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(100,063 posts) Mon Mar 7, 2016, 12:51 AM Mar 2016

Top 10 Conservative Idiots #18: The KKK Took My OC Away Edition

Last edited Mon Mar 7, 2016, 09:54 PM - Edit history (5)

Top 10 Conservative Idiots #18: The KKK Took My OC Away Edition

Welcome back to the Top 10 Conservative Idiots! You’re entitled – to a 40% discount of goods for using TTCI shipping when you check out using promo code TTCISHIPPING. As to what store, that uses this promo code, that remains a mystery. Yay, spring training starts this week! Finally – it’s been a long, long, ridiculously long four months without it. So yeah it’s good to be back! I might be driving to Arizona for a weekend to catch some games but am clearly undecided at the moment. But first we got to talk about the hilarious PR stunt that one of my all time favorite bands, the Foo Fighters posted that nearly broke Twitter, and the end result was absolutely hilarious:

So we’re going to talk about the KKK for this edition. I don’t want to talk about the KKK, but when they’re on my home turf and it’s a clusterfuck of this magnitude, they leave me absolutely no choice, damn it! Believe me it’s going to go down. With that in mind, the top two spots are easily going to be the Orange County KKK (1, 2) for last week’s rally and it was a shit storm. It had everything - the perfect combo of protestors, counter protestors, and of course police stupidity. But they weren’t the only white supremacists this week who made the news – James Edwards (3) who is a white supremacist who was caught broadcasting in Donald Drumpf’s rallies. At number 4 is former KKK Grand Wizard David Duke because, well, he’s insane. Capping off the white supremacy talk at number 5 of course is Der Drumpfenfuror (5). This week the debate was a shit show – in one corner you have Ted Cruz eating his own snot, and in the other corner you have Drumpf and Marco Rubio in a literal penis measuring contest. We wonder why the rest of the world is laughing at us. Taking the number 6 seed, switching subjects, the GOP is great at getting people to vote against their best interests, and none is doing it better than Ted Cruz (6). Plus, wait until you get a load of what happened during the last debate. While on the subject of baseball, conservative columnist Phyllis Schafly (7) is treading dangerously on Gran Torino “Get off my lawn” territory when it comes to baseball. In the number 8 seed, we're going to take a look at a California rehab center (8) that might be the first corporation to ever be put on trial for murder. At number 9, is the triumphant return of the Bundy Bunch (9)… sort of. The indictments are coming fast and fierce and we’ll break it down for you. And finally because I save the 10th spot for the craziest thing I can find this week and because March Madness is a mere 2 weeks away, we're going to take a look at a batshit crazy scandal that has rocked the Louisville Cardinals (10) to its' very core and got them self banned from NCAA tournament participation. Or did it? Enjoy! And as always don't forget the key!

[font size="8"]The Orange County KKK[/font]

We need some appropriate music for these first two entries. Can we get that please?

Thank you Ramones!

So… the Klan in otherwise blue Southern California is a thing that exists (though Orange County, especially North Orange County is about as bright red as it gets… ugh). And for me it’s about as close to home as it gets. And last week word spread far and wide that the KKK were planning a rally at Pearson Park in Anaheim.

A small group of self-described Ku Klux Klan members have planned a rally in Anaheim on Saturday, drawing the ire of some residents, who have planned a counterprotest.
As many as 20 people representing the hate group are expected to descend on Pearson Park around 10 a.m. Saturday, according to Sgt. Daron Wyatt, an Anaheim police spokesman.
A man claiming to be part of the rally notified Anaheim police of the event after the group learned that some people had planned a counterprotest, Wyatt said. It was not immediately clear what prompted the rally, though Wyatt said the group told police the theme of the event may be that “white lives matter too.”
http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-kkk-anaheim-rally-20160226-story.html

White lives matter… shut up! It’s not like you see Justin Beiber, Michael Flatley, and Kenny G threatening to walk out of the Oscars because of its’ treatment of white people. It’s not like white people are being incarcerated in mass numbers and being gunned down by asshole cops and wannabe asshole cops every day? Shut up!!!

And this is how it ends:

ANAHEIM – Five of 12 people arrested after a clash between Ku Klux Klan members and counterprotesters Saturday at Pearson Park were released Sunday after police determined that they were acting in self-defense against counterprotesters.
“This regrettable incident was the result of approximately 10-20 individuals who came to the park with the intent of perpetrating violence,” Anaheim police said Sunday night.
“Of those arrested, only one is a resident of Anaheim. The remainder came from other cities and counties to insert themselves into the situation. Regardless of an individual or groups’ beliefs or ideologies, they are entitled to live without the fear of physical violence and have the right, under the law, to defend themselves when attacked.”
A Cal State San Bernardino professor who was there to do research found himself in the middle of the melee.
http://www.ocregister.com/articles/levin-706171-klansmen-counter.html

Yeah that’s how the KKK rolls – with stabbings and arrests! But wait – read that last sentence again: “A Cal State San Bernardino professor who was there to do research found himself in the middle of the melee.” So one of the counter proterstors was just an innocent Cal State San Bernardino professor researching hate groups in California who wanted to research this epic fail of a non protest which could have ended peacefully. But there’s more:

