Central Texas Food Bank receives hateful letter
When the Central Texas Food Bank received a letter in response to a recent direct-mail campaign this week, the staff was stunned.
“The lack of empathy was disturbing,” says Paul Gaither, marketing and communications director for the Food Bank. “Most of the letters we receive say things like ‘we don’t have anything to contribute’ or ‘please take me off your list,’ but this one was a little different.”
The food bank received the letter on Nov. 21, and how it was sent was also remarkable, says Gaither. The sender used the Food Bank’s remit envelope, but used his or her own stamp, did not include a return address and used a fake name: “Citizen Robespierre”. Here are the contents of the letter:
Dear Foodbank:
I don’t understand who these poor folks are that need food. I assume they consist primarily of illegals, who came to Texas for “free stuff.” And of course, our Africans, who find work too much trouble, especially when they can collect the equivalent of $40,000 a year on welfare, and other “benefits” offered to the unfit, the lazy, and the under-educated… and, of course, the drug addicts.
I suspect that most who need food are marching around whining that the congenital liar, Hillary Rodham Clinton, lost the election. Too bad; how sad.
I also wonder if your organization is one of those Phoney-Baloney, so-called “charities,” designed primarily to provide a good living to its organizers.
In short, no way.
Citizen Robespierre
Gaither said that while the Food Bank has received letters like this in the past, “it seems to be a more widespread attitude,” recently.
Central Texas Food Bank says the letter-writer expressed several misconceptions about who receives help from the Food Bank and its partner agencies, and that receiving a letter like this, “can take the wind out of our sails.”
“It’s important that we don’t categorize the people we serve as ‘takers'” Gaither said. “Most of the people we serve have fallen on hard times or are the working poor who just can’t make ends meet, and that can happen to anyone.”
In fact, Central Texas Food Bank serves about 46,000 people a week in 21 counties, via 250 partner agencies (like food pantries, soup kitchens), as well as through its own mobile pantries that distribute to areas where fresh food is less available for sale. About one-third of the people it serves are children, about two-thirds of the households they serve have at least one working adult; and 93 percent of the people they serve are not homeless. With the exception of about 5 percent of the people who identify as “other”one-third of the Food Bank’s clients identify themselves as white, one-third as African-American and one-third as Latino, according to Feeding America, the national, umbrella organization of food banks.
Neither the Food Bank nor its agencies inquires about citizenship, says Gaither. “We serve people in need and we’re not going to turn away anybody.”
As far as its credibility, Central Texas Food Bank has received Charity Navigator’s highest score of four out of four, receiving a score of 100 out of 100 for accountability and transparency.
Gaither says campaigns like this address the increased need at the end of the year and in the summer, when utility bills increase for cooling and heating. Many of the people it serves are on fixed incomes, and food costs compete with other household costs like utility bills, rent, and transportation. “Food comes out last sometimes,” says Gaither.
“All we can try to do is chip away at these misconceptions,” says Gaither. “It’s important that people know we serve anyone in need of help.”
Learn more about Central Texas Food Bank
But let's keep talking about the Clinton Foundation...
The Donald J. Trump Foundation’s IRS tax filings for 2015, which were posted online Monday evening, admit to use foundation money to buy items for himself or to help one of his for-profit businesses. Remeber that painting? That's the tip of the iceberg.
Check from the foundation to the artist for a painting that Trump personally owns.
In another case, Trump settled a dispute with the town of Palm Beach, Fla., over a large flagpole he erected at his Mar-a-Lago Club. The town agreed to waive $120,000 in unpaid fines if Trump’s club donated $100,000 to Fisher House, a charity helping wounded veterans and military personnel. The Trump Foundation paid that donation instead — effectively saving his business $100,000.
He is supposed to pay for these things, not the foundation. That is using other people's money. And that's against the law.
In another case, Trump settled a dispute with the town of Palm Beach, Fla., over a large flagpole he erected at his Mar-a-Lago Club. The town agreed to waive $120,000 in unpaid fines if Trump’s club donated $100,000 to Fisher House, a charity helping wounded veterans and military personnel. The Trump Foundation paid that donation instead — effectively saving his business $100,000.
He is supposed to pay for these things, not the foundation. That is using other people's money. And that's against the law.
Horror-Clown!
Wow! Shade from the Germans! Well, it's not like they know anything about megalomaniacs.
A Time-Lapse Map of Every Nuclear Explosion Since 1945
It is entirely possible that I have posted this before. I should be able to find it if I did... regardless. This is the coolest/scariest animated historical timeline you've ever seen. It begs the question "why are we all not dead?" and also "why are we all not glowing?" That's a lot of irresponsible actions.
Japanese artist Isao Hashimoto has created a beautiful, undeniably scary time-lapse map of the 2053 nuclear explosions which have taken place between 1945 and 1998, beginning with the Manhattan Project's "Trinity" test near Los Alamos and concluding with Pakistan's nuclear tests in May of 1998. This leaves out North Korea's two alleged nuclear tests in this past decade (the legitimacy of both of which is not 100% clear).
Each nation gets a blip and a flashing dot on the map whenever they detonate a nuclear weapon, with a running tally kept on the top and bottom bars of the screen. Hashimoto, who began the project in 2003, says that he created it with the goal of showing"the fear and folly of nuclear weapons." It starts really slow — if you want to see real action, skip ahead to 1962 or so — but the buildup becomes overwhelming.
Japanese artist Isao Hashimoto has created a beautiful, undeniably scary time-lapse map of the 2053 nuclear explosions which have taken place between 1945 and 1998, beginning with the Manhattan Project's "Trinity" test near Los Alamos and concluding with Pakistan's nuclear tests in May of 1998. This leaves out North Korea's two alleged nuclear tests in this past decade (the legitimacy of both of which is not 100% clear).
