Bye, Felicia--I mean Comrade Manafort!
Greetings, fellow Dot Calm Readers, Freedom Fighters, and Truth Crusaders!
Looks like we've survived another week...well, some of us, anyway.
Comrade Paul Manafort is still alive, even if his job with the Trump campaign is pushing up daisies. I guess the combination of his own lucrative connections with Ukraine (Guardian article below, marked with an asterisk) and Trump's oft-stated pro-Putin sentiments raised a few too many eyebrows, as the Vox article below (again, look for the asterisk) remarks. The next asterisked Vox article says that Manafort was the closest thing to a disciplined and professional person in the campaign, which is otherwise stocked with media types--as typified by Trump bringing on Breitbart's Steve Bannon along with Roger Ailes as an advisor. It also reminds us that ci-devant FOX CEO Ailes is looking for a new gig and adds that, once Trump loses, Bannon and Breitbart could use Trump's media personality flash to turn Breitbart into what I'll call TrumpTV...with, I assume, Ailes at the helm and Trump as the figurehead CEO and public persona of the outfit. If the happy day of Trump being trounced at the polls really were to be followed by the electromagnetic despair that would be TrumpTV, I wonder how many TVs and computers would spontaneously commit suicide by catching fire and melting to stop the torture of having Trump-Breitbart pumped through them 24/7/365.... Not to mention, TrumpTV cum Breitbart would make FOX News look more liberal than Daily Kos...! I'm sure that Alex Jones and Glenn Beck would find happy homes there among the rest of the tinfoil-hat brigade.
Must be nice to be alive and reasonably well and to have enough money and connections to be considering such a media venture, if in fact that is what Trump and company are doing. A lot of other people this week were not nearly so fortunate.
For example...
Louisiana just had a 500-year flood...the eighth in the country this year, according to NOAA (see the star banner below). The death toll is up to 13 according to news reports. If you believe in superstition and trust no science and technology beyond stone knives and bearskins, then you probably believe that Yahweh is responsible for sending the flood to punish America for gays and abortions. If, on the other hand, you've graduated from grade school and high school...maybe even gone to college...and understand that nature is governed by natural laws rather than capricious, vindictive, invisible sky beings, then you probably recognize this year's floods...and the wildfires in California and other tumultuous weather events around the planet...as hallmarks of global warning. Which Republicans loudly deny because acknowledging reality cuts into their profits.
To restate it simply, REPUBLICANS KILL.
And they do so on general principle: they do it because they can, and they do it because it pays.
I'm sure the dead Republican rank-and-file voters lost in these tragedies and their surviving loved ones were grateful they gave their lives for the worthy cause of corporate profits.
On an ironic note, Family Research Council's Tony Perkins--one of the fundies claiming that natural disasters are God's punishments for using one's genitalia the "wrong" way--had his house and some of his cars flooded. (That, of course, begs the question of how many cars he actually has...I'm grateful I have ONE car...and I'm grateful it RUNS...but I digress.)
There is only one conclusion: Tony Perkins is gay, and God just smote him!
The Snopes article in the link this photo came from mentions schadenfreude. I won't go that far for two reasons: I refuse to wish ill on anybody--no matter how entitled they feel to use superstition to justify bigotry--and global warming could take out any of our homes at any time. So, I'm not going there, and neither should you. It's going to take months--maybe years--for his family to pick up the pieces of their lives that just washed away, and, like I said, it could happen to any one of us at any time. But I can't resist the irony...and I do wish I could stick my finger in Perkins's face and scream at him that God is punishing him personally for being gay and having abortions. That would be delicious...especially if it made him think. I mean, he himself said (as reported in the Snopes article) that 80% of the community had been affected by the flooding. Does he really think all those people were having gay abortions?
