Wednesday, August 5, 2020

Falwell, Jr.: Greetings From Sodom and Gomorrah



This viral pic of American Talibangelist and Trump fluffer, the execrable Jerry Falwell, Jr., speaks volumes about his diseased, hyper right-wing "evangelical" movement that his sinister "Moral Majority" namesake helped to create. With his and his commando friend's pants unzipped, Falwell reflects his p*ssygrabbing Dear Leader's moral vacuity and predatory instincts. Oh, and he also wants you to know that's "black water" in his glass (wtf is that?), and not a rum and Coke, etc. As with his Dear Leader's imperiousness, he apparently doesn't believe that the rules he imposes on the staff and students at Liberty "University" apply to him.

We'd like to see what other "vacation shots" are out there. Perhaps Falwell, Jr. with his pool boy protege, or a nighttime rally around a burning cross. With this depraved bum, nothing would surprise us.

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Mid-Week Songs: Tony Bennett Turns 94


An American musical and cultural icon, Tony Bennett, celebrated his 94th birthday on Monday. It's hard to express how fortunate we are that he's around to enchant us with his music and personality. A multi-talented creator known for his beautiful voice and for his paintings, Bennett is also a long-time champion of progressive causes. His fans are innumerable, and include Lady Gaga, Sting, Cher, Stevie Wonder and everyone else that's entertained us over his more than 7 decades of song. Still stylish, youthful and fit, he posted this brief "thank you" to his millions of well-wishers yesterday:


Here are just three songs from his brilliant career which have stood the test of time, and are part of his legacy and the American songbook forever.







The happiest of happy birthdays!
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Trump's Mail-In Voting Self-Own


At the same time the "campaign" of malicious mango Mussolini Donald "COVID Donnie" Trump is suing the State of Nevada over its expanded mail- in voting, that same p.o.s. is telling us that mail- in balloting in Florida is just fine:




We wonder if that has anything to do with the fact that the governor of Florida, Ron "One Glove" DeSantis, is a die- hard Trumper who can be counted on to pull every dirty trick in the book come election day. (We expect Trump to announce any day that mail- in voting in Arizona and Georgia are also fine -- because they have reliably corrupt Republican governors willing to suppress the Democratic vote.)

This all points to the possibility that it may be dawning on the Very Stable Political Genius that he's sabotaging support from his knuckle- dragging base:
Donald Trump’s all-out war on mail voting is backfiring in battleground states.
New private polling shared first with POLITICO showed that Republicans have become overwhelmingly concerned about mail balloting, which Trump has claimed without evidence, will lead to widespread voter fraud. A potentially decisive slice of Trump’s battleground-state base — 15 percent of Trump voters in Florida, 12 percent in Pennsylvania and 10 percent in Michigan — said that getting a ballot in the mail would make them less likely to vote in November.
Trump won each of those states by a thin margin in 2016, and less than 1 percent of Joe Biden voters said getting a ballot mailed to them would make them less likely to vote. Overall, 53 percent of voters in Florida and about half in Michigan and Pennsylvania expressed health concerns about casting their ballots in person and prefer voting by mail in November.
As the article goes on to point out, the VSPG may have already screwed the pooch in Florida:
Conservative campaign operatives have also worried that the president’s dismissal of the method will hurt their programs to encourage voters to take advantage of the option, allowing Democrats to build up a big lead. There’s early signs that is coming to pass: In Florida, 302,000 more Democrats have enrolled in the state’s vote-by-mail program than Republicans.  (our emphasis)
Of course, in Trump's "mind," he saw the electoral disaster coming and was eager to front- load a case for an illegitimate outcome, and mail- in voting "fraud" was the excuse he's been peddling up to now.  Sadly for him, his words and actions are probably having the effect of suppressing the votes of his credulous voters. That's some well- deserved karma for him and his rotted out party.

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Biden Ad Nails Trump With His Own Words


As they should, the Biden campaign jumped on one of the most revealing quotes from demagogue and sociopath Donald "COVID Donnie" Trump's disastrous interview with Axios' Jonathan Swan. The "it is what it is" line works on a couple of levels: Trump's total lack of empathy for the families affected by the Trump Virus, and his cavalier avoidance of responsibility. Even if Trump had said "who cares?" it wouldn't have been more revealing than this.

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Tuesday, August 4, 2020

Massive Explosion In Beirut (UPDATED)


A massive explosion shook Beirut, Lebanon, hours ago, killing at least 50 and injuring over 3,000.  Those numbers are expected to rise.  The explosion is believed to have taken place where nitrates were being stored on the city's waterfront.  Horrific:




UPDATE:  It's being reported that fireworks accidentally ignited several thousand tons of ammonium nitrate being stored at the waterfront.

