Wednesday, August 31, 2016

Dumb And Dumber


Incredibly, there's a politician more cosmically stupid than neo- fascist white nationalist Donald "Rump" Trump (and that's him on the right below):


Dumb                                  Dumber

How do you say "D'oh!" in Spanish?

Or "bend over?"

We'll just stick with gusano.

Univision/ Fusion's Jorge Ramos puts it in perspective:

And from the former Mexican ambassador to the U.S.:

BONUS:  Here's more reaction.

UPDATE:  Contrary to Rump's assertion that they didn't discuss who would pay for the wall, "Dumber" says he told Rump Mexico won't pay for it. Too bad the coward didn't correct Rump on the spot when he had the chance.

Post Time! Local "News" Plays Its Role In The Horserace Narrative, Too


We mostly focus on the role of the national media in creating the 2016 horserace narrative, but local "news" plays its brain dead part as well.  As an example, here are clips from yesterday's local NBC affiliate in Washington, DC, with the local anchor using One Poll to flog the "race tightening" theme (although the delta between polls is within the margin of error) and, to his credit, NBC News' Mark Murray offering her a little perspective (in the second clip):



The clip continues:



We see this almost every day on our local "news," who are just as willing as their network counterparts to try to "normalize" this campaign and neo- fascist ass boil Donald "Rump" Trump, and reduce it to a "who's up, who's down" metric. That's why we had to give a little "yay" to Murray's putting things into perspective for the eager local fluffer.

Today's Cartoon - Do Not Open Until November 9


(click on image to enlarge)


(Jim Morin, Miami Herald)

As has been noted, it's not just his income tax returns that Rump's hiding;  it's also his medical records.  If there was an honest media in this country, they'd be dogging Rump every day for stonewalling on his tax returns and health records.  But, it's much more fun to create bogus story lines so you can fluff a horserace narrative, because, to quote the shitgibbon himself, "what the hell do you have to lose," amirite?!

Post Time! The Media's Horserace Narrative


With the hastily- arranged run down to Mexico by neo- fascist wall builder Donald "Rump" Trump, the amoral media has yet another opportunity to "normalize" the Rump candidacy.  As Charles Pierce points out, the trip isn't to garner Hispanic American votes, or the votes of squishy Republicans who want a veil of respectability in order to vote Rump.  No,
 ... it's primarily aimed at the suckers in the elite political press, some of whom, I guarantee you, will fall for this malarkey because…optics! He has a gift for dominating the news cycle! And all this on a day in which ABC and the Post are tootling the call to the post because of their new poll showing that Hillary Rodham Clinton is as unpopular as Trump is among likely voters. Whee, kids! As Fred Caposella used to say, the crowd is moving closer to the rail and that can mean only one thing—it is now post time!
Like the gleeful little nihilists they are, the "mainstream media," this time in the form of ABC News and the once great Washington Post Bezos Bugle, takes credit for their ability to damage the "sane, competent" person standing in the way of a Rump regime:
Clinton’s rise in unpopularity follows renewed attention on her use of a private email server and alleged conflicts of interest over her connections to the Clinton Foundation fundraising while she served as secretary of state.
Mainstreaming more of the halfwit email server nothingburger, in service to right- wing Clinton pursuer Judicial Watch, and the Clinton Foundation's "alleged conflicts of interest" (alleged by the same right- wing noise machine and some media watercarriers like the AP) will certainly pull those numbers down to horserace levels! You've done your jobs well, you useful idiot ratf*ckers!  Every poll point up or down will now be portrayed by the media as "Rump's comeback, race tightening!" (Enjoy the view from inside President Rump's enhanced, barbwire "press pen!")

All of which makes it easier to understand why there's one group that's far, far, far more unpopular than Clinton or even Rump:
Trust in the news media is being eroded by perceptions of inaccuracy and bias, fueled in part by Americans' skepticism about what they read on social media. 
Just 6 percent of people say they have a lot of confidence in the media, putting the news industry about equal to Congress and well below the public's view of other institutions.  (our emphasis)
Not trustworthy!  Sad!

BONUS: Now, the Rump fluffers in the media are whining that Rump didn't take them to Mexico for his "visit." Not to worry; he'll bring back some tequila for them and everything will be "Presidential."

Let's Hope He Gets "Montezuma's Revenge"


The campaign of neo-fascist bigot Donald "Rump" Trump announced a hastily planned meeting today between Rump and Mexico's President Enrique Peña Nieto in Mexico City. The meeting comes at the invitation extended by President Peña Nieto to both Rump and Hillary Clinton to discuss bilateral relations. Rump is widely despised in Mexico, after over a year of bashing undocumented immigrants from Mexico as "rapists" and "murderers" and promising to build a wall that Mexico would pay for.

We would hope that Peña Nieto would use the opportunity to humiliate Rump in what promises to be a widely-covered event (wouldn't this be a priceless trick: "Senor Trump has assured me privately that building the wall is just empty rhetoric to satisfy his ignorant followers").  The Mexican President is suffering from record low approval ratings, due to corruption scandals, so this presents an win-win opportunity for him to stand up for his people and denounce Rump as an ignorant bigot. He's undoubtedly aware that Rump will be making a speech on immigration in Arizona later today, where Rump will likely reference the meeting.