And then there's another privileged survivor, featured in a piece of odd news you have probably already heard by now: Ryan Lochte made up the story about being robbed at gunpoint (see the Vox article asterisked in the headlines below...not that my Tea Party Christian friend would believe it...he's been reveling in all the bad news about Rio so he can blame it on "socialism" because, hey, that's just how he rolls...despite the fact that JEEZUS was a devout socialist). What made Lochte think that coming clean about fighting a security guard in a gas station bathroom was really worse than creating an international scandal and perhaps having to go to jail for six months? He's thirty-freakin'-two years old...not some 17-year-old juvey delinquent. I can't believe he didn't know better, and I'm shocked his buds went along with the gig even for a little while...unless they were on something stronger than booze, that is. But even so...cheez. Way to make us Americans look like jerks, d00d.
As my dad taught me when I was a kid: take your lumps.
My old man was wise then and is even wiser now. I hope Ryan learns a thing or two from this.
Don't forget to read Dot Calm's shadow's favorite independent sources of news and information:
Daily Kos
AlterNet
Peas, friends, and thanks for reading. Please and thank you for taking care of yourselves for me til next time!
- Dot Calm's shadow
Consider the preemptive Blogger phuqued-up phormatting disclaimer to be in effect. Grrr.
-- Dot Calm's shadow
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BuzzFeed: 14 Photos Show How Catastrophic The Louisiana Floods Really Are
Vox: The Louisiana floods are devastating, and climate change will bring more like them. We're not ready.
...OK, I'm phuquen depressed now. I needs me a cookie! Oh, hey, lookie what I found:
BuzzFeed: The Glitter Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe You Never Knew You Needed
...Thanks, Buzzfeed--I'm feeling more fabulous already! (Srsly--these cookies are VEGAN...use gluten-free flour, and I'm golden. Can't wait to make me a batch!)
*Vox: Rio Olympics 2016: Ryan Lochte's alleged robbery debacle, explained
Vox, inspired by stories (and lack thereof) from the Olympics: How exercise can shut down women's periods — with dire health consequences
FiveThirtyEight: Why Women Are No Longer Catching Up To Men On Pay
Spoiler: it's because men get paid more for working more hours...which is still a somewhat insidious form of discrimination. Dang, son.
Vox: Amber Heard did what abuse victims are "supposed" to do. People still didn't believe her.
...Mebbe we should start calling her "Amber Un-Heard." Poor girl--talk about heaping insult on top of injury.
Vox: Public option? Status quo? Collapse? What comes next for Obamacare.
FiveThirtyEight: Election Update: Why Clinton Doesn't Have This Race Locked Up
Vox: The bonkers conspiracy theory about Hillary Clinton's health, explained
RightWingWatch article on our friendly neighborhood Islamophobes: Family Security Matters: "Muslim DNA" Makes Olympic Fencer Prone To "Attacking Others With Knives"
...Hm..."Muslim" DNA. Is that anything like Christian DNA? Or Jewish, Buddhist, or Hindu DNA? I didn't realize that religions had DNA. I thought only living things had DNA--not dead ideas. Then again, maybe "Christian" DNA makes people prone to being ignorant ammosexual bigoted terrorists intent on taking away other people's equal rights and protections under the law.
The Guardian: Former leader of group that 'cures' homosexuality says industry is dying
*The Guardian: Ukrainians saw Paul Manafort's political impact up close – and it wasn't pretty
*Vox: Donald Trump's campaign chair Paul Manafort just resigned
*Vox: Donald Trump just ditched his campaign manager because he's a media celebrity, not a real businessman
...Trump is a celebutante--he's only famous because he's famous, not because he's a successful businessman in any sense of the word "successful"...or "businessman." He's kinda like Paris Hilton only a whole lot more narcissistic, vacuous, ignorant, stuck up, and fucked up. And not nearly as nice to look at. Eesh.
Vox: Donald Trump's first ad shows there is no pivot and never will be
...All Trump has to sell is fear and hate. Unfortunately, too many Americans are buying.
Remember what I said last time about Trump fighting with himself (i.e., directly contradicting today what he said in the past)? Here are a few examples...
