Paul Revere by Cyrus Dallin, North End, Boston

~~~

~~~

Friday, September 30, 2016

Friday Night Funnies



The Hillary Shimmy Song:



"Hitler," An Ascent From "Dunderhead" to Demagogue -- A Review

UPDATE BELOW


Here's a review by NYTimes's Michiko Kakutani  of a new biography by historian Volker Ullrich on Adolf Hitler:



Be very afraid.



Via Digby's blog:

Mr. Ullrich, like other biographers, provides vivid insight into some factors that helped turn a “Munich rabble-rouser” — regarded by many as a self-obsessed “clown” with a strangely “scattershot, impulsive style” — into “the lord and master of the German Reich.” 

 • Hitler was often described as an egomaniac who “only loved himself” — a narcissist with a taste for self-dramatization and what Mr. Ullrich calls a “characteristic fondness for superlatives.” His manic speeches and penchant for taking all-or-nothing risks raised questions about his capacity for self-control, even his sanity. But Mr. Ullrich underscores Hitler’s shrewdness as a politician — with a “keen eye for the strengths and weaknesses of other people” and an ability to “instantaneously analyze and exploit situations.” 

 • Hitler was known, among colleagues, for a “bottomless mendacity” that would later be magnified by a slick propaganda machine that used the latest technology (radio, gramophone records, film) to spread his message. A former finance minister wrote that Hitler “was so thoroughly untruthful that he could no longer recognize the difference between lies and truth” and editors of one edition of “Mein Kampf” described it as a “swamp of lies, distortions, innuendoes, half-truths and real facts.”


*************************



Meanwhile Donnie The WATB whined about why he did so poorly at the debate:

IT WAS SOMEBODY ELSE'S FAULT!  WAAAAH! WAAAH! WAAAH!

Just after the debate, Trump stated that Lester Holt did a good job, later Trump said Holt did a C or a C- job. Now that everyone knows Trump was a disaster, Trump is blaming everyone but himself, saying the process is rigged.  What a prissy little crybaby. Trump did a poor job because: 

1) He knows next to nothing about our government and how it works, and 


2) He tried to bluff and bully his way through a very serious debate and was bested by Hillary Clinton.


Here's the WATB in his own crybaby words:


“During the debate the other night, I had to put up with the anchor and fight the anchor all the time on everything I said,” Trump said at a campaign rally in New Hampshire. “What a rigged deal. I tell you we’re in such a rigged system. It is terrible. What’s going on in this country is so sad.”


WAAAH!  WAAAH!  WAAAH!



TRUMP:  WATB!



UPDATE:

USAToday, for the first time, published an editorial urging Americans to reject Trump, saying he is temperamentally unfit to be POTUS and calling him a "serial liar."

TRUMP IS A SERIAL LIAR AND TEMPERAMENTALLY UNFIT TO BE PRESIDENT!


Thursday, September 29, 2016

Crooked Donald


h/t to fb friend, Lee Arnold:

How does Trump's crooked and illegal actions stay under the radar so that his supporters believe he represents change?  

This story and the ongoing investigation of Trump paying off attorneys general in Texas and Florida to not go after his fraudulent Trump University in those states are clear indications that Trump is not averse to doing anything -- even alleged illegal things -- to get his what he wants.  He pays to play.

Trump hasn't been convicted of any crime, but neither has Hillary Clinton; however, that doesn't stop Trump's supporters from calling her a criminal.  They need to take a look at Trump and let the scales fall from their eyes:

HOW DONALD TRUMP’S COMPANY VIOLATED THE UNITED STATES EMBARGO AGAINST CUBA 

 "Documents show that the Trump company spent a minimum of $68,000 for its 1998 foray into Cuba at a time when the corporate expenditure of even a penny in the Caribbean country was prohibited without U.S. government approval. But the company did not spend the money directly. Instead, with Trump’s knowledge, executives funneled the cash for the Cuba trip through an American consulting firm called Seven Arrows Investment and Development Corp. Once the business consultants traveled to the island and incurred the expenses for the venture, Seven Arrows instructed senior officers with Trump’s company—then called Trump Hotels & Casino Resorts—how to make it appear legal by linking it after the fact to a charitable effort."


Trump donated to attorneys general who dropped Trump U. inquiries: 


Attorneys general in Florida and Texas who declined to pursue lawsuits against the now-defunct Trump University received political contributions from Donald Trump, according to an Associated Press report.