In the meantime, Twitter is erupting with tweets mocking the visit by Rump. Our favorites:



BONUS:  Then there's Andy Borowitz:
President Barack Obama defended his decision on Wednesday to issue a payment of five billion dollars to Mexico to compel that nation to retain custody of Donald J. Trump. 
The payment, which will be delivered to the Mexican government in hard American currency by Wednesday afternoon, will insure that Trump will remain in Mexico for the rest of his natural life. 
“I have been assured by the government of Mexico that Mr. Trump will be well taken care of and, if he proves to be a productive member of their society, will be provided a pathway to Mexican citizenship,” Obama said.

Mid-Week Birthday Songs


Celebrating his 71st birthday today is Belfast-born rocker Sir Van Morrison, OBE, whose all-out R&B style -- sometimes dubbed "Celtic soul" -- has established him as one of the iconic singers of the rock era. Starting in the mid-1960s as the lead singer for Them ("Gloria", "Here Comes The Night"), Morrison later launched his solo career with the huge hit "Brown Eyed Girl" in 1967.  A member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Morrison has won two Grammys and four Grammy Hall of Fame Awards. Here he is, first with the classic rock standard "Gloria" and next with "Real Real Gone."



Tuesday, August 30, 2016

Tweet Of The Day - He'll Know It When He Reads It



As he reads it off the teleprompter...

Trump's Dr. Strange Glove Gets Examined


To Whom My Concern*:

Neo- fascist deployed air bag Donald "Rump" Trump's "physician," gastroenterologist Harold "Dr. Strange Glove" Bornstein is the subject of this fisting examination by Dr. (of Fine Arts) Steven Colbert, who has the sneaking suspicion Bornstein's curiously Trumpesque medical assessment was "yanked from where the sun don't shine."



As with Rump's tax returns, the public has a right to know "What's he hiding?"

Also, is there anything pertaining to Rump that's legitimate?

* Quoth Dr. Strange Glove.

In Rump's Shadow


Two prominent Rethuglicans face the voters in primaries today: bitter ol' fart Sen. John "McNasty" McCain (AZ) and on-again-off-again-on-again opportunist Sen. Marco "Glug Glug" Rubio (FL). Both are expected to win their intra-party primaries over relative nobodies, but the main challenge for them going forward to November is dealing with the elephant turd in the room, their party's candidate: neo-fascist narcissist Donald "Rump" Trump, and his continuing problems with women, Hispanic and other minority voters. Both have indicated their "support" of Rump, despite Rump's smearing of them, disparaging McNasty's POW record and saying he's done little for veterans, and insulting "Little Marco" in many of the party's debates and pointing to his one-time record on immigration reform.

Both have been restrained in their criticisms of Rump, in fear of offending his racist and xenophobic base, although Glug Glug recently said that he stood by what he said in the Rethug primaries about Rump, including calling him a "con man."  With the election heating up, Rump is certain to engage in more outrageous rhetoric, which McNasty and Glug Glug will be asked to comment on endlessly (we hope). The problem going toward November is running on a ticket with Rump at the top, particularly if Hillary Clinton outperforms Rump (more likely in Florida, but not out of the question in Arizona). If swing / "independent" voters decline to vote a split ticket, voting for Clinton and Democrats down ballot, that's bad news for McNasty and Glug Glug. It's good news for the rest of us.

Pic of the Day: Winky's Tumble


"It's OK, Ms. Palin. It's still empty."

Fulltime grifter and halftime former Gov. Sarah "Winky" Palin fell off a bar stool tumbled during a run this past weekend, and gashed her thick head. She shared photos on her policy platform social media, and of course, Winky being Winky, she took the opportunity to say some nonsensical things about Hillary Clinton "cookie baking" and "wedding planning" in her own word-salad way. Clearly her fall didn't knock some sense into her. But perhaps the choicest line was when she said,
“I tripped over my own two feet and crashed and burned face-first.”
Which could also be said about her life in politics.

Monday, August 29, 2016

Today's Cartoon - Trump Immigration Speech Preview


Here's your exclusive preview of the speech on "illegal immigration" neo- fascist white nationalist Donald "Rump" Trump will be reading off his teleprompter this Wednesday (you're welcome):

(click on image to enlarge)



(Stuart Carlson, via gocomics.com)

The Lying Game


Republicans and their media enablers have been peddling The Narrative for decades that Hillary Clinton has a "trustworthy" problem: that, well, she lies.  We're willing to postulate that some of this narrative has roots in (1) the hounding of the Clintons by their political opponents and the media for 25 years, and their consequent desire to erect privacy walls to deflect that hounding, (2) the urge to use cautious, niggling, lawyerly language when a simple declaration is in order, and (3) blahblahblah who gives a crap - it's a lazy, phony narrative.

That said, though, the next time someone tells you "Hillary lies" on Facebook, in a conversation, etc., feel free to cite this data from the independent fact- checkers at PolitiFact (click on images to enlarge):



Displayed differently, with other politicians listed dating back to 2007, here's how she compares:


(Credit: Robert Mann, dataviz)

In the longer duration chart directly above, you'll notice neo- fascist pathological liar Donald "Rump" Trump fares even worse, hitting about 78% Mostly False, False, Pants on Fire.  Which makes sense -- the longer time his lips are moving, the more lies spew out.

You'll also notice Republicans hold down the top 14 spots.

Weiner Roasting Tweets of the Day (UPDATED)




The guy with the most fitting name ever, self-destructive former Congresscritter Anthony Weiner, has apparently not given up his "hobby" of tweeting inappropriate pictures of "himself" to women. For the past 19 months, he's been tweeting lewd messages and pictures to an anonymous woman whom he apparently knows. He's since deleted his Twitter account. He should get help -- again.