All that stood between two members of the Ku Klux Klan and angry counterprotesters swinging wooden planks was Brian Levin and his iPhone, capturing it all on video.
“Don’t hurt him, sir! Don’t hurt him, sir!” pleaded Levin, the professor who unexpectedly found himself protecting the safety and civil rights of two Klansmen.
“Get away! Get away from this gentleman!”
Levin, director of CSUSB’s Center for the Study of Hate & Extremism, went to the park on Saturday to conduct research; he’d hoped to ask rallying Klansmen whom they support for president, among other questions.
Instead, he said Sunday, he spent three “surreal” minutes caught up in a burst of violence. Three counterprotesters were stabbed. Two of the Klansmen were stomped while they were on the ground. Both were hospitalized, and one was released.

What the whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat????

There’s literally five people in the Orange County KKK. Five. And yet they attracted this kind of attention and national coverage. I bet Cartman is loving this right now.

[font size="8"]The Orange County KKK[/font]

No, sorry Cartman. No race war. The next time your conservative friends make fun of the Black Lives Matter movement please show them this story and tell them “no!”. Because… really… they are wrong. And no. Because while this entire thing ended extremely poorly it’s not over yet. So why am I bringing up Black Lives Matter? Excellent question sir / madam! Because if this rally had gone the other way, we probably would be having a much different discussion right now – after the brew ha ha went down in Pearson Park, this happened:

All five members of the Ku Klux Klan arrested for their involvement in the Pearson Park melee on Saturday are now walking free. Charles Donner, the only Klansmen held over the weekend, got released yesterday even though he stood accused of stabbing three counter-protesters, spilling their blood all over the sidewalk. "The release was based on the video evidence and statements that present convincing evidence of self-defense," Anaheim police spokesman Sgt. Daron Wyatt tells the Weekly.
<snip>
"Regardless of an individual or groups’ beliefs or ideologies, they are entitled to live without the fear of physical violence and have the right, under the law, to defend themselves when attacked," the police statement says of the Klan's right to rally. Sensitive to criticisms it botched the well-publicized rally, the department defended its response to the melee saying several marked patrol cars arrived to the scene nearly two minutes after the first report of violence.
In the meantime, community and faith-based leaders are planning a peace walk at 6 p.m. today from Pearson Park to Anaheim City Hall to denounce the Klan's message of hate and violence. They vow to disallow Saturday's melee to define Anaheim or Orange County.
http://www.ocweekly.com/news/anaheim-pd-release-klansman-saying-he-stabbed-three-people-in-self-defense-7008232

Now let’s go back and revisit some history of the Orange County KKK. Last year in nearby Fullerton, just up the road from Pearson Park, the group attempted this stunt which quickly attracted the attention of the local police:

The Ku Klux Klan is back to delivering a bitter message with a sweet confection.
In January, on the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday, the KKK left fliers promoting the white supremacist organization around a Santa Ana neighborhood. Each flier was tucked in a plastic bag along with a rock and candy.
Now, Fullerton police are investigating KKK fliers, also packaged with candy, found in two neighborhoods on Sunday.
http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-fullerton-kkk-flyers-20150623-story.html

YES!!!!!!!!!! Candy! That’s what a hardcore racist group needs to attract members – let’s give local residents flyers with candy and a rock attached to them. Because… sugar and destruction. Yes what the KKK did was wrong. Well the KKK are wrong in general. But that’s beside the point and not why I’m doing this this week. So here’s how the demonstration went in Anaheim the next few days later:

ANAHEIM – More than 300 people gathered peacefully Monday night in Pearson Park, the scene two days earlier of a bloody confrontation between the Ku Klux Klan and counterprotesters.
They denounced the KKK as racist and said the organization has no place in Anaheim, dubbed by the mayor the “City of Kindness.”
“Fascists and hatemongers, we say go away,” Rabbi Jonathan Klein, executive director of Los Angeles-based Clergy and Laity United for Economic Justice, told the enthusiastic crowd. “Hate has no place in this community.”
http://www.ocregister.com/articles/anaheim-706339-kkk-police.html

See? It’s entirely possibly to hold peaceful demonstrations without resorting to violence! But let’s not overlook this one very interesting tidbit about one of the stabbing victims in this shindig:

Lost in the chaos of yesterday's free-for-all at Anaheim's Pearson Park, where a group of protesters beat up Ku Klux Klan members only to get stabbed by them, was one fascinating story: a Jew was all that stood between the Klan and an even-worse beatdown for them.
Brian Levin is director of the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at Cal State San Bernardino, and a mensch we profiled in 2009. He was there at the protest because he's been tracking the Loyal White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan (which organized the event) for years, especially as their activity has increased in Orange County. Levin had just returned from grabbing some tacos when he noticed a "phalanx" of anti-racist activist rushing toward an SUV. The professor ran over there, where he found a smashed back window, and two Klansmen getting the living shit beat out of them.
http://www.ocweekly.com/news/meet-the-jew-who-shielded-kkk-from-even-bigger-beatdown-during-anaheim-protest-7005585

That dude definitely has more balls than you or I ever will. A Jewish man taking a knife to the abdomen for the KKK and then living to tell about it? Now I have seen everything!

