Monday, October 10, 2016

Happy Indigenous Peoples Day! Here's more on moron pervy predator, freeloader-in-thief-and-murderer-wannabe Donald "celebutante Welfare queen LOSER" Trump

Greetings, fellow Dot Calm Readers, Freedom Fighters, and Truth Crusaders!

Time for my annual reading of The Oatmeal's wonderful illustrated essay on why we should celebrate today as Bartolome Day or, better, as Indigenous Peoples Day. Matthew Inman's well researched piece presents what a "human horror show" Christopher Columbus was--including enslaving and killing the Lucayan natives in the Bahamas who saved his cargo and crew from shipwreck; cutting off their ears, noses, and hands as punishments and feeding them alive to dogs; sexually trafficking their girls as young as 9 and 10; and ultimately being responsible for 3-5 million deaths--while showing Bartolome de las Casas as a counter example who started out equally vicious but who eventually repented not only his mistreatment of indigenous New World people but also enslaved Africans. So, happy Indigenous Peoples Day! Want moar Oatmeal? Food for Thought makes me glad I'm vegan....

*****

By now, you've surely heard about the video of lecherous predator Donald celebutante-in-thief-wannabe Trump's bragging about groping women--and there is a steady stream of women coming forward to attest that he does indeed sexually assault--grab, grope, kiss--women the way he says he does...right down to the Tic-Tacs. Yuck. Isn't such lack of impulse control indicative of mental illness? Yet this is the man Kelly Ayotte "absolutely" called a good role model for children...before being shamed into walking back her remarks. Now she says she won't vote for him. Maybe she just couldn't quite reconcile herself to the eventuality of not-a-good-role-model Donald Trump becoming de facto role model anyway because, duh, children act out what they see. Maybe she just couldn't quite cotton to the idea of little boys on school playgrounds around America lying, speaking filth, making boasts and threats, being bullies, and grabbing little girls by their pussies because, hey, that's what the president does.

Why did it take her so long to reject Donald's misogyny, and why does she embrace Pence's more lethal misogyny instead?

While Donald Trump has been accused of rape and attempted rape, Pence is guilty of oppressing and repressing women in draconian, sadistic tangible ways--including jailing Purvi Patel for "feticide"--clearly making him at least as horrible of a candidate for women as his running mate. Welcome to the Republican mindset, friends: lots of Republicans won't even denounce Donald Trump unless they plan to run for re-election; some who denounce his behavior will vote for him anyway; some lurve him because of his behavior; and some, like Kelly Ayotte, want Pence instead because they're just so committed to the godly repression and oppression of women.

Is this really a wholesome message for our children? For any of us?

Let's answer that rhetorical question by quoting the Bible, as the ever godly Sean Hannity did when defending Donald Trump's lewd, lascivious, and lecherous pussy-grabbing: "King Solomon had 500 concubines." Except that he didn't: Solomon had 700 wives of royal birth but only 300 concubines. But, hey, what's a couple hundred sex slaves concubines among fwends? Maybe Sean "I've got Trumpthing orange in my mouth" Hannity was just taking the average (as in, one thousand sexual partners divided by two, in case you haven't had your coffee yet)....

You've probably also heard by now that freeloader-in-thief-and-murderer-wannabe Donald "celebutante Welfare queen LOSER" Trump still wants to execute the Central Park Five, even though they have been exonerated by DNA evidence that confirmed the guilt of the serial rapist who confessed in 2002. As the Vox article in the link points out, the innocence of the Central Park Five, who spent 13 years in jail, is so clearly established that, in 2014, the city of New York awarded them $41 million.

Donald Trump has twice called for Hillary's assassination, which, by confirming his murderer-wannabe status, is reprehensible enough...but not enough to dissuade top Republicans from supporting him. But Donald Trump's ongoing crusade against the Central Park Five goes beyond his inability to admit mistakes: it proves beyond the shadow of any legitimate doubt that Donald Trump thinks his ego is more important than human life.

Let's recap, shall we?

Mike Pence thinks his invisible sky friend is more important than human (female) life.
Donald Trump thinks his ego is more important than human (Black and brown) life.

And they are the standards bearers for the Republican party.

Not only that, but they are the best possible standards bearers for the Republican party. They represent the party's values to the core.

The only difference between the Trump-Pence ticket and a politically more preferred standards bearer ticket is that Trump and Pence are much more honest about their values. They're both too naïve to realize that, while it's great to preach it to your base, you're not supposed to say that crap out loud in front of everyone because it really doesn't look good. Really. Not a good look.

*****
 
My Tea Party Christian friend sent me a headline saying that Spain went without its federal government for nine months, and the people loved it.
 
I'm sure he'd love it if we shut down DoD for nine months--all of his neighbors and most of his friends would go into foreclosure on their homes, and no one would be able to afford his blue collar services, which means that he would go into foreclosure on his home--there would be a glut of houses on the market and no buyers. I'm sure the Big Banks, which he hates, would love amassing all those foreclosures. I'm sure that everyone he loves to hate from ISIS to China to Russia would just love it if our military and everything associated with it stood down for nine months. I'm sure he'd love watching not just the government contractors and federal employees but also the soldiers and veterans, whom he claims to support, starve because their income stopped cold for nine months.
 