UPDATE:  His wife, Hillary Clinton aide Huma Abedin, just announced her separation from Weiner.

Our Broken Media, Cont.: Flog That Narrative!


See also, below.

Our Broken Media: We Stand Uncorrected Edition


When the Associated Press took some cherry-picked e-mails from then-Secretary Hillary Clinton's State Department record, they created a false picture of buying "access" through donations to the charitable Clinton Foundation. Worse still, they were feeding off of information provided by the far-right group Judicial Watch, which has been smearing the Clintons for literally decades.

At the same time that AP ran with the story, which they clearly manipulated to fit an ongoing narrative, they tweeted, "more than of those who met with Clinton as Cabinet secretary gave money to the Clinton Foundation," a statement that was quickly debunked. Yesterday, when CNN's Brian Stelter asked AP's executive editor Kathleen Carroll about the tweet, she said it "could have used some more precision," finally admitting that it was "sloppy." Stelter then asked her whether AP would take it down or correct it since it was false, Carroll replied,
"Well, you know maybe going forward we would need to work more on our precision on the tweets."
Translation from weaselspeak: Well, you know, we won't address the false tweet. But next time, as far as the false narrative we wanted to build, we will be more precise in tweeting our bullsh*t. After all, there's an election to cover and we want to make it as close as possible. (Oops, I hope I didn't say that last part out loud!)

Sunday, August 28, 2016

Across The Universe, Cont.


(click on image to enlarge)



From NASA/ESA, August 22, 2016:  This image, courtesy of the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope’s Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS), captures the glow of distant stars within NGC 5264, a dwarf galaxy located just over 15 million light-years away in the constellation of Hydra (The Sea Serpent).

Dwarf galaxies like NGC 5264 typically possess around a billion stars — just one per cent of the number of stars found within the Milky Way. They are usually found orbiting other, larger, galaxies such as our own, and are thought to form from the material left over from the messy formation of their larger cosmic relatives.

NGC 5264 clearly possesses an irregular shape — unlike the more common spiral or elliptical galaxies — with knots of blue star formation. Astronomers believe that this is due to the gravitational interactions between NGC 5264 and other galaxies nearby. These past flirtations sparked the formation of new generations of stars, which now glow in bright shades of blue.

Credit:  ESA/Hubble & NASA

Sunday Cartoon Twofer


(click on images to enlarge)


(Signe Wilkinson, via gocomics.com)


(Matt Davies, via gocomics.com)

Alt-Right's Trump Angst Parodied


Here's a hilarious parody of the "alt- right's" supposed angst over neo- fascist colon polyp Donald "Rump" Trump's flip- flop- flips on his racist immigration "plans," with many "alt- right" figures name checked by the "Fuhrer" (Sean Hannity, Ann Coulter, Matt Boyle, Steve Bannon, Drudge, and Rump's former caddie and current campaign aide (!) meme troll Dan Scavino):



Yes, you save him a donut, Chris "Krispykreme" Christie!

Just remember, though, as Rump spokesdolt Katrina "The Other Disaster" Pierson put it,
"He hasn't changed his position on immigration.  He's changed the words that he is saying."
And that's not a parody.

Sunday Reflection - A Dream 53 Years Old Today


Fifty- three years ago today, Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., delivered one of the greatest orations an American -- or anyone -- has ever given. Here, he begins the purposeful repetition of "I have a dream..." that crescendos into the oration's emotionally rousing conclusion:
"Let us not wallow in the valley of despair, I say to you today, my friends. 
And so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream. 
I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal."
Many of us (of a certain age) can practically recite the conclusion from heart:
And when this happens, and when we allow freedom ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual: 
          Free at last! Free at last!
   Thank God Almighty we are free at last! 

Saturday, August 27, 2016

What A Sociopath Says


In one tweet:

(Ed. note:  this is a corrected tweet;  in the original tweet, the sociopath managed to misspell Chicago Bulls star Dwyane Wade's name as "Dwayne.")

Making it all about neo- fascist narcissistic sociopath Donald "Rump" Trump, of course.  No condolences, no sympathy, no empathy, not even respectful silence.  Only how it might benefit him.  A personal tragedy reduced to a "VOTE TRUMP" punch line.

Let's see how others are reacting to this soulless, evil man:


As Josh references, this is the same POS that humble-brag tweeted this after the Orlando massacre:

Presidential!!!

Today's Cartoon Trifecta - Trump's Alt-Right Fan Club


Editorial cartoonists, if not their false- equivalence, Trump- normalizing "journalist" brethren, are taking on the symbiotic relationship between the white supremacist, anti- Semitic "alt- right" and neo- fascist spokesmodel Donald "Rump" Trump:

(click on images to enlarge)


(Clay Bennett, Chattanooga Times Free Press)


(Darrin Bell, via gocomics.com)


(Stuart Carlson, via gocomics.com)

Rump's Anti-Semitic Campaign CEO



Court documents reveal that Steven "Bubble Boy" Bannon, the alt-right propagandist and campaign CEO for neo-fascist toddler Donald "Rump" Trump, was accused by his ex-wife of uttering anti-Semitic slurs when he resisted sending his daughters to the Archer School for Girls in California.  In her June 2007 statement to the court in their child custody battle, Bannon's ex-wife said:
"The biggest problem he had with Archer is the number of Jews that attend. He said that he doesn't like the way they raise their kids to be 'whiny brats' and that he didn't want the girls going to school with Jews."
Her statement went on to say that while looking at yet another school, Bannon asked the school's director why there were "so many Chanukah books in the library." This is the same court document where the ex recounted an episode of physical abuse by Bannon in 1996 at their home in Santa Monica, which we noted earlier.