Trump donated $35,000 to the successful gubernatorial campaign of then-Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott three years after a probe into the university’s "possibly deceptive trade practices" was dropped by his office when the university agreed to cease its Texas operations. Abbott's office pushed back against the report in a statement to The Hill on Friday, saying that the then-attorney general was just doing his job.

And a political fundraising committee supporting Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi received a $25,000 donation from the Donald J. Trump Foundation just days after her office had announced it was looking into joining a multi-state lawsuit against Trump University. Her office later dropped the inquiry, citing a lack of evidence. The school has received intense scrutiny this week after a judge released Trump University documents that reveal details of how the school was run, such as instructors encouraging poor prospective students to max out credit cards in order to pay as much as $35,000 for real estate classes.

Trump's supporters want this scam artist and "alleged" crook to run the United States of America?  They believe Trump represents change? 

Yeah. A change from a dignified, moral president to an incompetent scam artist and fraud. 


Here's Some Reality for Trumpistas




We know the TeaPublicans live in their own reality, but the rest of us live in the real world. 

(The most embarrassing part of the debate and the post-debate was that Donald Trump, who wants to be the leader of the free world, talked about his relationship with a beauty contest winner and her weight gain.)

The TeaPublicans think Don the Con would make a great leader.


Here's a dose of reality for the Trumpistas:


Republicans in Denial That the Debate Exposed Donald Trump As Unfit for Office 

 Jonathan Chait, New York Magazine 


 "If you’re a Republican who has been clinging to the wan hope that Donald Trump might somehow, in his eighth decade on Earth, develop into a plausibly competent president of the United States, the first debate should have been your moment to abandon ship. Trump displayed the factual command of a small child, the emotional stability of a hormonal teen, and the stamina of an old man, staggering and losing the thread as the 90 minutes wore on. Instead, Republicans — without a single exception I have seen — have responded very differently. They have treated their candidate’s glaring unsuitability for high office as, at worst, a handful of discrete errors that in no way reflect on his character, and at best, the dastardly unfairness of the liberal media.

[skip] 


 So Trump, according to the people trying to help him win, is unable to pick good staff, manage his time, follow advice, or even accept the connection between preparing for an event and succeeding at it. Republicans have so internalized Trump’s wild unsuitability for the presidency that they have decided to treat these facts as mere hurdles to overcome on the path to the presidency. But why are they trying to help him win in the first place?" 

Why? Because they want to destroy America by electing an incompetent conman -- a man they would have ripped apart like a cackle of hyenas if Trump had a "D" beside his name instead of an "R." 

Here's another one of Trump's easily refuted stupid lies:

From Digby's blog:  "Intriguingly, Trump also claimed he had a meeting with George W. Bush administration officials to discuss his opposition to the war. “In fact, a delegation” — from the administration, he would later elaborate — “was sent to my office to see me because I was so vocal about it.” 

 I recently reached out to Trump’s spokeswoman, Hope Hicks, for more details about this meeting. She didn’t provide any, but a high-ranking former Bush White House senior official told me categorically that no such meeting ever happened, and that no one from the administration was deputized to talk to Trump. 

Of course not. Because he wasn't speaking out against the war, number one. And nobody in the White House gave a damn about what he was saying about anything anyway. This man is truly delusional. And that's not just rhetorical hyperbole. He is literally delusional."  (And so are his supporters. -- SK)




********************



For the first time in 126 years, the Arizona Republic endorsed a Democrat: 

Hillary Clinton:





Tuesday, September 27, 2016

The Debate and Trump's Lies



The first debate featured an unprepared man repeatedly shouting over a highly prepared woman 

The coherence gap between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump was devastating.





From a friend:  "Hillary's debate performance last night was masterful. Trump took the bait every single time. I think at the next debate he will get even nastier, crueler, and viler; because instead of intelligently looking over his performance to see where he needs to improve, he'll blame his horrible performance on everyone but himself.  In other words, he'll be a whiney, petulant, crybaby -- his true nature."

Agreed.

Trump started out strong, and he got some points in during the first half hour.  Then, like the wicked witch of the west, he withered away and melted into a smoldering pile of bile and bluster, shouting,  "I'M LYING, I'M LYING!"


Another friend:  "One fact check site said Trump was on pace to shatter the record for lies told at a presidential debate. Several news organizations reported Trump aides furiously deleting tweets to cover up lies. Trump whining that he lost the debate because someone sabotaged his mike. Several videos of the future "healthiest president ever" sniffling like a coke addict."

Agreed.