Buzzfeed: Trump In 2008 Interview: "I Support Hillary, I Think She's Fantastic
BuzzFeed: We Found Another One: Trump In '08 Said "Fantastic" Hillary Should've Been Obama's VP
Buzzfeed: Donald Trump Literally Today On Iraq: "I Said Get Out"
Buzzfeed: Here's Some More Footage Showing Trump Pushed For Egypt, Libya Actions He Now Bashes
And now back to your regularly scheduled programming of Trump being Trump...
Vox: Donald Trump said police aren't racist. The Daily Show listed several ways they are.
Spoilers:
...Don't worry, the article has more. Oh wait--that's NOT a good thing.
Vox: CNN tells Trump adviser he's losing: "Says who?" "Polls." "Which polls?" "All of them."
...Hilarious!! Maybe Trump really is Voltaire's "God" incarnate--a comedian playing to an audience that's afraid to laugh.
RawStory: Long time Trump ally claims elections can be rigged because Scott Walker did it five times
...as the CADOF caption reads, these Trump supporters are none too bright. (Warning--slow site. Be sure your Malwarebytes, Norton, and Ad-aware are running before clicking this link!)
BuzzFeed: 17 Hilarious Tweets About Donald Trump Explaining Movies
...These really are hilarious--def click through. You won't want to miss them!
Washington Post: These protestors wanted to humiliate "Emperor" Trump. So they took off his clothes.
...the article is hilarious if only because of the pix. G'head and click through--WaPo won't bite...at least, not this time. Teasers for front and back--click through to watch the video that shows the whole thing in all its gory [sic]. I love how they rendered "saggy old man butt"--poor old Trumpty Dumpty looks like he has diaper rash! Hehe!!
...I phuquen' love it! The emperor has no bawls...and a stubby teeny weenie!! The video is well worth watching because you get to see all the wonderful detail (yikes). Ain't sculpture grand?
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Mailbag
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| WOMEN'S HEALTH Policy Report | ||
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EDITORSDebra Ness, publisher & president, National PartnershipSarah Lipton-Lubet, associate editor & director of reproductive health programs, National Partnership Jessi Leigh Swenson, associate editor & senor policy counsel, National Partnership Freya Riedlin, associate editor & reproductive health law fellow, National Partnership Lauren Sogor, assistant editor & health communications manager, National Partnership Jennifer Taylor , assistant editor & communications assistant, National Partnership Marcelle Maginnis, associate editor Amanda Wolfe, senior director Joe Infantino, Rachel Schulze, staff writers Tucker Ball, chief digital officer, National Partnership CONTACT INFOFor questions about your e-mail subscription or content contained within Women's Health Policy report:Contact Info » Frequently Asked Questions » Format & Frequency » Reprint Permission » Subscribe (Unsubscribe) » The information contained in this publication reflects media coverage of women's health issues and does not necessarily reflect the views of the National Partnership for Women & Families. The Women's Health Policy Report is a free service of the National Partnership for Women & Families, by The Advisory Board Company. 
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Last month, scientists reported that the first mammal species has gone extinct because of climate change.
That’s right. Gone forever.
The key factor responsible for the extinction of this population? Climate change.
Experts say the Bramble Cay melomys are the first of many species which will go extinct because of climate change. But Congress is standing idly by -- watching these animals die.
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Last week a panel of federal judges just struck down
North Carolina's racially tainted district maps – a HUGE step forward to
unrig our elections – but elected officials there STILL won't give up trying to silence the state's most vulnerable voters!
North Carolina's governor is going to the Supreme Court in a desperate attempt to reinstate discriminatory voter ID laws that would rob minority voters of their fundamental rights ahead of the biggest election in modern history. |
 |
That's why we're mobilizing a grassroots movement in
key battlegrounds to pass crucial ballot initiatives that will restore
and protect voting power in elections.
But we need 2,000 new members signed up by MIDNIGHT to keep up the fight against these discriminatory tactics. Will you give $5 or more right now to help stop politicians from rigging our elections? |
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| Casting
a secret ballot in the upcoming election might be less than secret
depending on where – and how – you vote. In partnership with Common
Cause and the Electronic Privacy Information Center, we just published a
new report about this: "The Secret Ballot at Risk: Recommendations for Protecting Democracy."