Each nation gets a blip and a flashing dot on the map whenever they detonate a nuclear weapon, with a running tally kept on the top and bottom bars of the screen. Hashimoto, who began the project in 2003, says that he created it with the goal of showing"the fear and folly of nuclear weapons." It starts really slow — if you want to see real action, skip ahead to 1962 or so — but the buildup becomes overwhelming.
Windowlicker
This video has freaked me out, in a good way, ever since I first saw it in 1999. It still holds up.
Wonderful treatment of ghetto fabulousness.
Wonderful treatment of ghetto fabulousness.
Court the Asian vote
85 different Congressional districts with an Asian American community of over 10%.
1 million Asian millenials become of voting age every year.
There are 300 billion dollars in buying power from millenials out there.
There are 1 trillion dollars in Asian buying power over all out there.
1 million Asian millenials become of voting age every year.
There are 300 billion dollars in buying power from millenials out there.
There are 1 trillion dollars in Asian buying power over all out there.
176 Reasons Donald Trump Shouldn't Be President
Oh, how I have missed him. Keith Olbermann is back! He has lost a few pounds, gotten some rest and is here to destroy Donald Trump's campaign how ever he can. He is doing what he does best: facts and outrage. It's a great combo. Anyway, he is now putting out online videos at GQ.com. His show is called The Closer.
Here is the first episode and transcript. It was published back on September 13, so Trump's list of deplorable things has gotten quite a bit longer. However, this should be more than enough transgressions for any rational person to realize that Donald Trump shouldn't be President of a PTA let alone the United States.
BY KEITH OLBERMANN
September 13, 2016 8:05 am
In the debut episode of his new series, "The Closer," GQ's Keith Olbermann tallies the most outrageous of Donald Trump's offenses in what is now his 15-month assault on American democracy.
Every few generations, we Americans are called upon to defend our country. To defend it not so much from foreign dictators or war or terrorism, but from those here who have no commitment to progress or democracy or representative government—no commitment to anything except their own out-of-control minds and the bottomless pits of their egos.
Our society has thrown up these people before: Joseph McCarthy. George Wallace. Father Coughlin. Jefferson Davis. Aaron Burr. The Know-Nothings. The Blacklisters. The America-Firsters. And we have always thrown them out.
And now our generation has its own: the most dangerous individual ever nominated by a major party for the highest office in this country.
His base wants few details and fewer facts; they just want to burn it down and blame their failures on the collective other. And Donald John Trump is their demonic messiah in Oompa Loompa's clothing.
We must stop him.
It is not pleasant.
It is not fair that we have to do this.
But it is our turn.
The Emperor's New Clothes quality to the Trump campaign has survived these 15 months because, as we react to each outrage, our shock and revulsion have been refracted like light through a prism.
But these outrages are not separate events, not even a pattern.
They are, simply, Donald Trump.
Seen all at once, they—and he—are horrifying.
You must see them "all at once."
Thus—in brief—the story so far:
The Republican party has actually nominated for president a man who attacked the Pope.
Who attacked John McCain for being captured by the North Vietnamese.
Who attacked Gold Star parents Khizr and Ghazala Khan and then juxtaposed their names with the phrase "Radical Islamic Terrorism."
Who attacked Hillary Clinton as a "bigot." Who attacked her as "brainwashed." As "unhinged." As "a monster." As "the devil." As "the most corrupt candidate ever"—showing her face on piles of hundred-dollar bills and the Star of David.
Who attacked her as someone whom "Second Amendment people" should do something about. As someone whose religion "we don't know anything about"—after he explained he had never asked God for forgiveness.
Who attacked President Obama and implied he was a traitor. Who attacked him as having been complicit in the Orlando terrorist attack. Who attacked him for having lowerapproval ratings than Vladimir Putin, as if Putin's could be trusted. Who attacked him as being born in another country. Who attacked him as the founder of ISIS, then said it was sarcasm, then said it wasn't sarcasm, then attacked him again as the founder of ISIS.
Who attacked Carly Fiorina for her face; Hillary Clinton for her non-presidential "look"; Heidi Cruz for her appearance; Megyn Kelly for having "blood coming out of her wherever"; Mika Brzezinski as "crazy and very dumb," "neurotic," "not very bright."
Who attacked the women who accused Roger Ailes of harassment.
Who attacked the women who choose abortion—and said there should be punishments.
Who attacked a New York Times reporter because he had a condition that made his arms look atypical; who attacked Judge Gonzalo Curiel because he was of Mexican descent; who attacked Senator Elizabeth Warren over allegedly lying about her heritage to get intoHarvard when she never went to Harvard; who attacked Senator Jeff Flake by saying he won't be re-elected this year, when he isn't up for election until 2018.
The Republican Party has actually nominated for president a man who attacked U.S. troops in Iraq and claimed they stole millions; who has attacked Ted Cruz's father and claimed he was connected to the assassination of President Kennedy; attacked Bill Clinton and claimed he was a rapist.
Who attacked Mexicans as rapists, bringing drugs and crime; who attacked African-Americans and claimed they were all living in poverty with no jobs and schools that were no good; who attacked Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, as a "war zone" and attacked theUnited States of America and claimed it is in a "death spiral."
The Republican Party has actually nominated for president a man who lied about opposing the war in Iraq, when there is a tape of him supporting it. A tape recorded on the first anniversary of 9/11…
Who lied about opposing the war in Iraq during a speech in which he insisted, "I will never lie to you."
Who lied about six million dollars in charitable donations to veterans’ groups from his telethon; who lied about donating his profits from The Apprentice, about charitable donations from The Celebrity Apprentice, and from "Trump the Game" to St. Jude Cancer Center.
Who lied about a plan to debate Bernie Sanders for charity.
