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Top 10 Conservative Idiots #7-15: Dancing With The Czars Edition
Last edited Thu Oct 17, 2019, 05:22 PM - Edit history (1)
Top 10 Conservative Idiots #7-15: Dancing With The Czars Edition
Welcome back to the Top 10 Conservative Idiots! Websites, please stop asking me to review your updated privacy policy because we both know that ain’t happening! Wait, what do you mean that you sold my account to a call center in New Mexico and my account has been hacked? Damn! I should have read the privacy policy! What’s up Arizona State? How you guys doing? Fucking good? Yeah! So you know that it’s very rare that I start with a Top 10 update. Thank you sir! I always love the one guy in the back who yells out “wooooooo!!!”. But remember back in Idiots #7-3, I know that was only 3 months ago but it does feel like an eternity doesn’t it? The story I specifically want to talk about is that remember the Ford dealer who gave you a flag, a gun and a Bible when you bought a new F-150? And then Ford put the kibosh on that faster than you could say “Jesus walks”? Well guess what? There’s another dealer trying the same stunt! Yes, we go to South Carolina for this one where another Ford dealership is giving away a flag, a gun and a Bible with the purchase of their cars. Yes, that is happening again! Well, summer might be over - it’s too early for rerun season! I mean really, first of all way to placate the stereotype guys. And my other favorite part of this – just like the last guy, they say this is “non political”. Bullshit! You just made it political! Guns and Bibles are political statements! And where is Ford in this? They put the kibosh on the last guy who tried but this one? Not a peep because apparently they exploited a loophole that allowed for “local promotions”. Well, this one stinks and we are going to keep an eye on it, especially since we're not doing People Are Dumb this week. That’s enough of the intro, we got a lot of idiocy to get to. But first John Oliver trolls Accuweather by using their own imagery to explain why nominating their CEO to head the National Weather Service is a terrible idea:
Holy shit, Trump is losing it big time. in the first slot, is of course Donald Trump (1) we have to talk about the insane video that aired at his resort during a pro-Trump event in which it was a doctored scene from one of my favorite movies of the last few years, this is shockingly evil. In the second slot, is of course the guy who we currently call president, Donald J. Trump (2) and he may have jumpstarted World War III when he pulled US troops from the Syrian border because, reasons, and his explanation is even more jaw-dropping! At slot #3 this week, is also Donald Trump (3) and we have to talk about his relentless mocking of disgraced FBI agent Peter Strzok at his Minneapolis rally, but the scary thing is that these rallies are actually working. Taking the fourth slot this week, is Trump’s crooked fixer attorney Rudy Giuliani (4) and is anyone shocked that his aides may have violated campaign finance laws? Anyone? Bueller? Well, we’re not either! Taking the 5th slot this week – is our weekly investigative piece, Top 10 Investigates (5). The city of Stockton in California has a rather interesting proposal to help people deal with their financial woes, and we will tell you about their new free money program and what is entitled! In slot #6 this week of course is our weekly visit to the Holy Church Of The Top 10 in "Holy Shit" (6), and this week our resident pastor is back from attending the Values Voters Summit. How long before he casts an exorcism on the Unholy Dark One? For the seventh slot this week, is our favorite segment “Beating A Dead Horse”. Is it OK to show your support for the protestors in Hong Kong? Well, in a perfect example of life imitating art, China is censoring people’s opinions on the Hong Kong protests, and South Park called them out on it, and the result is as utterly predictable as you might expect. In the 8th slot this week, after the Atlanta Braves fail to advance in the playoffs again, we ask how their obnoxious chant known as the “Tomahawk Chop” is still a thing. Taking the #9 (NEIN!!!) slot this week we have a new “I Need A Drink” and we’re going to combine two separate entries and tell you about a fun new way to drink whiskey and a fun new way to take your frustrations out at sporting events! Finally this week, we have “Keeping Up With The Candidates” and we’re going to talk about what went down in the Democratic Debates last night and there was quite a lot to unpack there! And the palate cleanser for all this madness, we have some live music from a band who I am personally a fan of, Fitz & The Tantrums! Really buy their new album "All The Feels" or you are no friend of this show! Enjoy! And as always don’t forget the key!
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[font size="8"]Donald Trump
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Where does the line between creating a meme and threatening violence go? Well, one of my favorite movies as you know has been Kingsman: The Secret Service. And if you are not aware of the plot of that movie, the movie’s villain, Richmond Valentine, played by Samuel L. Jackson, uses a high-pitched frequency found in cell phone SIM cards that was discovered by Professor Arnold, played by Mark Hamill. This frequency makes people go on an absolutely batshit crazy destructive rampage. One of the scenes in that movie involves Valentine testing out this frequency on a church full of worshippers, to which Harry Hart, played by Colin Firth, proceeds to shoot up the church, to the tune of Lynyrd Skynyrd’s classic song Freebird. So this movie is back in the news this week because this happened.
The latest incarnation in President Trump's years-long antagonism with the media and Hollywood has raised more than a few eyebrows, after organizers at a pro-Trump event edited him into a particularly violent scene from 2014's Kingsman: The Secret Service. The scene depicts Trump in place of a character played by Colin Firth, as he slaughters a church filled with dozens of enemies - whose own faces have been replaced with political and media critics of the President.
In the original Kingsman, Harry Hart (Firth's character) is inside the church, which is located in the Deep South, in order to follow a lead on a hate group. When the movie's villain Valentine (played by Samuel L. Jackson) uses mind control to turn the churchgoers against Hart, he's forced to shoot his way through at least three dozen people. The scene, like much of the violence in the Kingsman franchise, is mildly graphic, but that violence takes on an undeniably different meaning in this edited version.
The edited Kingsman scene presents President Trump shooting the superimposed images of figures like Kathy Griffin and former President Barack Obama, as well as logos representing various media companies such as CNN. It was made by and presented at the American Priority Conference, an explicitly pro-Trump alternative to the Conservative Political Action Conference, which was held at Trump Doral Miami, a hotel owned by the President. Attendees included his son Donald Trump, Jr. and former press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders, but not Trump himself. The White House has since stated that the President "strongly condemns the video" based on what's been relayed to him.
https://screenrant.com/president-donald-trump-kingsman-movie-edit-press-killing/
In the original Kingsman, Harry Hart (Firth's character) is inside the church, which is located in the Deep South, in order to follow a lead on a hate group. When the movie's villain Valentine (played by Samuel L. Jackson) uses mind control to turn the churchgoers against Hart, he's forced to shoot his way through at least three dozen people. The scene, like much of the violence in the Kingsman franchise, is mildly graphic, but that violence takes on an undeniably different meaning in this edited version.
The edited Kingsman scene presents President Trump shooting the superimposed images of figures like Kathy Griffin and former President Barack Obama, as well as logos representing various media companies such as CNN. It was made by and presented at the American Priority Conference, an explicitly pro-Trump alternative to the Conservative Political Action Conference, which was held at Trump Doral Miami, a hotel owned by the President. Attendees included his son Donald Trump, Jr. and former press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders, but not Trump himself. The White House has since stated that the President "strongly condemns the video" based on what's been relayed to him.
https://screenrant.com/president-donald-trump-kingsman-movie-edit-press-killing/
Yeah BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!! We’re not going to show the GIF because we don’t want to encourage that sort of thing. But yeah, really fuck these people. It’s pretty clear that they want us all dead, so yeah fuck you. Maybe you should take a page from Mr. Hart here, manners maketh man. Let me show you what that means. But how far does this go? Well shit, even Geraldo thinks this is going too far, and this is the man who claimed to know what was in Al Capone’s vault!
The hosts of Fox News’ The Five this afternoon mostly dismissed the outrage over the video of President Trump edited into the infamous church scene from Kingsman depicting him killing the “fake news.”
Geraldo Rivera, however, said it went too far for him:
“I was very, very outraged by Kathy Griffin when she had the head of the president, remember, and she was excoriated for it, almost wrecked her career, which rebounded because Trump hatred was sufficient and brought her back and made her popular again. But I think it’s very dangerous when you start going there. I don’t like it. It’s not funny. It may be satire, but it’s a bridge too far for me. I think that you’ve got to, you know, you have to condemn it and have no tolerance for it.”
“It is not inciting violence,” Jeanine Pirro responded.
“I’m not a shrink, I don’t know,” Rivera said.
“It’s a legal question, inciting violence,” Pirro said.
“I don’t like when the president is the target of the parody and I don’t like it when the president is the parody-er,” Rivera said.
https://www.mediaite.com/tv/geraldo-rivera-that-trump-video-a-bridge-too-far-for-me-you-have-to-condemn-it/
Geraldo Rivera, however, said it went too far for him:
“I was very, very outraged by Kathy Griffin when she had the head of the president, remember, and she was excoriated for it, almost wrecked her career, which rebounded because Trump hatred was sufficient and brought her back and made her popular again. But I think it’s very dangerous when you start going there. I don’t like it. It’s not funny. It may be satire, but it’s a bridge too far for me. I think that you’ve got to, you know, you have to condemn it and have no tolerance for it.”
“It is not inciting violence,” Jeanine Pirro responded.
“I’m not a shrink, I don’t know,” Rivera said.
“It’s a legal question, inciting violence,” Pirro said.
“I don’t like when the president is the target of the parody and I don’t like it when the president is the parody-er,” Rivera said.
https://www.mediaite.com/tv/geraldo-rivera-that-trump-video-a-bridge-too-far-for-me-you-have-to-condemn-it/
That is a good question! And what’s really ironic is that these are the same people who thought that Kathy Griffin’s famous severed head photo was a threat to Trump but this video? Ah, come on, it’s just a harmless video! And you know what? Why don’t we ask Ms. Griffin what she thinks about this unbelievable atrocity?
A violent video recently shown at a Trump resort shows a gunman made to look like President Trump hunting down the president’s critics and members of the media.
The video was shown last week during a conference of the president’s supporters at the Trump National Doral Miami, the New York Times reported Sunday evening.
The Times said it obtained the video from a man who attended the conference and recorded the footage with his phone. The clip was posted online and is disturbing.
The video includes a logo for Trump’s 2020 re-election campaign and shows the gunman walking through a church, shooting, stabbing and beating members of the news media, celebrities, and Trump’s political rivals. The Trump campaign told the Times it had nothing to do with the video.
“That video was not produced by the campaign, and we do not condone violence,” said campaign spokesman Tim Murtaugh.
The footage includes a scene from the film Kingsman: The Secret Service.
The video shows Trump’s head on the body of a man who walks through the “Church of Fake News,” and opens fire on people resembling his critics. The footage is set to music and shows the gunman targeting parishioners whose faces have been replaced by the logos of media organizations..
https://deadline.com/2019/10/video-shown-at-trump-resort-shows-presidential-look-alike-shooting-critics-1202759269/
The video was shown last week during a conference of the president’s supporters at the Trump National Doral Miami, the New York Times reported Sunday evening.
The Times said it obtained the video from a man who attended the conference and recorded the footage with his phone. The clip was posted online and is disturbing.
The video includes a logo for Trump’s 2020 re-election campaign and shows the gunman walking through a church, shooting, stabbing and beating members of the news media, celebrities, and Trump’s political rivals. The Trump campaign told the Times it had nothing to do with the video.
“That video was not produced by the campaign, and we do not condone violence,” said campaign spokesman Tim Murtaugh.
The footage includes a scene from the film Kingsman: The Secret Service.
The video shows Trump’s head on the body of a man who walks through the “Church of Fake News,” and opens fire on people resembling his critics. The footage is set to music and shows the gunman targeting parishioners whose faces have been replaced by the logos of media organizations..
https://deadline.com/2019/10/video-shown-at-trump-resort-shows-presidential-look-alike-shooting-critics-1202759269/
Oh come on, you know Trump saw this and laughed his ass off. I mean this is the guy who threw Paper Towel brand paper towels at the Puerto Rico victims! Paper Towel brand paper towels: For the 1st world leader who treats 1st world disasters with a third world budget! Seriously though, Trump, we suspect, is the kind of guy who gets his jollies from torturing puppies and denying his employees bathroom privileges. So who made this video? Well there’s plenty of people who we could point fingers at, but one thing is perfectly clear who’s behind it:
The creator of a gruesome video that showed a fake President Donald Trump killing journalists and political opponents and that was played at a meeting of a pro-Trump group over the weekend is part of a loose network of right-wing provocateurs with a direct line to the White House.
The unidentified creator of the video operates under the name of “The GeekzTeam” and has proclaimed on Twitter to be a “red blooded American with ZERO tolerance for the liberal agenda.” Like many in the online group, the person specializes in creating pro-Trump internet content, often by remixing the president’s image into clips from popular movies and television shows.