I'm sure he'd love it if Big Oil, Big Pharm, Big Agriculture, and all the other corporations who value money over human life took shortcuts, trashed the environment, and poisoned his air, water, and food because there was no one around to regulate them.
 
I'm sure he'd love it if his father in law's social security and veteran's pension--his only income--stopped for nine months because we had no federal government. I'm sure he'd love it if his wife and her sister, both of whom work for the government, couldn't help their father because they too had to go into foreclosure on their homes. I'm sure he'd love watching his brother in law lose his social security--his main income, which was cut by a few hundred dollars recently, and that hurt enough, so I guess my friend thinks he'd be ok without any at all. And neither his brother in law nor his father in law would get medical care for those nine months because they're on Medicare, which would be shut down.
 
I lost roughly $200,000 and a house because of the last two-week government shutdown. I can't believe that my "friend" would gleefully put me through that again--and far worse. Why would he kill his own brother in law and father in law, whom he claims to be fond of? Why would he willingly impoverish his friends, neighbors, and family--not to mention himself?
 
Did he really think this whole thing through?


*****

I was zausted Sunday evening and just didn't have the energy to grit my way through the debate, but I didn't want to skip it, either.

So I went online and tracked Daily Kos's live debate blog to keep tabs on what was going on without giving myself alcohol poisoning to numb the horror of watching and listening to Creepy Clown Donald LOSER Trump. Let me summarize what the commenters said. Kudos to the moderators for enforcing a modicum of containment on Money Boo Boo. Hillary was poised and gave real answers, staying afterward to reach out to the audience, answer more questions, and shake hands; Donald skulked back to his family and didn't go talk to the audience until he saw that Hillary was. According to the live blog, Money Boo Boo was close to losing it a couple times. His attacks on Hillary--threats to jail her and attacks on Bill and the Clintons' marriage--strike me as desperate. Can this sort of thing even be called a debate? Did LOSER Donald Trump offer anything of substance...at all? Damn, I was hoping Hillary would do what Bill Maher says she did to Donald their first debate: grab him by the pussy. AlterNet summarizes the whole freak show debate, saying that Hillary was disciplined and Donald was sleazy, offering only bumper stickers in response to Hillary's actual well-thought-out policy; however, Hillary never delivered a knock-out blow. I wonder whether she didn't think she needed to--maybe she thought it would be enough for voters to see Donald as he is. My take on the commentaries is that Denying Double-down Donald LOSER Trump thinks his best strategy is to appeal only to the tinfoil-hat wearers who lurved him from the get-go--doesn't matter if he pisses everyone else off. I think that's a great strategy...for putting Hillary in the White House.

Frankly, though, the whole thing makes me sad. What kind of country do we live in where such a lying ignorant buffoon is taken seriously enough as a political candidate to make it to the top of the Republican ticket? Where people like my Tea Party Christian friend--who's not educated but not stupid--can be so easily fooled into thinking that this fraud suddenly has any interest in protecting the interests of little guys like him, whom Donald Trump has stiffed and scammed his whole life? Where I have to wonder about the people in the audience last night and ask whether they perceive the chasm between the sensible reality Hillary Clinton offers and the fantasy clown show that is Donald Trump? I wonder whether any--how many--of them take Donald Trump seriously and think that what he says makes sense and offers real solutions for the country. Then I wonder how many American voters just want a reality clown show in the White House--to be entertained rather than governed. It grieves me that America has come to this.

Thanks, Republicans and FUX Noise...NOT.

*****

Friends, I'm posting early to give everyone a chance to read the blog on what I hope is a holiday for you. However, it means "going to press" without features like "Democracy Now!" because it hasn't come in yet. I may stop by and pop it in when it gets here. Until next time, don't forget to read Dot Calm's shadow's favorite independent sources of news and information:

Daily Kos
AlterNet

Peas, friends. Take care of yourselves for me. Trust me--you're worth it! It takes hours and hours to put these posts together, but I'm happy to do it because I love you guyz 'n' galz just that much! Vote for Hillary--and vote blue all the way down!
  
- Dot Calm's shadow

Consider the preemptive Blogger phuqued-up phormatting disclaimer to be in effect. Grrr.
-- Dot Calm's shadow

********************************************
 Hey, FUX Noise!
Hey, Republicans!
Don't like Trump?
Tough shit!
You built it, you OWN it!!!!!
Too bad, so sad, sux to be YOU.
***
Personally, I think Donald Trump
is the best possible
standards bearer for his party.
He represents what they are all thinking
but are too chickenshit to say out loud.
******************************************** 
    
Headlines

No headlines today--I can haz the day oRf?--but crap-tons of m00bies instead! (Yeah, you can always tell whether I'm in or out of the office by whether I gots headlines or m00bies. Hee.) Check back Wednesday cuz I'll have had choo-choo time by then. Meanwhile, though, I can't resist posting this article from Daily Kos...

By Dartagnan, Sunday Oct 09, 2016 · 8:03 AM EST
  
********************************************
 
What's the difference between
Donald Trump and an actual billionaire?
Actual billionaires
don't brag about how rich they are!
Not only is Donald Trump
not a billionaire,
but he is one lousy-ass, piss poor
businessman!
 