Who lied about why he wouldn't release his taxes, because he was being audited andproved himself a liar by saying he would release his taxes if Hillary Clinton released her e-mails; who lied about how much money his father gave him or helped him get, coming out of college; who lied about sending his private jet to ferry stranded U.S. servicemen; who lied about talking to the Attorney General of Florida, who declined to investigate Trump University after she was given a campaign donation; who lied about his business in Russia; who lied about meeting Russian president Putin; who lied about offering child care to his employees, when it was child care for his hotel guests; who lied about "some people" wanting a moment of silence for the murderer of five Dallas policemen; who lied about seeing thousands of Muslims in New Jersey celebrating 9/11; who lied about 9/11 hijackers sending their wives and girlfriends home to Saudi Arabia.
Who lied about thousands of Syrian refugee terrorists being secretly admitted to this country; who lied about the Chicago police urging him to cancel a rally; who lied about the Chicago police saying they could solve crime there with "tough police tactics"; who lied about how there was no drought in California, how he never said Japan should have nuclear weapons, how he opposed the ouster of Egyptian president Mubarak, how the unemployment rate is 42 percent.
Who lied about ISIS making millions a week selling Libyan oil; who lied about dozens ofsecret terrorist cases in this country; who lied that a protester who tried to rush onto his stage had "ties to ISIS"; who lied last May and again last week about refugees entering this country carrying cell phones with "ISIS flags on them" and phone plans pre-paid by ISIS!
Can you hear me now?
The Republican Party has actually nominated for president a man who congratulated himself in two tweets and a press release for predicting terrorist attacks like Orlando, while bodies still lay in the Pulse nightclub…
Who congratulated himself after the killing of Dwyane Wade's cousin.
Who congratulated himself on predicting Brexit, even though three weeks earlier he hadnever heard of Brexit.
Who congratulated himself on Republican Convention TV ratings, even though those for his closing speech were lower than for John McCain's.
Who congratulated himself by disseminating a video showing how much of that speech's total running time was taken up…by applause.
Who congratulated himself on having "the world's greatest memory," then three weeks later testified in a deposition he had no memory of saying that.
The Republican Party has actually nominated for president a man who has proposed that Russia or China should enact a Watergate-like hacking of Hillary Clinton's e-mails; who has proposed banning Muslims from entering the country, then said it was only asuggestion, then proposed it again; whose running mate has proposed banning members of other religions; who has proposed open racial profiling; who has proposed banning people from "terror nations," saying, "Look it up, they have a list"; who has proposed "ideological certification" for immigrants; who has proposed worse than waterboardingwhile praising how Saddam Hussein, Vladimir Putin, and Kim Jong-un handled protest and terrorism; who has proposed that American civilians be tried by military commissions at Gitmo; who has proposed killing the families of terrorists or suspected terrorists.
A man who has proposed teaching mandatory patriotism in schools; proposed that his supporters appoint themselves as election-day voting monitors; proposed making American protection of fellow NATO members C-O-D; whose campaign proposedpurging the government of all Obama appointees; proposed avoiding government debt byprinting more money; proposed reducing national debt by paying less than we agreed to; proposed forestalling new financial regulations by executive order—and then in the same speech proposed eliminating…some executive orders.
A man who proposed a wall along the Mexican border to keep out undocumented immigrants; proposed mass deportation of undocumented immigrants; proposed a smaller wall and fewer deportations during a taped television interview that played at the same moment he was giving a speech in Phoenix insisting on a larger wall and more deportations.
A man who has proposed immediately expelling at least two to three millionundocumented immigrants, even though this would be like trying to evacuate the city of Chicago in one day; proposed immediately expelling any others not convicted—butmerely accused—of a crime.
A man who has proposed to enact all this by executive action, bypassing Congress, even though he employed undocumented immigrants in the building of Trump Tower; even though those immigrants say he not only knew of them but hired them personally; even though his own modeling agency and television shows enabled and employed undocumented immigrants; even though his own wife may have worked here withoutproper documentation; even though his own grandfather was reportedly not merely a fraudulent emigrant to this country but was also denied re-entry to Germany because he was a draft-dodger.
The Republican Party has actually nominated for president a man who has claimed he understood the sacrifice of losing a child in war because he had spent money to hire employees; who has claimed he understood prejudice against African-Americans because the system is also rigged against him; who claimed the election will be rigged against him; claimed the opinion polls are rigged against him, then praised one of the exact same polls when it favored him; claimed he would be leading those rigged polls by 20 pointsbut for the rigged media; claimed Democrats are voting ten times each; claimed that his crowd in Colorado Springs would've been larger, but the fire marshal was a Democrat; claimed that his speech in Washington would have drawn as many as Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream" speech, but "nobody would let them in."
A man who has claimed he was his own best foreign-policy adviser; claimed that Putin will not go into Ukraine when he already invaded Ukraine in 2014; claimed the U.S. is paying rent for a military base in Saudi Arabia when the last one there closed in 2003; claimed that to avoid hacking, the military should stop communicating "on wires" and return to using messengers.
A man who has claimed that any candidate using a teleprompter should be ineligible, and then himself began using a teleprompter; claimed that he doesn't use notes for speeches during a speech he gave primarily from notes; claimed he will fix the problems ofAfrican-Americans, then days later suggested that an African-American athleteprotesting police shootings should leave this country.
The Republican Party has actually nominated for president a man who was revealed to have asked his foreign-policy advisers three times in one hour why this country can't use nuclear weapons if we have nuclear weapons—after having asked a television interviewer the same question; who was revealed to have not known what the "nuclear triad" was.
A man who was revealed to have been the political beneficiary of fake Internet accountsunderwritten by the Kremlin; revealed to have improperly sought campaign contributions from foreign nationals, including officials of foreign governments.