Another of the provocateurs, Logan Cook, who often has posted the videos on MemeWorld, his website, participated in a social media summit at the White House in July and took his children to meet the president in the Oval Office, accompanied by Dan Scavino, the White House social media director.
The connections underscore how the president’s escalating war on what he calls the “fake news” media has elevated people from the far-right fringe into allies who defend Trump with extreme language and images.
http://www.startribune.com/violent-video-was-product-of-right-wing-provocateurs-and-trump-allies/563102492/
The unidentified creator of the video operates under the name of “The GeekzTeam” and has proclaimed on Twitter to be a “red blooded American with ZERO tolerance for the liberal agenda.” Like many in the online group, the person specializes in creating pro-Trump internet content, often by remixing the president’s image into clips from popular movies and television shows.
Another of the provocateurs, Logan Cook, who often has posted the videos on MemeWorld, his website, participated in a social media summit at the White House in July and took his children to meet the president in the Oval Office, accompanied by Dan Scavino, the White House social media director.
The connections underscore how the president’s escalating war on what he calls the “fake news” media has elevated people from the far-right fringe into allies who defend Trump with extreme language and images.
http://www.startribune.com/violent-video-was-product-of-right-wing-provocateurs-and-trump-allies/563102492/
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[font size="8"]Donald Trump
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While we’re arguing about videos here, the guy who we currently call president, Donald J. Trump, has just one thing on his mind:
Link to tweet
That’s right – he may have inadvertently started World War III, but at least he has time to take time out of his busy schedule to watch TV and tweet about it! Really, Dancing With The Stars is what he cares about today? Well, he’s dancing with the czars! Ah, see what I did there? Yes, of course I’m stalling because we’re about to talk about something extremely horrifying! Yes, we got to talk about Trump’s escalating conflict between Turkey and Syria, and remember how I keep pointing out that the Trump administration takes the wrong answer to everything? Why it looks like he’s about to bring back ISIS, and they’re about to be bigger and stronger than ever!
President Donald Trump’s betrayal of the Kurds stung deeply. “They trusted us and we broke that trust. It’s a stain on the American conscience.” These, according to The New York Times, are the searing words of an Army officer who has worked alongside the Kurds in northern Syria.
Kurdish forces played a central role in aiding the United States in fighting the Islamic State. But in a phone call a week ago Sunday, Trump gave the green light to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan to invade northern Syria—and, in the process, to engage in what even one of Trump’s most loyal supporters, Senator Lindsey Graham, describes as the “ethnic cleansing” of the Kurds.
According to Jennifer Griffin and Melissa Leon of Fox News, Trump was supposed to tell Erdoğan to stay north of the border, but instead “went off script.” By Wednesday, the Turkish offensive began, with Erdoğan’s aim to push back the Syrian Kurds from the border region. The results have been swift and brutal: the displacement of more than 100,000 people, executions and war crimes, the escape of hundreds of Islamic State prisoners. (If Islamic State fighters escape, they’ll “be escaping to Europe,” Trump said last week—as if Europe’s problems don’t affect the United States.) For the Kurds, the consequences of America’s policy change will only get worse. “I don’t know how many people will die. A lot of people will die,” a senior military source told Fox News. Yesterday the Trump administration tried frantically to make Turkey stand down, but enormous damage has already been done.
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2019/10/trump-betrayed-kurds-whos-next/600004/
Kurdish forces played a central role in aiding the United States in fighting the Islamic State. But in a phone call a week ago Sunday, Trump gave the green light to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan to invade northern Syria—and, in the process, to engage in what even one of Trump’s most loyal supporters, Senator Lindsey Graham, describes as the “ethnic cleansing” of the Kurds.
According to Jennifer Griffin and Melissa Leon of Fox News, Trump was supposed to tell Erdoğan to stay north of the border, but instead “went off script.” By Wednesday, the Turkish offensive began, with Erdoğan’s aim to push back the Syrian Kurds from the border region. The results have been swift and brutal: the displacement of more than 100,000 people, executions and war crimes, the escape of hundreds of Islamic State prisoners. (If Islamic State fighters escape, they’ll “be escaping to Europe,” Trump said last week—as if Europe’s problems don’t affect the United States.) For the Kurds, the consequences of America’s policy change will only get worse. “I don’t know how many people will die. A lot of people will die,” a senior military source told Fox News. Yesterday the Trump administration tried frantically to make Turkey stand down, but enormous damage has already been done.
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2019/10/trump-betrayed-kurds-whos-next/600004/
Yes, why so serious? See, Trump isn’t like your normal president. He’s a guy without a plan or a clue, and he has zero fucks to give to anyone who doesn’t kiss his ass 100%. See, the Art Of The Deal is all about loyalty, and the more loyal you are to him, the better. Well, that’s where we get ridiculous excuses for what he’s doing to that region like what Liz Cheney said:
In spite of President Donald Trump’s effective endorsement of the incursion, House Republican Conference Chair Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., has blamed Turkey’s invasion of northern Syria on the Democrats pursuing an impeachment inquiry against the commander-in-chief.
In a White House statement announcing that Turkey “would soon be moving forward” with their operation after the withdrawal of American troops, Trump appeared to endorse Turkey’s “long-planned’ attack on Kurdish allies in the region. The president later claimed that he had not endorsed the invasion, and he has since announced sanctions against Turkey (though they do not seem to have stalled its assault).
Cheney, who has been outspoken against allowing Turkey to slaughter U.S. allies, told Fox News that she blames Democrats for the Turkish operation, which Trump essentially green lit after a call with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
"I also want to say that the impeachment proceedings that are going on and what the Democrats are doing themselves to try to weaken this president is part of this — it was not an accident that the Turks chose this moment to roll across the border," Cheney said during a Monday interview on "Fox & Friends." "And I think the Democrats have got to pay very careful attention to the damage that they're doing with the impeachment proceedings."
https://www.salon.com/2019/10/15/president-trump-abandoned-the-kurds-but-liz-cheney-blames-turkeys-invasion-of-syria-on-impeachment/
In a White House statement announcing that Turkey “would soon be moving forward” with their operation after the withdrawal of American troops, Trump appeared to endorse Turkey’s “long-planned’ attack on Kurdish allies in the region. The president later claimed that he had not endorsed the invasion, and he has since announced sanctions against Turkey (though they do not seem to have stalled its assault).
Cheney, who has been outspoken against allowing Turkey to slaughter U.S. allies, told Fox News that she blames Democrats for the Turkish operation, which Trump essentially green lit after a call with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
"I also want to say that the impeachment proceedings that are going on and what the Democrats are doing themselves to try to weaken this president is part of this — it was not an accident that the Turks chose this moment to roll across the border," Cheney said during a Monday interview on "Fox & Friends." "And I think the Democrats have got to pay very careful attention to the damage that they're doing with the impeachment proceedings."
https://www.salon.com/2019/10/15/president-trump-abandoned-the-kurds-but-liz-cheney-blames-turkeys-invasion-of-syria-on-impeachment/
Yeah BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!! Remember there was a Top 10 one time that I did where the news got so disturbing that I had to abandon the entry and talk about puppies instead? Well we might be doing that depending on how dark this gets. But with these two buffoons Trump and Erdogan in charge, you know they are laughing at this. If you’re wondering how bad this can get, well, we’re just getting started!
President Donald Trump didn’t make a “mistake” in pulling troops out of northeastern Syria last week, as many have charged. It’s what he has long wanted to do. The mistake was not understanding—and, more to the point, not caring about—the consequences.
Trump’s fateful phone call with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Oct. 6, giving him the green light to cross the Syrian border and crush the Kurds without U.S. resistance, did more than any single act has ever done to demolish the post-WWII global order and isolate America from the rest of the world. This, again, has been Trump’s goal since he entered the White House.
Until recently, one or more of his advisers—Jim Mattis, H.R.
McMaster, John Bolton, or Gen. Joseph Dunford—obstructed or dissuaded him from withdrawing. Now all of those advisers are gone, and their replacements lack either the clout or the gumption to push back.
Trump may believe that he’s doing the right thing, that abandoning the rest of the world’s problems will “make America great again.” He doesn’t realize that America’s might and wealth depend, in large measure, on the cooperation it receives from others—either offered or coerced—in pursuing its interests around the world.
https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2019/10/trump-kurds-world-order-betrayal.html
Trump’s fateful phone call with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Oct. 6, giving him the green light to cross the Syrian border and crush the Kurds without U.S. resistance, did more than any single act has ever done to demolish the post-WWII global order and isolate America from the rest of the world. This, again, has been Trump’s goal since he entered the White House.
Until recently, one or more of his advisers—Jim Mattis, H.R.
McMaster, John Bolton, or Gen. Joseph Dunford—obstructed or dissuaded him from withdrawing. Now all of those advisers are gone, and their replacements lack either the clout or the gumption to push back.
Trump may believe that he’s doing the right thing, that abandoning the rest of the world’s problems will “make America great again.” He doesn’t realize that America’s might and wealth depend, in large measure, on the cooperation it receives from others—either offered or coerced—in pursuing its interests around the world.
https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2019/10/trump-kurds-world-order-betrayal.html
By the way, in case you’re wondering what actual Marines think of this move, let’s ask them! Yeah, actual Army officers are well, let’s say less than amused at what is happening with the Turkey – Syria – Kurdistan conflict that could escalate into World War III. We have some absolutely maniacal people in charge and they are stabbing even their own armies in the back! Who knows how horrifying this could possibly get?
A former top Marine officer who led special operations troops in the fight against ISIS is denouncing President Donald Trump's decision to pull American troops out of Syria amid a Turkish attack on the Kurds, saying it amounts to a betrayal of allies that will harm U.S. national security.
Andrew Milburn, a Marine colonel who retired in March as the deputy commander of U.S. special operations forces in the Middle East, told NBC News that the small number of U.S. troops in Syria "bought us a lot for a very low price."
"By withdrawing these guys, who knows where this will end," said Milburn, who is one of the few prominent battlefield veterans of the ISIS campaign to express on the record what many current and former soldiers have been saying privately.
"As a guy who has fought [alongside] the Kurds," he said, "on an emotional level this is gut-wrenching."
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/mideast/top-special-ops-marine-who-fought-kurds-blasts-trump-move-n1065901
Andrew Milburn, a Marine colonel who retired in March as the deputy commander of U.S. special operations forces in the Middle East, told NBC News that the small number of U.S. troops in Syria "bought us a lot for a very low price."
"By withdrawing these guys, who knows where this will end," said Milburn, who is one of the few prominent battlefield veterans of the ISIS campaign to express on the record what many current and former soldiers have been saying privately.
"As a guy who has fought [alongside] the Kurds," he said, "on an emotional level this is gut-wrenching."
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/mideast/top-special-ops-marine-who-fought-kurds-blasts-trump-move-n1065901
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So there’s plenty of reasons to hate Donald Trump right now, so let’s add to the pile, shall we? Yeah we got to talk about his rallies in Minneapolis and NOLA, and we’re not done. There’s apparently more MAGA hate rallies planned in the next couple of weeks. Yeah Donald Trump is on his Deplorable America tour and he also has a stop planned in Houston! Better get your tickets guys and gals! Because you won’t want to miss Trump’s classic routines like this when he mocked Peter Strzok and read his texts like he was operating a phone sex line. You know what? Forget the story, let’s show the clip first then talk about the story because it’s spectacular.
Yeah I know that clip is from Fox News, sue me. But still… I don’t know whether to get a room or not, seriously, that’s hot!
Donald Trump appeared to perform an impression of former FBI agent Peter Strzok and attorney Lisa Page having sex while the president was in the middle of a speech during a rally in Minnesota on Thursday.
Mr Trump slammed his hand on the podium and shouted “I love you, Lisa,” and “I love you too, Peter” before moaning “Lisa, I love you, Lisa! Lisa! Oh, God, I love you Lisa!”
The president had previously called Mr Strzok a “sick loser” amid investigations by special counsel Robert Mueller into Russian meddling in US elections. Mr Mueller removed Mr Strzok from his team after discovering anti-Trump text messages between Mr Strzok and Ms Page, who had an affair.
The president has falsely claimed that the texts had been deleted and has frequently argued that the messages amount to “corruption” within an investigation that followed Hillary Clinton’s loss in the 2016 presidential election.
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/trump-sex-video-fbi-rally-peter-strzok-lisa-page-a9152806.html
Mr Trump slammed his hand on the podium and shouted “I love you, Lisa,” and “I love you too, Peter” before moaning “Lisa, I love you, Lisa! Lisa! Oh, God, I love you Lisa!”