******************************************** 

Mailbag

No mailbag today, either--turns out that I really want to focus on videos today. Check back Wednesday for moar petitions and updates. Meanwhile, here's one piece from ATTN: that I couldn't resist posting today.

Hi there from ATTN:

What a political week! Donald Trump's leaked comments about women might be his most offensive remarks we've heard yet, and as Democratic VP nominee Tim Kaine told ATTN: in an exclusive sit-down, "Everybody who supports Donald Trump, especially GOP candidates and office holders, need to be asked 'Do you think he's qualified to be president, and do you still support him?'"

Many Republicans have already answered that question. Yesterday, Sen. John McCain rescinded his endorsement of Trump, and several of McCain's GOP colleagues such as Sens. Jeff Flake, Mark Kirk, John Thune, and Kelly Ayotte stated definitively that they will not vote for him. Trump's supporters, meanwhile, have tried to chalk up his remarks to nothing more than "locker room talk." But Sen. Kaine disagrees strongly; he told ATTN: that "[Trump] is describing things he did that are basically tantamount to sexual abuse or sexual assault." What do you think? Leave a comment here.

Other Stories Worth Your Attention This Week:

+ The Florida Governor is Under Fire for Voter Suppression
+ This Cop's Response to the Black Man He Pulled Over Has Been Shared Over 100,000 Times
+ People Are Getting Tattoos to Fight Mental Health Stigmas
+ Why We Should Celebrate Native Americans, Not Christopher Columbus
+ We Need to Rethink the Way America Elects a President
+ Saving the Bees is Critical

Talk to you soon,
Matthew
         
******************************************** 
Who would you rather have for president:
someone who listens,
admits when she fucked up,
and makes real changes to fix the problem
or someone who denies,
doubles down,
defends,
and denies again?
******************************************** 

Democracy Now!

Check back later--I'll pop this in when it arrives.

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


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

Daily Kos
  
  • What did someone put in Chuck Todd's coffee this morning?
  • Donald Trump concludes his 'debate prep' by appearing with Bill Clinton accusers
  • STARTING AT 9:00 PM eastern: Live coverage of the presidential debate, including real-time fact check and reactions from around the web
  • Trump goes after opponents on Twitter & Twitter responds
  • Reports: Priebus telling Republican staffers to do 'what's best' for them as Trump implodes
  • The talk early this morning with my husband..Trump Trauma..WARNING.. Graphic content...
  • Help Get Out The Vote to beat Trump. Chip in $3 to Daily Kos now.
  • GOP Strategist says Clinton will be president and then excoriates the intellectual rot in his party
  • Donald Trump's debate preparation
  • Watch Chuck Todd give Trump-defending Rudy Giuliani just enough rope to hang himself
  • Trigger warning - and not just for the photo (My comment turned into a diary)
  • Sign the petition to the presidential debate moderators: ask about the Dakota Access pipeline
  • For the first time, "You're so Vain" in political ad
  • Why Hillary Clinton has avoided painting Trump as a byproduct of typical Republican extremism
  • Obama weighs in on Trump: 'Insecure enough that he pumps himself up by putting other people down'
  • 'He tells it like it is:' The privileged politics of personal insult
  • Nailed it! Watch Saturday Night Live's hilarious opening skit (belly-laugh warning)
  • Donald Trump represents change? In what universe?
  • The tax loopholes Donald Trump would write for himself
  •      
  • When animals murder
  • Toughie (discovered in 2005, dead in 2016) shows we need a love song for earth
  • N.D. militarized police push back water protectors with armored vehicles, tear gas and rifles
  • Millennial voters are key at defeating Donald Trump, and NextGen Climate Change has a way to reach them in swing states. Click here to volunteer to make phone calls, texts and other ways to help out.
  • 400 ppm is (another) wake up call
  • Dragons in the air
  • Republican 'science' chairman Rep. Lamar Smith is now going after the SEC to protect ExxonMobil
  • Monarchs migrate south as scientists examine the likelihood of extinction
  • Climate change and the Florida fall
  • Koch brothers and fossil fuel utilities poised to destroy
  • Environmentalists are awful voters
  • Catastrophe in Siberia as wildfires threaten oil pipes-Fire in the Amazon is reaching record levels
  • Is it asking too much to have 9 of tonight's 90 minutes of debate devoted to climate change?
  • Pence's #WarOnCoal whines & echoes from 2008 campaign
  • One year since Gov. Snyder admitted the #FlintWaterCrisis, only 0.7% of lead service lines replaced
  • Al Gore will campaign for Hillary Clinton. Target: young voters with climate change on their minds
               