This
year 32 states will allow voting by email, fax and/or internet portals –
mostly for overseas and military voters. In most states, voters using
Internet voting must waive their right to a secret ballot, even though
all the states mandate ballot secrecy either in constitution or statute.
 Giving up the right to a secret ballot threatens the freedom to vote as one chooses. The report cites several examples of employers making political participation a condition of employment -- such as an Ohio coal mining company requiring its workers to attend a Presidential candidate’s rally - and not paying them for their time. Key findings from the report include: • Thirty-two states and the District of Columbia collect votes online, with e-mail, electronic fax, or an online portal • Twenty-eight of these states and the District of Columbia ask voters to waive their right to a secret ballot. • Four of the states that collect votes online do not give voters any warning regarding ballot secrecy and voting this way. The findings are concerning. However, the good news is that there are simple steps a voter can take to protect the secrecy of their ballots. These steps are simple and already allowed in all jurisdictions. There are only a few things to remember, and there is help available to every voter who wants or needs to vote absentee. Please share these, especially if you know someone who is deployed overseas.
Get your ballot early; get your ballot faster, print it to mark it, mail it back.
Online
systems don’t go through the same kinds of testing that other voting
systems do. So there are no guarantees, and that’s why the secrecy
waivers have been put in place. You can rely on
election officials doing their best for your ballot, but your votes will
be safer and more secret if you don’t put them online.
Some
voters think absentee ballots – especially military and overseas – are
not counted, or only in very close elections. That’s just not true. The one way to be sure your vote won’t count is not to “show up” so take these steps, and make sure your voice is heard.
I encourage all voters to read or download the report at SecretBallotRisk.org.
Thank you for all you do!
Best Regards,
Pamela Smith, President
Verified Voting
760-804-VOTE
If you’d like to help support our work, visit https://verifiedvoting.org/
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From CREDO via Daily Kos--women deserve access to safe abortions
In June, the Supreme Court struck down parts of Texas’ HB 2, which right-wing, anti-woman lawmakers passed to close clinics and keep women from being able to access abortions. The Court affirmed that laws which put up obstacles to abortion care, usually under the guise of “protecting women,” are unconstitutional because they put an “undue burden” on women’s ability to exercise their rights.
The Court’s decision was a huge victory, but it does nothing to stop one of the most powerful tools anti-woman, right-wing extremists in Congress use to keep women from obtaining abortions. The Hyde Amendment has prohibited taxpayer funds from paying for abortion care for 39 years. Hyde's effects are devastating for low-income women, making it nearly impossible for them to access safe, affordable abortion.
Sign if you agree with CREDO and Daily Kos: All women deserve access to safe, legal abortion. Pass the EACH Woman Act.
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Our brothers and sisters in Louisiana need our help after severe rainstorms caused massive flooding there earlier this week, leaving at least eleven dead and more than 50,000 homes damaged, most beyond repair.
Help us show our union family in Louisiana that we have their backs. Donate today.
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From Daily Kos--Both parties in Congress want to screw over workers
Members of Congress -- even Democrats -- are trying to steal an important victory from 12.5 million workers.
