Saturday, August 3, 2024

What's That Musk-y Smell? Stealing Personal Information For Trump

 



The South African techno- fascist has a plan to elect the convicted felon Malignant Loser through a PAC that steals personal information under false pretenses:

Elon Musk’s new super PAC is collecting scores of voters’ personal information under the guise of inviting them to register to vote, as part of his effort to boost Donald Trump’s presidential campaign.

Earlier this month, Musk denied reports that he would be donating $45 million a month to Trump’s campaign during an interview with right-wing commentator Jordan Peterson. Instead, the technocrat clarified that he had created a new super PAC, called the America PAC.

Musk’s America PAC is a door-to-door canvassing operation, which allows it to work in direct coordination with the Trump campaign, according to an FEC advisory from earlier this year. This allows Musk, and his fellow Silicon Valley donors, to stick their hands—and their cash—right into the presidential race on Trump’s behalf.

How exactly they plan to do this is even more disturbing.

The America PAC has launched a series of digital ads using the image of Trump’s assassination, to invite people browsing Google to “register to vote,” CNBC reported Friday. In states where the outcome is certain, such as California, the ads actually do direct them to a voter registration site.

But in key battleground states, users are directed to a very different page, which prompts them to enter their phone number, address, and age. Once complete, users are then greeted by a “Thank You” page, with no actual link to voter registration in sight.

Musk’s America PAC has poured $800,000 into digital advertisements to target voters in the key battleground states of Arizona, Michigan, Georgia, North Carolina, Nevada, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin, according to AdImpact. The information collected from user responses to this ad campaign will inform the PAC’s canvassing efforts in those states...

We're not surprised by the fact that this rancid fascist fanboy is funding a Malignant Loser canvassing effort in battleground states where the margin of victory could be similar to what we saw in 2016.  He, like the Malignant Loser, is a seriously damaged person who has the additional burden of having Asperger's syndrome and of being a user of ketamine to battle depression.  If he were not a weird (yes) ultra- rich oligarch using his platform and money to elect a fellow fascist, we would have more sympathy for his medical/ mental condition.  As it is, he needs to be called out for what he is and what he's doing to destroy American democracy.

Spread the word.  If you're looking to register to vote in a battleground state, beware!


The Malignant Loser Tries To Duck ABC Debate





The felonious Malignant Loser, facing a former prosecutor surging in the polls, is showing his fear of debating her, unless it's on the most favorable terms for him. A debate between him and Vice President Harris is scheduled on the ABC network for September 10. Late yesterday, the Orange Turd said on his social media that he's "agreed" to debate the Vice President on the right-wing Fox channel on September 4, hoping to muddy the water and to neutralize her advantage in knowledge, debating skills and honesty. He also wants the Fox debate to be in an arena, where his rabid cult audience can shout down any responses or statements from the Vice President.

The Malignant Loser has been backtracking from the ABC network debate, saying in July that it was premature to commit to a debate with her since she was not the formal nominee. Now that Harris is the de facto nominee that excuse won't fly, so he had to create a new ploy where he appears to be proactive and unafraid. In any fair debate between the two, he knows that she will run circles around him and, as a former prosecutor, put him and his record on trial. He's stalling for time.

 

Hokkaido Summer

 

Let's go on a short summer trip to Hokkaido, Japan, visiting the west coast of Hokkaido, then Sapporo, Oyunama, and Lake Toya, with points of interest and plenty of food stops on the way (captioned).

Friday, August 2, 2024

Today's Cartoons

 

(click on images to enlarge)

(Mike Smith, Las Vegas Sun)

(Steve Breen, Creators.com)

(Martyn Turner, Irish Times, Dublin)

(Joe Heller, hellertoon.com)

(Pat Bagley, The Salt Lake Tribune)


 (Bob Gorrell, Creators.com)

(Jeff Stahler, gocomics.com)

(Rob Rogers, Tinyview.com)

(Lalo Alcaraz, LA Weekly)

(Jack Ohman, Tribune Content Agency)

(Matt Davies, Newsday)

(Mike Luckovich, Atlanta Journal-Constitution)

(Paul Noth, @paulnoth)


QOTD -- Trump's Dehumanizing Racism

 

"... It’s the former president of the United States turning his cult and his campaign’s hundreds of millions of dollars against people of color on a public stage in the middle of a presidential campaign. It’s a way of declaring open season on vulnerable minorities. It’s a rallying cry for every white extremist, fringe loner, and KKK wannabe out there looking for an excuse to act out their rage.