  • Producer of "Apprentice" hints: Much worse to come.
  • Has RNC just conceded the Presidential? And possible Republican civil war?
  • Trump's website pulled down Mike Pence's entire campaign schedule as Pence tries to hide
  • Election Day is fast approaching, and we need all hands on deck. With the PCCC and Daily Kos, no matter where you live you can call key voters in districts where progressive Democrats are in tight races.
  • Can't make phone calls but want to help Get Out The Vote for Democrats? Chip in $3 to the Daily Kos Get Out The Vote Fund now.
  • Things we never thought we'd say—a second candy has come forward to disavow Donald Trump
  • The most disturbing aspect of the Trump video Is one that most men won't appreciate
  • RNC temporarily puts its program to get sexual predator Donald Trump elected on hold
  • In Oklahoma, the worms are turning.
  • Bring it on, you vulgar pig
  • So, I had lunch with an undecided (Trump leaning) couple with a 15-year-old daughter
  • Is Donald Trump about to declare war on the Republican Party?
  • Desperate Republicans hoping to replace Trump: It can't happen. Your nightmare is real.
  • First polling on video - no real affecting Trump supporters - YET.
  • Dear Republican leaders who endorsed Trump: You own him
  • Abbreviated Pundit Round-up
  • Misogyny in politics
  • It has happened to me. It has happened to you.
  •       
  • Mike Pence finally stops ducking questions and issues a statement on Trump's video
  • Paul Ryan's statement about Trump was just as misogynistic as Trump himself
  • You talking to me? Robert DeNiro goes after Trump on Twitter. He says it all!
  • Help Get Out The Vote to beat Trump. Chip in $3 to Daily Kos now.
  • Days after calling Trump 'absolutely' a role model, Kelly Ayotte says she won't vote for him
  • Is the flood starting? Another disendorsement?
  • To the Republican Party: Take your fake outrage over Trump's remarks and shove it
  • Ana Navarro eviscerates Trump surrogate who was offended when she used the 'P word' on live TV
  • Trump says there's 'zero chance I'll quit'
  • Ignoring millions of women: Republicans stand with a confessed sexual predator for president
  • Are you a member of MoveOn? No matter where you live, help defeat Donald Trump by texting MoveOn members in swing states to volunteer for the election.
  •         
  • Donald Trump has yugest possible meltdown. The best.
  • Just beginning? CNN anchor relays hauntingly familiar story of Donald Trump making vulgar advances
  • Trump tried to get Nancy O'Dell, who rebuked his sexual advances in video, fired for being pregnant
  • Pence says 'Donald Trump gets it'
  • Help Get Out The Vote to beat Trump. Chip in $3 to Daily Kos now.
  • OVERLOAD! My brain is exploding with questions!
  • Donald Trump brings Democrats and Republicans together in mass social media shaming
  • Eichenwald: A Trump deplorable assaulted me, and they threaten the lives of other journalists
  • Two days before the debate, a Trump bombshell lands
  • Trump is melting down and taking Republicans with him, giving us an opportunity to elect progressive champions at all levels of government. Sign up with Daily Kos and Democracy for America to help get out the vote for more and better Democrats on Saturday, October 8.
  • Let's take a closer look at Donald Trump's big apology, shall we?
  • Republican senators are outraged—outraged!—at Trump's words, but still support him
  • #WinOneForTheGroper ... Is Paris Hilton Burning... Trump Rickrolls America
  • This isn't just about Trump, this is about the GOP
  •       
  • Republicans are meeting to discuss strategy if Trump is not the nominee
  • Twitter reactions to Trump’s boasts of sexual assault
  • Breaking NYT: Yet another story of Trump sexual misconduct
  • Important new projection from Nate Silver
  • Help Get Out The Vote to beat Trump. Chip in $3 to Daily Kos now.
  • It doesn't matter if Trump drops out—the ballots have already been printed
  • Nasty Trump audio emerges: You really need some brain bleach after this one.
  • Hillary Clinton is not going to take Donald Trump's sexist crap one more minute
  • Trump releases video 'apology' for sexual assault ... but mostly attacked Hillary and Bill Clinton
  • Sign if you agree with NARAL: Time to end the special committee attacking women’s health. sponsored
  • Video reveals Trump bragging about sexual assault. Paul Ryan disinvites Trump from event
  • Friday Trump Dump: No, he really is just 'deplorable'
  • How will Republicans respond to Donald Trump's brag about sexual assault?
  • If Trump had one shred of decency, he wouldn't dare show up to debate. But, of course, he doesn't
  •    
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    AlterNet

    By Steven Rosenfeld, AlterNet
    Clinton was disciplined, but delivered no knockout blows READ MORE»

    By Adele M. Stan, AlterNet
    The Republican Party has been the grab-'em-by-the-pussy party for 36 years—Donald Trump simply made it clear.  READ MORE»

    By Nathalie Baptiste, AlterNet
    North Carolina just passed a law removing police body-cam footage from the public record. Elsewhere, police departments stall release of footage.  READ MORE»

    By Bill Bigelow, Zinn Education Project
    Most school curricula teach students to celebrate colonialism and racism. Enough. READ MORE»

    By Cody Cain, Salon
    Is it all an act? More likely, Trump really has the mind of a fourth-grader (apologies to those in fourth grade). READ MORE»

    By Jenny Pierson, AlterNet
    A surprising personal discovery on the tricky question of how people make up their minds on who they are voting for. READ MORE»

    By Michael Moore, AlterNet
    There is plenty of blame to go around for the GOP assault on women. READ MORE»