Click here to call your representative and tell them to reject a new bill that would delay the new overtime pay protections. In May, President Obama and the Department of Labor (DOL) announced a plan to update the overtime rules to ensure millions more working people get overtime pay. Thousands of us from the Daily Kos community worked in coalition with other groups to support this plan to raise the current overtime salary threshold. We thought our victory was secure. But now, Rep. Kurt Schrader (D-Oregon) has introduced a bill that would undermine the DOL’s efforts and delay the overtime rule by three years. So we're partnering with our allies again to fight back. Click here to call your representative and tell them to reject the Overtime Reform and Enhancement Act, which would hurt workers. This bill wouldn't just delay the overtime rule's implementation. It would also reduce the amount of people whose rights would be protected, by preventing the salary threshold from automatically increasing in the future to account for overall salary growth. This would lower the share of those who would be covered from 33% today to just 16% by 2035. We're already behind where we were in the 1960s and 1970s, where about 60% of workers were guaranteed overtime pay. Current overtime rules haven’t kept up with salaries and the cost of living, and today less than 10% of salaried workers are covered. But now members of Congress want to roll back protections. And Donald Trump recently said he wanted to limit the new overtime rule, as well. We must secure the victory we accomplished earlier this year for 12.5 million workers. Please call your representative today and tell them to reject the Overtime Reform and Enhancement Act. Thanks for all you do, Mara Schechter, Daily Kos |
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From Daily Kos--Ban pesticides that injure children
over the past decade, research at institutions like UC Berkeley and Columbia University has shown that an entire class of poisonous neurotoxic pesticides called organophosphates—even at minimal levels of exposure—damage children’s brains and lead to such alarming deficits as reduced IQ, autism and attention disorders.
Earthjustice and a broad coalition of partners have been fighting for years to convince the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to ban these pesticides, and the time is now.
Will you sign a petition demanding the EPA ban these pesticides?
After multiple Earthjustice lawsuits, the EPA has finally started the process of banning food uses of one of the most widely used of these pesticides -- chlorpyrifos. But banning chlorpyrifos alone is not enough. This entire class of neurotoxic pesticides must be kept out of our food, our drinking water, our schools and yards, and our bodies.
Sign the petition with Earthjustice demanding a total ban of organophosphates.
A total ban is what communities need and deserve, especially the farmworker communities that have disproportionately borne the burdens of pesticide poisonings and learning and memory impairments in their children.
We can’t let these pesticides continue to poison people. Take action today.
Keep Fighting,
Carissa Miller, Daily Kos
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From the Hillary Clinton campaign--a word on Breitbart
Whenever you hear about a right-wing conspiracy theory somehow making its way into the mainstream of political dialogue, there's a good chance that Breitbart News had something to do with it.
Never heard of Breitbart News? It's a fringe website where there's no opinion too ugly, too divisive, or too outright crazy to be worth breathless promotion.
The one about President Obama being a secret Muslim born in Kenya? Breitbart was all over that "story."
Or maybe you heard about the time they attacked an opponent -- a conservative Republican, no less -- by calling him a "renegade Jew."
Why does this matter?
Donald Trump just hired Breitbart's executive director to be his new campaign CEO.
Now, we've had a conservative media in this country for a while. I don't always like what they have to say, but I respect their role and their right to exist.
Breitbart is something different. They make Fox News look like a Democratic Party pamphlet. They're a different breed altogether -- not just conservative but radical, bigoted, anti-Muslim, anti-Semitic conspiracy peddlers who never have been and never should be anywhere near the levers of power in this country.
But Donald Trump just gave them a broad new mandate to shape his campaign, his message, the future of the Republican Party, and quite possibly the country.
It goes without saying that we have to beat these people. But I want to beat them so decisively that their kind never rises again.
Doing that is going to take hard work, moral clarity, unshakeable determination, and enough resources to make sure that every last voter in America hears from us every single day about the choice in this election.
We'll never face a challenge more important than this. Please, chip in to stand on the right side of history and help us send Donald Trump and Steve Bannon back to the fringes where they belong. When you do, we’ll send you a free sticker as a thank you for your support:
Thanks,
Christina
Christina Reynolds
Deputy Communications Director
Hillary for America
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Whether we like it or not, Facebook has become the global water cooler, where over 1 billion people gather every day to stay in touch with family, organize events, and share news. But now that Facebook is a huge corporation, it looks like it’s doing what huge corporations do best: dodging taxes.
In fact Facebook is now under investigation by the IRS for shifting billions of dollars of assets offshore to Ireland, a tax haven, to dodge paying its fair share in taxes.
Stand with Americans for Tax Fairness and Other98: demand that Facebook pay what it owes in taxes.
Facebook’s profits have been off the charts: in 2015 alone, they made $17 BILLION, with $3.7 billion in profit. If proven, this blatant tax dodge could result in Facebook owing U.S. taxpayers up to $5 billion. How many new schools and bridges would $5 billion build?