Wait – I've got an award we can give him – Stephen Colbert's “Brass Balls” Award:

You sir, have giant cojones.

[font size="8"]James Edwards[/font]

So The OC ("Don't call it that" - Michael Bluth) was not just the only place where white supremacism reared its’ ugly head this week. It’s pretty well known that former KKK Grand Wizard David Duke isn’t hiding his feelings about a Donald Drumpf presidency. But he’s not the only white supremacist in the country who is in love with Der Drumpfenfuror. Drumpf took seven states on Super Tuesday and that is frightening. Especially when something like this happens inside a Drumpf rally:

James Edwards, a notorious white supremacist and radio talk show host, is promoting a recent interview with the son of Republican presidential front-runner Donald Drumpf that'll air on Saturday.
Edwards talked to the real estate mogul's eldest son and campaign surrogate, Donald Drumpf, Jr., last Saturday for his "pro-white" radio show, "The Political Cesspool." Previous guests on the show have included Neo-Nazis, Holocaust deniers, and Ku Klux Klan leaders.
Edwards heralded the 20-minute interview in a blog post flagged by Little Green Footballs, that boasted about his access inside a Drumpf rally in Memphis, Tennessee, last Saturday, where Edwards was broadcasting his show live. He said Drumpf's campaign gave Edwards and his co-hosts full press credentials and "VIP" parking near the event.
"We're watching history in the making," Edwards said at the start of his three-hour broadcast from the press area of the Memphis Drumpf rally. "Donald Drumpf will be the first Republican nominee that I have ever voted for."
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/white-supremacists-donald-Drumpf-rallies_us_56d663cfe4b03260bf789a09

Yes, the Huffington Post. Come for the hard hitting political journalism, stay for articles about giant sculptures of ice penises. But I kid, I kid. But that whole thing is long and worth reading as well as the article below, because it contains some interesting tidbits about what James Edwards has said like:

http://www.theoccidentalobserver.net/2016/03/james-edwards-of-the-political-cesspool-at-a-donald-Drumpf-rally-in-memphis/
Yikes.

[font size="8"]David Duke[/font]

As I said in the previous edition, white supremacists aren't even trying to hide their love and support for Der Drumpfenfuror's campaign. So far that they've even gone out of their way to get caught live blogging Drumpf events. But guess what? Despite that David Duke is now in the spotlight because of his support for Donald Drumpf, who is going very far out of his way to deny that this exists, this happened:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/david-duke-donald-Drumpf_us_56d5d6f4e4b0bf0dab33808a

David Duke on Monday reiterated his support for the presidential campaign of real estate developer Donald Drumpf.

The former Louisiana state representative and one-time Ku Klux Klan leader told listeners on his radio show that "it's very, very important that wins this election, both for the Republican nomination, and it's important for him to win the presidency of the United States.”

Voting for Drumpf, Duke said, "is the best thing we can do” to prevent the spread of “mass immigration” and the conspiracy of "international bankers,” a term white supremacists use to refer to Jewish people. Right Wing Watch first reported on the comments.

Drumpf has come under fire in recent days for his reluctance to condemn Duke and the white supremacist movement during a Sunday talk show appearance. Asked whether he would disavow his support from Duke and the Ku Klux Klan, Drumpf played dumb, telling CNN, "You wouldn't want me to condemn a group that I know nothing about. ... I will do research on them and certainly I would disavow if I thought there was something wrong."

OK David Duke, we get it, you’re a racist scumbag, OK? But he really hates Bernie Sanders, and how could you hate Bernie??? He’s the anti-Drumpf!

On his radio show yesterday, white nationalist and former Ku Klux Klan grand wizard David Duke reiterated his support for Donald Drumpf, who, in a recent CNN interview, refused to disavow him and other white supremacists who have come out in support of his presidential campaign.
We must understand that we are now in a struggle for the survival of European mankind. We must never mince our words about that. We are going down in numbers, all over the world. Mass immigration is going to completely remake our countries, our politics, our values, our religious beliefs, everything in which we identify with; everything and every value we have and the most critical issue facing the United States of America is whether or not we are going to remain an overwhelmingly European nation with the values of western Christian civilization or whether we’re going to become some sort of Third World nation and whether or not we’re going to be continued to be robbed and exploited and oppressed by the ultimate ethnic supremacists, of course, we’re talking about the Zionists and the Jewish tribal extremists.

That doesn’t mean every Jew, and I’m not attacking every Jewish person, at all. And there are some Jews like Gilad Atzmon that actually speaks against Jewish tribalism. But those are the rulers. It’s obvious now to everybody. The top seven Super PACs of Hillary Clinton are all Jewish Zionists. No wonder she’s always supported these insane wars for Israel in the Middle East orchestrated by neocons for the interests of Israel rather than America. We have the same thing going on with the Republican Party today. The only person who has stepped out of that agenda has been Donald Drumpf.
Duke added that a vote for Drumpf is “the best thing we can do” to fight “mass immigration” and “the international bankers,” telling listeners that “it’s very, very important that he wins this election for both the Republican nomination – and I think it’s important for him to win the presidency of the United States.”