The president had previously called Mr Strzok a “sick loser” amid investigations by special counsel Robert Mueller into Russian meddling in US elections. Mr Mueller removed Mr Strzok from his team after discovering anti-Trump text messages between Mr Strzok and Ms Page, who had an affair.
The president has falsely claimed that the texts had been deleted and has frequently argued that the messages amount to “corruption” within an investigation that followed Hillary Clinton’s loss in the 2016 presidential election.
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/trump-sex-video-fbi-rally-peter-strzok-lisa-page-a9152806.html
Yeah seriously! Whew… I mean if that’s the kind of family friendly content you’d come to expect from him at this point, wait until you see what he has in store for Houston! By the way, what the Trump cult lacks in subtlety, they more than make up for in comedic timing, just look at this video that was circulating around Twitter last week:
Link to tweet
Yeah that happened! So here’s what actually happened outside while Trump was barfing his brain inside:
Rep. Ilhan Omar protested outside President Donald Trump’s Oct. 10 campaign rally in Minneapolis.
AP’S ASSESSMENT: False. Omar was visiting Morocco from Oct. 6-11 and was not in her home state of Minnesota.
THE FACTS: Omar was on a five-day trade trip to Morocco with Democratic Reps. Marcia Fudge, from Ohio, and Karen Bass, of California, when social media users began circulating photos and video suggesting that the congresswoman was involved in protests outside the Trump rally in Minneapolis.
The scene was chaotic outside the Target Center where anti-Trump protesters filled the streets well before the president’s arrival. Andy Mannix, a reporter with the Star Tribune, captured video of the scene, which included a woman wearing a headscarf and face covering. After he posted the video on social media people began sharing it, falsely stating it showed Omar at the protests.
Mannix said he hadn’t given any thought to the woman in the video at the time.
http://www.startribune.com/ap-factcheck-u-s-rep-ilhan-omar-did-not-protest-outside-trump-s-minneapolis-rally/563103062/
AP’S ASSESSMENT: False. Omar was visiting Morocco from Oct. 6-11 and was not in her home state of Minnesota.
THE FACTS: Omar was on a five-day trade trip to Morocco with Democratic Reps. Marcia Fudge, from Ohio, and Karen Bass, of California, when social media users began circulating photos and video suggesting that the congresswoman was involved in protests outside the Trump rally in Minneapolis.
The scene was chaotic outside the Target Center where anti-Trump protesters filled the streets well before the president’s arrival. Andy Mannix, a reporter with the Star Tribune, captured video of the scene, which included a woman wearing a headscarf and face covering. After he posted the video on social media people began sharing it, falsely stating it showed Omar at the protests.
Mannix said he hadn’t given any thought to the woman in the video at the time.
http://www.startribune.com/ap-factcheck-u-s-rep-ilhan-omar-did-not-protest-outside-trump-s-minneapolis-rally/563103062/
As if the Minneapolis rally weren’t enough, Trump went to NOLA to campaign against Louisiana governor Jon Bel Edwards. I mean come on, haven’t the people of NOLA suffered enough already? Last thing they need is the Smoothie King Center full of MAGAholes. I mean come on people, this is Donald Trump live and uncensored here! Well, he’s been uncensored before but now you can buy his stand up comedy specials for the low low price of $29.99 each!
First he claimed the political establishment was rigging the 2016 election against him. Then he accused special counsel Robert Mueller of overseeing an “attempted takeover of the government.” Now President Donald Trump is telling his supporters he’s the victim of a “coup” that House Democrats have disguised as a legitimate impeachment inquiry.
It’s the same warlike strategy Trump has employed throughout his presidency: complain relentlessly about partisan constraints on his power, furiously berate political opponents, and use the victim card to bond with Americans who feel similarly betrayed by the political system. And yet, it’s unlike anything voters have seen before.
Story Continued Below
The president made it known on Friday, in his second appearance on the campaign trail since Democrats launched their impeachment probe, that he is eager to stoke an already-toxic political environment by being the rawest, angriest and least censored version of himself.
Story Continued Below
“They’ve been trying to stop us for the past three years with a lot of crap,” he stated matter-of-factly about his Democratic opponents on Capitol Hill.
https://www.politico.com/news/2019/10/11/trump-impeachment-campaign-044829
It’s the same warlike strategy Trump has employed throughout his presidency: complain relentlessly about partisan constraints on his power, furiously berate political opponents, and use the victim card to bond with Americans who feel similarly betrayed by the political system. And yet, it’s unlike anything voters have seen before.
Story Continued Below
The president made it known on Friday, in his second appearance on the campaign trail since Democrats launched their impeachment probe, that he is eager to stoke an already-toxic political environment by being the rawest, angriest and least censored version of himself.
Story Continued Below
“They’ve been trying to stop us for the past three years with a lot of crap,” he stated matter-of-factly about his Democratic opponents on Capitol Hill.
https://www.politico.com/news/2019/10/11/trump-impeachment-campaign-044829
Yeah we can expect a lot of thumbs up in his next HBO special! Although I really want to see the tentative boxing match between Trump and Bill Maher, you know that’s going to happen. But while we mock and mock the ridiculous shit that Trump says on a daily basis, we should be paying more attention to what’s happening behind the scenes, because, while, Trump’s rallies are insane, they surprisingly are effective. Hold your boos.
Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards, a Democrat, will face a Republican candidate in a runoff after he failed to get more than 50 percent of the vote in Saturday's "jungle primary" in his GOP-friendly state.
President Donald Trump rallied on Friday in the state to support the Republican candidates on the eve of the election, calling Edwards "a liberal Democrat who has sold you out." On Saturday the president tweeted his congratulations, predicting the state would soon have businessman Eddie Rispone as a new governor.
The jungle primary meant that instead of top candidates of each party facing off one-on-one, any number of candidates from any part could compete for a final against the top two.
On Friday Trump asked both Republican candidates, Rep. Ralph Abraham and businessman Eddie Rispone, to join him on stage to offer brief remarks. Rispone will face Edwards after narrowly edging out Abraham.
The president said that didn't matter, as long as they kept Edwards under the 50 percent threshold in order to force a runoff next month between the governor and whoever was the top-finishing Republican.
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2020-election/incumbent-governor-democrat-faces-runoff-trump-territory-n1065461
President Donald Trump rallied on Friday in the state to support the Republican candidates on the eve of the election, calling Edwards "a liberal Democrat who has sold you out." On Saturday the president tweeted his congratulations, predicting the state would soon have businessman Eddie Rispone as a new governor.
The jungle primary meant that instead of top candidates of each party facing off one-on-one, any number of candidates from any part could compete for a final against the top two.
On Friday Trump asked both Republican candidates, Rep. Ralph Abraham and businessman Eddie Rispone, to join him on stage to offer brief remarks. Rispone will face Edwards after narrowly edging out Abraham.
The president said that didn't matter, as long as they kept Edwards under the 50 percent threshold in order to force a runoff next month between the governor and whoever was the top-finishing Republican.
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2020-election/incumbent-governor-democrat-faces-runoff-trump-territory-n1065461
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[font size="8"]Rudy Giuliani
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Let’s lighten things up and talk about Rudy Giuliani shall we? Hoo boy did he step in some seriously deep shit! And, as par for this administration, he stepped in a perpetually huge, steaming pile of certified grade A bullshit. So while Trump is making a spectacularly failed attempt to get the impeachment scandal off him and onto Hunter Biden, because reasons, it turns out that Rudy Giuliani is indeed stepping into that pile of bullshit that Trump is accusing Hunter Biden of. So to recap, Giuliani’s associates got arrested and now he’s being questioned. This gets better and better!
Federal prosecutors unsealed charges on Thursday against two men who have aided President Trump’s efforts to gather damaging information in Ukraine about his political opponents, a criminal case that signaled growing legal exposure for the president’s allies as Mr. Trump tries to blunt an impeachment inquiry in Congress.
The indictment of the two men, Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman, sketched a complex scheme to violate campaign finance laws and did not accuse Mr. Trump of wrongdoing. But it revealed new details about the push to pressure Ukraine: a campaign encouraged by Mr. Trump, led by his private lawyer Rudolph W. Giuliani and assisted by obscure figures like Mr. Parnas and Mr. Fruman.
Mr. Trump continues to defend the effort, which is the focus of the impeachment inquiry that House Democrats opened last month. The new indictment, however, suggests the first criminal implications of the shadow foreign policy that Mr. Giuliani pushed on behalf of the president.
And it is another example of the extent to which the messy power dynamics of Ukraine — a former Soviet republic and close American ally with a recent history of political upheaval — now dominate discussions about Mr. Trump’s future. The impeachment inquiry began after a C.I.A. officer who has worked at the White House raised alarms about a July telephone call in which Mr. Trump seemed to suggest that American military aid was contingent on Ukraine’s help in unearthing information that could help Mr. Trump politically.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/10/us/politics/lev-parnas-igor-fruman-arrested-giuliani.html
The indictment of the two men, Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman, sketched a complex scheme to violate campaign finance laws and did not accuse Mr. Trump of wrongdoing. But it revealed new details about the push to pressure Ukraine: a campaign encouraged by Mr. Trump, led by his private lawyer Rudolph W. Giuliani and assisted by obscure figures like Mr. Parnas and Mr. Fruman.
Mr. Trump continues to defend the effort, which is the focus of the impeachment inquiry that House Democrats opened last month. The new indictment, however, suggests the first criminal implications of the shadow foreign policy that Mr. Giuliani pushed on behalf of the president.
And it is another example of the extent to which the messy power dynamics of Ukraine — a former Soviet republic and close American ally with a recent history of political upheaval — now dominate discussions about Mr. Trump’s future. The impeachment inquiry began after a C.I.A. officer who has worked at the White House raised alarms about a July telephone call in which Mr. Trump seemed to suggest that American military aid was contingent on Ukraine’s help in unearthing information that could help Mr. Trump politically.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/10/us/politics/lev-parnas-igor-fruman-arrested-giuliani.html
I’m pretty sure that’s a live look in on Trump when he got that news! While Trump is off barfing his brain in an attempt to flip districts, his attorneys are stepping in some steaming bullshit. You know things are fucked up when your attorneys have their own attorneys. Is this Attorney-ception? So just how far does this “dark money” case go? Just like your favorite quarterback, it could… GO… ALL… THE… WAY!!!
Federal prosecutors unsealed charges on Thursday against two men who have aided President Trump’s efforts to gather damaging information in Ukraine about his political opponents, a criminal case that signaled growing legal exposure for the president’s allies as Mr. Trump tries to blunt an impeachment inquiry in Congress.
The indictment of the two men, Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman, sketched a complex scheme to violate campaign finance laws and did not accuse Mr. Trump of wrongdoing. But it revealed new details about the push to pressure Ukraine: a campaign encouraged by Mr. Trump, led by his private lawyer Rudolph W. Giuliani and assisted by obscure figures like Mr. Parnas and Mr. Fruman.
Mr. Trump continues to defend the effort, which is the focus of the impeachment inquiry that House Democrats opened last month. The new indictment, however, suggests the first criminal implications of the shadow foreign policy that Mr. Giuliani pushed on behalf of the president.
And it is another example of the extent to which the messy power dynamics of Ukraine — a former Soviet republic and close American ally with a recent history of political upheaval — now dominate discussions about Mr. Trump’s future. The impeachment inquiry began after a C.I.A. officer who has worked at the White House raised alarms about a July telephone call in which Mr. Trump seemed to suggest that American military aid was contingent on Ukraine’s help in unearthing information that could help Mr. Trump politically.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/10/us/politics/lev-parnas-igor-fruman-arrested-giuliani.html
The indictment of the two men, Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman, sketched a complex scheme to violate campaign finance laws and did not accuse Mr. Trump of wrongdoing. But it revealed new details about the push to pressure Ukraine: a campaign encouraged by Mr. Trump, led by his private lawyer Rudolph W. Giuliani and assisted by obscure figures like Mr. Parnas and Mr. Fruman.
Mr. Trump continues to defend the effort, which is the focus of the impeachment inquiry that House Democrats opened last month. The new indictment, however, suggests the first criminal implications of the shadow foreign policy that Mr. Giuliani pushed on behalf of the president.
And it is another example of the extent to which the messy power dynamics of Ukraine — a former Soviet republic and close American ally with a recent history of political upheaval — now dominate discussions about Mr. Trump’s future. The impeachment inquiry began after a C.I.A. officer who has worked at the White House raised alarms about a July telephone call in which Mr. Trump seemed to suggest that American military aid was contingent on Ukraine’s help in unearthing information that could help Mr. Trump politically.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/10/us/politics/lev-parnas-igor-fruman-arrested-giuliani.html
TOUCHDOWN!!!!!!! WOOOOOOOOO!!!!! Now you might be asking what’s Trump’s stock in all of this? Is he going down with the sinking ship known as the S.S. Trumptanic? Well while he’s attempting to dig up dirt on his political foes and it’s backfiring in his face big time. Well, just like George Bluth, Trump may have accidentally committed some light treason here, and he’s dragging everyone down with him.