Secretary Clinton was cool, calm, and extremely knowledgeable, while Trump sounded like a snuffalufflagus. What was all that sniffing and hacking about? He appeared very tired and very unhappy at the end of the debate, while Secretary Clinton was all smiles, looking pleased. Of course she should have been pleased. She knew what she was talking about; Trump repeated lies that have been debunked over the past 15 months, and everyone knows those same dreary falsehoods.

Here are some of the dozens of lies Trump told at the debate last night:


He said that the public can learn as much from his financial disclosures as from his tax returns. False

He claimed again that Clinton’s 2008 presidential campaign started the birther movement. False. 
 
He claimed that he didn’t support the war in Iraq, when he did. 


He mischaracterized the origins of the Islamic State and the nature of the NATO alliance. 

He lamented the failed economy in Michigan and Ohio when, in fact, both states gained tens of thousands of jobs in the last year. 

He predicted the Fed would raise interest rates if Clinton were elected, which one analysis called a “baseless accusation.”


He said the Obama administration has done nothing to update America’s nuclear arsenal when it is spending tens of billions of dollars on modernization.

Soon after he said that the murder rate in New York City rose after “stop and frisk” was ruled unconstitutional, the NYPD swiftly corrected him: It’s gone down.






  On to the next debate. Or no?


TRUMP THREATENS TO SKIP REMAINING DEBATES IF HILLARY IS THERE 

 Trump blasted the format of Monday night’s debate by claiming that the presence of Clinton was “specifically designed” to distract him from delivering his message to the American people. “Every time I said something, she would say something back,” he said. “It was rigged.”



Saturday, September 24, 2016




Away for a few days.  Be excellent to each other.



Friday, September 23, 2016

And Finally from Republican Michael Steel: More on Donald Trump's Racism


Republican Speaker of the House and former RNC Chair have acknowledge that Donald Trump is a racist. Period.

And as Charles Blow said in one of his interviews, if you support a bigot, then you support bigotry.  That's my opinion as well. You can't separate the racism promoted for years and years over President Obama's birth certificate from who Donald Trump is. In fact, there are Goopers out there who still believe President Obama is not a citizen, thanks to the bigot, Donald J. Trump.

The people who support him support a racist. Period.




Former RNC Chair: Trump's Birtherism is 'Bullshit Racism'



Former RNC Chair Michael Steele said Trump's focus on "nonsensical" issues like birtherism was "nothing more than bullshit racism — excuse my French." Appearing on David Axelrod's podcast "The Axe Files," Steele, whose reign as RNC chair was marred by lackluster fundraising and his own foibles, didn't hold back when it came to Trump and race.

 "You cannot say to me that given the 400 plus years of this country, that at the very moment the country decides to elect the first Black man president of the United States, you going to ask for his papers? Seriously? Seriously?" said Steele. "I can go all day long about what's wrong with Syria and economic policy and foreign policy with this administration. But I'll be damned if I'm going to sit here and say 'You need to show me your papers first.' That's not how this works."

[skip]


"Ronald Reagan, if he were a candidate running for any office today, would not win a Republican primary," Steele told Axelrod. "Because the things that he would espouse, the policies, the values, the principles that he would lay out there, would be rejected," Steele said, alleging that Reagan's comparatively moderate position on taxes and immigration would now be rejected by hard-line Republican conservatives.

Tuesday, September 20, 2016

HOW MANY MORE TIMES MUST WE WITNESS THIS?











Crooked Donald



The Clinton Foundation has an "A" rating from Charity Watch.  I wonder what the Trump Foundation has for a rating.   Maybe "C" for Crooked?



Trump Used Charity Funds to Settle Legal Problems


"Donald Trump spent $258,000 from his charitable foundation to settle lawsuits that involved the billionaire’s for-profit businesses, The Washington Post reported Tuesday morning. In one case, Trump faced $120,000 in unpaid fines in a dispute over the height of a flagpole at his Mar-a-Lago Club in Palm Beach, Florida. As part of the settlement, Palm Beach agreed to waive the fines if Trump donated $100,000 to a specific veterans charity. As the Post revealed, he sent a check from the Donald J. Trump Foundation, his charitable organization funded almost entirely by outside contributions. In another case, Trump settled a lawsuit by agreeing to donate $158,000 to a charity of the plaintiff’s choosing; and, again, he cut a check from his charitable foundation. According to the Post, such use of his charity’s funds may have violated laws against 'self-dealing' — a term to describe a nonprofit leader’s use of charity money to benefit themselves."