A man who was revealed to have erased all his e-mails, including those sought in a lawsuit, for five years; revealed to have plagiarized 20 pages in his Trump Institute handbook; revealed to have employed the purported author of his wife's Convention speech, which plagiarized part of a speech written for Michelle Obama by Hillary Clinton's former speechwriter; revealed to have said on his 2008 radio show that Hillary Clinton would "make a good president."
A man who was revealed to have admitted using the pseudonyms "John Barron" and "John Miller" while pretending to be his own press spokesman and boasting of his sexual conquests in the 1990s; revealed to have used the pseudonym "John Baron" while his company threatened its undocumented workers; revealed to have telephoned onetelevision network to alert it to something positive being said about him on another television network.
A man revealed to have millions in outstanding loans to the Bank of China; revealed to have tried to make investment deals with Muammar Gaddafi; revealed to have once kept a book of Hitler's speeches in a cabinet near his bed.
The Republican Party has actually nominated for president a man who has allied himself with his campaign adviser and delegate, who said Hillary Clinton should be shot by firing squad for treason; who has allied himself with another campaign adviser who mused about waterboarding Hillary Clinton; who has allied himself with an African-American pastor who disseminated an image of Hillary Clinton in blackface; who has allied himself with his own son, who follows a series of white-supremacist Twitter accounts…
A man who has allied himself with at least seven campaign staffers who have disseminated racist and/or violent messages on social media; who has allied himself with a state campaign co-chairman who tweeted, "Lynch Loretta Lynch"; who has allied himself with an Illinois Trump delegate who is a white supremacist; a California Trump delegate who is a white-nationalist leader; a former personal butler who wrote on Facebook that President Obama should be "hung for treason."
A man who has allied himself with three different campaign chiefs: the first who manhandled a woman reporter, then lied about it; the second who was listed to receive $12 million from a pro-Russia political party in Ukraine; the third who has been accused under oath of anti-Semitic comments and domestic violence.
A man who has allied himself with a foreign-policy adviser accused under oath of anti-Semitic comments; with a New York State co-chair who suggested Khizr Khan supports ISIS and is a member of the Muslim Brotherhood; with a close adviser who says a Clinton aide could be a "Saudi spy" or "terrorist agent."
A man who has allied himself with a former campaign state chairman accused of drawing a gun on another campaign staffer; with a conspiracy-theorist radio host who claims theNewtown school shootings were a hoax; with a political operative so corrupt he was oncefired—by Republicans—for falsifying evidence…against Hillary Clinton.
The Republican Party has actually nominated for president a man who has offered to paythe legal fees of any supporter who becomes physically violent against a heckler; who encouraged crowd members to harass and threaten a reporter, whom he called out by name and who then needed Secret Service protection; who accepted a military medalfrom an audience member and said, "I always wanted to get the Purple Heart. This was much easier"; who conducted a news conference to introduce his running mate, only to spend the first 25 minutes talking only about himself; whose prominent Latino surrogatewarned Mexican immigration would put "taco trucks on every corner"—four months after the nominee commemorated Cinco de Mayo by tweeting a photo of himself eating from a taco bowl.
The Republican Party has actually nominated for president a man who tweeted thanks to singer Billy Joel for dedicating a song to him, never realizing Joel was, by doing so,mocking him; who gave a trade speech in Monessen, Pennsylvania, standing in front of a wall made out of bales of compressed garbage; who bragged during a presidential debate about the size of his genitalia; who gave a television interview while seated in front of a photograph of himself wearing the same suit, shirt, and tie; who appeared, in a joint news conference with the president of Mexico, with two bobby pins visible, holding his hairdoin place.
The Republican Party has actually nominated for president an irresponsible, unrealistic, naive, petulant, childish, vindictive, prejudiced, bigoted, racist, Islamophobic, anti-Semitic, misogynistic, fascistic, authoritarian, insensitive, erratic, disturbed, irrational, inhuman individual named Donald John Trump.
This…is madness.
Any questions?
Keith Olbermann is GQ’s new special correspondent.
In the debut episode of his new series, "The Closer," GQ's Keith Olbermann tallies the most outrageous of Donald Trump's offenses in what is now his 15-month assault on American democracy.
Every few generations, we Americans are called upon to defend our country. To defend it not so much from foreign dictators or war or terrorism, but from those here who have no commitment to progress or democracy or representative government—no commitment to anything except their own out-of-control minds and the bottomless pits of their egos.
Our society has thrown up these people before: Joseph McCarthy. George Wallace. Father Coughlin. Jefferson Davis. Aaron Burr. The Know-Nothings. The Blacklisters. The America-Firsters. And we have always thrown them out.
And now our generation has its own: the most dangerous individual ever nominated by a major party for the highest office in this country.
His base wants few details and fewer facts; they just want to burn it down and blame their failures on the collective other. And Donald John Trump is their demonic messiah in Oompa Loompa's clothing.
We must stop him.
It is not pleasant.
It is not fair that we have to do this.
But it is our turn.
The Emperor's New Clothes quality to the Trump campaign has survived these 15 months because, as we react to each outrage, our shock and revulsion have been refracted like light through a prism.
But these outrages are not separate events, not even a pattern.
They are, simply, Donald Trump.
Seen all at once, they—and he—are horrifying.
You must see them "all at once."
Thus—in brief—the story so far:
The Republican party has actually nominated for president a man who attacked the Pope.
Who attacked John McCain for being captured by the North Vietnamese.
Who attacked Gold Star parents Khizr and Ghazala Khan and then juxtaposed their names with the phrase "Radical Islamic Terrorism."
Who attacked Hillary Clinton as a "bigot." Who attacked her as "brainwashed." As "unhinged." As "a monster." As "the devil." As "the most corrupt candidate ever"—showing her face on piles of hundred-dollar bills and the Star of David.