President Donald Trump sought Friday to distance himself from attorney Rudy Giuliani, even casting doubts about whether the former New York mayor is still his lawyer.
Asked whether Giuliani remained his personal attorney, Trump said: “I don’t know.”
“I haven't spoken to Rudy,” Trump told reporters as he was leaving the White House for a political rally in Louisiana. “I spoke to him yesterday, briefly. He's a very good attorney and he has been my attorney, yeah sure.”
Giuliani told USA TODAY shortly afterward that he’s still Trump's lawyer. “He hasn't told me otherwise,” he said.
Giuliani has emerged as a central figure in the Ukraine scandal that has led to an impeachment inquiry against Trump over efforts to push Ukrainian officials to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden, the Democratic presidential frontrunner.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2019/10/11/rudy-giuliani-donald-trump-wont-say-if-ex-mayor-still-attorney/3945806002/
Asked whether Giuliani remained his personal attorney, Trump said: “I don’t know.”
“I haven't spoken to Rudy,” Trump told reporters as he was leaving the White House for a political rally in Louisiana. “I spoke to him yesterday, briefly. He's a very good attorney and he has been my attorney, yeah sure.”
Giuliani told USA TODAY shortly afterward that he’s still Trump's lawyer. “He hasn't told me otherwise,” he said.
Giuliani has emerged as a central figure in the Ukraine scandal that has led to an impeachment inquiry against Trump over efforts to push Ukrainian officials to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden, the Democratic presidential frontrunner.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2019/10/11/rudy-giuliani-donald-trump-wont-say-if-ex-mayor-still-attorney/3945806002/
Extra point is good!!! Trump has indeed distanced himself from his crooked attorney. He might be a step away from hiring Bob Loblaw. But my favorite part of this has to be the fact that Giulani is playing an armchair detective here. You can be Adrian Monk or Shawn Spencer or the Hardy Boys, but no, Giuliani is more like Mr. Magoo in this case. Hell, he looks like Mr. Magoo anyway!
When I last saw Rudy Giuliani for lunch, at the Trump International Hotel in Washington four weeks ago, his most pressing concern was that he had been locked out of his Instagram account. Giuliani, the former mayor of New York City and current personal attorney to President Donald Trump, had a young woman named Audra, who told me she had won the “hottiesfortrump” Reddit channel’s “Miss Deplorable” contest three years in a row, there to assist him. As Giuliani and I spoke, roughly a dozen tourists asked him to pose for photos and congratulated him on the “work” he was doing for the country.
Today, Giuliani, and specifically his “work” on behalf of the president’s 2020 reelection campaign, is a key part of a whistle-blower complaint describing alleged efforts to solicit foreign interference in the upcoming election—perhaps the most damning scandal of the Trump presidency to date. The complaint alleges that White House officials sought to “lock down” all records of Trump’s call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, during which Trump offered the help of Attorney General William Barr and Giuliani to investigate the dealings of former Vice President Joe Biden’s son Hunter in the country. It also alleges that State Department officials were “deeply concerned” about Giuliani’s subsequent conversations with Ukrainian leaders.
Even among the president’s closest allies, Giuliani is now the subject of scorn. When I reached him by phone this morning, following House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff’s release of the full whistle-blower complaint at the center of the Ukraine scandal, he was, put simply, very angry.
“It is impossible that the whistle-blower is a hero and I’m not. And I will be the hero! These morons—when this is over, I will be the hero,” Giuliani told me.
https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2019/09/giuliani-ukraine-trump-biden/598879/
Today, Giuliani, and specifically his “work” on behalf of the president’s 2020 reelection campaign, is a key part of a whistle-blower complaint describing alleged efforts to solicit foreign interference in the upcoming election—perhaps the most damning scandal of the Trump presidency to date. The complaint alleges that White House officials sought to “lock down” all records of Trump’s call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, during which Trump offered the help of Attorney General William Barr and Giuliani to investigate the dealings of former Vice President Joe Biden’s son Hunter in the country. It also alleges that State Department officials were “deeply concerned” about Giuliani’s subsequent conversations with Ukrainian leaders.
Even among the president’s closest allies, Giuliani is now the subject of scorn. When I reached him by phone this morning, following House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff’s release of the full whistle-blower complaint at the center of the Ukraine scandal, he was, put simply, very angry.
“It is impossible that the whistle-blower is a hero and I’m not. And I will be the hero! These morons—when this is over, I will be the hero,” Giuliani told me.
https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2019/09/giuliani-ukraine-trump-biden/598879/
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[font size="8"]Top 10 Investigates: Free Money
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It’s time to investigate beyond the headlines! This is Top 10 Investigates!
Everyone could use a little extra money, right? No matter if you’re spending money on a new appliance, putting that toward a car or car repairs, or taking that much needed vacation, an extra added bonus could be your ticket out of this mess. Well, that’s precisely the kind of thing that the city of Stockton, California was experimenting with. Universal income is a concept that is fairly common throughout most of Western Europe. But is relatively uncharted territory here in the United States. And there’s many reasons why – excessive corporate and billionaire greed among them. But what could you do with that extra money? Let’s find out!
The first data from an experiment in San Joaquin County where needy people get $500 a month from the government show they spend most of it on things such as food, clothing and utility bills.
The 18-month, privately funded program started in February and involves 125 people in Stockton. It is one of the few experiments testing the concept of “universal basic income,” an old idea getting new attention from Democrats seeking the 2020 presidential nomination.
Stockton mayor Michael Tubbs has committed to publicly releasing data throughout the experiment to win over skeptics and, he hopes, convince state lawmakers to implement the program statewide.
“In this country we have an issue with associating people who are struggling economically and people of color with vices like drug use, alcohol use, gambling,” Tubbs said. “I thought it was important to illustrate folks aren’t using this money for things like that. They are using it for literal necessities.”
But critics say the experiment likely won’t provide useful information from a social science perspective given its limited size and duration.
https://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2019/10/05/data-basic-income-stockton-experiment-spending/
The 18-month, privately funded program started in February and involves 125 people in Stockton. It is one of the few experiments testing the concept of “universal basic income,” an old idea getting new attention from Democrats seeking the 2020 presidential nomination.
Stockton mayor Michael Tubbs has committed to publicly releasing data throughout the experiment to win over skeptics and, he hopes, convince state lawmakers to implement the program statewide.
“In this country we have an issue with associating people who are struggling economically and people of color with vices like drug use, alcohol use, gambling,” Tubbs said. “I thought it was important to illustrate folks aren’t using this money for things like that. They are using it for literal necessities.”
But critics say the experiment likely won’t provide useful information from a social science perspective given its limited size and duration.
https://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2019/10/05/data-basic-income-stockton-experiment-spending/
Shocker – while most conservatives feel that the concept of universal income would bring crime, poverty and a huge spike in excessive drug and alcohol use, turns out that it had exactly the opposite effect! People used it to pay off credit cards and student loans, among other bills they don’t want. That talking point is officially bullshit. So was the experiment a success?
What would a needy person do if you gave him $500 a month, no strings attached?
Stockton, Calif., is finding out. The city is eight months into an 18-month experiment with basic income, the idea that the government should give citizens a regular infusion of unconditional free cash. And it just released the first batch of data about how recipients are spending the money.
It turns out, they’re mostly spending it on food, clothes, and utility bills.
The data is provisional — the basic income experiment still has 10 months to go — and the number of participants is small: 125 people (out of an estimated 311,000 Stockton residents) who live at or below the median income line (around $46,000), nearly half of whom are working full- or part-time.
But it offers a counter to critics of basic income, who often claim that people getting free money will blow it on frivolous things or addictive substances, and that they won’t bother to find work. The evidence does not support that belief.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/markets/a-california-city-is-giving-some-residents-dollar500-a-month-and-heres-how-they-spend-it/ar-AAIsvXB
Stockton, Calif., is finding out. The city is eight months into an 18-month experiment with basic income, the idea that the government should give citizens a regular infusion of unconditional free cash. And it just released the first batch of data about how recipients are spending the money.
It turns out, they’re mostly spending it on food, clothes, and utility bills.
The data is provisional — the basic income experiment still has 10 months to go — and the number of participants is small: 125 people (out of an estimated 311,000 Stockton residents) who live at or below the median income line (around $46,000), nearly half of whom are working full- or part-time.
But it offers a counter to critics of basic income, who often claim that people getting free money will blow it on frivolous things or addictive substances, and that they won’t bother to find work. The evidence does not support that belief.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/markets/a-california-city-is-giving-some-residents-dollar500-a-month-and-heres-how-they-spend-it/ar-AAIsvXB
So now what are the pros and cons of having such a program put into place? There’s plenty of arguments for, especially if you look at the increasingly escalating homeless crisis growing in nearly every major city in the United States. But with the checks rolling out, what can you expect in the future – poverty to continue or people to get out of poverty or pay the bills they need to pay?
Residents of Stockton, California have been through a lot: from widespread foreclosures to the city going bankrupt. But for a handful of residents, some help is here.
One hundred Stockton residents started getting monthly payment of $500 on Friday. They'll receive the extra money for 18 months as part of an experiment testing the impact of universal basic income, also known as UBI.
The goal of UBI is to reduce poverty and inequality by giving people a regular minimal income. It's gained support from billionaires such as Elon Musk, Richard Branson and Mark Zuckerberg.
The Stockton project is a collaboration between Stockton Mayor Michael Tubbs and the Economic Security Project, an organization that advocates for basic income. Its fund contributed $1 million to the Stockton project.
"Too many families and Americans are trying to piece together multiple jobs and incomes and aren't able to make ends meet," Dr. Stacia Martin-West, a researcher who will be studying the Stockton participants, told CNN Business.
https://www.cnn.com/2019/02/16/tech/stockton-universal-basic-income/index.html
One hundred Stockton residents started getting monthly payment of $500 on Friday. They'll receive the extra money for 18 months as part of an experiment testing the impact of universal basic income, also known as UBI.
The goal of UBI is to reduce poverty and inequality by giving people a regular minimal income. It's gained support from billionaires such as Elon Musk, Richard Branson and Mark Zuckerberg.
The Stockton project is a collaboration between Stockton Mayor Michael Tubbs and the Economic Security Project, an organization that advocates for basic income. Its fund contributed $1 million to the Stockton project.
"Too many families and Americans are trying to piece together multiple jobs and incomes and aren't able to make ends meet," Dr. Stacia Martin-West, a researcher who will be studying the Stockton participants, told CNN Business.
https://www.cnn.com/2019/02/16/tech/stockton-universal-basic-income/index.html
Yes – even mega billionaires like Mark Zuckerberg and Elon Musk are on board with this. But there won’t be anyone making it rain anytime soon. Especially with credit card debt increasing and basic necessities like the price of cars and gasoline increasing. So could it work in the United States? While the Stockton experiment is just an experiment, there’s plenty of room for growth and expansion in the area of universal income.
Young, sincere and raised on the edge of poverty, Sukhi Samra has a mother who worked two minimum-wage jobs when she was a kid — days at a gas station and nights at a Subway. Her father is disabled. She knows what an extra $500 a month would have bought her family.
“I spent a lot of 5th and 6th grade just, like, in those tables at Subway so that I could keep my mom some company and spend some time with her,” Samra said. “Five hundred a month would have meant that my mom spent a couple more hours at home with us every night.”
At 23, Samra is now head of the Stockton Economic Empowerment Demonstration, a pilot program to test a universal basic income. For the next year and a half, 130 residents of this struggling Central Valley city will get $500 every month, with no strings — such as employment or sobriety requirements — attached, in a social experiment that is as much public relations as rigorous research.
Although its organizers have promised transparency, so far, much of the program has been a closely guarded secret. The identities of the recipients have remained confidential while organizers plan a media strategy. Multiple requests by The Times to conduct interviews were denied.
https://www.latimes.com/local/california/la-pol-ca-basic-income-stockton-reparations-20190415-story.html
That’s it this week for Top 10 Investigates. Good day.