More on Crooked Donald:

David Farenthold -- Washington Post:


Donald Trump spent more than a quarter-million dollars from his charitable foundation to settle lawsuits that involved the billionaire’s for-profit businesses, according to interviews and a review of legal documents. Those cases, which together used $258,000 from Trump’s charity, were among four newly documented expenditures in which Trump may have violated laws against 'self-dealing' — which prohibit nonprofit leaders from using charity money to benefit themselves or their businesses…. 

 'I represent 700 nonprofits a year, and I’ve never encountered anything so brazen,' said Jeffrey Tenenbaum, who advises charities at the Venable law firm in Washington…. 'If he’s using other people’s money — run through his foundation — to satisfy his personal obligations, then that’s about as blatant an example of self-dealing [as] I’ve seen in a while,' Tenenbaum said."

Monday, September 19, 2016

Trump's "Personal Vietnam" -- Listen to What He Said It Was



Donald Trump bragged to Howard Stern that screwing around with dozens of women in the 1980s was just as risky as having to defend one's country during the Vietnam war -- Trump called his dozens of sexual exploits his own "private Vietnam." Then he laughed.

Imagine if our first African-American president had mocked serving one's country the way Trump does in this video by comparing promiscuous screwing  around with women with putting one's life in jeopardy by defending one's country.  We all know that Mr. Obama would have paid a steep political price for that, but we know Trump's supporters, who would have gone berserk had this been Mr. Obama, will give Trump a pass. 

It's called white privilege, and Trump has benefitted from it during this entire travesty of a campaign. Trump has defamed POWs, a Gold Star family, and he's called our current military "a pile of rubble." He's also bragged that he knows more about ISIS than "the generals." And just recently has said that former Secretary of Defense, Republican Robert Gates, doesn't know what he's talking about.

Trump, who mocked our men and women in the military by comparing his debauchery to defending one's country, isn't fit to be Commander in Chief.

Trump has gotten away with countless insults to our men and women in the military without paying any price for his slander and lies.

White privilege.


Listen to this repulsive man:




Sunday, September 18, 2016

Sunday Science Blog



This video, which shows a group of boaters in the Sea of Cortez saving a humpback whale from being dangerously entangled in fishing line, has been around for a while.

It's worth watching again.





Saturday, September 17, 2016

Saturday Night Dancing


Cab Calloway and the incomparable Nicholas Brothers:



Trump suggests for the second time that Hillary should be shot...












There's no ambiguity in what Trump said. "Take their [secret service] guns away, let's see what happens."

The implication of that statement is, "Take their guns away and see what happens -- maybe someone will shoot her."

This is the second time Trump has suggested assassination for his opponent. Never in our lifetime have we ever heard a candidate suggest assassination for his opponent.

 This thing can never be our president.


In addition to Trump's giddy suggestion that Hillary's secret service men disarm, and that as a result someone kills her, he told another whopper of a lie about Hillary Clinton and guns.

Hillary Clinton does not want to take anyone's guns away. If Trump's supporters had any knowledge of our Constitution, they'd know that presidents can't "take away" any of our Constitutional rights. Trump is counting on his supporters' ignorance, and he incites them through his constant barrage of lies and assassination suggestions.

Hillary Clinton supports the Second Amendment. Period.  

And like Trump's lying about President Obama's birth certificate, Trump is lying about Hillary's support of the Second Amendment.

I don't know how any sane person can support Trump, our national embarrassment.





Friday, September 16, 2016

Donald Trump Admits He's a Liar



After pushing the "Birther" lie for years and years and making it a central part of his political clown act, Donald Trump finally stated on Friday that he's been lying about where Mr. Obama was born and acknowledged that everything he's said in the past was a pile of manure.

While Donnie did finally admit he's been wrong about President Obama's birthplace, he failed to tell the American public what "his people" found in 2012, when he bragged he sent them to Hawaii and they were finding out "amazing things." What he said then was bullshit and what he said today, that Hillary Clinton started the rumor, is more bullshit. 

Donald Trump's been the chief proponent of and biggest charlatan promoting the Birther lie; and on the day he admitted to America that he's been lying, he blamed Hillary Clinton? 

I think the MSM needs to ask him what happened to have made him change his thinking on this -- thinking that kept him repeating the lie for all these years. We'd like to know



 “President Obama was born in the United States, period,  Now we all want to get back to making America strong and great again.”



Sorry, Donnie, that doesn't erase the years and years of your being a mendacious worm.  You'll forever be known as the leader of the Birther idiots.