Bannon's alt-right hate site Breitbart News has a history of anti-Semitism and draws to it's comment threads some of the ugliest neo-Nazi and white nationalist commenters. The integration of that sinister operation's leader into the Rump campaign -- and therefore into the Rethuglican Party -- is a "fire bell in the night" for us to realize the threat the alt-right poses not just to minorities, but to our democracy.

(photo: J. Liebman for Bloomberg Businessweek)

If It Doctors Like A Quack, It Must Be Trump's Quack, Er, Doctor


As we noted earlier in the week, the person who wrote up neo- fascist narcissist Donald "Rump" Trump's "medical report," gastro- enterologist Harold "Dr. Strange Glove" Bornstein has a rather eccentric =quack= way of offering his astute =quack= "medical analysis" of Rump's "extraordinary" physical and mental condition.  NBC News quacked, er, tracked Dr. Bornstein down and provided this short vid on the doctor's amazing 5- minutes- while- Trump's- limo- was- waiting "medical report" =quack= :

As with his tax returns*, we have to wonder what is Rump hiding?  (Also, is the doctor on meds?)

Just in case we've been too circumspect in our analysis of Dr. Bornstein, here's a more direct take:


Meanwhile, folks are having a field day on Twitter, noting in particular the doctor's vague resemblance to a certain Dude.

* Speaking of tax returns:

Friday, August 26, 2016

Zinger Of The Week


"A 12-year-old boy is actually running one of Trump’s campaign offices in Colorado. When asked how an inexperienced child could be running things, the boy said, 'Look, he’s the nominee and we’re stuck with him.'”  -  Jimmy Fallon, referring to 12-year-old Weston Imer, who was running the Jefferson County (CO) office of neo- fascist toddler Donald "Rump" Trump with his mommy.

Weekend Music


The Miles Davis Quintet -- Miles Davis (trumpet), John Coltrane (tenor sax), Red Garland (piano), Paul Chambers (bass), Philly Joe Jones (drums) -- was an all- star cast of musicians that recorded the album Workin' With The Miles Davis Quintet in 1956 (it was released in 1959).  "It Never Entered My Mind" is a Richard Rodgers song that's been recorded by multiple artists (including at least twice by Davis), but this is a favorite version.  Hope you enjoy.

"The Media Normalized Trump" Quote of the Day


"But one of the very real responsibilities for this nightmare of a [Trump] campaign lies not with a candidate that normalized hate groups but with an elite political media that, by adhering to rules that did not apply, normalized that candidate. Donald Trump has hurled wild, vicious (and largely unsubstantiated) charges every since he first stood up behind a podium as a candidate. This is nothing new. So now, his wild, vicious (and largely unsubstantiated) charges are being hurled in a campaign context in which they have become the way people run for president, at least in 2016. And they're being hurled at a person for whom much of the elite political media has had a barely concealed grudge for 25 years. There now will follow some earnest chin-stroking about the tenor of the campaign. And nothing will change." (emphasis added) -- Charles P. Pierce, Esquire.com's great blogger, in a posting well worth reading.

The political media is straining desperately to conceal the fact that they should have been on the story that Hillary Clinton laid out yesterday in prosecutorial detail of the Alt-Right's control of neo-fascist Donald "Rump" Trump's campaign and the Rethuglican Party.  Of course, now that Clinton is pushing back on Rump's smears, the same media is aghast! at her tone. Here's Time Magazine's political reporter clutching his pearls:

Riiight, when Clinton quotes Rump and his campaign CEO, and cites Rump's past actions, that's "guilt by association," because "both sides" are guilty of unfair attacks. "Politics as usual," got it.

MSNBC's self-important spittle-sprayer and man who shouts in his sleep Chris "Tweety" Matthews got in on the act on his both sider "Hardball," when he badgered a guest (and former Rethug operative) when the guest supported the thrust of Clinton's speech yesterday. Crooks & Liars covered Tweety's head-scratching performance. It's as if the past 14 months of hate speech and cheers from the racist right for Rump never happened for Tweety, but it fits a disturbing pattern among his colleagues of normalizing Rump when clarity and honesty is needed about the danger he poses to the nation.

BONUS:  There has been some pushback to Miller's asinine Tweet:





Trump Manager Bannon: Domestic Abuser AND Vote Fraudster?



"Tell me with whom you walk, and I will tell you who you are," is the Spanish proverb quoted yesterday by Hillary Clinton in her takedown of neo- fascist useful idiot Donald "Rump" Trump's ties with white supremacist "alt- right" bigots.  Chief among Rump's, um, fellow travelers is Stephen "Bubble Boy" Bannon, former executive at alt - right platform Breitbart.com and current Rump shampaign CEO, whose offenses against society and common decency go beyond his hateful political and racial views:
Stephen K. Bannon, the new CEO of the Donald Trump campaign, was charged with misdemeanor domestic violence, battery and dissuading a witness following an incident in early January 1996, though the case was ultimately dismissed, according to a police report and court documents. 
The Santa Monica, Calif., police report says that Bannon’s then-wife claimed he pulled at her neck and wrist during an altercation over their finances, and an officer reported witnessing red marks on her neck and wrist to bolster her account. Bannon also reportedly smashed the phone when she tried to call the police.
He seems nice.