- See more at: http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/david-duke-donald-Drumpf-will-save-america-jewish-supremacists?utm_source=fark&utm_medium=website&utm_content=link#sthash.puaKVqzl.dpuf

See, hardcore racist pieces of shit like David Duke only have a one track mind when it comes to our presidential candidates. But let's point out this sentence here: “That doesn’t mean every Jew, and I’m not attacking every Jewish person, at all.” Yes, you did asshole! You just did literally two sentences ago! Shut the fuck up! You’re just as bad as those KKK assholes in Anaheim!

[font size="8"]Donald Drumpf[/font]

No your eyes are not deceiving you! That was an actual unedited screen capture of the GOP debate from last week. Even the people doing the closed captioning on the fued between Marco Rubio and Der Drumpfenfuror gave up! This is too damn good!

So this happened:

Republican front-runner Donald Drumpf appeared to brag about his penis size during the GOP debate Thursday night. After the moderators asked Florida Sen. Marco Rubio about his attacks on Drumpf, the New York businessman responded by saying that he took issue with Rubio’s criticism of his hand size.
“I also have called him a lightweight ... and I have to take that back,” Drumpf said.
He added that Rubio “hit me on my hands,” referring to Rubio’s criticism that Drumpf was a “short-fingered vulgarian.”
Drumpf held up his hands and said, “Look at my hands. Are they small?” He then said Rubio implied if his hands were small, “then something else must be small. I guarantee you there’s no problem,” Drumpf said.
http://www.ibtimes.com/donald-Drumpf-discusses-penis-size-during-fox-news-republican-debate-2329856

Yes that’s Donald Drumpf bragging about the size of his penis to Marco Rubio. Excuse me a minute, I need to go take a cold shower after reading that.

And here’s where a Drumpf supporter got caught assaulting a black woman at a Drumpf rally:

Louisville police added to the mess the Drumpf supporters got themselves into by announcing they’re looking at filing criminal charges against several people. There has been some speculation that Drumpf himself may be facing charges as a ringleader, but that is unconfirmed at this time. What we do know is that a woman was treated with the utmost of disrespect, was physically and verbally assaulted and quite possibly had her civil rights violated for no reason other than the color of her skin.

It’s a common scene at these things. Protesters stand as quietly as they can and are eventually discovered and removed with extreme prejudice. Drumpf security personnel, local police and tens of thousands of unruly thugs in red hats solves those issues while Drumpf stands on stage scanning for the next people to have booted out. It’s nothing but a reality TV hook.

More: http://www.addictinginfo.org/2016/03/03/angry-patriot-who-assaulted-a-black-woman-at-a-Drumpf-rally-finds-out-it-ruined-his-lifeimages/

Sorry Mr. Pryor but we live in the age of the social media outrage machine! There’s nothing you can do to “take it back”. Cue the world’s tiniest violin:

So here is where Florida proved that Donald Trump might be taking things in a very Nazi-esque direction:

Washington (CNN)Donald Trump on Saturday led a mass rally in taking a pledge affirming their commitment to voting for him, and vowed to broaden existing laws regarding the interrogation of captured terrorist suspects.
The scene unfolded during a raucous rally at a University of Central Florida arena in Orlando, Florida, that featured frequent interruptions by protesters over Trump's hour-long address.
"Let's do a pledge. Who likes me in this room?" Trump asked the crowd. "I've never done this before. Can I have a pledge? A swearing? Raise your right hand."
The Republican front-runner then had the audience repeat after him.
http://www.cnn.com/2016/03/05/politics/donald-trump-florida-pledge-torture/

And here's Drumpf supporters doing a Nazi salute:

And in case you needed any further proof, here's Drumpf's former wife Ivana talking about how her former husband kept a book of Hitler's speeches by his bedside. So even Drumpf acknowledges that he will strengethen and broaden torture laws. But even GOP governors are terrified at the prospect of a Drumpf presidency.

Politico: “Top Republicans — including governors who convened an emergency conference call on Monday on which Drumpf was Topic A — expect the real estate mogul to carry as many as 10 states on Tuesday night, an outcome that would deal a body blow to Sen. Ted Cruz, who has staked his campaign heavily on the Southern states holding nominating contests, and to Sen. Marco Rubio, who has yet to win a primary and isn’t expected to do so on Tuesday.”

“Drumpf’s march to the nomination has set off a wave of anxiety across the Republican Party establishment as top officials weigh whether to endorse him — or denounce him as anathema to the party’s values. Reflecting that angst, on Monday morning, New Mexico Gov. Susana Martinez and Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, the heads of the Republican Governors Association, convened fellow governors for an unusual conference call to discuss how the primary was unfolding — and Drumpf was a central topic of conversation.”

