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Showing posts from August, 2016

Another Special Shoot

So, everyone seems to be wondering why the hell Donald Trump is taking the time to visit the President of Mexico (an obviously unwanted visit, may I add) at this point.  Well, for an answer, I turn to my wife: Trump is enduring the flight down and back, and whatever boring meetings he has to put up with, for one thing only: five seconds of video showing him shaking hands with Vicente Fox and smiling.  Two months from now that scrap of coverage will appear in all sorts of TV spots designed to convince the gullible that people in Mexico just love him.  Will they fall for that?  Probably a few will.  Probably not many, but if the mainstream press does its usual job for the Republicans, who knows?  It could be enough.

In the Tank

The mainstream press.   In the tank for Trump: "As Donald Trump arrived in Manchester, New Hampshire, for a rally a week ago, he stepped out of his motorcade and was greeted by a familiar face: Corey Lewandowski. Lewandowski had been fired in late-June after serving as Trump’s first campaign manager. Given the internal fighting, Trump’s losing ground in the polls, and the candidate’s and his family’s alleged lack of confidence in Lewandowski, the campaign cut him loose June 20. Now, a few weeks and a lucrative cable network contract later, Lewandowski is back in the fold, according to multiple campaign sources. They describe Lewandowski’s relationship with the candidate as “stronger than ever.”   “They talk almost every day,” one senior level campaign staffer said, requesting anonymity." But at the same time, Lewandowski is getting paid by CNN to "report" on the campaign. All of this, of course, to a background of right wing howls about how the &qu

The Penis Tweeter Rides Again!

Anthony Weiner!  I mean, what a name.  If there is a silver lining to all of this, it is that he wasn't named Anthony Asshole, or we would really have some ugly pictures out there. So, here's the thing.  Mr. Weiner decided that this was a great time to get up to his former habits, what with his wife in the middle of helping to run a Presidential candidate's race.  And of all the women on earth to send his pathetic tweets to, he had to pick " a “self-avowed supporter of  Donald Trump ."  No, really.  And then he sent her pictures of himself on a bed with his small son.  Boy, that is really designed to arouse a strange woman, huh? Well, here is my explanation of all this.  I admit that I have no proof except what all of us must know in our hearts.  This was not an accident, nor another random disgusting act.  Weiner is obviously a very sick narcissist.  As such, it is inevitable that he would find a way to blame his downfall on his wife, and her close friend Hil

This is a Real Thing

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Operation Taco Bowl. What's next? By the way, in case you were worried, 100 people showed up for this event.  In Orange County, where there are 100 racists in every mini-mall.  And maybe half of them were from the area, and some of those were actually Hispanic. I mean, we all know Trump is a deranged, hate-filled bully.  But, what the hell is the trip with all those people who think that would make a good leader?

Wingnut Wrapup

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I just can't tell you how painful it has been, dredging through this crap the last couple of weeks. Anyway, here it is: Let's just start out with a special mention of Katrina Pierson, Trump's most pathetic spokesperson, who has this to say: "Katrinia Pierson on CNN just said Trump hasn't "changed his position on immigration, he's just changed the words he's saying." Oh well, that explains everything.  He's not hating, he's just lying.  I feel so much better now. "BREAKING: Paul Manafort Has Resigned From Trump's Campaign" So shut up about Putin already, would you? And now the lastest in Wingnut Wrapup's series of Not Funny Right Wing Cartoons: Because losing half their territory is not retreat.  Not if Obama had anything to do with it.  Sort of interesting, isn't it, that Trump's campaign seems to be tied to ISIS winning. Michael Barone, Town Hall:  "Today's Candidates Don't Measu

Storm

Why do people send out "tweet storms?"  Why do they not just say what they have to say, in a nice, easy to read article, post it somewhere relatively public, and see how people respond?  Instead, they voluntarily reduce political conversation to nothing but an endless series of cheap sound bites. Honestly, I think sending out "tweet storms" should be dealt with by a course of electroshock therapy.