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[font size="8"]Holy Shit
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Gather around my fair brothers and sisters of Arizona State! It’s time to take a seat in the pew and pass the collection plate, for the Holy Church Of The Top 10 has convened and it’s time to remind you that the holiest among us are the most full of:
My fair congregation!! You know last week was one of my favorite events of the year. And that’s mainly because it really gives a platform to the craziest among us. And unfortunately the craziest among us also happen to be among the most GAWDLY. Which is a damn shame, because it’s only been within the last 10 years that the right has just teetered off into the unfathomable edge of darkness! And how did they get aligned with the unholy, ungodly Dark One, whose name shall not be spoken in my church! And when corruption at the top is so bad then this is what you get. The Dark One has people going out of their minds, and yet, he claims that he speaks for JAYSUS!
President Donald Trump has claimed liberals are attempting to "silence and punish" Christians, and pledged never to allow the federal government to harass communities of faith.
Speaking at the annual Value Voters Summit, which is hosted by right-wing anti-LGBT group the Family Research Council, Trump suggested on Saturday night that his views were "under assault."
"Frankly, these people are crazy," the president said of the "radical left."
"We're under assault, very simple, we're under assault," the president continued, speaking to his right-wing Christian audience. "We believe in the right to free speech, we believe in the right to life."
"They're trying to silence and punish the speech of Christians and religious believers of all faiths. They are trying to hound you from the workplace, expel you from the public square and weaken the American family and indoctrinate our children," he added.
Trump became the first sitting president to speak at the summit in 2017, when he delivered an address at the event run by a group that has previously been criticized for its anti-LGBT stance.
https://www.newsweek.com/trump-speaks-anti-lgbt-groups-event-liberals-are-trying-silence-punish-christians-1464930
Speaking at the annual Value Voters Summit, which is hosted by right-wing anti-LGBT group the Family Research Council, Trump suggested on Saturday night that his views were "under assault."
"Frankly, these people are crazy," the president said of the "radical left."
"We're under assault, very simple, we're under assault," the president continued, speaking to his right-wing Christian audience. "We believe in the right to free speech, we believe in the right to life."
"They're trying to silence and punish the speech of Christians and religious believers of all faiths. They are trying to hound you from the workplace, expel you from the public square and weaken the American family and indoctrinate our children," he added.
Trump became the first sitting president to speak at the summit in 2017, when he delivered an address at the event run by a group that has previously been criticized for its anti-LGBT stance.
https://www.newsweek.com/trump-speaks-anti-lgbt-groups-event-liberals-are-trying-silence-punish-christians-1464930
Seriously, sir, you know we’re not trying to silence you right? We’re just laughing at you. In fact I think the good LAWRD JAYSUS would scoff at how dumb people at the Values Voters Summit are! In fact if you want to see just how crazy the religious right can be, look no further than when they gather in large groups, because as we all know, people in large groups like that tend to say some ridiculously dumb stuff.
Texas House Representative Louie Gohmert stepped up Republican rhetoric against trans people this week, warning that the country would be in danger if LGBTQ+ people are provided the same job protections as other groups.
Gohmert was speaking at the Values Voter Summit, an annual conservative gathering for anti-LGBTQ+ activists, hosted by the Southern Poverty Law Center-designated hate group Family Research Council. A longtime opponent of LGBTQ+ equality, the Congressman brought up R.G. & G.R. Harris Funeral Homes Inc. v. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, one of three employment discrimination cases currently pending before the U.S. Supreme Court.
If the court rules that employers cannot fire people on the basis of gender identity, Gohmert claimed the country would face “such obscurity for right and wrong that it will chaos [sic].” He also predicted chaos would come from “these great dictators,” presumably referring to trans people who simply want equal rights.
Gohmert went onto attack Supreme Court plaintiff Aimee Stephens, who was dismissed from her job after she began transitioning. He misgendered Stephens, while saying that people who transition are simply in violation of their employers’ policies.
https://www.out.com/politics/2019/10/14/texas-congressman-says-trans-equality-leads-dictatorship
Gohmert was speaking at the Values Voter Summit, an annual conservative gathering for anti-LGBTQ+ activists, hosted by the Southern Poverty Law Center-designated hate group Family Research Council. A longtime opponent of LGBTQ+ equality, the Congressman brought up R.G. & G.R. Harris Funeral Homes Inc. v. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, one of three employment discrimination cases currently pending before the U.S. Supreme Court.
If the court rules that employers cannot fire people on the basis of gender identity, Gohmert claimed the country would face “such obscurity for right and wrong that it will chaos [sic].” He also predicted chaos would come from “these great dictators,” presumably referring to trans people who simply want equal rights.
Gohmert went onto attack Supreme Court plaintiff Aimee Stephens, who was dismissed from her job after she began transitioning. He misgendered Stephens, while saying that people who transition are simply in violation of their employers’ policies.
https://www.out.com/politics/2019/10/14/texas-congressman-says-trans-equality-leads-dictatorship
Yes, Mr. Gohmert – even JAYSUS thinks you’re doing it wrong! I mean that’s not how this works, that’s not how any of this works! We support our trans brothers and sisters at the Holy Church Of The Top 10 – as we have said before everyone is welcome! By the way, in case you’re wondering the kind of Christian holy warrior the VVS attracts, look no further than this!
An Arizona artist who successfully sued the city of Phoenix over an ordinance that would have forced her company to provide services for same-sex weddings despite their religious objections has encouraged American Christians “to take a stand” for their beliefs.
The Arizona Supreme Court ruled last month in Brush & Nib v. City of Phoenix that Joanna Duka and Breanna Koski, owners of Brush & Nib Studio, cannot be compelled by a local antidiscrimination ordinance to provide their artistic services to same-sex weddings.
Duka was part of a panel at the Values Voters Summit on Friday comprised of people who were part of religious liberty litigation. When asked how she handled the pressure of the highly publicized lawsuit, Duka said her faith was a great help.
“Breanna and I put a lot of prayer into it. Is this something that God wants us to do? Are we on the right path? Because we wanted to do the right thing and we believed that God was leading us to do it,” explained Duka.
https://www.christianpost.com/news/artist-who-defeated-ordinance-forcing-her-work-gay-weddings-urges-christians-take-a-stand.html
The Arizona Supreme Court ruled last month in Brush & Nib v. City of Phoenix that Joanna Duka and Breanna Koski, owners of Brush & Nib Studio, cannot be compelled by a local antidiscrimination ordinance to provide their artistic services to same-sex weddings.
Duka was part of a panel at the Values Voters Summit on Friday comprised of people who were part of religious liberty litigation. When asked how she handled the pressure of the highly publicized lawsuit, Duka said her faith was a great help.
“Breanna and I put a lot of prayer into it. Is this something that God wants us to do? Are we on the right path? Because we wanted to do the right thing and we believed that God was leading us to do it,” explained Duka.
https://www.christianpost.com/news/artist-who-defeated-ordinance-forcing-her-work-gay-weddings-urges-christians-take-a-stand.html
Yes, that is not how this works! I mean whatever happened to the Golden Rule? It’s in our Good Book, but is it in theirs? That’s what the good LAWRD JAYSUS would have wanted, isn’t that right? But the big head of the event came when… yes, good sir, thank you. PHRASING!!! When the unholy, ungodly Dark One made an appearance himself! He’s not a godly man which makes him a hypocrite of the highest order, and JAYSUS would hate him. Which is why his name is not to be spoken in my church!
President Donald Trump on Saturday delivered a full-throated defense of his presidency at the Values Voter Summit, calling Democrats “crazy” over their impeachment inquiry, touting his recent withdrawal of troops from Syria and pledging to fight for religious liberty in America and around the world.
"These are bad bad people," Trump said of House Democrats, telling some 3,000 attendees at the Omni Shoreham Hotel in Washington, D.C., that “we’re going after” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and House intel chair Adam Schiff, while raising the prospect of suing them, in a 79-minute address that hewed closely to his stump speech.
Pelosi “hates our country,” the president continued, before further lashing out against the House impeachment inquiry that followed revelations from a whistleblower alleging Trump sought the help of a foreign government to dig up dirt on a political rival.
"Look we've all seen it, we all seen what's going on. There was no compromise," Trump said of the phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. "Frankly, these people are crazy. They're crazy. I shouldn't say it because we're all the same but they are crazy."
https://www.politico.com/news/2019/10/12/trump-values-voter-summit-2020-045162
"These are bad bad people," Trump said of House Democrats, telling some 3,000 attendees at the Omni Shoreham Hotel in Washington, D.C., that “we’re going after” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and House intel chair Adam Schiff, while raising the prospect of suing them, in a 79-minute address that hewed closely to his stump speech.
Pelosi “hates our country,” the president continued, before further lashing out against the House impeachment inquiry that followed revelations from a whistleblower alleging Trump sought the help of a foreign government to dig up dirt on a political rival.
"Look we've all seen it, we all seen what's going on. There was no compromise," Trump said of the phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. "Frankly, these people are crazy. They're crazy. I shouldn't say it because we're all the same but they are crazy."
https://www.politico.com/news/2019/10/12/trump-values-voter-summit-2020-045162
Yes, Dark One, I cast thee out! Yes, I know the LAWRD says that we should welcome all, but we do not welcome a man who puts children in cages and decimates our allies! That’s what separates my church from the Values Voters! Mass has ended, may you go in peace! That’s it this week for:
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[font size="8"]Beating A Dead Horse: Support For Hong Kong
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In what may be the most insane and direct case of life imitating art, one of my favorite shows, South Park, called out China on its’ censorship and got banned for it. So the question on the table here is, how far is too far when life imitates art? And what the hell is China doing? Both of those are perfectly good questions. Unless you’re living under a rock, you know that the people of Hong Kong are rising up and protesting non stop against the brutal Jianping regime. And that’s having people’s opinions on a particularly touchy subject like this. In fact the subject of whether or not you should be allowed to support China has been such a tricky subject that the Jianping regime has gone into some serious damage control on the subject.
As political tensions between Hong Kong protesters and the Chinese government grow, the animated comedy South Park once again finds itself at the heart of the conflict.
In the wake of reports that China has outright banned all South Park content from the Internet, protesters have found other ways of disseminating the episode "Band in China." As spotted by The Hollywood Reporter, protesters in Hong Kong's Sham Shui Po district screened the episode to an impromptu but very appreciative crowd.
While it's unknown who exactly organized the screening, THR writes, "the screening inspired considerable discussion on the online forums favored by the protest movement though. Many praised South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone as 'prophets,' and rare Western media figures willing to show 'strong backbone' in response to the Chinese government's efforts to stifle international free speech."
Word that China has completely banned South Park content first surfaced last week following the original airing of "Band in China." The episode repeatedly criticizes the Chinese government's crackdown on free speech, including referencing a current Internet meme comparing Chinese President Xi Jinping to Winnie the Pooh and showing Mickey Mouse censoring his fellow Disney and Marvel characters at China's behest. The series continued to reference the China controversy in its most recent episode, "Shots!!!"
https://nordic.ign.com/south-park-14213562/30083/news/south-park-band-in-china-episode-screened-in-hong-kong-streets-after-china-banned-series
In the wake of reports that China has outright banned all South Park content from the Internet, protesters have found other ways of disseminating the episode "Band in China." As spotted by The Hollywood Reporter, protesters in Hong Kong's Sham Shui Po district screened the episode to an impromptu but very appreciative crowd.
While it's unknown who exactly organized the screening, THR writes, "the screening inspired considerable discussion on the online forums favored by the protest movement though. Many praised South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone as 'prophets,' and rare Western media figures willing to show 'strong backbone' in response to the Chinese government's efforts to stifle international free speech."
Word that China has completely banned South Park content first surfaced last week following the original airing of "Band in China." The episode repeatedly criticizes the Chinese government's crackdown on free speech, including referencing a current Internet meme comparing Chinese President Xi Jinping to Winnie the Pooh and showing Mickey Mouse censoring his fellow Disney and Marvel characters at China's behest. The series continued to reference the China controversy in its most recent episode, "Shots!!!"
https://nordic.ign.com/south-park-14213562/30083/news/south-park-band-in-china-episode-screened-in-hong-kong-streets-after-china-banned-series
By the way here’s what is awesome about Matt Stone and Trey Parker – the twisted minds behind South Park – is that they troll. And they troll pretty damn good. In fact if you want to see how you should apologize to a brutal dictator who has a fragile ego like Xi Jianping, just look no further than how they actually apologized.
The creators of "South Park" have issued an "apology" to China after the show's most recent episode mocked the country's censorship and Hollywood's reliance on its theatrical market for movies.
The official "South Park" Twitter account on Monday tweeted the comedic statement below:
OFFICIAL APOLOGY TO CHINA FROM TREY PARKER AND MATT STONE.
"Like the NBA, we welcome the Chinese censors into our homes and into our hearts. We too love money more than freedom and democracy. Xi doesn't look just like Winnie the Pooh at all. Tune into our 300th episode this Wednesday at 10! Long live the Great Communist Party of China! May this autumn's sorghum harvest be bountiful! We good now China?"