For P.E. readers, a blast from the past (October 15, 2012):

NEW POLL: Mitt Romney Is Crushing Obama In The Swing States             Grace Wyler Oct. 15, 2012, 3:43 P

"Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney has opened up a five-point lead on President Barack Obama among likely voters in the country's top 12 swing states, according to a new USA Today/Gallup poll released Monday. 


The poll reflects growing support for Romney among female voters. The Republican candidate now ties Obama with female voters, 48 percent to 48 percent, and leads among male voters by 12 points. The USA Today/Gallup survey echoes results from other state and national polls in the wake of the first presidential debate earlier this month."



Thursday, September 15, 2016

Donald Trump Must Be Hiding Something Really, Really Bad.




Why doesn't Trump release his tax returns as every single candidate who has ever run for the presidency has, going all the way back to Richard Nixon.

People who have something to hide, hide that something, and Trump is hiding something from the American people. He's not being transparent.

Hillary Clinton released her tax returns that go back decades.

Why hasn't Trump?

The IRS has called Trump out on his blatant lies about being audited as the excuse for not releasing his taxes. The IRS has said that is simply not true.

Trump lied about his reasons for not releasing his taxes.

Why does he have to continue to lie and hide them from the American people?

What's Donald Trump hiding?  It must be really, really bad.


What We Know About Trump's Health



Here's what we learned about Trump's health from his appearance on the Dr. Oz teevee show.



He eats fast food, because he "knows" what's in it.

For exercise, he flaps his hands around when he talks.

These photos tell the rest:













Here's what physical fitness looks like:








Wednesday, September 14, 2016

Hillary Asks Trump 20 Questions

HILLARY ASKS 20 QUESTIONS ON TWITTER. WILL DONALD ANSWER THEM?

These are all excellent questions. We hope some of them are asked during the debates:




Hillary Clinton ‏@HillaryClinton 19m19 minutes ago: 

20 questions Trump needs to answer on his dangerous foreign business ties—and the national security risks they pose. 




20.  Hillary Clinton ‏@HillaryClinton 1h1 hour ago 20. It's pretty clear: Trump's spent his life unscrupulously looking out for his own wallet above all. Why would that change as president? 934 retweets 1,971 likes 

19.  Hillary Clinton ‏@HillaryClinton 1h1 hour ago 19. In sum, how will Trump guarantee that if forced to choose between America's security and his own bank account, he won't pick the latter? 835 retweets 1,683 likes 


18.  Hillary Clinton ‏@HillaryClinton 1h1 hour ago 17. Will your children disclose all of the foreign trips and business deals they've undertaken during the campaign, and with whom they met? 676 retweets 1,248 likes 

17.  Hillary Clinton ‏@HillaryClinton 1h1 hour ago 16. You've mentioned ~120 foreign deals, including in countries with national security implications. Where and with whom are you working? 662 retweets 1,217 likes 

16.  Hillary Clinton ‏@HillaryClinton 1h1 hour ago 15. To what extent are you and your family currently contractually tied to payments from foreign business partners, or governments? 632 retweets 1,157 likes 

15.  Hillary Clinton ‏@HillaryClinton 1h1 hour ago 14. We know you engaged extensively in pay-to-play here at home. Have you bribed foreign officials or other parties abroad? 715 retweets 1,259 likes 

14.  Hillary Clinton ‏@HillaryClinton 1h1 hour ago Hillary Clinton Retweeted Donald J. Trump 13. How can we know you won't (again) impulsively damage relationships with crucial allies to preserve your own ego? 

13.  Hillary Clinton added, Donald J. Trump @realDonaldTrump Dopey Prince @Alwaleed_Talal wants to control our U.S. politicians with daddy’s money. Can’t do it when I get elected. #Trump2016 766 retweets 1,296 likes 

12.  Hillary Clinton ‏@HillaryClinton 1h1 hour ago 12. How can we be sure you'd be willing to be tough on any nation if necessary, if it would put your interests and profits at risk? 688 retweets 1,201 likes 

11.  Hillary Clinton ‏@HillaryClinton 2h2 hours ago 11. With business ties to politically-connected Indian developers, how can you conduct foreign policy that puts the U.S. above your profits? 646 retweets 1,150 likes 

10.  Hillary Clinton ‏@HillaryClinton 2h2 hours ago 10. How did the Russian mob boss who ran a criminal organization out of Trump Tower get a VIP pass to your Miss Universe pageant in Moscow? 921 retweets 1,538 likes 

9.   Hillary Clinton ‏@HillaryClinton 2h2 hours ago 9. Have you or your campaign discussed U.S.-Russian relations with the Russian billionaires with whom you've done business? 785 retweets 1,411 likes 