But wait, that's not all!
For years, we’ve heard Republicans warn of the gigantic dangers posed by voter fraud, despite the fact that very few such cases have actually been documented. 
However, the Guardian has now discovered a potential case of voter fraud that might really live up to the hype — and it involves Donald Trump’s campaign CEO, Stephen Bannon. 
According to the Guardian, Bannon “has an active voter registration at the house in Miami-Dade County, Florida, which is vacant and due to be demolished to make way for a new development.” The publication notes that this is an apparent breach in Florida election laws, as it’s illegal to register yourself to vote at an address where you don’t actually live. 
“Wilfully submitting false information on a Florida voter registration – or helping someone to do so – is a third-degree felony punishable by up to five years in prison,” the Guardian notes.
Wow, so voter fraud isn't a concocted excuse for disenfranchising likely Democratic minority and young voters?!  It's actually being perpetrated by Democrats African Americans Hispanic Americans Republicans!

(Photo:  Bannon, the flower of White Supremacy.)

Today's Cartoon Trifecta


(click on images to enlarge)


(Clay Bennett, Chattanooga Times Free Press)


(Rob Rogers, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)


(Gary Markstein, via gocomics.com)

On that last cartoon, the answer is definitely "not."

Thursday, August 25, 2016

Clinton Goes After Trump, "Alt-Right" (UPDATED)


Timed to coincide with Hillary Clinton's speech in Reno, NV, this afternoon, her campaign released their latest video on neo- fascist toddler Donald "Rump" Trump's ties with white supremacist "alt- right" hate groups:



In her speech, Clinton quoted an old Spanish proverb: “Tell me with whom you walk, and I will tell you who you are,"  then added,  "A few words on a teleprompter won’t change that.”  It appears, thanks to his narcissism and need for exposure, most Americans are well aware of Donald "Rump" Trump's ugly views, and they don't like him one bit.

BONUS:  Here's more on the connection with these bottom feeders from Crooks and Liars.

UPDATE:  Judd Legum notices the deafening silence of "establishment" Republicans who didn't come to Rump's defense.  Sad!

Yaayy! Uh, What?


Check out this woman's reaction last night in Jackson, MS when neo-fascist con artist Donald "Rump" Trump, in a case of extreme psychological projection, called Hillary Clinton a "bigot." Hilarious. Also, sad!

Video Clip Of The Day


This is a powerful and empowering 4 minutes (h/t Silver Spring Bureau Chief Brian).  Please take time to look at it:

Ann Coulter: "'In Trump We Trust'... Wait What?"


As we note below, neo- fascist existential danger Donald "Rump" Trump is in the process of another unsuccessful, cosmetic "pivot," attempting to convince the "mainstream media," squishy Republicans and right- leaners that it's safe to vote for him ("Despite everything you've seen with your lying eyes, I'm not a bigot, believe me!").  They say timing is everything and, sadly, one of his truest believers, raging racist loon (M)Ann Coulter (she of the inexplicable Adam's apple), got clocked in the process. That's because last night Coulter was launching her new crackpot  book screed entitled "In Trump We Trust" (replacing "God" with "Trump" you've noticed) just as Rump decided to start tinkering with the one life- or- death issue nearest to Coulter's heart (?):  kicking those brown- skinned people out of her U. S. of A.!  Fast track to the remainder bin!

Huff Po has collected some of the schadenfreude- oozing Tweets:





And,

BONUS:  Steve M. at No More Mister Nice Blog says she'll stick with Rump -- she still has a book to sell, dammit!

(Photo:  "My Trump, why hath thou forsaken me?")

Today's Cartoon Twofer - Trump's Sad! Outreach


(click on images to enlarge)



(Tom Toles, once great Washington Post Bezos Bugle)



(Darrin Bell, via gocomics.com)

For Stormtrumpers hitherto willing to overlook neo- fascist con artist Donald "Rump" Trump "shooting someone in the middle of 5th Avenue," his sudden concern for African Americans and especially the behind- in- the- polls "softening" of his racist, xenophobic immigration stand may cause some of the most  fervent  nutty alt- righters to start bailing on his scampaign, like this attention ho' (more on her later).  For other suckers, his continuing promise to "build the wall" will be just enough for most of them to stay aboard the garbage scow S.S. Trump, mostly because they've become invested in his schtick.  In a sense, you could say they're all participants in Trump University Extension.  As we and others have noted, all of this is not so much to gain minority support as it is to provide a veil of decency for wavering Republicans to vote for a bigot.

BONUS:  Here's Univision/ Fusion's Jorge Ramos calling out the media on Rump:
It doesn’t matter who you are—a journalist, a politician or a voter—we’ll all be judged by how we responded to Donald Trump. Like it or not, this election is a plebiscite on the most divisive, polarizing and disrupting figure in American politics in decades. And neutrality is not an option.
Looks like he's not buying what Rump is selling.

Wednesday, August 24, 2016

Good Reads On "Clinton Rules" Reporting: Clinton Foundation Edition (UPDATED)


The "feed- the- preferred- narrative" journalists amoralists at the Associated Press had a hit piece on the Clinton Foundation and so- called "pay for play" considerations by then- Secretary of State Clinton.  The piece is an example of elite "journalists" cherry- picking and rearranging information, and as such was dutifully and happily picked up by such luminaries in the field as the once great Washington Post Bezos Bugle. It's a perfect example of "Clinton Rules" reporting. Here's a sample of what you need to know about this piece of ratf*cking by our esteemed press.