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Today's Cartoons


(click on images to enlarge)


(David Fitzsimmons, The Arizona Daily Star)


(Jen Sorensen, gocomics.com)


(Matt Davies, Newsday)


(Mike Luckovich, Atlanta Journal-Constitution)


(Mike Peters, Dayton Daily News)


(John Branch, Houston Chronicle)


(Jeff Stahler, gocomics.com)


(Clay Jones, claytoonz.com)


(Nick Anderson, Washington Post Writers Group)


(John Darkow, Columbia Missourian)


(Rob Rogers, Counterpoint)


(Jack Ohman, Sacramento Bee)


(Brendan Loper, The New Yorker)

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Tweets Of The Day -- Yo, Putz!


What a dimwitted orange shitgibbon (but you knew that):



 

 

 









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Trump's Lackey At Homeland Security



Demagogue and neo-fascist bigot Donald "Dominate The Streets" Trump has had a parade of Secretaries of Homeland Security, from John Kelly and Kirstjen Nielsen to Kevin McAleenan, all of whom eventually met with their unhinged boss' displeasure. Reports suggest that after more than three and a half years, Trump has found the authoritarian go-fer he wanted all along to impose his cruel and unAmerican policies without question, whether at the border or in the streets of American cities: Acting DHS Secretary Chad Wolf.

As this chilling Washington Post profile notes, Wolf brought no Homeland Security, law enforcement or military experience to the job, having been a mid-level lobbyist for the travel industry. But his lack of experience was greatly compensated by his willingness -- like corrupt Trump consigliere Bill "Low" Barr --  to serve his Dear Leader:
"Wolf’s journey from mid-level lobbyist to DHS staffer to the face of the president’s police crackdown on protesters whom Trump calls 'anarchists' has taken a roundabout path that says as much about the trajectory of the DHS under Trump as the person now running the department. The use of the DHS as an instrument of the president’s agenda — first at the Mexican border and now in U.S. cities — has alarmed many who have come to see the department as the enforcement arm of Trump’s 'Make America Great Again”'plans, and Wolf as his enabler.

 After 3½ years, the president finally is happy with a DHS chief, according to White House aides. And while Wolf’s predecessors sometimes pushed back at Trump’s attempts to break rules and bend norms to fit his desired policies, Trump now has a DHS chief giving him the answers he wants.

 'The president likes having someone who will tell him yes,' said David Lapan, a former DHS spokesman, retired Marine colonel and longtime aide to Marine Gen. John F. Kelly who worked closely with Wolf." (our emphasis)
Wolf had no compunction about following Trump's political order to stir up trouble among Black Lives Matter protests in Portland and Albuquerque by sending in Federal stormtrumpers, who engaged in brutal suppression and in pulling people off the streets and into unmarked vehicles. He also likes to have his picture taken at Trump's porous, vanity border "wall" -- that Mexico was supposed to pay for -- to impress Trump with his xenophobic, tough guy zeal.

Authoritarian regimes are rife with nihilistic toadies and sycophants who would commit the most unimaginable horrors to win the favor of their leaders and gain power. This regime certainly has one such hack in Wolf.

(photo: Kevin Lemarque/Reuters)
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Resources For Delivering Meals And Food Support


With at tens of millions of Americans out of work or underemployed and unemployment insurance extension held up by Republican sociopaths, as best you can, please help get food to those in need -- whether it's through donating or volunteering or both.  The need is greater now more than ever as many local food banks are running low due to unprecedented demand.  Support your local food bank, and/ or one or more of these national organizations helping feed those in need:

Feeding America: With a network of 200 food banks across the US, this organization is helping food banks support communities impacted by the pandemic.

GENYOUth: They are providing grants to schools to supply resources for meal distribution and delivery so students can be fed even when they are not at school during the coronavirus crisis.

Meals on Wheels provides home delivery of food to seniors. The organization faces an increased need for volunteers and donations right now as many seniors find themselves more isolated and in need than usual.

Save the Children: Actresses Jennifer Garner and Amy Adams have teamed up with Save the Children to launch #SAVEWITHSTORIES. The program is providing children in America’s poorest communities with nutritious meals, books and other learning resources during the outbreak closures.

United Way: They are using their Covid-19 Community Response and Recovery Fund to stock food banks with essential staples to help feed children who rely on schools for meals.

World Central Kitchen: Founder Chef JosƩ AndrƩs (who merits a Nobel Peace Prize for what he's been doing now and in other disasters) is turning the kitchens in some of his restaurants into community kitchens offering free to-go lunches for those in need.

Even a modest donation can make a big difference (for example, $100 to Feeding America provides 1,000 meals).

Thank you.
 
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Trump On John Lewis, Coronavirus Deaths


What an incredibly stupid, criminally negligent, infantile lowlife:


Just before the clip above, this exchange took place:
“I think it’s under control,” Trump told Axios correspondent Jonathan Swan in a pre-taped interview released on Monday night.
“How?” Swan asked. “A thousand Americans are dying a day.”
Trump rolled his eyes.
“They are dying, that’s true, and it is what it is”...

"It is what it is."  Nearly 160,000 deaths, and rising.

Every minute this self- involved p.o.s. sullies the Oval Office, he disgraces and diminishes our country beyond words.  Ninety days until the election (but vote early if you can).  We need to end this nightmare.