8.   Hillary Clinton ‏@HillaryClinton 2h2 hours ago 8. Will you disclose the nature of your personal and business relationships with all of the Russian oligarchs you are “close” to? 838 retweets 1,484 likes 

7.   Hillary Clinton ‏@HillaryClinton 2h2 hours ago 7. To what extent would your foreign policy be dictated by potential financial benefits for your business partners? 845 retweets 1,436 likes 

6.   Hillary Clinton ‏@HillaryClinton 2h2 hours ago 6. Given that you've already questioned our commitments to NATO allies, what is your answer to this? 845 retweets 1,450 likes 

5.   Hillary Clinton ‏@HillaryClinton 2h2 hours ago 5. How can you be tough on Iran, given your business partnership with someone connected to Iranian money laundering? 956 retweets 1,541 likes 

4.  Hillary Clinton ‏@HillaryClinton 2h2 hours ago 4. If you were willing to work with Qaddafi—a known terrorist and dictator—is there anyone you aren't willing to make a deal with? Who? 1,065 retweets 1,864 likes 

3.   Hillary Clinton ‏@HillaryClinton 2h2 hours ago 3. While refusing to release your tax returns, how will you confirm that you do not have dangerous financial ties to bad actors abroad? 1,117 retweets 2,010 likes 

2.   Hillary Clinton ‏@HillaryClinton 2h2 hours ago 2. How will you handle non-cancelable contractual obligations with parties whose interests conflict with those of the United States? 984 retweets 1,832 likes 

1.   Hillary Clinton ‏@HillaryClinton 2h2 hours ago 1. Will you sever ties with your company linked to foreign leaders, questionable organizations, and criminals if you become president? 1,147 retweets 2,072 likes

DONALD'S DEPLORABLES PUNCH 69 YEAR OLD WOMAN IN THE FACE





Deplorable? 69-year-old woman punched in face by Trump supporter outside NC rally



Hillary is right. 

One of Trump's thugs cold-cocked a 69 year old woman on oxygen in the face.

Trump's supporters say they wear the word "deplorable" with honor.

Here's a sample of their "pride:"


ASHEVILLE, N.C. (WLOS) - Police say they arrested five people at Donald Trump's rally Monday night in Asheville and...have warrants out for two more people. Police plan to arrest Richard Campbell of Edisto Island, South Carolina for assault on a female. That female is 69-year-old Shirley Teter.

[skip]

After the rally, Teter experienced something she had never seen in all of her protests. Peace teetered over into something else. "I said, 'You better learn to speak Russian,' and I said, 'The first two words are going to be ha ha.' 

He stopped in his tracks, and he turned around and just cold-cocked me," Teter said. 

 She was punched in the face. She says she fell on her oxygen tank and has sore ribs, a sore jaw, and cut her elbow. She later went to the hospital and is thankful she did not break any bones.

From Wonkette:

There were several other incidents of Trump supporters assaulting protesters inside the rally as well, as the Citizen-Times reports: “Inside the arena, the most notable disturbance came when protesters stood on the balcony behind Trump and began shouting. 


A man in a gray shirt made his way past several seated attendees and made a threatening gesture at the protesters. 

 One protester, Jeff Pinter of Asheville, said the man put up his fists, so Pinter grabbed his wrists. Video shows the man grabbing Pinter’s shirt and appearing to strike him after another man in a suit, who appeared to be with campaign security walked between the parties. 

Trump broke from his speech and began commenting on the incident, saying, “Is there anywhere in America more fun to be than a Trump rally?” 

Then, “It’s OK, the cameras are following this.” 

The man in the gray shirt at another point slapped a woman protester in the chest, pushed another man on the back of the head and slapped at another woman.” 



Congratulations to Donald's Deplorables for being proud of assaulting a 69-year old woman on oxygen.

What's next? Assaulting a kid in a wheelchair? Setting dogs on fire?

Heard at Trump rallies:

"Kill her!"  "Hang that n***er!"





Tuesday, September 13, 2016

CORRECTION BELOW


UPDATE BELOW

THIS IS WHAT TRUMP SAID ABOUT 51% OF THE AMERICAN POPULATION:




NOW TELL ME ABOUT HILLARY CALLING SOME OF TRUMP'S SUPPORTERS "DEPLORABLE."


UPDATE:

I received an email yesterday that showed Trump didn't say that women have to be treated "like shit."  He did not actually say that in the New York Magazine interview. 

Here's where the quote is from.