Vox:
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.
Charles P. Pierce:
The topic is The Clinton Foundation, and the new e-mails released by the ratfcking legal operation known as Judicial Watch, which got the AP all a'quiver. Here is the simple answer to that: no quid pro quo, no pay-for-play, no matter how many respected people want to believe it's there.
Nancy LeTourneau:
In other words, what it comes down to is “it just plain looks bad.” That is basically what most every drummed up “scandal” against Hillary Clinton comes down to: from the perspective of the people judging her – it looks bad. Welcome to the world of optics as scandal. 
One way to look at this is that the AP spun the story they wanted to tell about this information. That happens almost all the time and we often don’t notice. To clarify how that happened here, note first of all the AP headline: “Many Donors to Clinton Foundation Met With Her at State.” As Adam Khan points out – that’s actually not true. 




If in the catastrophic event neo- fascist genital wart Donald "Rump" Trump is elected President, you can thank "Clintons are shady" narrative- boosters like this, and those bullshit catapulters who wrote them.

UPDATE: Mother Jones' David Corn looks at the story the broken media won't cover: the work of the Clinton Foundation.

UPDATE II:  Two days later, with time to correct, the assholes are still sticking to their story.

UPDATE III:  And, finally,

Dr. Strange Glove



You may recall the oddly bombastic letter issued by neo-fascist blowhard Donald "Rump" Trump's doctor a few months ago, which (in very non-medical prose) proclaimed Rump's health to be simply mahvelous. Strangely, the letter stated that Rump's tests were "positive," meaning that tests for cancer, STDs, etc. indicated he had the disease. "Positive" is something a patient might tell a doctor to say about his health. Initially and tellingly, Rump thanked the doctor's father -- a doctor who died in 2010 -- for the letter, apparently unaware of the difference.

 CNN's Dr. Sanjay Gupta looked more carefully at the background of Rump's doctor, Dr. Harold Bornstein, and discovered some discrepancies in Bornstein's credentials. Bornstein claimed to be a member of the American College of Gastroenterology, but that organization says he hasn't been a member in 20 years. He also claimed to be part of Lennox Hill Hospital's gastroenterology section, when he only has admitting privileges there. Perhaps examining Rump's nether regions left Bornstein shocked and forgetful.

So, while the Trumpists (notably the organ grinder's monkey Rudy "Noun Verb 9-11" Giuliani) thrash around making false claims about Hillary Clinton's health, comically suggesting that people go to the internet to diagnose her, their corpulent candidate and his doctor have some serious questions to answer first before he and his campaign throw bedpans at others.

UPDATE: Narcoleptic former neurosurgeon and Rump surrogate Dr. Ben "Benny The Blade" Carson is off message, but on target when he said,
"I think somebody who is running for the President of the United States, particularly if they are elderly — and that would include both major candidates — should disclose their medical history." (emphasis added)
(photo: Actual photo of Dr. Harold "Dr. Strange Glove" Bornstein, via Twitter.com. We'll stick with our witch doctor.)

Clinton Pulling Ahead In Poll


The latest Reuters/Ipsos poll released yesterday shows Hillary Clinton expanding her lead nationwide over neo-fascist con man Donald "Rump" Trump to 12 points among likely voters. Earlier in August, she was leading Rump by about 9 points. The poll was conducted from August 18- 22.  Forty-five percent of likely voters indicated support for Clinton, with 33 supporting Rump. When factoring in the minor party candidates Gary Johnson and Jill Stein, Clinton still maintained a solid lead of 8 points over Rump.

BONUS:  For good reason, Infidel says "Don't get complacent!"

Mid-Week Speeding Song


Walking On Cars, an indie alternative band from the picturesque town of Dingle, County Kerry, Ireland, has a following in their native land and in Europe, thanks to their 2016 album "Everything This Way." A track from that album, "Speeding Cars," is just now getting airplay in the U.S. Enjoy.

Tuesday, August 23, 2016

More Fox Sex Follies


Following on the heels of Gretchen Carlson's suit alleging (!) sexual harassment at the upper levels of Fox "News" =cough= Roger "Jabba the Nut"Ailes =cough=,  former Fox host Andrea Tantaros has filed a sexual harassment suit naming Trump "advisor"Ailes and several other high- profile Foxers:
Former Fox News host Andrea Tantaros claims in an explosive new lawsuit that disgraced ex-network chairman Roger Ailes sexually harassed her and that high-ranking executives fostered a newsroom culture in which abusive behavior flourished 
“Fox News masquerades as defender of traditional family values, but behind the scenes, it operates like a sex-fueled, Playboy Mansion-like cult, steeped in intimidation, indecency and misogyny,” the suit reads. 
Ailes was “the primary culprit,” according to the suit, but “his actions were condoned by his most senior lieutenants who engaged in a concerted effort to silence Tantaros by threats, humiliation, and retaliation.” [snip]
In the suit, Tantaros also described host Bill O’Reilly ― who, in 2004, settled a high-profile sexual harassment suit leveled by a former producer ― as once asking her to stay with him at a “very private” place in Long Island and expressing a desire to see her “as a wild girl.” 
And former Massachusetts senator and Fox News contributor Scott Brown made “sexually inappropriate comments” about Tantaros, according to the suit, and once grabbed her waist while she was buying lunch.  (our emphasis)
The full text of the lawsuit is at the link and provides plenty of explicit details on the misogynistic, "sex- fueled" culture of the Republican Party's communication outlet.  These are damaged, rotten people, folks.