"We talk a lot about how racism in the form practiced by Trump takes it upon itself to define what is white and what is not, mocks racial and gender distinctions it considers illegitimate, and reserves to itself an imagined gatekeeper role for what is acceptable. All true. But more relevant for our purposes is that the purpose of that kind of racism is to dehumanize people, reduce them to less than, marginalize them – and the net effect is to grant permission to inflict all manner of atrocities and degradations on people deemed less than people." -- David Kurtz, TPM's Morning Memo, on the dangerous racism of the convicted felon Malignant Loser, most recently demonstrated in his NABJ convention remarks and subsequent doubling- down on questioning Vice President Harris' racial identity (in which his execrable running mate, Sen.J.D. "Junior Demagogue" Vance has also partaken). 

 

Tweets / Xeets Of The Day

 

The hostages return --


 

 

 

 

The murderers, hackers, and spies return, too --

 


Desperate demagogue goes racist and birther again --

 

 


The MAGAt Republican "working families" party --

 


Did Trump get money from Egyptian autocrat in 2016?  --

 


J.D. "Junior Demagogue" Vance on no abortion exceptions for rape and incest --

 


🎡 Memories ... -- 


 

G.O.A.T. pwning Trump --

 


G.O.A.T.s playing peek- a- boo (Happy Friday!) --

 

 

 

Weekend Dog Days Music

 

Dehd, a trio of indie rockers from Chicago, have a new single out from their album "Poetry" that matches this time of year -- "Dog Days."  Everyone can have their own take on the song, but we hear a little Velvet Underground and Green Day at times.  BTW, Dehd comes from combining the initials of "Dream Eagles" and "Heavy Dreams," bands from which guitar/ vocalist Jason Bella and bass/ vocalist Emily Kempf came, respectively.  Eric McGrady is on drums.  Hope you enjoy.

Pelosi: Doctors Concerned For Trump's Mental Health




Former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi has a book, "The Art of Power: My Story as America’s First Woman Speaker of the House," that will be published next week. In it, the former Speaker describes several doctors approaching her in 2019 to express their concerns with the mental health of the Malignant Loser.  The Guardian received an advance copy of the book and reports:

"In early 2019, at a memorial service for a prominent psychiatrist, a succession of 'doctors and other mental health professionals' told Nancy Pelosi they were 'deeply concerned that there was something seriously wrong' with Donald Trump, 'and that his mental and psychological health was in decline'. [snip]

Questions about Trump’s fitness for office form a thread through the book. At 78, Trump is the oldest candidate ever, his campaign-trail utterances studied for frequent mistakes, his speeches are often rambling and marked by bizarre references.

Trump’s volcanic behavior and disregard for societal norms also stoke such questions, not least because he left office having been impeached twice, the second time for inciting the deadly January 6 Capitol attack; has been convicted on 34 criminal charges and faces 54 more; has been ordered to pay hundreds of millions of dollars in civil cases including one concerning a rape claim a judge called 'substantially true'; and has promised if re-elected to govern as 'a dictator' on 'day one'.

On the page, Pelosi says she did not solicit statements about Trump’s mental health from attendees at the memorial for Dr David Hamburg, “a distinguished psychiatrist who … served as the president of the Carnegie Corporation, where he had been a great voice for international peace”, and who died in April 2019." (our emphasis)

Readers of this blog may recall posts (here and here for example) reporting on a number of mental health professionals trying to alert the country that the Malignant Loser was mentally disturbed and unfit to hold office. Under the concept of a "duty to warn" the community of someone potentially dangerous to it, the psychiatrists and other professionals published a book in 2017, "The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump: 27 Psychiatrists and Mental Health Experts Assess a President," pointing out his pathological narcissism, violent speech and casual dishonesty. The case can easily be made that his condition is worse now seven years later.

Now that we have evidence from his lawless administration, his vindictiveness for anyone who doesn't support him blindly, and the items mentioned above, a cognitive test for him would be the minimum requirement: a full professional psychiatric examination should (but sadly won't) be administered before the election.