Read more: https://politicalwire.com/2016/02/29/gop-governors-hold-emergency-call-to-discuss-Drumpf/

Even the GOP governors are terrified at the prospect of a Donald Drumpf presidency. And then while that was going on, and James Edwards was caught dishing out a good old fashioned dose of American white supremacy at Drumpf rallies, even more Drumpf supporters got caught doing something racist:

A man making national headlines for shoving a black woman out of a Donald Drumpf rally in Louisville, Ky., Tuesday is the same man who organized a white nationalist conference in Harrisburg last month.

Matthew Heimbach made national news after a video of him pushing the Drumpf protester and shouting "leftist scum" at her went viral on social media.

The New York Daily News identified Heimbach, 24, in the video. And Heimbach, founder of the Traditionalist Youth Network, which the Southern Poverty Law Center deems a white nationalist group, has since admitted in a blog that he was one of the men shown pushing the woman.

http://www.pennlive.com/news/2016/03/man_who_pushed_black_woman_out.html

It’s getting scary out there. I mean really scary. But Drumpf was the subject of intense scrutiny from another failed GOP candidate and that’s Mitt Romney. By the way batshit crazy Arizona governor Jan Brewer said that Romney’s speech was the GOP eating itself. By the way we’ll let you judge for yourself:

[font size="8"]Ted Cruz[/font]

First off, wait until you see what Ted Cruz may or may not have done during the last debate. A word of warning before playing this video – we here at TTCI are not responsible for lost stomach contents while watching this.

On these lists, I have bragged heavily about my love of the NBC comedy 30 Rock. This next entry reminds me of the episode of 30 Rock where Tracy stages a protest against NBC for its’ treatment of idiots. At the end of the two part episode, Tina Fey is screaming about how all the people protesting against the network don’t know what they’re protesting because they’re idiots, and people will vote against their best interests like free health care. Well… when it comes to transgender issues, I don’t think Caitlyn Jenner has the best interests of the trans community in mind.

Caitlyn Jenner's conservative politics continue to create controversy in the transgender community.

When asked who she supports for president, the lifelong Republican told The Advocate in an interview Wednesday, "I like Ted Cruz."

"I think he's very conservative, and a great constitutionalist, and a very articulate man," she explained. "I haven't endorsed him or anything like that. But I also think, he's an evangelical Christian, and probably one of the worst ones when it comes to trans issues."

During a radio interview in November, Cruz called the movement for gender-open bathrooms in schools "lunacy."

The reality star acknowledged her stance can seem like a contradiction given last year's transition from male to female and her work highlighting trans issues on her docuseries I Am Cait.

"I get it. The Democrats are better when it comes to these types of social issues. I understand that," she said, but countered, "Number one, if we don't have a country, we don't have trans issues. We need jobs. We need a vibrant economy. I want every trans person to have a job. With $19 trillion in debt and it keeps going up, we're spending money we don't have. Eventually, it's going to end. And I don't want to see that. Socialism did not build this country. Capitalism did. Free enterprise. The people built it. And they need to be given the opportunity to build it back up."
http://www.people.com/article/caitlyn-jenner-likes-ted-cruz-president

What the whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat???? Excuse me???? Sorry there Ms. Jenner, but did you not see this part of the article? “During a radio interview in November, Cruz called the movement for gender-open bathrooms in schools "lunacy."” Yeah, somehow I don’t think that’s happening by the way.

But this story – while not directly giving away Ted Cruz’s exact feelings on trans issues despite what was said in the article – is a pretty damn good indicator of how he feels about LGBT rights issues in general:

http://gawker.com/ted-cruz-is-celebrating-super-tuesday-at-an-extreme-rac-1762297955
Tonight’s primary results have been a mixed bag for Ted Cruz, presidential candidate and corpse recently fished out of a swimming pool. But that won’t stop his campaign from partying at the “Redneck Country Club,” a Texas venue owned by an astoundingly racist radio host.

...

This may or may not shock you, but the Redneck Country Club is owned by an extreme, open racist by the name of Michael Berry, who hosts a racist radio program that includes a blackface “comedian” named “Dr. Rev. Shirley Q Liquor,” who provides a routine of vile black stereotypes for Berry’s white listeners

Yup – that’s how Teddy rolls! With a deranged crowd of racists and extreme right wing mysoginists. Maybe Cait would be wise to stay away from this crowd.

The Trans Ambassadors by the way, I saw them at the Troubadour last week – pretty awesome band.