Another Rethug Jumps Ship


That ship would be the S.S. Trump garbage scow, and the jumper would be former Bush Administration senior official -- and founder of the George Bush Institute no less -- James K. Glassman, who announced his support for Hillary Clinton, calling her "by far the superior candidate."  He then tweeted this double barreled fusilade at overweight neo-fascist organ grinder Donald "Rump" Trump and his rabid monkey, Rudy "Noun Verb 9-11" Giuliani:

Today's Cartoons: Pivot Trifecta

(click on images to enlarge)




A word that should be banished from our media's lexicon after this election* is "pivot." It's the lazy shorthand of our broken media for deception, or if you will, an "Etch-a-Sketch" moment. Neo-fascist con artist Donald "Rump" Trump is so unconvincing in his insincere pitch to African-Americans and Hispanics that he only has a press corps pushing a new "narrative" for him because 1) Horse race! and 2) Hillaryhate.
_____
* Along with "playbook," "running out the clock," "game changer," etc. Interesting how sports metaphors are used to describe the serious business of electing leaders.

(cartoons, from top: Mike Luckovich, Jim Morin, and Tom Toles, all via GoComics.com)

The Art Of The Steal: Trump Grifts His Own Donors (UPDATED)


Couldn't happen to a more worthy bunch of fat cats and mouth- breathers:
After bragging for a year about how cheaply he was running his campaign, Donald Trump is spending more freely now that other people are contributing ― particularly when the beneficiary is himself. 
Trump nearly quintupled the monthly rent his presidential campaign pays for its headquarters at Trump Tower to $169,758 in July, when he was raising funds from donors, compared with March, when he was self-funding his campaign, according to a Huffington Post review of Federal Election Commission filings. The rent jumped even though he was paying fewer staff in July than he did in March.
Trump has paid his eponymous golf courses and restaurants more than $260,000 since his campaign and the RNC struck a joint fundraising deal in mid-May, after he essentially locked up the GOP nomination. On May 18, the day the fundraising deal was announced, Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach was paid $29,715; Trump National Golf Club in Jupiter, Florida, was paid $35,845; and Trump Restaurants LLC was paid $125,080, according to FEC records. Such large payments were much rarer when Trump was self-funding.  (our emphasis)
Let's hope these dumbasses continue to fund the "campaign" of neo- fascist con artist Donald "Rump" Trump, lining his pockets with "deals" like this one.

UPDATE:  Meanwhile, do you think Rump is sharing any of his "campaign" contributions with Republicans down ballot?  (Spoiler alert: hahahahaha)

The "New Trump" Same As The Old Trump


Here's how Seth Meyers deals with neo- fascist toddler Donald "Rump" Trump, his latest "pivot" and "campaign" shakeup, the right- wing media, Rump's unhinged surrogates, and the puerile corporate media hungering for a horserace.  It's a far more incisive take on current American politics -- in 11 minutes -- than anything you'll see on cable or read in your newspaper:



BONUS:  While we're at it, have a look at Stephen Colbert, back from vacation, wrapping up what Rump's been up to while he was gone.

Monday, August 22, 2016

Quote of the Day: Gum On The Shoe


"At this point, the whole e-mail business is nothing more or less than gum on the [Clinton] campaign's shoe. The campaign press, of course, is slavering for a press conference so it can grill her for an hour or so about the gum on her campaign's shoe, which is probably the reason why she hasn't had one in quite some time. (Pro Tip: candidates are not obligated in any way to have press conferences.) Meanwhile, Trump's tax returns remain in a locked vault beneath what's left of the Taj in Atlantic City. These returns, I suspect, are not gum on the campaign's shoe but a millstone tied around the campaign's ankle." -- Esquire.com's Charles P. Pierce, correctly noting the utter lack of perspective by our broken, shallow media. So here's the choice: the bombshells in the taxes of neo-fascist con man Donald "Rump" Trump, whom a former CIA Director has (charitably) called "an unwitting agent of the Russian Federation," and whose company has received untold millions in "investments" from Russia vs. Hillary Clinton's e-mail "gum" that the FBI hasn't thought enough of to recommend prosecution of any kind.  One would think our crack "journalists" would find he former set of facts of far greater interest. One would be wrong.

"Tell The Class What You Did On Your Summer Vacation, Weston"


"I helped run Donald Trump's campaign in Jefferson County with my mommy!"  We shit you not:
A mother and her 12-year-old son are running a Trump field operation in a key Colorado county, according to news reports. 
Jefferson County is one of the most densely populated counties in Colorado, a battleground state where GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump was recently trailing Democrat Hillary Clinton, by 14 percentage points. The Trump campaign announced a new office there this month. 
Laurel Imer identifies as the West Denver Field Coordinator for Trump on Facebook. She told KDVR News she is delegating responsibility to her 12-year-old son, Weston. He is reportedly coordinating volunteers for Trump and hopes to lead the office until he starts school in September.  (our emphasis)
Well, he couldn't be any worse than Steve "Breitbart, Not Smart" Bannon and Kellyanne "Insults? Says Who?" Conway, and he's likely more mature than the guy whose campaign he's running.

Meanwhile, we have a visual just coming in of the Rump campaign operation in Colorado (hurry, jump, Weston!):


New Clinton Ad Hits Trump's Dangerous Volatility


The Clinton campaign just announced an $80 million ad buy for the battleground* states of Florida, Pennsylvania, New Hampshire, Iowa, Nevada, Ohio and North Carolina covering the rest of August, September and October.  This one was just released:



* Maybe not all so "battleground" in the end.