    By Lyz Lenz, Salon
    Divorce is bad, argue Christian leaders. And yet the Clintons are judged moral failures for staying together. READ MORE»

    By Matt Agorist, The Free Thought Project
    Spring Hill Police Officer Christopher Odom is one of many officers who are caught raping those they’ve sworn to protect. READ MORE»

    By Mike Crawford, AlterNet
    The prohibitionist Campaign for a Safe and Healthy Massachusetts has some strange bedfellows and even stranger notions of fair play and honesty. READ MORE»

    By Bill Berkowitz, Buzzflash at Truthout
    What happens in the voting booth isn't necessarily what's revealed in polls.  READ MORE»

    By Tom Boggioni, Raw Story
    One big advocate of building Trump's wall along the Mexican border got a lesson in what really scares women. READ MORE»

    By Chris Conrad, The Leaf Online
    "When I'm 64" transforms into "Yes on 64." READ MORE»

    By Alex Blank Millard, The Establishment
    “I began to understand how often sadness sounds like anger.” READ MORE»

    By Melanie Barron , Jeffrey Lichtenstein, Portside
    Governor Bill Haslam concocted the biggest privatization scheme you’ve never heard of. READ MORE»
       
    By Adele M. Stan, AlterNet
    Trump can't stand being challenged by a woman, and Clinton got under his skin citing his comments about Miss Universe. How will he answer to "p*ssygate"? READ MORE»

    By Janet Allon, AlterNet
    Condoleezza Rice says step down; McCain finally bails; even Melania is offended. READ MORE»

    By Chauncey DeVega, Salon
    Will Trump’s lewd comments and "apology" even hurt him with his racist, misogynist "basket of deplorables"? READ MORE»

    By David Ferguson, Raw Story
    Trump told Stern that his developing daughter “looks more voluptuous than ever.” READ MORE»

    By Ari Rabin-Havt, Right Wing Watch
    The Republican presidential nominee's winning formula in business is bullying through threats of litigation. So he constantly threatens reporters with the same. READ MORE»

    By Phillip Smith, AlterNet
    Marijuana legalization is on the ballot in five states next month. It could be a clean sweep.  READ MORE»

    By Steven Rosenfeld, AlterNet
    They say the sky will fall. But it didn't when Berkeley passed a soda tax. READ MORE»

    By Clare Kittredge, AlterNet
    An unprecedented country-wide protest infuses new energy into the antinuclear movement.  READ MORE»

    By Jeff Bryant, AlterNet
    What used to be a trip to the principal's office has become a trip to jail. READ MORE»

    By Michael Hayne, AlterNet
    If these people combined their assets, they'd have a good-sized private country. READ MORE»

    By Carrie Weisman, AlterNet
    Adult content is starting to change in subtle yet significant ways.  READ MORE»

    By Chris Hedges, Truthdig
    This isn't Che Guevara territory anymore. READ MORE»

    By Sylviane A. Diouf, Komozi Woodward, The New Press
    The year 2016 marks the fiftieth anniversary of Black Power, one of the least understood and most criminalized and vilified movements in American history. READ MORE»

    By Dan Ackerman, Public Affairs
    Tetris is firmly established in the pantheon of the greatest video games of all time, but in 1989 its future was much less certain. READ MORE»
         
    By Steven Rosenfeld, AlterNet
    As Sanders campaigns for her, diehards are not moved. READ MORE»

    By Kali Holloway, AlterNet
    The "Selma" director shows how the rise of mass incarceration was anything but incidental.  READ MORE»

    By Branko Marcetic, AlterNet
    They crushed the opposition by as much as 24-to-1. READ MORE»

    By Heather Digby Parton, Salon
    Donald Trump will be dealing with real people who might ask questions he won't like. That may not go well. READ MORE»

    By Elizabeth Preza, AlterNet
    Sure, her progressive platform is appealing. But even Noam Chomsky doesn't think she's worth a "protest" vote. READ MORE»

    By Steve Horn, DeSmogBlog
    "It’s hard to imagine anyone more compromised." READ MORE»

    By Masha Hamilton, Longreads
    You caught me. Why couldn't I catch you? READ MORE»

    By Thom Hartmann, AlterNet
    Thanks to the climate crisis, storms like Hurricane Matthew are becoming more and more severe.  READ MORE»

    By Alexandra Rosenmann, AlterNet
    Making other countries unbearable.  READ MORE»

    By Alli McCracken, AlterNet
    Pressure from human rights organizations and victims of the 9/11 attacks are eroding the bond between these old political allies. READ MORE»

    By Gary Hall, University of Minnesota Press
    Increasing numbers of teachers are finding themselves in a situation not dissimilar to that facing many cab drivers today. READ MORE»

    By Charl Landsberg, Ravishly
    When straight people deal with sex and HIV, it remains a private affair. When queer people deal with sex and HIV, it can mean death.  READ MORE»
         
    ******************************************** 
    He's not running for president--
    he's running for dictator
    ******************************************** 

    Movies!

    I have a boatload of vids for you today, but I want to start with this one: Derren Brown shows how religious experiences and religious conversions can be created without the need for any literal Creator.

