Today's WTF

Charles Kinsey is a Behavioral Therapist.  He was trying to help a 20-something Autistic patient.  Somebody called the North Miami PD because they tho't the patient had a gun (it was a toy truck).  The patient "failed" to respond to officers' commands; Mr Kinsey knew enough not to abandon his patient; the cops apparently don't know one fuckin' thing except the use of force - so they shot Kinsey as he lay on the ground with his hands in the air.

Charles Kinsey must be wondering what else he needs to do in order to be included in the "all" part of All Lives Matter.

That's pretty fucked up right there.

Fun At The Hatefest

First up: Helga, The Nazi She-Wolf Laura Ingraham

via Rolling Stone and AP

That Leadership Thing

The first two nights in Cleveland, the GOP speakers have tried mightily to portray Obama (and Hillary) as some kinda disaster when it comes to how the world views USAmerica Inc - like we're somehow flailing about and we're not where we should be and we're not doing what we're supposed to be doing etc etc etc.

Take a look at the numbers of people in various countries saying they have confidence in American Leadership:

Every day, in every way, the GOP just gets worse.

Today's GIF

Today's Podcast

Bob and Chez:

Today's Tweet

Fact Check: Here's what the FBI Director actually said about the so-called "marked" emails sent to Hillary Clinton.https://t.co/xs3tbrJb9e

— The Briefing (@TheBriefing2016) July 20, 2016

Ben Carson

It comes down to acknowledging that you're pushing for a Theocracy, Ben.  And so, in light of the fact that Government-by-Religion is expressly prohibited in our constitution, I have to ask: Why do you hate America, Dr Carson?

  

Yes Different

Congressional Interns, 2016 - Democrats:

Congressional Interns, 2016 - Republicans:

Questions?

About Last Nite

Some semi-random thoughts on The ShamWow Meeting in Cleveland.

The theme du jour yesterday was "Make America Work Again".  Let's leave aside the imagery invoked by that phrasing - Rich Rent Collectors and Forced Labor - and think for a short little moment about what the speakers had to say last night.

I heard an awful lot of the usual Hillary Bashing, but with the exception of two women who spoke pretty well about their own experiences in business (this is a 5-day bender celebrating USAmerica Inc's reigning champion of shameless self-promotion, so why would you not try to cash in?), there really wasn't much talk about jobs and opportunities for regular folk etc - it was all "fuck China" and "fuck Mexico" and "fuck the immigrants and poor people" and "your jobs were sent to other countries by The Kenyan Usurper while the noble wealth creators had nothing to do with any of that, so let's put Hillary in prison because email!"   

I caught a little bit of MSNBC's after-party thing, where one of the analysts said he Word-Clouded the text of the speeches, and the word "work" was so far down the list as to be nearly invisible.

I think Mr Priebus needs to shift the focus a little and maybe try "Make This Dog-Ass Convention Work." The attendance is sparse, and the "crowds" just aren't into it.  There were at least two speakers who used the standard Call-n-Response thing, and it was more than a little pathetic. When the speakers have to start the USA USA chant, and it runs outa steam before the middle-aged drunk ladies in the cute red white and blue cowboy hats can get on their feet - well, it's a problem.

I'll look for something good about Trump Jr's speech and get back to y'all later.

Slammin' Sam

Samantha Bee

Round Two

But before we get too crazy, I've heard one source saying the guy who wrote Trump Jr's speech is the guy who wrote the article.  Still doesn't look good, but it's prob'ly not a Melania-level fuckup.

👀 pic.twitter.com/QEftnTTwy3

— The Daily Show (@TheDailyShow) July 20, 2016

Breakin' It Down

The media is calling out the Trump campaign for attempting to deny that Melania Trump's speech was plagiarized: pic.twitter.com/qk5YCLX4sG

— Media Matters (@mmfa) July 19, 2016

(UPDATE 3:10pm)

Maybe I've been hoping for it - and always being disappointed when it doesn't materialize - for so long that I'm just too skeptical, but some of the reactions on the part of these Press Poodles makes me think again that they might be ready (at long fucking last) to get up on their hind legs and call the bullshit for the bullshit it so obviously is.

If that's actually the case, then yay.  It'll be interesting to see how it goes from here on.

But - beware the resurgence of the Both-Siderists.

Where Have I Gone Wrong?