Who attacked her as someone whom "Second Amendment people" should do something about. As someone whose religion "we don't know anything about"—after he explained he had never asked God for forgiveness.
Who attacked President Obama and implied he was a traitor. Who attacked him as having been complicit in the Orlando terrorist attack. Who attacked him for having lowerapproval ratings than Vladimir Putin, as if Putin's could be trusted. Who attacked him as being born in another country. Who attacked him as the founder of ISIS, then said it was sarcasm, then said it wasn't sarcasm, then attacked him again as the founder of ISIS.
Who attacked Carly Fiorina for her face; Hillary Clinton for her non-presidential "look"; Heidi Cruz for her appearance; Megyn Kelly for having "blood coming out of her wherever"; Mika Brzezinski as "crazy and very dumb," "neurotic," "not very bright."
Who attacked the women who accused Roger Ailes of harassment.
Who attacked the women who choose abortion—and said there should be punishments.
Who attacked a New York Times reporter because he had a condition that made his arms look atypical; who attacked Judge Gonzalo Curiel because he was of Mexican descent; who attacked Senator Elizabeth Warren over allegedly lying about her heritage to get intoHarvard when she never went to Harvard; who attacked Senator Jeff Flake by saying he won't be re-elected this year, when he isn't up for election until 2018.
The Republican Party has actually nominated for president a man who attacked U.S. troops in Iraq and claimed they stole millions; who has attacked Ted Cruz's father and claimed he was connected to the assassination of President Kennedy; attacked Bill Clinton and claimed he was a rapist.
Who attacked Mexicans as rapists, bringing drugs and crime; who attacked African-Americans and claimed they were all living in poverty with no jobs and schools that were no good; who attacked Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, as a "war zone" and attacked theUnited States of America and claimed it is in a "death spiral."
The Republican Party has actually nominated for president a man who lied about opposing the war in Iraq, when there is a tape of him supporting it. A tape recorded on the first anniversary of 9/11…
Who lied about opposing the war in Iraq during a speech in which he insisted, "I will never lie to you."
Who lied about six million dollars in charitable donations to veterans’ groups from his telethon; who lied about donating his profits from The Apprentice, about charitable donations from The Celebrity Apprentice, and from "Trump the Game" to St. Jude Cancer Center.
Who lied about a plan to debate Bernie Sanders for charity.
Who lied about why he wouldn't release his taxes, because he was being audited andproved himself a liar by saying he would release his taxes if Hillary Clinton released her e-mails; who lied about how much money his father gave him or helped him get, coming out of college; who lied about sending his private jet to ferry stranded U.S. servicemen; who lied about talking to the Attorney General of Florida, who declined to investigate Trump University after she was given a campaign donation; who lied about his business in Russia; who lied about meeting Russian president Putin; who lied about offering child care to his employees, when it was child care for his hotel guests; who lied about "some people" wanting a moment of silence for the murderer of five Dallas policemen; who lied about seeing thousands of Muslims in New Jersey celebrating 9/11; who lied about 9/11 hijackers sending their wives and girlfriends home to Saudi Arabia.
Who lied about thousands of Syrian refugee terrorists being secretly admitted to this country; who lied about the Chicago police urging him to cancel a rally; who lied about the Chicago police saying they could solve crime there with "tough police tactics"; who lied about how there was no drought in California, how he never said Japan should have nuclear weapons, how he opposed the ouster of Egyptian president Mubarak, how the unemployment rate is 42 percent.
Who lied about ISIS making millions a week selling Libyan oil; who lied about dozens ofsecret terrorist cases in this country; who lied that a protester who tried to rush onto his stage had "ties to ISIS"; who lied last May and again last week about refugees entering this country carrying cell phones with "ISIS flags on them" and phone plans pre-paid by ISIS!
Can you hear me now?
The Republican Party has actually nominated for president a man who congratulated himself in two tweets and a press release for predicting terrorist attacks like Orlando, while bodies still lay in the Pulse nightclub…
Who congratulated himself after the killing of Dwyane Wade's cousin.
Who congratulated himself on predicting Brexit, even though three weeks earlier he hadnever heard of Brexit.
Who congratulated himself on Republican Convention TV ratings, even though those for his closing speech were lower than for John McCain's.
Who congratulated himself by disseminating a video showing how much of that speech's total running time was taken up…by applause.
Who congratulated himself on having "the world's greatest memory," then three weeks later testified in a deposition he had no memory of saying that.
The Republican Party has actually nominated for president a man who has proposed that Russia or China should enact a Watergate-like hacking of Hillary Clinton's e-mails; who has proposed banning Muslims from entering the country, then said it was only asuggestion, then proposed it again; whose running mate has proposed banning members of other religions; who has proposed open racial profiling; who has proposed banning people from "terror nations," saying, "Look it up, they have a list"; who has proposed "ideological certification" for immigrants; who has proposed worse than waterboardingwhile praising how Saddam Hussein, Vladimir Putin, and Kim Jong-un handled protest and terrorism; who has proposed that American civilians be tried by military commissions at Gitmo; who has proposed killing the families of terrorists or suspected terrorists.
A man who has proposed teaching mandatory patriotism in schools; proposed that his supporters appoint themselves as election-day voting monitors; proposed making American protection of fellow NATO members C-O-D; whose campaign proposedpurging the government of all Obama appointees; proposed avoiding government debt byprinting more money; proposed reducing national debt by paying less than we agreed to; proposed forestalling new financial regulations by executive order—and then in the same speech proposed eliminating…some executive orders.
A man who proposed a wall along the Mexican border to keep out undocumented immigrants; proposed mass deportation of undocumented immigrants; proposed a smaller wall and fewer deportations during a taped television interview that played at the same moment he was giving a speech in Phoenix insisting on a larger wall and more deportations.