    Randi Rhodes on Donald's first debate performance--"bitch set me up!" Hehe!

    Keith Olbermann says Donald Trump is a weirdo about dogs. I say Donald Trump is a weirdo about everything. He can't help it!

    Here's The Young Turks's Cenk Uygur on Hillary's Goldman Sachs speech transcripts...aka 19 minutes of Cenk hand-wringing. I watched it to see if there was anything horrible in there that would torpedo Hillary's campaign, so I have a lot more comments on it than I usually post with my vids. Bottom line up front: Cenk claims that there's some really awful stuff in that transcript; I disagree. In fact, I don't think there's anything shocking, unethical, or otherwise alarming in there at all. Let me break down Cenk's commentary and explain why.

    Re sausage being made and there being public discussions as well as back-room deals--Cenk says that this is only half true and that Hillary loses trust by having so many public and private positions on issues. I say, no, this is actually how it's been done since time immemorial when our government actually WORKED. Remember the 1950s and 60s that Republicans so adore? Although they'd lurve to lock women, Blacks, and gays back in their respective closed little boxes and melt down the keys, they'd shit themselves before going back to how things were done back then. That's right--when they were "on stage" in their House and Senate meetings, politicians would fight tooth and nail, pounding the desk over principles. Then, at the end of a long day, they'd all go out and smoke cigars and drink martinis and play golf...and that's when the real work of negotiating would begin. That's how people on both sides of the aisle would hammer out the compromises and agreements that kept our government moving forward. When Bill Clinton got in, Republicans started getting pissy. They began to stop speaking to their colleagues across the aisle. Eventually, it became complete anathema to them even to be civil to Democrats--they couldn't even say "good morning" any more without being flayed alive by their leadership. And that's why our government is so gridlocked today. I think Cenk may be a little too young to remember how things were done back then...but Hillary, who wasn't directly involved at the time, was around and saw it all, and she remembers.

    Everyone knew going into this that Hillary, like Bill and like O'Bama, is a corporate-friendly centrist...she's center right, just as they are.

    No shit, Sherlock.

    What she has done since making this speech is LISTEN to Bernie and his supporters and MOVE HER PLATFORM to the left. Don't forget the timing of this, friends--the speech was BEFORE her nomination, and she used the outcomes from the primary to steer her campaign. I fail to see the crime here--I never mistook her for a progressive, but I was greatly cheered that her platform is now the most progressive that the party has had in living memory. And I think that's a good thing! Is Hillary going to be a corporate-friendly president? Yes, of course--she always was. Is Hillary going to be a child-friendly, woman-friendly, family-friendly president? Yes, of course--SHE ALWAYS WAS. American families need help right now--we need someone in the White House who will at least start bringing back some of what the corporate kleptocracy has stolen from us since Reagan started systematically dismantling the middle class. While "all" would be great, "some" is definitely better than "none." While I don't believe Hillary would get it "all" back for us, I believe Hillary will definitely deliver "some." I'd be a lot happier getting something back from the corporations rather than forking over even more of my hard-earned money to subsidize the 1%-ers' lavish lifestyles--as Deadbeat Donald and Paul Ryan would surely enforce.

    Cenk makes a great point about campaign finance reform--Hillary completely skirts it in her speech. Then again, what do you expect from her? She's speaking to an audience that's used to buying its politicians wholesale, and they've just paid her a $225,000.00 to come speak to them for, what, an hour or so. Of course she's going to skirt the issue! But Cenk is right
    --big money in politics has destroyed our democracy and turned it into an oligarchy, and Hillary needs to address the problem... but without pissing off our corporate overlords and driving them to pull the plug...because the current system is not sustainable.

    Bernie and Elizabeth Warren are probably the only two politicians with the gumption to take on the corporate kleptocracy head on. That's definitely what we need, but I think Hillary would offer a stopgap solution until we can get one of their ilk into power. I think Hillary would be ready to make some moderate improvements for us, and I think we could definitely pressure her into doing as much as the political structure would bear. Considering where we sit now, even moderate changes would be better than nothing. And like I've been saying, moderate improvements would still give us breathing room to continue Bernie's revolution.

    Just mentally compare "moderate improvements in our situation" with the unmitigated disaster for us little people that would be fat, incompetent celebutante and pervy predator Donald Trump who thinks women are just so much meat. Given the assiduousness with which he's been funneling charitable donations into his own pockets and campaign donations into his own failing businesses, how much do you think he charges for speaking fees? If you're still pissed off that Hillary didn't march into Goldman Sachs on their dime and lay out a detailed ten-point plan to stamp out corporate money in politics, just ask yourself: do you really think that corrupt freeloader Donald Trump, who's only in this to enrich himself and masturbate his ego, would address big money in politics? At all, let alone practicably? Srsly, do you? G'head and think about it...I'll wait.

    Around 10:08, Cenk mentions that Hillary brought up her intent to close the carried interest loophole. Wow, she said that to Goldman Sachs! I hope she goes after it as president--as Cenk says, that loophole shifts the tax burden from those who can most afford it to those who can least afford it.