The statement came after The Hollywood Reporter on Monday reported "South Park" has been banned from the Chinese internet and that videos, mentions, and discussion forums for the Comedy Central animated series had been removed or shut down.
https://www.businessinsider.com/south-park-creators-issue-mock-apology-to-china-after-ban-2019-10
The official "South Park" Twitter account on Monday tweeted the comedic statement below:
OFFICIAL APOLOGY TO CHINA FROM TREY PARKER AND MATT STONE.
"Like the NBA, we welcome the Chinese censors into our homes and into our hearts. We too love money more than freedom and democracy. Xi doesn't look just like Winnie the Pooh at all. Tune into our 300th episode this Wednesday at 10! Long live the Great Communist Party of China! May this autumn's sorghum harvest be bountiful! We good now China?"
The statement came after The Hollywood Reporter on Monday reported "South Park" has been banned from the Chinese internet and that videos, mentions, and discussion forums for the Comedy Central animated series had been removed or shut down.
https://www.businessinsider.com/south-park-creators-issue-mock-apology-to-china-after-ban-2019-10
Now here’s the thing. You don’t fuck with a dictator with a fragile ego like Xi Jianping. In fact we probably got the Top 10 banned from China as we were putting this edition together! And you know what? I don’t give a shit! And you want to know how fragile an ego Jianping has? Just look at what he did to DJ Zedd for simply liking a tweet about last week’s episode!
Zedd, a high-profile DJ and music producer, has been permanently banned from China for liking a tweet from “South Park’s” official account.
On Friday, Zedd tweeted about the ban, and CNBC verified the claim with his publicist on Saturday.
“This is true, yes, but we don’t have anymore info to give you at this time,” Adam Guest, senior entertainment publicist at U.K.-based SATELLITE414 agency, told CNBC. It’s unclear at the moment whether this means that Zedd has a travel ban to China. As of Saturday, his music was still available on Chinese music streaming site QQ Music.
“South Park” stirred up controversy in the world’s second-largest economy with an episode called “Band in China” which pokes fun at the country’s strict censorship regime and ridicules American firms doing business there.
Beijing responded by heavily censoring content related to “South Park” on search engines like Baidu and other online services.
The tweet that Zedd liked on Twitter was one celebrating “South Park’s” 300th episode.
https://www.cnbc.com/2019/10/12/dj-zedd-banned-in-china-for-liking-a-south-park-tweet.html
On Friday, Zedd tweeted about the ban, and CNBC verified the claim with his publicist on Saturday.
“This is true, yes, but we don’t have anymore info to give you at this time,” Adam Guest, senior entertainment publicist at U.K.-based SATELLITE414 agency, told CNBC. It’s unclear at the moment whether this means that Zedd has a travel ban to China. As of Saturday, his music was still available on Chinese music streaming site QQ Music.
“South Park” stirred up controversy in the world’s second-largest economy with an episode called “Band in China” which pokes fun at the country’s strict censorship regime and ridicules American firms doing business there.
Beijing responded by heavily censoring content related to “South Park” on search engines like Baidu and other online services.
The tweet that Zedd liked on Twitter was one celebrating “South Park’s” 300th episode.
https://www.cnbc.com/2019/10/12/dj-zedd-banned-in-china-for-liking-a-south-park-tweet.html
Holy shit! If you’re a celebrity, you can now get banned from China for simply liking a tweet relating to the most recent South Park episode! Which is why we also liked that tweet! In fact we followed the official South Park feed! Now if you’re Xi Jianping, how do you react to South Park? Well, you delete the whole fucking show from your country. It’s not enough to ban South Park, he wants every single mention of South Park ever banned.
South Park creators Matt Stone and Trey Parker hit back at China after the government scrubbed the show from the Chinese internet.
The episode, "Band in China" is a critique of how Hollywood shapes its content to avoid offending Chinese government censors.
"South Park" has never been afraid to be offensive, which is why the show now virtually no longer exists in China. Every clip, any online discussion from Chinese streaming services, social media and even fan pages have been deleted by the government, according to the Hollywood Reporter.
Stone and Parker issued an apology on Monday after China's crackdown -- well, kind of.
https://www.cnn.com/2019/10/07/us/south-park-apology-chinese-internet-trnd/index.html
The episode, "Band in China" is a critique of how Hollywood shapes its content to avoid offending Chinese government censors.
"South Park" has never been afraid to be offensive, which is why the show now virtually no longer exists in China. Every clip, any online discussion from Chinese streaming services, social media and even fan pages have been deleted by the government, according to the Hollywood Reporter.
Stone and Parker issued an apology on Monday after China's crackdown -- well, kind of.
https://www.cnn.com/2019/10/07/us/south-park-apology-chinese-internet-trnd/index.html
And by the way, South Park wasn’t the only one who got this kind of insane treatment and censorship from the Jianping regime. Look at what they did to the Houston Rockets. It’s not enough to just ban that person, they’re banning the whole team and the league. The Jianping regime is doing some serious damage control right now and we may all get fucked!
Basketball fans attend a match between the NBA’s Brooklyn Nets and Los Angeles Lakers at Shenzhen, in the southern Chinese province of Guangdong on Saturday. Photo: APBasketball fans attend a match between the NBA’s Brooklyn Nets and Los Angeles Lakers at Shenzhen, in the southern Chinese province of Guangdong on Saturday. Photo: AP
Basketball fans attend a match between the NBA’s Brooklyn Nets and Los Angeles Lakers at Shenzhen, in the southern Chinese province of Guangdong on Saturday. Photo: AP
Live broadcasts of the National Basketball Association’s preseason games have resumed in China – except for matches with the Houston Rockets – as Beijing cools its rhetoric on a controversial tweet by the team’s general manager in support of anti-government protesters in Hong Kong.
Tencent, the NBA’s exclusive digital partner in China, streamed two games live with commentators – Chicago Bulls vs Toronto Raptors and Maccabi Haifa vs Minnesota Timberwolves – on Monday morning after skipping live broadcasts of two exhibition games in China last week.
Games featuring the Houston Rockets, who are next on court on Wednesday, have been taken off the schedule. Tencent last week offered subscribers who chose the Houston Rockets as their preferred games to change to another team or be refunded.
Monday’s live broadcast came days after Tencent’s announcement that it would not broadcast two of the exhibition games in China, which took place last Thursday and Saturday, after league commissioner Adam Silver said the NBA supported Houston Rockets general manager Daryl Morey’s right to exercise free speech.
https://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/3032849/nba-games-return-china-screens-houston-rockets-not-included
Basketball fans attend a match between the NBA’s Brooklyn Nets and Los Angeles Lakers at Shenzhen, in the southern Chinese province of Guangdong on Saturday. Photo: AP
Live broadcasts of the National Basketball Association’s preseason games have resumed in China – except for matches with the Houston Rockets – as Beijing cools its rhetoric on a controversial tweet by the team’s general manager in support of anti-government protesters in Hong Kong.
Tencent, the NBA’s exclusive digital partner in China, streamed two games live with commentators – Chicago Bulls vs Toronto Raptors and Maccabi Haifa vs Minnesota Timberwolves – on Monday morning after skipping live broadcasts of two exhibition games in China last week.
Games featuring the Houston Rockets, who are next on court on Wednesday, have been taken off the schedule. Tencent last week offered subscribers who chose the Houston Rockets as their preferred games to change to another team or be refunded.
Monday’s live broadcast came days after Tencent’s announcement that it would not broadcast two of the exhibition games in China, which took place last Thursday and Saturday, after league commissioner Adam Silver said the NBA supported Houston Rockets general manager Daryl Morey’s right to exercise free speech.
https://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/3032849/nba-games-return-china-screens-houston-rockets-not-included
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[font size="8"]How Is This Still A Thing: Tomahawk Chop
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It’s time once again to ask:
This week – the Tomahawk Chop. How is this still a thing? One of the oldest and most annoying chants in sports belongs to teams with Indian or Native American names. We’d ask how that’s still a thing but we will save that for another edition. But after the Atlanta Braves failed to advance in the playoffs yet again, attention is being turned to their signature chant – the Tomahawk Chop. But it’s not capturing the spotlight the way you would imagine. See in an era where people love to “trigger the snowflakes”, the Tomahawk Chop is attracting a particular kind of asshole to its’ fanbase. And well, because the Braves are trying to distance themselves from the chant because it might be, well, a little racist, there’s some that aren’t having any of it.
After receiving criticism from St. Louis Cardinals reliever and Cherokee Nation member Ryan Helsley over their promotion of the so-called “tomahawk chop” chant, the Atlanta Braves did not distribute foam tomahawks on seats before Game 5 of the National League Division Series as they typically do for playoff games.
The Braves issued a statement Wednesday addressing the changes:
“Out of respect for the concerns expressed by Mr. Helsley, we will take several efforts to reduce the Tomahawk Chop during our in-ballpark presentation today. Among other things, these steps include not distributing foam tomahawks to each seat and not playing the accompanying music or using Chop-related graphics when Mr. Helsley is in the game. As stated earlier, we will continue to evaluate how we activate elements of our brand, as well as the overall in-game experience. We look forward to a continued dialogue with those in the Native American community after the postseason concludes.”
Helsley told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch earlier in the series that he felt the chant was disrespectful of his Cherokee heritage.
The Braves and their fans adopted the chant in the 1990s, importing it from Florida State when former Seminoles football player Deion Sanders played for Atlanta. It has continued to be part of the Braves’ in-game presentation ever since.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/mlb/2019/10/09/atlanta-braves-tomahawk-chop-chris-helsley-nlds/3923352002/
The Braves issued a statement Wednesday addressing the changes:
“Out of respect for the concerns expressed by Mr. Helsley, we will take several efforts to reduce the Tomahawk Chop during our in-ballpark presentation today. Among other things, these steps include not distributing foam tomahawks to each seat and not playing the accompanying music or using Chop-related graphics when Mr. Helsley is in the game. As stated earlier, we will continue to evaluate how we activate elements of our brand, as well as the overall in-game experience. We look forward to a continued dialogue with those in the Native American community after the postseason concludes.”
Helsley told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch earlier in the series that he felt the chant was disrespectful of his Cherokee heritage.
The Braves and their fans adopted the chant in the 1990s, importing it from Florida State when former Seminoles football player Deion Sanders played for Atlanta. It has continued to be part of the Braves’ in-game presentation ever since.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/mlb/2019/10/09/atlanta-braves-tomahawk-chop-chris-helsley-nlds/3923352002/
Now remember when we said that abandoning the chant would attract a particular kind of asshole to actually do the chant? Well, conservatives took the “don’t do the chant” message and interpreted it as “do the chant and be a colossal asshole about it!”. So when the Atlanta Braves began their downfall in game 5, conservatives gleefully cheered it was because they abandoned the chant.
Georgia conservatives tore into the Atlanta Braves on Wednesday for making game-day changes revolving around the “tomahawk chop” chant after Ryan Helsley, a pitcher for the St. Louis Cardinals and a member of Cherokee Nation, called it “disappointing and disrespectful.”
The MLB team said in a statement that, "out of respect for the concerns," it would not distribute foam tomahawks to the seats before Game 5 its divisional round playoff series against the Cardinals, which St. Louis went on to win. The Braves also altered some accompanying music and chop-related graphics.
“As stated earlier, we will continue to evaluate how we activate elements of our brand, as well as the overall in-game experience,” the Braves said in a statement. “We look forward to a continued dialogue with those in the Native American community after the postseason concludes."
Team officials told The St. Louis Dispatch that it is considering how it will promote the tomahawk chop this offseason.
https://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/465254-conservatives-rail-against-braves-for-reducing-tomahawk-chop
The MLB team said in a statement that, "out of respect for the concerns," it would not distribute foam tomahawks to the seats before Game 5 its divisional round playoff series against the Cardinals, which St. Louis went on to win. The Braves also altered some accompanying music and chop-related graphics.
“As stated earlier, we will continue to evaluate how we activate elements of our brand, as well as the overall in-game experience,” the Braves said in a statement. “We look forward to a continued dialogue with those in the Native American community after the postseason concludes."
Team officials told The St. Louis Dispatch that it is considering how it will promote the tomahawk chop this offseason.
https://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/465254-conservatives-rail-against-braves-for-reducing-tomahawk-chop
Yes, be prepared to throw your pretzels because Georgia conservatives were actively cheering for their own team to lose because they couldn’t do the Tomahawk Chop. But that didn’t stop the fans from doing it anyways. Because it takes a special breed of asshole to be a conservative Trump supporter who loves to “trigger the snowflakes”.