• Obama is rotten
• Hillary is rotten
• Hillary in the White House would be a 3rd term for Obama
• The main reason that would be terrible for America is because the Clintons and the Obamas don't "share our values"

--so--

Let's send Melania out in front of a packed house and 35 million TV viewers and have her espouse almost everything Michelle Obama had to say about herself and Barack in 2008 - practically reciting - verbatim - fairly large passages from that speech.

I wonder how this is playing today with the GOP faction that's been very vocal about how Trump isn't a "real Republican". 

Just how far down the Bullshit Expressway are the rubes willing to ride with this?

Today's Tweet

White Melania stealing from black Michelle Obama, hours after GOP Rep Steve King says white people created civilization, is priceless.

— David Atkins (@DavidOAtkins) July 19, 2016

Wow Just Wow

There's nothing truly new.  Everything is derivative.  I get it, and I guess I knew there had to be a reason I liked that speech, but dang - that's some kinda low down shit right there.

I just have to sit here now shaking my head, wondering - who wrote that thing for her?  Did the Trump campaign gurus really think nobody would notice?  Are they so convinced the rubes will be able to rationalize it away that they'll take the negative publicity and spin it up into "high media interest" and "we must be doing something right - look at how everybody wants to know more about Melania"?

It's a rolling clusterfuck.  A traveling dumpster fire.  Amateurish, cynical and clumsy.

HuffPo 

RNC Tweet

#RNCinCLE DRINKING GAME:

Drink every time you hear a verifiable fact.... pic.twitter.com/EqzV6NFRmt

— All Things Flynn (@AllThingsFlynn) July 18, 2016

OK, I Think I Get It

From Robert Reich's FB page:

May I have a word with those of you Bernie supporters who consider Donald Trump to be no worse than Hillary Clinton? It’s a point of view a number of you have expressed on this page, and it's dead wrong.

As I said when I endorsed Bernie for president, I view Hillary as enormously qualified to be president of the political system we now have. She is smart, capable, and experienced. I endorsed Bernie because I thought he would help create the political system we need. But Bernie will not be the Democratic nominee. That does not mean the end of the movement Bernie advanced. That movement was never about Bernie; it was about reclaiming our democracy and our economy. And that movement will live on, and it will grow. It needs your continuing activism and your tenacity.

You are, of course, entitled to support anyone you wish to. But if you don’t get behind Hillary you increase the odds that Donald Trump will be president. That would be a disaster for America and the world. Trump is a menace. He is not just unsuited to being the president of the United States – a bigoted narcissist who incites and excuses violence – but his presidency would threaten everything this nation stands for: tolerance, inclusion, freedom of the press, equal justice, and equal opportunity. It would make it far more difficult ever to achieve the progressive goals you and I share.

What do you think?

Imagine That

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, a staunch advocate for gun rights, vowed that he would get rid of “gun-free zones” at an annual meeting for the National Rifle Association held this spring in Louisville, Kentucky. The convention center he spoke at for the annual meeting for the NRA as well as all of Trump’s hotels are gun-free zones.

In case you missed it - the RNC convention is a gun-free zone.

In case you missed it 2: Steve Loomis (President of Cleveland Police Patrolmen’s Association) loudly claimed Tamir Rice was threatening the Cleveland cops, and more recently has said Obama has blood on his hands for both Dallas and Baton Rouge, and most recently made a desperate plea to Ohio Gov John Kasich, asking the governor to issue an Executive Order suspending the Open Carry laws in Ohio for the duration of the GOP convention.

This jagoff is an active duty Police Detective - who seems to know practically nothing about how the law actually works.  Which may explain why he's a Trump supporter(?)

The fact that these guys apparently think "a great leader" gets to make law and then suspend the law on whatever whimsy strikes him as expedient - is exactly the kind of authoritarian crap the founders told us to watch out for; exactly why Donald (Law-n-Order) Trump needs to be stomped in November, along with all the other Proto-Nazi assholes we come across. 

Today's Tweet

#JesusChangesEverything is trending... just doing my part... pic.twitter.com/Ag9zwcyYGX

— Think Atheist (@ThinkAtheist) July 16, 2016

Trump On 60 Minutes

Here's a taste:

I was trying to count 2 things here: The times either one of these jokers contradicted either himself or the other.  And the number of times they each spoke of the other in the 3rd person.  I lost track in a big hurry.  I couldn't keep up.

If you're saying you intend to vote for this rolling clusterfuck, I'm gonna feel perfectly justified hitting you in the knee with a 24-oz ball peen until you stop saying that.