 

Lincoln Project Ad: Kamala For President

 

The folks at The Lincoln Project may not have a pedigree of progressivism, but they know how to skewer the Malignant Loser. Nice clip of the Malignant Loser partying with pedophile sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein, for instance. Share far and wide.

Thursday, August 1, 2024

Today's Cartoons

 

(click on images to enlarge)

(David Rowe, Financial Review, Sydney)

(Ruben Bolling, Daily Kos)

(Matt Wuerker, Politico)

(Darrin Bell, King Features)

(Kevin Necessary, gocomics.com)

(Mike Luckovich, Atlanta Journal-Constitution)

(John Deering, Arkansas Democrat-Gazette)

(Rob Rogers, Counterpoint)

(Jack Ohman, Tribune Content Agency)

(Nick Anderson, Reform Austin News, TX)

(Chris Britt, Creators.com)

(Bill Bramhall, New York Daily News)

(Peter Steiner, @plsteiner)


Pics Of The Day -- Welcome Home Soon!

 

(click on image to enlarge) 

 

They're on their way home and will be on American soil tonight.  Thank you, President Biden!

Here's the President's statement on the release:

Today, three American citizens and one American green-card holder who were unjustly imprisoned in Russia are finally coming home: Paul Whelan, Evan Gershkovich, Alsu Kurmasheva, and Vladimir Kara-Murza.

The deal that secured their freedom was a feat of diplomacy. All told, we’ve negotiated the release of 16 people from Russia—including five Germans and seven Russian citizens who were political prisoners in their own country. Some of these women and men have been unjustly held for years. All have endured unimaginable suffering and uncertainty. Today, their agony is over.

I am grateful to our Allies who stood with us throughout tough, complex negotiations to achieve this outcome— including Germany, Poland, Slovenia, Norway, and Turkey. This is a powerful example of why it’s vital to have friends in this world whom you can trust and depend upon. Our alliances make Americans safer.

And let me be clear: I will not stop working until every American wrongfully detained or held hostage around the world is reunited with their family. My Administration has now brought home over 70 such Americans, many of whom were in captivity since before I took office. Still, too many families are suffering and separated from their loved ones, and I have no higher priority as President than bringing those Americans home.

Today, we celebrate the return of Paul, Evan, Alsu, and Vladimir and rejoice with their families. We remember all those still wrongfully detained or held hostage around the world. And reaffirm our pledge to their families: We see you. We are with you. And we will never stop working to bring your loved ones home where they belong.

(Top photo:  President Biden at the White House with families of the American hostages released today / via CNN;  bottom photo: the former hostages on a plane heading home/ U.S. Government)


Tweets / Xeets Of The Day

 


Comments on Trump's dumpster fire interview with black journalists --


 

 

 

 

 


Let's watch how our broken Beltway media handle the NABJ story -- 


 

 


Former Trump voters turning to Vice President Harris -- 



Prisoner swap with the Russian thugocracy underway. Thank you, President Biden --


 


The "master strategist" speaks -- 



Even dogs need emotional support companions -- 


 

Stats Of The Day -- The Antarctica Heat Wave

 



While we indulge in our self-absorption, our fate and that of the planet is being sealed:

Ground temperatures in East Antarctica have soared more than 50 degrees (28 Celsius) above normal in the second major heat wave to afflict the region in the past two years. This historic warm spell could persist for another 10 days and is an ominous example of the major temperature spikes this polar climate could experience more frequently in a warming world.

“This heat wave is a near-record (or record) event for the region of Antarctica it’s having the biggest impact on,” Edward Blanchard, an atmospheric scientist at the University of Washington, said in an email. “The heat wave’s large footprint is also remarkable,” as it covers a large section of East Antarctica, which makes up most of the continent.

The heat wave comes in the middle of the Antarctic winter, so temperatures are still hovering around minus-4 (minus-20 Celsius). Still, the Antarctic temperature anomaly is the largest on the globe, according to weather models...

But keep electing those fossil fuel industry coin- operated, climate change denying Republican MAGAts, though!

(Photo:  Sergio Pitamitz/VW Pics/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)

 

Reactions To Trump's Racist, Sexist Remarks At The NABJ

 

Here are a few reactions to convicted felon Malignant Loser's racist and sexist remarks yesterday at the National Association of Black Journalists convention, about the woman who's going to kick his fat ass in November:

Vice President Harris

It was the same old show — the divisiveness and the disrespect, and let me just say, the American people deserve better... The American people deserve a leader who tells the truth, a leader who does not respond with hostility and anger when confronted with the facts.