Please share these trainwreck videos.


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Monday, August 3, 2020

The "Karens" And "Kyles" Of The Past



In the photo above, a San Francisco policeman speaks to an unmasked woman during the 1918 - 1919 flu pandemic. There was an "Anti-Mask League" in those days, too, as this interesting article in the New York Times observes.

"Karens" and "Kyles" have always been a part of our societal fabric: entitled, selfish, angry, and reckless. We're seeing them every day in public places, angrily claiming their right to endanger others. Crises bring out the best, but also the worst in us.

(photo: Hamilton Henry Dobbin via California State Library)
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Trump Has No Health Care Plan, Never Will


As millions of Americans are living on the edge with the Trump Virus-induced economic collapse and unemployment reaching record levels, their health care is in danger of being taken away at the worst possible time. Demagogue and pathological liar Donald "COVID Donnie" Trump told us that he had a health care plan from the days he was a candidate to just three weeks ago. Of course he was lying, as this new ad from Meidas Touch illustrates:



(Bonus points for the tinkly piano playing "Dixie" in the background).

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NYC DA Looking At Trump Org. Fraud



In a response to corrupt con man Donald "Individual 1" Trump's court filing challenging the subpoena of his tax returns, Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance suggested that his grand jury investigation into the tax filings will likely involve evidence of bank fraud and other criminal violations by Trump and his organization:
"...New York County prosecutors said that news reports about the president's financial history provide sufficient justification for requesting the extensive amount of information from the accounting firm Mazars in their grand jury investigation.

 'In light of these public reports of possibly extensive and protracted criminal conduct at the Trump Organization, there was nothing facially improper (or even particularly unusual) about the Mazars Subpoena, which [was] issued in connection with a complex financial investigation, requesting eight years of records from an accounting firm,' prosecutors wrote in a court filing submitted Monday.

 A footnote in the court filing listed three media stories published in 2018 and 2019 about the president's financial history. One of them, a Washington Post story published last year, reported that Trump had inflated his net worth to potential lenders and investors.
Prosecutors also cited a 2018 New York Times investigation that found Trump had employed 'dubious tax schemes' that included 'outright fraud' while managing the Trump Organization, which he still owns, in the 1990s.  (our emphasis)
Vance's filing makes it clear that the prosecutorial scope extends beyond an examination of his tax records for possible tax evasion, and is looking at the issues raised in the cited media stories. You can read the District Attorney's court filing here.

(image: Orange and orange go together)
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Tweets Of The Day -- Pick Your Poison Edition


Criminal incompetence, gaslighting, more incompetence, playing politics with our health, blatant fascism, etc.  That's just a small taste for today.  It just never ends with these fascist, nihilist baboons:


 



 

 



 

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Today In Covidiots: "Fear Worse Than COVID"


After the death of Trump rally goer and anti-mask advocate Herman Cain due to complications from COVID-19, and the infection of Congress' stupidest member Rep. Screwy Louis Gohmert (Loon-TX) after flaunting his anti-mask dumbf*ckery all over Capitol Hill, we could call this stupidity-in-the-face-of-deadly disease phenomenon the "Gohmert-Cain syndrome."

Another example of the syndrome comes from Washington, DC, where a Catholic priest, ironically named Monsignor Charles "I'll Never Be The" Pope, contracted COVID-19 after weeks of ministering to his flock and giving communion at Holy Comforter St. Cyprian Catholic Church:
"Monsignor Charles Pope of Holy Comforter St. Cyprian Catholic Church on East Capitol Street was admitted to the hospital on July 27 after experiencing a high fever. He tested positive for the coronavirus after a rapid diagnostic test that afternoon. [snip] 
Parish­ioners who participated in Communion at the church — where wafers and wine are shared to represent the body and blood of Christ — between July 25 and July 27 were told to stay home for 14 days and monitor themselves for symptoms." [snip] (our emphasis)
Normally, we'd offer our "thoughts and prayers", but there are extenuating circumstances:
"Nine days before testing positive, Pope, 59, wrote an article in the National Catholic Register questioning the sweeping orders that public officials have issued to stem the spread of the virus, including limiting worship services. 
'There is more to life than just not getting sick and not dying,' he wrote. He told a religious radio show on the morning of July 27 [ed. - when he was admitted to the hospital] that he thinks some parishioners who have chosen not to return to in-person services are 'lukewarm' Catholics. 
Even after being hospitalized with covid-19, Pope continued to urge followers not to be afraid of the disease. 'I wonder, when will be the endgame?' he said in a video message posted Saturday. 'When will it be safe enough to play in the park again? That still remains my concern, even after having contracted this.'” (our emphasis)
He clearly isn't playing the role of "good shepherd" to his likely infected sheep. Perhaps he's concerned about the collection plate being empty. Perhaps he believes COVID-19 can be prayed away. In the latter case, he should contact the White (Supremacist) House, which is looking for miracles these days.

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