A man who has proposed immediately expelling at least two to three millionundocumented immigrants, even though this would be like trying to evacuate the city of Chicago in one day; proposed immediately expelling any others not convicted—butmerely accused—of a crime.
A man who has proposed to enact all this by executive action, bypassing Congress, even though he employed undocumented immigrants in the building of Trump Tower; even though those immigrants say he not only knew of them but hired them personally; even though his own modeling agency and television shows enabled and employed undocumented immigrants; even though his own wife may have worked here withoutproper documentation; even though his own grandfather was reportedly not merely a fraudulent emigrant to this country but was also denied re-entry to Germany because he was a draft-dodger.
The Republican Party has actually nominated for president a man who has claimed he understood the sacrifice of losing a child in war because he had spent money to hire employees; who has claimed he understood prejudice against African-Americans because the system is also rigged against him; who claimed the election will be rigged against him; claimed the opinion polls are rigged against him, then praised one of the exact same polls when it favored him; claimed he would be leading those rigged polls by 20 pointsbut for the rigged media; claimed Democrats are voting ten times each; claimed that his crowd in Colorado Springs would've been larger, but the fire marshal was a Democrat; claimed that his speech in Washington would have drawn as many as Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream" speech, but "nobody would let them in."
A man who has claimed he was his own best foreign-policy adviser; claimed that Putin will not go into Ukraine when he already invaded Ukraine in 2014; claimed the U.S. is paying rent for a military base in Saudi Arabia when the last one there closed in 2003; claimed that to avoid hacking, the military should stop communicating "on wires" and return to using messengers.
A man who has claimed that any candidate using a teleprompter should be ineligible, and then himself began using a teleprompter; claimed that he doesn't use notes for speeches during a speech he gave primarily from notes; claimed he will fix the problems ofAfrican-Americans, then days later suggested that an African-American athleteprotesting police shootings should leave this country.
The Republican Party has actually nominated for president a man who was revealed to have asked his foreign-policy advisers three times in one hour why this country can't use nuclear weapons if we have nuclear weapons—after having asked a television interviewer the same question; who was revealed to have not known what the "nuclear triad" was.
A man who was revealed to have been the political beneficiary of fake Internet accountsunderwritten by the Kremlin; revealed to have improperly sought campaign contributions from foreign nationals, including officials of foreign governments.
A man who was revealed to have erased all his e-mails, including those sought in a lawsuit, for five years; revealed to have plagiarized 20 pages in his Trump Institute handbook; revealed to have employed the purported author of his wife's Convention speech, which plagiarized part of a speech written for Michelle Obama by Hillary Clinton's former speechwriter; revealed to have said on his 2008 radio show that Hillary Clinton would "make a good president."
A man who was revealed to have admitted using the pseudonyms "John Barron" and "John Miller" while pretending to be his own press spokesman and boasting of his sexual conquests in the 1990s; revealed to have used the pseudonym "John Baron" while his company threatened its undocumented workers; revealed to have telephoned onetelevision network to alert it to something positive being said about him on another television network.
A man revealed to have millions in outstanding loans to the Bank of China; revealed to have tried to make investment deals with Muammar Gaddafi; revealed to have once kept a book of Hitler's speeches in a cabinet near his bed.
The Republican Party has actually nominated for president a man who has allied himself with his campaign adviser and delegate, who said Hillary Clinton should be shot by firing squad for treason; who has allied himself with another campaign adviser who mused about waterboarding Hillary Clinton; who has allied himself with an African-American pastor who disseminated an image of Hillary Clinton in blackface; who has allied himself with his own son, who follows a series of white-supremacist Twitter accounts…
A man who has allied himself with at least seven campaign staffers who have disseminated racist and/or violent messages on social media; who has allied himself with a state campaign co-chairman who tweeted, "Lynch Loretta Lynch"; who has allied himself with an Illinois Trump delegate who is a white supremacist; a California Trump delegate who is a white-nationalist leader; a former personal butler who wrote on Facebook that President Obama should be "hung for treason."
A man who has allied himself with three different campaign chiefs: the first who manhandled a woman reporter, then lied about it; the second who was listed to receive $12 million from a pro-Russia political party in Ukraine; the third who has been accused under oath of anti-Semitic comments and domestic violence.
A man who has allied himself with a foreign-policy adviser accused under oath of anti-Semitic comments; with a New York State co-chair who suggested Khizr Khan supports ISIS and is a member of the Muslim Brotherhood; with a close adviser who says a Clinton aide could be a "Saudi spy" or "terrorist agent."
A man who has allied himself with a former campaign state chairman accused of drawing a gun on another campaign staffer; with a conspiracy-theorist radio host who claims theNewtown school shootings were a hoax; with a political operative so corrupt he was oncefired—by Republicans—for falsifying evidence…against Hillary Clinton.
The Republican Party has actually nominated for president a man who has offered to paythe legal fees of any supporter who becomes physically violent against a heckler; who encouraged crowd members to harass and threaten a reporter, whom he called out by name and who then needed Secret Service protection; who accepted a military medalfrom an audience member and said, "I always wanted to get the Purple Heart. This was much easier"; who conducted a news conference to introduce his running mate, only to spend the first 25 minutes talking only about himself; whose prominent Latino surrogatewarned Mexican immigration would put "taco trucks on every corner"—four months after the nominee commemorated Cinco de Mayo by tweeting a photo of himself eating from a taco bowl.