Colbert King, Washington Post

During his appearance before the National Association of Black Journalists on Wednesday, Donald Trump, as usual, played to the audience.

It just wasn’t the audience in the room.

Referring to Vice President Harris, Trump said, “I didn’t know she was Black until a number of years ago when she happened to turn Black, and now she wants to be known as Black. So I don’t know, is she Indian or is she Black?” It was ignorant. It was insulting. And it was a statement dripping with disdain and disrespect for the assembled Black journalists. Trump knew, and they knew that Trump knew, better. Trump was not speaking to them but to a MAGA audience beyond the Hilton Chicago that loves mocking people of color. He was having jaded fun. Think. “She happened to turn Black and now she wants to be known as Black,” he said, sneeringly.

As offensive as all that was to the Black men and women staring in his direction, Trump knew it was getting a belly laugh with his crowd, who can’t get enough of that stuff...

Jessica Tarlov, on Fox "News"

My reaction is that it was a complete, absolute dumpster fire for the former president... I don't feel the need to give him any credit for showing up there because he came with a terrible attitude. []

He hit all of his regular hits, lying about his record for Black Americans... The comparison saying he's done the most for the Black community since Abraham Lincoln is obviously ridiculous. []

I thought that he was rude and offensive to the questioners...

Bill Goodykoontz, Arizona Republic

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything like this” is a cliche.

Then, on Wednesday afternoon, I watched Donald Trump’s controversial appearance at the National Association of Black Journalists in Chicago.

I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything like this.

Or maybe in Trump World, it’s just another Wednesday. Who knows?

Seriously, even by Trump’s standards, this was bizarre at best, painful at worst. He insulted Vice President Kamala Harris — again refusing to pronounce her first name correctly, though that was hardly the worst of what he said — and questioning her racial identity.

What?

“I think it is fair to say … this went sideways, and it went sideways pretty quickly,” Kristen Holmes said on CNN after it was over...

Axios morning thing

...The tense interview is being met with GOP reactions ranging from qualified concern to outright shock, with some Republicans questioning Trump's ability to adapt to the new Democratic ticket.

  • "It was awful," one House Republican said of the interview, telling Axios it raised concerns about whether Trump can contain his impulses while running against the first woman, Black and Asian American vice president.
  • Sen Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) said of the Trump campaign: "Maybe they don't know how to handle the campaign, and so you default to issues that just should simply not be an issue."
  • "That was not a demonstration on how to win over undecided voters," another House Republican said...

Sen. Mark Kelly (D-AZ)

“I think those are the comments of a desperate, scared old man, who, over the last week especially, has been having his butt kicked by an experienced prosecutor, and I think he’s worried,” Kelly told reporters outside the Capitol on Wednesday.

“And she’s going to continue to do this, and she’s going to win the election in November, and she’s going to be our next president...” 

"Harris' War Room"

 


More reactions later in "Tweets/ Xeets Of The Day." 


BREAKING: Americans To Be Released By Russia In Prisoner Swap

 

The Biden Administration comes through:

The Biden administration has agreed to a prisoner exchange with Russia and is expected to soon secure the release of three American citizens imprisoned in Russia including Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, Marine veteran Paul Whelan, and Russian-American radio journalist Alsu Kurmasheva, a senior administration official confirms.  The swap would be part of an historically complex 24-person prisoner swap between the U.S., Russia, Germany and three other Western countries. 

The exchange has not occurred yet.

Whelan and Gershkovich were both imprisoned in Russia on accusations of espionage that were consistently disputed by the United States. Kurmasheva, a dual American and Russian citizen, was detained in Russia in June of 2023 on charges of spreading false information about the Russian army. 

As part of the deal, at least 12 political prisoners held in Russia are expected to be released to Germany. Eight Russian nationals are expected to be returned to Russia, including several with suspected ties to Russian intelligence. Among the Russian nationals expected to be involved in the swap is Vadim Krasikov, a convicted murderer who has been serving a life sentence for a 2019 killing in Germany that the judges said had been ordered by Russian federal authorities...

We wouldn't put it past the Malignant Loser to try to sabotage the deal.

Stay tuned.