[font size="8"]Phyllis Schafly[/font]

Baseball. That thing that happens in the months between when the Super Bowl ends and the NFL training camps begin. But while our nation’s pastime returns, well, haters gotta hate. And players got to play. I know, shake it off. There’s my Taylor Swift reference for you. Well… some people just won’t have any of it. I mean who doesn’t love the nation’s past time? Am I right? Well there’s Phyllis Schafly, who this week wrote a column explaining this:

When I was growing up, my favorite sport was baseball. One of my most exciting memories was attending the World Series in 1944 between the St. Louis Cardinals and the St. Louis Browns. Baseball is a wonderful activity for boys and young men. It helps develop mental discipline, patience and obeying rules. A lower percentage of professional baseball players have post-career troubles compared with football and basketball players, and baseball is a safer sport, too.
The best baseball players today are American-born. All six of the six recipients of the top awards this past season are native born American, but more than a quarter of Major League Baseball players are foreign-born, with whom our youth are less likely to identify. Some of these players cannot speak English and they did not rise through the ranks of Little League. These foreign-born players enter on visas and take positions that should go to American players. Fewer than four percent of the Baseball Hall of Fame is foreign-born, yet 27 percent of today's players are foreign-born.
This foreign influx into our National Pastime may help explain why our youth is abandoning baseball. Youth who play baseball have declined by more than 40 percent since 2000, and some communities where baseball was once booming now struggle to fill their teams. Television ratings for World Series games are less than half what they were three decades ago.
- See more at: http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/phyllis-schlafly-ban-foreign-players-major-league-baseball-because-they-take-jobs-ought-go-a#sthash.a8ZlAlwj.c0XCp8XL.dpuf

Yeah it’s because, um………………… baseball is too damn long for a regular season! I’m a baseball fan! I’ve been to the World Series! I think 162 games is too damn long for a regular season! And then you have another 30 games for the post season! By contrast football has 17, basketball and NHL both have 82. Did you ever stop to think about that? Oh let’s blame foreign born players because they’re “cheaper and easier to control”. Cheaper? Have you seen the salaries that guys like the Japanese born Yu Darvish of the Texas Rangers, or the Puerto Rican born Albert Pujols of the LA Angels make? Or how about Yasiel Puig of the Dodgers? All of these guys make several hundreds of millions. And talk about “easier to control”…. Which that Puig guy is far from? Maybe Phyllis should stop trash talking and start watching some games. She sounds like the “They took our jobs” guys from South Park.

[font size="8"]A Better Tomorrow [/font]

Fair warning – I am not going to use this entry to make fun of rehab or addiction, or people who have been seeking treatment for addiction. If you need help, get help. And just to show I’m serious this time around, there won’t be any funny videos, GIFs, or images to accompany this entry, because it’s really fucking serious. Now, with that out of the way, we may have a Top 10 Conservative Idiots first here. And this is one thing where nobody wants to be the first no matter what the circumstances. So what we have here might be the first corporation ever to be tried for first degree murder. This happened:

Gary Benefield was in rough shape when a driver from the substance abuse treatment company A Better Tomorrow met him at the San Diego airport in 2010.
It was the day before his 53rd birthday. The longtime smoker had recently been hospitalized for pneumonia and was tethered to an oxygen tank, which he had relied on for years. He was seeking treatment for a drinking problem and had signed himself up for a round of detox and rehab.
Sometime that night, he collapsed by his bed at a Murrieta residential facility and died. The house manager, who was supposed to check on him regularly, had fallen asleep. Benefield's body was found in the morning.
The family sued, reaching an out-of-court settlement.
What came next sent a jolt through California's large drug and alcohol rehabilitation industry. The state attorney general's office pursued second-degree murder charges against A Better Tomorrow and four of its employees — the first time in California history that a corporation had been accused of murder, according to the facility's attorneys.

http://www.latimes.com/local/crime/la-me-rehab-murder-charge-20160228-story.html

But it’s not over. A Better Tomorrow might be the first corporation accused of murder in the United States. Hey! I’m finally seeing an upside to Citizens United. In a country where the incarceration rate is 5 times higher than the next 15 countries combined, why not start locking up some of these criminal corporations! Can they be executed? Let’s continue:

Legal experts say the criminal case against A Better Tomorrow is a warning to California's treatment centers — an industry with more than 1,500 facilities across the state.
The prosecutor has argued that the company, in its drive for profit, accepted a client it was not prepared to care for and killed him by failing to refill his oxygen and allowing employees with little or no medical training to give him drugs that made it harder for him to breathe. Benefield was the fourth person to die after checking into the facility in a little over two years.

Holy. Fuck. That is all I have to say – how could this company – a company that prides itself on care – simply take a patient that it was unable to handle? This is a colossal fuck up on so many levels. But… this particular facility has had not just one, but four… four! FOUR!!!! Four patients die on them! You would think after the first one that criminal charges would be levied against them. Or as George W. Bush said – “Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me…. You won’t get fooled again.”. Yes such is the touching words said from former President Bush, and Roger Daltry.

There’s more:

Defense attorneys have asked Kiefer to throw out the charges, accusing the attorney general's office of prosecutorial misconduct and saying Deputy Atty. Gen. Joel Samuels unfairly presented evidence to the grand jury. The prosecutor, they said, failed to call as a witness the coroner who found that Benefield died of natural causes.
“There simply was no homicide here,” attorney Benjamin Gluck told the court.
Kelly Strader, a professor at Southwestern Law School, said the attorney general's office may have filed the charges as a warning to treatment facilities “that you'd better clean up your act. We're going to take this very seriously.”