Today's Tomorrow Cartoon


(click on image to enlarge)



(Tom Tomorrow, via Daily Kos)

Trump Pivots Back To The Real Donald Trump


The latest "pivot" to a more "presidential" Donald "Rump" Trump lasted a whole weekend!  Here's the neo- fascist toddler this morning airing his grievances with MSNBC's Joe "Squint" Scarborough and Mika "The Meat Puppet" Brzezinski (it seems Rump didn't like a panelist on the show saying Rump's latest "pivot" was like graduating "from diapers to big boy pants" or Brzezinski's mocking of a recent speech):



To which Squint replied:

Hurl personal insults?  Rump would never do that!  Staying on message and "doing great?"  Yessir!

BONUS: Add "vindictive" to Squint's description. Not a good quality for a President, as Jeffrey Goldberg suggests:

Sunday, August 21, 2016

Across The Universe, Cont.


(click on image to enlarge)



From NASA/ESA, August 15, 2016:  Several thousand years ago, a star some 160 000 light-years away from us exploded, scattering stellar shrapnel across the sky. The aftermath of this energetic detonation is shown here in this striking image from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope’s Wide Field Camera 3.

The exploding star was a white dwarf located in the Large Magellanic Cloud, one of our nearest neighbouring galaxies. Around 97% of stars within the Milky Way that are between a tenth and eight times the mass of the Sun are expected to end up as white dwarfs. These stars can face a number of different fates, one of which is to explode as supernovae, some of the brightest events ever observed in the Universe. If a white dwarf is part of a binary star system, it can siphon material from a close companion. After gobbling up more than it can handle — and swelling to approximately one and a half times the size of the Sun — the star becomes unstable and ignites as a Type Ia supernova.

This was the case for the supernova remnant pictured here, which is known as DEM L71. It formed when a white dwarf reached the end of its life and ripped itself apart, ejecting a superheated cloud of debris in the process. Slamming into the surrounding interstellar gas, this stellar shrapnel gradually diffused into the separate fiery filaments of material seen scattered across this skyscape.

Credit:  ESA/Hubble & NASA, Y. Chu

Quote Of The Day - High Anxiety


"... I have a hard time empathizing with people who are nakedly racist, misogynistic, homophobic and xenophobic (which so many Trump supporters are). And I would also say that my empathy begins and ends with this: I vote for and support leadership and policies I know will benefit these assholes…even if they don’t know it. I feel that’s where my obligation to these people ends."  -- Beth Spencer at Lawyers, Guns and Money, expressing our feelings exactly.  She also links to a good read by Lance Mannion on the Donald "Rump" Trump voter and one of the cretin media's favorite false narratives:  that it's the po' down- and- out "economically anxious," displaced (white) workers who are Rump's base. Bullshit. That's not who the vast majority of them are, and they're not to be patronized or commiserated with.

Sunday Photo Op Cartoon


(click on image to enlarge)

Speaking of photo ops ...



(Mike Luckovich, Atlanta Journal-Constitution)

Rump's Latino Con And Alt Right Anger


Yesterday, neo-fascist latino-basher Donald "Rump" Trump met with his own useful idiots Hispanic Advisory Council and assured them that he'll say anything to win  he was looking for a "humane and efficient" way of dealing with millons of undocumented immigrants. (ed.: No details on whether this meant putting chairs in the cattle cars or providing life jackets for those swimming back over the Rio Grande). Anyone thinking Rump has any clue as to what is "humane" should go back in the cave they've been living in.

Few, if any, latinos outside of that "council" of paid hacks believe Rump has any desire or plan to seek such a solution, but his rabid, white nationalist, Alt Right base is already steaming about his perceived flip-flop.  The changing tone highlights the schizophrenic nature of his new "management" team which is torn between the bullhorn (Breitbart nut Steve Bannon) and the dog whistle (shark-like spinner Kellyanne Conway). Some conservatives are smelling another Rump con, one that has already escaped the notice of our broken political media looking for a horse race:

Rump will play this game as long as he has media dupes who won't ask him for particulars, and who won't mention that nothing in the Rethuglican / New Confederate / Stupid party's platform regarding immigration reform has changed.

BONUS:  Steve M. at No More Mister Nice Blog has more on this.

Great Moments In Republican Photo Ops (Message: We Care!)


Look, it's neo- fascist narcissist shitgibbon Donald "Rump" Trump doing his best to appear "presidential!" and ... caring.  This time, it's in flood- ravaged Louisiana, where (against the wishes of the state's Governor) he and running mate Mike "Dense" Pence dropped by to wave, give some tiny thumbs up, sign some Rump swag (!) and have their pictures taken unloading food water medical supplies Play Doh for all of 49 seconds, in their latest acts of selfless sacrifice. ("Mmmm, Play Doh... that'll stick to your ribs, kids!")


Reminds us of another act of selfless sacrifice by a Republican who just happened to be washing dishes that had already been washed, just in time for the cameras:

(Photo: Mary Altaffer, AP)
Saints, they are.

If you really want to help (photo op not included), go here (and thank you).

Sunday Reflection - "I Was Born Here"



I think his words are very dangerous.  When these types of comments are made, no one thinks about how they really affect people. I’m African American. I don’t have another home to go to. My family was born here. I was born here. I’ve grown up in Jersey. All my family’s from Jersey. It’s like, well, where do we go?” --  Ibtihaj Muhammad, bronze medalist in the team sabre competition and the first American competing as a Muslim to win a medal in Olympics history, on neo- fascist hatemonger Donald "Rump" Trump's Islamophobic hate speech.  We're proud and fortunate to have people like Ms. Muhammad as fellow Americans. People like Donald Trump?  Not so much.