My Point Exactly

Daily Kos this morning, making a point that I have been trying to get people to accept for several years now: "The week started with attacks on the Clinton foundation (which fizzled, to the consternation of many in the media and to the embarrassment of the AP) and ended with a scathing attack on Donald Trump’s anti-Semitic and racist connections... But there is a reason why people like Rove and Trump employ this tactic: the media buys it. For example, here are some of the headlines emanating from yesterday: ABC: Clinton, Trump Tangle Over Racism Washington Post: Clinton, Trump exchange racially charged accusations CNN: Clinton says Trump leading ‘hate movement’; he calls her a ‘bigot’ Politico: Trump and Clinton throw more blows in bigotry fight In other words, projection isn’t just a psychological defense mechanism anymore. It is a political strategy used to ensure that the media reports moments like this as a “he said/she said” that is the basis of bothsiderism. It

A Hatchet Job on the Clintons from the Left

Everybody hates them!  Even though nobody can actually find anything evil they have ever done!  But who cares?  It's so much fun to help turn the country over to a traitor. The object of my current disgust?  An article that appeared in Harpers' magazine a couple of years ago, which has suddenly been resurrected.  I found out about it from some alleged left wingers on Facebook who apparently do not have the ability to either read or think, and who seem to believe that it really stitches up the Clintons quite tightly.  I wouldn't bother with it here, but my response is so long that it was not suitable for a Facebook comment.  I'll direct readers of that thread over here; anyone else is welcome to read or not, as I give it a bit of the Wingnut Wrapup treatment: "After endless delays and excuses, the Clinton Foundation released its 2014 tax return" The publication date for this article was November 17, 2015. The Clinton Foundation's 2014 tax return was pr

The Press Casts Their Vote

Things I heard yesterday: ABC News providing a detailed, absolutely fabricated account of Hillary's charitable activities, straight out of the Trump campaign.  They treated Trump's smears and the actual, well known truth as equally likely to be true, and when called out on it, weaseled around and still refused to state openly that they were purveying lies. NPR:  I heard them while I was driving to work, discussing the lying Trump accusations against the Clinton foundation as equally likely to be true or false, with the clear implication that we just can't trust someone who has all these rumors swirling around her.  And again, I must repeat what we all know perfectly well: not one person who touched this story has a shred of doubt that it is a monstrous lie, but they repeat it anyway because...because that is what they get paid to do. And now, we hear about more e-mails from Hillary; e-mails which no one in the press has ever seen, but that does not stop them from repo

Trump is Winning the News Wars

As Democrats have their laughs every day at the preposterous and disgusting things that Trump and his surrogates have to say for themselves, they are totally missing the key fact in all of this: the outpouring of hatred is accomplishing exactly what it is intended to. In the first place, as Trump has said, nothing he does can make the 35% of voters that are committed to supporting him turn their backs on him.  So there is just no downside to his infantile displays. But there is a big upside, and it is not that he thinks he is going to convince any of us to suddenly become white racist haters.  Hillary is running, or trying to run, a fact based campaign.  When voters have a chance to hear what she is really proposing, the vast majority of them are going to be sympathetic to it.  But they are apparently never going to hear it, because Trump, counting on the collaboration of the mainstream press, has figured out a way to monopolize the news coverage, so Hillary will never get a chance

It's About the Ads

I want to take the opportunity to discuss something that my wife observed, which I totally missed; and about which I think she is one hundred percent right. First, let me say that she had a 25 year career as a feature film trailer maker, ending up as a senior executive in creative advertising at one of the major motion picture studios, so she knows something about the subject. Her remark had to do with two recent Trump events- his delivering a seemingly accommodating speech about black Americans, in front of a totally white audience, and his useless appearance in Baton Rouge after the flooding there.  She attributes both of these events to the new presence of ex-adman Roger Ailes in Trump's campaign.  Her notion is that neither of these events had anything to do with the live or TV audiences that saw them this week, but that both of them were nothing but stockpiling footage to be used in campaign spots in October, portraying Trump as a humane, serious candidate.  As someone who

The Horrible Truth About Hillary Is Finally Revealed!

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From no less authoritative source than Donald Trump's friends at the National Enquirer: BUT WAIT!  NEW BREAKING NEWS! It turns out that the people at the National Enquirer, in the kindly, considerate fashion for which they have always been famous, have been sugar-coating the truth.  Now at last, the whole horror can be revealed: What a pity.  It's a shame to see the decline of a great personality.  Oh well, at least we can take comfort in the fact that we will all be safe under the steady hand of President Trump. And yes, I could have done a better photoshop job than this, but really, who cares?

The Real Trump

Before getting on with this post, let me remind you of this: "Treason against the United States, shall consist only in levying War against them, or in adhering to their Enemies, giving them Aid and Comfort." And with that gotten over, on we go. Donald Trump this week unceremoniously dumped campaign manager Paul Manafort, not because he is a loathsome pig (they both are) but solely because Trump saw that Manafort had become a liability to his Presidential campaign.  Nothing else about Manafort bothered Trump in the least, including Manafort's having been paid millions by the Putin government. And what was that money handed over for?  Well, this, for instance: "Lt. Colonel Tom Doman’s introduction to Ukraine, at 4 a.m. on May 27, 2006, was not a warm one. “We had rocks thrown at us. Rocks hit Marines. Buses were rocked back and forth. We were just trying to get to our base.” Doman and his 112 reserve Marines and sailors were boarding the buses after