    Around 12:00, Cenk discusses how our banks crashed the economy by committing fraud. He grouches about Hillary inviting the people at Goldman Sachs to help figure out what the solutions should be--he finds her approach deeply troubling. As a 30-year veteran of work environments that demand negotiation and diplomacy for progress to be made, I see it totally differently, so hear me out.

    I've been in positions of leadership and have tried a number of approaches. I've tried forcing my will on people--typically when time has been short--and I've tried Dot Calm's approach, on which she coached me, to lead by getting people to think that your great idea was really their own idea all along. The latter is far more effective than the former, and I think it's exactly what Hillary was trying to do in her speech.

    In other words...

    Hillary knows that the corporate overlords get twitchy whenever someone threatens to rein them in...but they don't want us villagers storming the castle with torches and pitchforks, either. One way to accomplish the former without inciting the latter is to invite the offenders to become part of the solution. That creates BUY IN...which gives the offenders a vested interest in implementing their solutions and pushing for success over the long term so they get to feel like heroes.

    I think it's smart as hell of Hillary to propose it, and I'd love to see her take the same tack with all of our corporate offenders, from Big Oil to Big Banks to Big Pharm to Big Everything Else, so that we can finally have solutions we can all live with.

    Want an example from history? Remember the IRA? England tried bombing them, arresting them, dehumanizing them, denouncing them, and everything else they could think of...but nothing stopped the violence. But then...a miracle happened: the Brits involved the IRA in the political process, giving them a voice and inviting them to become part of the solution.

    And the violence plummeted.

    Does this mean that England was pretending that the IRA were, as Cenk says, "good actors"?

    Of course not.

    Does it mean that American bankers who committed fraud against the American public did so because they had genuine grievances, as the IRA did?

    Of course not--but they weren't committing outright murder, either...which doesn't rule out the possibility (probability?) that innocent Americans died because Goldman Sachs stole all their money. I wonder if we'll ever know the full body count due to American corporate greed....

    But I digress.

    All I'm saying is that England took the approach of inviting the bad actors to become good actors, and it seems to have been perhaps not perfect but still the best possible solution. So why not try it with our own bad actors? Srsly--what's the worst that could happen?

    In fact, this approach is something I've promoted on this blawg for a long time--point out to our corporate overlords how short sighted and unsustainable their current approaches are and invite them to work toward sustainable, equitable solutions that benefit everybody. Point out that this is in their own best interests while framing it as an appeal to their better nature--let them be heroes, working out there on the front lines saving society and the world...doing well by doing good.

    Maybe I'm being naïve, and I'm sure it would take a long time to reach critical mass, but there are companies out there already doing it. Like Gravity Payments, whose CEO, Dan Price, shot from the hip by boosting his company's minimum wage to $70k per year, cutting his own from $1M to $70k to pay for it. They did it a year ago and are still happily chugging right along. Why not, as the article suggests, analyze and optimize Dan Price's approach make it a thing? Why not try it one company at a time until we do reach critical mass?

    One thing Cenk says toward the end of the video that I totally agree with is that, if Hillary (hopefully!) gets in, we as progressives need to start fighting from day one to get big money out of politics and to rein in our corporate overlords. Hear, hear!

    You know what? Early on in the video, Cenk laments that Hillary should have released this transcript early on in the primary, when Bernie first called on her to do so. He thinks it would have been more honest, and I don't disagree. However, I think that it would have been far more damaging back then because she would not yet have had the chance to pivot to the most progressive Democratic platform probably ever. And should she have been nominated afterward, I suspect that such a platform would have felt disingenuous to us voters...like "wag the dog"...like pure ambition rather than genuinely taking our feedback onboard. I feel like Hillary would have effectively been typecast and prevented from pivoting in any real way. Even if she had had the chance to listen to the voters and shape her platform based on our feedback, I don't think anyone would have believed her.

    Last point about this video: unlike putrid Donald "not good enough to be a dog" Trump's "locker room speech," Hillary's Goldman Sachs speech is still public in that it was intended for a specific audience. Thought, preparation, and effort went into it. Donald's speech, on the other hand, dishes up what he really thinks. So let's not lose our minds over Hillary's speech as if it were somehow equivalent with Donald's.

    TYT again--holy shit, more police violence. Jaywalking is a Very Serious Crime--if you're Black. CAUTION: this video is graphic!!!!!

    Samantha Bee on Donald Trump's "locker room talk"...which, interestingly, did not occur in a locker room. Let that sink in for a moment.

    Donald Trump STILL wants to execute the INNOCENT Central Park Five. I agree with Cenk that this is the worst thing Donald Trump has done so far--he is so divorced from reality that he cannot accept that the Central Park Five were exonerated by DNA evidence, which convicted the serial rapist who eventually confessed. Here's what I'd like to know: WHAT THE FUCK IS DONALD TRUMP THINKING?!??!??!!! How disconnected with reality can he possibly be?!??!??!!! Just how fucked up is his understanding of what EVIDENCE is?!??!??!!! My only conclusion? The man's brain is gone...at this point, so far gone that he can't even tie his own shoes, feed himself, or go to the potty on his own...! Either that, or he really is a Christian...! Only a Christian can dismiss scientific evidence while caring that much more about his own ego than about the lives of innocent others. Or reality.