So Donnie didn't actually say those words. P.E. regrets the error. 

Donald Trump may not have actually said "You have to treat women like shit," but just read this list of his insults and sexist remarks to understand that although he did not actually say those words, the quotes listed below show, without a doubt, that he most assuredly does believe them.

Here are Trump's deplorable statements about women:

Donald Trump sexism tracker: Every offensive comment in one place

The Far Right and Its Conspiracy Theory



Hillary has pneumonia. She felt overheated, stumbled, left the 9/11 ceremony on Sunday in New York City, and the wingnuts declare she has Parkinson's disease, and it's being covered up.

And they declare that with absolutely no proof whatsoever.

A video by an anti-Hillary anesthesiologist proves nothing.

Speculations by registered nurses on facebook and the internet prove nothing.

But the wingnuts love their conspiracy theories. We've seen evidence of that over the past 7+ years.

They believe the media conspired with President Obama to hide the fact that he was born in Kenya or Indonesia or Mars -- anywhere but where his birth certificate said he was born -- Hawaii.

They believe the government is ready to march them off to FEMA camps and then it will declare Sharia law as the law of the land.

There's even a conspiracy nut who believes President Obama helped plan the 9/11 attacks because he's a radical Muslim.

So it's not surprising that when Hillary became ill with pneumonia, instead of accepting that diagnosis, they took a gigantic leap of paranoia and landed on the wild notion that Hillary has Parkinson's disease -- with absolutely no evidence from Hillary's personal medical records to back up that claim.

Instead of rational thought to suss out the truth, they engage in confirmation bias -- they seek out professionals in the medical field, who believe in the same nutty theories as they do, to confirm their biases. And, Voila! For them, that's proof enough.

Here is Dr. Steven Novella,'s informed and unbiased opinion about those Parkinson's Disease theories racing around the internet and facebook:


"What appears to be happening is that the far right have created a conspiracy narrative about Clinton’s health. Those who are ideologically predisposed to this narrative then engage in aggressive confirmation bias, or simply adopt the claims of others who are engaging in confirmation bias.

 The process is identical to that of UFO conspiracy theorists who pore over hours of NASA video and thousands of pictures looking for anomalies or anything they can interpret as alien. Those opposed to Clinton have cherry picked apparently unusual episodes of her on video and then weave them into the ill-health narrative. As with many conspiracy theories, if you pile enough curious episodes together it can create the powerful (if misleading) impression that something must be going on.

That is the basic strategy of the Loose Change video, for example. Individually, however, none of these episodes is evidence that Clinton has a neurological disease. The “chai tea” episode was not neurological, and seems to have been just an awkward exaggerated surprise for rhetorical effect. The “freezing” episode appears to be nothing more than a protest interrupting Clinton’s talk. The “aid” was secret service giving her the all-clear.

Conspiracy theories are nothing if not adaptive and opportunistic. Like all good illusions, you adapt the narrative to the facts that happen to exist, and the illusion becomes much more compelling. The neurological narrative is not panning out – not that the conspiracy theorists are abandoning it.

The debates, however, will likely kill this narrative in terms of affecting the election. If Clinton can be sharp for two hours continuously on live TV, it is difficult to maintain a conspiracy theory about her mental function.

 So, the conspiracy is shifting over to adapt to events, such as the Labor Day speech in which Clinton had a persistent cough. This was explained by her campaign as allergies, and now (based on a reexamination by her physician) as a mild pneumonia.

[skip]


It is not my purpose here to defend Clinton or make any political statement, simply to address the medical claims that are going around social media. What is interesting is the degree to which people tie their analysis of the health claims with their political ideology. In other words, if you are against Clinton politically, you are more likely to believe the evidence that she has health problems. If you support her politically, you are more likely to dismiss them. 

Further, when I criticize some of the health claims because they are inept or simply wrong, I am often accused of supporting Clinton, as if the two are inextricably tied. But I am not being pro-Clinton, I am just being anti-conspiracy theory. 

As I said above, I have no knowledge of Clinton’s health status and whether or not the current information we are being given by the campaign is accurate and complete. I can only comment on plausibility and the evidence that is presented. 

What I can say is that Clinton does not have Parkinson’s disease (of course I cannot rule out an extremely mild or early case that would give no evidence on video). The evidence presented also does not support or constitute a diagnosis of seizures, or any other neurological condition. 