Why We Fight

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"Why we fight" was a series of films made by Frank Capra during World War II, to help the American people understand why the war, so far from our shores, was so important to us.  Well, we don't need to make things like this today; our enemies do it for us. Here, via Digby , is a short video of a bunch of Trump supporters, which I urge you to watch, even though seeing it was as painful to me as it undoubtedly was to Digby.  Take a look at it and you will understand that what we are fighting for is not HER versus HIM, it is the survival of this country as a decent part of civilization at all: And never forget this:  When Trump supporters say that he expresses what they feel, this is what they mean.

While You Were Being Forced to Watch the Circus, Part about Ten Thousand

As the Republicans have again mesmerized the press into staring into the orange sun until they go blind, there are actually things going on in the country.  This is one of them. A few days ago, Aetna announced that it was pulling out of Obamacare.  They claimed, and it was duly reported, that this was because they just couldn't make a profit following the dictatorial rules of mean old Mr. Obama. We're still seeing that sort of reporting, but the reality turned out to be a little different.  In actuality, Aetna, whose CEO was, incidentally, paid over $27 million dollars last year, is doing what it is doing to punish Obama for not letting them merge with Humana, an act which would significantly reduce competitiveness among insurance companies, and in the end damage Americans' ability to afford health insurance. Well, all this proves something that should need absolutely no proving: basing laws on the notion that rich people can be peacefully induced to consider the publ

It Runs In The Family

I saw this yesterday at a right wing site: "Accusations of anti-Semitism in the Donald Trump campaign are nothing new, but rarely are they more solid than this.  Joseph Schmitz, one of Trump's five foreign policy advisors, was accused of bragging about pushing out Jewish employees when he worked for the Department of Defense." This particular Trump hire interested me because of the guy's last name, Schmitz.  Sure enough, a little bit of investigation revealed that he is the son of former Republican Congressman John Schmitz.  Schmitz, a guy so hard right that he was kicked out of the John Birch Society for extremism, was also a professor at a Bible college, a job that came to an end when it was discovered he was having an affair with one of his students, with whom he fathered two children.  Of course, being a good Republican, he refused for the rest of his life to pay a dime of child support. Well, the capper of this whole story is the tale of this guy's dau

Wingnut Wrapup

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Yup, they're still at it.  Although I must say that I've noticed a slight flagging of enthusiasm among the wingnuts the last few days, as it slowly begins to dawn on them that the United States is not totally filled with vicious right wing jackasses. Today's Wingnut Wrapup dedicated to Rudy "Mister 9-11" Giuliani, for having the unmitigated gall to say this: "Under those eight years, before Obama came along, we didn't have any successful radical Islamic terrorist attack in the United States. They all started when Clinton and Obama got into office." Rudy, you've been milking the World Trade Center bombing ever since it happened, but now, suddenly, you've forgotten that it ever happened?  Talk about having no shame.  Rudy is now claiming that the press has misinterpreted what he said, which was just "shorthand."  Hey, another new Republican euphemism for lying. And also, a special shoutout to Donald Trump, who fired his lates

Follow the Leader

Republican Arizona governor Jan Brewer today called Hillary a "lying killer," and when confronted about this, said that she just mispronounced Hillary's name. As I have pointed out for years, lying is the stock in trade of Republicans, but this level of open belligerence behind the lies is something new, as is the willingness to essentially say, "yeah, I just lied in your face.  What the hell are you going to do about it?" Well, guess where that attitude came from.  They picked him, and they knowingly picked him because they knew he would drive their train to a new low point in Republican history.  They knew that he would unleash them even further from honesty and common humanity, and they are getting what they paid for.  Welcome to the new Republican party- just like the old Republican party, only with less decency.

Do You Think Anyone Will Care?

From CBS News this morning: "Report: Pro-Russian party earmarked $12.7M in cash for Trump campaign chair...There are new accusations about Donald Trump's campaign chairman and his ties to alleged corruption in Ukraine. The New York Times is out with a report showing Paul Manafort may have received more than $12 million in "undisclosed cash payments" from a pro-Russian political party while a consultant in Ukraine from 2007 to 2012." Nothing to see here, folks...just move along.  I mean, it is just so inconceivable that a Republican candidate for President could be a tool of our biggest enemy, right?  Now, we all know that every Democrat is just a Communist in disguise, but Republicans are Patriots, who would never, say, work with Russian spies to undermine our country's democratic system, or take millions for...what? Like I say, people, time to get back to Hillary's e-mails.