    Here's TYT on "Grab 'em by the pussy": the panel reminds us that everything Trump says sounds like The 40-Year-Old Virgin.

    Here's Kyle from Secular Talk on one of the larger stories not focused on from the leaked  tax return: deadbeat Donald Trump is one suckilicious businessman. He really has no business doing business. Sad!

    Here's another piece of the tax return not focused on: freeloader Donald Trump's annual salary. Lawrence O'Donnell of MSNBC breaks it all down for you--including spelling out the difference between the hundreds of millions of dollars Donald would have to earn each year to be a billionaire versus the comparatively paltry $3 million he did/does earn (that he doesn't piss away doing something st00pit).

    Keith again--this time on traitor Donald Trump's highly problematic Russian connections

    Can you say "projecting"? I gnu you could! Keith says that Republicans blame their racism on O'Bama, but I call it projecting.

    Moar Keith! This time with 74 things despicable Donald Trump did--in September alone!

    At least someone on CNN speaks the truth--she called pervy predator Donald Trump a pervy predator. This is truly horrifying--there's a victim story here confirming the behavior Trump brags about. And Trumpette-tron Scottie Nell Hughes would rather deflect and go off topic than be honest as a woman about how Disgusting Donald's words and behavior affect her as a woman. If you ever needed confirmation that Republican women have no self respect, here it is.

    TYT on Tennessee woman's outrage that her daughter was supposed to learn about Islam in school. As Cenk says, that's what's called "getting an education."  He adds, if you want your children to remain Christian, let them read the Quran and see all the horrible stuff in there, but don't let them read the Bible and see all the horrible stuff in there!

    ICYMI last time I posted it, American women, LGBTQ+, and other freedom lovers can't afford extreme religious zealot Mike Pence. Mike Pence and people like him deny science so zealously that they've forgotten where the sun goes at night. Remember, Mike Pence was the governor American women trolled by mailing him their used tampons and pads so he could inspect them for miscarriages and have funerals for them. Mike Pence treats women like annoying talking livestock, good only for incubating babies. Ugh, Joe Scarborough is a total bully to Mika. Does anyone ever listen to her
    --does Joe ever even let her finish a sentence without shouting her down? I'd say I hope she makes enough money to make up for how horribly she's treated on air, but I can't imagine MSNBC paying her more than 50 cents on the dollar--if even that much--compared to what they pay the penises.

    TYT: Rush Limbaugh thinks hurricanes are a liberal plot. I'm sure Haiti would agree...not. CNN posted an article recently with 12 photos showing the devastation in Haiti from Hurricane Matthew. Horrible. Again, please go to CARE and help Haiti recover from Hurricane Matthew. Remember my last post defining the Drudge Award? It's a short-bus-special category of the Darwin Award for people who remove themselves from the gene pool by following Drudge's (and limburger Limbaugh's) implied advice not to evacuate for hurricanes. As the panel points out, Republican governors' efforts to save lives by working with the Obama administration during and after hurricanes count against them with Republican leadership.  Donald Trump values his ego more than human life; Mike Pence values his superstition more than human life; and Republicans in general value money more than human life. See why I call Republicans the pro-death party?

    TYT on Mark Cuban's challenge to Donald Trump: Mark Cuban offered $10 million first to Donald's favorite charity, then to Donald personally, for a 4-hr interview on policy substance and details...no mention of the Clintons and no one else in the room to help. I'm lurvin' me some Mark Cuban. He's an actual billionaire, businessman, and badass. Maybe my next nickname for Donsie Wonsie should be Donald "Mark Cuban wannabe LOSER" Trump. I was considering calling him Donald "I brag that I'm very rich because I'm not" Trump, but now I'm thinking that Donald "Mark Cuban wannabe LOSER" Trump has a nicer ring to it. Maybe I should just combine the two.... You know what really frustrates me? The fact that the Republican voter base can't see the difference between genuine and fraud. Look at Bill Gates. Warren Buffett. The Koch brothers. Mark Cuban. Scott Adams. J.K. Rowling. All of them are actual billionaires--except that Ms. Rowling dropped off the Forbes list because she donated some $160 million to charity. Friends, if I ever were to reach billionaire status, that's exactly what I'd do with my money. Think about how these people act and what they say...and then compare them to Donald LOSER Trump with all his incompetence and bragging. What frustrates me is that people like my Tea Party Christian friend will continue to believe--despite all evidence to the contrary--that Deadbeat Dumbass Freeloader Donald Trump is the Bestest Bidnithman Evar and the Second Coming of JEEzus. They are totally blind to the difference between an actual billionaire and the fraud that Donald Trump is because they've completely turned off their critical thinking. Sad!!

    Speaking of Mark Cuban, here's some scrutiny he'd subject Donald Trump to on Shark Tank, saying that it's very telling--a red flag--that none of these should-be supporters came forward during the convention that nominated Donald Trump.

    One last laugh at LOSER Donald "celebutante Welfare queen freeloader-in-thief-wannabe did I say LOSER" Trump

    And here's Bill Maher being kick-the-bed funneh calling out Trumpty Dumpty and his surrogates


    'Til next time, check out these great channels:
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