While they can’t technically call it a homicide, they can call it a “colossal fuck up”. Which is exactly what this is. But when you take into account the fact that four patients have died while attempting to seek treatment from this facility, you can’t help but wonder exactly who is running things, and what else they’re covering up.

In their investigation into Benefield's death, state licensing officials found the company deficient in 14 areas, including dispensing sample medications to residents, providing medication without a prescription, filling out medication logs in advance and providing medical-related services beyond the scope of its license.

There you have it. We officially live in the Matrix.

[font size="8"]The Bundy Bunch[/font]

Yay!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It’s the triumphant return of the Bundy Bunch to the Top 10 Conservative Idiots! Wooooooooooooooooooo! Woooooooooooo. Wooo. Yeah… maybe not so much enthusiasm coming from the audience here. Well, the Bundy Bunch are in prison for various crimes against federal law enforcement for their dildo poop trench freak show they put on at the Malheur Wildlife Sanctuary last month.

A federal indictment accuses renegade Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy, two of his sons and at least five other men from several states of conspiracy, obstruction, assault, threatening federal officers and other charges in a 2014 armed standoff over grazing cattle on U.S. land near Bundy's ranch.

Bundy and seven other people's names appeared unredacted in an indictment obtained Thursday following the arrest of alleged co-conspirator Gerald "Jerry" DeLemus in New Hampshire.

They are Cliven Bundy's sons Ammon Bundy of Arizona and Ryan Bundy of Utah, and supporters Ryan Payne of Montana, Peter Santilli Jr. of California, and Brian Cavalier and Blaine Cooper, both of Arizona.
http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/hampshire-man-arrested-role-cliven-bundy-standoff-37372039

Wow. Those are some pretty serious charges against the Bundy Bunch. You have conspiracy, obstruction, assault and threatening federal officials. I wonder where the charges are for the massive trench of rancid feces they left behind at Malheur are? Can anybody tell me?

So what does Ammon think of this? Well let’s ask him.

Because…………. He…………….. is……………. One? That’s why he’s being charged and treated like a domestic terrorist? Oh and by the way in case you were wondering, yes, there is a Donald Drumpf official in the mix who got busted by the FBI for violating several firearms charges:

FBI agents arrested Jerry DeLemus, co-chair of Veterans for Drumpf in New Hampshire, on Thursday following his indictment in connection with the 2014 Bundy Ranch standoff in Nevada, the New Hampshire Union Leader reported.
Federal charges against DeLemus included "conspiracy to commit an offense against the United States, threatening a federal law enforcement officer, attempting to impede or injure a federal law enforcement officer and several firearms charges," the newspaper reported.
Susan DeLemus, a state representative and fellow supporter of Donald Drumpf's presidential campaign, confirmed her husband's arrest to the newspaper. Drumpf announced that he was forming Veterans for Drumpf in July and named DeLemus among the co-chairs.
The standoff in Nevada two years ago came after federal officials said Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy allowed his cattle to graze on federal land for decades without paying grazing fees. Bundy invited hundreds of followers, many of them armed, to his ranch to push back against federal officers who were impounding his cattle.
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/jerry-delemus-arrested-bundy-ranch

By the way I love the part of the article here where it explains that a Drumpf official who defended Drumpf against Pope Francis’ allegations (see last week) calling him “the anti Christ”. Well when you consider the 5+ pages of cities that are named in the end credits of this year’s Best Picture winner “Spotlight”, where priests were caught abusing alter boys, that might actually be an accurate assumption.

[font size="8"]Rick Pitino[/font]

Finally tonight, in case this edition gets too dark for you, there was a lot of racism, white supremacism, and death. So we’re going to take a look at something much lighter before you get out of here.The March Madness tournament. Where even President Obama has zero chance in hell of making a perfect bracket, so imagine what chance you have of doing the same! So we’re going to go to Kentucky for this insane story. Specifically the Louisville Cardinals. Since the beginning of the 2015 – 2016 season, the Louisville Cardinals have been at the center of one of the most insane scandals ever to hit the NCAA. Specifically this happened:

LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- Five former University of Louisville basketball players and recruits told Outside the Lines that they attended parties at a campus dorm from 2010 to 2014 that included strippers paid for by the team's former graduate assistant coach, Andre McGee.
One of the former players said he had sex with a dancer after McGee paid her. Each of the players and recruits attended different parties at Billy Minardi Hall, where dancers, many of whom stripped naked, were present. Three of the five players said they attended parties as recruits and also when they played for Louisville.
Said one of the recruits, who ultimately signed to play elsewhere: "I knew they weren't college girls. It was crazy. It was like I was in a strip club."
http://espn.go.com/espn/otl/story/_/id/13927159/former-louisville-cardinals-basketball-players-recruits-acknowledge-stripper-parties-minardi-hall

That… sounds innocent enough. I mean doesn’t it? We’re having a party for you on the 6th floor dorm room, room 25A, no RAs, no rules and just about anything goes! Enjoy yourselves, we’ll look the other way. And you have campus insurance in the event of STDs or drug overdoses. We just want a winning basketball team. Just go there, you will be treated to a fucking awesome time! The university’s former head of athletics paid local area strippers to purposefully entice new recruits to sign up for Louisville’s basketball program. It would be even funnier if they used a Groupon. And what kind of service do you go through? Did they have the strippers on a rolodex? That is shockingly, stunningly idiotic. So when one gets caught with their pants down – literally in this case, with raging boners included (the Raging Boners - I also saw them at the Troub, they were also playing with the Trans Amabassadors

) – how does one redeem themselves? Why you self impose a ban from participating in the next couple of rounds of NCAA tournaments!