When the Atlanta Braves faithful arrived at their seats in SunTrust Park for Wednesday’s Game 5 of a National League Division Series, there was something missing, something subtle, and yet something substantial.
The type of foam tomahawks that awaited fans as giveaways for games 1 and 2 of the series were not distributed before the series finale, and that was just the beginning of changes the Braves made to their in-game entertainment Wednesday as a response to Cardinals rookie Ryan Helsley’s concerns.
After Game 1, Helsley, a member of Cherokee Nation and grandson of a full-blooded Cherokee, said he found Atlanta’s “tomahawk chop” cheer “disappointing” and “disrespectful.”
“We’re sensitive to it,” a Braves spokesperson said.
The Braves also reduced the times they used the scoreboard and sound system to encourage their fans to do the tomahawk chop cheer, and the team promised not to use it if Helsley was in the game.
https://www.stltoday.com/sports/baseball/professional/updated-comments-by-cards-rookie-helsley-prompt-tomahawk-chop-changes/article_1e66a95f-00b0-565e-bc09-2686685bd033.html
The type of foam tomahawks that awaited fans as giveaways for games 1 and 2 of the series were not distributed before the series finale, and that was just the beginning of changes the Braves made to their in-game entertainment Wednesday as a response to Cardinals rookie Ryan Helsley’s concerns.
After Game 1, Helsley, a member of Cherokee Nation and grandson of a full-blooded Cherokee, said he found Atlanta’s “tomahawk chop” cheer “disappointing” and “disrespectful.”
“We’re sensitive to it,” a Braves spokesperson said.
The Braves also reduced the times they used the scoreboard and sound system to encourage their fans to do the tomahawk chop cheer, and the team promised not to use it if Helsley was in the game.
https://www.stltoday.com/sports/baseball/professional/updated-comments-by-cards-rookie-helsley-prompt-tomahawk-chop-changes/article_1e66a95f-00b0-565e-bc09-2686685bd033.html
Now that’s the kind of insensitive joke we shouldn’t be making here. But the fact that the Braves are waking up to the atrocity that is the Tomahawk Chop is certainly telling. And what’s even more telling is that Native American elders have now recognized that the Tomahawk Chop is becoming a serious problem and will be for the foreseeable future. But once again republicans are the reason why we can’t have nice things.
The Atlanta Braves’ front office says it will hold talks with Native Americans during the offseason in deciding whether to keep or axe the 27-year-old tomahawk chop tradition.
The team hasn’t offered any clarity on which indigenous groups or individuals it intends to approach, but if it’s the two major tribes that once inhabited Georgia, the Braves could be in for some difficult conversations.
In statements to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Cherokee and Creek tribal chiefs backed up St. Louis Cardinals relief pitcher Ryan Helsley, a Cherokee Nation member who said earlier this month that he found the fans’ chanting and arm-motions insulting. Helsley said the chop depicts natives “in this kind of caveman-type people way who aren’t intellectual.”
“The Cherokee Nation is proud of tribal citizen and Cardinals pitcher Ryan Helsley,” Principal Chief Chuck Hoskin Jr. said in a written statement, “for speaking out against stereotypes and standing up for the dignity of Native Americans in this country.
https://www.ajc.com/news/chiefs-georgia-native-tribes-call-tomahawk-chop-inappropriate/7SHzrtpEHXuPdOP03xpz1N/
The team hasn’t offered any clarity on which indigenous groups or individuals it intends to approach, but if it’s the two major tribes that once inhabited Georgia, the Braves could be in for some difficult conversations.
In statements to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Cherokee and Creek tribal chiefs backed up St. Louis Cardinals relief pitcher Ryan Helsley, a Cherokee Nation member who said earlier this month that he found the fans’ chanting and arm-motions insulting. Helsley said the chop depicts natives “in this kind of caveman-type people way who aren’t intellectual.”
“The Cherokee Nation is proud of tribal citizen and Cardinals pitcher Ryan Helsley,” Principal Chief Chuck Hoskin Jr. said in a written statement, “for speaking out against stereotypes and standing up for the dignity of Native Americans in this country.
https://www.ajc.com/news/chiefs-georgia-native-tribes-call-tomahawk-chop-inappropriate/7SHzrtpEHXuPdOP03xpz1N/
Yeah probably. So Native American elders realize the problem, but once again the GOP shows themselves for the classless assholes that they are. That said, did the Braves lose because of reducing the Tomahawk Chop? Well, Georgia Republicans sure seem to think so. This is why we can’t have nice things.
Georgia’s conservative political figures have blamed Wednesday night’s humiliating playoff defeat for the Atlanta Braves on the team’s decision to ban its Native American-mocking Tomahawk Chop from the game. The team didn’t distribute giant foam tomahawks at the Game 5 playoff against the St. Louis Cardinals, and discouraged fans from doing the chopping-motion and chant traditionally used to fire up the crowd. The team took the decision after Cardinals pitcher Ryan Helsley, who is a member of the Cherokee Nation, called the chop disrespectful. “Have to feel this is karma for the unjustified and rash decision to do away with foam tomahawks,” tweeted State Rep. Trey Kelley during the defeat. Nick Ayers, former aide to Vice President Mike Pence, wrote: “Maybe don’t ban the tomahawk chop next time?” Debbie Dooley, a Georgia Tea Party organizer, said the Braves had “jinxed itself” by doing away with the offensive symbol. Ahead of the game, Helsley said the chop misrepresented Native Americans and depicted his ancestors “in this kind of caveman-type people way.” The Cardinals won 13-1, clinching a place in the National League Championship Series.
https://www.thedailybeast.com/atlanta-braves-georgia-republicans-say-their-team-lost-because-of-ban-on-tomahawk-chop
https://www.thedailybeast.com/atlanta-braves-georgia-republicans-say-their-team-lost-because-of-ban-on-tomahawk-chop
There you have it, you actually have Georgia conservatives cheering against their own team because they can’t do a chant that is deemed offensive. We can’t have nice things. That’s enough to make you ask – the Tomahawk Chop:
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[font size="8"]I Need A Drink
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Hey everyone I really need a drink!
Of course you know the idea behind this segment is that we take a break from talking about all the bad shit going on in the world, have some drinks and talk about anything in the news as long as it doesn’t relate to politics. Well for this edition of “I Need A Drink” we figured that we’d do something different and combine two entries into one! We’re going to tell you about a fun new way to drink and a fun new way to enjoy sports! So tell me bartender, what goes well with a story about whiskey capsules and smashing things? What? No, I’m not taking one in the form of a suppository thanks! I’ll just stick with my usual Jack Daniels mixed with Jack Daniels. I call it the Double Jack. Well, this week, the makers of venerable scotch brand Glenlivet introduced what could be an absolutely terrible way to drink whiskey, and possibly send you to the ER in the process.
After the Tide pods craze, now we have Scotch pods, or "glassless cocktails" for drinkers who can't be bothered to pour.
"No ice. No stirrer. No glass. We're redefining how whisky can be enjoyed ... #noglassrequired," The Glenlivet tweeted as part of its "Capsule Collection" roll-out, timed with London's Cocktail Week.
People have been enjoying Scotch whisky for hundreds of years, usually in a glass and often on the rocks, of course.
Now, The Glenlivet, one of the world's top producers, offers this twist:
"A first of its kind for a spirit brand, the edible capsules are 23ml in size, fully biodegradable and provide the perfect flavour-explosion experience," read the Scottish brand's promotional materials. "Enjoying them is simple, the capsules are popped in the mouth for an instant burst of flavour, and the capsule is simply swallowed."
https://www.cnn.com/2019/10/05/world/glenlivet-scotch-whisky-capsule-glassless-trnd/index.html
"No ice. No stirrer. No glass. We're redefining how whisky can be enjoyed ... #noglassrequired," The Glenlivet tweeted as part of its "Capsule Collection" roll-out, timed with London's Cocktail Week.
People have been enjoying Scotch whisky for hundreds of years, usually in a glass and often on the rocks, of course.
Now, The Glenlivet, one of the world's top producers, offers this twist:
"A first of its kind for a spirit brand, the edible capsules are 23ml in size, fully biodegradable and provide the perfect flavour-explosion experience," read the Scottish brand's promotional materials. "Enjoying them is simple, the capsules are popped in the mouth for an instant burst of flavour, and the capsule is simply swallowed."
https://www.cnn.com/2019/10/05/world/glenlivet-scotch-whisky-capsule-glassless-trnd/index.html
Seriously, Glenlivet! I mean the ice, the stirrer, and the glass is why I drink whiskey! It’s the beauty of man and machine! I mean if I wanted to eliminate those things, I’d be mainlining cans of Coors Light straight to my veins like Barney! And you just know that someone, somewhere will be putting one of these in their ass. I mean it’s inevitable. In fact the makers of Glenlivet have already been preparing for the worst.
It's unclear what the alcohol content is in the pods, or how many of them you would have to ingest before you would be over the legal limit to drive.
"The Glenlivet only promotes responsible drinking, and the capsules are designed to be enjoyed in moderation by adults in a regulated and licensed environment," the statement said. "The cocktail capsules are not for sale and there are no plans to make them available in the United States or any other market at this time."
The Glenlivet also posted an update on its social channels saying the seaweed capsules are not available anywhere but London.
According to the Facebook event page, the whisky company partnered with Notpla, a packaging start-up, “to create an original consumption experience.”
“The seaweed used grows at a speed of around 1m per day and if discarded, the capsules biodegrade in 4-6 weeks, faster than fruit peel, meaning no waste,” the company said..
Many who commented on social media talked about memories of the Tide Pod challenge where teens were ingesting the colorful detergent packs as dares.
"Does it do laundry too? Who thought this was a good idea?" Twitter user @JohnGeyerman wrote.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/food/2019/10/07/whisky-pods-stir-up-controversy-and-bring-up-tide-pod-memories/3902266002/
"The Glenlivet only promotes responsible drinking, and the capsules are designed to be enjoyed in moderation by adults in a regulated and licensed environment," the statement said. "The cocktail capsules are not for sale and there are no plans to make them available in the United States or any other market at this time."
The Glenlivet also posted an update on its social channels saying the seaweed capsules are not available anywhere but London.
According to the Facebook event page, the whisky company partnered with Notpla, a packaging start-up, “to create an original consumption experience.”
“The seaweed used grows at a speed of around 1m per day and if discarded, the capsules biodegrade in 4-6 weeks, faster than fruit peel, meaning no waste,” the company said..
Many who commented on social media talked about memories of the Tide Pod challenge where teens were ingesting the colorful detergent packs as dares.
"Does it do laundry too? Who thought this was a good idea?" Twitter user @JohnGeyerman wrote.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/food/2019/10/07/whisky-pods-stir-up-controversy-and-bring-up-tide-pod-memories/3902266002/
Great, that’s just what we need! One simple pod that gets you drunk and does your laundry for you, what proof is that? 300? Yeah, industrial strength! Now before we go to the other half of this entry, we need some music!
Let’s go smash some shit!!! So say you’ve ingested a few of these and you’re watching your favorite team lose again. Well, the Philadelphia Flyers have got just the perfect way to take your frustrations out on losing.
Picture this: The Flyers are going through a February slump. The orange and black just inexplicably lost a 5-1 home game to the New York Islanders.
You need to blow off some steam before sitting in traffic.
So you go into the Wells Fargo Center’s Disassembly Room and smash some dishes, take a sledgehammer to a TV and unleash your rage upon everything in sight.
Sixers Fan Claims He Was Ejected From Team’s Exhibition Vs. China’s Guangzhou For Supporting Hong Kong
That’s right. The Wells Fargo Center has unveiled the first-ever rage room in a major professionals sports arena.
The rage room allows fans and guests to let out some stress by breaking, smashing and crushing items inside of the brand new Disassembly Room. Some of the breakable items even include the opposing team’s logos.
In a tweet from the Flyers, ESPN’s Katie Nolan and Gritty — who gave Gritty a weapon? — show off the rage room.
https://philadelphia.cbslocal.com/2019/10/08/wells-fargo-center-unveils-rage-room-where-fans-can-break-stuff-and-unleash-their-anger/
You need to blow off some steam before sitting in traffic.
So you go into the Wells Fargo Center’s Disassembly Room and smash some dishes, take a sledgehammer to a TV and unleash your rage upon everything in sight.
Sixers Fan Claims He Was Ejected From Team’s Exhibition Vs. China’s Guangzhou For Supporting Hong Kong
That’s right. The Wells Fargo Center has unveiled the first-ever rage room in a major professionals sports arena.