The Republican Party has actually nominated for president a man who tweeted thanks to singer Billy Joel for dedicating a song to him, never realizing Joel was, by doing so,mocking him; who gave a trade speech in Monessen, Pennsylvania, standing in front of a wall made out of bales of compressed garbage; who bragged during a presidential debate about the size of his genitalia; who gave a television interview while seated in front of a photograph of himself wearing the same suit, shirt, and tie; who appeared, in a joint news conference with the president of Mexico, with two bobby pins visible, holding his hairdoin place.
The Republican Party has actually nominated for president an irresponsible, unrealistic, naive, petulant, childish, vindictive, prejudiced, bigoted, racist, Islamophobic, anti-Semitic, misogynistic, fascistic, authoritarian, insensitive, erratic, disturbed, irrational, inhuman individual named Donald John Trump.
This…is madness.
Any questions?
Keith Olbermann is GQ’s new special correspondent.
Give cyclists a reach around
I have heard of a Reach Around. I have heard of a Dutch Oven. Is the Dutch Reach where the two meet?
Pretty neat, right? Now if I can just get into this habit.
No.
The Dutch Reach is a handy, dandy practice taught in Dutch Driving Schools on how to safely exit your vehicle. It allows you to see what is coming behind you but, the real safety concern is for bikers that you might "door".
The Dutch Reach is a handy, dandy practice taught in Dutch Driving Schools on how to safely exit your vehicle. It allows you to see what is coming behind you but, the real safety concern is for bikers that you might "door".
Pretty neat, right? Now if I can just get into this habit.
Debate Night: Bad Lip Reading
BLR has taken things up a notch. Their newest video turned this game show of an election into a game show of a debate.
I particularly like the iPhone ringing and Hillary Clinton saying "Hhhhiiiii Scott."
Oh, and Donald Trump's Kiwi Bird interrogation: "Where are your feathers? Where are your feathers? Why can't you fly?"
Great stuff as always.
I particularly like the iPhone ringing and Hillary Clinton saying "Hhhhiiiii Scott."
Oh, and Donald Trump's Kiwi Bird interrogation: "Where are your feathers? Where are your feathers? Why can't you fly?"
Great stuff as always.
Who needs tips?
"A twenty dollar tip?!?!?!"
"Wait. What the fuck?"
"Jesus Christ, literally."
This kind of shit will get you cut. Not funny holier-than-thou Christians.
Racist Social Media Uses Code To Avoid Censorship
Sweet fancy Hitler! Have you seen any of this code floating around. "Google" no longer means Google, "Yahoo" no longer means Yahoo, and so on.
This seems to be in response to Google and their Jigsaw program launched to combat harrassment and abuse online. Members of 4Chan started this out by using "Google" as a replacement for "nigger", that way, Google would find it's AI-based program filtering out its own name. Clever. So much energy going into so much hate.
I do, however, think that "A leppo" being a substitute for a libertarian is the funniest thing I've read all day.
Twitter, Facebook and other social media platforms will censor out any hate speech being passed between Nazis. So, for when you just gotta talk about how Skittles are going to put America under Sharia Law, there is a code.Racist Trump twitter has come up with a new coded way to share racial slurs w/ each other and avoid account suspension. pic.twitter.com/J4AmaHFVCd— Alex Goldman (@AGoldmund) October 1, 2016
This seems to be in response to Google and their Jigsaw program launched to combat harrassment and abuse online. Members of 4Chan started this out by using "Google" as a replacement for "nigger", that way, Google would find it's AI-based program filtering out its own name. Clever. So much energy going into so much hate.
I do, however, think that "A leppo" being a substitute for a libertarian is the funniest thing I've read all day.
Between Two Ferns, Hillary Clinton Edition
This show is a national treasure. If you don't know about it, you are tragically uncool. But I will help you. This is the brainchild of Zach Galifianakis who also plays the uncomfortable, inappropriate, socially-inept host. He has had many celebrities as well as political power players on for interviews that range from rude to offensive. It is genuinely up there as one of the funniest shows around. Zach had Hillary Clinton over for a chat.
"White power tie."
BAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!
And if you haven't seen the interview with Barack Obama, treat yourself.
"White power tie."
BAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!
And if you haven't seen the interview with Barack Obama, treat yourself.
Still Haunted
When I was little, about eight years old, I saw a commercial for furs coats, at least that is what it started out as. It had a new-wave, synth, rhythm track; women; and women-wanna-be's painted up like Nagel illustrations. From the jump, it had my attention for this kind of aesthetic commanded my attention - not sure why. We'll have to talk to the shrink later about why this particular type of aesthetic has always been so haunting.
I remember Robert Palmer-ish models (all the models were Robert Palmer-ish models at that time) on a stage (I didn't know what a catwalk was). I remember an audience dressed very much like the models. I remember shock and horror as they all began to be covered with blood breaking up their pristine white make-up. I think it is time to run the tape...
I can't be sure what had me think of this tonight, but I have thought about it a million times since I saw it 31 years ago. Fuck. That is a long time.
Don't buy fur.
I remember Robert Palmer-ish models (all the models were Robert Palmer-ish models at that time) on a stage (I didn't know what a catwalk was). I remember an audience dressed very much like the models. I remember shock and horror as they all began to be covered with blood breaking up their pristine white make-up. I think it is time to run the tape...
I can't be sure what had me think of this tonight, but I have thought about it a million times since I saw it 31 years ago. Fuck. That is a long time.
Don't buy fur.
Jimmy Kimmel slaps Sarah Palin and Climate Change denial.
This was a really good segment about what I believe is the most important subject in the world: climate change.
It is always fun to see Sarah Palin speak. She is the dumbest person in any room that she is in, thinks she is the smartest, and has the confidence that propels such an idiot to speak publicly. Every speech is a winner: to us who find her word salad to be comedy gold and to her who thinks she inspires. She has no clue that her brand of language is a reading level up from "duckspeak".
