usual, 2 things:
First, Columbus was a man of his times. Those times could be dispassionately brutal and uncaring, so they produced people who often behaved as compassionless brutes.
Second, we apply a very liberal amount of hagiographic cleanser to the stories, and hey look - a brand new gold-plated sparkling American hero.
I have no problem celebrating all the really great things we want this country to be and to stand for and to characterize for the rest of the world to emulate, but when we learn that the guy who's supposed to embody all that awesomely awesome awesomeness was a complete asshole by every modern standard (standards we claim to hold dear) - we gotta make some changes.
Oct 9, 2016
Debate Recap
No quarter. No mercy. No prisoners. Lay waste, leaving nothing but ash and the tears of impotent rage.
We don't have to like it. It's not fair that we have to do it, but it's our turn. We are called to make this right again. This is our time, and so this is our fight. We rise to the challenge. We will not be beaten.
Fair Point
To the Republicans saying they want Pence: uhhh, why? No one voted for Pence. He was *picked*. BY THE GUY YOU NOW AGREE HAS SHITTY JUDGMENT.— Craig Mazin (@clmazin) October 9, 2016
Eating Their Own
And all the usual spinners popped up to deflect and do The Tu Quoque Shuffle.
And then there's Red State. These guys can be pretty vile when it comes to pimping the "conservative" philosophy of "I've got mine - and all those others would be fine if they'd just stop being so poor or so black or so woman-y, but they refuse to be like us - so fuck 'em".
But at least they have enough self-awareness to know they can't ignore the kind of shit Trump and his minions are flinging regarding Pussygate, and more importantly, they see the impact all the shit-flinging is having on their chances of winning almost any election at any level beyond Board of Supervisors in Pokacuzzin County Alabama.
Red State:
Then there were those whose morals are more flexible, more forgiving if one has the right letter in front of their name. Trump himself released a campaign statement initially calling the conversation “locker room talk.” He added, “I apologize ifanyone was offended.” He did later release a video apologizing and then bringing up Bill Clinton’s sordid history with women.
And here is only a small sample of what avid Trump supporters have been saying in defense of Donald Trump, as if there is any defense, mostly by bringing up Bill Clinton:
Media who dismissed women's charges of RAPE & ASSAULT bc Bill Clinton was the accused have ZERO cred on this. It's all political.— Laura Ingraham (@IngrahamAngle) October 8, 2016
Lol. So you only want to talk about @realDonaldTrump but not @HillaryClinton and her husband. YOU ARE THE SHILL! https://t.co/YWgQQ12lhG— Sean Hannity (@seanhannity) October 8, 2016
--and--
Disgusting, abhorrent, nauseating justifications. Maximum spin. Pushing false narratives. The list goes on.
Let’s get one thing straight. As terrible a person as Bill Clinton is, Bill Clinton is not running for president. Bill Clinton’s name is not on the ballot anywhere. If someone wants to have a conversation about Hillary Clinton’s own personal treatment and degradation of women, let’s have the conversation. That could actually be a fruitful discussion.
But if we are going to fault a woman for simply being married to someone who turned out to be a bad man, we are opening the door to all the judgment the left has been placing on us for years. We are hypocrites, we are misogynists, we are simply holier-than-thou-jerks.
We cannot in good conscience go around touting the sanctity of marriage and the importance of marriage vows, and then turn around and judge a woman for staying in a marriage, for whatever reason. We cannot assign blame to Hillary Clinton for her husband’s indiscretions.You guys knew what he was when you got in bed with him. Nobody's interested in listening to you bitch about fleas - especially not the fleas on somebody else's dog.
Oct 8, 2016
Today's Tweet
Poor, @realDonaldTrump. Drove the entire Republican Party over a cliff, and nobody likes his LOSER ass, anymore. pic.twitter.com/WRp01tm5s6— Monkeyfister (@Monkeyfister1) October 8, 2016
Dots They Be Connectin'
Donald Trump enters, and every woman who knows him knows where her hands need to be.
hat tip = @SweetPeaPatsy
hat tip = @SweetPeaPatsy
The Mythology Of The Trump Voter
"...the only thing poor about them is their judgement."
--and--
"Donald Trump has the impulse control of a grease fire."
I Think It's About Forgiveness, But
The Professional Left with driftglass and Blue Gal
(click the Amazon link, do some shopping and support the little podcast on the prairie)
Oddly, when they're talking about how we forgave the GOP after the 90s, and again after GW Bush, the word "appeasement" came to mind.
(click the Amazon link, do some shopping and support the little podcast on the prairie)
Oddly, when they're talking about how we forgave the GOP after the 90s, and again after GW Bush, the word "appeasement" came to mind.
Oct 7, 2016
From 538 Today
Larry Sabato's Crystal Ball has it about the same, although they haven't shown the same movement in Iowa and Ohio.