Louisville has announced a one-year postseason ban for its men's basketball team amid ongoing investigations into a sex scandal in which an escort alleged that a former staffer paid her and other dancers to strip and have sex with recruits and players.
University President James Ramsey said Friday at a news conference that an investigation by the school has revealed that some violations did occur. Ramsey said the ban is for all postseason tournaments, including the NCAA and the Atlantic Coast Conference tournaments.
Ramsey said he received the latest results of the investigation on Thursday, but noted the review of the allegation is continuing.
“We found out yesterday that we had a problem,” said athletic director Tom Jurich, adding that university wanted to deal with the findings as quickly as possible.
http://www.latimes.com/sports/sportsnow/la-sp-sn-louisville-basketball-postseason-ban-escort-scandal-20160205-story.html

That’s right – they purposefully self imposed a ban on participating in this year’s NCAA tournament. The NCAA findings did find that Louisville knowingly participated in some astoundingly stupid recruiting violations. This is something so jaw droppingly stupid that the kindergartener who sits in the corner and eats paste looks smarter than most of the university employees at Louisville. But what does Pitino himself think of his school’s recruiting violations?

While Pitino very much left the door open for retirement or simply a departure from Louisville, he made it clear that he isn't necessarily leaning in that direction:
"I think anything's possible. I doubt it. I don't think it's probable. I just was blindsided, disgusted and saddened by this whole thing. ... I thought we'd be playing for the national title and going to the Final Four this year, and it was a shock that it was taken away."
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2620914-rick-pitino-comments-on-future-at-louisville-amid-escort-scandal

So the question remains – did he know or did he not know about the campus recruiting violations ahead of time? Well the reason why they self imposed a ban lies in the hands of a guy named Chuck Smrt:

The fourth man at the table with these most influential U of L figures was compliance consultant Chuck Smrt, who was hired in September to conduct an internal inquiry into the claims made in Katina Powell's book and guide the school through the NCAA investigation process.
Who is Chuck Smrt?
"What a guy like Chuck Smrt brings to the table is he knows the dance," said Dave Ridpath, a sports administration professor at Ohio University and an expert on NCAA compliance who has come to know Smrt professionally. "He knows how to protect the institution."
http://www.courier-journal.com/story/sports/college/louisville/2016/02/19/who-is-chuck-smrt-louisville-basketball-ncaa-investigation/80556786/

Sure! The guy who spells his name “Smart” without an “a” sounds like a trustworthy fellow! I know what you’re thinking right?

But here’s where it gets really weird. And I mean really weird. As if it wasn’t weird enough already:

Louisville coach Rick Pitino gave his departing transfers some championship-quality bling and a video tribute featuring "One Shining Moment."
Pitino had promised a surprise to honor their contributions in a season that won't include the NCAA tournament appearance they had hoped for. Surviving some tense final moments in Tuesday night's 56-53 victory over Georgia Tech helped make that postgame ceremony especially celebratory for the 11th-ranked Cardinals.
Chinanu Onuaku made two free throws with 30.9 seconds remaining, and Damion Lee added two more with 10.7 left to end the game -- and the home portion of his one-year Cardinals stint -- on a high note.
http://espn.go.com/mens-college-basketball/story/_/id/14882110/rick-pitino-honors-louisville-cardinals-senior-transfers-rings-one-shining-moment-video-wake-postseason-ban

YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! That’s it! Amid one of the most jaw dropping, shockingly stupid sports scandals in recent memory, starring someone who’s not named Ryan Braun (oh stop booing, Brewers fans!), Rick Pitino makes it all better for his departing seniors by giving them championship rings and a fake championship ceremony! There is nothing, I mean nothing can put into words this epic fail of a scandal. I mean they didn’t even play one fucking game in the March Madness tournament, and decided to reward themselves. So with that in mind, I’m going do something unprecedented for our audience here tonight. I’m giving you all… fake championship rings. When people ask you what you did to earn this ring – tell them it doesn’t matter! Use Louisville’s excuse!

That’s right! You get a ring! And you get a ring! And you get a ring! And you get one, and you get one, and you get one! Everybody gets a ring!! And here, I’ll even give you your own net to cut down! Sponsored by Werner Ladders!

By the way yes I’m aware of the irony that photo is from Louisville’s championship run in 2013. I’ll even throw in that bullshit One Shining Moment song:

Just remember – it doesn’t matter what you did to earn this championship, all that matters is that you’re a self imposed champion, and nobody can ever take that away from you!

See you next week!