And to add insult to injury, Facebook has ignored seven summonses from the IRS requesting financial records related to this potential tax dodging scheme.
So add your voice: demand Mark Zuckerberg comply with the seven previously ignored IRS requests and immediately pay what Facebook owes in U.S. taxes.
In a hugely publicized move last year, Mark Zuckerberg announced that he’ll give away 99% of his shares to charity over his lifetime, saying he wanted to “create a more equal world.” But if Zuckerberg wants to start funding education and medical research, he can do that right now: by paying his company’s taxes.
Facebook – like many other tax dodgers – is taking advantage of offshore tax loopholes that allow it to shift U.S. profits offshore where they are lightly taxed, while sticking the American people with the tab.
America’s not broke. We’re being robbed. The sooner we hold these corporations accountable, the sooner we can start paying for the things that really matter. Join us in demanding Facebook pay its taxes today.
Thanks for taking on the biggest corporations on Earth with us.
John Sellers
Other98
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Friends, Republicans' determination
to fry the entire planet
for the sake of a quick buck
really pisses me off.
For a stoopit, lousy buck,
they're willing to kill ALL OF US.
"Phuquen prix" is too nice for them bastids.
Click here to read the article
that CCC is grouching about.
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Democracy Now!
Friends, todaze DN! has an important story on O'Bama shuttering private federal prisons. These are the prisons that hold non-citizens for federal crimes, like entering the country illegally. The private prisons are so much worse than the ones run by the Bureau of Prisons that their neglect, dereliction, and malfeasance have sparked protests and now studies shining light on their atrocities. There are only maybe 20,000 people being warehoused (at best) in these federal private prisons; unfortunately, there are many more private prisons out there that also need to be shuttered for good. There are a lot of public goods and services that should NEVER be for profit, including prisons, education, pharmaceuticals, health care, and insurance to name a few. Any industry that makes more by providing less--or by providing nothing--has no business being for profit. And education is the only one that has any business being private, provided that it does not replace decent, high quality public education.
-- Dot Calm's shadow
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Stories |
While
polls show Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton are among the least popular
major-party candidates to ever run for the White House, it appears no
third-party candidates ... Read More →
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We
turn now to a growing protest in North Dakota, where hundreds of
indigenous activists have shut down construction on a
multibillion-dollar pipeline project. The ... Read More →
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The
Green Party's vice-presidential nominee Ajamu Baraka is a longtime
human rights activist. He is the founding executive director of the U.S.
Human Rights Network and ... Read More →
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Over
the last few weeks, the U.S.-backed, Saudi-led coalition in Yemen has
killed dozens of civilians and bombed at least one school and one
hospital supported by Doctors Without ... Read More →
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For
months, Jill Stein of the Green Party attempted to push Bernie Sanders
to join the Green ticket. While he ignored the call, Stein is now
reaching out to Sanders supporters for ... Read More →
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Brazil Police Question U.S. Swimmers After Doubt Cast on Robbery Claim
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Many people are saying
that Donald J. Trump
is a DIAGNOSED NARCISSIST
-- Dot Calm's shadow
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Daily Kos
- What Hillary's ground game looks like in Ohio
- This is what Democratic enthusiasm looks like
- Nuts and Bolts: Inside a Democratic campaign
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Don't believe
look it up for yourself!
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AlterNet
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Many people are saying
that Donald J. Trump
is TOO GULLIBLE
to be president.
His judgment is so poor
he cannot be trusted
to think straight.
He is incapable
of making sound decisions
for the country.
-- Dot Calm's shadow
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Movies!
Mr. Deity again!
Let's break up the monotony of Mr. Deity with a little Father Ted
Back to Mr. Deity...these really are too funny!
I sit on the bed while I watch these. They are kick-the-bed funny!!
'Til next time, check out these great channels:
...or, if you just want something mindless and fun, try Tested
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posted by Dot Calm @ 5:49 PM