Wingnut Wrapup

And let's start out with a report on the most hard working men in politics: Katie Pavlich, Town Hall:  "House Task Force Confirms: ISIS Threat Was Altered in Intelligence Reports For Political Purposes" A House "task force."  A house task force composed entirely of Republicans.  Just like the Benghazi guys. "A roughly 10-page report on the controversy is expected to be released by the end of next week, two officials said." TEN PAGES!  Man, that will be some report.  Even Katie is forced to admit:  "While it contains no definitive evidence that senior Obama administration officials ordered the reports to be doctored..." Oh hell, why go on?  Meanwhile their candidate for President is threatening the life of ours, but hey, that's just fine.  Katie concludes: "The Obama administration has been putting politics above national security for years. It's no wonder America and the world have become increasingly less safe.

The Winner Explains How He Is Winning

Donald Trump today, with the truth about the election: "Honestly, I‘m not running against crooked Hillary Clinton, I’m running against the crooked media," Well, that explains it all.  I mean, just look at the polls as they stand now, from five thirty eight: Hillary Clinton:           49.1% Donald Trump             41.0% The Press                     0.0% See? He's way out ahead.  Of course, the way things are going, by November Trump will have trouble outpolling Joseph Goebbels, but that's a story for another day.

Another Step Into Darkness

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I wish to make a comment about Trump's recent statements, encouraging the assassination of Hillary, and also trying to create a national body of "observers" to show up at polling places. One of the characteristics that has, so far, separated the Trump campaign from traditional fascist movements like those of Hitler and Mussolini, is that they almost always involved the creation of a private army to enforce the will of the leader.  We have, of course, the SA in Germany, and the black shirts in Italy as examples. This is one of the main reasons that I have had reservations about comparing Trump too closely with previous fascist rulers.  Remember that it was the chaos created by the SA, and by the black shirts' march on Rome, that were major contributing factors in both Hitler's and Mussolini's ascendance. However, I now wonder if, facing humiliation in a fair contest, and looking toward the future (remember, the Nazis never won a national election in Ge

A Geezer and His Fish

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Apropos of nothing: Well, we all get to do something to remember, at some time in our lives. Well, maybe twice.

The Trump Campaign Does History

More incomprehensible delusion from the Trump campaign, via spokesperson Katrina Pierson: "Appearing on CNN Saturday morning, Trump spokesperson Katrina Pierson presented yet another unique take on history, telling host Victor Blackwell that President Barack Obama invaded Afghanistan. Blackwell then interrupted her, “Barack Obama in 2004, is that what you said?” “No,” she replied. “I said afterwards. After the surge when al Qaeda was in ashes. Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton — remember we weren’t even in Afghanistan by this time. Barack Obama went into Afghanistan, creating another problem. It was Hillary Clinton and her incidents in Libya. They armed the rebels and funded them.” “You’re saying Barack Obama took the country into Afghanistan post-2009. Is that what you’re saying?” Pierson paused before replying, “Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton — that was Obama’s war, yes.” It's hard to even imagine what game they think they are playing when they say things

Trump Accomplishes His Plan?

Hillary gave an important speech today, outlining a very progressive economic program which would appeal to a vast majority of American workers and their families- if they ever heard about it.  Instead, all they hear about is the latest in Trump's daily sequence of psychotic delusions, presented and discussed as though they had the slightest shred of rationality or even meaning at all. Is this a cynical plot to prevent Hillary from having a chance to show the American people that the she is not the evil witch that Republican propaganda has spent twenty years conjuring up out of nothing?  If so, it may very well be working. Or is it, as it appears, the disintegration of a mentally disturbed megalomaniac, falling apart in front of the whole country? Well, I'd guess it's both.  A deeply disturbed, out of control maniac can still have moments of extreme cunning; and when he has absolutely no ethical brakes at all, what you get may be very much like Trump. As I have said

How Long Can This Go On?

Donald Trump today, fresh off of doing everything he can to foment the assassination of his opponent: “In many respects, you know, they honor President Obama,” Mr. Trump told a raucous and rowdy crowd in Florida on Wednesday night. “He’s the founder of ISIS. He’s the founder of ISIS. He’s the founder. He founded ISIS.” He added, “I would say the co-founder would be crooked Hillary Clinton.” Obama and Hillary are not now merely enabling ISIS by their actions; they actually, literally founded ISIS.  This said by Trump, in front of a cheering, enraged mob.  Watch if you can stand it: And I'll just end my coverage of this abomination with a quote from Trump, in an interview today: "I'm a truth teller. All I do is tell the truth." Large segments of the press are reporting this as nothing but normal behavior from a Presidential candidate.