Anyway, Sarah Palin has opinions about global warming. Fancy that. She thinks it doesn't exist and she put together a little movie that explains this "scam". Enter Jimmy Kimmel.
Jimmy took a moment to talk about climate change and the confusing political argument that has emerged around it. NASA says that 97 percent of climate scientists agree that the warming we are experiencing is very likely due to human activity - but some politicians still want us to believe it’s all a hoax. So he enlisted the help of real climate scientists to clear some things up for dear Sarah.
It is always fun to see Sarah Palin speak. She is the dumbest person in any room that she is in, thinks she is the smartest, and has the confidence that propels such an idiot to speak publicly. Every speech is a winner: to us who find her word salad to be comedy gold and to her who thinks she inspires. She has no clue that her brand of language is a reading level up from "duckspeak".
Anyway, Sarah Palin has opinions about global warming. Fancy that. She thinks it doesn't exist and she put together a little movie that explains this "scam". Enter Jimmy Kimmel.
Jimmy took a moment to talk about climate change and the confusing political argument that has emerged around it. NASA says that 97 percent of climate scientists agree that the warming we are experiencing is very likely due to human activity - but some politicians still want us to believe it’s all a hoax. So he enlisted the help of real climate scientists to clear some things up for dear Sarah.
The Boston Globe made a funny, a scary funny
They are eight days late for a really good April Fool's joke. However, they aren't really making a joke. The Boston Globe just published a fake front page, top to bottom, about the future America of a Trump administration. They hit all the promises: the wall, trade wars, deporations, killing the families of ISIS militants. It's a pretty ballsy move to make your whole front page an editorial, satirical, cautionary tale. Take a look:
I still think Trump's chances of being elected President are about the same as a black man's chance of not experiencing a hate crime at a Trump rally. That said, contemplating a Trump America is horrifying. We would spend generations cleaning up after his power trip and that is only if we survive. I'm not confident that we would.
I still think Trump's chances of being elected President are about the same as a black man's chance of not experiencing a hate crime at a Trump rally. That said, contemplating a Trump America is horrifying. We would spend generations cleaning up after his power trip and that is only if we survive. I'm not confident that we would.
Rape Kit Backlog
"Listen, you giant pink, hamster-fetus of a man..."
Holy Christ, that was a brutal! And beautiful!
Holy Christ, that was a brutal! And beautiful!
Bernie 2016
Hey! Hey! Look down here! I have something to say!
I am unequivocally voting for Bernie Sanders for President. He has more integrity and humanity than any other candidate that I would consider voting for. I find my myself inline with his moral compass.
I want "free stuff" as the dick parade on the right likes to sneer. I want free college for my kids because tuition is too high (because of Republicans) for them to afford it any other way. I want free health care for me because I can't afford it (because of Republicans) any other way. I want my supposed first-world country to join the rest of the actual first-world and advance our socially-responsible awareness and global stewardship. I actually want to make America great again - I better explain that one.
For example, America used to be #1 in education. We are 14th today. Specifically, 15th in literacy, 35th in math, and 29th in science. So many metrics that actually demonstrated the idea of a great America have evaporated. The idea of a great America is now fabled. I mean, come on. We are fucking 2nd in the world in child poverty! We are, however, #1 in locking up our own citizens. We beat China!... and every other despotic, authoritarian, black hole of civil liberties on Earth. USA! USA! USA!
All that stated, I am not one of these 'Bernie or Bust' fucksticks who are all too pure to vote for Hillary. That is no way to get toward a better version of this country. These 'B or B' idiots are so fucking perfect that they'd let the election go to Trump instead of voting for Hillary Clinton. She's not my candidate, but she is a hell of a lot closer to my political ideology than Trump or Cruz or Rubio. You ever heard that line: "Don't let perfect be the enemy of the good"? Something to think about.
Anyway, this doesn't have to be hard. This doesn't have to be a betrayal of your core values. I stated that I find myself inline with Bernie's moral compass. Come general election day, as suggested by Blue Gal from The Professional Left, I intend to vote for whoever Bernie Sanders is going to vote for. I think that is a good metric for deciding my vote.
Donald Trump Painting Revealing His Princess Tiny Meat Banned On Facebook
From Artlyst:
A pastel drawing by the gender fluid artist Illma Gore depicting Republican hopeful Donald Trump has resulted in censorship of the artist by Facebook. The irreverent image shows billionaire Trump in his briefs with his small anatomy poking out of the flap.
Illma Gore is a Los Angeles-based feminist artist. She created the artwork after forming the slogan, "You can be a massive prick, despite what is in your pants," Trump is depicted with a micro-penis. Showing his fat belly hanging over his legs. The image has gone viral on Twitter, Instagram, and Snapchat, and is currently receiving broadsheet media exposure from dozens of newspapers. "Not everyone is psyched about Trump's junk being all up in their feed, however. Shortly after she posted the painting on February 10, Facebook notified her that her account was being suspended temporarily. The site has since been intermittently blocking her for three day-periods for reposting the image. Why keep posting an image that is certain to get you banned? "I am doing it to rebuke censorship,” the artist stated.
The original artwork was for sale on eBay earlier this week but Gore was blocked from posting the image in full and uncensored glory on the auction site. eBay later agreed that the picture fell under the "art" category which does allow nudity. The eBay auction has now finished. Gore said she will donate a portion of the proceeds to homeless teens at a charity organization called Safe Place for Youth.
Monday afternoon, Facebook notified Gore that she temporarily lost her Facebook privileges again. The notice said the ban would last for 13 hours, but it seems to be back up again.
In the past Facebook has been criticised for banning works of art by Gerhard Richter, Gustave Courbet and even the statue of Denmarks little Mermaid in an unprecedented outbreak of prudishness not seen since Victorian times.
www.illmagore.com
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