The rage room allows fans and guests to let out some stress by breaking, smashing and crushing items inside of the brand new Disassembly Room. Some of the breakable items even include the opposing team’s logos.
In a tweet from the Flyers, ESPN’s Katie Nolan and Gritty — who gave Gritty a weapon? — show off the rage room.
https://philadelphia.cbslocal.com/2019/10/08/wells-fargo-center-unveils-rage-room-where-fans-can-break-stuff-and-unleash-their-anger/
Yes, if you’ve ever wanted to take your frustrations out on your office equipment, used cars, or the opposing sports team, for a small fee, and a ticket to the next Flyers home game, you too can go apeshit until your heart is content! So you might be thinking “hey somone’s gonna die” while this room continues to exist, but guess what? it’s a huge hit and a huge money maker for the Flyers. I mean come on, this is Philadelphia sports fans we’re talking about here! Add a few Glenlivet pods, and as Doc Brown once famously said “You’re gonna see some serious shit!”.
Plenty cheeky, sure, but the new Disassembly Room inside Wells Fargo Center for the Philadelphia Flyers was all the rage during the team’s home opener. As part of the fresh approach to creating a fan experience, visitors could swing sledgehammers or bats while cranking through the room smashing typical household products.
But just how did this “rage room” concept play out on opening night for the Flyers? To the tune of 35 gallons of freshly disassembled New Jersey Devils-logoed junk, the Flyers were pleased.
When the Flyers released word of the Disassembly Room prior to the home-opener on Oct. 9, the rage room created plenty of buzz. That buzz lasted well into the first night as participants in the event “took their best shots at every intermission and throughout the entirety of the game,” says a team spokesperson.
Fans destroyed 35 gallons of junk on night one, including an array of common household items, such as dinner plates, cups and glass vases. Each item had a New Jersey Devils logo on it, the opponent for Philadelphia that night. The Flyers say that placing the logo of the opposing team on the items in the room is a theme they will carry forward each game.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/timnewcomb/2019/10/11/the-philadelphia-flyers-rage-room-opening-night-destruction-included-35-gallons-of-nj-devils-items/#7c8b803f54b2
But just how did this “rage room” concept play out on opening night for the Flyers? To the tune of 35 gallons of freshly disassembled New Jersey Devils-logoed junk, the Flyers were pleased.
When the Flyers released word of the Disassembly Room prior to the home-opener on Oct. 9, the rage room created plenty of buzz. That buzz lasted well into the first night as participants in the event “took their best shots at every intermission and throughout the entirety of the game,” says a team spokesperson.
Fans destroyed 35 gallons of junk on night one, including an array of common household items, such as dinner plates, cups and glass vases. Each item had a New Jersey Devils logo on it, the opponent for Philadelphia that night. The Flyers say that placing the logo of the opposing team on the items in the room is a theme they will carry forward each game.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/timnewcomb/2019/10/11/the-philadelphia-flyers-rage-room-opening-night-destruction-included-35-gallons-of-nj-devils-items/#7c8b803f54b2
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[font size="8"]Keeping Up With The Candidates Ep. 11
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Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to our annual 2020 voters’ guide Keeping Up With The Candidates! Just like actual 2020 voters’ guides out there, we have absolutely no rhyme or reason as to why we’re doing this guide but we are powering through until the 2020 election! Or at least until our Stupidest State contest, whichever comes first. Now last week we had hinted that we were going to hang out with the Buttigeig camp but instead we’re going to talk about something much different since last night was yet another democratic debate. Where does your favorite candidate stand on the issues? Well there’s plenty of that going around including the recent shocking news from the Bernie camp about his recent heart attack. But that was not part of the debate last night. So what was? Well there is one clear winner from last night and that was Bernie Sanders.
Bernie entered this debate on the ropes. After spending most of the campaign solidly in second place behind Joe Biden in national polls, he is now a distant third behind Biden and Elizabeth Warren. He’s also in third in Iowa (which he nearly won in 2016) and in New Hampshire (which he won in 2016 in a huge landslide). By the numbers, he seems to be underperforming his last run, despite having a vastly more professional campaign infrastructure and not facing a juggernaut like Hillary Clinton.
As if that weren’t enough, his biggest liability — being 78 years old, 79 by the time he’d be inaugurated — came into sharper relief when he was hospitalized following a heart attack and had emergency surgery. It feels gross to hold someone’s health issues against them and I’m extremely glad that Bernie appears in good health now. That said, being president is an uncommonly demanding job and it’s reasonable for voters to wonder if a 78-year-old is up to it.
Sanders’s performance Tuesday night provided an answer to that worry. He was more animated and on his game than much younger candidates like Tulsi Gabbard or Amy Klobuchar. He was more effective than Warren at defending the Medicare-for-all plan they both support (but which, he’s quick to note, he wrote), replying to concerns about its realism, “I’m tired of people defending a system which is dysfunctional, which is cruel. 87 million uninsured. 30,000 people dying every year. 500,000 people going bankrupt. For one reason: They came down with cancer.”
https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2019/10/15/20916495/democratic-debate-october-2019-winners-losers
As if that weren’t enough, his biggest liability — being 78 years old, 79 by the time he’d be inaugurated — came into sharper relief when he was hospitalized following a heart attack and had emergency surgery. It feels gross to hold someone’s health issues against them and I’m extremely glad that Bernie appears in good health now. That said, being president is an uncommonly demanding job and it’s reasonable for voters to wonder if a 78-year-old is up to it.
Sanders’s performance Tuesday night provided an answer to that worry. He was more animated and on his game than much younger candidates like Tulsi Gabbard or Amy Klobuchar. He was more effective than Warren at defending the Medicare-for-all plan they both support (but which, he’s quick to note, he wrote), replying to concerns about its realism, “I’m tired of people defending a system which is dysfunctional, which is cruel. 87 million uninsured. 30,000 people dying every year. 500,000 people going bankrupt. For one reason: They came down with cancer.”
https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2019/10/15/20916495/democratic-debate-october-2019-winners-losers
So yeah Bernie was the big winner in the debates last night, even though we need to face some serious facts – if Bernie wins he would be the oldest president in US history. And add his recent health scare and that’s not good. Now switching subjects, with the Ukraine scandal constantly in the news how does former vice president Joe Biden stand up?
As expected, the first focus of this debate was the impeachment inquiry led by House Democrats. At its center is the allegation that Trump pressured Ukraine's president Volodymyr Zelensky to investigate Biden and his son Hunter Biden.
When asked about his son's business interests in Ukraine during his vice presidency, Biden redirected the focus to Trump. The question came after Biden's declaration over the weekend that his family members won't have foreign business relationships if he is elected.
Foreign business deals: Hunter Biden says he won't serve on foreign boards if Joe Biden elected president
“Look, my son did nothing wrong. I did nothing wrong,” Biden said.
“My son’s statement speaks for itself,” Biden said, before pivoting back to Trump. “What we have to do now is focus on Donald Trump. I’m proud of the judgment he (Hunter) made.”
Hunter Biden said in an interview with ABC News earlier in the day that he made a "mistake" and exercised "poor judgement" regarding the political consequences of his seat on the board of a Ukrainian natural gas company during his father's time in office. He denied any misconduct.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/elections/2019/10/15/top-moments-tuesdays-democratic-debate/3991377002/
When asked about his son's business interests in Ukraine during his vice presidency, Biden redirected the focus to Trump. The question came after Biden's declaration over the weekend that his family members won't have foreign business relationships if he is elected.
Foreign business deals: Hunter Biden says he won't serve on foreign boards if Joe Biden elected president
“Look, my son did nothing wrong. I did nothing wrong,” Biden said.
“My son’s statement speaks for itself,” Biden said, before pivoting back to Trump. “What we have to do now is focus on Donald Trump. I’m proud of the judgment he (Hunter) made.”
Hunter Biden said in an interview with ABC News earlier in the day that he made a "mistake" and exercised "poor judgement" regarding the political consequences of his seat on the board of a Ukrainian natural gas company during his father's time in office. He denied any misconduct.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/elections/2019/10/15/top-moments-tuesdays-democratic-debate/3991377002/
No no no one’s firing anybody just yet. But really this whole thing with Hunter Biden is just Trump using the classic “I’m rubber you’re glue” defense. I mean what is he? A kindergartener? So speaking of impeachment you know the last time we did that big impeachment special. And of course that was brought up during last night’s debate. So how did your favorite candidate flare?
The October Democratic presidential primary debate kicked off Tuesday with the question that has taken over Washington D.C. in recent weeks: Should President Trump be impeached?
All of the candidates in the Democratic race support an impeachment inquiry into Trump, which began after a whistleblower filed a complaint alleging that Trump had pressured the president of Ukraine to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden and his son, Hunter Biden. The moment marked a significant difference from past debates, which have typically begun on the topic of healthcare.
Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren answered first, after being asked why Congress, rather than voters, should decide whether Trump should be impeached.
“Because sometimes there are issues that are bigger than politics, and I think that’s the case with this impeachment inquiry,” Warren said.
https://time.com/5701673/democratic-candidate-impeach-trump/
All of the candidates in the Democratic race support an impeachment inquiry into Trump, which began after a whistleblower filed a complaint alleging that Trump had pressured the president of Ukraine to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden and his son, Hunter Biden. The moment marked a significant difference from past debates, which have typically begun on the topic of healthcare.
Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren answered first, after being asked why Congress, rather than voters, should decide whether Trump should be impeached.
“Because sometimes there are issues that are bigger than politics, and I think that’s the case with this impeachment inquiry,” Warren said.
https://time.com/5701673/democratic-candidate-impeach-trump/
Seriously though there’s no one getting fired yet. We hope that @realDonaldTrump gets fired before his term is up, but that’s currently very wishful thinking at this point. So to recap so far we have a clear winner last night and that’s Bernie Sanders. A clear… I don’t know if you can call him a loser because he still beats Trump in the polls and that’s Joe Biden. So what can you expect for the November debate? I mean holy shit I can’t believe that it’s November already! But we do got to talk about the Ellen controversy before we go this week.
With the United States heading into one of the most important and divisive elections in its history, as the nation wrestles with challenges like climate change, health care costs and immigration, the final question at Tuesday's Democratic primary debate centered on comedian-turned-talk-show-host Ellen DeGeneres.
Though Americans generally find DeGeneres' goofy dancing and good-natured pranks adorable, many social media commentators – and at least one presidential candidate – were not amused that CNN's moderators chose to ask about a celebrity rather than the more weighty issues facing the country.
"No, you are not closing with an Ellen question," tweeted one viewer.
"This question about Ellen is so stupid," tweeted another.
DeGeneres was brought up at the political debate because she was recently spotted enjoying a Dallas Cowboys game while seated beside former President George W. Bush. The images of DeGeneres, who is a lesbian, yukking it up with Bush outraged some LGBTQ-rights activists who remembered his opposition to gay marriage. Others criticized DeGeneres for playing nice with a man they consider a war criminal for the 2003 invasion of Iraq.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/elections/2019/10/16/democratic-debate-question-ellen-degeneres/3995105002/
Though Americans generally find DeGeneres' goofy dancing and good-natured pranks adorable, many social media commentators – and at least one presidential candidate – were not amused that CNN's moderators chose to ask about a celebrity rather than the more weighty issues facing the country.
"No, you are not closing with an Ellen question," tweeted one viewer.
"This question about Ellen is so stupid," tweeted another.
DeGeneres was brought up at the political debate because she was recently spotted enjoying a Dallas Cowboys game while seated beside former President George W. Bush. The images of DeGeneres, who is a lesbian, yukking it up with Bush outraged some LGBTQ-rights activists who remembered his opposition to gay marriage. Others criticized DeGeneres for playing nice with a man they consider a war criminal for the 2003 invasion of Iraq.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/elections/2019/10/16/democratic-debate-question-ellen-degeneres/3995105002/
[font size="4"]Next Week:[/font]
Next week, one of the biggest hot button issues is guns, and nobody has a more thorough plan to beat mass shootings than Beto O'Rourke, so we are going to do a deep dive into Beto's controversial gun buy back program!
[font size="8"]And Now This:[/font]
[font size="8”]Fitz & The Tantrums[/font]
Ladies and gentlemen, my next guest is an awesome band from LA, you can see them on tour next March. Their new album is called “All The Feels”. Playing their song “123456”, give it up for Fitz & The Tantrums!
Thank you Arizona State! This was fun! We’re off to Las Vegas and UNLV next! See you next week!
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Man, I've missed these. I need to pay more attention.
And you can always check the season index for past editions: https://www.democraticunderground.com/100212164633
You can also follow the official Top 10 Twitter feed for updates every week: https://twitter.com/10Idiots