And don't forget to follow the money:
And don't forget to follow the money:
Trump campaign is canceling hundreds of thousands of dollars in advertising in Fla, NC, OH, possibly other states, per two buying sources.— Maggie Haberman (@maggieNYT) October 7, 2016
Connecting
I have no real idea if DumFux News is trying to fuck up in reverse or what - like if they're doing us a favor by pulling their usual shit, believing lots of people will see their antics through the filter of tacit support for GOP candidates, which accrues to Trump's detriment - which is what they're really up to even tho' they're trying hard to look like they aren't against Trump since Trump is the GOP right now, but this shit will be over at some point and DumFux desperately needs to find a way to maintain their position and what the fuck am I even talking about now?
All the flips and turns and attempted judo shit is just too weird.
We'll see what we see I guess, but when we have almost half of the system acting like they belong in the Day Room lined up waiting for Thorazine, there's just no real way to make sense of it.
Thank the fake lord we still have The Daily Show.
All the flips and turns and attempted judo shit is just too weird.
We'll see what we see I guess, but when we have almost half of the system acting like they belong in the Day Room lined up waiting for Thorazine, there's just no real way to make sense of it.
Thank the fake lord we still have The Daily Show.
In The Boston Globe
I'm not gonna get my hopes up too much, but this seems like good news - like maybe the Press Poodles are starting to understand a thing or two about how telling us a politician is lying to us (when that politician is fucking lying to us) - like maybe that's part of the media's job after all. Hmm.
Boston Globe:
Boston Globe:
The immediate media response to the debate was to grant Mike Pence the victory, largely on style points. Kaine was “trying too hard,” wrote The Washington Post. The same paper’s Chris Cilizza called Pence the winner because he “repeatedly turned to the camera when he answered questions, making clear he understood that the real audience wasn’t in the room but watching on TV. The Indiana governor was calm, cool and collected throughout — a stark contrast to the fast-talking (and seemingly nervous) Kaine.”
Kaine interrupted too much and tried to say too much. Pence was folksy, down-to-earth, and used his previous experience as a radio show host to deftly deflect Kaine’s attack lines.
But there’s one major problem with this analysis: It ignores the fact that when Pence wasn’t misrepresenting the statements of his running mate, he told one lie after another.--and--
If journalists and pundits have one responsibility to the body politic it is to make clear that when a politician is lying, we call it a lie — not give them credit for lying with style.Yay
 |
| No poodles here |
Oct 6, 2016
Today's Keith
He seems a bit agitated today.
NEW VIDEO: We. Have had. Enough. The "other" angry group in this election: those of us who believe in democracy. pic.twitter.com/9TLfBtJFkl— Keith Olbermann (@KeithOlbermann) October 6, 2016
Some of it may be a little overblown, but sometimes you fight fire with fire.
But Don't Get Happy
We have Clinton's lead up to 5 points now. https://t.co/WLXtJodIzD pic.twitter.com/rcbE00H4iY— Nate Silver (@NateSilver538) October 6, 2016
...Get to work.
Make the calls.
Hand out the fliers.
Put up the yard signs.
Elect the people who'll keep the pressure on.
Fellow Travelers
Hey Trump/Pence voters - these are your guys.
Then this guy starts trying to say the Nazi's didn't intentionally gas 6 million Jews, another man agrees. I ask if they are together. "No" pic.twitter.com/42Iy10ttyW— Gadi Schwartz (@GadiNBC) October 6, 2016
hat tip = Tweeter @GadiNBC
Not saying there are no loonies on the left, but dang - don't you have to wonder just a little about who you're willing to hang out with, and why they're enthused about your candidate?
Oct 5, 2016
What's The Difference?
If the concentration of power in a central government is bad; and we wanna do everything we can do to spread that power out and push it down to the states and the counties and the individuals, then why are we not trying to do the same thing when it comes to the accumulation and concentration of wealth?
Money and Power are almost the same thing in that if you have one then the other one's pretty easy to come by - especially the way things have been going here in USAmerica Inc.
Conservatives and Progressives should be making some serious common cause on this shit.
Too much power in too few hands in Washington isn't much different than too much wealth in too few hands on Wall Street.
It's a wonderment.
An Ad
Someone is doing yeoman's work on this stuff.
[Hillary Clinton digs around in her purse] Dammit I know I have those receipts somewhere OH HERE THEY ARE pic.twitter.com/rr55w6cmQp— shauna (@goldengateblond) October 5, 2016
And I realize Trump "makes it easy" just by saying all the weird shit he says, but this is a whole big buncha good shit.
Today's Tweet
#VPDebate...... When Tim Kaine would bring up Trump and his policies.. Mike Pence would be like... pic.twitter.com/V8U3JTa07S— Susan Hunt (@StSusanHunt) October 5, 2016
Oct 4, 2016
Those Late Nite Bar Talks
First Guy: The flat earth society has members all around the globe.
Second Guy: Say that again - but a little slower this time.
Second Guy: Say that again - but a little slower this time.
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