 The cough is less clear. What we can say based on the evidence is that she has a persistent cough, but the cough that I have seen on all the videos is fairly mild. "


Here's another theory reported in the Boston Globe:


The man who discovered CTE thinks Hillary Clinton may have been poisoned

Monday, September 12, 2016

A Tisket, A Tasket, Deplorables In A Basket

TRUMP supporters scream "KILL HER!" and "F**K Muslims!"
Hillary says they're deplorable. Trump supporters scream "HATE SPEECH!"




Hillary Clinton said that half of Trump's supporters are "racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic, Islamaphobic – you name it.”

Of course everyone knows Hillary' s correct. But the Deplorables had their fee-fees hurt.  Too bad. She should have said it sooner. 

The definition of deplorable:    "deserving strong condemnation."

Half of the Trumpistas didn't like hearing the truth about what they are: Racists, sexists, white supremacists, conspiracists, homophobes, Islamophobes and xenophobes. I'd call them plain, ordinary lunatics, but that's just me. People who buy into their sort of slander, paranoia, and mendacity and who support a maniac have IMO all sorts of desperate psychological problems.

Below are some actual comments from The Deplorables of far right blogs where Trump is supported and admired. In any rational society, people who advocate torture and rape, people who call a sitting African-American president and his wife "ghetto punks," and people who refer to the 1.3 billion Muslims as "vermin" and call for a Muslim final solution, those sort of people, by any rational measure are most assuredly deplorable and deserving of condemnation and shunning. What horrible trauma happened to those people in their past lives that causes them to hate with such vengeance? Where is their shared humanity that would allow them to see people they disagree with or fear as fellow human beings with hopes and dreams just like they have?  Where is their common decency?:

"Of course obama is unlikeable. he and michele are literally anti-American ghetto punks at the minimum and have no intelligence. To those below their status they are bulies [sic], to those above – like Putin, then [sic] are buffoons. The only people who would like them are other ghetto punks and maybe not even then because they have so much money"


"obama obviously supported helping the most evil murderous savages on the face of the Earth. On Purpose. obama is a radical moslem." 

 "i want every single moslem on the Earth to be gone along with every copy of the koran ? You can’t sort “good” cancer cells from “bad” cancer cells. So some moslem says he/she doesn’t want to kill me? Who cares. Begone. They are associated with a disease. There is no way for them to clear themselves." 



On 9/11:

"I believe ALL Americans from both political parties felt shock, anger, and empathy for what happened 15 years ago……….. EXCEPT FOR OBAMA! His Muslim compatriots accomplished what he has so obviously planned from the beginning…….."



"At least we can kill Muslims if they threaten us. But what do you do with the traitorous bitch?"


- "At least half the planet needs to be carved off and tossed in the trash. As you pointed out elsewhere, there isn't a single country on the entire continent of Afria[sic] that is worth a SHIT."



This right wing Trump supporter hopes that...

HILLARY RODHAM CLINTON [is] KIDNAPPED by ISLAMIC JIHADISTS, GANG-RAPED with HEATED REBAR for THREE DAYS, PUT in a STEEL CAGE, then BURNT ALIVE to the ACCOMPANIMENT of JEERING THRONGS of MOSLEM VERMIN


I've been very critical of Trump and have even called him names, the worst of which, I believe, is "horse's ass." The other names are merely adjective phrases that colorfully describe what I and many other anti-Trumpers think of him and his supporters.  But I've never wished torture and death upon him as the  right wing Hillary Haters wish upon her.  They need to be reminded that holding that sort of pathological hatred is like drinking poison and hoping it will kill the person they detest.  

The commenters quoted above wish Hillary to be hideously tortured, gang raped and burnt alive. Wow! And what would any good old-fashioned wet-dream of torturing a woman be without the threat of RAPE? It's every emasculated punk's aspiration. The other quoted Trump Deplorables call President Obama and his wife "ghetto punks" who have "no intelligence," and another accuses President Obama of planning and carrying out the 9/11 attacks. Would you even want to spend five minutes in the company of people who have that much venom in their hearts and are that crazy? Whew! 


Maybe the above examples of far right thinking aren't so much deplorable as they are hellishly frightening because they represent the possibility that even the sweet little grandmother knitting booties for her grandchildren could hold these murderous, beastly thoughts as well. We all observed how roughly half the population in America lost its mind when our first African-American president was elected. Be prepared for a tsunami of malevolent defamation and death threats against Mrs. Clinton when she becomes the first female POTUS.  The above quoted comments are just a prelude to what's coming next, and they are all we need to read to understand that Hillary should never have to apologize for telling the truth.




For further proof, here they are, in all their deplorable racism, sexism, and white supremacy -- Trump's Basket Cases: