I guess I'm only partly glad to be reminded that Stoopid is not exclusive to USAmerica Inc.
But - that clip also serves as a happy reminder that Monty Python's Life Of Brian continues to inspire some pretty great thinking.
Wednesday, June 29, 2016
Tuesday, June 28, 2016
Something Of A Change
The story at HuffPo is that Trump's flipflops on his immigration "policy" pronouncements (aka: standard ranch stash bullshit) is confusing for his supporters.
Donald Trump has spent the week pedaling backward and forward on his immigration positions, leaving immigration hawks — and some of his biggest boosters — worried about the strength of his support for mass deportations and a blanket ban on Muslim immigrants.
Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio, a prominent Trump supporter and immigration hawk, told HuffPost he was perplexed by Trump’s series of unfolding positions.
“He initially said he wanted to deport the 11 million people,” Arpaio said. “So you’re saying he’s now saying he’s not going to deport everybody who’s been here illegally?”
Mark Krikorian, executive director of the Center for Immigration Studies, an influential think tank that calls for stricter immigration laws, said he was similarly concerned.
“His instincts on a lot of these issues are correct. Unfortunately, since he doesn’t know much about the issue, won’t listen to his own advisers, and won’t read his own immigration platform, he ends up veering from one thing to the next,” said Krikorian, who plans to vote for Trump. “This is just another example of Trump’s weakness when it comes to policy.”
But I'm kinda wondering how many of Trump's loyal Base Voters will start to bail on him now that it appears he's trying to polish himself up for the general election. The story and that video clip make it pretty obvious that he's being managed a lot differently now. He's not up there just running his mouth - he's trying to focus a more generally palatable rhetoric on the immigration issue, which is what has put his Knob-Gobbler Chorus Boys into a tizzy. How does a Joe (America's Own Sheriff of Nottingham) Arpaio and that Nazi Heimbach dude stay with him now?
What does that cost him? Standard Operating Procedure says you can expect to lose some support from the wingnuts, but it doesn't matter because you have to appeal to the middle now, and what you lose on the right you'll more than make up for... and those rubes aren't gonna vote for anybody else anyway... and and and ... but how does that not make Trump look like "just another politician"? And how does that not tarnish him big time with all the people who got him this far because he's not just another politician?
What really jumps out at me though is that somebody (Manafort?) has convinced him that if he's going to be more consistent, and better able to stay on message, then he has to use a TelePrompter, and holy fuck, boys and girls, he really sucks at it.
This continues to be something to watch with great interest - like something grotesque and horrific that some teenager caught on video; I can't stop watching it; I can't stop hating that I'm watching it, and I can't stop wanting to see more.
Today's Tweet
Warning: Do not pull cord indoors. pic.twitter.com/4Xqz4xKeIc— The Darwin Awards (@AwardsDarwin) June 22, 2016
Monday, June 27, 2016
Today's Quote
"For, in the final analysis, our most basic common link is that we all inhabit this planet. We all breathe the same air. We all cherish our children's future. And we are all mortal." --JFK 1963
Yay, SCOTUS
The Guardian:
There's nothing going on in my daughter's uterus that's any of your goddamned business.
So butt out
and fuck off
you pinch-faced blue-nosed meddling twatwaffles.
The US supreme court on Monday struck down one of the harshest abortion restrictions in the country and potentially paved the way to overturn similar measures in other states that curtail access, in what might be the most significant legal victory for reproductive rights advocates since the right to abortion was established in 1973.
The 5-3 ruling will immediately prevent Texas from enforcing a law that would have closed all but nine abortion clinics. But in a coup for abortion rights supporters, the court also in effect barred lawmakers from passing health measures backed by dubious medical evidence as a way of forcing large numbers of abortion clinics to close.
Justice Anthony Kennedy, whose support was key to determining if the liberal or conservative bloc of the court would prevail, cast his key vote with the four liberal justices.To reiterate:
There's nothing going on in my daughter's uterus that's any of your goddamned business.
So butt out
and fuck off
you pinch-faced blue-nosed meddling twatwaffles.
More Bad Signs
It's axiomatic that coming between a mama bear and her cubs got nuthin' on the danger of standing between a politician and a TV camera. Apparently, the Trump Effect is making that last part quite a bit safer.
Politico:
Trump was slated to appear in 2012, "for some brief remarks", but that was scratched because "...inclement weather forced cancellation of that day's activities". But - wasn't the thing indoors? That's some pretty bad weather.
At 70% Disapproval, Trump is seriously poisonous to everybody except the diehards and the dead-enders who think they have nothing to left lose and nowhere else to turn.
Politico:
With the convention less than a month away, POLITICO contacted more than 50 prominent governors, senators, and House members to gauge their interest in speaking. Only a few said they were open to it — and everyone else said they either weren’t planning on it, didn’t want to, weren’t going to Cleveland at all, or simply didn’t respond.An interesting little tidbit:
Trump was slated to appear in 2012, "for some brief remarks", but that was scratched because "...inclement weather forced cancellation of that day's activities". But - wasn't the thing indoors? That's some pretty bad weather.
At 70% Disapproval, Trump is seriously poisonous to everybody except the diehards and the dead-enders who think they have nothing to left lose and nowhere else to turn.
And, while many are reluctant to appear onstage in Cleveland, some aren’t. Those pols who’ve thrown their support to Trump, like New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, seem like natural candidates for convention speakers. Montana Rep. Ryan Zinke, a former leader of Navy Seal team that would later kill Osama bin Laden, hopes to get a slot, said a spokeswoman. Zinke has endorsed Trump and recently appeared at one of his rallies.
Sunday, June 26, 2016
A Short Film (NSFW)
Sara Benincasa
Focus Groups - all the satisfaction of overpaying for whatever foregone conclusion you desire, due to the pinpoint accuracy of throwing a bucket of rice at a bull's ass.
BTW - when can we expect the Hipster Bubble to burst? And how do I go about shorting that one?
Today's Tweet
Muslim jihadi wears concrete shield to protect genitals for his 72 virgins. Why don't we honor Muslim inventors? pic.twitter.com/PsbYYZU4L2— Jihadist Wife (@Jihadist2ndWife) June 26, 2016
Scammy McFlimflam
Politico:
During sworn testimony in the Trump University lawsuit, Donald Trump repeatedly said he couldn't recall specific claims, documents or events related to the case, prompting a lawyer for the plaintiffs to ask if the real estate mogul considered himself to have “one of the best memories in the world.”
In response, Trump said he thinks he has a “good” or a “great” memory, but doesn’t recall claiming it’s one of the world’s best, according to hours of previously unreleased testimony in which Trump was questioned by the plaintiffs' lawyer Jason Forge.
“So you don't remember saying that you have one of the best memories in the world?” Forge asked.
“I remember you telling me, but I don't know that I said it,” Trump replied.
Three weeks earlier, during a conversation about 9/11 with NBC News reporter Katy Tur, Trump had said he had “the world’s best memory,” Tur reported.
Saturday, June 25, 2016
Today's Tweet
And it's not because I have something against orange people - I love the oranges.
We should probably not let Trump back to the U.S. until we figure out what's going on.— Dave Stroup (@DaveStroup) June 24, 2016
Today's Podcast
The Professional Left
Main point: a theme is emerging - has emerged - that Trump isn't really a Republican. He's zomby-fied enough GOP rubes to get this far, but "we" hafta stop him before he destroys "our" beloved Republican Party.
'Scuse me? Donald Trump has gathered more Republican Votes in the primaries than any other Republican candidate ever. Donald Trump is going to the convention with more than enough committed delegates - he has 305 more than he needs. He could wipe his ass with those 305 people, and Cruz plus Kasich would still be 200 delegates short.
Donald Trump is the GOP now, because all those GOP voters voted for him - see how that works? He owns what the "Repub Establishment" has been building for the last 30 fucking years.
And also too - driftglass and Blue Gal have been saying exactly that for a long long time.
BTW - Trump read The Snake at a rally back in January, and it's been rattling around in my head ever since, and this is what eventually came tumbling out: When a politician (or a silver-tongued devil of a salesman) spins a yarn obviously intending to warn you, there's a fair probability he's making a subconscious effort to tell you something about himself. And keep in mind, a guy like Trump is always thinking and talking about himself.
Main point: a theme is emerging - has emerged - that Trump isn't really a Republican. He's zomby-fied enough GOP rubes to get this far, but "we" hafta stop him before he destroys "our" beloved Republican Party.
'Scuse me? Donald Trump has gathered more Republican Votes in the primaries than any other Republican candidate ever. Donald Trump is going to the convention with more than enough committed delegates - he has 305 more than he needs. He could wipe his ass with those 305 people, and Cruz plus Kasich would still be 200 delegates short.
Donald Trump is the GOP now, because all those GOP voters voted for him - see how that works? He owns what the "Repub Establishment" has been building for the last 30 fucking years.
And also too - driftglass and Blue Gal have been saying exactly that for a long long time.
BTW - Trump read The Snake at a rally back in January, and it's been rattling around in my head ever since, and this is what eventually came tumbling out: When a politician (or a silver-tongued devil of a salesman) spins a yarn obviously intending to warn you, there's a fair probability he's making a subconscious effort to tell you something about himself. And keep in mind, a guy like Trump is always thinking and talking about himself.
Friday, June 24, 2016
What's Up With That?
It's always the hair. These guys show up and they look weird as hell, and it's always something about their hair, and we're like - "What? Look at his hair, man. Anybody lookin' that goofy has to be pretty harmless, right?"
It should be a dead give-away by now, but we still fall for it -
every
fucking
time
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